Level 9 Soul Engineer Free Combat Competition?

"?"

"!"

As soon as Jing Hongchen uttered these words, the gazes of everyone present instantly locked onto him in shock.

Ye Yulin: "༽◺_◿༼?!"

Damn you, Jing Hongchen! What the hell are you trying to do! You can't have him, so you don't want this old man to have him either, right? You are a complete bastard!

If you have the guts, don't run after this meeting ends; I'm going to challenge you to a duel!

I'm going to use my brand-new heavy leather boots to kick the backside of a short, chubby man like you (◣_◢).

Although Xu Kun, sitting upright behind the imperial desk, did not know exactly what Jing Hongchen was thinking, he still maintained the appearance of a ruler who listens to advice, signaling for Jing Hongchen to continue.

"What the Hall Master of Mingde Hall means is..."

"As far as this subject knows, the Unbroken Douluo Zheng Zhan, Elder Zhang the Dean of the Bright Capital Soul Engineer Academy, Elder Wang of the Sun-Moon Royal Research Institute, the commanders of the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Regiment and the Evil Monarch Soul Engineer Regiment... and many other Level 9 Soul Engineers do not have personal disciples. Since we must choose a suitable guide for him, we should summon all the Level 9 Soul Engineers who lack disciples and let everyone compete fairly."

On the surface, Jing Hongchen wore an expression of righteous integrity, appearing as if he were acting solely in the interest of the Empire, but deep down, he was already wearing the mysterious smile of a man whose plan had succeeded.

Indeed, dragging others into the water to muddy it—this was the strategy Jing Hongchen was currently employing.

No one dislikes a genius, especially a super-genius whose future achievements are destined to surpass their own.

As long as all the Level 9 Soul Engineers with an interest in taking on a disciple were pulled in, then, out of a need to weigh the pros and cons and appease his high-ranking officials—

Giving him to Ye Yulin would offend the other Level 9 Soul Engineers, while giving him to Zheng Zhan or anyone else would offend Ye Yulin and the rest.

In a situation where there was a high probability of offending a large group of Level 9 Soul Engineers, His Majesty the Emperor, who was skilled at weighing pros and cons, would certainly choose to shelve the dispute and discuss it later.

But such a brilliant genius could absolutely not be left alone to waste his talent!

Therefore, he definitely had to attend school!

As it happened, besides being the Hall Master of Mingde Hall, Jing Hongchen also held the position of Dean of the Sun-Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, the premier institution of the Sun Moon Empire.

As long as this kid enrolled in the Sun-Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, he, Jing Hongchen, would transform into a master of manipulation, performing a "drawing the firewood from under the cauldron" maneuver right in front of everyone.

By using the "kind and amiable Dean caring for a young student with immense potential" approach to get a head start, he would silently pull ahead of all other Level 9 Soul Engineers.

By then, the student would be willing, and the Dean would be eager.

With mutual consent and the natural progression of events, one could say it would be a massive, total victory! He would win until his hands went numb!

Sure enough, just as Jing Hongchen had anticipated, when Xu Kun imagined a group of Level 9 Soul Engineer old men and women—who he couldn't afford to offend—wielding various ceremonial artifacts bestowed by late emperors...

(Not the disgraced brother he had kicked out of the ancestral temple and stripped of imperial status, but his own super-invincible undead warrior father, whom he had forcibly dug out of the imperial mausoleum to grant four more years of life, only for the man to shout, "The Crown Prince is devoid of virtue and unfit for the throne; my fourth son, Xu Kun, is of noble character and resembles me closely, he shall inherit the throne!")

...all gathered in his Wenhua Hall, spitting at each other and potentially starting a tense, thrilling Level 9 Soul Engineer free-for-all brawl right in front of him using those glittering ceremonial artifacts, Xu Kun felt his brain go numb.

Regret, he was filled with nothing but regret!

Why on earth did he bring these two here?

Was he looking to make himself miserable?

But thinking it over carefully, was there actually anything wrong with what Jing Hongchen said?

A genius of this caliber truly should be taught according to his aptitude, but who would be the best person to take him on?

At least half of the people Jing Hongchen mentioned had to be ruled out immediately.

The first group to be excluded were the commanders of the "Hand of the Nation" soul engineer regiments.

These people might be fine when sent out to fight wars, but to be honest, he didn't have much confidence in their ability to teach students.

Furthermore, even if their teaching skills were passable, he feared their "act first, think later" reckless personalities. What if they suddenly had a heat-of-the-moment brain fart and shouted:

"Hey! The enemy's formation is in chaos, let's charge over and wipe them out!" and grabbed their gear to lead the youngsters into a suicidal charge?

If any accidents happened during that process, he wouldn't even know where to go to cry.

