Jing Hongchen stood by the panoramic glass window of his office, hands behind his back, and a deep pondering look on his wrinkled face.
Lin Jiaya stood behind him nervously, holding a clipboard filled with reports and measurement data, his expression caught somewhere between disbelief and dread.
"....Physical strength—Rank 92. Physical tenacity—Rank 94. Soul power undulation—Rank 63. Height—195cm. Weight—74 kilograms. Left arm length… Age—14. Added soul bones: Torso and right arm, concentrated heavily on the hand. Plus his left arm prosthetic, if we're being technical here. Final evaluation...." Lin Jiaya gulped.
"—Titled Douluo, by our personal estimation. The physique measuring scale soul tool had malfunction right before completing the final scan. It short-circuited due to excessive soul feedback. We've already sent it for repairs, but the engineers say it might take a day or two to recalibrate."
He looked up hesitantly. "Sir.... what kind of freak did you bring back? Are you sure this isn't an old monster who disguised himself or underwent some kind of body reconstruction? Please tell me! Because this is just...just...!"
"Director Lin, calm yourself. Although you're not wrong to be shaken," Jing Hongchen's voice cut through the rising panic like a knife. It was quiet, but carried the weight of absolute authority.
He let out a sigh, "When my grandchildren returned from the tournament, they told me about this boy. Just about almost 2 years ago, he was a soul king with two powerful martial souls accompanied by an impressive set of soul rings."
"His fifth soul ring was 100,000 years old."
Lin Jiaya sharply inhaled, nearly dropping the clipboard. "A 100,000-year soul ring?! At the fifth ring? That's impossible! His body shouldn't have been able to withstand the sort of power stored in that mythical ring!"
Jing Hongchen nodded slowly. "And not only did he survive, he thrived. From what my grandchildren reported, he dominated the tournament through sheer brute strength. He didn't join every matches in the tournament, and whenever he did participate in one, he would win by just using a few moves."
"At the time, I was similarly apprehensive of such a freakish genius. I mean, even cultivating from the womb couldn't have brought someone to that level by age fourteen. Drugs? Even those have a limit to carry a soul master.
It simply defies logic, common sense, and every cultivation paths we've ever accepted."
He turned fully toward Lin Jiayi now, his face hardened and eyes narrowed.
"But I could've somewhat accepted such a terrifying genius. He could be a once in a ten thousand genius like Tang San; becoming a Limit Douluo at relatively young age and ascending to become a God. This boy likely has some heaven defying physique or God-tier bloodline; our measuring scale soul tool wouldn't have been able to pick up on such things, yet.
But to also possess the intelligence, creativity, and talent as a soul engineer—that makes him overwhelmingly dangerous." Jing Hongchen's voice was sharp now, edged with something cold and calculating.
"Most, if not all, genius "pure" combat-oriented soul masters are a little muscle brained. They're strong, instinctive, and dangerous in the moment—but they lack foresight. They don't innovate. They rely on what they're taught or what they've refined through brute force—old tradition; it was the reason behind the downfall of what was once the most distinguished and well-known sect in the continent, Tang Sect."
He might be someone from the Sun Moon Empire, but even he feels both respect and awe towards the most powerful soul master in history, Tang San.
He had read up on a lot of his epic tales on his spare time, so he naturally knew about Tang Sect.
But as he grew older and wizened up, he realized that some of what was written about Tang San was...off to say the least.
Regardless, the point he was trying to make was that Huo Yuhao was unlike any other genius in the past millennia.
Jing Hongchen's fingers tapped rhythmically against the windowpane, his voice growing quieter, more intense.
"I am conflicted about this matter, director Lin. He could become the greatest danger to our glorious empire...or the greatest asset." He glanced at Lin Jiaya.
"What do you propose, director Lin?"
"Ah...I..." Lin Jiaya stuttered. He was caught off guard by such an important question, he was a soul engineer! Not a strategist.
"S-Should we try to convince him into our side first?" he finally offered, uncertainly. "If we show him enough trust, enough opportunity, maybe.... maybe we can pull him away from Shrek? Let him see what real innovation looks like. If we let him taste our core research, treat him like one of our own—really one of us—then.... I understand that it's a far stretch but..."
Jing Hongchen raised a brow, watching him carefully.
Lin Jiayi gulped and finished, "Then perhaps he'll choose the empire willingly."
There was a long pause. Jing Hongchen turned back to the window, the city's lights casting a soft glow across his face.
"Temptation," he murmured. "Yes.... it's the cleaner solution. Turn the threat into an ally. Redirect his ambition into our machines. Give him prestige, research rights, access to our vaults.... and he'll think we trust him. That he's gaining control of our relationship, make him think that this was his whole idea from the start."
Jing Honchen stared at his right palm and clenches it, "Before he realizes it, we would have him dancing in our palm like a puppet."
".....But what if it fails?"
He turned back to Lin Jiayi, a sliver of grim amusement in his eyes.
"What do you think we should do?"
Lin Jiaya gulped. "E-Eliminate him?"
"No," Jing said coldly. "We contain him. Study him. And if the opportunity arises, we break him down and remake him into something loyal."
He leaned forward slightly, his voice a whisper lined with steel.
"This Huo Yuhao is a weapon waiting to be claimed. And if Shrek forged him—then we will be the ones to sharpen him."
"H-How will you do that, Hall Master? I mean, our mind control soul tool project is still at its theoretical stage and will hit a dead end in a year or two with the lack of new research materials."
Jing Hongchen grunted. "....Just leave it to me."
