The Strongest Level-Four Soul Engineer

"You don't need to comfort me. It seemed I'd been too arrogant before. I still had plenty of room to improve."

As he spoke, he suddenly slapped his cheeks hard, then pulled himself together and smiled.

"Since your level is already this high, I can skip the basic material. Come on, let's begin the lesson."

And so, Xuan Ziwen's secret classes began that day. After Xuan Ziwen taught Bai Chen about Soul Tools each time, Bai Chen would teach him forging in return.

After experiencing it firsthand, Bai Chen truly understood what it meant to be a genius.

Xuan Ziwen's lessons were filled with unrestrained imagination and creativity. His inspiration seemed endless, and quite a few of his ideas even surpassed the era. Bai Chen would occasionally bring up knowledge from the Douluo III Era, which Xuan Ziwen absorbed with astonishing speed. Bai Chen sincerely admired him for it.

Xuan Ziwen, meanwhile, became increasingly impressed by Bai Chen during this process.

In his eyes, this child named Bai Chen was no less gifted than himself. Not only could Bai Chen keep up with his train of thought, he even proposed many incredible ideas Xuan Ziwen had never considered before. To him, every one of those ideas carried epoch-making significance. If they could be realized, they would bring enormous changes to society as a whole.

He even felt that exchanging lessons for Bai Chen's forging techniques was far too unequal. Based on how he felt now, even if Bai Chen never taught him forging, he would still gladly teach Bai Chen, because the process gave him plenty of inspiration—insights that could only be encountered by chance.

And unlike Bai Chen, Xuan Ziwen suffered terribly while learning forging.

Forging was a skill that severely tested a Soul Master's fundamentals. For a Soul Engineer like him, whose strength had been forcibly raised through medicine, his foundations could only be described as disastrous.

The result was that he still could not even get started.

Fortunately, setbacks of this level did not affect the relationship between Xuan Ziwen and Bai Chen. After several lessons, they grew closer and closer. Thus, around the fifth lesson, Bai Chen brought Ning Tian along as well.

"Is she the young master you occasionally told me about?"

When Xuan Ziwen saw Bai Chen leading a little girl into the laboratory, he reached the answer after only a moment's thought.

"That's right." Bai Chen smiled and pushed Ning Tian forward. "Come on, Ning Tian. He's Teacher Xuan from the Heaven Dou Empire, the one I told you about. Introduce yourself too."

"Okay."

There was a trace of nervousness in Ning Tian's expression. She stepped forward and said,

"Hello, my name is Ning Tian, Young Master of the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect. I've encountered some problems while studying Soul Tools lately. Could I ask you to teach me?"

"...Pfft."

To Ning Tian's surprise, after watching her for a moment, Xuan Ziwen suddenly burst into happy laughter.

Ning Tian's cheeks immediately flushed bright red.

"Y-you, what are you laughing at?"

Girls were naturally thin-skinned, especially little girls like Ning Tian. Even though she had received elite education from a young age, being laughed at like this made it difficult for her to remain calm.

Fortunately, there was no malice in Xuan Ziwen's laughter.

He waved a hand and said with a smile,

"No, I just suddenly remembered that this is what a six-year-old child is supposed to be like. Bai Chen is a special case."

He had spent so much time with Bai Chen lately that he had nearly forgotten that fact.

Seeing Ning Tian's shy and nervous appearance now, he suddenly came to his senses. Ah, so this was what normal children were supposed to look like.

"R-right?"

What he had not expected was that Ning Tian looked as if she had found a kindred spirit upon hearing that.

"Bai Chen isn't normal at all! He absolutely can't represent people our age!"

"Oh?"

Xuan Ziwen glanced at Bai Chen with interest.

It seemed this girl was often dealt blows by Bai Chen in daily life too.

That made sense. As an adult, he could ignore the gap between himself and Bai Chen and focus on improving himself. Children did not possess that sort of mindset. She must have suffered plenty of frustration because of Bai Chen in her daily life.

In that case...

Xuan Ziwen spread his hands and complained in an exaggerated tone,

"Ah, you have no idea how infuriating it is to spend time with him. I rack my brains to come up with an answer, yet he gets it effortlessly."

Ning Tian immediately became even more excited and nodded repeatedly.

"Exactly, exactly!"

"And isn't his cultivation talent as a Soul Master absurd too? What was with that strength? Was he really even human?"

"That's right!"

"The most infuriating part is that this kid isn't proud of it at all. Even with all that, he still only thinks about doing better. He's an insatiable monster."

"You're absolutely right!"

"Hey, have you two forgotten that I'm still standing right here...?"

Seeing the two victims grow more and more animated, Bai Chen complained irritably.

He could tell that Xuan Ziwen was using this method to get closer to Ning Tian, but why did he feel like Xuan Ziwen's voice was full of genuine emotion?

Before the two could respond to him, the laboratory door suddenly opened with a beep, and a purple-haired woman walked in.

"Senior, Teacher asked me to find... you..."

When she saw Xuan Ziwen, who usually looked calm and composed, wearing an unprecedentedly excited expression, the woman's voice abruptly stopped.

She looked back and forth between Xuan Ziwen, Ning Tian, and Bai Chen, then tilted her head slightly.

"Illegitimate children?"

"How did your mind even get there?!"

Xuan Ziwen's roar rang through the entire laboratory.

The Strongest Level-Four Soul Engineer

"Sorry, I was joking."

Two minutes later, the purple-haired woman sat kneeling before Xuan Ziwen, lowering her head as she apologized repeatedly.

Xuan Ziwen snorted unhappily and introduced her to Bai Chen and Ning Tian.

"She's Jing Ziyan, the junior I mentioned before who occasionally comes over to visit. We studied under the same teacher, so you don't need to be overly polite to her."

