Wang Yan, Who Feared Death

When Wang Chen heard Wang Yan tell him to go deepen his relationship with Meng Hongchen, he almost thought he had misheard.

But on second thought, Wang Chen immediately sensed something was wrong.

The Wang Family had now pledged allegiance to the Second Prince, and as a direct descendant of the Wang Family, if he went to deepen his relationship with Meng Hongchen of the Hongchen Family at a time like this...

Wouldn't it be hard for outsiders not to misunderstand that there was some connection between the Hongchen Family, the Wang Family, and the Second Prince?

Wang Chen instantly understood why Wang Yan wanted him to build closer ties with Meng Hongchen. This was clearly an attempt to drag the Hongchen Family into the water.

But when Wang Chen saw Wang Yan lying on the reclining chair with such a lack of interest, even summoning him here only to give him a single instruction before sending him away...

He did not seem to take it very seriously, and that made a trace of doubt rise in Wang Chen's heart.

However, neither the time nor the place was right, so Wang Chen could only temporarily suppress the doubts in his heart.

Countless thoughts twisted through Wang Chen's mind, but not the slightest flaw showed on his face. Instead, he displayed just the right amount of surprise and confusion.

Wang Chen's large black eyes were clear and bright as he looked at Wang Yan in puzzlement and asked, "Ancestor, this...?"

Wang Yan lay on the reclining chair, his eyes narrowing downward as he looked at Wang Chen's seemingly uncomprehending expression. His fingers tapped against the armrest, producing crisp sounds.

He had never liked explaining things to others, but then he remembered that Wang Chen was only a boy not yet twelve years old.

So he patiently explained one more sentence to him. "Just go to the Hongchen Family more often and look for that little girl, Meng Hongchen."

After saying that, Wang Yan waved his hand at Wang Chen, signaling for him to leave. Clearly, he had no intention of keeping Wang Chen around any longer.

Seeing Wang Yan's lack of interest and his gesture of shooing him away, Wang Chen had no intention of staying either.

He cupped his hands and bowed to Wang Yan, putting on all the proper outward courtesy, then said that this grandson would take his leave before departing the great hall.

After Wang Chen left, Wang Yan rose from the reclining chair, then took a green pill brimming with life force from his Storage Soul Tool and swallowed it.

After taking the pill, Wang Yan's aged, wrinkled face became ruddy.

Wang Yan looked at Wang Chen's youthful back as he departed, and a reminiscent look could not help but appear in his eyes.

Once upon a time, he had been as young as Wang Chen.

But in the blink of an eye, a hundred years had passed. His youth was gone, his black hair had turned white, his tall, straight body had become hunched, his skin had dried out and lost its elasticity, and he had become feeble with age.

As Wang Chen's great-grandfather, he was already one hundred and seven years old.

Although he was a peak Soul Douluo expert, he could clearly feel it.

This body of his could only live another five years at most. Even if he took pills refined from medicinal herbs containing life force, he would only live three or four years longer.

If a soul master did not break through to Titled Douluo, then their lifespan was not much different from that of an ordinary person.

And when he was young, he had been handsome and carefree, indulging in flowers and beauty, exhausting a great deal of vital essence. Even though he had later taken pills to make up for it, he had never been able to fully recover.

If he wanted to break the limits of his lifespan, he had to become a Titled Douluo.

But as time passed day by day, his body grew older with each day, and his qi and blood declined with each day.

Wang Yan's chances of breaking through to Titled Douluo became increasingly slim, because breaking through to Titled Douluo required condensing a Soul Core.

Without sufficiently powerful Spiritual Power and a strong physique, one could not withstand the powerful impact of condensing a Soul Core.

With the state of his body, wanting to condense a Soul Core and break through to Titled Douluo was almost impossible.

So, the end of his life was near.

In the face of the pressure of life and death, no one could remain indifferent.

As an Eighth-Level Soul Engineer and a Marquis, Wang Yan was attached to everything in this world. He did not want to die.

Therefore, he had gone mad. He had staked his family, staked everything he had, all to support a prince in becoming emperor, so he could use the imperial family's top-tier resources to break through to Titled Douluo and extend his lifespan.

For the sake of breaking through, he could use any means necessary.

Whoever blocked him, he would kill!

At the same time, at the Hongchen Family.

After Meng Hongchen happily finished her breakfast, she dressed herself up with some careful grooming.

She put white stockings over her straight, beautiful legs, slipped her delicate little feet into black leather shoes, and dressed her still-developing, graceful body in a blue dress.

Then she left the Hongchen Family in high spirits, heading toward Mingdu's most prosperous commercial street not far from home.

However, after Meng Hongchen left the Hongchen Family, a middle-aged woman with ordinary looks, dressed in Soul Tool Armor, followed behind her.

This woman was none other than Number Three, whom Jing Hongchen had arranged to protect Meng Hongchen personally and prevent Meng Hongchen and Wang Chen from meeting.

Number Three was extremely powerful. Her cultivation had already reached the Soul Sage realm, and she was also a Seventh-Level Soul Engineer, a talent Jing Hongchen had nurtured since childhood.

If not for the recent situation being off, and Meng Hongchen's fondness for running to the Wang Family, as well as Jing Hongchen's fear of being dragged into the struggle for the throne...

He absolutely would not have arranged for a Soul Sage-level expert to personally protect his granddaughter.

Soul Sage-level experts were few in number, and no matter which country they were in, they were high-level talents.

Never mind that Jing Hongchen was the dean of Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy and the hall master of Mingde Hall. In truth, he did not control many high-level experts.

Powerful senior researchers in Mingde Hall, as well as the Soul Sage and Soul Douluo teachers of Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, did not belong to Jing Hongchen, but to the Sun and Moon Empire.

It was only because Jing Hongchen had been appointed by His Majesty the Emperor as the master of Mingde Hall and the dean of Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy that he had become these people's superior.

That was why the experts of the academy and Mingde Hall obeyed his orders. If Jing Hongchen were removed from office one day, then these experts would no longer listen to him.

Public talent and personal talent had to be counted separately.

If Jing Hongchen ever wanted to do something treasonous one day, he would not dare use the experts of Mingde Hall or Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy at all, because there was no telling whether those people would turn around and deal with him instead.

Only talent like Number Three, whom he had raised and trained from childhood, was someone Jing Hongchen would truly trust.

Meng Hongchen glanced at Number Three, who was following behind her like a shadow, and thought to herself, Don't think that just because you won't let me see Wang Chen Gege, I have no way to contact him. Hmph!

Before long, Meng Hongchen arrived at Mingdu's busiest commercial street. After strolling around for a while, she stopped in front of a luxuriously decorated place called the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.

The Hundred Treasures Pavilion was a place that specifically served Soul Engineers.

Its business was very simple: on ordinary days, it bought and sold all kinds of medicinal herbs, soul beasts, rare metals, and Soul Tools.

At the same time, it also held auctions once every month. At the auctions, there were all kinds of high-level Soul Tools, blueprints for cutting-edge Core Arrays, and top-grade rare metals. It could be called a feast for Soul Engineers.

In Mingdu, this Hundred Treasures Pavilion was also extremely famous, but what few people knew was that standing behind it were those few Ninth Level Soul Engineers from Mingde Hall.