Fully equipped Soul Engineer Corps! Kong Deming's battle armor! Lou Gao: hear the Dao at dawn, die content at dusk!

The destruction of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had far-reaching and profound repercussions. No one on the entire continent, especially in the soul master world, had imagined that one of the Top Three Sects would fall overnight.

As for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Castle,

with Xue Ye's orders in hand, the Sun Moon Sect swept in and crushed it.

Blood flowed like rivers through the entire Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect overnight, while Li Chen led his men into the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Castle and seized complete control.

They opened the treasury.

"Well, Ning Fengzhi might not have had much fighting ability, but he certainly left behind a wealth of assets."

Huo Yuhao sighed in amazement.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had previously enjoyed great renown in the soul master world thanks to its two major specialties: amplification and treasure appraisal.

Amplification meant that many teams of soul masters sought them out as teammates. After all, support-type soul masters were crucial in battle.

Treasure appraisal was the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's second major specialty. Besides charging fees for services provided to royalty and nobles, the sect could also discover rare treasures before anyone else.

Thus,

when Li Chen led his men through the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's gates, the treasury contained exactly what they had expected: mountains of Gold Soul Coins and all manner of rare raw metals.

"So much for the continent's number one support sect! Their treasury actually has this much void mithril, and high-purity titanium gold too..."

Li Chen casually picked up the silver and gold metals in the treasury, his eyes narrowing with a smile.

"You brat, you're not planning to put another one of those things in the planet's core, are you?"

Kong Deming chuckled helplessly.

Naturally, Kong Deming meant the Level 9 Space Soul Tool Li Chen had previously made to collapse Douluo Star into a black hole.

Back then, to avoid Tang San discovering it as much as possible, Li Chen had kept that thing's existence secret from everyone in the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy!

Li Chen smiled.

"Hehe, Elder Kong, why would I do that?"

Kong Deming nodded with a smile.

"I have a better idea this time. I'm planning to develop a wearable black hole-type soul tool. Then, when we fight, I can suck up every last bit of the enemy's soul power!"

The corner of Kong Deming's mouth twitched.

"Li Chen, are you sure that black hole thing can be worn on your body?"

Kong Deming felt a little unnerved.

He did not know what a black hole was, but as the continent's only Level 10 Soul Engineer, he had seen one before his death. It was a place where the curvature of spacetime approached infinity, capable of grinding all matter to dust and turning an entire planet into a firecracker in an instant.

Kong Deming had been privately pondering it ever since: if he were sucked into a black hole, how could he escape?

So far,

Kong Deming had not thought of any solution. The main problem was that even light could not escape. Could a human soul master possibly move faster than light?

Li Chen changed the subject.

"With this batch of raw metals from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, I think we should have no trouble outfitting every member of our two Soul Engineer Corps with a full set of standard equipment."

"We could even build a multi-user linked soul tool. With the Soul Engineer Corps supporting you, Elder Kong, you'd be able to trap a Limit Douluo."

Kong Deming nodded.

Since Xue Ye had said he would give them half of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's assets,

the Sun Moon Sect might as well take all the rare treasures in the treasury.

As for real estate and the like, they could leave those useless things to Xue Ye.

Two fully equipped corps would be terrifying. Never mind anything else: every member of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy's Soul Engineer Corps was at least a Soul King, and a single corps had three hundred members!

Even the deputy corps commander was a Soul Douluo. With every member fully equipped for war, their combat strength would be astonishing!

Take the Heaven Dou City Defense Force, for example.

Based on Li Chen's observations and investigations over this period,

the Heaven Dou City Defense Force did not even have three hundred Soul Kings on paper. Moreover, they could not fly and were slow to mobilize. Against the Royal Soul Engineer Corps, they would be wiped out in less than half an hour.

And if the Sun Moon Empire Imperial Soul Engineer Corps followed Kong Deming,

his abilities would let him draw on the power of the entire corps' soul tools.

Then, with the Silver Moon Divine Light Shield operating at full power, he could even clash with Qian Daoliu!

At the very least, beating up Bibi Dong would be easy.

"Yes, that was my thinking as well. I've discussed it with Ju Zi. We'll immediately deploy the Sun Moon Empire Imperial Soul Engineer Corps here to garrison the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Castle."

"This castle isn't in Heaven Dou City, but it isn't far away either. We won't take the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's other properties. From this castle, we can fight our way into Heaven Dou City in under ten minutes anyway."

Kong Deming gave a cold smile.

Li Chen nodded.

Thus, the Sun Moon Sect left only Jing Hongchen and Ji Juechen to guard the shop in Heaven Dou City. Everyone else moved into the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Castle.

