Knocking on Illustrious Virtue Hall's Door!

In Firmament-Time Space, on the wilderness trade route leading west from the Star Dou Great Forest.

A bitter wind swept up snow and ice, scraping across the earth like sharp blades.

Wrapped in a heavy fur coat stripped from a mercenary's corpse, Lin Fan trudged through knee-deep snow toward the Sun Moon Empire.

His stride was steady, without the timidity one might expect of a child his age.

Deep in his Sea of Consciousness, however, a top-secret three-way meeting was unfolding as a storm of ideas—one that could overturn ten thousand years of technological development across Douluo Continent.

"Kid, are you really not going to Shrek Academy?"

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's enormous spiritual form writhed uneasily in the Sea of Consciousness. "I've staked my entire plan on you! Shrek has the best resources on the continent, and the God-Making Plan has to—"

"Shut up! Mention Shrek again and I'll rip out your Spiritual Origin right now and feed it to the dogs."

Lin Fan's consciousness sat on a black throne formed from spiritual power at the center of the Sea of Consciousness. Propping up his chin with one hand, he cut the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm off.

"What's so great about Shrek? It's a feudal training camp for charlatans that exploits commoners and crushes dissent to preserve the rule of its elite! Going there would mean chaining myself to Sea God Tang San's broken cart, a cart doomed to drag everyone down with it."

Lin Fan turned toward the frail gray ball of light at the other end of the Sea of Consciousness. "Electrolux, I've seen the framework of Necromancy in your memories. Your necromantic demigod system might work on Douluo Continent, but it depends too heavily on the caster's spiritual power and talent. It's far too inefficient."

The gray light trembled. Electrolux's aged voice rang out, edged with pride. "Young man, my Necromancy is a supreme divine art that touches the laws of the world. You're a child who hasn't even fully fused with a Soul Ring, yet you dare call it inefficient?"

"Don't measure my vision by the backward productive capacity of your world."

Lin Fan had no intention of showing deference to his elder. Using pure spiritual power, he sketched a diagram of staggering complexity in the Sea of Consciousness!

It was a mad design that forced modern mechanical engineering, semiconductor matrices, and necromantic runes together!

"What's the greatest flaw of a Soul Engineer's Soul Tool? It relies on the Soul Master's own Soul Power for energy! Once that runs out, even the mightiest Soul Cannon is scrap metal. That's a limitation."

Lin Fan rose and pointed at the diagram, laying out a transmigrator's logic for two ancient monsters whose combined lifetimes spanned millions of years:

"What if we used your Necromantic Array as an energy-absorbing core? It could automatically convert the negative energy drifting through the world—even fragments of the dead's souls—into pure magical power. Then we could use the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's million years' worth of spiritual power as a precision motherboard to program its fine control..."

"Engrave the Necromantic Formation onto a Soul Tool's core matrix!"

"And build a Necromantic Automatic Soul Tool Mecha that needs no Soul Master to feed it Soul Power, absorbs energy from the world around the clock, and fires without limit!"

As Lin Fan's wildly unconventional industrial vision burst from his lips, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's little golden eyes went round. His mind simply stopped working.

Even Electrolux, the Holy Necromancer who thought so highly of himself, swelled and contracted as a gray ball of light, giving off a soul-deep shudder that set the nerves on edge!

"Program a Necromantic Array... onto a metal device... use the world's resentment in place of spiritual power..."

Electrolux's voice shook. He had just watched the door to a new world kicked open before his eyes!

"Madman... You're an utter madman, boy! But... in theory, there isn't a single flaw in this design! Once it's built, you'll command an untiring army of steel undead that consumes no resources and could flatten an entire plane!"

"Madman? No. It's called industrial mass production!"

Lin Fan sneered and withdrew his consciousness from the Sea of Consciousness.

Back in the real world.

Lin Fan sat in a dilapidated mountain shrine. From his coat, he took a Ten-Year Soul Beast bone he had picked up along the road and a rusty iron carving knife.

Scritch! Scritch! Scritch!

The iron knife blurred in Lin Fan's small hands, which still bore chilblains.

Tian Meng's spiritual power scanned every line of the bone. Electrolux's necromantic knowledge supplied the paths for the runes. Lin Fan bound it all together with the formidable logic of modern industry!

In less than half an hour.

As a strange gray current swirled, the once-worthless Ten-Year Soul Beast bone erupted with a devouring force that made the heart quail!

The cold wind and scattered energy within several meters poured into the rough bone fragment like a hundred rivers rushing to the sea, drawn in and compressed!