Jing Ziyan immediately protested in dissatisfaction.

"Hey, Senior, that's not right, is it? Shouldn't you tell them to respect me more?"

Xuan Ziwen glared at her coldly.

"What did you say?"

"...Sorry, I was wrong."

Jing Ziyan obediently lowered her head again.

Xuan Ziwen sighed and rubbed his brow with a headache.

Jing Ziyan was a junior two years below him. They had studied under the same teacher, and like him, she was a genius upon whom great expectations had been placed.

However, Jing Ziyan had taken an entirely different path from his.

From the beginning, Xuan Ziwen had known that his Martial Soul was simply unsuited to becoming a combat-type Soul Engineer. So he decisively abandoned his own combat strength and devoted all his energy to Soul Tool research.

Jing Ziyan was different. She was far too greedy. She was an exceptionally rare Soul Engineer who had chosen not to specialize in any one branch. She wanted to learn every kind of knowledge, and as a result, she was still only a Level-Four Soul Engineer.

Both her teacher and Xuan Ziwen had tried to persuade her many times, but she stubbornly refused to change her mind. In the end, they had no choice but to let her do as she pleased.

However, Jing Ziyan gained a nickname as a result: the Uncrowned King of Level-Four Soul Engineers.

This was no exaggeration. When it came only to Soul Tools below Level Four, even Xuan Ziwen did not dare claim that he understood them better than Jing Ziyan. This was the ability Jing Ziyan had gained by sacrificing her future.

Seeing that Xuan Ziwen's anger seemed to have subsided somewhat, Jing Ziyan cautiously asked,

"Um, Senior... since they aren't your illegitimate children, then who are they to you?"

"They are the children of my benefactors."

Xuan Ziwen replied calmly,

"You know that I'm from the Heaven Dou Empire. While my father was still there, he received considerable help from the Nine-Treasure Glazed Sect. So after they came here, I simply looked after them a little."

This was the explanation he and Bai Chen had agreed on long ago. After all, Xuan Ziwen and Bai Chen looked like they had no connection whatsoever, so they needed an excuse for their relationship.

"Heh, the children of your benefactors? That really does sound like you, Senior."

Jing Ziyan moved in front of Bai Chen and Ning Tian and asked curiously,

"Little brother, little sister, what are your names?"

"My name is Ning Tian."

"Bai Chen."

Jing Ziyan nodded with a smile.

"Mhm, you two need to work hard and learn from Senior. Senior's Soul Tool skills are highly praised within our academy. Quite a few people even say he'll definitely become a Chief Researcher in the future."

"..."

Bai Chen looked at Jing Ziyan's smiling face. On the surface, he obediently nodded, but his mind was racing.

Jing Ziyan was another familiar person who had appeared in the original novel.

Her role was not particularly large, nor was she especially important, but someone closely connected to her was well worth Bai Chen's attention.

That person was the Sword Maniac, Ji Juechen.

In the original novel, it was because Huo Yuhao defeated Jing Ziyan that he caught Ji Juechen's attention, setting off the series of events that followed.

Even across the entire Douluo series, Ji Juechen was undoubtedly an oddity among oddities. He was one of the rare examples proving Yu Xiaogang's theory that there were no useless Martial Souls, only useless people.

His Innate Realm Martial Soul was only Rank Three, yet he eventually climbed all the way to the rank of Title Douluo. At the same time, he was one of only two people in the series to hunt and obtain a hundred-year first Soul Ring on his own. The other successful case was Tang San, the male protagonist of the Douluo I Era, who possessed the Tang Sect's secret arts.

Although there was still a gap between his strength and that of truly top-tier geniuses when they were at the same level, considering his starting point, achieving what he had was already unimaginably remarkable.

At the very least, Bai Chen did not think he could accomplish what Ji Juechen had.

If possible, Bai Chen wanted to draw Ji Juechen into his own camp.

Doing so was not actually very difficult. In the end, Ji Juechen was simply not suited to studying at the Sun-Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy. What he desired were opponents who used their Martial Souls as their main means of combat. Soul Engineers did not really suit his tastes.

Moreover, the Sun-Moon Empire had undoubtedly hindered his cultivation. The proof was that he was still only six rings at twenty-seven or twenty-eight, yet after arriving in the Douluo Original Three Kingdoms, his Soul Power cultivation began to rise at an astonishing rate.

For someone like that, there were countless ways to recruit him into Bai Chen's camp.

The biggest issue now was whether Jing Ziyan had already made contact with him.

Thinking of this, Bai Chen took the initiative to ask,

"Senior Sister, I heard Teacher say that you often spar with other students. Are there any particularly powerful Soul Masters among them?"

Jing Ziyan tilted her head curiously.

"Hm? There are, but why are you asking?"

Bai Chen said seriously,

"Because I want to become stronger and protect Ning Tian better. If that's the case, I need to get to know more powerful Soul Masters and learn how to fight from all of you."

Ning Tian had not expected Bai Chen to give such a reason, and she immediately lowered her head shyly.

"Oh—"

Jing Ziyan became excited instead. She smiled as she rubbed Bai Chen's head and praised him,

"Not bad. You already know to protect the people important to you at such a young age. What a little gentleman."

Bai Chen enjoyed the head pat and eagerly asked,

"Then, Senior Sister, can you tell me the names and abilities of those powerful Soul Masters?"

"No problem."

Jing Ziyan grinned and readily agreed.

"Thank you, Senior Sister! As expected, Senior Sister is the most understanding!"

Bai Chen looked utterly overjoyed, and his flattery made Jing Ziyan grin from ear to ear.

"..."

Having watched the entire exchange from the side, Xuan Ziwen could not help but shudder.