Mecha? Butterfly Effect?

The following afternoon, Lin Yan did not see Yan Shaozhe arrive. Instead, he was met by someone unexpected.

The visitor was a burly man around fifty years old, broad-shouldered and thick-backed, standing at least seven feet tall.

"Hello, Student Lin Yan. I'm Qian Duoduo, vice dean of the Soul Guidance Department. I heard you were interested in Soul Tools?"

Seeing Qian Duoduo's kind smile and enthusiastic attitude, Lin Yan immediately understood why he had come.

Yan Shaozhe must have let word slip while seeking permission for him to view Soul Guidance Arrays, and Qian Duoduo had caught wind of it before coming today to probe the situation.

Lin Yan naturally welcomed this. Competition created pressure, after all. Otherwise, Yan Shaozhe would spend all day making empty promises!

"Hello, Dean Qian. I am indeed quite interested in Soul Tools. You must have come because you heard that I wished to borrow materials on Soul Guidance Arrays, correct?"

At those words, Qian Duoduo's smile grew even broader, and he nodded repeatedly. "Exactly! It is truly rare for a student like you to think this way."

"Soul Tools are bound to be the future trend of continental development. Yet Shrek has already been left far behind by the Sun Moon Empire in this field. This is precisely the critical time when we desperately need talent!"

"By the way, Student Lin Yan, have you studied Soul Tools before?"

Meeting Qian Duoduo's expectant gaze, Lin Yan nodded slightly. With a wave of his hand, he handed over the Crimson Flame Chain he had used before. "Dean Qian, this is a Soul Tool I made previously."

Qian Duoduo took the chain and was about to examine Lin Yan's skill when he heard Lin Yan add something else.

"Oh, right, Dean. I did not deliberately conceal the Soul Guidance Arrays in this Soul Tool. You may inspect them yourself."

Qian Duoduo's eyes lit up. He immediately activated his Soul Power and lightly tapped the chain in his hand with a special technique.

As Soul Power slowly flowed into it, dense Soul Guidance Array patterns appeared across the previously quiet surface of the Crimson Flame Chain.

The instant he saw the complete array, Qian Duoduo's eyes widened. He muttered incoherently, "This is... a Level-Five Soul Tool!"

"Perfect, absolutely perfect... It can even be inlaid and engraved like this. This is simply, simply a stroke of divine genius!"

Qian Duoduo suddenly raised his head and stared at Lin Yan with blazing eyes. "Student Lin Yan, can you tell me who your master is?"

"I never expected there to be such a Soul Tool grandmaster within the Three Great Empires! Your master's understanding of Soul Guidance Arrays has already reached the pinnacle!"

Only after Qian Duoduo fell silent did Lin Yan speak calmly. "Dean Qian, I have no master. I have always taught myself about Soul Tools."

Lin Yan's casual words were like thunder exploding beside Qian Duoduo's ears.

His throat bobbed, and his emotions trembled. The overwhelming shock even made his voice hoarse. "Really? You... you are not lying to me?"

At that moment, two thoughts constantly clashed in Qian Duoduo's mind. One told him it was impossible. Such profound comprehension of Soul Guidance Arrays could not possibly belong to a "child."

Yet the other thought told him that a genius like Lin Yan had no need to fabricate such an easily exposed lie.

Besides, "monsters" were meant to break convention and achieve what ordinary people could not!

When Lin Yan calmly nodded again, the scales in Qian Duoduo's heart tipped. Though he still found it hard to believe, he accepted it seven or eight parts out of ten.

Then boundless ecstasy flooded his heart. With such a "monster" joining them, Shrek's Soul Guidance Department could be saved!

Thinking of this, Qian Duoduo said excitedly, trembling from head to toe, "Student Lin Yan, come to our Soul Guidance Department! Whatever that stingy old bastard Yan Shaozhe can give you, I can give you double!"

Qian Duoduo's reaction did not surprise Lin Yan. He had deliberately revealed his Soul Tool expertise this time.

After raising the stakes like this, Lin Yan refused to believe that Shrek's upper ranks could still sit still—or rather, that Mu En could still sit still!

Before Lin Yan could respond, a white figure suddenly shot over from the distance. Accompanied by a furious curse, he arrived before the two of them in an instant.

"Qian Duoduo, screw your grandfather! You dare poach someone from my Spirit Department!"

Yan Shaozhe had lost all composure. Yesterday, when he had gone to discuss opening access to Soul Guidance Arrays with Qian Duoduo, Qian Duoduo had learned that Lin Yan was the one requesting it. He had brushed him off with vague excuses, saying only that he would consider it.

Unexpectedly, when Yan Shaozhe came knocking again today, he found that Qian Duoduo was not in his office. Knowing Qian Duoduo as well as he did, Yan Shaozhe immediately sensed that something was wrong.

He rushed to the Outer Courtyard at top speed, only to hear Qian Duoduo openly trying to poach his student—and calling him an old bastard!

Caught poaching, Qian Duoduo showed no embarrassment whatsoever. He shouted back, "Yan Shaozhe, he hasn't even passed the Freshman Assessment yet. How is he already part of your Spirit Department?!"

Yan Shaozhe grew even more furious and retorted without mercy, "Do you not know about Lin Yan's martial soul talent? Sending him to your Soul Guidance Department would be ruining a gifted student!"

"Besides, you acquiesced to this at the Sea God Pavilion meeting back then..."

Before Yan Shaozhe could finish, Qian Duoduo cut him off and replied forcefully, "The past is the past, and the present is the present!"

"You never told me before that Student Lin Yan's talent in Soul Tools was not the slightest bit inferior to his martial soul talent!"

"And how does joining the Soul Guidance Department count as ruining a gifted student?"

"With Student Lin Yan's talent, I am confident that I can train him into a Level-Nine Soul Engineer within ten years at most!"

Hearing Qian Duoduo's exceptionally high assessment, Yan Shaozhe was somewhat surprised. However, he had never valued Soul Tools much, so there was even less chance that he would yield now.

"So what if he becomes a Level-Nine Soul Engineer?"

"Could that compare to a Titled Douluo with Ultimate Fire? Besides, relying on an external force like Soul Tools is ultimately a side path!"

Seeing Yan Shaozhe still cling to this belief that Soul Tools were useless, Qian Duoduo became thoroughly enraged and shouted, "Yan Shaozhe! Do you know that the Sun Moon Empire's Soul Tool technology is now nearly a full generation ahead of ours?!"

"According to intelligence sent back from there, they have now developed some kind of war Soul Tool called a 'Mecha'!"

"If you keep stubbornly clinging to the old ways, one day the Sun Moon Empire's Soul Tool Shells will come crashing down on Shrek's heads! By then, it will be too late for regret!"

Wait!

Lin Yan, who had quietly remained inconspicuous at the side, suddenly heard a term that should not have existed in this era—Mecha!

That was not right!

If he remembered correctly, there had absolutely been no concept of mecha during the era of the Peerless Tang Sect!

Although Humanoid Soul Tools had already appeared in this era, they were still an unknown distance away from truly developing mecha!

Was this the butterfly effect he had caused?

Had he, this little butterfly, lightly flapped his wings on the Douluo side, and the wind it stirred reached the Sun and Moon side, prematurely blowing up the concept of mecha?!