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Jing Hongchen’s eyes widened as he snapped, “Do you think I’ll believe that?”

“We’re talking about discussing things now, but when something actually happens, aren’t you the one who always makes the final decision?”

“Who are you trying to fool here?”

After knowing Su Yu for so many years, Jing Hongchen had a very clear grasp of Su Yu’s personality.

He definitely knew him well.

No one else might realize just how strong this guy’s desire for control was, but Jing Hongchen certainly did. Was this guy the sort who actually listened to other people’s opinions?

Jing Hongchen rolled his eyes. This was obviously just Su Yu trying to pull a fast one on him.

Su Yu immediately feigned urgency and cried out in anguish, “Hall Master, how could you slander me like this?”

“This is defamation!”

“I’ll have you sued for defamation!”

“Dream, your grandpa is slandering me!”

Su Yu put on a look of utter grievance as he cried out for justice.

Meng Hongchen covered her mouth and giggled, her big eyes curving into crescent moons.

Grandpa was fine, and Su Yu had returned safely.

How wonderful!

She didn’t ask for much; as long as those around her were safe, that was the greatest happiness she could hope for.

“You brat, you’re actually tattling?”

“Have you no shame?”

Jing Hongchen was both angry and amused—he was no longer young, yet Su Yu was actually running to complain to his granddaughter? Did Su Yu even remember his own status? Unbelievable.

Su Yu blinked, showing not a trace of shame—in fact, he looked rather proud.

“Hall Master, if you don’t join the Holy Slayer Palace, nowhere else can provide you the conditions for your research.”

“Look, just the funding and resources alone are astronomical.”

“And besides, no other place has the soul tool infrastructure that our Holy Slayer Palace does.”

“To put it bluntly, the Star Luo Empire is practically a desert when it comes to soul tools.”

“Only our Holy Slayer Palace can let you truly shine.”

“Also, if you want to research and produce soul tools on a large scale, you need lots of talent. And that’s exactly what the three great empires lack most.”

“In this respect, our Holy Slayer Palace can also provide what you need.”

Jing Hongchen curled his lip. “Funding and resources?”

“As a top-tier rank nine soul engineer, do you think I’d ever lack sponsors if I wanted to research something?”

“As for talent, you already took away so many people from Mingde Hall…”

Su Yu waved his hand to interrupt, scratching his head and putting on an innocent face. “Talent from Mingde Hall? Hall Master, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“There aren’t any Mingde Hall people here with me!”

Jing Hongchen: “……”

He took a deep breath. “Are you seriously going to claim you didn’t take a whole bunch of soul engineers?”

Su Yu chuckled. “I did take a lot of soul engineers—but they’re all people from our Holy Slayer Palace now.”

“As for the Mingde Hall talent you mentioned, I have no idea what you mean.”

Jing Hongchen: …………

Fine, so this brat wants to play that game?

He’d always known Su Yu could be shameless, but he didn’t expect him to be this shameless.

Just because you brought them here, they’re now part of your Holy Slayer Palace? Strong-arm tactics, is it?

Jing Hongchen was both annoyed and amused.

Talent was what mattered most.

Without enough people, even if he was a rank nine soul engineer, trying to build a research institute of any significant scale would be impossible.

After all, no matter how capable one person is, their energy is limited.

There was a vast variety of soul tools, and many required different soul engineers to specialize and innovate.

This just wasn’t something one person could handle alone.

“You brat, when it comes to being shameless, I can’t beat you,” Jing Hongchen said through gritted teeth.

Su Yu blinked again, looking completely innocent.

Jing Hongchen glared at Su Yu, then said flatly, “If you want me to join your Holy Slayer Palace, fine. But as you said, I want autonomy.”

“I’m not greedy for power, and I don’t expect to handle everything. But you can’t go bossing me around, can’t tie me down with too many rules. Otherwise, I’d rather just retire in peace.”

Su Yu slapped his thigh. “That’s it?”

“Simple, I agree.”

“From today onward, Hall Master, you are the Deputy Sect Leader of the Holy Slayer Palace.”

“From now on, all day-to-day affairs of the Holy Slayer Palace are yours to handle.”

Su Yu actually wasn’t afraid Jing Hongchen would try to seize power—he couldn’t, even if he wanted to.

Besides, Su Yu believed in trusting those he used. He really did trust Jing Hongchen.

