Douluo Continent: Starting with a Heavenly Fire Judgment

Chapter 410 Everything is Ready

Chi Yuan's imposing aura lasted only half a minute, but that half minute felt like an eternity to Jing Hongchen. His legs trembled as he straightened up, looked at Chi Yuan, and asked in a trembling voice, "May I ask who this is?"

Ji Lin did not answer, but instead asked, "In the eyes of the Red Dust Hall Master, how does my teacher compare to the Dragon God Douluo, and how does he compare to the Dragon Emperor Douluo of the Holy Spirit Cult?"

Jing Hongchen remained silent for a moment, then said in a hoarse voice, "Stronger than them all, the strongest existence I've ever seen. Even the Evil Emperor, ranked second among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, couldn't give me such a sense of pressure. Is this your confidence?"

Ji Lin shook his index finger. "No, no, no, Teacher Chi Yuan is indeed my trump card, but that's not all."

Jing Hongchen was not surprised. Indeed, Chi Yuan was very strong, but he was just a strong person, not a god. It was impossible for him to defeat the Sun Moon Empire head-on. If this was Ji Lin's confidence, then Jing Hongchen was a little disappointed.

Ji Lin continued, "I imagine that the Lord of the Red Dust Hall has heard of the Holy Mark and the Liyue Merchant Guild."

Jing Hongchen nodded and said, "Of course I know that. I also know that your Zizai Sect has a place in the Liyue Merchant Guild."

This was, of course, told to him by Meng Hongchen.

Ji Lin wasn't surprised, after all, this was what he had instructed Meng Hongchen to reveal to Jing Hongchen. He smiled and said, "Then you probably don't know that I was the one who provided the Stigmata, and I was also the one who pushed for the establishment of the Liyue Merchant Guild."

Jing Hongchen was utterly astonished. He turned to look at Meng Hongchen, speechless.

Meng Hongchen blushed and lowered her head, not daring to look at Jing Hongchen.

Jing Hongchen opened his mouth, but a million thoughts raced through his mind. Meng Hongchen had kept such an important matter from him, only revealing a little harmless information.

She really is my granddaughter!

Xiao Hongchen suppressed a laugh, his shoulders shaking. His grandfather finally understood how he felt and wanted to show him how terrifying love-struck people can be.

Ji Lin ignored Jing Hongchen's astonishment and continued, "Taking the Holy Mark as an opportunity, I reached a consensus with the ferocious beasts of the Star Dou Great Forest. They are now my allies and can become our help in critical moments."

Jing Hongchen frowned slightly and analyzed, "With the effects of the Holy Mark, it is indeed possible to win over ferocious beasts, which is certainly a significant help. But are ferocious beasts really trustworthy? Putting all our eggs in one basket is too risky."

Ji Lin nodded. Although the ferocious beasts and the Zizai Sect were cooperating well at the moment, if Ji Lin really revealed his purpose, would the ferocious beasts really support him? An empire that unified the Douluo Continent was too powerful, posing a far greater threat to the soul beast race than the current four great empires. It was very likely that they would stand by and watch, and would not interfere in the human civil war.

Of course, it depends on Gu Yuena's choice. If Ji Lin can persuade Gu Yuena, then the ferocious beast will be a reliable ally.

However, Jing Hongchen was unaware of this, and it was normal for her to be worried. This also indicated that Jing Hongchen had begun to align herself with Ji Lin's side, which was a good thing.

Ji Lin revealed a mysterious smile and took out a blueprint from his storage soul tool.

"Master of the Red Dust Hall, the ferocious beast and Teacher Chi Yuan are just some of my trump cards. My real reliance is this."

Ji Lin handed the blueprints to Jing Hongchen. Jing Hongchen took the blueprints with a puzzled look, looked down at them, and her expression froze instantly.

As one of the best among the ninth-level Soul Masters, he could tell at a glance that this was a design drawing, but only a small part of the complete design drawing. Even this small part of the drawing was enough to leave him speechless.

"What is this?!"

Jing Hongchen's hands trembled as he stroking the lines on the blueprint with fascination. He was incredibly excited. Compared to the humanoid soul guide device and prototype mecha that Mingde Hall was researching, the things on the blueprint were even more awe-inspiring. Compared to this, mechas were far inferior!

Seeing Jing Hongchen's reaction, Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen also curiously stepped forward. Soon, accompanied by two exclamations, the three of them were engrossed in the blueprints.

Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen are both level seven soul masters. In terms of knowledge and soul guidance, they are even stronger than the level eight soul masters of the Star Luo Empire. Of course, they can see how amazing the things on the blueprints are. If they are really made, Ji Lin can really sweep across the continent with them. Even the current Sun Moon Empire will not be able to resist them.

Jing Hongchen gripped the blueprint tightly in his hand. He finally understood where Ji Lin's confidence came from. If he had such a thing, he would also have inappropriate thoughts, let alone the young, arrogant, and exceptionally talented Ji Lin.

Jing Hongchen's heart raced, her mind racing. Ji Lin possessed this item; if she could create a weakened version, it would still help him sweep across the world and unify the universe.

