Mingdu / Jing Hongchen

Bai Chen had only just managed to successfully forge Thousand-Forged Metal. His strength, which far exceeded that of ordinary people, was one reason; another important reason was that he had imitated Duan Xuan's forging hammer technique almost exactly.

But what he had done was ultimately nothing more than rigid imitation. He knew how, but not why. That definitely would not do in the long run.

Duan Xuan now intended to temper his foundations.

"Come, follow my rhythm. I'll strike once, then you strike once."

"Yes."

Thus, under Duan Xuan's guidance, Bai Chen spent the remaining two hours entirely hammering metal.

Duan Xuan did not explain any particularly profound knowledge to him. He merely kept pointing out the errors in Bai Chen's movements and rhythm, personally correcting his actions step by step.

Under Duan Xuan's attentive instruction, Bai Chen felt his fundamentals improving at an astonishing pace. By the time the two hours had ended, the sounds produced by his hammering were vastly different from when he had started.

"All right, go back. Come here again in three days. Just give them your name when you arrive."

Afterward, Duan Xuan gently patted Bai Chen on the head and had him leave with Bai Jiaming.

Watching them walk out of the room, Duan Xuan took out his Soul Guidance Communicator and dialed a number.

"Hello, Teacher. What do you need?"

The call quickly connected, and a lazy voice came through from the other end of the Soul Guidance Communicator.

Duan Xuan got straight to the point.

"Come to Skysea City immediately."

"Huh? So suddenly?"

The voice on the other end sounded quite surprised.

Duan Xuan said irritably,

"If I tell you to come, then come. I found a promising talent, and you have to teach him!"

Clearly, the person he was speaking to was none other than the Divine Artisan of a generation, Zhen Hua.

"Oh?"

Hearing his teacher say that, Zhen Hua was immediately intrigued.

"Teacher, you're evaluating him that highly?"

Duan Xuan was also a Saint Artisan. Logically speaking, teaching a disciple should have been more than within his capabilities.

The fact that he wanted Zhen Hua to teach him could only mean one thing—

He believed this disciple might have the potential to reach the realm of Heavenly Forging in the future.

Having understood that, Zhen Hua immediately said,

"All right, I understand. I'll be there tomorrow."

"Hmph, hurry up. Handing this child over to you is really letting you off easy."

Duan Xuan added another irritated remark before ending the call.

After putting down the Soul Guidance Communicator, he inexplicably picked up the piece of Thousand-Forged Metal Bai Chen had forged.

After examining it closely for a while, he let out a long sigh.

"I really am old..."

Once upon a time, he too had been a genius of his generation.

Yet now, let alone his disciple, he might even be surpassed by his granddisciple within his lifetime.

"Still, that may not be a bad thing."

After all, the meaning of a teacher's existence was to cultivate even more outstanding disciples.

Duan Xuan placed the metal on the forging table and walked out of the forging room without looking back.

Mingdu

While Bai Chen of the Douluo III Era was learning forging, Bai Chen's group from the Douluo II Era crossed the border between the Heaven Dou Empire and the Sun-Moon Empire, traveling all the way to Mingdu.

Mingdu was the capital of the Sun-Moon Empire. In the Douluo II Era, this city without walls was unquestionably the greatest city on the continent.

It had no walls because, as a city centered around Soul Tools, it possessed the most advanced Soul Tools for defense.

To say nothing else, when Du Busi and a group of Title Douluo had come to assassinate Xu Tianran, the High-Energy Compression Array Soul Devices positioned at the four corners of Mingdu had blocked Du Busi's self-destruction.

Each High-Energy Compression Array Soul Device could store the Soul Power of over a hundred Title Douluo. Together, the four High-Energy Compression Array Soul Devices were equivalent to using the Soul Power of four hundred Title Douluo to form a protective barrier covering all of Mingdu. They had forcibly withstood Du Busi's self-destruction, even though he had come infinitely close to the level of a Limit Douluo, ensuring that not a single person died from the attack unleashed by his self-destruction.

No wonder Jing Hongchen could confidently claim that Mingdu had no need for city walls. The power of Du Busi's self-destruction had already far surpassed that of a Ninth-Level Fixed Soul Cannon Shell, yet it still could not harm even one person in Mingdu. Even if Di Tian had been here, he would not have dared guarantee that he could accomplish such a thing.