The first Necromantic Soul Tool Dual-Phase Array Core in Douluo Continent's ten thousand years of history, completely freed from Soul Power as its driving force.

It was born in the hands of eleven-year-old Lin Fan!

Lin Fan tossed the core, glowing with ghostly gray light, into his torn bag and brushed the bone dust from his hands.

"I've got my way in! Sun Moon Empire, Illustrious Virtue Hall—get ready to welcome your new master."

Half a month later.

Mingdu, capital of the Sun Moon Empire.

The vast city, steeped in metal and Soul Guidance Technology, blazed with lights even late at night.

The Royal Soul Engineering Academy's experimental tower soared into the clouds, proclaiming the empire's absolute supremacy in technology.

Outside the academy's main gate.

Two fully armed guards, both Six-Ring Soul Emperors and equipped with Level Five Soul Guidance Ray Guns, watched the street with cold eyes.

Amid the swirling snow.

A thin boy in a shabby fur coat, travel-worn from head to toe, trudged through the snow to the gates of the most heavily guarded academy on the continent.

"Stop! This is the Royal Soul Engineering Academy. Unauthorized people aren't allowed near it! Go beg somewhere else!" the guard on the left barked, his eyes full of disdain.

Lin Fan stopped.

"Beg?"

Lin Fan let out a scornful laugh.

He couldn't be bothered to waste another word. From his pocket, he pulled the necromantic array core he had carved from the Ten-Year Soul Beast bone.

Plop.

With a casual toss, Lin Fan threw the ghostly gray core into the snow at the guards' feet as though it were garbage.

"Take this piece of junk inside and give it to Jing Hongchen, master of your Illustrious Virtue Hall."

"Tell him that if he understands it, he can get out here and see me. If he doesn't, the Sun Moon Empire can wait to be crushed beneath the wheels of a new age."

"How dare you! A little beggar like you dares address the hall master by name—"

The guard flew into a rage and started to raise his Soul Guidance Ray Gun to shoot the insolent brat dead.

But then!

Just as Soul Power lit up the gun's muzzle!

The gray bone fragment in the snow seemed to respond to the energy. Deep within its core, the Necromantic Array thundered to life!

Hummm—!!!

A terrifying siphoning force exploded outward from the tiny bone fragment!

The two Six-Ring Soul Emperor guards had no time even to scream. The Soul Power in their bodies and the energy stored in their Level Five Soul Tools were forcibly drained by the bone fragment in an instant!

Clang!

The two ruined Soul Tool Guns hit the ground.

Drained of strength, both Soul Emperors collapsed into the snow. They trembled all over, staring at the bone fragment as though it were a monster!

Without any outside power, it had drained two Soul Emperors dry!

What the hell kind of Soul Tool was this?!

"Aren't you going to report it?"

Lin Fan tucked his hands into the pockets of his ragged fur coat and looked down on them. "My patience is limited."

Rumble—!!!

Beyond the Firmament, in the real world!

The era of the Peerless Tang Sect!

The high-definition image of Lin Fan arrogantly throwing down that necromantic Soul Tool core at the gates of Illustrious Virtue Hall and, alone, knocking on the empire's door was projected across the heavens!

In the imperial palace of Mingdu, Sun Moon Empire!

Bang!!!

Jing Hongchen—the current master of Illustrious Virtue Hall, a peak Level Nine Soul Engineer, and a pillar of the empire who had always been calculating and unreadable in the original story.

Now his eyes were fixed on the Firmament. Their rims were so red they seemed ready to bleed, and his whole body shook with ecstasy and shock!

"No Soul Master feeding it Soul Power... absorbing energy from the world on its own... a perfect union of Necromantic Arrays and a matrix core..."

Jing Hongchen breathed as heavily as an old ox. His wrinkled face blazed with a near-maniacal fervor!

"A genius! No—an unparalleled monster! A supreme sovereign bestowed by the gods upon us Soul Engineers!"

Jing Hongchen seized his deputy by the collar and roared hysterically, spittle flying:

"Did you see that?! That eleven-year-old boy! The child of destiny who was supposed to go to Shrek Academy! He didn't become Shrek's lackey! He brought designs capable of overturning ten thousand years of technological development across Douluo Continent and came knocking on the doors of our Illustrious Virtue Hall!"

"Pass on my order, on pain of death! Seal off Mingdu at once! Send out every imperial spy to the edges of the Star Dou Great Forest and the border! Dig three feet into the ground if you must, but find that child called Huo Yuhao in the real world!"