If his Hongchen family could join in, coupled with the relationship between Meng Hongchen and Ji Lin, he saw the possibility of the Hongchen family's strength expanding rapidly. He also saw a brand-new and powerful empire, like a new sprout breaking through the soil, absorbing nutrients and growing strong.

What he needs to do now is to provide the new empire with the nutrients it needs. When the sapling grows into a towering tree, it will not only shelter his mortal family from the wind and rain, but also allow them to reach the unreachable sky through this tree.

Jing Hongchen looked at Ji Lin and said in a deep voice, "What do you want me to do?"

Ji Lin was overjoyed; he knew that things had succeeded.

The original plan was to take advantage of the chaos in Mingdu to kidnap a few high-level Soul Masters, but when they arrived in Mingdu, they found that it was not difficult to find high-level Soul Masters, but difficult to persuade them to serve Ji Lin. Although new knowledge could make many Soul Masters abandon their country, most of them were still patriotic.

They might not be dedicated to studying the blueprints for Ji Lin, and might even secretly leak the blueprints. Although bound by the contract, no one can be sure that some Soul Masters would be willing to sacrifice their lives to leak the blueprints!

Ji Lin never underestimated a person's patriotism. If he encountered such a person, it might really cause Ji Lin to make a mistake. So Ji Lin thought about it for a long time before deciding to have Meng Hongchen bring him to see Jing Hongchen. He believed that although Jing Hongchen was also loyal to the Sun Moon Empire, his family was definitely more important to him. After all, many nobles in Douluo Continent were like that.

It would be best to persuade Jing Hongchen; otherwise, Chi Yuan would have to subdue Jing Hongchen and then have him use a spell to erase his memories.

Because of Meng Hongchen, he certainly didn't want to resort to such methods, nor did he want to harm Meng Hongchen's family.

The current situation is a happy one. Jing Hongchen has completely sided with Ji Lin. He now has an inside man in the Sun Moon Empire, and as a level nine soul master, it is most appropriate for him to help Ji Lin research and create that thing. Of course, this must be done in secret, secrecy is the most important thing, and the constraints of the Contract Book are indispensable.

Everything is ready except for the final push. Once that thing is made, the Sun and Moon Empire will defeat the three great empires and eliminate Ji Lin's potential enemies. Then it will be his turn to make his appearance.

Those who can accept the Sun Moon Empire will certainly be able to accept Ji Lin, while those who cannot accept the Sun Moon Empire will not accept Ji Lin's rule either. Therefore, these stumbling blocks will ultimately have to be resolved by Xu Tianran and Ju Zi.

Ji Lin gained a great deal from this secret meeting at Mingde Hall. The final piece of the puzzle is ready, and now all that's left is to wait for the fruit to ripen.

At the same time, contingency plans should be prepared at any time. After all, plans can't keep up with changes. There are many hidden sects in this world, as well as the high and mighty God Realm. There is even a God King who knows the law but breaks it and is unworthy of his position, who is eyeing us covetously. Whether things can develop in the direction that Ji Lin hopes for is unknown.

Before that, he needs to become stronger.

……

The Imperial Palace of the Sun and Moon Empire.

The palace was brightly lit at night. Crown Prince Xu Tianran was reading in his study, with Ju Zi attending to him.

"Ju Zi, would you like to go check out the Soul Tool Making Competition? You're a Soul Tool Master too, you should be very interested in this, right?" Xu Tianran suddenly looked up and said to Ju Zi with a smile.

The Soul Tool Making Competition, officially known as the Mingdu Soul Master Elite Competition, is a competition jointly organized by the three major underground forces of Mingdu. It is held concurrently with the Continental Advanced Youth Elite Soul Master Competition, except that one is held during the day and the other at night.

This is a Soul Master Making Competition organized by three major underground forces, taking advantage of the popularity of the All-Continent Advanced Youth Elite Soul Master Competition, in order to make a fortune by leveraging the competition's popularity.

They even started a gambling operation.

The three major underground forces also specially invited a powerful level-nine Soul Master, a royal retainer of the Sun Moon Empire, to serve as the chief referee. They also established a referee committee composed of twelve level-seven or higher Soul Masters to ensure the fairness of the competition and gambling.

What they actually wanted to do was quite simple: leverage the popularity of this tournament to attract commoners, nobles, and the wealthy who wanted to gamble but couldn't place bets directly in the tournament, and then make huge profits from it.

As it turns out, they have been very successful. To date, more than a million people have participated in this underground black market gambling competition, and the amount of betting is unimaginable.

In order to attract enough outstanding Soul Masters to participate, the rewards for the competition are all rare metals.

Soul Masters may not care about money, but they will never be indifferent to rare metals. They can earn money by making Soul Tools, but rare metals cannot be bought with money, especially since this competition has some extremely rare metals as rewards.

The three major forces are the largest, Xishui Alliance, as well as Pingfan Alliance and Aodu Chamber of Commerce.

The Holy Spirit Cult and Xu Tianran are behind the Xi Shui Alliance, which is why Xu Tianran suggested watching the match.

Ju Zi was slightly taken aback by Xu Tianran's suggestion. "Your Highness, isn't this inappropriate? With your status, how could you possibly appear there?"

(End of this chapter)