Oh No, I've Been Blacklisted

Wang Chen pondered for a moment and decided to take a stroll near the Hongchen Family that afternoon, half-heartedly complete the task, and then return.

Once he was back, he would tell Wang Yan that the Hongchen Family had refused to let him see Meng Hongchen.

After all, Wang Yan could not possibly go to Jing Hongchen to verify whether it was true. When the time came, wouldn't it all depend on what he said?

As for meeting Meng Hongchen, it would be better to wait until the struggle for the throne had settled down.

Right now, the three princes were stopping at nothing in their fight for the throne. The Wang Family had sided with the Second Prince, making Wang Chen's position far too sensitive. If he met Meng Hongchen now, it would not be good for her.

It was better to keep his distance and not meet her for the time being.

Wang Chen sighed. As he gazed through the window at the vast blue sky, his desire to grow stronger intensified.

If he possessed enough strength, why would he need to hold himself back at every turn? He would not even be unable to see whoever he wanted to see.

Strength...

One in the afternoon.

On the only road leading from the Wang Family to the Hongchen Family.

Wang Chen watched the guards by the roadside, their clothes embroidered with the Hongchen Family's Toad Crest, staring at him intently. The corner of his mouth twitched.

He had originally planned to take a lap around the Hongchen Family, muddle through the task Wang Yan had given him, and then leave.

But now, there was no need for him to fake anything. Jing Hongchen had clearly already blacklisted him.

At this point, forget finding Meng Hongchen—even getting close to the Hongchen Family would be difficult.

Wang Chen suddenly recalled Wang Yan's lackluster expression when he had assigned him the task.

He could not help wondering whether Wang Yan had already anticipated this outcome. Perhaps he had never believed Wang Chen could meet Meng Hongchen and deepen their connection, which was why he had seemed so indifferent and uninterested.

But if Wang Yan did not believe he could meet Meng Hongchen, why had he given him this task?

Was he simply holding onto a faint hope, or...

Had someone else told him to do it? Could it have been the Second Prince, Xu Tianyu?

As Wang Chen pondered this, the Hongchen Family guards looked at him and spoke quietly among themselves. "That's him, right?"

"With that face, there probably isn't a second one like him in all of Mingdu. It has to be Wang Chen."

"When the steward conveyed the family head's order, he said that no gifts from any of the princes or the forces behind them were to be accepted, and none of them were to be received."

"This Wang Chen is from the Wang Family, and the Second Prince stands behind him. He used to be quite close to Miss Meng Hongchen, and he was specifically named by the family head."

"If he keeps moving forward and tries to enter the Hongchen Family, we'll follow the family head's orders and break his legs."

"..."

Seeing the Hongchen Family guards practically itching to make a move, Wang Chen immediately turned around and left.

The Second Prince wanted to use Wang Chen's connection with Meng Hongchen to deepen his ties with her, making others believe that Jing Hongchen supported him from behind the scenes and thereby dragging Jing Hongchen into the conflict.

But trying to scheme against Jing Hongchen through such a crude method was nothing but wishful thinking.

Was an old fox like Jing Hongchen really so easy to plot against? He would never expose such a ridiculous weakness.

The Hongchen Family was now refusing all visitors. They would meet with none of the princes and help none of them, adopting the stance of staying out of the conflict between the princes.

Unless Jing Hongchen changed his mind, the little schemes of those princes were probably as laughable in Jing Hongchen's eyes as children playing house.

Wang Chen shook his head, becoming even more wary of Jing Hongchen.

He could not underestimate these powerful old foxes just because he knew the plot. Otherwise, sooner or later, he would suffer a major setback because of it.

Just as Wang Chen was preparing to head home, he suddenly thought that returning like this would mean he had made the trip for nothing.

The Wang Family was not close to the Hongchen Family. Although both were in Mingdu, the Wang Family was located on the outskirts while the Hongchen Family was in the central district. There were dozens of kilometers between them.

It was not that the Wang Family was poor and could not afford land in the central district. Rather, the Wang Family had too many members. Building their clan grounds in Mingdu's central district would cost far too much and be excessively wasteful.

The Hongchen Family, on the other hand, had few members. Aside from Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen, Jing Hongchen's two direct relatives, the rest were collateral relatives with rather distant blood ties.

Therefore, even at Wang Chen's speed, a round trip would take nearly an hour.

Wang Chen remembered that his Storage Soul Tool contained quite a few Core Arrays he had engraved while practicing, so he headed toward the most prosperous commercial street nearby.

He planned to sell those useless items at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, buy some cultivation materials he needed, and check the latest news there while he was at it.

Only two minutes later, Wang Chen—after disguising himself—arrived at Mingdu's most prosperous commercial street.

Tall buildings stood everywhere. Structures more than ten stories high were countless, while wide stone-paved streets crisscrossed between them. Some of the main roads were even more than thirty meters wide.

Its prosperity was not the least bit inferior to the international metropolises buried deep in Wang Chen's memories.

Upon arriving at the commercial street, Wang Chen did not wander around. With a clear purpose, he headed straight for the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.

Wang Chen knew the Hundred Treasures Pavilion's background well. Several Ninth Level Soul Engineers from Mingde Hall stood behind it.

The purpose behind these Ninth Level Soul Engineers establishing the Hundred Treasures Pavilion was simple: on one hand, it was used to gather resources; on the other, it was used to dispose of defective products.

Every time a Ninth Level Soul Engineer refined a Ninth Level Soul Tool, they had to prepare a vast quantity of rare materials.

Success was one thing, but if they failed, the losses would be astronomical.

One had to know that top-tier rare metals could no longer be measured in terms of price. Many precious rare metals couldn't be bought even with money.

Thus, a single failed refinement was a tremendous loss even for a Ninth Level Soul Engineer.

To make up for those losses, Ninth Level Soul Engineers would remelt and reforge these failed products. After all, even damaged materials capable of crafting Ninth Level Soul Tools still held immense value.

The Soul Tools produced through remelting naturally could not reach the ninth level, but reaching the eighth level was not difficult—especially in terms of materials, since they were made from remnants left over from crafting Ninth Level Soul Tools.

Therefore, they were more powerful than Soul Tools of the same level.

When put up for auction, they would spark fierce competition among Soul Engineers, allowing some of the losses to be recovered.

After entering the Hundred Treasures Pavilion in disguise, Wang Chen spent several minutes selling the core arrays he had accumulated. He then bought some pills for daily use before expertly taking the Soul Tool elevator to the sixth floor.

The sixth floor housed the Hundred Treasures Pavilion's VIP rooms, each reserved for its own exclusive guest.

Wang Chen took out the token Meng Hongchen, that little rich girl, had given him and swiped it open the door to Room 607...