"Shrek has lost its greatest trump card! Once we find him, the Sun Moon Empire can sweep across the entire continent without shedding a drop of blood!"

The Sun Moon Empire's leaders had completely lost their minds!

An emperor of research whose knowledge was ten thousand years ahead of his time had fallen from the sky like a nuclear bomb and blasted their wits away!

Meanwhile, at the other end of the continent.

Shrek Academy, the Sea God Pavilion.

The mood here could not have been more different from the frenzy at Illustrious Virtue Hall.

Mu En, a Level 99 Limit Douluo, lay slumped in a rocking chair.

He watched the eleven-year-old Huo Yuhao on the Firmament craft an epoch-making Soul Tool core with his own hands.

And he heard Lin Fan say, "What's so great about Shrek? It's a feudal training camp for charlatans."

"Pfft—!"

Rage struck Mu En to the heart. He spat blood across the Sea God Pavilion's wooden floor, and his already fading life force sank to its lowest ebb.

"Teacher!" Yan Shaozhe, dean of the Martial Soul Department, was scared out of his wits.

"It's over... Shrek's ten thousand years of fortune... severed for good..."

Bloody tears of despair streamed from Mu En's aged eyes.

They had proclaimed themselves the continent's finest academy and made "We accept only monsters" their proudest boast.

Yet when a true peerless monster appeared, Shrek had failed to catch him. Against the Firmament's example, they looked like frogs at the bottom of a well, imagining their narrow patch of sky was all there was!

An invincible prodigy with a Million-Year Soul Ring, supreme spiritual power, and a necromantic demigod's inheritance!

He should have been a Shrek student!

But now this prodigy had scornfully dismissed Shrek as "garbage" and, carrying Soul Guidance Technology that could crush the entire age, had gone without hesitation into the arms of their mortal enemy—the Sun Moon Empire!

"That child... how does he know so much? How can he be so cold, so resolute..."

Yan Shaozhe trembled all over, his eyes full of regret.

If only they had paid a little attention to commoners back then. If only they had reached the Star Dou Great Forest first and taken him in...

But history had no "if only"!

In a Shrek freshman dormitory in the real world, the cruelest scene of all was unfolding!

The real Huo Yuhao.

He stood dazed before the dormitory window, watching his "Firmament self" dominate the gates of Illustrious Virtue Hall and treat Six-Ring Soul Emperors like weeds beneath his feet.

Then he looked down at the green uniform he wore, the mark of a Shrek freshman.

He looked at the shabby Tang Sect Hidden Weapon, the Sleeve Arrow, lying on his desk—an "act of generosity" from Tang Ya and Bei Bei to win him over.

A wave of utter revulsion rose in him, along with contempt for his own servility.

"So... that's what I should have been."

"I should have taken hold of my own fate like a king. I have Brother Sky Dream. I have Elder Yi. I have the power to turn the world upside down, yet I came running to Shrek to wag my tail and beg for scraps from these hypocritical nobles!"

"My Firmament self trampled that chance to be someone's dog like garbage, while I treated it as the highest honor?!"

Huo Yuhao's eyes turned bloodred. Tears slid down his face through his fury.

He thrust out his hands and tore his Shrek Academy uniform to shreds!

Clang!

He grabbed the Tang Sect Sleeve Arrow from the desk, hurled it into the corner with all his strength, then stamped it into a heap of scrap metal!

"Yuhao... what are you doing?!"

Wang Dong, disguised as a boy and sharing his dormitory, went pale with fright at his frenzy and hurried forward to stop him.

"Get away from me!!!"

Huo Yuhao flung his arm back. His usually gentle Spirit Eyes now blazed with cold, ruthless light.

Through gritted teeth, he roared:

"From this day forward, I, Huo Yuhao, am no longer a student of Shrek! And I'm no longer a member of the Tang Sect!"

"Anyone who wants to stay in those hypocritical, sickening places can stay!"

Under Wang Dong's horrified gaze.

Huo Yuhao, the child of destiny in the real world, turned away without hesitation. Without taking so much as a single piece of luggage, he charged out of the dormitory and into the freezing night.

Deep in his Sea of Consciousness, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and Electrolux trembled with wild delight.

"Run! Yuhao, escape this cage! Let's go to the Sun Moon Empire! To the new world that boy on the Firmament has opened for us!"

With Lin Fan's domineering demonstration on the Firmament of how to refuse to be anyone's dog, the gears of fate were finally smashed to pieces in the real world!

The child of destiny had defected from Shrek!