'If it comes to it, then I will have no choice but to use one of the favors from those people....' Jing Hongchen thought grimly. 'The Evil Soul Masters owe me, yes, but I can't afford to hold on to their favors for long.
Their 'gratitude' rot faster than their humanity.'
When those dogs came back into the empire, with their tails tucked between their legs, Jing Hongchen and a friend of his were the first to suggest on eliminating future problems(aka, Holy Ghost Church).
Unfortunately, he and the others were quickly reminded why the Evil Soul Masters can walk around their country without any issues.
'Two Limit Douluos... With their recent loss in the hands of Di Tian at Shrek Academy, they've become desperate and bloodthirsty in order to replenish their numbers. In just a year, their victims have reached more than 30,000. They've pissed off a lot of people.
Unfortunately no one else wants to obstruct them or else they'll also become their nourishment.
Damned if we do, damned if we don't. All we could right now is wait until those Limit Douluos are dead or else they'll lay waste to the entire Radiant City in retaliation. But if I hand Huo Yuhao over to them to brainwash, who's to say they won't just take him away? He has the potential to become an Limit Douluo and a Class 10 soul engineer.'
Jing Hongchen let out a deep sigh, "Director Lin, can you bring out a bottle of Dragonblood Crystal Wine from the bottom cabinet?"
Lin Jiayi blinked, startled. "Sir?"
"Just do it," Jing said, walking slowly toward his desk. "....and get some more alcohol from the vault in the Hall. I have a feeling I'm going to be drinking a lot for the next few years."
Sun Moon Imperial Academy, the dormitory where Huo Yuhao and the others are currently staying at.
Huo Yuhao was sitting cross-legged on the bed, his eyes closed. His breathing was even and steady, so subtle that one might think he was asleep.
"Everyone's asleep," Huo Yuhao said as he opened his eyes and smirked slightly, a glint of purple flickering in his pupils.
"The perfect time."
He swung his legs off the bed and stood up silently, his movements fluid and ghostlike. Not a creak from the floor.
Huo Yuhao held up his hand into a handseal and said, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Poof! White smoke erupted beside him in a muted burst. When it cleared, standing calmly next to Huo Yuhao was an exact replica.
The clone nodded silently, then walked over to the bed and resumed his previous cross-legged position, closing his eyes in perfect imitation.
"Alright," Huo Yuhao stretched his body and clapped his hands.
The clothes he wore began to change as bands of soft light flickered across his body—activating a custom-made soul tool woven directly into the fabric of his outfit. In the span of a few seconds, his standard shrek academy uniform shimmered and morphed into a sleek black bodysuit, layered with matte-gray plating across vital points and thin soul-conductive threads running down the arms and legs.
For the head, he had a hood and mask that extended smoothly from the collar, locking into place with a quiet click as soul threads activated across his temples and jawline. The mask was expressionless—flat matte black with no visible features save for two thin, glowing slits where his eyes shone through.
With a thought, the eye slits dimmed, blending completely with the darkness.
Inside the mask, his vision sharpened. A faint HUD flickered to life across the interior, displaying energy readings, movement vectors, spiritual interference, and heat signatures. It was minimal, clean—designed for speed and focus.
The hood suppressed his hair and regulated his body heat to blend with the surrounding environment, syncing with micro-arrays in his suit. His footsteps would now leave no trace, his body no heat trail, and his energy signature would fall beneath the detection threshold of anything lower than a Class 7 scanning node.
(Image here)
This was no ordinary stealth suit.
It was a prototype, of an Exoskeleton, he'd built himself back at Shrek—stitched together to combat high level surveillance-type soul tools.
Huo Yuhao was confident in his own stealth skills added with his illusions, but this was new territory with soul tools he hasn't encountered before.
It used soul-insulated cloth laced with spiritual feedback loops that dampened his own spiritual signature. The plating was made of shadow-forged alloy—expensive, rare, and only viable in thin layers, but it absorbed light and dispersed heat evenly. Built into the gloves were micro-siphon soul arrays—Class 7-grade—that could temporarily nullify smaller alarm arrays upon contact.
The resources were all from the vault of the Soul Engineering Department in Shrek Academy.
Huo Yuhao had to watch Xian Lin'er, Qina Duoduo, and Fan Yu cry tears of heartache and joy when he received those resources and created the stealth suit—name still pending.
Unfortunately though, it was classified as a Class 7 soul tool so he wouldn't be sneaking around high class places anytime soon.
As silent as a mist, he walked out of the room and into the hallway undetected by the surveillance-type soul tools subtly embedded in the walls and ceiling. Their lenses blinked red every few seconds, sweeping for anomalies in soul fluctuations, heat signatures, and air displacement—but Huo Yuhao passed through them like a phantom in moonlight.
The embedded soul circuits never even flickered.
It didn't take him long to exit the dormitory and headed straight towards the testing area of the academy.
It was at a small and seemingly ordinary building. Huo Yuhao didn't hesitate and head inside in a leisure pace, using the HUD of the suit to scan his surroundings.
It really was an ordinary building.
Except, there was someone inside. In a large room that one could guess that it was used for testing long range combat-type soul tools. Someone familiar and Huo Yuhao hadn't seen since two years ago was kneeling.
Huo Yuhao smiled and pulled back his hood, announcing his presence.
"Long time no see, Elder Ma."
Elder Ma raised his head, revealing a large joyous smile on his face and wide eyes that had the Sharingan.
"It's been a long time, my lord!"
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AN: Man, I hate the wifi service in my town. They had a two day maintenance, on the day I was writing a new chapter. I need internet for inspiration!