Chapter 174: Persuading the Body Sect, the Plan to Poach High-Rank Soul Engineers
Inside the grand council hall, the previously roaring fires of celebration had cooled into a tense, subtle atmosphere. The source of the shift lay stacked upon the center table: a massive pile of cold, gleaming metal scrolls.
The Elders sneered, their arms crossed tightly over their chests, casting sidelong glances at the metal as if it were rotting garbage. In their unwavering view, the true foundation of the Body Sect was flesh, blood, and bone refined to the absolute ultimate limit. True strength came from within, not from these lifeless hunks of iron driven by external soul power.
Liu Yuan stood quietly at the far end of the long mahogany table. He swept his gaze over the gathered Titled Douluo, noting how they actively avoided even looking at the complex blueprints. He didn't feel the slightest bit of surprise.
This was the Body Sect. The pride etched deep into their very marrow ensured they had looked down upon Soul Tools for the entirety of their ten-thousand-year legacy. To them, such devices were nothing more than a pathetic fig leaf used by those with mediocre talent to cover up their own weakness.
But Liu Yuan knew the truth. As the torrent of a new era approached, the price paid for such blinding arrogance would be paid in rivers of blood.
"Master, Elders. Please, lend me your ears for a moment."
Liu Yuan reached out, his fingertips gently tracing the engraved lines of a metal scroll that detailed a Level 9 core formation. His tone was perfectly calm, yet it carried an unquestionable, magnetic weight.
Hearing his voice, the whispering Elders immediately restrained their dismissive expressions. They turned their attention toward the young man—the undisputed Qilin of their Sect, the one who had just accomplished an unmatched, heaven-defying deed.
"I know exactly what everyone is thinking right now," Liu Yuan said. He raised his head, the purple-gold light swirling within his Double Pupils as he looked directly into Du Busi's eyes.
"Everyone here firmly believes that Soul Tools are merely external crutches. You think that even with Jing Hongchen hiding behind the Red Dust Blessing, he still couldn't withstand a single serious punch from Master."
Liu Yuan leaned forward slightly, his gaze piercing. "But have you ever stopped to consider a different scenario? What if the person standing before you wasn't a frail Soul Engineer, but a Level 98 Super Douluo of the exact same rank as Master—wearing a fully custom-made set of Level 9, or even Level 10, Soul Tool armor?"
Silence rippled through the hall.
'The Douluo III era...'Liu Yuan pondered inwardly. He obviously couldn't speak aloud about the glorious, terrifying age of towering mechas and synchronized battle armors that would dominate the world ten thousand years from now. But he knew with absolute certainty that even for the current Sun Moon Empire, Soul Tool technology had already breached a critical, world-altering threshold.'In this current era, Level 9 fixed-mounted Soul Tool shells already possess the destructive yield to threaten the lives of ordinary Titled Douluo,'his thoughts surged, analyzing the grim reality.'And the Level 10 Soul Tools that the Sun Moon Empire is secretly developing in the shadows... that is a power sufficient to rewrite the map of the world.'
He remembered the original timeline clearly. Before his death, Du Busi had been consumed by agonizing regret, finally realizing that the Body Sect's greatest, most fatal mistake was its blind, stubborn contempt for Soul Tools.
Although that tragic future had not yet come to pass, Liu Yuan was now the one steering the ship. If he was going to lead the Body Sect to completely rewrite their doomed ending, he had to surgically excise this rotting habit from their culture right here and now.
Liu Yuan slapped his palm against the pile of blueprints. The dull thud echoed sharply through the quiet hall.
"Master, Elders, I can guarantee this with my life," Liu Yuan stated, his voice ringing with absolute certainty. "Soul Tools will absolutely become the undisputed mainstream power of the future."
He met the eyes of every Elder in the room. "If we remain stagnant, clinging to our conservative pride, a day will come when the Sun Moon Empire's mechanized army presses upon our borders. When that day arrives, our disciples—even those possessing the strongest Body Martial Souls—will be blown into bloody mist by fixed Soul Tool artillery fired from dozens of miles away. They won't even see the enemy's faces."
His jaw tightened. "Such a sacrifice is utterly meaningless."
The hall fell into a heavy, suffocating silence.
The Elders exchanged complicated glances. While they still didn't think much of the metal tubes on the table, Liu Yuan's brutal imagery of "meaningless sacrifice" had struck a deep, vibrating chord in their hearts. The Body Sect was fiercely protective of its own; they valued the lives and futures of their disciples above all worldly things.
Elder Chen coughed dryly, breaking the tension. He rubbed his chin, looking at Liu Yuan with a helpless, wry smile. "Liu Yuan, while what you say certainly holds some harsh truths..."
He gestured to the disciples training outside the hall. "You must understand the reality of our situation. Cultivating a Body Martial Soul is an agonizingly difficult path in itself. Our disciples barely have enough hours in the day to polish their muscles, temper their bones, and comprehend the deep mysteries of their Secondary Awakening. Where in the world would they find the spare energy to sit down and study these impossibly complicated Soul Tools?"
