The Truth of the War, Kong Deming's Adopted Son

Xu Tinglan held his head high, chin slightly raised, a composed smile on his lips.

Faced with the old man's praise, he showed not the slightest humility and accepted it openly.

In his previous life, he had been a miserable student who had endured several years of the Hengshui Mode. Handling this sort of question naturally came easily to him.

Just a bunch of Douluo people. If I recited an essay like On the Faults of Qin, I really wondered what their expressions would be.

The old man smiled warmly. "Little friend, what is your name?"

"Xu Tinglan," the boy replied.

"What you said... sadly, the previous emperor never understood it until the day he died."

The old man sighed and fell into thought.

"As the Sun Moon Emperor, there was nothing wrong with caring for the common people, but he was too weak and begged for peace."

"Yet the Star Luo Empire repeatedly provoked us, crossing our bottom line time and again and sparking new wars."

"Wasn't it exactly as you said?"

"Hesitation only brings more bloodshed. Fail to act when action is needed, and chaos will be your reward."

Xu Tinglan's eyes widened.

He seemed to understand something.

Memories from the past churned continuously through his mind.

Ju Zi's father's death, Ju Zi's attitude toward Star Luo, the coup between the old Sun Moon Emperor and the current emperor...

That was it.

The old Sun Moon Emperor had been a member of the Peace Faction, firmly opposed to invading other nations.

Ju Zi's father had likely died five years ago, while the old emperor of the Peace Faction had passed away two years ago.

In other words, it was the Star Luo Empire that had started the war!

Holy crap.

Xu Tinglan's eyes widened as waves surged through his heart. He understood everything at once. So that was what had really happened.

The truth lay before him.

He only found the whole matter deeply ironic.

Kong Deming shook his head, his silver hair glinting.

"Why am I even saying this? I really must be getting old."

He shifted his gaze toward the man.

"Little Xuan, what did you come to see me for?"

The man took out the Thousand-Refined Moon Glow from his storage Soul Tool, lowered his head, and respectfully offered it to his teacher.

Kong Deming's gaze instantly sharpened.

His aged palm opened, and the piece of metal had somehow already appeared in his hand.

"This... this metal actually possesses vitality, a property similar to a Soul Bone, though very faint."

The old man's voice grew urgent.

"Where did you get it?"

"He forged it," Xuan Ziwen indicated.

"You?" Kong Deming's eyes widened.

The boy nodded and explained his thoughts.

"If Soul Tools could be integrated into a Soul Master's body, it would undoubtedly be much more convenient. I figured the metal would definitely need special properties."

"For all these years, I've kept trying to incorporate spiritual power into forging to see whether it would cause any changes..."

Kong Deming sank into thought.

He knew it could not be that simple, because he had also tried infusing spiritual power into forging, yet no such change had occurred.

"Are you confident you can forge it again?"

Xu Tinglan nodded.

"I'll try."

He had no intention of keeping it to himself, because much of Xu Tinglan's understanding of metals had come from Xuan Ziwen.

Besides, ideas needed to collide before progress could be made.

Exchanging ideas with Kong Deming would undoubtedly benefit him greatly.

And this was only Thousand Forging.

If he treasured the Mysterious Heaven Skill like Tang San did, then he had better prepare to cultivate for tens of thousands of years.

This Experimental Zone had a forging table.

Xu Tinglan lit the furnace and took out Moonlight Silver again, repeating the same process as before.

Perhaps because he had grown more practiced.

This forging took less time, only half an hour. A moonlit glow descended into the room, brilliant and dazzling.

The Thousand-Refined Moon Glow was quenched and lay in the old man's palm.

Kong Deming muttered to himself, "So I was going in circles?"

He suddenly understood.

He had spent decades focusing on Core Arrays and the laws of heaven and earth, yet had overlooked the most important thing: the material of the metal itself.

Who could have imagined that metal could be given spirituality?

