The city was full of traps. I want to go back to the countryside...
Lu Chuan had never imagined
that last night's drinking session
had all been a ploy to pump him for information!
And his teacher had been in on it, too!!
"Teacher, do you know any other presidents of Blacksmith Association branches?"
Lu Chuan gazed hopefully at Mang Tian.
He might have been firm when turning down Mu Chen,
but he didn't want his path to becoming a Godsmith
to end here, either!
The more he forged,
the more he felt the benefits it brought him.
Never mind the improved fitness and precise control over his strength—
just Spirit Forging alone had raised his understanding of life to a whole new level!
He had a feeling
that if he had enough Soul Power,
he could even start creating life!
"What, where are you thinking of going? I thought you'd been recommended to Eastsea Academy's advanced division. Mu Xi's there, too!"
Mang Tian raised an eyebrow and gave Lu Chuan a sly grin.
If they hadn't let the truth slip after a few drinks last night,
he wouldn't have known
that this kid had so many schemes up his sleeve!
Under Mang Tian's stare, Lu Chuan's face reddened.
Did he like Mu Xi?
Probably not!
He'd never even met her.
He simply wanted to
borrow Mu Xi's influence
to learn Soul Forging
if he had no other choice.
"I'm doing all this so I won't have to leave you, and you still teamed up with an outsider to set your own student up? What kind of teacher does that?"
Enough was enough!
Lu Chuan exploded, too.
Seeing that Lu Chuan was genuinely angry, Mang Tian hurried to placate him. "Don't be mad. This time, your teacher was wrong. But I couldn't help it either. A higher-ranking official can crush you with a single finger!"
"So you sold me out?" Lu Chuan glared at Mang Tian, annoyed.
Mang Tian gave an awkward laugh and quickly changed the subject. "Well, if you're not going to Eastsea City, where do you want to go? Skysea City?"
Lu Chuan shook his head, his eyes lighting up.
"I want to go to Sun Moon City. Skysea City is still too close to Eastsea City. I need to get farther away and lie low!
"More importantly, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy in Sun Moon City takes forging very seriously.
"Every so often, they invite Saint Craftsmen from the Mingdu Blacksmith Association to give lectures!"
Sun Moon City
had once been called Mingdu.
It lay in the west-central part of Douluo Continent.
Aolai City, on the other hand, was a small coastal city on the eastern shore of the Douluo Federation.
If he took the Soul Guidance Train,
he'd have to pass through two major cities—Eastsea City and Shrek City—as well as a number of smaller cities before he could get there.
It was simply too far!
The one advantage was
that, as far as Mang Tian knew,
the Mingdu Blacksmith Association had five Saint Craftsmen!
Two Eight-Star Saint Smiths and three Seven-Star Saint Smiths!
But blacksmiths all belonged to one family.
If Mu Chen said that Lu Chuan was his student,
then Lu Chuan wouldn't be able to learn anything anywhere he went.
There was an ironclad rule among blacksmiths:
a student could have only one teacher.
If he formally acknowledged another as his teacher,
it would be considered betraying his master,
and the entire association would look down on him!
That was one of the reasons
Mang Tian had never let Lu Chuan take another teacher.
He was afraid of holding Lu Chuan back!
"Xiaochuan, with your talent, I still recommend that you go to Shrek Academy."
"Whether you want to become a powerful blacksmith, a mecha designer, or a mecha repairer... first and foremost, you still need to become a powerful Soul Master!"
"Though the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy is somewhat ahead of Shrek Academy in forging, mechas, and Soul Tools, no other academy can compare to Shrek when it comes to cultivating Soul Masters!"
"When I was young, I neglected my Soul Master training and made rapid progress in forging instead. As a result, when I reached Soul Forging, my cultivation wasn't high enough, and I've been stuck just short of becoming a Saint Craftsman ever since!"
After hesitating for a long while,
Mang Tian finally gave his advice.
In doing so, he'd also reopened an old wound with his own hands!
Only then did Lu Chuan understand
that his teacher couldn't advance to Saint Craftsman because his Soul Power was insufficient!
Maybe this had been mentioned in the original story, but he hadn't remembered such a minor detail.
In that case, I'll get my teacher a thousand-year-old Soul Cleansing Grass and help him break through Soul Ancestor to Soul King. Then I won't have to travel all the way west!
Lu Chuan didn't really care whether he went to Shrek Academy or the Sun Moon Federation Soul Engineer Academy.
