"Welcome, to my laboratory"

"Understood." Lan Fuzi and the Demon Empress nodded. The two retrieved several glass jars from their storage bracelets, placing the unconscious Evil Soul Masters into separate containers. The Evil Emperor then drove a soul-guided truck over, and they loaded the jars onto it before the Evil Emperor drove them away from the crime scene.

Before long, two teams from the Pingfan Alliance and the Aodu Chamber of Commerce arrived at the scene. The leaders of these two groups of soul masters and soul engineers were a Soul Saint and a seventh-rank soul engineer, respectively.

"How about it, brother? Have you found that young man named Zandik?" the Soul Saint asked.

The seventh-rank soul engineer shook his head, having monitored the area with his soul tools along the way. "No. If the Xishui Alliance soul masters had wanted to capture them, there would have been a battle regardless. Yet, I found absolutely no traces of fighting along the way, not even any residual soul power."

This seventh-rank soul engineer hailed from the Aodu Chamber of Commerce—a front for the Sun Moon Empire's military in the Ming Capital, with Xu Tianyuan as the ultimate backer. "This young man named Zandik holds an entry permit from my young mistress; his background is not simple. Since those Xishui Alliance Evil Soul Masters have all gone missing, we might as well assume that Zandik has a Title Douluo protecting him. If he returns to the underground soul fighting arena tomorrow, it means he is fine."

The situation played out exactly as the soul engineer predicted. On the afternoon of the following day, Kong Bo returned to compete, and Skaven, acting as the representative for the Xishui Alliance at the underground arena, made no response. This confirmed that there was indeed a powerful figure backing Kong Bo. As for the Evil Soul Masters who had gone to intercept him, everyone tacitly agreed not to mention them.

Meanwhile, in the Pingfan Alliance's lounge, Ye Guyi watched Kong Bo fighting in the arena, seemingly speaking to someone. "Senior, are you saying there is something strange about this Zandik? Very well, this junior understands. Those Evil Soul Masters who went to intercept him? I heard from several experts that they couldn't even find their bodies."

As for where those Evil Soul Masters were? Naturally, they were contributing to Kong Bo's research.

Yang Qing was a Soul Ancestor-level Evil Soul Master whose martial soul was a Bloodthirsty Demon Wolf. A rank-and-file member of the Holy Spirit Cult, he had been assigned by his superiors to the cult's branch in the Ming Capital—the Xishui Alliance—where he served as a thug under Skaven, the manager of the underground soul fighting arena. His final mission had been to follow other Evil Soul Masters to intercept a young soul master named Zandik.

The group of Evil Soul Masters had trailed Zandik and a woman into a secluded alley, only to witness a scene they would never forget. Nine soul rings had appeared around the woman; she was a Title Douluo. It was the first time these Evil Soul Masters had ever seen such a top-tier expert, and they had lost consciousness shortly thereafter.

"Where... where am I? I'm actually still alive? That Title Douluo actually spared me?" Yang Qing did not know how long he had been unconscious before waking up. Once he came to, he discovered he was bound and trapped inside a glass jar.

Yang Qing lifted his head and saw Zandik, wearing a bird-beak mask, standing in front of his jar, seemingly conversing with someone. At this moment, Yang Qing not only saw Kong Bo but also other jars. Most were empty, but the contents of a few others made his skin crawl. He saw that his fellow Evil Soul Master teammates were no longer entirely human; parts of them had been replaced with limbs from soul beasts similar or related to their martial souls. For example, a Soul Ancestor with a Bloodthirsty Mad Bear martial soul had his hands replaced with bear paws.

Kong Bo was currently conversing with Electrolux. "Elder Electrolux, it seems I was too ambitious. The replacement of human parts with soul beast parts cannot be rushed; doing it all at once is impossible. It must be done step by step. It is just a pity that they died before I could use the Spirit Condenser to extract their spiritual power. What a waste, truly a pity."

Electrolux replied within Kong Bo's mind: "You youngster, you are truly ruthless. You spent two and a half years watching mecha anime just for this day, didn't you? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now that you are the one holding the scalpel, you truly don't even blink."

"You flatter me, Elder Electrolux," Kong Bo said, pulling out an experimental report. "Elder, look at the current data. The stronger a soul master's physical constitution, the higher their tolerance for this grafting process. Therefore, those soul masters with avian or bat-type martial souls do not have as high a tolerance as those with bear or wolf-type martial souls."

Just then, Kong Bo heard the sound of Yang Qing struggling inside the glass jar. Kong Bo smiled and said, "Elder, look, he is awake."

Kong Bo smiled as he deactivated the sound-dampening field around Yang Qing, who immediately let out a shout: "Where... where is this?"

"Respected sir, welcome to my laboratory to participate in my experiment," Kong Bo said calmly. "Although you intended to intercept me, I am a person who returns evil with kindness. I have a piece of good news and a piece of bad news. Let us start with the good news: with my help, you will gain even greater combat power."

Kong Bo then pointed to a jar where the soul master no longer had hands; they had been replaced with bear paws, and his legs had been replaced with bear limbs. As he pointed, he introduced the subject to Yang Qing: "In my eyes, so-called humans are merely complex machines. If you dismantle certain parts and modify specific areas, the performance of this machine can be easily and significantly improved."

"Since you soul masters pursue the pinnacle of combat power, you can replace unnecessary parts to achieve even greater strength. Your flesh is too fragile; why not replace it with a stronger body?"

"No!" Hearing Kong Bo's words, even an Evil Soul Master like Yang Qing felt his blood run cold. What did he mean by replacing human parts with soul beasts? He looked down at his own arms and legs and saw they had already taken on the appearance of a wolf's limbs. This left Yang Qing both terrified and furious. What kind of madman was this Kong Bo to perform such modifications on him? "You... you madman, you devil! Our Holy Spirit Cult will not let you go! They will not let you go!"

Kong Bo did not get angry at Yang Qing's curses; instead, he tilted his head. "Oh my, being called a devil and a madman by you Evil Soul Masters—should I feel happy? This is a validation of my research results."