252: Soul Forging Manual

"What the heck is Life Force Sharing?" Huang Chen was startled upon hearing the prompt.

Zi Han said faintly, "It means if you lose two points of health, one point will be deducted from me."

"I see!" Huang Chen nodded. Since her strength far surpassed his, this contract was actually a form of protection for him at this stage, preventing her from setting him up.

After all, setting him up would be equivalent to setting herself up.

Huang Chen silently chose to accept. At this point, there was no room for him to back out. He just hoped this Demoness would behave herself.

[Ding! Contract signing complete!]

Hearing the prompt, Huang Chen breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed she hadn't truly set a trap for him, since if he died, she would be finished too. Having a hundred-million-year-old hag by his side might even allow her to serve as a "teacher" to help solve problems later on.

Zi Han looked at Huang Chen strangely. She hadn't expected to impulsively sign an Equal Contract with him. She sighed internally, "He got off easy."

Once the contract was signed, Huang Chen immediately said to Zi Han, "The contract is done. Quickly take back that binding spell of yours."

However, Zi Han did not reply. Her figure vanished right in front of Huang Chen.

"??"

So aloof?

Huang Chen looked bewildered, then checked the pet space. He saw Zi Han sitting cross-legged inside the pet space, while Old Six was so terrified he was hiding in a corner, trembling.

"I didn't order you to come in. How did you get in?" Huang Chen asked, puzzled.

"Do you know what an Equal Contract is? You have no right to order me around. I can enter or leave whenever I please," Zi Han said faintly.

...

"Holy crap, does that mean I have to guard against you suddenly appearing whenever I need to do something private?" Huang Chen exclaimed.

"If you don't mind, I can join in..." Zi Han put on that alluring expression again, then suddenly frowned and said, "Why do you only have this little bit of soul honey?"

"What do you mean?" Huang Chen was startled and quickly checked his inventory. The hundreds of Large soul honey blocks he had painstakingly collected were all gone.

"Y-y-you can take things from my inventory? You bandit! Give me back my soul honey..." Huang Chen cried out. If this was the case, would he dare put any good items in his inventory in the future?

"We share life force now, so isn't what's yours mine?" Zi Han continued faintly. "My strength increasing is a huge benefit to you. Hurry up and get more soul supplements..."

Huang Chen wore a mournful expression. Just as he was about to utter a few more condemnations, an ancient, simple book suddenly flew out of the pet space and landed in his hand.

[Soul Forging Treasure Codex]

"What is this thing?" Huang Chen stroked the four vigorous characters on the book. This book was like a piece of stone of some unknown attribute; besides having better material and looking ancient, it didn't even list a grade or prompt whether it could be learned.

"Learn!" Huang Chen silently chanted in his heart, just as he would when learning a skill.

"??"

"Why is there no reaction?" Huang Chen asked doubtfully.

"Giggle, giggle!"

Zi Han's silver-bell-like laughter came from the pet space again. "The items in this Star Abyss Minor World have all been turned into data-type objects by the rules, so skill books are directly imprinted onto your soul upon learning."

"As for me... I don't belong to this world, so the things I bring naturally don't have data attributes. You have to rely on your own comprehension to learn this... Furthermore, even if you could turn this book into a data-type item, it likely couldn't be imprinted."

"Because... this is an item from the Wendous Universe. Its grade is countless times higher than those so-called SSS-rank skills of yours... It can no longer be classified as a skill book. It could even be said that this is the manifestation of the rules of the Wendous Universe. If I hadn't signed the Equal Contract with you, I wouldn't have brought it out!"

"I see!" Huang Chen exclaimed. It seemed like a highly advanced item. Then he asked, "What benefit is there for me in learning this?"

"Heh heh!" Zi Han chuckled lightly. "The Hongmeng Universe cultivates the Five Elements, increasing affinity by constantly using skills and sensing elements. The Wendous Universe cultivates the soul; they increase elemental affinity by raising the strength of the soul... Both paths lead to the same goal, but neither can achieve perfection."

"There is a saying circulating throughout the Great Universe: the Great Dao is incomplete, and this flaw must be compensated by devouring the fundamental origins of other universes. Therefore, different universes are constantly engaged in warfare."

"Just like the Hongmeng Universe and the Wendous Universe, they have been fighting for countless trillions of years... Unless one side is destroyed, the fighting must continue."

"Oh!" Huang Chen nodded thoughtfully, then raised a question, "Then why can't both sides share their cultivation methods and work together to compensate for the flawed Heavenly Dao?"

Hearing this, Zi Han rolled her eyes. "Do you think it's hard for those big shots to create a cultivation method? The problem is that once you leave the Source Universe, both bone structure and Soul Bones are already set. It's like a building that's already constructed—if you suddenly discover its quality is lacking, can you tear it down and rebuild it?"

"And giving it to the newly emerging clans in the Source Universe to start from scratch is certainly the best option, but... heh heh!"

Zi Han didn't continue, but Huang Chen understood the meaning behind her words: giving the cultivation method to emerging clans, who would then emerge with higher quality bone structure and Soul Bones, would threaten the status of their own clan. In summary, two words—"selfishness."

However, putting himself in their shoes, if Huang Chen were in that position, he would likely also prevent other clans from becoming too powerful for his own benefit.

This... is human nature.

Suddenly, Huang Chen felt the Codex in his hand weigh a thousand jun! This was something that concerned whether he, and even the entire Huaxia Clan, could rise up and stand at the apex of the universe.

The person chosen to learn this must be extremely cautious, or once it is leaked, it could bring about utter destruction.

Zi Han was essentially putting him on the hot seat. As soon as he learned it, from that moment on, he would be completely on the same boat as this Demoness.

But could he realistically refuse to learn it?

It was like a super goddess stripping down and climbing into your bed, and all you wanted to do was chat?

He trembled as he opened the Soul Forging Treasure Codex.

[Preface: The Soul is the Spirit of All Things! Soul Forging allows one to see one's true nature and more easily connect with the elements...]

[Volume One: Calming the Soul. Let him be strong, let him be strong; the gentle breeze brushes the hillside...]

"My goddamn 'Let him be strong, let him be strong'... Is the author of this book a fan of Old Man Jin??"

However, as he continued to flip through it, he felt the exceptionally solid Soul Power, refined by the Soul Devouring Bees, seemed to be compressed even further.

With a thought, a block of soul honey that Zi Han had stolen into the pet space immediately disappeared.

Upon seeing the soul honey in his hand, Huang Chen's soul once again issued a strong craving.

"It works!"

Huang Chen was overjoyed and tossed the soul honey directly into his mouth. After a short while, he slowly exhaled and shouted, "Awesome!"

When he looked at Zi Han again, his previously depressed expression instantly turned into a beaming smile. "Use the soul honey however you want. I'll go collect more when it runs out."

"Say, do you have any more codices like this... How about giving me a cartload?"