However, relying on Soul Tools for defense also had a drawback: once the Soul Tools failed to activate in time, that heaven-defying defensive power became nothing more than empty talk.

The clearest example was the Mingdu Explosion, which caused countless casualties. That great explosion had been entirely accidental. Even Huo Yuhao's group, who had set it in motion, had not anticipated that the explosion would occur, much less the upper ranks of the Sun-Moon Empire. They could not possibly activate the High-Energy Compression Array Soul Devices at the instant the explosion happened. The result was that Mingdu suffered unprecedented devastation from the blast.

Of course, that weakness was practically the same as having no weakness at all. Under normal circumstances, such a situation would never arise.

But none of that had much to do with Bai Chen's group for the moment. They had not come here to launch a terrorist attack. As long as they followed the proper procedures, the Sun-Moon Empire would not make things too difficult for them.

Many people believed that the Sun-Moon Empire held an extremely exclusionary attitude toward people from the Douluo Original Three Kingdoms, that anyone daring to enter its territory would be killed by Evil Soul Masters. In truth, that was incorrect.

The Sun-Moon Empire indeed did not welcome forces from the Douluo Original Three Kingdoms, but it would not kill them casually. That was not because its morals were particularly noble, but for three reasons.

First, most people who entered its territory could bring it benefits. Why had the Sun-Moon Empire become the richest of the four nations in the Douluo II Era? Because it continuously made money by leveraging its advantages in Soul Guidance technology. Sects like the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect were especially major clients. Unless the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect truly fell out with them, they would not casually abandon such a fat sheep.

Second, before the war, the Holy Spirit Cult had to remain a hidden allied force of the Sun-Moon Empire. Cooperating with Evil Soul Masters was ultimately too repulsive. Before the war truly began, they still needed to maintain a respectable facade. Ruining their own reputation in advance would bring them no benefits at all; it would greatly reduce the number of talented people flowing into their country and might even cause talent to leave.

Third, even if they truly intended to act, they would not use such a wasteful method as murder. Even on the eve of the war in the original story, the Sun-Moon Empire merely imprisoned the geniuses from the Douluo Original Three Kingdoms. The reason was simple: as long as geniuses had not grown up, they were ultimately only geniuses. But if they were imprisoned, they could become tools the Sun-Moon Empire could use to restrain powerful individuals.

It could be said that the symbolic significance of geniuses far outweighed their own value. Keeping geniuses as hostages was always better than killing them outright.

Therefore, as long as Bai Chen's group did not court death, they had no need to worry about safety here. It was not as though the Sun-Moon Empire had never accepted people from the Douluo Original Three Kingdoms. The most classic example was Xuan Ziwen, the future Chief Researcher of Mingde Hall, who came from the Heaven Dou Empire.

Led by Hua Tianyu and Ning Jingchen, Bai Chen's group entered the city and headed directly toward the Sun-Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy.

Since they had come to learn technical skills, this second-best academy on the continent was naturally the most suitable choice.

If Shrek Academy was the number one academy for ten thousand years, then the Sun-Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy was the eternal runner-up for a thousand years. Although it had never defeated Shrek Academy, there was still a gulf between it and all other academies.

After all, the Sun-Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy appeared to be an academy on the surface, but its true core was Mingde Hall, the Sun-Moon Empire's foremost Soul Tool workshop.

As long as Mingde Hall remained, the Sun-Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy would never lack top research talent, and its teaching staff would always be the strongest among all Soul Engineer academies in the Sun-Moon Empire.

After they reported their identities to the gate guard, a middle-aged man soon emerged and smiled as he cupped his hands toward them.

"What brings the Sect Master of the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect here?"

Ning Jingchen got straight to the point.

"Take us to see your dean. We have business to discuss."

"Oh..."

Lin Jiayi discreetly glanced at Ning Tian and Bai Chen, then nodded with a smile.

"I understand. The dean happens to be free right now. Please follow me."

He had naturally heard of the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect. Although the sect's status on the continent was no longer as lofty as it had been ten thousand years ago, it was still considered a top-tier sect. Its financial resources were especially abundant, while its core members all happened to be support-type Soul Masters who relied heavily on Soul Tools.

It could be said that if the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect had not always been so close to Shrek Academy, Jing Hongchen would have long wanted to recruit them.

