Ma Jake was over forty years old, only at Soul Emperor level. In Chu Chengzhou's eyes, he wasn't considered a genius, but his talent in soul guidance devices was quite considerable.
He might not compare to the top few eighth-grade soul engineer masters, but he could forge top-tier seventh-grade soul guidance devices, belonging to the elite among seventh-grade soul engineers.
The current Sun-Moon Continent had a very straightforward classification system for soul engineers and soul guidance devices. Those who could manufacture eighth-grade soul guidance devices were eighth-grade soul engineers.
Soul guidance devices whose offensive power could rival eighth-ring assault-type Soul Douluos were eighth-grade offensive-type soul guidance devices; those that could withstand attacks from eighth-ring assault-type Soul Douluos were eighth-grade defensive-type soul guidance devices.
Eighth-grade soul guidance devices were also the highest-grade soul guidance devices currently on the Sun-Moon Continent. Ninth-grade soul guidance devices that could rival ninth-ring Titled Douluos had not yet appeared in the world.
This meant that eighth-grade soul engineers represented the pinnacle of the Sun-Moon Continent—there were so few of them that they could be counted on one hand.
As an elite among seventh-grade soul engineers, Ma Jake was definitely an industry leader, ranking among the top ten soul engineers on the Sun-Moon Continent.
Of course, these were only what Chu Chengzhou knew. Perhaps the only empire on the Sun-Moon Continent—the Sun-Moon Empire imperial family—had already produced ninth-grade soul engineers, they just hadn't stepped into the spotlight yet.
However, whether the Sun-Moon Empire had produced ninth-grade soul engineers or not, Chu Chengzhou had no interest in investigating.
The battle armor he sought wasn't the same as ordinary soul guidance devices. As long as someone's soul guidance device manufacturing skill level was considered industry-leading, whether seventh, eighth, or ninth grade, there wouldn't be much difference.
Even someone like Ma Jake—with excellent talent and potential, and not too old a "young soul engineer"—was better than those "old fossils" whose thinking had long become rigid.
When dealing with talented people, Chu Chengzhou naturally wouldn't be too crude.
After all, Void Illusion Realm could control someone temporarily, but it couldn't control them forever. The person had talent, and he wanted to recruit them—showing proper respect was only appropriate.
After showing Ma Jake his soul ring configuration, Chu Chengzhou directly extended an olive branch.
Ma Jake accepted Chu Chengzhou's olive branch, but proposed one condition—avenging him.
Soul masters' talents varied in quality, and geniuses were always rare. The vast majority of soul masters had average talent.
Just like young Chu Chengzhou in his previous life had a dream of becoming a scientist, in a world that valued strength above all, every soul master had a dream of becoming a Titled Douluo.
Some soul masters with good talent fulfilled their dreams, but for the vast majority of soul masters, dreams remained just dreams—difficult to achieve in their lifetime.
Among these soul masters who could never reach the Titled Douluo realm, many sought powerful strength through wrong paths, becoming infamous evil soul masters.
Even some soul masters with excellent innate talent, due to their martial soul's characteristics, chose the path of evil soul masters, hoping to progress further on the soul master path—even if it meant killing countless people.
On the Douluo Continent, there was the Spirit Hall—a belief representing the light and holiness of the Angel God, a powerful soul master organization dedicated to combating evil soul masters.
Therefore, for most commoners and soul masters on the Douluo Continent, evil soul masters were merely a legend, far removed from their lives.
But the Sun-Moon Continent was different—there was no powerful soul master organization like the Spirit Hall that had "nothing better to do" and took it upon itself to combat evil soul masters.
After all, evil soul master groups weren't weak either. Combating evil soul masters meant spilling blood and making sacrifices.
It could be said that besides the Sun-Moon Empire royal family and imperial officials who needed to maintain imperial stability, there were simply no forces on the Sun-Moon Continent that strictly combated evil soul masters.
The Douluo Continent soul master world had powerful soul master families and sect forces—naturally, the Sun-Moon Continent had them too.