As the king of the Soul Beast race,
he considered all these top Soul Master academies
hostile forces!
His ultimate goal
was to join the Federation
once his strength had recovered.
Of course,
he wasn't doing it to protect the Federation,
but to start a war!
There were simply too many top human experts in this world.
Under the constraints of the world's laws,
even if he recovered his peak strength,
he'd only be able to wield the power of a demigod!
He was capable of killing eight, nine, or even ten Limit Douluos—or even demigods—
but he couldn't finish them off quickly.
The moment he revealed his true form as the Golden Dragon King,
war between humans and Soul Beasts would erupt!
And if he were held up then,
who knew how many more losses the already dwindling Soul Beast race would suffer?
So
Lu Chuan wanted to work behind the scenes,
stirring up war
and making humanity tear itself apart.
The Federation had always wanted to destroy the Spirit Pagoda, the Tang Sect, and Shrek Academy, as well as conquer the other two continents.
That made it an ideal force for Lu Chuan to join!
Once he joined the Federation,
all he'd have to do was guide events in the right direction,
and a war that swept across the entire continent would break out!
By then,
everything would be rebuilt,
and the Soul Beast race could seize back the territory that belonged to them!
But
the one thing that made Lu Chuan hesitate was this:
if he started a war,
it might harm people like Tang Ziran, Lang Yue, and Mang Tian...
good, kindhearted people like them!
They didn't fight over things or covet what wasn't theirs.
They wouldn't fence off the world around them and hoard anything good,
nor would they turn a blind eye to the weak.
They'd even sacrifice themselves to help others.
People like that
didn't deserve to die!
But
humans and Soul Beasts were natural enemies.
As long as humans still needed Soul Rings and Soul Bones from Soul Beasts to cultivate,
the grudge between the two races could never be resolved!
The weaker side would eventually fight back,
until one side was wiped out completely!
"Teacher, if one day I turn bad—if I become utterly evil and kill without a second thought—will you regret teaching me?"
After a long silence, Lu Chuan asked.
Mang Tian froze at his words.
He'd never expected Lu Chuan to ask such a heavy question.
But when he saw the worry in the boy's eyes,
he decided to answer seriously.
"I won't regret it. Even if you go and massacre a city tomorrow, I'll still say the same thing today."
"Why?" Lu Chuan asked, confused.
Mang Tian chuckled softly.
"Because you're kind right now.
"You weren't born evil.
"If one day you turn evil, that doesn't necessarily mean it's your fault.
"If we trace things back to the source, we might find that the world wronged you!
"Perhaps evil belongs to this world, while you're the only one who stands for justice!"
After saying that, Mang Tian fell silent.
He simply stayed by Lu Chuan's side.
He didn't know what had come over Lu Chuan
or why he'd suddenly asked such a question.
He didn't know how to comfort him, either.
The only thing he could do was stay with him.
He believed,
Given Lu Chuan's intelligence,
he would surely be able to think it through
and emerge from it with his reason intact.
"Trace it back to the source..."
"This world is what's evil..."
Lu Chuan repeated those words,
and somewhere deep inside,
he seemed to grasp the crux of the problem.
From the very beginning,
it had never really been a conflict between humans and Soul Beasts,
but the mistake of the Douluo Will!
First, Soul Beasts were naturally powerful,
feeding on all living things
and ruling Douluo for countless eras.
Then the human race produced its first Soul Master to absorb a Soul Ring,
and the Martial Soul system came into being.
They rose up in resistance,
and began hunting Soul Beasts in ever greater numbers!
But this wasn't the fault of humans or Soul Beasts.
Both sides were fighting to survive!
The only one at fault
was the will of Douluo Planet!
The Dragon Horse Galaxy grew stronger by tempering its bloodlines,
while the Crimson Jade grew stronger by devouring energy from outside.
One relied on its own strength,
the other on invasion.
Only the Douluo Galaxy
relied on internal strife!
It was practically raising poisonous insects to fight each other!
As time went on,
the strongest among the Soul Beasts would grow fewer and fewer.
The same was true of human powerhouses,
because even Limit Douluo had a lifespan of only three hundred years!
In the end, only Douluo Planet benefited.
The energy of every powerhouse returned to Douluo Planet itself!
And Tang San had seen through all of this,
which was why he had put his parents in the position of Plane Master!
"So, in the end, the conclusion is... Tang San is the mastermind! As long as I kill Tang San's parents and change this rule, that'll do it?"