"Yunze of Sun Moon Royal Academy wins!" the referee announced the result.
The audience showed disappointment. The first five minutes of the match had been exciting, but it was a pity the two contestants did not continue fighting.
Once the final champion was decided, the awards ceremony began. A prince of the Star Luo Empire stepped onto the competition stage.
The prize for the tournament was a relatively complete 40,000-year-old Purple-Gold Tortoise Right Arm Bone—a high-quality defensive-type soul bone.
In truth, this soul bone had been prepared by the empire specifically for Long Yue, as it suited him very well. They never expected, however, that an even more monstrous contender like Yunze would appear and steal it away.
The foreign affairs minister who had invited Sun Moon Royal Academy now regretted it deeply. If he had known this would happen, he never would have invited them.
Had they only invited Shrek Academy, this reward would surely still belong to their imperial contestant instead of being taken by someone from another nation!
After completing the official procedure, Yunze casually stored the soul bone and stepped off the stage.
Besides the individual finals today, there were still mecha and battle armor competitions to follow, so the audience did not disperse immediately.
Yunze and Gu Yuena did not stay; they left the arena and headed back to the hotel.
Without a council member protecting them, Yunze still had his mecha and powerful soul tools. Additionally, this was Star Luo City, so there was no need to worry about safety.
Once they returned to the hotel, Gu Yuena followed Yunze into the room.
"Let's see how you want to handle this." Yunze handed the soul bone to Gu Yuena without the slightest reluctance, completely casual.
Sensing the energy fluctuations within the soul bone, a trace of sorrow flashed across Gu Yuena's eyes. She stared at it briefly, then handed it back.
"You should absorb it. This soul bone will be helpful for your strength."
This soul bone was useful to Yunze. Letting him absorb it was better than burying it in the ground—at least it would be put to good use.
Yunze shook his head with a smile. "I don't want to absorb it, and I can't absorb it. This soul bone cannot integrate with my body."
"Why?" Gu Yuena asked in confusion.
"It's a matter of level. Only bones or bloodlines of the same tier as my bloodline can fuse with my body."
"This soul bone is too inferior compared to my bloodline. Even if I wanted to absorb it, I couldn't. My body would reject it naturally," Yunze explained.
"I see…" Gu Yuena finally understood. She looked at the soul bone again. "In that case, we can only bury it. As a soul beast, I also can't absorb a soul bone."
Since neither of them could use it, leaving it idle seemed pointless. It might as well be buried and given a destination.
"It's up to you. If you want to bury it, go ahead. If not, you can keep it. A soul bone isn't only useful through absorption," Yunze said.
Hearing that, Gu Yuena suddenly recalled certain uses for soul bones, and her eyes lit up slightly.
"In the Spirit Pagoda's Spirit Ascension Platform, some special soul beasts are formed using soul bones as a base. If they can utilize soul bones, we should be able to as well."
As she spoke, her large sparkling eyes turned toward Yunze in anticipation.
"Oh? I didn't know about that application." Yunze admitted. He wasn't as knowledgeable about the Spirit Pagoda as Gu Yuena.
"However, I really can make use of this soul bone. You should also be able to sense the origin imprint of the soul beast within it."
"If we integrate that origin imprint into a mecha, it would greatly enhance its power."
"Once completed, a black-grade mecha could likely reach the level of a Rank 95 Super Douluo."
Yunze added one more point, "Don't worry, fusion with the mecha won't require grinding the soul bone into powder."
Currently, the mechas they crafted couldn't reach the Super Douluo level—they were typically only equivalent to Rank 91–92.
The mechas he made for the Lava Monarch and the Flame Nine-Headed Bird were specially enhanced versions, able to reach about Rank 94, still slightly short of the super-level.
Delight filled Gu Yuena's expression. After briefly hesitating while holding the soul bone, she decided to put it to use.
"Then I'll leave it to you," Gu Yuena said happily as she returned the soul bone to Yunze.
Yunze accepted it and smiled. "I'll handle the design. But you'll be the one doing the practical work."
"Huh?" Gu Yuena's smile froze as her face fell. "But I don't know how!"
"Your simplified magic array is still way too complicated. It's impossible to learn in just a few months."
"Not just months—even after a few years, I might not be able to master it. Asking me to carve now is just making fun of me!"
"With your current Spiritual Abyss Realm mental power, once your soul power reaches the Soul Emperor level, you'll be able to carve eighth-level arrays."
"By then, I'll design a normal version of the mecha. With your skills, you'll have no problem engraving a standard formation."
"As for the soul-spirit integration device and final assembly, I'll handle those. You can't create those yet," Yunze explained.
"…Fine," Gu Yuena agreed reluctantly.
The eighth-level metal required for the mecha would need Bear Lord to forge, so they couldn't start immediately anyway.
Gu Yuena's soul power had already reached Rank 55. After they returned to the Douluo Continent, she would likely break through to Soul Emperor. By then, Bear Lord could forge the metals while she carved the array.
Two days later, the two-vs-two finals began. Yunze and Gu Yuena faced Long Yue and Dai Yun'er.
The battle held no suspense—Yunze and Gu Yuena won with little effort.
Although the reward for the two-vs-two event was inferior to the individual match's ten-thousand-year soul bone, it was still highly valuable—a ten-thousand-year Soul-Refining Flower.
The primary effect of the Soul-Refining Flower was to enhance spiritual power. It was said that upon consumption, it could increase mental strength by nearly 800 points.
Such a spiritual object was incredibly precious and rare—a dream treasure for spiritual-type soul masters.
The Star Luo Empire was willing to offer such a rare item entirely because they believed Long Yue and Dai Yun'er would secure victory.
Simply put, this ten-thousand-year Soul-Refining Flower was prepared for Dai Yun'er. Since it was for an imperial princess, they could afford to be generous.
Yet, in the end, Yunze and Gu Yuena snatched it away alongside the ten-thousand-year soul bone.
The Star Luo Emperor was furious, but there was nothing he could do. The reward had already been announced; they couldn't change it midway.
Compared to the loss of a soul bone and spiritual treasure, the empire's prestige and honor were more important—besides, he wasn't someone who couldn't accept defeat.
Neither Yunze nor Gu Yuena consumed the Soul-Refining Flower immediately. Using it as is would not maximize its effect—it would be like feeding peonies to a cow.
Yunze planned to use the Soul-Refining Flower as the main ingredient to refine a furnace of Soul-Refining Pills. That way, multiple people could partake, and the medicinal effect would be stronger, fully utilizing the spiritual treasure's value.
However, they currently lacked sufficient ingredients for pill-refinement, so they could only preserve the flower for future use.