Jing Hongchen

It was his fault, after all. He'd watered the flowers with boiling water. But hadn't he forgotten that the water in his hand was boiling?

Xu Yanli had probably soaked in the icy water for a long time. Once the burning sensation finally subsided, he hurriedly climbed out of the cold spring.

The next morning, Xu Yanli slowly got out of bed, sprawled out like a lump and not wanting to move at all.

"Luo Xu, ask my teacher for me. I'm not going today." Xu Yanli yawned in bed as he spoke. "Just say I caught a chill from soaking in the cold spring last night."

"Your Highness, your Martial Soul..." Luo Xu said respectfully.

"Oh, just use that excuse. Let me rest for a day. I'm really exhausted." Xu Yanli waved a hand at his guard, his voice weak.

Hearing the footsteps fade into the distance, Xu Yanli let out a long breath.

Good grief, being a prince was no job for a human. It was exhausting, and he couldn't even slack off.

It wasn't long before Luo Xu returned.

"Your Highness, your teacher agreed. He said you should get some proper rest," Luo Xu said respectfully.

Xu Yanli immediately breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. "That's great. And stop kneeling. You don't have to keep kneeling when we're in private, either."

At last, Xu Yanli was willing to get out of bed, though he didn't go far. He just made it to the reclining chair in the courtyard and flopped onto it.

He gazed at the sunlight in the sky and felt as if his Martial Soul were answering the sun. An indescribable warmth spread through him, and before long, he fell asleep again.

"Death God Douluo, are you planning to break our pact?" Xu Tianran said from the Crown Prince's Mansion next door.

"Whatever do you mean, Your Highness?" Ye Xishui said with a light laugh. "A wise bird chooses the tree it perches in, doesn't it?"

"Are you wise birds?" Xu Tianran folded his hands over his lap. "Yanli, Prince Xiaoyao, might not take you in."

"No need to trouble yourself, Your Highness. It's still better than waiting to be settled with later." Ye Xishui wound a strand of hair around her fingertip. Her eyes slanted upward at the corners as she tilted her head toward Xu Tianran, her voice seeming to conceal a venomous chill.

With that, she turned into a cloud of black mist and departed.

"I'm warning you: don't go looking for him before he turns fifteen," Xu Tianran called coldly after her. "I want him to make his own choice."

Xu Tianran tapped his fingers on the table, seeming to contemplate something. A trace of malice flashed in his eyes.

A family full of schemers had finally produced one lazybones. He ought to protect him properly.

Xu Yanli sprawled in his chair, feeling the Soul Power within him continuously rising.

It seemed the legend of the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon was true: a sub-dragon born of the sun.

Xu Yanli had thought he could spend the whole day lying around without anyone disturbing him, but then...

Jing Hongchen rushed into his residence, carrying the first-grade Soul Tool pistol Xu Yanli had made.

"Your Highness Prince Xiaoyao, did you make this for the exam the other day? Can ordinary people really use it? Does it not require Soul Power?" Jing Hongchen fired off a string of questions the moment he arrived, leaving Xu Yanli unsure which one to answer first.

"That's right. It really doesn't need Soul Power. Do you see a problem with that?" Xu Yanli stretched his arm and glanced up at Jing Hongchen.

"No, no. I just wanted to understand a little more about Soul Tools. How were you able to make one that can be used without Soul Power?" Jing Hongchen was so nervous that he stumbled over his words.

Xu Yanli looked at him for a long while before slowly replying, "Mechanisms, gears. Besides, it's not as if this requires absolutely no help from a Soul Master. It still needs to be charged. And as for how powerful it is, it'll definitely be stronger when used by a Soul Master."

"This is already a huge leap forward for our technology. May I invite you to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy?" Jing Hongchen asked excitedly.

Xu Yanli shook his head. "Most of the time, I go to my teacher's place. The rest of the time, I do experiments at my residence. If you don't mind, you can come here."

"Then I'd be delighted to accept." Jing Hongchen was thrilled. "As it happens, my grandson and granddaughter are about your age. Why don't I have them come over and keep you company as study partners?"

Xu Yanli: ???

Was this guy really so quick to offer up his grandson and granddaughter?

"Bring them over if you want," Xu Yanli said, massaging his forehead.

"Then get some rest, Your Highness. I'll be right back." Jing Hongchen darted out, leaving a blur behind him.

"Luo Xu, don't you think our Hall Master Hongchen is a little too excitable?" Xu Yanli asked, at a loss for words.

"Yes." Luo Xu.

"Luo Xu, do you think our Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy can surpass Shrek Academy?" Xu Yanli continued to recline in his chair, sighing.

"Yes." Luo Xu.

"Luo Xu, don't you think I'm incredibly talented?"

"Yes." Luo Xu.

Xu Yanli suddenly sat up and raised an eyebrow at Luo Xu. Then, after thinking it over, he lay back down.

Getting up was too tiring. He didn't feel like doing it.

Sigh, he wasn't even in the mood to talk anymore.

But Xu Yanli never did get to see Jing Hongchen. Instead, Xu Tianran arrived.

"Yanli, come on. Your brother wants to talk to you about something." Xu Tianran wheeled his chair over beside Xu Yanli's reclining chair.

At that, Xu Yanli gestured for Luo Xu to leave first.

"Imperial Brother, what is it?" Xu Yanli asked with a smile.

"It's about the Holy Spirit Cult. I came to talk it over with you," Xu Tianran said calmly.

"Imperial Brother, what do you plan to do with them?" Xu Yanli asked evenly.

"What do I plan to do? I plan to leave the Holy Spirit Cult in your hands once you're grown." Xu Tianran tapped the armrest of his wheelchair.

Xu Yanli paused, then said, "The Holy Spirit Cult has a terrible reputation. In the future, we can absorb them into our ranks to some extent."

"I'll go with your judgment," Xu Tianran said casually, tossing him a jade token carved with the characters 'Prince Xiaoyao.'

"What's this?" Xu Yanli asked, bewildered.

"I used your title to establish a trading company. It's yours now," Xu Tianran said calmly.

For some reason, Xu Yanli felt as if Xu Tianran was a weasel wishing a chicken a happy new year—up to no good.

But from his expression, it didn't look as though he was trying to swindle him.

Xu Tianran fell silent for a long while. When he saw that Xu Yanli hadn't taken it, he sighed and said, "Take it. Don't worry, I'm not setting you up. As long as you don't want to become emperor in the future, you'll always be my younger brother."

Xu Yanli hesitated, then reached out and took the jade token. He smiled. "Then thank you, Imperial Brother."

"And that Jing Hongchen—spend some time with his grandson and granddaughter. You're all the same age, so you should have plenty to talk about." Xu Tianran rubbed Xu Yanli's cheek.