Chapter 268.3 - One Hand

Shrek Academy decided to help the Tang Sect complete their secret factory after a discussion in the Sea God’s Pavilion. After all, the Tang Sect was located within Shrek City, like the factory. Its significance to the future development of the Academy could not be understated.

After a few rounds of discussion, Shrek Academy decided to devote money, manpower, and logistics to the completion of the underground factory. At the same time, Shrek Academy also bought 49% of the Tang Sect’s shares. This meant that whatever profit the Tang Sect made in the future, 49% of it would go to Shrek Academy. However, the right to choose was still with them. Of course, as the Tang Sect’s biggest shareholder, Shrek Academy would send someone to listen whenever the Tang Sect made an important decision. At the same time, someone from the Tang Sect would also be present at conferences held within the Sea God’s Pavilion.

Originally, Bei Bei had planned to use this opportunity to let Huo Yuhao resume his place in the Sea God’s Pavilion. However, Huo Yuhao hinted strongly to Bei Bei that he was against this plan.

The reason for his rejection was simple. He was confident that he could regain his place in the Sea God’s Pavilion through his own merit. For the Tang Sect, this would mean that they would have two representatives at the conference table! Was that not a better thing?

At last, Bei Bei was chosen as the representative to take part in the conferences in the Sea God’s Pavilion. The Tang Sect and Shrek Academy were linked intimately, just like that.

The underground factory was massive. Initially, the construction of the Illustrious Virtue Hall took almost ten years to complete. If the underground factory of the Tang Sect took ten years, it would be too long.

At this time, the power of Shrek Academy was revealed, shocking even Xuan Ziwen.

Shrek Academy sent 20 more people to assist with the construction. With the inclusion of this group, Xuan Ziwen was stunned on the day he met them. It was then that he discovered the difference between a soul engineer and a soul master.

The 20 people sent by Shrek Academy were led by Elder Xuan. They were all earth-type soul masters. Following that, Elder Xuan showed Xuan Ziwen the terrifying might of the Godly Taotie Bull.

In only one day, a huge underground cavern was excavated by Elder Xuan using his impressive power. Furthermore, he did not actually dig up the ground to be moved elsewhere. All of the soil was compressed into the walls of the hole with his soul power. This caused the cavern to be extremely sturdy, with very strong walls.

One must know that the process of excavating a cavern was immensely difficult. When the Illustrious Virtue Hall was first built, not only did the builders have to consider the underground situation, but its builders were all ordinary mortals, and they were in no rush for time. Hence, they took nearly half a year to excavate it. Then, they still had to fortify its walls. This took almost another year. Yet Elder Xuan only took a single day to do all of this himself. Once done, Elder Xuan handed the other earth-type soul masters over to Xuan Ziwen as he went off to drink more wine.

Among these earth-type soul masters with martial souls, three of them were Titled Douluo, six of them were Soul Douluo, and the rest were all at least Soul Emperors. Some of them were teachers, and some of them were students of the inner courtyard. Between them, they only needed twenty days before the Tang Sect’s underground factory was completed! This included ventilation, water supply, and other basic infrastructure. Now, they only had to deal with the installation of soul lamps

What came next was much more difficult. The crucial thing was the construction of the various types of soul tools. This was a huge engineering feat. However, with the completion of the structure, all they needed to do was manufacture the various soul tools, and the underground factory could start operations. All the auxiliary-type soul tools of the Tang Sect were moved underground.

Just when Xuan Ziwen was about to draw out the design of the various soul tools from memory, Huo Yuhao, whose body had recovered, came to him, bringing a huge stack of papers.

While Xuan Ziwen was the top researcher of the Illustrious Virtue Hall, there was no way he could possibly know the construction details of all soul tools. After all, every single soul tool required a lot of research and experimentation before it could be completed. According to his original plan, he would need at least three to five years to complete his research and development of these auxiliary-type soul tools. This was under the condition that he remembered more than a third of the diagrams for these auxiliary-type soul tools.

However, Huo Yuhao gave him a huge surprise. When he saw all those extremely detailed diagrams of auxiliary-type soul tools, this super-intelligent Class 8 soul engineer looked at Huo Yuhao with his mouth wide open. After a long moment of disbelief, he said, “Now I know what you learned during your exchange...”

With help from all corners, Xuan Ziwen vowed that in a single year, he would get the underground factory up and moving. In three years’ time, it would reach the level of the Illustrious Virtue Hall. Of course, this was under the condition that he had enough resources.

