Gu Yuena and Di Tian looked at the slightly translucent figures of the Spirit Beasts above Huo Yuhao's head, surprise and curiosity flashing through their eyes simultaneously.
Because Jin Li had personally witnessed the entire process of Huo Yuhao fusing with the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well not long ago, her expression was normal at this moment.
Huo Yuhao then seriously explained the concept of the Spirit Soul from beginning to end in meticulous detail.
Finally, he raised his eyes and swept his calm gaze across Di Tian and Gu Yuena's faces. "The emergence of Spirit Souls can both allow human Spirit Masters to obtain increases in strength and greatly reduce the hunting of Spirit Beasts. It is a mutually beneficial and win-win situation for both humans and Spirit Beasts."
"The Spirit Pagoda is about to be officially established. I hope this matter can receive the support of the Star Dou Great Forest."
"I hope the Star Dou side can allow those Spirit Beasts whose Lifespans are near their end or who are terminally injured and dying to undergo Spirit Soul Fusion with human Spirit Masters."
"Of course, everything will be on a voluntary basis, with absolutely no coercion."
After speaking, Huo Yuhao stopped talking. He just stood quietly in place, calmly meeting Di Tian and Gu Yuena's gazes, waiting for their reply.
Di Tian fell silent for a moment, then slowly turned his head to look at Gu Yuena beside him.
Although he was known as the Beast God, with Gu Yuena right beside him, such a major matter concerning the future of the Soul Beast Clan naturally had to be decided by this Sovereign.
Gu Yuena's purple eyes lingered on Huo Yuhao for a long time, and her heart was also secretly shaken.
If Spirit Souls were truly as Huo Yuhao described, it would indeed be a good thing for the Soul Beast Clan.
Furthermore, it could be seen from this matter that Huo Yuhao, as a human, indeed had no prejudice or hostility toward Spirit Beasts.
This quietly reduced her worries about her identity being exposed by a few more degrees.
However, she did not directly express her stance, but only turned her head slightly to look at Di Tian and said, "You can make the decision on this matter."
Over the years, the affairs of the Star Dou Great Forest had always been managed by Di Tian, and Gu Yuena believed he could handle this matter properly as well.
After receiving Gu Yuena's approval, Di Tian turned his gaze back to Huo Yuhao.
He fell silent for a long while, the light in his deep golden dragon eyes flickering, clearly weighing the pros and cons of this matter rapidly in his mind.
After a moment, he finally spoke slowly, asking, "What is the success rate of fusing with a Spirit Soul?"
Huo Yuhao met his gaze and, without the slightest hesitation, gave his answer directly: "The success rate is over eighty percent. Moreover, even if the Fusion fails, it is only the ritual itself that fails, and it will not cause any damage to either the Spirit Master or the Spirit Beast."
Huo Yuhao spoke with absolute confidence. The Spirit Soul technology he possessed had been practiced for Ten Thousand Years and was already highly mature.
The eighty percent success rate he mentioned was still based on the premise that the Spirit Pagoda personnel were unfamiliar with the operations; otherwise, the success rate would be even higher.
Hearing this answer, Di Tian nodded noncommittally and then fell back into deep thought.
Huo Yuhao glanced at Jin Li standing beside Gu Yuena, and Jin Li immediately understood.
She looked up and said to Di Tian, "Di Tian, I personally watched the entire process of Yuhao fusing with a Spirit Soul before. It is indeed very safe."
Di Tian glanced at Jin Li, then cast a sidelong glance at Huo Yuhao.
His voice was deep and majestic: "According to what you say, if this Spirit Soul technique is popularized, it would indeed be a good thing for the Soul Beast Clan. From the standpoint of the Star Dou Great Forest, I seem to have no reason to refuse."
At this point, Di Tian's expression suddenly turned solemn.
His gaze suddenly sharpened a bit, and his tone shifted abruptly: "But humans are cunning. On what basis does this seat believe that this Spirit Pagoda you speak of will sincerely cooperate with Spirit Beasts?"
Faced with Di Tian's question, Huo Yuhao already had a prepared response in mind.
His expression remained calm and composed, his tone frank and sincere: "I completely understand Senior Di Tian's concerns."
"So, if Senior Di Tian is not at ease, you can also join our Spirit Pagoda."
"Join the Spirit Pagoda?!"
A trace of hard-to-conceal surprise flashed in Di Tian's golden dragon eyes, and even his voice involuntarily rose a bit, clearly not expecting Huo Yuhao to say such a thing.
Huo Yuhao smiled and nodded, without the slightest hint of joking on his face: "That's right. Since fusing with Spirit Souls is something that both humans and Spirit Beasts participate in together, inviting Spirit Beasts to join the Spirit Pagoda and participate in the decision-making and management of the Spirit Pagoda is only natural."
Looking at Di Tian's surprised expression, Huo Yuhao continued, "If Senior Di Tian is willing to join the Spirit Pagoda, you can serve as a Vice Tower Master."
"The other Vicious Beast Seniors of the Star Dou Great Forest can also enter the Spirit Pagoda's council, enjoying the same voting and oversight rights as human council members."
Looking into Huo Yuhao's clear and sincere eyes, Di Tian fell silent for a long time.
Not many emotional fluctuations could be seen on his stern face that had remained unchanged for Ten Thousand Years, but deep within his golden dragon eyes, something was clearly loosening slightly.