Jing Hongchen had rich experience in soul tool research and management, something Su Yu simply couldn’t match.

And he really did need someone to take charge of this area.

Xuan Ziwen’s soul tool skills were superb, but he wasn’t a qualified manager.

In every respect, Jing Hongchen was the best choice.

“That easy?” Jing Hongchen sounded skeptical. “You’re not trying to just throw everything at me so you can slack off, are you?”

You don’t care about anything in daily life, leave it all to me, but when it comes to the critical moments—like war—you step in and take charge, and I’m pushed aside? Jing Hongchen couldn’t shake the feeling that Su Yu was treating him like a tool.

As soon as Jing Hongchen said this, all the women around burst into laughter.

He’d nailed it.

Wasn’t Su Yu just the type to love being a hands-off boss?

Su Yu grinned, “Hall Master, you’re just too suspicious.”

“This is trust, pure trust!”

“Really, now, I don’t believe it!” Jing Hongchen eyed him suspiciously.

Su Yu smiled calmly. “You should believe me. I’ve always believed that professionals should handle professional matters.”

“And in this field, you’re indisputably the expert.”

“Besides, I have important matters to deal with at the moment, and I really don’t have time to spare.”

“You all know my current focus is on cultivating soul power. As for soul tools, I won’t be putting much energy there for now.”

“After all, with powerful enemies nearby, I can’t afford to be careless.”

Jing Hongchen’s expression grew serious—what Su Yu said made sense.

The opponents Su Yu had to face were formidable; it really was impossible for him to devote much energy to soul tool research right now.

After thinking it over for a while, Jing Hongchen sighed. “Brat, for Meng’s sake, I’ll help you out one more time.”

“Thank you, Hall Master,” Su Yu said with a bright smile.

He was inwardly delighted. With Jing Hongchen on board, the Holy Slayer Palace would definitely become more organized, more professional, and more efficient.

Jing Hongchen curled his lip, unimpressed by Su Yu’s smugness.

He continued, “What do you plan to do with all those soul engineers you brought over?”

“You brought them here without even asking if they agreed.”

“I know what you’re thinking, but getting all of them to follow you may not be so easy.”

Those soul engineers were all elite researchers trained by Mingde Hall.

Most of them were dedicated to soul tool research.

Su Yu could use underhanded means to keep Jing Hongchen, but the same might not work on the others.

Those people weren’t interested in social niceties. If Su Yu wanted to win them over, he’d have to show some real skill.

Su Yu chuckled. “Isn’t that what you’re here for, Hall Master?”

“With your reputation, I’m sure many will stay.”

“And besides, once they’re in my pocket, they’re my people—no running away.”

Su Yu said this as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Jing Hongchen was speechless. He looked at Su Yu. “Got any ideas?”

Su Yu smiled mysteriously. “A wise man always has a plan.”

“Mysterious, are you? I’d like to see how you persuade those guys,” Jing Hongchen muttered.

At this, Su Yu merely smiled faintly.

——

——

After waking, Su Yu took two days to rest and adjust his condition.

This time, he’d defeated Long Xiaoyao and faced dozens of rank nine soul tool shells alone.

For Su Yu, that was no small challenge.

Especially the Ring Explosion.

The secret of exploding soul rings was a profound technique, especially useful to him.

But it was both a blessing and a curse.

Sometimes, having soul rings with too high a year count wasn’t all good.

The explosion of a 900,000-year soul ring delivered an unimaginable shock to Su Yu.

The price for that huge burst of power was severe backlash.

If Su Yu hadn’t had such a strong foundation, things could have gone very badly this time.

After a brief rest, Su Yu left the Star Luo battlefield, his departure watched with reluctance, and returned once more to the Holy Slayer Palace.

He opened the Undead Subspace, and lines of ice sculptures emerged from within.

This time, it was the Undead Subspace that allowed him to take so many soul engineers away. Otherwise, moving so many people in one go would have been nearly impossible.

Once the ice was melted, the soul engineers, after their initial confusion, immediately caused an uproar.

After all, while they didn’t feel much for Xu Tiannan, that didn’t mean they wanted to leave the Sun-Moon Empire or Mingde Hall.

For a while, everyone was arguing, emotions ran high—even Jing Hongchen couldn’t calm them.

Su Yu did just three things.

First, he suppressed them with sheer presence.

With his own power, he completely overwhelmed the several hundred high-level soul engineers.

Second, he calmly told them—Mingde Hall was gone.

