The Refining of Rare Metals, Su Yuntao's Amazing Discovery!
The Illustrious Virtue Hall was located within the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy and stood at the very pinnacle of Soul Tool research in the Sun Moon Empire.
It had countless Soul Engineers at Level 7 and above, and even a large number of Level 9 Soul Engineers conducting research into all manner of highly powerful Soul Tools.
As the master of the Illustrious Virtue Hall, Jing Hongchen himself ranked among the very strongest Level 9 Soul Engineers.
Lin Bai also knew that Jing Hongchen's teacher, Silver Moon Douluo Kong Deming, was the person closest to becoming a Level 10 Soul Engineer in the world today.
When Jing Hongchen noticed them just now, Lin Bai had actually noticed the unusual grandfather and granddaughter as well.
A single glance was all it took for Lin Bai to confirm their identities.
That was because Jing Hongchen's precious granddaughter, Meng Hongchen, looked almost exactly as she did in the Peerless Tang Sect comic.
"Greetings, Hall Master Hongchen. My two younger sisters and I are on our way to enroll at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy. Might we trouble you for a ride?"
At Lin Bai's words, even the shrewd and calculating Jing Hongchen could not keep a flicker of surprise from his eyes.
He had not expected a young man like Lin Bai, when faced with someone of his own great authority and influence,
to show not the slightest trace of fear, and even try to borrow his influence.
If he, the master of the Illustrious Virtue Hall, took them to enroll at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, their standing at the academy would certainly rise a notch.
However, judging by the bearing of Lin Bai and his companions, all three young people were quite extraordinarily talented.
Jing Hongchen had originally brought his youngest granddaughter out for a trip, intending to check the defenses around the Ming Dou Mountain Range while he was at it.
But if he could bring a few geniuses back to the academy, wouldn't that be an unexpected bonus?
"Lin Bai, was it?"
Jing Hongchen smiled at Lin Bai, then spoke.
"I heard that you seem to have considerable insight into Soul Tools. That's quite rare among you Soul Masters from the Douluo Continent."
"In that case, I'd like to ask you: do you think there are still any shortcomings in Soul Tools as they are now?"
"Go ahead and speak boldly. Whether you're right or wrong, I won't be hard on you."
"But if you try to fob me off, you won't be getting that ride!"
Lin Bai pondered for a moment after hearing Jing Hongchen's words.
Meanwhile, Meng Hongchen, Jing Hongchen's granddaughter, was gazing at Lin Bai with a lovestruck look.
Wow, what a handsome little brother!
Who knows how many times more handsome he is than my brother, who spends all day buried in the library taking notes!
But her gaze soon shifted to Qian Renxue and Huo Yutong beside Lin Bai, and she sighed.
Neither of the two girls opposite her was any less beautiful than she was; one could even say they surpassed her.
Moreover, Qian Renxue and Huo Yutong showed no concern at all over Jing Hongchen's question. Instead, they looked at Lin Bai with complete confidence.
It was as though they believed no question could stump the person beside them.
Then Lin Bai smiled and spoke.
"The Soul Masters of the former Douluo Three Kingdoms place unwavering faith in their own martial strength. Apart from Xu Jiawei of the Star Luo Empire, almost all of them look down on Soul Tools entirely."
"But the Sun Moon Empire, on the other hand, places so much importance on Soul Tools that it has overlooked their essence."
A sharp light flashed in Jing Hongchen's eyes the moment he heard Lin Bai's words.
"Oh? How so?"
Lin Bai pointed to the storage Soul Tool Ring on his hand and said,
"The essence of Soul Tools is that they depend on Soul Masters. A sufficiently powerful Soul Master using a sufficiently powerful Soul Tool—that's the true meta answer."
"But right now, the Sun Moon Empire is relying on its advantage in rare metal reserves to pursue an arms race on a massive scale. That's undoubtedly draining the pond to catch the fish."
"Rare metals are nonrenewable resources to begin with. Once they're inscribed with Soul Tool formation patterns, they can't be reused."
"At the rate the Sun Moon Empire is consuming rare metals, though, this war machine probably won't be able to keep running for very long."
"And there's only one way to solve this problem, and even raise the current upper limit of Soul Tools."
Jing Hongchen's expression had changed from calm to one of utter shock.
The problem of rare metal reserves being depleted too quickly had been raised by his teacher, Kong Deming, at a meeting of the Illustrious Virtue Hall a year ago.
Yet the child before him had spotted the very same problem as his teacher.
What terrifying insight and breadth of vision was this?
He had even come up with a solution?
"What method could solve it?"
Jing Hongchen hurriedly asked, his face full of urgency.
"Refining rare metals—or rather, forging them!"
Lin Bai snapped his fingers and smiled.
"Hall Master Hongchen, you must know of the Tang Sect, the number one sect on the Douluo Continent ten thousand years ago?"
"And the father of Sea God Tang San, who founded the Tang Sect, was Clear Sky Douluo Tang Hao, a divine smith."
"Rare metals forged by a divine smith like that can not only be used to their fullest extent, but also greatly increase the power of Soul Tools!"
Douluo Hall, Spirit City.
"Tang Hao?!!!"
Qian Daoliu slammed his palm down on the desk before him, and a violent surge of Soul Power instantly shattered it into countless fragments.
"Clear Sky Douluo Tang Hao was Sea God Tang San's father, and his son destroyed Spirit Hall?"
"And Xiao Xue, she too..."
At that thought, the rage on Qian Daoliu's face seemed almost to take physical form.
"Tang Chen, I never broke the oath we made back then!"
"Even though Xunji died because of your descendant, I only had the Clear Sky Sect seal its mountain and close its doors. I didn't wipe them out to the last!"
"But Tang San of your Clear Sky Sect destroyed Spirit Hall's legacy and severed the inheritance of my angel bloodline!"
"If you show no benevolence, don't blame me for showing no righteousness!"
"Send word to every branch hall under Spirit Hall. Search the entire Douluo Continent for any trace of Clear Sky Douluo Tang Hao."
"Second, Third, Fourth!"
"The three of you, come with me to the Clear Sky Sect. We will call them to account!"
Holy Soul Village, Heaven Dou Empire.
"Grandmaster Su Yuntao, thank you for coming year after year to awaken the Martial Souls of our village's children. We're truly sorry for the trouble!"
Village Chief Old Jack stretched out a trembling hand, clutching a handful of Silver Soul Coins that had blackened somewhat and were plainly long-stored, and tried to slip them into Su Yuntao's clothes.
"Sir, what are you doing?"
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Su Yuntao waved his hand and pushed Village Chief Old Jack's hand back.
"As Spirit Hall's awakening envoys, awakening children's Martial Souls is our job. Spirit Hall pays us a salary for it."
"It isn't easy for you to make money farming. If I took your money, how could I sleep at night?"
Suddenly, Su Yuntao's gaze shifted.
In the distance, a boy wearing blue cloth clothes covered in patches walked into the village along a path, carrying a portion of hangover soup.
"Whose child is that? Didn't he come to have his Martial Soul awakened today?"
Village Chief Old Jack said with a smile,
"That's Xiao San, the son of Tang Hao, our village blacksmith. He's well known as a sensible child."
"But he's only just turned five this year. It won't be time for him to awaken his Martial Soul until next year!"
Su Yuntao froze at Village Chief Old Jack's words.
Although he had been helping the children of Holy Soul Village awaken their Martial Souls just now, he had also heard the conversation on the Sky Screen.
Blacksmith... Tang Hao... Tang San...
"Sir, I have urgent business and must hurry back to Nuoding City. There's no need to see me off!"