Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong stepped into Su Ming's laboratory side by side. Both stopped in their tracks almost instinctively, their eyes filled with undisguised shock.
Unlike Shrek Academy's ancient, imposing buildings, steeped in the aura of Soul Masters, this laboratory was brimming with cutting-edge technology, cold and precise.
Above them, energy-efficient lights cast a soft blue glow, illuminating the vast space as brightly as day. Smooth metal panels lined the walls.
There wasn't a single unnecessary ornament. A faint, cool scent lingered in the air, left behind by quenched metal, mixed with the subtle chill of some unusual mineral.
The floor was polished like a mirror, clearly reflecting their figures. Rows of neatly arranged metal shelves stood against the walls, holding all kinds of unfamiliar precision instruments and faintly glimmering mineral samples.
There were also assorted vessels marked with precise graduations. Every part of the layout spoke of rigor and order, utterly unlike the ordinary places where Soul Masters trained or forged.
Huo Yuhao instinctively slowed his pace, his gaze sweeping curiously around the room, his heart full of wonder.
He had grown up in the world of Soul Masters, where everything he knew and had seen involved Soul Rings, Soul Bones, and Soul Power cultivation. He had never seen a place like this, and every object seemed to hold an unknown fascination.
Soon, his attention was firmly drawn to the broad workbench at the center of the room. Numerous unfinished parts lay scattered across it.
Each piece had been polished to a smooth finish, its lines clean and edges sharply defined. They had all been forged from special metals, and even from a distance, their heavy solidity was palpable.
The parts came in all shapes and sizes: broad, flat components, sturdy columnar supports, and delicate connecting pieces. Put together, they seemed to outline a massive body, the beginnings of a Ferocious Beast's torso and limbs, yet every inch was made of cold metal.
They had none of the vitality of Soul Beasts. Nothing like the Soul Beasts he knew, they looked strange and peculiar.
Huo Yuhao couldn't help stepping closer to the workbench. He examined the Armor Beast components carefully, his brows drawing together in confusion. Then he turned to Su Ming and asked, "Big Brother Su, what is this? Its shape looks like a Soul Beast's body, but it's all made of metal. I can't make heads or tails of it."
Standing a short distance away, Su Ming watched the pure curiosity and thirst for knowledge in Huo Yuhao's eyes and nodded to himself. It only strengthened his resolve to recruit Huo Yuhao.
He had invited Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong to his laboratory because he had recognized Huo Yuhao's extraordinary talent: his Ultimate Ice Martial Soul and incredible potential in spiritual power.
Though young, Huo Yuhao already possessed strength and composure far beyond his peers. More importantly, he was the child of destiny.
He carried immense fortune around him. With him involved in the research, many things would go more smoothly, and numerous unseen obstacles could be avoided.
Su Ming had grand plans. The Armor Beasts he was researching were only the first step. What he truly wanted to do was develop technologies far beyond this era's understanding—tanks, airplanes, cannons, and robots—one by one, upend the established views of Soul Masters and Soul Engineers, and change the world with an entirely new kind of power.
But relying on his own strength alone made this research an almost impossible task. He could spend decades or even a century without making much progress. He urgently needed a trustworthy assistant with exceptional talent, and Huo Yuhao was the ideal candidate.
But he couldn't reveal all those plans recklessly. Shrek Academy might seem like a sacred ground for Soul Masters, but its upper ranks were
almost entirely made up of Tang San's faction. Their influence ran deep. If the academy's leadership learned of his research plans and his intention to overturn the existing order, he would surely meet a devastating end.
Even Mu En, Shrek's pillar, was a reasonable man, but he couldn't stand against the whole of Tang San's faction. Su Ming simply couldn't reveal any of it to him.
He had also considered recruiting Soul Engineer talent from the Sun Moon Empire. After all, the Sun Moon Empire was far ahead of the other nations on Douluo Continent in Soul Tool research and had many top talents.
But he had neither the funds to support them nor the strength to back up his ambitions. He had no way to poach talent from the Sun Moon Empire, and trying might only bring disaster down on him.
What was more, in Su Ming's eyes, the Sun Moon Empire might have advanced Soul Tool Technology, but its upper-class nobles were rotten to the core.
The gulf between them and the common people was severe, and they were entangled with Evil Soul Masters, scheming and scrabbling for their own benefit. They were no different from the nobles of the old society in his memories, and were among the things that would one day need to be overthrown and eradicated. Naturally, he had no intention of truly cooperating with them.
After considering it from every angle, Su Ming concluded that slowly cultivating Huo Yuhao and bringing him into his faction was the safest path.
Su Ming knew that he couldn't rush things if he wanted Huo Yuhao fully on his side. He had to take it step by step.
He planned to gradually instill Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong with advanced ideas from Earth, helping them see the true nature of this world: the nobility oppressed the people,
while the great sects monopolized resources. Even ordinary people with talent had little hope of rising above their station. Injustice and class barriers had long since taken root.
He wanted the two of them to understand that true strength did not mean becoming a god who stood above all and looked down on everyone, nor did it mean attaching oneself to the powerful and the sects.
It meant seeking a way forward for the people at the bottom, overthrowing the corrupt rule of the nobility, and allowing all ordinary people to stand on equal footing, with the right to survive and pursue power.
Still, he had some concerns. He didn't know how much these radical ideas would shock Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong.
Wang Dong in particular was Tang San's daughter, bound by blood to a Divine King of the Divine Realm. Whether these ideas could move her,
whether she could set aside her blood ties to her father, Tang San, and stand with ordinary people was still uncertain.
If Wang Dong never changed her stance and continued to side with Tang San, becoming an obstacle to his plans,
then once he grew strong enough, he would have to deal with the threat himself. He couldn't allow her to ruin his entire plan.
For now, the greatest variable in his plans was Wang Dong. Su Ming knew that, according to the original course of events, the Emperor Auspicious Beast of Star Dou Forest, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, would eventually leave the forest.
She would enter the human world and cross paths with Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao, setting off a chain of upheavals. He had to stop it in advance.
If the Emperor Auspicious Beast became entangled with the two of them, the events that followed would spiral out of control, and all his plans would come to nothing.
More importantly, he had to do everything in his power to stop Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, and the others from entering the Valley of Universe Inquiry.
He knew better than anyone that the so-called trials of the Valley of Universe Inquiry were nothing but a trap set by Tang San, a Divine King wantonly toying with mortals.
There, Tang San would force Huo Yuhao to choose between Wang Dong and Wang Qiu'er in a matter of life and death. He would have both women confess their love at the same time, give Huo Yuhao only three seconds to choose one to live, and make the other perish.
This inhumane trial seemed to test true love, but in reality, it was meant to bring Huo Yuhao completely to heel, turning him into a docile vassal of the Tang family. It would crush his pride and his true self, reducing him to a pawn controlled by a Divine King.
A rare talent like Huo Yuhao, brilliant and sincere at heart, absolutely could not be allowed to meet such an end. Su Ming would never let it happen.
He would protect Huo Yuhao, preserve that precious talent and integrity, and slowly cultivate him into his right-hand man.
Together, they would overthrow the rotten nobility of this world and break the Divine Kings' control over the mortal realm, so that all the common people suffering under oppression could stand tall and truly take charge of their own destinies.
Looking at Huo Yuhao's puzzled expression, Su Ming gave a faint smile and slowly stepped forward.
Su Ming's gaze fell on the Armor Beast components on the workbench. He spoke softly, taking the first step in shaping their beliefs:
"These are new life-forms I'm researching. I call them Armor Beasts. In time, you'll come to understand their purpose, and you'll learn that this world holds far too many truths you've never known..."