Mingde Hall no longer existed, so there was no going back.

Upon hearing this, many soul engineers felt as if their world had collapsed.

No one expected Su Yu to be so ruthless, cutting off all retreat.

The third thing was new soul tool blueprints.

Su Yu revealed several blueprints, all of them advanced soul tools that, until now, had only existed as theories without any experimental evidence.

These cutting-edge soul tools, far ahead of their time, instantly fascinated all the soul engineers.

A true soul engineer could never resist such advanced soul tool technology.

With these three moves, Su Yu successfully subdued most of the soul engineers.

Of course, there were still a few stubborn ones.

For those, Su Yu showed no mercy.

Talented people were rare, but if they couldn’t serve him, what good were they?

A competent leader must sometimes show grace, but at other times, he must be resolute.

After these efforts, the soul engineers from Mingde Hall were basically won over.

With Jing Hongchen helping with their ideological transformation, there wouldn’t be much of a problem.

With the addition of this new blood, the Holy Slayer Palace’s foundations became much stronger.

Su Yu also took out all the soul tool equipment he’d borrowed from Mingde Hall from the Undead Subspace.

Jing Hongchen’s eyes twitched when he saw it, cursing under his breath.

Su Yu had practically emptied half of Mingde Hall.

With equipment and talent, the Holy Slayer Palace became several times stronger.

Now, even among rank nine soul engineers, the Holy Slayer Palace had five.

Besides Su Yu and Xuan Ziwen, there was Jing Hongchen and two more rank nines.

Under Su Yu’s friendly persuasion, those two rank nines had experienced Su Yu’s sincerity first-hand.

——

——

Two months later!

“So this is the Holy Slayer Army you’ve trained?”

Su Yu looked at the dark, dense ranks standing before him, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s right. What do you think?” Juzi, clad in battle armor that accentuated her shapely figure, flicked her hair as her eyes gleamed with the spirit of battle—she looked every bit the valiant general.

“Looks impressive enough. The only question is how they’ll do in real combat,” Su Yu murmured, rubbing his chin.

“Simple. Pick a target and run a drill. That’ll answer everything,” Juzi replied, lifting her chin with confidence.

Su Yu shot her a glance and smiled. “Seems you’re full of confidence.”

Juzi answered, “I have absolute faith in the army I’ve trained.”

Su Yu nodded. “Well then—”

“Whoosh!”

Just as Su Yu was about to continue, a figure flashed over. Xue Di’s cool, elegant face appeared.

“Something’s happened.”

“Oh?” Su Yu was taken aback. “Tell me more.”

Xue Di spoke calmly, “The Sun-Moon Empire’s offensive has intensified.”

“They’re fighting on two fronts, launching fierce attacks on both the Star Luo Empire and the Heavenly Soul Empire.”

“The Star Luo Empire is still holding out, but the Heavenly Soul Empire has collapsed entirely.”

“Now, the Sun-Moon Empire has advanced deep into Heavenly Soul territory, occupying much of it.”

“Just now, Nan Shuishui—the leader of the Earth Dragon Sect—sent a letter asking for your help. Nan Qiuqiu also heard about it and is extremely anxious.”

“And…”

“And what?” Su Yu asked.

“And the Sun-Moon Empire has stationed a massive army near the Extreme North. It seems they intend to mine resources there.”

Though Xue Di’s tone was light, her words were chillingly cold.

Su Yu frowned. Was the Heavenly Soul Empire really that weak?

He turned slightly, looking at Juzi. “Here’s your chance.”

“Now we’ll see what you’re really made of.”

“If you can defeat the Sun-Moon army head-on, it’ll prove our Holy Slayer Army is truly formed.”

“I’ll grant you a wish as a reward.”

“If you lose, back to drilling—keep training until you’re qualified.”

Juzi’s eyes instantly lit up, “You mean it?”

Finally, her chance had come.

Su Yu nodded seriously, “A gentleman’s word is his bond.”

“Good. I’ll make sure to give you a satisfactory answer.”

Juzi looked at the army below, excitement coloring her face.

Su Yu clasped his hands behind his back and said calmly, “Go tell Qiuqiu that this matter will be handled by our Ice God Hall.”

Earth Dragon Sect, Ten-thousand-year Ice Cave, Ten-thousand-year Ice Marrow.

Su Yu’s eyes flickered, a gleam of brilliance flashing beneath them.