After Gui Mochou's departure, Lady Shura recovered her clarity of mind. She looked at Xiang Shaoyun in confusion and asked, "Overlord, why did you tie me up?"

"Have you forgotten that you tried to kill me earlier?" Xiang Shaoyun asked with a frown.

"Kill you? Impossible! How will I try to kill you?" Lady Shura panicked.

"You have fallen under Gui Mochou's control. I'll deal with the manipulation technique he used on you. Everything will be fine," said Xiang Shaoyun. "Open up your mind for me. Do not resist. Everything will be fine soon."

"No, how would I fall under Gui Mochou's control? You must be lying to me!" said Lady Shura with disbelief.

Xiang Shaoyun stopped speaking and knocked her out. He then took her protective jade from her, avoiding her from falling under Gui Mochou's control once again and escaping using the jade. After doing all that, he sent a decent portion of his soul power into Lady Shura's head.

Xiang Shaoyun's soul power had reached the level of a mid-stage Sovereign. Although he still couldn't form a soul clone, it still wasn't an issue to split some of his soul to send them inside Lady Shura, who was currently completely defenseless.

After scanning Lady Shura, he unsurprisingly found an imprint in her soul. The imprint was somewhat crude, hence why it was detected so easily. Clearly, this was the imprint Gui Mochou planted using his puppet manipulation technique.

Xiang Shaoyun failed to completely erase the imprint with his soul, but he had the alternative of using the Nether Dragon Soul Curse to destroy it. Of course, doing so would plant his own imprint in Lady Shura's soul. But since it was planted by him, he would then be able to withdraw it from her.

Xiang Shaoyun immediately did that and returned Lady Shura her freedom.

Outside the battleground, Gui Mochou immediately sensed the destruction of his imprint. His expression changed as he muttered, "Xiang Shaoyun is actually so impressive. Even more of a reason to not let him live. I need to tell my master about this after I get back."

At this point, more than half the disciples had left the battleground. Some returned to the academy while some stayed in the Forest of Antiquity to continue training. Thus, Gui Mochou's withdrawal from the battleground did not attract much attention.

Meanwhile, Money had been forced to the point of using his true body before summoning a massive storm of lightning from the sky. Attacking with his innate ability, he was finally able to kill the steepdevil flower king. After killing the steepdevil flower king, he quickly returned to Xiang Shaoyun and stood guard by his side.

Xiang Shaoyun withdrew the Nether Soul Domain and fed Lady Shura some spring water, helping her recover before doing anything else. He himself needed to heal as well. He used the Secret Reversal Technique again and gathered more life force into his heart. Finally, his heart was once again pumping vigorously.

"If she had used more force, my heart would have been crushed," Xiang Shaoyun rejoiced.

In fact, he was completely unguarded against Lady Shura. Thus, she should have been able to easily crush his heart. He had a feeling she had been holding back in some way. Perhaps she had retained some of her reason then and was able to hold back. Otherwise, he would have died for sure.

After a long while, Xiang Shaoyun's heart was finally fully healed. At this time, Lady Shura woke up from her meditation. With a confused look, she asked, "What happened?"

Xiang Shaoyun gently stroked her hair and said, "Don't worry. Everything is fine now."

He did not blame her. After all, she did not do any of that voluntarily. If he had to blame someone, it should be Gui Mochou. He would definitely repay Gui Mochou for what he did.

Lady Shura was able to vaguely recall that she had done something she shouldn't have, and she apologized to Xiang Shaoyun in a vexed manner. But as he placated her, she eventually felt better.

Finally, Xiang Shaoyun had the chance to shift his attention back to the ancient stele.

With Xiang Shaoyun and Lady Shura working together, they were able to quickly clear all the steepdevil flowers. They had also gathered some pollen. The pollen contained an extremely powerful bewitching effect. Even a Sovereign would be temporarily disabled if they accidentally inhaled some. This pollen would serve as a good trump card during critical moments.

When the two arrived before the stele, they found a record of someone's insights on forming a soul foundation.

Xiang Shaoyun was overjoyed as he exclaimed, "This is exactly what we lack currently."

Although he had awakened some of his past life's memories, most of his memories were still buried. He still knew nothing about breaking through into the Soul Foundation Realm. After all, at that level of power, a simple accumulation of energy was not enough to break through. One also needed to form a soul foundation.

Although Xiang Shaoyun had entered the Dragon Phoenix Academy, nobody had ever taught him about soul foundation forming. If he still knew nothing by the time he accumulated enough energy to do so, he would waste a lot of time. Perhaps his only solution then was to seek the gravekeeper elder's guidance.

What he found here couldn't be more perfect for him. It would allow him to prepare for his soul foundation formation in advance, and he would have fewer things to worry about during his eventual breakthrough attempt.

"Lady Shura, we need to memorize this immediately!" said Xiang Shaoyun eagerly.

Joy was apparent on Lady Shura's face as well. She quickly started memorizing the contents of the record.

The Soul Foundation Realm was also known as the Sovereign Realm. After forming a soul foundation, one would unlock a new battle energy. To form the soul foundation, one needed to fulfill several conditions. First, one needed enough accumulated energy. Second, one's soul power needed to be up to par as well. And third, one needed the materials for the soul foundation formation. By fusing astral energy, soul power, and materials, one would form a soul foundation.

According to the record, one needed to connect one's astral energy with soul power. After fusing the two, one could then proceed to fuse the materials with them as well. A perfect soul foundation would then be formed.

Each person would have a completely different soul foundation. Generally, soul foundations were classed into three grades. The high grade was stronger than the mid grade, while the mid grade was stronger than the low grade. The grade of the soul foundation could be determined after it was formed, while the materials used played a role in affecting its quality.

Using regular materials, one would naturally form a low-grade soul foundation. That was a popular choice as it was the easiest method with lower requirements. The mid grade was generally the option most geniuses took. One's background or luck was important here. As for the high-grade soul foundation, it relied absolutely on one's luck and strength. After all, extremely rare materials were required to form such a soul foundation. One might not be able to get one of these materials even with an excellent background.