The second group to be excluded were those Level 9 Soul Engineers with special duties. The reasons were similar to the previous group, but more importantly, they weren't particularly outstanding among the Level 9s, which would easily lead other Level 9s to think:

This old guy isn't even as good as me, so why does he get the good fortune of landing such a great student?

I'm annoyed, no, I must go and cause trouble for the old Emperor. That was a terrifying thought.

Who else was worthy of being entrusted with his prospective son-in-law, whose engagement was only just beginning to take shape?

Xu Kun lowered his eyelids and began to mentally review every figure in the Sun Moon Empire at the Titled Douluo level or above.

Xu Guozhong?

An imperial prince and a Level 9 Soul Engineer.

No, this guy had followed his imperial brother back in the day and was close to that branch of the family. If he sent Qian Yuhan to him, there was no guarantee that one day, when Xu Guozhong's ambition swelled, he would realize the strongest Guardian Douluo was his disciple, declare "the advantage is mine," and start replicating the path he himself had taken, intending to don the yellow robe.

Xu Yan's brother, Xu Zhen? A branch of the royal clan and a Level 9 Soul Engineer.

No, this fellow Xu Zhen had always listened to orders but never attended court. If he sent Qian Yuhan over, he probably wouldn't be able to get him back, and Xu Zhen would evolve from a small Prince of Nan into a fully realized Prince of Nan.

Kong Deming? Elder Kong!

This man was indeed excellent, but he was the number one Soul Engineer of the Sun Moon Empire, specializing in soul tools.

Setting aside the characteristics of Twin Martial Souls, his level as a soul master was about the same as the two sitting in front of him—a case of "the older brother and the younger brother" being equally mediocre.

An eleven-year-old with four rings—if such talent were to abandon the path of a Soul Master to become a traditional Soul Tool Master of the Sun Moon Empire, his ancestors in the heavens would likely be so enraged they would strike down a bolt of lightning to incinerate this unfilial descendant.

Are there no top-tier figures in the Soul Master world within the Sun Moon Empire?

Ha!

There are, brother, there are.

The Holy Spirit Cult possesses a very systematic and comprehensive training process for traditional Soul Masters (the Evil Soul Master kind), and their Supreme Pontiff, Ye Xishui, has traveled exceptionally far on both the paths of the Soul Tool Master and the Soul Master.

A Soul Master capable of rivaling Ye Xishui in raw combat power certainly cannot match her in Soul Tools.

A Soul Tool Master capable of rivaling Ye Xishui in Soul Tools would be soundly thrashed by her in terms of raw combat power.

Looking at it this way, Ye Xishui is simply the best candidate for cultivating a genius.

But the problem now is that Qian Yuhan's attributes are the natural nemesis of Evil Soul Masters!

Sending an attribute specifically designed to restrain evil into the hands of an Evil Soul Master!

The implications are no less severe than snapping the scabbard of a sharp blade and then offering one's own neck to the edge.

If he were to actually commit such a maddeningly stupid act, his Imperial Father and Imperial Grandfather would truly be capable of crawling out of the imperial mausoleum to beat him to death.

Sigh, what kind of mess is this!

Damn it!

In the end, growing more furious the more he thought about it, Xu Kun raised his head, locking eyes with both Ye Yulin and Jing Hongchen.

The three of them stared at one another, none willing to be the first to speak.

It is unknown how much time passed, but as if accepting reality, Xu Kun leaned his upper body back abruptly, his back slamming heavily against the chair:

"Let us each take a step back. This Imperial One will not summon the other Rank 9 Soul Tool Masters to compete with you, and you two will also take a step back and listen to my arrangements."

"Very well, this old subject obeys His Majesty." Ye Yulin nodded frantically like a chick pecking at rice, clearly accepting the Emperor's suggestion. While Jing Hongchen was not particularly pleased, he gave the Emperor enough face to nod in agreement.

"This Imperial One has decided: we shall have someone summon him directly and, respecting his personal wishes, let him choose one of you two as his mentor in the field of Soul Tools. How do you feel about this proposal?"

On the surface, Xu Kun's words were asking for the opinions of Ye Yulin and Jing Hongchen.

But in reality, it had already completely defined the nature of today's discussion.

—You two both have your own justifications, and this Imperial One feels that both of you make valid points.

Therefore, this Imperial One is adopting a compromise to resolve the issue.

"His Majesty is wise."

As he spoke, Ye Yulin had already begun to ponder what gifts he should take from his personal collection to bribe—ah, no, to gain the young man's favor.

"This subject, Jing Hongchen, obeys the decree."

Regarding Ye Yulin's shallow act of secretly rummaging through his storage ring to pick out gifts from his own assets, Jing Hongchen was significantly more subtle.

He had carefully reviewed the file several times just now. If the photograph in the upper left corner was a recent one, then even he had to admit that this kid possessed a face that could "attract bees and butterflies," the kind that would make his own beauty-obsessed granddaughter stare blankly if she saw it.