As the saying goes: "Willing to risk everything to pull the emperor off his horse." The Sun-Moon Empire royal family and officials didn't have the strength to suppress all other forces in the soul master world. There were naturally soul master forces secretly plotting dynastic change.
Thus, the Sun-Moon Empire royal family and officials couldn't possibly devote all their strength to combating evil soul masters. Otherwise, with imperial experts suffering heavy casualties, how could they maintain the stability of imperial power in the future?
With all these factors combined, this made evil soul masters on the Sun-Moon Continent endless and impossible to completely eradicate—even becoming a significant force.
And the Worship Moon Sect was one of the evil soul master organizations on the Sun-Moon Continent, and the most powerful one with the worst reputation.
Being the continent's number one evil soul master organization, the Worship Moon Sect had certainly committed countless evil deeds. There were many on the continent who had blood debts with them.
Unfortunately, Ma Jake was one of them.
In his youth, Ma Jake studied under an eighth-grade soul engineer master. After demonstrating considerable talent and potential in soul engineering, his master—who was also a soul engineer master—gave his own lovely daughter to Ma Jake in marriage.
His teacher became his father-in-law, his lovely junior sister became his wife, and she even gave him a big, healthy son. At this point, Ma Jake had reached the peak of his life.
Unfortunately, before Ma Jake could enjoy this peak for long, a sudden disaster struck.
The Worship Moon Sect approached his father-in-law, inviting his eighth-grade soul engineer master father-in-law to join the Worship Moon Sect and enjoy the honor of being an elder in the sect.
What was the Worship Moon Sect? It was the most infamous evil soul master organization on the continent! Which decent person would join the Worship Moon Sect?
How could we, who stand for justice, associate with evil soul masters?
Without hesitation, Ma Jake's father-in-law refused and directly sent the Worship Moon Sect's envoy to the city lord's office.
After calming down, Ma Jake's father-in-law did consider the possibility of revenge from the Worship Moon Sect. He hurriedly wrote letters seeking help from friends and the Sun-Moon Empire officials.
After all, as one of the few renowned soul engineer masters on the continent, his connections weren't poor.
Unfortunately, the Worship Moon Sect's revenge came too quickly.
In the Worship Moon Sect's view—you refused, fine, we didn't force you to join anyway, but why did you directly send our disciple to the city lord's office? The humiliated Worship Moon Sect immediately launched their revenge.
In just three days, before the requested reinforcements could arrive, Ma Jake's father-in-law's entire family was massacred by the Worship Moon Sect. His father-in-law, wife, and child all died tragically at the hands of the Worship Moon Sect's villains, while Ma Jake was fortunate enough to survive because he was out hunting soul rings with a friend.
Such a blood debt could not be diluted even if all the waters of the five lakes and four seas were poured out. From that moment, Ma Jake embarked on the path of revenge.
Unfortunately, the Worship Moon Sect was powerful—the sect had more than one Titled Douluo expert, far beyond what he could handle alone.
Ma Jake knew well that his cultivation talent couldn't compare to the continent's true geniuses. He would find it difficult to become a Titled Douluo expert in the future. He could only place his hope for revenge on his soul engineer talent.
If one day he could become a ninth-grade soul engineer and manufacture ninth-grade soul guidance devices capable of posing a lethal threat to Titled Douluos, what worry would there be in eliminating the Worship Moon Sect?
In terms of strength, the Worship Moon Sect certainly couldn't compare to the Empire. He believed that as long as he chose to join the Empire at that time, the Empire would surely be willing to help him take revenge.
Thus, bearing this blood debt, Ma Jake began desperately researching soul guidance devices.
After more than ten years, Ma Jake, now just over forty years old, had already become an elite among seventh-grade soul engineers, and even had hope of becoming an eighth-grade soul engineer in the coming years.
And just at this moment, a powerful expert with a four-black-five-red soul ring configuration—whose strength was undoubtedly peerless in the current era—extended an olive branch to him. Why would he hesitate?
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