The Cafeteria's Discussion of Soul Tools

The Shrek canteen was bustling with noise, the aroma of food filling the air. Bei Bei, Tang Ya, and the others sat around a table, chatting animatedly while enjoying their meal.

Words flew back and forth in a lively and harmonious atmosphere, punctuated by bursts of lighthearted laughter. Su Ming alone remained outside of this camaraderie.

He was entirely focused on burying his head in his food, his chopsticks barely pausing as he ate with singular dedication.

Not long after, while the group was deep in conversation, Su Ming silently set down his bowl and chopsticks and walked straight toward the canteen's serving window.

Before long, he returned with a mountain of food: five succulent braised chicken legs cradled in his arms and ten full plates of fragrant meat balanced in his hands, drawing eyes as he walked.

The surrounding students cast looks of shock and awe, clicking their tongues in disbelief; they truly hadn't expected anyone to have such an enormous appetite.

Su Ming, however, remained completely indifferent to the stares, his expression calm and steady as he returned to Bei Bei's table.

He set the food down one by one, sat back in his original spot, and picked up his chopsticks to continue devouring his meal, as if everything around him were irrelevant and only the food on the table existed in his eyes.

Watching Su Ming, who had been silent the entire time and only cared about eating, Bei Bei shook his head helplessly during a lull in the conversation.

He nudged Su Ming gently with his elbow and lowered his voice, teasing, "Old Su, say something too. Don't just eat; join us for a chat."

With his mouth still full of food, Su Ming heard Bei Bei's urging and looked up to scan the group, all of whom were now looking at him.

He realized that he was the only one at the table just eating without a word, which was indeed a bit impolite.

He slowly stopped his chopsticks, raised a hand to cough twice to ease his embarrassment, and then looked at everyone present, asking:

"Since that's the case, I'll join the conversation. I actually have a question I'd like to ask you all: what are your thoughts on Soul Tools?"

As soon as the words left his lips, Tang Ya's previously gentle expression darkened instantly, her tone filled with irritation and disgust as she spoke without hesitation:

"I hate Soul Tools from the bottom of my heart! It is these foreign Soul Tools that have completely replaced the hidden weapons passed down by our Tang Sect for thousands of years."

"They have slowly destroyed the foundation of the Tang Sect, leading us to our current state. That is why I look down on Soul Tools, and even more so on the Soul Tool Department that specializes in them!"

Bei Bei nodded in agreement, his brows furrowed, his tone carrying clear rejection:

"I feel the same; I am very repulsed by these Soul Tools. In my view, Soul Tools are nothing more than heterodox paths transmitted from the Sun Moon Empire."

"Cultivating Soul Tools is purely opportunistic; not only does it squeeze the living space of our Tang Sect's hidden weapons."

"It is the root cause of the Tang Sect's gradual decline. They are far less reliable than the orthodox cultivation of martial souls."

Seeing the clear, decisive attitudes of Tang Ya and Bei Bei, Su Ming didn't press further, simply shifting his gaze toward Jiang Nannan to wait for her opinion.

Jiang Nannan lowered her eyes slightly, pondered for a moment, and spoke in a calm, cold tone:

"I don't have any particular thoughts on Soul Tools; I neither reject them nor intentionally promote them. In my eyes."

"They are just tools to assist in combat. There is no need to specifically follow the path of the Soul Tool Department, and besides, the Soul Tools on the market are quite expensive; ordinary soul masters simply cannot afford them."

Seeing Jiang Nannan express her view first, Xu Sanshi immediately acted as if he had found an opening. He quickly followed up, his face full of disdain and his tone making no effort to hide his contempt for Soul Tools:

"I think Nannan is right! To put it bluntly, these Soul Tools just allow soul masters to take shortcuts; it's complete opportunism!"

"If one blindly relies on these external objects, they will sooner or later ruin their own martial soul cultivation and lose even their most basic combat instincts. They will never achieve anything great!"

Hearing this, Su Ming rolled his eyes discreetly, secretly mocking him in his heart. This guy clearly hadn't thought it through at all.

He was just echoing Jiang Nannan's words without a single original thought of his own. Su Ming didn't expose Xu Sanshi's little scheme, instead turning his gaze toward the last two who hadn't spoken: Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong.

Wang Dong's stance was consistent with Bei Bei and Tang Ya's, and he spoke with full resistance and disdain:

"I also think the Soul Tool Department is a heterodox path. How could it be as noble as orthodox martial soul cultivation? Soul masters who rely on Soul Tools can't be considered true powerhouses!"

When it was Huo Yuhao's turn, he didn't express his view immediately. He was stunned for a moment, then awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

With a shy, embarrassed look on his face, he said softly, "Um... Brother Su, it's better not to ask me. I haven't been at Shrek for long, and I don't know anything about Soul Tools. I really can't give any useful evaluation."

Good grief. Among everyone present, besides the naive Huo Yuhao, the others all looked at Soul Tools with varying degrees of resistance, malice, or even hidden hostility.

It was only because Huo Yuhao's experience was too limited and he had no concept of Soul Tools that he hadn't made any negative comments; it wasn't that he genuinely accepted them.

Su Ming calculated in his heart. He had been planning to trick Huo Yuhao into dedicating himself to studying Soul Tools.

After all, the core array structure of an Armor Beast was extremely complex and required immense talent in Soul Tools. If Su Ming himself only had mediocre talent in this area.

Even if he spent a massive amount of time, he might not be able to research the essence of the core array.

If it really came to that, the situation would completely collapse, and Su Ming's subsequent battles—whether hunting evil soul masters or dealing with various crises—would inevitably be severely affected.

But Su Ming thought about it again: Huo Yuhao's monstrous talent for Soul Tools was something the entire Douluo Continent had witnessed.

If he could be the one to study it, the matter would likely succeed. That was why Su Ming intended to trick him into learning Soul Tools to help him work.

However, looking at the undisguised rejection from everyone present, Su Ming realized only then.

He had ultimately underestimated the degree of resistance that old-school soul master factions like Shrek and the Tang Sect from the original work held toward Soul Tools. This deep-rooted prejudice was far more serious than he had imagined.

Su Ming helplessly raised a hand to rub his throbbing forehead. He spoke with a speechless expression, his tone filled with frustration:

"Sigh, look at yourselves. What era do you think this is? Why are you still like those old fossils clinging to their prejudices, holding such bias and rejection toward Soul Tools!"