area51novel Chapter 265 Limitations of the Law
Chapter 265 Limitations of the Law
These wondrous treasures of heaven and earth, born from the essence of the sun and moon, are difficult to cultivate, yet their harvest is surprisingly simple. In the live video broadcast, Huo Yuhao spent a mere twenty minutes harvesting all the treasures from the Cold Well. He acquired all the Ice Extreme Divine Crystals, but left behind a tiny seed of the even more precious Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow.
Such rare and precious materials are difficult to cultivate, and if possible, they should not be completely eradicated. Leaving even a small portion intact can preserve the treasure trove, and there is hope that the treasure vein will reappear after several years. Of course, if the environment around the treasure trove can be improved through some human intervention, the rebirth of the treasure may be even faster.
For example, right now, after Huo Yuhao emerged from the icy well, Long You immediately began constructing a spirit-gathering array using materials that Nan Shuishui had found. Long You didn't know the exact conditions under which the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow was formed, but in this world, the formation of treasure veins definitely required free-floating soul power in the air, so gathering some low-temperature free-floating soul power was a choice that couldn't go wrong.
While Long You was busy, Huo Yuhao had already started dividing the spoils with Nan Shuishui. Nan Shuishui took out some Ice Extreme God Crystals and exchanged them for a piece of Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow the size of an infant's palm from Huo Yuhao. She also gave Long You about twenty kilograms of Ice Extreme God Crystals. These were what Long You had earned through his own labor (magic array + some soul tools that were not available on the market).
After Long You finished setting up the magic array and completed the handover of the soul tool with Nan Qiuqiu, Huo Yuhao also carefully put away the Ice Extreme Divine Crystal and the Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice Marrow. The entire trip to the Earth Dragon Gate was thus concluded.
As for how to distribute the treasures obtained during this trip within the small team, and whether a portion of the spoils should be handed over to the academy, that's a matter for the next stage. Right now, everyone needs to busy themselves with other matters. News has come from the Sun Moon Empire that, in addition to the advanced soul master academies from previous years, sects will also be participating in this year's Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament.
This was big news. After receiving it, Long You could clearly sense that Nan Shui Shui's gaze towards them had become somewhat strange. It wasn't exactly hostile, but it carried a hint of scrutiny. As for Nan Qiu Qiu, this innocent child had already started to get fired up. Although she didn't say anything explicitly, the meaning conveyed in her eyes was clearly, "See you on the field."
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In the small courtyard that was temporarily rented in Dilong City.
Because the information was obtained directly from the academy's official website, Bei Bei and the others all learned about it after Zhang Lexuan led Huo Yuhao and Long You back to the courtyard.
Unlike Long You, who had already known about the hidden secrets of this competition, Bei Bei and the others, who had just learned the news, were genuinely quite emotional. While they were indeed students of Shrek Academy, everyone present could also be considered members of a sect.
The Tang Sect is a highly controversial sect. While its foundations aren't particularly orthodox and its overall development strategy is often questioned, it's undeniable that many of its techniques are quite useful. Furthermore, barring the interference of a certain God-King, the Tang Sect, as a non-academic research institution, could actually significantly contribute to the development of soul tools across the Douluo Continent. After all, profit is the primary driving force behind human progress, and profitable research accelerates the process.
Undoubtedly, Tang Ya hoped that the Tang Clan's name could shine again through this competition, but she knew very well that many of her teammates present were probably not particularly enthusiastic about it. Most importantly, Tang Ya couldn't be sure if the academy would support her idea. Although Shrek Academy certainly didn't lack participants, changing the participating team right before the competition was definitely not a suitable approach.
However, Long You wasn't curious about the final result. Having obtained the Ice Extreme God Crystal he had longed for, Long You's mind was now entirely focused on how to modify his battle armor and soul-guided power mecha.
Three days later, at Shrek Academy.
The new generation of Shrek Seven Devils, who had already completed the ideological unification work on the way, found Elder Mu under the guidance of Zhang Lexuan. Whether the academy would agree to temporarily change the participants depended entirely on whether this old man, whose physical condition had improved, was willing to agree.
Of course, Long You and He Caitou were not among those who went to see Elder Mu. These two had already begun crafting their new equipment using the materials they had just acquired, even before returning to the academy, and had no time to concern themselves with anything else. As for their identities in participating in this competition, that was completely unimportant. What Long You and He Caitou valued from beginning to end was the opportunity to operate openly in Mingdu and the chance to access the Sun Moon Empire's soul tool technology.
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Long You, who had been in seclusion for half a month in Shrek Academy's private laboratory and might miss the opportunity to travel with the team to the Sun Moon Empire if he didn't come out of seclusion soon, finally stood up from his messy workbench and carefully wrapped a soul guide belt made of neither gold nor jade around his waist.
Closing his eyes and silently adjusting his state, Long You's body was covered in a transformed battle armor in the blink of an eye. The battle armor, like flowing liquid glass, was a deep, dark blue, exceptionally beautiful. However, the focus now was clearly not on the battle armor itself, but on the belt that no longer seemed out of place thanks to its presence.
A token the color of obsidian appeared in Long You's palm, which was covered by battle armor. The token was a slightly elongated hexagon, with the longest distance between its two ends being a little over three centimeters. Its width was about 1.5 centimeters, and its thickness was completely uniform to the naked eye, about 0.5 centimeters.
Lowering his head slightly, Long You could see far more than he could with his naked eye. At the very least, this token, which appeared to be a single, solid black object to the naked eye, could be divided into at least six parts in Long You's view, and it was also inscribed with a rather complex array of runes.
Without much hesitation, Long You embedded the token into the belt he had been wearing. Well, "embedded" isn't quite accurate, because there wasn't actually an opening in the belt. So, it would be more accurate to describe Long You's action as "pressing" or "stuffing."