Naturally, Xue Ye had no objections. Those metals in the treasury would be of little use to him anyway.

After moving into the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Castle, they immediately sealed the entire castle off. Li Chen told Xue Ye that the whole sect had to work in seclusion to make up for the thirty thousand Milk Bottles they had lost earlier. Xue Ye agreed without a second thought.

For an entire month,

while news of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's destruction spread across the continent,

the Sun Moon Sect, the instigator of it all, seemed to have entered seclusion. Most of its members stayed quietly inside the castle and no longer went out.

During this time,

the Sun Moon Empire Imperial Soul Engineer Corps disguised itself as a merchant caravan and swiftly traveled on foot from Gengxin City to Heaven Dou City.

Once the entire corps entered the castle, they buried themselves in training, each forging their own combat soul tools.

Notably,

Kong Deming also got to work himself. Back in the Peerless era, Li Chen had already proposed the concept of Humanoid Soul Tool Battle Armor. However, with the war of unification pressing, Kong Deming had shelved it.

Now that he had plenty of free time,

Kong Deming, a Level 10 Soul Engineer, immediately threw himself into researching it.

As its name suggested, Humanoid Soul Tool Battle Armor was similar to the battle armor of the era of Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King. However, it was not something that had to be put on like One-Word Battle Armor, but armor that could be donned or removed at any moment, like Four-Word Battle Armor.

It provided powerful amplification and even came with its own domain!

By Li Chen's conservative estimate, if something like Four-Word Battle Armor could appear ahead of its time, Kong Deming would not even need the assistance of a Soul Engineer Corps. He could take on a Limit Douluo alone!

Meanwhile, Li Chen swiftly began building a soul tool production line, along with two more Soul Tool Satellites!

"Open the gates! Let me in! I, Lou Gao, am a member of the Sun Moon Sect now too! Didn't you say the earlier members would help the later ones along? What the hell is this?!"

Outside the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Castle, Lou Gao cursed furiously.

The two Soul Kings from the corps stationed at the gates glared at him.

"Old man, don't bloody think we wouldn't dare hit you. This castle is a restricted area. You can't enter without permission from Elder Kong or Master Li!"

Lou Gao grew frantic. "Then where are Elder Kong and Master Li? I'm fucking asking you where they are!"

"Elder Kong and Master Li are in seclusion inside the castle."

Lou Gao stamped his feet. "How the fuck am I supposed to get permission if I can't go in?"

The two Soul King guards shook their heads. "That's not our problem. You can't enter without permission!"

"Fuck you, you #%#&..."

Lou Gao was so desperate that he cursed their mothers.

Without permission, he could not enter. Without entering, he could not get permission.

Wasn't the fucking Sun Moon Sect deliberately making things difficult for him?!

Lou Gao looked anxiously toward the castle. He had joined the Sun Moon Sect precisely to learn its advanced soul tool technology.

Yet back in Gengxin City, that woman Ju Zi had made him forge metal, then forge more metal. All he ever did was process raw metals; she would not let him see how core magic arrays were inscribed at all.

Lou Gao had grown desperate. After hearing that the Sun Moon Sect had destroyed the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, he had run off from Gengxin City and come here.

Only to be barred outside for more than ten days straight.

Now, Lou Gao truly wanted to beat these Sun Moon Sect bastards to death with the soles of his shoes. They guarded against him as though he were a thief.

Just then,

Li Chen walked out. "Senior Lou Gao, do you really want to come in that badly?"

Lou Gao answered eagerly, "You've finally come out! They said I couldn't enter without your permission. Of course I want to go in! I want to learn about soul tools!"

"Senior Lou Gao, think this through. Once you learn this, you will never be allowed to leave the sect again. You may even have to remain here for the rest of your life."

Li Chen spoke coldly.

Inscribing soul tool magic arrays was the key. Before unification, he would never allow locals to steal their secrets.

Lou Gao answered urgently,

"I've made up my mind! Why else would I have joined you? If I can't leave, then I won't leave. You make it sound as though the people outside are all kind souls. Hiding in this castle and researching soul tools for the rest of my life sounds peaceful to this old man!"

Li Chen gave Lou Gao a long, searching look, then raised his hand to signal the guards to let him through.

"All right. Go in."

Lou Gao looked at Li Chen with delighted surprise and stepped into the castle without hesitation.

Huo Yuhao came out then, watching the old man's retreating figure disappear into the castle.

"Chen, what do you think he's after? Once he goes in and learns the core technology, there'll be no turning back."

Li Chen raised his head to look at the sky. "Hear the Dao at dawn, and one may die content at dusk."