Only after a long while did he slowly speak: "Cooperation is fine, but there is one thing you must remember. If this seat discovers in the future that the actual operation of the Spirit Pagoda is different from what you said today, then the Star Dou Great Forest will withdraw from the Spirit Pagoda at any time."
Hearing these words, Huo Yuhao knew that the matter was settled.
He immediately replied without hesitation, "Of course, there is no problem. You can withdraw whenever you want. People are free to come and go in the Spirit Pagoda, and we will never force anyone."
Although he smiled sincerely and openly, Huo Yuhao was secretly lamenting in his heart that the minds of these Spirit Beasts were ultimately a bit too simple, and even the Beast God Di Tian, who had lived for hundreds of thousands of years, was no exception.
Currently, the Spirit Pagoda needed Spirit Beasts because it was just starting out and needed the Soul Beast Clan to provide Spirit Souls.
But once the Spirit Pagoda grew and developed, possessing the technology to store Spirit Souls for a long time, the Spirit Pagoda would no longer need to rely on the Star Dou Great Forest.
At that time, even if the Star Dou Great Forest terminated the cooperation, it would not shake the Foundation of the Spirit Pagoda, nor would it affect its subsequent development.
The Star Dou Great Forest in historical records was probably how it ultimately went into decline.
However, although Huo Yuhao saw all of this clearly, he did not have the slightest malicious intent to burn bridges in the future at this moment.
He truly hoped that they could continue to cooperate. If humans and Spirit Beasts could find a new path of peaceful coexistence on the platform of the Spirit Pagoda, it would be far better than always hating and slaughtering each other like this.
Standing to the side, Gu Yuena took in the entire process of their "negotiation".
Her purple eyes lingered on Huo Yuhao for a long time, and she finally curled her lips into an extremely faint smile: "Then I hope this cooperation can go smoothly."
The current Gu Yuena was no longer as obsessed with getting to the bottom of things as before.
She no longer insisted on finding out exactly where that Silver Dragon King Reverse Scale came from, nor did she investigate whether the Golden Dragon King aura remaining on the Reverse Scale was real or fake.
She only hoped that Huo Yuhao could always maintain a good relationship with Spirit Beasts, so that when he ascended to the Divine Realm in the future, the Soul Beast Clan would at least have the support of one more God King in the Divine Realm.
...
A full half year had passed since Shrek Academy was destroyed. The catastrophe that shook the entire continent half a year ago had turned this Holy Land, which countless Students once yearned for, into scorched earth, and also burned most of Shrek City's prosperity to ashes.
Now, half a year later, the residential areas around Shrek City had gradually begun to be rebuilt under the joint assistance of the Federation and the Spirit Pagoda. New houses rose one after another from the ruins, and people's lives seemed to be returning to the right track bit by bit.
However, the land where Shrek Academy originally stood still remained in ruins.
No one cleared it, and no one rebuilt it.
What was even more sigh-inducing was that during this half-year period, people's discussions about Shrek Academy had grown fewer and fewer.
Shrek Academy, which had once been famous across the continent for twenty thousand years, seemed to be fading from people's hearts bit by bit, like the dust blown away by the wind on those ruins.
There were originally three major forces standing in a tripartite balance in Shrek City: Shrek Academy, the Tang Sect Headquarters, and the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters.
Now, Shrek Academy had been turned to scorched earth, and the Tang Sect Headquarters had also been heavily damaged in that attack, leaving only the Spirit Pagoda still standing tall.
Although Huo Yuhao and Gu Yue both knew in their hearts that Qiangu Dongfeng harbored evil intentions and was very likely one of the behind-the-scenes instigators of that catastrophe, the two of them had remained at the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters for the past half year and had not gone out to hide.
Because they were no longer the Juniors who could be easily manipulated in their youth. The current Huo Yuhao and Gu Yue's strength was already far from what it used to be. If Qiangu Dongfeng wanted to make a move on them, it would not be that easy.
Once they started fighting, the commotion caused would definitely not be small. With hundreds and thousands of eyes watching at the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters, even if Qiangu Dongfeng wanted to get rid of them, he would not dare to make a move blatantly at the headquarters.
Therefore, staying in the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters was actually the safest choice.
The eighty-third floor of the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters, Laboratory No. 9.
This was a private laboratory exclusive to Huo Yuhao, which Leng Yaozhu had personally applied for on his behalf.
The laboratory was brightly lit, with various precise Spirit Tool instruments neatly arranged on the workbench.
Huo Yuhao was standing alone in front of the main workbench, controlling the Spirit Tool instruments to 'edit' the Spirit Soul inside the operation cabin in front of him.
Just then, the communication Spirit Tool on his wrist suddenly vibrated violently, emitting rapid and short buzzing sounds.
Huo Yuhao stopped his movements, raised his wrist to glance at the caller information displayed on the communicator, quickly took off his protective gloves, and pressed the answer key: "Hello, Aunt Leng."
Leng Yaozhu's voice came clearly from the communicator: "Come to my office."
Huo Yuhao did not ask further and replied crisply, "Okay, I'll head over right now."
He turned off the communicator and casually sealed up the Spirit Soul on the workbench.
Then, picking up his coat hanging on the back of the chair and draping it over his shoulders, he walked with large strides out of the laboratory door toward the elevator.
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A/N:
I hope all of you are enjoying this story so far. I would appreciate some Power Stones if you can spare any. Leave a review if you like the story. Thank you.