However you describe Long You's actions, the final result was that the token, which didn't seem large but was definitely there, was seamlessly integrated into his belt. The next moment, a tall and imposing light and shadow were released from the belt, and just a fraction of a second later, the light and shadow went from solid to ethereal.
After a somewhat mischievous mechanical voice announced, "Armor Combination," Long You was completely enveloped in a fifteen-meter-tall, sharply styled soul-guided powered mecha. The perspective shifted to the mecha's cockpit, where Long You excitedly discussed the various changes to this behemoth with Bourne, who was already integrated into the soul-guided powered mecha's auxiliary intelligence.
Considering that his opponents were mostly short people under three meters tall, Long You decided not to increase the height of his soul-guided power mecha any further. If it got any taller, the mecha would become less maneuverable, and the energy required to protect such a large area would be considerable, which would place a huge logistical burden on Long You.
"Everything is normal. With the help of the Ice Extreme Divine Crystal, the power of the energy gathering array has increased significantly, and we have also gained unexpected benefits."
"Resistance to extreme attributes?"
"correct."
"This is good news. Although it will be of little use in the upcoming competition, it should greatly benefit our future exploration plans."
"While you're right, I have to remind you that according to the message your teammates sent earlier, if you don't leave now, they probably won't wait for you."
At that moment, Bourne's voice seemed to possess a certain magic, and the soul-guided power mech, which had been performing various small actions, stopped in place as if it had lost power. A full three seconds later, Long You's slightly awkward voice finally rang out: "Send them a message and tell them to go first. Driving while fatigued is not advisable. I still hope to get some rest before setting off."
Although Huo Yuhao in this life avoided the chaos of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well and the Heartbreak Red due to Long You's interference, and didn't become a wheelchair-bound individual, the thought of Wang Dong'er, a ticking time bomb in the team, still made Long You's mind buzz, and he didn't want to be near her at all. If it weren't for the considerable resources the Sun Moon Empire had invested in their scheme, and Long You's desire to take advantage of their "offerings," he wouldn't have even considered going to the competition.
"This is troublesome! But that military ammunition depot is just too tempting. Unless my life is in danger, I really can't give it up. I need the pinnacle of the Sun Moon Empire's soul tool technology to improve my own. Only in this way can I achieve my ultimate goal!"
"The divine realm, the laws—to forge a weapon truly incorporating the laws that could influence the entire Douluo Star, without the permission of the divine realm (a divine position), is far more difficult than I imagined!"
Exhausted, Long You lay in the sensory-detached floating pod, muttering to himself during his last moments of lucidity before falling asleep.
Originally, upgrading the soul-guided power mecha and battle armor wouldn't have required such a long time for Long You, nor would it have left him in such an exhausted state. However, during the entire upgrade process, Long You encountered unprecedented resistance.
As time went by, Long You's understanding of the fundamental laws of the universe deepened. It was precisely this progress in comprehending the laws that made Long You notice a problem he had never noticed before: the restrictions imposed on mortals by the divine realm and divine positions. Even though the laws and techniques were clearly applicable, Long You simply couldn't use his carving knife to depict them onto his soul tool.
Each time Long You moved the carving knife, he felt extraordinary resistance; each time he lowered it, it consumed several times the mental energy required for normal carving. If it weren't for Long You's habit of practicing extensively within the Illusion Pearl until his success rate was 100% before actually starting, this upgrade of the Soul-Guided Powered Mech and Battle Armor might have directly destroyed these two pieces of equipment, which embodied a great deal of Long You's effort.
On one side, Long You was already fast asleep in his specially crafted sleep-restoration soul tool, rapidly recovering his depleted energy. On the other side, in the south of Shrek City, a small group of young men around twenty years old were idly waiting for something at a teahouse not far from the city gate.
"Tick-Tock" X2
Two seemingly overlapping sounds, the sound of water droplets falling, suddenly rang out from the wrist of a gentle and refined young man. Upon closer inspection, a bracelet that appeared to be made of jade was shimmering slightly on his wrist.
"Hmm? You sent two messages? Let me see. If you two are deliberately standing us up, then we can't let you off the hook."
The refined young man was none other than Bei Bei, and what Bei Bei wore on his wrist was a communication soul tool that had been recently made by Huo Yuhao, a level six soul tool, according to the design drawings provided by Long You.
With a slight thought, the information that had just been transmitted to the communication terminal was projected onto Beibei's retina. After Beibei finished reading the two fresh messages, the usually gentle-looking but cunning Beibei suddenly revealed a dark expression.
"Very good, very good. Not only have you kept everyone waiting here for so long, but you're also going to completely renege on everyone's plans. You two just wait, I don't believe you two can delay any longer once we get to Mingdu."
"Let's go. Those two guys have ruined themselves. We'll go first and clear the way for them."
Because of Long You and He Caitou—yes, He Caitou. These two upgraded their soul-guided power mechs together, and then, due to issues with the laws (He Caitou, being unfamiliar with the laws, had a slow inscription speed and hadn't yet felt any resistance), they both exhausted themselves. Almost simultaneously, they received warnings from their respective intelligent lifeforms and realized that their condition wasn't suitable for traveling. They instructed their intelligent lifeforms to send messages to Bei Bei and the others who might be waiting, causing Bei Bei and the others to become corrupted upon receiving the messages.
However, whether Beibei and the others have turned evil is not important to Long You and He Caitou at the moment, since people who have entered a deep sleep will not sneeze because of others talking.
As time passed, the Shrek team, which had set off earlier than the Tang Clan, was already close to the border of the Sun Moon Empire. Bei Bei and the others from the Tang Clan had also penetrated deep into the Star Luo Empire's territory. Only Long You and He Caitou met up at the gate of Shrek City with helpless expressions.