Douluo: Children of Different Versions Gather, but the Era Is Misaligned

Bai Chen had only just managed to successfully forge Thousand-Forged Metal. His abnormal strength was one reason, while another important reason was that he had copied Duan Xuan's forging hammer technique by imitation.

But what he had done was ultimately only rigid imitation. He knew how, but not why. That definitely would not do in the long run.

Duan Xuan was going to temper his foundations now.

"Come, follow my rhythm. Every time I strike once, 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 profound knowledge to him. He merely kept pointing out the mistakes in Bai Chen's movements and rhythm, personally correcting his actions step by step.

With Duan Xuan's earnest instruction, Bai Chen felt his fundamentals improving at an astonishing rate. By the time the two hours ended, the sound of his hammering was completely different from when he had started.

"Alright, go back. Come here again in three days. Just give 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 me for?"

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

Duan Xuan said succinctly,

"Come to Skysea City right now."

"Huh? So suddenly?"

The voice on the other end sounded deeply surprised.

Duan Xuan said irritably,

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

The person he was speaking to was clearly the Divine Artisan of a generation, Zhen Hua.

"Oh?"

Hearing his master say that, Zhen Hua immediately became interested.

"Master, you think so highly of him?"

Duan Xuan was also a Saint Artisan of a generation. Logically speaking, he was more than capable of teaching disciples.

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

He believed this disciple might one day reach the realm of Heavenly Forging.

Having figured that out, Zhen Hua immediately said,

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

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

"I really am old..."

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

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

"But that may not be a bad thing."

After all, the purpose of a master 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 and his group from the Douluo II Era had also crossed the border between the Heaven Soul Empire and the Sun-Moon Empire, arriving in Mingdu.

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

The reason it had no city walls was because, as a city centered around Soul Guide Devices, it possessed the most advanced Soul Guide Devices for defense.

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

Each High-Energy Compression Array Soul Device could store the soul power of more than a hundred Title Douluo. Together, the four devices were equivalent to using the soul power of four hundred Title Douluo to construct a protective barrier over all of Mingdu. They had forcibly blocked the self-destruction of Du Bushi, who was infinitely close to a Limit Douluo, and prevented even a single person from dying to the attack unleashed by his self-destruction.

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

However, using Soul Guide Devices for defense also had a drawback: once the devices failed to activate properly, that heaven-defying defensive power became empty talk.

The most typical example was the Mingdu Explosion, which caused countless deaths and injuries. That massive explosion had been entirely accidental. Even Huo Yuhao and his group, who had caused it, had not anticipated it would happen, 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 occurred. The result was that Mingdu suffered unprecedented devastation from that blast.

Of course, that flaw was practically the same as having no flaw at all. Under normal circumstances, such a situation would not occur.

But none of that had much to do with Bai Chen and the others for now. They had not come here to launch a terrorist attack. As long as they followed the normal 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 their territory would be killed by Evil Soul Masters. In truth, that was wrong.

The Sun-Moon Empire indeed did not welcome forces from the Douluo Original Three Kingdoms, but they would not kill people at will. This was not because their morals were particularly noble, but because of three reasons.

First, most people who came to their territory could bring them benefits. Why had the Sun-Moon Empire become the richest of the four nations in the Douluo II Era? Because they continuously made money by leveraging their advantage in the field of Soul Guide Devices. Sects like the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect were even major clients. Unless the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect truly fell out with them, they would not easily abandon such a fat sheep.

Second, before the war, the Holy Spirit Cult was an allied force that the Sun-Moon Empire had to keep hidden. Cooperating with Evil Soul Masters was ultimately too detestable. Before the war truly began, they still had to maintain a respectable appearance. Ruining their reputation in advance would bring them no benefit at all. It would greatly reduce the number of talents flowing into their country and might even lead to an outflow of talent.

