The Sun Moon Imperial House's Threat, an Encounter with Ye Guyi at the Black Market

The members of the disciplinary squad summoned their martial souls, rings of every color flashing as they prepared to forcibly arrest Yan Jingchuan.

"Stop! What do you think you're doing?!"

The furious roar made Wang Shaojie and the others freeze. Turning around, they saw Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen.

"The two from the Hongchen Family, and the Third Prince..."

"I don't care whether he's the Third Prince or the Thirtieth Prince. You have no right to arrest people at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy whenever you please!"

Xiao Hongchen showed him no courtesy and cut him off directly.

Wang Shaojie's expression darkened. Gritting his teeth, he glared viciously as he warned them,

"Are you trying to obstruct the disciplinary squad in carrying out its duties? Or are you planning to oppose the Imperial House?!"

Meng Hongchen snorted coldly, her tone dripping with disdain.

"Your Imperial House? What kind of Imperial House are you supposed to be? A lackey from a collateral branch sure knows how to glorify himself!"

After Meng Hongchen mercilessly pointed at his nose and cursed him out, Wang Shaojie raised a finger at her, wanting to say something. But he was so enraged that not a word came out. His face turned red, his eyes gradually bloodshot, and he began panting like a bull.

But she was not done yet. Meng Hongchen turned her attention toward the disciplinary squad.

"Since when did the disciplinary squad take orders from a lackey? You casually arrest students of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy—do you have no respect at all for the Hall of Virtue?"

"Or have you spent so long around a lackey that you've become dogs yourselves, biting anyone you see?"

Yan Jingchuan was dumbfounded. He had never expected Meng Hongchen, who was always lovestruck in the original story, to be so devastating with her words.

Not far away, Wang Shaojie was nearly exploding with rage, yet he did not dare lay a hand on the two of them or even vent his anger at them.

The Hongchen Family had always been one of the Sun Moon Empire's established powerful families. Jing Hongchen, in particular, was currently the dean of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy as well as the master of the Hall of Virtue. Even the Third Prince had to court his favor.

If Wang Shaojie offended the Hongchen Family today, the Third Prince could have him killed as a warning by tomorrow.

Meng Hongchen wanted to keep cursing, but Xiao Hongchen hurriedly held her back.

They had stood up for Yan Jingchuan on their own initiative, driven by the hot blood of youth. Jing Hongchen did not yet know about this, so Xiao Hongchen still had some reservations.

Besides, if they truly fell out with the Imperial House, Xiao Hongchen did not think the Hongchen Family would have it easy either.

"Wang Shaojie, you're not taking anyone away today. Get lost. The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy does not welcome you, or any of your lapdogs."

Xiao Hongchen decisively ordered them out. Wang Shaojie's face twisted as he looked at the Hongchen siblings before turning toward Yan Jingchuan.

He could not afford to offend those two with powerful backing, but was he supposed to fear some foreigner who was all alone?

"Brat, come with us to see the Third Prince if you know what's good for you. Otherwise, I'll make sure you die without a burial site!"

Having completely lost his temper, Wang Shaojie openly threatened Yan Jingchuan.

Yan Jingchuan's response was equally straightforward.

"First Soul Skill, Dark Sky-Splitting Claw!"

The claw-light sent several disciplinary squad members blocking his way flying. He did not even spare Wang Shaojie a glance as he swaggered away.

The rest of the disciplinary squad did nothing, choosing to remain silent and pretend they had seen nothing.

Wang Shaojie's gaze remained nailed to Yan Jingchuan's back. His fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his flesh.

"Just you wait! I'll make you pay for this!!"

Yan Jingchuan had no intention of paying him any attention. Having read the original story, he knew perfectly well that the so-called Third Prince did not have many years left to live.

Xu Tianran would slaughter all the princes of the Sun Moon Empire, leaving only one princess, Xu Tianzhen.

Arguing with a dead man would be beneath him.

Once the three had gone far away, Wang Shaojie finally erupted.

"Those three little bastards! I'll make them understand the price of humiliating me!!"

Wang Shaojie roared hysterically.

