Ju Zi's Past

"Little Yuhao, you spent months working yourself ragged to develop this equipment. Are you sure you don't want to patent the technology?" Xuan Ziwen was deeply puzzled. Passionate about Soul Tool technology, he knew how grueling research and development could be.

"Compared to the little profit a patent would bring, I'd rather make a huge splash." Huo Yuhao put on an impassioned air. "Teacher, you know I'm interested in things that benefit the masses."

"Then have it your way. You really are a strange kid," Xuan Ziwen remarked.

What Huo Yuhao had asked Xuan Ziwen to do was simple: spread these two portable Soul Tools, which looked like plain blue garments, along with the techniques for making them.

He knew what that meant: Sun Moon would soon possess the ability to crush all of the Douluo Three Kingdoms at once.

Had he still been his past self, fanatically devoted to Shrek Academy-a devotion that extended even to the Douluo Three Kingdoms, loving the crow as well as the house it perched on-he would never have acted this way.

Unfortunately for the Douluo Three Kingdoms, he was Huo Yuhao, not Huo Yuhao, the domesticated dog of the Tang family he had been in his previous life.

"Actually, Sanshi, I should have realized it back when you were chatting so confidently with Jiang Nannan, saying Heaven Soul had fallen, you'd become Dou Ling's emperor, and I could take over Sun Moon if I accepted Ju Zi..."

On his way back to the Mingyue Hotel, Huo Yuhao entered the [Audience] state within his spiritual origin and leafed through "Peerless Tang Sect," murmuring as though he were speaking to old acquaintances from his previous life.

"Just as the Heaven Dou Empire meant nothing more to Tang San than the backdrop for his title of Blue Haotian King, your unquestioning acceptance of Shrek's narrative probably wasn't just a matter of fanaticism."

After returning to the Mingyue Hotel, Huo Yuhao was surprised to discover that Ju Zi had come there to eat that day. Clearly, her presence was no coincidence; she had come specifically for him. The moment he arrived, she looked his way and greeted him.

"Senior Ju Zi, what are you doing here?"

Ju Zi tossed Huo Yuhao an orange, then said, "Looking for you to have a talk, of course."

What she had done after he fell unconscious in his previous life still felt like yesterday to Huo Yuhao.

With a conflicted expression, he asked, "Senior Ju Zi, what do we have to talk about?"

"That Armor Soul Tool you invented, of course-the one that feels just like wearing ordinary clothes." Ju Zi was as languid as ever. "I can tell it's a carefully designed weapon of war. Care to explain your plans?"

"Senior Ju Zi, aren't you overthinking this? We're just learning a craft and doing a little research. What plans could we possibly have?" Huo Yuhao asked meekly, looking utterly harmless.

Ju Zi remained casual, speaking with easy confidence. "Do you think I can't hear it? Your Star Luo accent tells me you have countless threads tying you to the Star Luo Empire, the strongest of the Douluo Three Kingdoms."

"And yet you produced an Armor Soul Tool that wears just like an ordinary blue garment, effectively arming all of Sun Moon. With the same population, Sun Moon can mobilize far more troops than the Douluo Three Kingdoms. This Soul Tool is enough to make every soldier Sun Moon mobilizes the equivalent of a Soul Master from the Douluo Three Kingdoms."

"So don't tell me you're merely doing research. You must have a grudge against the Star Luo Empire." Only then did Ju Zi grow serious.

"If that's true, all I can say is that the Star Luo Empire is unlucky. But I really don't have any plans." Huo Yuhao still presented himself as an innocent little white flower.

That was because he knew Ju Zi wasn't the only one listening. Before the Divine Realm Center, a God King was also listening, his face bearing a measure of Buddha-like compassion and sorrow for the suffering of the world.

Ju Zi spoke again. "If you don't want to be honest, forget it. How about I tell you a story of my own?"

"Oh, go ahead, Senior." Huo Yuhao adopted a willing listener's pose.

"Many years ago, the region where I grew up still belonged to the Star Luo Empire. Back then, a brilliant commander emerged in the Star Luo Empire: Dai Hao, the White Tiger War God. They said no one could stand against him." Ju Zi's voice became gently flowing as she told her story.

"For my family, and families like mine living on the border, it undoubtedly seemed like the first light of dawn. Everyone hoped General Dai Hao's army could quickly drive back the Sun Moon Empire."

"But before long, people discovered where this so-called White Tiger War God's achievements came from. He slaughtered innocents and passed them off as military victories! All the Star Luo soldiers had to do was brand ordinary people like us as hidden servants of Sun Moon, and they could kill us with a clear conscience."

"Later, the Sun Moon Empire captured our region, making it part of Sun Moon's territory. Sun Moon had never been particularly interested in the Star Luo Empire; what it coveted was the wealth of resources in the former Heaven Dou Empire. As a result, the border between Sun Moon and the Star Luo Empire, where Sun Moon stationed few troops, once again became a place for that White Tiger War God to reap military merits."

"In that situation, my father became another military achievement for that White Tiger Duke. From the moment my father died, I swore that my life's purpose would be to kill the White Tiger Duke and avenge him."

Huo Yuhao fell silent as he listened.

Had he not known about this in his previous life? Back then, Ju Zi hadn't told him the first half of the story, only that her father had been killed when Dai Hao's army attacked the Sun Moon Empire. But how could he possibly have failed to guess what sort of beast in human skin his father, Dai Hao, really was?

When he thought of how his mother had been held captive by Tang San-his [Pure and Spotless Good Father-in-Law], the [God Realm Enforcer] who held both the [Sea God] and [Asura God] positions in one body-and how he had consequently spent tens of thousands of years with those people in the Divine Realm as "Huo Yuhao," he felt his life had become a joke.

Now that Ju Zi's words had laid Dai Hao's deeds bare, Huo Yuhao found it rather difficult to maintain his composure.

"Then what do you intend to do, Senior Ju Zi?" Huo Yuhao asked blankly. "Even if the Sun Moon Empire goes to war against the Star Luo Empire and wins, the Star Luo Empire-or rather, the White Tiger Dai Family-need only turn their banners, lay down their armor, and surrender with due courtesy. They can still live as wealthy men. No matter how much you hate him, what could you do to him?"

Huo Yuhao was deliberately goading Ju Zi.

Having started over, he knew what Ju Zi would do and what trump cards she held. None of those were things Dai Hao could handle-not without him becoming the dog called Huo Yuhao for Dai Hao to bleed dry.

Then Huo Yuhao heard Ju Zi say, "At their core, the Douluo Three Kingdoms are the shrewdest bloodsuckers. Their control and exploitation of ordinary people are no different from those of the Spirit Hall Empire, which they proclaim to be the most evil existence of all."

"If there is any difference, it's that the Spirit Hall Empire at least genuinely cherished its Soul Masters, even the low-ranking ones, while the Douluo Three Kingdoms are ruled entirely by the law of the jungle." Looking Huo Yuhao in the eye, Ju Zi said, "Yuhao, if you're willing to work with me, we might be able to destroy them, just as Tang San defeated Spirit Hall in the stories they tell. Would you consider it?"

"I'll think about it some more..." Huo Yuhao continued to act like an outsider.

Like Tang San? It wasn't as though Huo Yuhao had never considered that in his previous life, but...