Third, even if they truly intended to act, they would not use such a wasteful method as killing. Even on the eve of the war in the original work, 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 merely geniuses. But if they were imprisoned, they would become tools for the Sun-Moon Empire to restrain powerful individuals.

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

Therefore, as long as Bai Chen and the others did not court death, they did not need to worry about safety here. It was not as though the Sun-Moon Empire had never recruited 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 Soul Empire.

Led by Hua Tianyu and Ning Jingchen, Bai Chen and the others headed straight toward the Sun-Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy after entering the city.

Since they had come to learn technical skills, this second-ranked 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 perennial runner-up for a thousand years. Though it had never defeated Shrek Academy, there was still a gulf-like gap between it and every other academy.

After all, the Sun-Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy was a school on the surface, but its core was actually Mingde Hall, the Sun-Moon Empire's number one Soul Guide Device workshop.

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

After giving their identities to the gate guards, a middle-aged man soon walked out and cupped his hands toward them with a smile.

"What business does the sect master of the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect have with us?"

Ning Jingchen said succinctly,

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

"Oh..."

Lin Jiayi discreetly glanced at Ning Tian and Bai Chen, then smiled and nodded.

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

He had naturally heard of the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect. Although this sect no longer held as lofty a status on the continent as it had ten thousand years ago, it was still considered one of the top sects. In particular, it possessed enormous financial resources, while its core members were all auxiliary-type Soul Masters who relied heavily on Soul Guide Devices.

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

Though 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, under Lin Jiayi's guidance, 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 and the others into the office.

Jing Hongchen pushed the documents at hand aside and asked with a smile,

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

"Mm."

Ning Jingchen got straight to the point.

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

"Mm..."

Jing Hongchen frowned, putting on a troubled expression as he said,

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

Jing Hongchen

Ning Jingchen's mouth twitched.

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

In short, three words—more money.

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

He was obviously trying to use this opportunity to squeeze them for a profit.

However, Ning Jingchen was not particularly angry.

Free was the most expensive. Since Jing Hongchen was willing to raise the price, it meant there was still room to negotiate.

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

Ning Jingchen said in a deep voice,

"Hall Master, I believe you know the situation of my sect. The core members of our sect are all auxiliary-type Soul Masters, and they generally lack the ability to protect themselves. As a result, we have no choice but to rely on combat-type Soul Masters. After recent discussions within the sect, we have decided to change our development path and find ways to strengthen the self-preservation abilities of Seven-Treasure Glazed Pagoda Soul Masters, who make up our core members."

"You mean?"

"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 in advance and handed it to Jing Hongchen.

Jing Hongchen accepted it, narrowed his eyes, and scanned it once. A pleased smile could not help rising at the corners of his mouth.

"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, one set of the Level-Five Soul Guide Devices Ning Jingchen requested had a market value of two hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins. Five hundred sets meant one hundred million Gold Soul Coins.

That was no small number. It was even enough to purchase a legendary hundred-thousand-year Soul Bone.

Of course, conversely, this sum was also extremely appealing to Jing Hongchen.

Mingde Hall's wealth had long since become impossible to measure in Gold Soul Coins, but even so, one hundred million Gold Soul Coins was still a remarkably rare transaction.

Moreover, for the Soul Engineers of Mingde Hall, the Soul Guide Device market was seriously overpriced. Even after deducting costs, they could still earn nearly eighty million Gold Soul Coins.

Ning Jingchen asked calmly,

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

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

A brilliant smile hung on Jing Hongchen's face as he rose to his feet.

"Rest assured, leave their enrollment to me. I will definitely get it settled for you—Jiayi, go arrange dormitories for these two children first. As for Sect Master Ning, let us have a separate 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 quietly gave him several instructions.

Lin Jiayi could not help but pause in surprise. 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 silently sat down in the chair across from the desk.

After that, they talked for an entire afternoon.

By the time Ning Jingchen left, the sky had already been dyed the color of sunset clouds.