Although he did not know the purpose of their visit, treating them as honored guests could not possibly be wrong.

The group entered the Sun-Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy and, led by Lin Jiayi, arrived at Jing Hongchen's office.

"Dean, I've brought them."

"Come in."

After receiving Jing Hongchen's approval, Lin Jiayi pushed open the door and led Bai Chen's group into the office.

Jing Hongchen pushed the documents at his side aside and asked with a beaming smile,

"Sect Master Ning, what is it you want from us?"

"Mm."

Ning Jingchen said bluntly,

"I want my daughter and her attendant to enroll in your academy together."

"Mm..."

Jing Hongchen frowned and deliberately put on a troubled expression.

"Sect Master Ning, you may not know this, but the anti-outsider sentiment within our empire has grown increasingly intense lately. Your request... is not easy for me to handle."

Jing Hongchen

Ning Jingchen's mouth twitched.

They were both businessmen, and he immediately understood what Jing Hongchen meant.

In short, three words: pay more money.

Given Jing Hongchen's status in the Sun-Moon Empire, what difficulty could there be in admitting two students from the Douluo Original Three Kingdoms if he wanted to?

He was clearly trying to use this opportunity to fleece them.

Still, Ning Jingchen was not particularly angry.

What came free was always the most expensive. Since Jing Hongchen was willing to raise the price, it meant the deal was still negotiable.

For people like them who operated in the business world, profit was the most important thing. As long as sufficient benefits were guaranteed, there was no need to worry that their own people would receive excessively harsh treatment at the academy.

Ning Jingchen said in a deep voice,

"Hall Master, I believe you know the situation of my sect as well. The core members of our sect are all support-type Soul Masters and generally lack the ability to protect themselves, forcing us to depend on combat-type Soul Masters. After recent discussions within the sect, we decided to alter our development path and find a way to improve the self-protection abilities of Seven-Treasure Glazed Pagoda Soul Masters, who form our core membership."

"You mean to say?"

"We want to equip every core member of the sect with a set of Level-Five Soul Guide Devices, paid in installments over five years."

As he spoke, Ning Jingchen took out a sheet of paper he had prepared beforehand and handed it to Jing Hongchen.

Jing Hongchen accepted it, narrowed his eyes as he scanned it, and could not help but curl his lips into a pleased smile.

"Five hundred sets of equipment like this? That is no small sum, Sect Master Ning."

The paper listed the types of Soul Guide Devices Ning Jingchen wanted. Based on Jing Hongchen's estimate, a set of the Level-Five Soul Guide Devices Ning Jingchen requested had a market price of as much as two hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins. Five hundred sets amounted to one hundred million Gold Soul Coins.

That was no small figure. It was even enough to purchase a legendary Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone.

Naturally, from another perspective, this sum was also tremendously tempting to Jing Hongchen.

Mingde Hall's wealth had long been beyond measurement in Gold Soul Coins, but even so, a transaction worth one hundred million Gold Soul Coins was exceptionally rare.

Furthermore, for the Soul Engineers of Mingde Hall, the Soul Tool market had severe price premiums. Even after deducting costs, they could still take in nearly eighty million Gold Soul Coins.

Ning Jingchen asked calmly,

"It truly is no small sum, but doesn't that also prove our sect's determination to transform?"

"Hehe, indeed. I underestimated you. My apologies."

With a bright smile on his face, Jing Hongchen stood up and said,

"Rest assured, leave the matter of their enrollment to me. I will definitely settle it for you—Jiayi, arrange dormitories for these two children first. As for Sect Master Ning, let us have a private discussion."

"Yes."

Lin Jiayi immediately nodded respectfully and prepared to leave with Bai Chen and Ning Tian.

At that moment, Ning Jingchen suddenly stopped him and gave him a few quiet instructions.

Lin Jiayi could not help but freeze for a moment. He gave the two children a somewhat suggestive look before nodding in agreement.

Watching Lin Jiayi leave with the two children, Ning Jingchen turned back and asked calmly,

"Hall Master Hongchen, what would you like to discuss with me?"

"Hehe..." Jing Hongchen smiled warmly and said meaningfully, "Naturally, it concerns your sect's future transformation."

"..."

Ning Jingchen sat down in the chair across the desk in silence.

After that, they talked for an entire afternoon.

By the time Ning Jingchen left, the sky had already been dyed the color of the evening glow.