"Find someone! Find Evil Soul Masters and kill that brat surnamed Yan for me!!"

On their way back, the three of them gradually relaxed.

"Xiao, Meng, why did you suddenly come over?"

The place where Wang Shaojie had blocked Yan Jingchuan was quite secluded. Few people went there, and even fewer would have seen what happened.

"After the Soul Duel ended, we couldn't find you, so we wandered around. Who knew we'd happen to run into this?"

Xiao Hongchen spread his hands helplessly.

Hearing that, Yan Jingchuan let out a long breath. He sincerely thanked them both. Had Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen not arrived in time, his fate likely would not have been pleasant.

"No matter what, I really owe you both this time. Otherwise, I truly wouldn't have known how to get away."

"You still need to be careful. Wang Shaojie is extremely vindictive. There's no telling whether he'll arrange for someone to ambush you somewhere."

For once, Xiao Hongchen was no longer acting frivolously. His tone was exceptionally serious.

"Try not to leave the academy for a while. I'll tell Grandpa about this."

Meng Hongchen also chimed in.

"Every one of those people from the Imperial House is arrogant and domineering, especially the collateral branches. They're the worst."

Yan Jingchuan nodded. He knew that the Third Prince was colluding with the Holy Spirit Cult. In a way, this incident was not entirely a bad thing.

This would certainly put him on the Holy Spirit Cult's radar.

For a long time afterward, Yan Jingchuan hardly left his dormitory and rarely even went to the testing grounds.

After breaking through the bottleneck at level twenty, Yan Jingchuan continued cultivating.

Jing Hongchen came to see him once during that time. His meaning was simple: the academy promised to protect his safety.

He also said plenty of empty promises and words meant to win people over.

More substantially, Jing Hongchen gave Yan Jingchuan several trigger-type eighth-grade defensive soul tools.

They could barely withstand the full-force attack of a Titled Douluo.

Two days before departing for the Extreme North to hunt soul beasts, Yan Jingchuan secretly went alone to the black market in Bright City.

He needed to learn about the situation in the Original Douluo Three Kingdoms, especially Shrek.

He had been at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy for quite some time, yet it was impossible to obtain information about the Original Douluo Three Kingdoms through ordinary channels here.

Aside from the cheat-like boost from Justice Counterattack, Yan Jingchuan's greatest advantage was knowing the future course of events and possessing foresight.

To make use of that advantage, he had to know the current point in the timeline. He could not remain blind despite having his eyes open.

The black market was a mixed bag, and everything sold there came at exorbitant prices. He even saw quite a few high-grade soul tools produced by the Hall of Virtue.

Seventh-grade soul cannons, sixth-grade fixed-installation soul tool bombs, seventh-grade flying soul tools...

What was most ironic was that the people buying them were from the Original Douluo Three Kingdoms.

The Original Douluo Three Kingdoms and the Sun Moon Empire had fought for thousands of years, yet people had apparently been selling the Sun Moon Empire's strategic weapons to their enemies in secret all along.

As Yan Jingchuan wandered through the black market, he gradually noticed that something was wrong.

Someone seemed to be following him!

Being robbed by black market operators was quite common, but this time was particularly troublesome.

Every time Yan Jingchuan shook off his pursuer, the other party was able to find him again within a short time.

It even made Yan Jingchuan suspect that someone had planted a tracking soul tool on him.

After repeatedly failing to shake them off, Yan Jingchuan decided to make a move and see whether he could get rid of them.

As the distance between them closed, Yan Jingchuan quickly sensed an aura that made him profoundly uncomfortable.

It was not a violent, murderous negative aura. On the contrary, it was warm and radiant, an elemental aura completely opposed to that of Yan Jingchuan's martial soul.

The incompatibility between their attributes caused them to clash.

There were only a few martial souls capable of affecting his Dark Sacred Dragon and Hell Demon Puppet martial souls like this. Combined with the fact that they were in Bright City, the possibilities were already very limited.

Using reverse tracking to observe them, Yan Jingchuan identified the follower as a woman. The moment he saw her golden hair, an answer vaguely formed in his mind.

Could this be Ye Guyi?