The Matter Has Come to This, Let's Eat First

Even if he were lucky enough to defeat this brat, what would there be to brag about for an eighth-level Soul Engineer bullying a mere eleven-year-old child?

By then, he would likely find it impossible to keep living in Bright Capital.

Damn it, in the Imperial Palace, the old ones torment him; outside the palace, the young ones humiliate him.

I really can't stay in this damn Bright Capital for another day; I want to go home! I want to go back to Xiyang City!

Of course, such vague thoughts of throwing in the towel and returning to his fief were limited only to the confines of Xu Yan's mind.

Once he actually abandoned his post before finishing the job, that black-bellied old Emperor would absolutely write down every blunder he had committed over the years in a little notebook and send it back to his ancestral fief, ensuring his branch of the family became infamous throughout the imperial clan circles.

Next, he would have to face:

The Golden Enforcer of the Mother-Countess

The Heir to the Duke of Xiyang's Title

<The Dual-Wielding Red-Stick of Two Small Imperial Clans>

<A Peerless Brute Forged by the Family's Top-Tier Cane Education>

<The Heaven-Sent Grandson of the Prince and Princess>

The Ultimate Recipient of Grandparental Doting

<The Strict First Mentor to Younger Siblings and Cousins>

The Unshakable Heir-Apparent Status of the Family

The Eldest Son of the Sun-Moon Xiyang Branch

The Eldest Grandson of the Xiyang Family

The Eldest Maternal Grandson of the Yiyang Family

An Eldest Brother Comparable to a Stern Father

At the Peak of Martial Prowess

Title: Blazing Sun

Current Duke of Xiyang

Sun-Moon Empire Guardian Douluo

Imperial Prince of the Southern Town

Ninth-Level Soul Engineer

The mere thought of his eighty-year-old mother weeping bitter tears as she handed the Emperor's little notebook to his nearly seventy-year-old, still-vigorous eldest brother made him shudder.

Then, his brother—engulfed in flames and fuming with rage—would storm from the fief with the family discipline rod in hand, kick down his door, and roar:

"Mother is at such an age, and you actually managed to anger her like this!"

"You've brought shame upon the imperial clan, and you dare to stand there and talk back to me!"

"You've dragged the faces of both the Xiyang and Yiyang families through the mud here in Bright Capital!"

"Get back to the ancestral hall and kneel before sunset; I'm going to have a long talk with you in front of our ancestors!"

Just these few sentences.

Xu Yan suddenly realized... sometimes, enduring a little bit really isn't so bad.

After all... a great man knows when to bend and when to stretch!

Now, his biggest problem was how to get these two into the same academy without insulting the dignity of the state or bruising Xu Tianzhen's ego.

Silence, a long and drawn-out silence.

Finally, under Qian Yuhan's puzzled gaze, Xu Yan sighed and said, "Forget it, forget it. Since things have come to this, let's just eat first!"

During this late-night snack, Xu Yan found the food as tasteless as chewing wax; he couldn't even taste it. It could hardly be called a normal human meal.

At best, it was nothing more than a crude, primitive, and mechanical filling of his stomach.

After paying the bill, an exhausted Xu Yan led Qian Yuhan back to his mansion, leaving behind a single sentence:

"There are plenty of empty rooms in my mansion; pick one to stay in. Tomorrow, we'll go see the Princess." After that, he swayed and disappeared into the mechanical-style silver-gray corridor.

Watching Xu Yan's figure vanish completely, the Rakshasa Phantom zipped out from Qian Yuhan's shadow. It placed its hands on its hips and surveyed the mansion—located in the most expensive district of Bright Capital—with a critical gaze.

Xu Yan's marquis mansion had three floors. The overall layout was simple and clear, allowing one to see the arrangement of most areas at a glance, while the decor favored silver-gray and black.

The Rakshasa Phantom paced over to the coffee table in the center of the living room, flopped onto the sofa with a thud, and grumbled:

'His house is actually quite clean. No weird decorations, no pointless sculptures or idols, unlike that Martial Soul City of yours later on, where the sculptures were built so large the whole city could see them.'

Are you kidding me? You can even find a way to trash Martial Soul City with that!

Besides, back then it was the Angelic Holy City! What is this "Martial Soul City" thing? I'm not familiar with it at all.

Having bickered with the Rakshasa Phantom for several years, Qian Yuhan's ability to maintain his composure had long since reached perfection. He knew clearly that arguing with this creature—whose brain development was extremely lopsided and who mostly said whatever popped into its head—was utterly meaningless.

As long as you ignored it, within three minutes, it would automatically reorganize its underlying code and change the subject.

Sure enough, amidst the silence Qian Yuhan deliberately maintained, the Rakshasa Phantom rolled twice on the sofa and shifted the topic: 'Oi, Old Qian, which room are you sleeping in tonight?'

"Naturally, I'll be sleeping in the largest room in the guest wing."

"Wait..."

"What is it now?" Qian Yuhan asked impatiently.

The Rakshasa Phantom parted its lips, deliberated for a long moment, and whispered a warning:

"Old Qian, as the saying goes, a tidy room without a strange scent... well, it's either... or... in short, I think you'd best sleep with one eye open."

"Sleep? How could sleep ever be as satisfying as cultivation! You needn't worry about me, for I have no intention of sleeping at all."

Having said that, Qian Yuhan turned and headed upstairs, choosing a room on the second floor with excellent natural light, then sat cross-legged in meditation, all in one fluid motion.

Left alone on the sofa, the Rakshasa Phantom pointed at the stairs and cursed, "Damn you, Qian Yuhan! You cultivate every single day—why haven't you practiced yourself to death yet?!"

On the other side, Xu Yan, whose insides were burning from the old Emperor's ridiculous mission, tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep. He kicked off his quilt, climbed out of bed, pushed open the floor-to-ceiling window connecting the bedroom to the balcony, and muttered to himself while looking at the night view:

"So frustrating! Is this damn mission even meant for a human? That little demoness Xu Tianzhen is as stubborn as a mule; trying to convince her to change her application is harder than ascending to heaven. The breakthrough point must be found with our prospective son-in-law. As long as he changes his tune, everything else will be easy to handle."

Just as he was thinking this, two palm-sized figures suddenly popped up in Xu Yan's mind, one on the left and one on the right.

On the left was a pitch-black little devil, and on the right was a little angel that looked exactly like him.

The little devil flapped a pair of bat wings and landed on Xu Yan's shoulder, cackling strangely:

"Heh heh heh, just say what's on your mind. That kid is honest; if you ask him directly to help change the application, he might actually do you the favor. As for the old Emperor saying not to let that kid feel like the Sun-Moon Empire is desperate to throw the princess at him, why do you care about that!"

"The princess is already lovesick herself, yet she's still putting on an act—what's the point? Things like this, as long as you don't say it and he doesn't say it, who would know!"

To be fair, the little devil's words were exactly what Xu Yan was thinking. As long as the main task could be accomplished, a few minor issues didn't seem like such a big deal.