At least, it had never occurred to him before.

Perhaps this was what it meant to be blinded by one's own involvement.

The old man explained all these thoughts of his to Xu Tinglan.

He sought Unity of Heaven and Man, then imprinted the laws of heaven and earth into Soul Tools as Core Arrays.

Master the power of laws, then achieve Unity of Heaven and Man and Unity of Heaven and Tool.

In the end, by existing under the same laws of heaven and earth, one could achieve Human-Tool Unity.

Xu Tinglan's scalp went numb as he listened.

He had never expected Kong Deming's line of thought to be so complex, but he quickly came back to his senses. This seemed to be the process of Heaven Forging!

Human-Tool Unity really was similar to the forging methods of later generations.

Worthy of the Father of Soul Tools!

Kong Deming came back to his senses and looked eagerly at the boy.

He seemed to feel that something was inappropriate and stroked his silver-white beard.

"I am rather old. Would it be inappropriate for me to take you as my adopted son?"

Xu Tinglan's mind exploded with a bang.

The man before him possessed Twin Martial Souls, was the Father of Soul Masters, a Level 10 Soul Master, and had combat power comparable to a Limit Douluo.

He actually wanted to take him as an adopted son?

As long as he did not do anything stupid, would he not be able to swagger across Douluo Continent from then on?

The key was seniority.

His status in terms of seniority would instantly rise to an incredibly lofty position.

"Adoptive Father above, please accept your son's bow!"

Xu Tinglan did not hesitate in the slightest. Hesitating even for a moment would have been disrespectful to his own future.

Tang San could acknowledge Yu Xiaogang as his teacher, so why could he not acknowledge Kong Deming as his adoptive father?

Kong Deming stroked his beard and laughed heartily.

"Good, good! Today brings double joy. I will personally forge a set of Soul Tool Armor for you."

"First, let me see your Martial Soul so I can forge something compatible with it."

Xu Tinglan activated Martial Soul Possession.

Ink-like Soul Power surged from his body, its presence heavy as a mountain and steady as a great peak.

An ancient-looking shield emerged at his side.

Kong Deming examined the shield from top to bottom, secretly astonished.

He looked at Xuan Ziwen and waved his large hand. "All right, I need to examine this child's Martial Soul."

"If there is nothing else, withdraw. Go tinker with your Civilian Soul Tools."

The man hurriedly backed away until he disappeared beyond the doors.

Xuan Ziwen simply could not understand it.

His teacher had actually taken a twelve-year-old child as his adopted son. What exactly was he planning?

If he was pleased by the boy's talent, taking him as a final disciple should have been enough.

Why take him as an adopted son?

The man could not figure it out.

Inside the Experimental Zone.

Only Kong Deming and Xu Tinglan remained.

The old man sensed the boy's aura and smiled as he shook his head.

"You truly are fated with me."

Behind Kong Deming.

A Silver Moon silently emerged, pure radiance spilling down, sacred as frost.

In an instant.

The Silver Moon transformed into a Haori hanging in the sky, blazing with heavenly majesty and scorching light.

"You possess the Black Tortoise Bloodline, but lack the balance of yin and yang."

"Only by completing the two energies can you transform the power of water and earth into the dual aspects of yin and yang."

Xu Tinglan blinked.

He had not expected this big shot's Martial Souls to really be Silver Moon and Haori, two top-tier Martial Souls. And he was only around one hundred and forty years old.

"I can sense that your Soul Power fluctuations have already reached level forty. Do not rush to obtain a Soul Ring. First, nourish your body properly."

Xu Tinglan nodded.

"Okay."

Since he said that, could it be that he had something good prepared for him?

After bidding farewell to his adoptive father, Xu Tinglan returned to his dormitory.

An orange-red identity card had appeared in his arms.

Sun Moon formed its background, with celestial mechanisms carved upon it. One glance was enough to tell that it was extraordinarily precious.