Huo Yuhao brought all the precious metals he had acquired to Xuan Ziwen. At the same time, the vast riches of Shrek City came into effect. The few businesses controlled by Shrek Academy in Shrek City devoted all their resources to the underground factory. A huge amount of precious metals were bought from each corner of the continent. As a result, over the next few months the prices of precious metals on the continent increased by ten percent!

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Of course, all this was a side-thought to the Shrek’s Seven Monsters, because they would soon leave for the tournament. The conference right now was their last before the tournament.

Bei Bei said, “Teacher Xuan, we’ll leave the underground factory to you.”

“Yes,” Xuan Ziwen replied. His head was lowered, and no one knew what he was thinking. Huo Yuhao, who was sitting next to him, could see that Teacher Xuan’s eyes were fire-red and slightly bloodshot. A new Illustrious Virtue Hall would be re-created, with him at its helm. Initially, when this idea was first proposed, Xuan Ziwen was so excited he almost leapt into the air. To a soul engineer, what was more important than making soul tools? Just for this chance, he promised to lecture once a week at Shrek Academy. At this time, he was probably thinking of a way to come up with new diagrams for soul tools.

Bei Bei said, “We’ll leave tomorrow. The seven of us will go, along with Na Na. Hence, eight of us will be setting out. Brother Ji, Brother Mo, Sister Ziyan, please guard the Tang Sect. A new batch of Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons will be installed in Shrek City. Other than stationary soul cannons, we’ll stop manufacturing other types of soul tools so we can allow for the construction of the factory. We’ll be back in six weeks at the least, and two months at the most. Hence, I trust everyone here to manage the sect in our absence.”

“No.” Just as Bei Bei finished speaking, there was opposition. The speaker was Jing Ziyan.

“Sister Ziyan, what problem do you have?” Bei Bei asked.

Jing Ziyan looked at Ji Juechen, who was by her side, and said, “We want to go to the tournament too.”

Bei Bei was stunned as he said, “However, aren’t you above the age limit?” Both Jing Ziyan and Ji Juechen were more than 20 years old, which was the tournament’s age limit.

Jing Ziyan snorted and said, “So what? There will be many soul masters gathered there. Furthermore, we are both familiar with Radiant City. If we go, we can help you out with some things, and even protect you!”

Huo Yuhao laughed, “Protect us? I think the two of you are going there to cause trouble.” He knew them too well. If they went to Radiant City, they would look for people to fight to improve themselves.

Jing Ziyan’s face turned red, and she said, “So what? It’s such a good chance, we won’t miss it. Furthermore, look at yourself. You need someone to push your wheelchair, right?”

“Right, I’ll do it,” Ji Juechen said in a straightforward manner. His eyes revealed his determination to everyone.

The two of them had given Bei Bei a lot of trouble. Since they had joined the Tang Sect, there was not a single moment when they were idle. Sometimes they would be looking for a challenge, and at other times, they would be trying to spar. Everyone tried to hide from them, especially Ji Juechen. As his sword intent became more powerful, even Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi found it hard to beat him.

Huo Yuhao was no longer scared of the two of them. With his current condition, Ji Juechen and Jing Ziyan would not fight him!

Huo Yuhao looked at Bei Bei, who thought for a while, and then said, “Alright, the two of you can follow us. However, I need to make some things clear. The two of you can’t just spend all your time looking for fights. I hope that you two can shoulder the responsibility of looking after Yuhao. His body now faces severe limitations, so I’ll need the two of you to look after him.”

Ji Juechen and Jing Ziyan nodded.

Bei Bei thought it through in a short span of time. If the two of them stayed, there would be no one for them to spar with. They might run over to the Academy and cause trouble. They would be like ticking time-bombs if they were left behind, so it was better to bring them along.

This time, no teacher was accompanying them. They would be doing this by themselves. Shrek Academy could not send powerful soul masters to accompany them, and could only let the teacher in charge of the Shrek team protect them discreetly. With Ji Juechen and Jing Ziyan, the strength of the team increased. As long as they did not meet Titled Douluo, they should be safe.

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Shrek Academy, Sea God’s Pavilion, Inner Courtyard.

Boom!

A golden light flashed past like a dragon turning itself mid-flight. It blasted Dai Huabin straight-on.

Wang Qiu’er retrieved her Golden Dragon Spear and stared harshly at him as she said, “With your current condition, you want to beat Huo Yuhao? Even with one hand, he can still take care of you.”

Dai Huabin grit his teeth and climbed up from the ground. There was no rage in his eyes, only pure determination. He roared, “Once more!”