A son-in-law is considered half a son, and a granddaughter's husband is half a grandson; if one could add a familial bond on top of the master-disciple relationship.

That would truly be a rare and beautiful thing!

If Qian Yuhan, who was currently being dragged by Xu Tianzhen through the snack street three blocks away, knew—

That at this very moment, in the towering Sun Moon Imperial Palace not far away, the Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire was racking his brains to find a reliable person to teach a former Soul Master prodigy about Soul Master knowledge.

Two renowned Rank 9 Soul Tool Masters were busy—one pondering what meeting gift to prepare, the other contemplating whether to recruit him as a live-in son-in-law.

He would only let out a "ho" of astonishment amidst the sarcastic, mocking laughter of the Rakshasa Phantom.

And so, at the signal of the wise and martial Emperor, the tool-man Xu Yan—who had been indirectly labeled as "an ultra-useful serf and beast of burden that would be a waste not to use"—was once again summoned into Wenhua Hall by the imperial attendants, much like a contracted beast.

Heaven knows how terrified Xu Yan felt when he sighed and walked into Wenhua Hall, only to raise his eyes and see those two old fogeys, Jing Hongchen and Ye Yulin, looking at him with an extremely complex and "fervent" gaze.

Damn it! What kind of look is that from those two old fogeys! Why does it look like they want to 'eat' someone? Could it be... that those wild, tabloid-like rumors are true? Do these two old fogeys actually have that... 'special' preference?

Children, no, it's not good! Imperial Uncle Four tricked me into coming here, he must be planning to hand me, this handsome uncle, over to these two detestable, evil old geezers to become their...

Associating this with certain unbearable and tragic imagery, a trace of despair rose in Xu Yan's heart, and he even began to consider whether he should dash his head against a nearby pillar before being humiliated.

He would strive to leave his purity behind in this world.

"Marquis of Xiyang?!"

Seeing Xu Yan wearing a private, sullen face as if his family's ancestral grave had been dug up, Ye Yulin suppressed his displeasure, squeezed out a difficult smile, and asked in the softest voice he could manage: "Are you listening to us?"

Xu Yan, who had been lost in his own imagination and hadn't noticed anyone speaking to him, raised his head blankly, looked at Ye Yulin with a dull expression, and instinctively replied: "Ah?!"

"Ah what?" Jing Hongchen set down his teacup calmly, frowning. "His Majesty is asking you if you can go and bring that young friend back."

Young friend, which young friend?

Oh! You mean Qian Yuhan!

Sure enough, I knew you two old geezers weren't anything good. At your age, you wouldn't even spare a child...

Wait, hold on. I remember that precious treasure of a child is being kept by Imperial Uncle Four to be a future consort; there is absolutely no way he would hand him over to you two old geezers to ruin. So, actually, I was overthinking it—you two old geezers aren't perverts!

Haha, I knew it!

How could two such dignified and renowned Soul Master experts possibly be the super perverts described in the local rumors!

Realizing he might have overreacted and conjured up a mountain of strange notions, Xu Yan felt a sudden wave of embarrassment. To mask his guilty conscience, he hurriedly stood up, thumped his chest until it echoed with a dull thud, and gave a solemn guarantee to the other three people in the hall:

In half an hour at most, he would bring the person to Wenhua Hall.

"Minister Yan is loyal and devoted to the state; Imperial We are greatly comforted. Go quickly then, and do not keep Us and Hall Master Hongchen waiting too long."

As he spoke, Xu Kun cast a sidelong glance at Xu Yan with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

Beneath the imperial desk piled high with memorials, hidden within his wide sleeve, a delicately crafted communication Soul Tool—the kind with a cute design that any little girl would adore—was currently clutched in Xu Kun's palm.

Hmph!

If it weren't for that girl Tianzhen's forgetfulness, leaving her communication Soul Tool behind with Us just now when she took snacks from the drawer, would We even need to send you to fetch someone?

Could We not have simply contacted Tianzhen directly and had her bring the person over?

This was what Xu Kun, who was equally forgetful—having been so preoccupied with the thought of his own "cabbage" being snatched away that he forgot to ask Qian Yuhan for his personal communication Soul Tool code—thought to himself.

Little did he know, Qian Yuhan did not possess such "high-tech Soul Tools" capable of making calls at all.

"This subject takes his leave."

Retreating from Wenhua Hall with a sheepish laugh, Xu Yan strode down the long corridor and brazenly fished his communication Soul Tool from his pocket. He entered Xu Tianzhen's code, intending to ask if she knew where Qian Yuhan was, but no matter how he tried to connect, the calls to Xu Tianzhen were like stones cast into the sea, meeting with not even a shred of response.