Elder Chen sighed. ", we don't have a single person in our Sect who actually understands how to build these things. To be frank, across all three of our Douluo Empires, we are inherently vastly inferior to the Sun Moon Empire in this field. Forcing our disciples to blindly study this from scratch... the return on investment simply isn't worth the crippled cultivation."
Liu Yuan nodded smoothly. He hadn't expected a room full of stubborn, muscle-bound traditionalists to instantly transform into visionary Grandmasters of Soul Engineering.
Stepping down from the dais, Liu Yuan paced slowly into the center of the hall. The vacuum defensive circle had long since dissipated, allowing his clear voice to carry perfectly. "I agree completely, Elder Chen. What I mean is this: we do not have to learn how to forge them, but we absolutely must understand how they work."
He held up a single finger. "We must know exactly how lethal Soul Tools are at every single stage. We need to know where their defensive limits lie, how long they take to charge, and the specific triggers for their various special effects."
"As the ancient proverb goes: know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle," Liu Yuan continued, his tone turning razor-sharp. "Even if we never equip a single piece of metal ourselves, we must be intimately familiar with how the enemy's weapons operate. Only then will our disciples avoid suffering catastrophic, silent losses when they inevitably face the Sun Moon Empire's Soul Engineer legions on the battlefield."
Hearing this pragmatic approach, a flicker of deep thought flashed through Du Busi's emerald green eyes.
The Sect Master's mind drifted back to his previous, devastating clash with Kong Deming in the skies above Mingdu. He had to admit, the old monster's endless, unpredictable array of high-level Soul Tool tactics had been incredibly annoying to deal with. If he had known exactly what those devices did beforehand, the fight would have been much simpler.
"Liu Yuan makes a valid point," Du Busi finally spoke, his deep voice setting the definitive tone for the council.
"I, too, felt that those hunks of iron were nothing but a burden for the weak. But I am not blind. I must admit that the Sun Moon Empire has progressed far too quickly over these past few years," the Sect Master conceded, crossing his massive arms. "We do, indeed, need to have a solid grasp of how those weapons function."
But almost immediately, Du Busi's thick brows furrowed together. He glared at the mountain of metal scrolls piled on the table, a rare look of deep frustration crossing his weathered face. "But Liu Yuan... these things you brought back from Mingde Hall. They are all highly advanced core formations and raw material data. Let alone the ordinary disciples, even I feel a splitting headache just looking at the damn things."
He sighed, shaking his head. "Our Sect simply possesses zero talent in this area. I fear that bringing these priceless treasures back will only result in them gathering dust in our vaults, effectively piled up as scrap metal."
Liu Yuan stopped pacing. A slight, knowing arc curved at the corner of his mouth as he looked back at Du Busi, his eyes brimming with absolute, calculated composure.
"Master, you misunderstand," Liu Yuan said softly. "These blueprints were never meant for us to use."
"Oh?" The entire room of Elders was stunned.
Elder Chen blinked, unable to hold back his confusion. "If they aren't for us to use, then why in the world did you go to such insane lengths to completely empty out Mingde Hall's core library? Don't tell me you're just planning to sell them on the black market for gold?"
Liu Yuan shook his head slowly. Under the intense, curious gazes of the continent's strongest physical fighters, he finally revealed his hand.
"I took these blueprints to use as use for the Heavenly Soul Empire," Liu Yuan declared, his voice echoing with cold ambition. "I am going to use them to incite every high-ranking Soul Engineer across the Douluo Continent to defect to our side."
Du Busi and the group of Body Sect Elders froze, utterly stunned by the sheer scale of the scheme.
Liu Yuan didn't give them time to recover, continuing his breakdown directly. "Think about the current state of the Soul Engineers native to our Douluo Continent..."
"What those people lack is not funding or basic resources. What they desperately lack is the advanced, advanced theoretical philosophy that the Sun Moon Empire hoards."
Liu Yuan began to list the facts, his mind operating like a flawless tactical map. "At present, across our three Douluo Empires, high-rank Soul Engineers are incredibly scarce and widely scattered. As far as I know, within our own Heavenly Soul Empire, there is only a single Level 7 Soul Engineer. We are currently the weakest faction in this regard."
"The Star Luo Empire barely manages to support one Level 8 Soul Engineer. The Dou Ling Empire has two Level 8 Soul Engineers. And within the hypocritical walls of Shrek Academy, there sits the continent's youngest Level 8 Soul Engineer, Fan Yu..."
Liu Yuan gestured smoothly toward the pile of stolen metal. "The core data I extracted from Mingde Hall is utterly useless to us. But to those men? To those desperate engineers who have hit the absolute ceiling of their craft with no way forward? These blueprints are priceless, heaven-sent treasures."
A ruthless, pragmatic light flashed in Liu Yuan's eyes. "Therefore, if we use these blueprints properly, and coordinate with His Majesty the Emperor to offer them the right political and material benefits... I firmly believe we can poach every single one of those top-tier talents away from their respective factions, and bind them entirely to our Heavenly Soul Empire."
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