Level 9 Soul Tools were the highest-ranked Soul Tools publicly known in the soul engineering world.
Even in a country like the Sun Moon Empire, which excelled at making Soul Tools, they were exceedingly rare.
There were only a dozen or so in the entire nation.
And now...
Park Guk-chang watched Jing Hongchen casually produce three Soul Tools, all of them aimed straight at him.
Panic churned inside him.
But when he remembered that he had dared to come poaching today because someone from the imperial family had instructed him to...
He immediately stiffened his spine.
"I came here today in good faith."
"Yet you, Hall Master Jing, have met me with weapons, even bringing out three Level 9 Soul Tools."
"Don't forget, whatever else I may be, I'm the dean of the Mingdu Soul Engineer Academy, personally appointed by the imperial family. Aren't you taking things too far?"
Jing Hongchen's expression immediately darkened.
Chen Mo was the most gifted student the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy had ever encountered.
Not to mention that he was Jing Hongchen's own student.
This shameless bastard Park Guk-chang had brought people sneaking into the academy in the dead of night, intending to abduct his student by force.
And now he actually had the gall to claim he had come in good faith.
He even accused Jing Hongchen of taking things too far.
Son of a bitch.
Did he really think I had no temper?
He raised his right hand, and the Soul Cannon instantly began gathering energy.
"Park, I've given you far too much face."
"Don't forget, this is the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, and I am its dean!"
"You lot broke into the academy in the dead of night and even tried to hurt my student. Do you think nothing of me, or do you think nothing of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy?"
"Have you forgotten where the 'Royal' in the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy's name came from?"
Park Guk-chang smiled contemptuously and waved a hand. "I know, but what does that 'Royal' have to do with you, Jing Hongchen?"
"In what way is our Mingdu Soul Engineer Academy inferior to yours? More importantly, the imperial family's only princess, the crown prince's only younger sister—Xu Tianzhen—has already enrolled in our academy."
"As for that 'Royal' you boast about, aren't you merely leaning on your connection to that man in the imperial Worship Hall?"
"If we really get down to it, our Mingdu Soul Engineer Academy seems more deserving of being called a royal academy than your Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineers!"
On that point...
Jing Hongchen genuinely had no rebuttal.
But he snorted. "Hmph! In what way are you inferior to us? Good question. Let me tell you just how far behind you are!"
"We have a Level 9 Soul Engineer. Do you?"
"We have a Titled Douluo. Do you?"
"We have the finest teaching staff in the country. Do you?"
"..."
Jing Hongchen rattled off more than a dozen things they had that the other academy lacked.
As for Princess Xu Tianzhen's enrollment...
Who knew what fit of madness had seized the current emperor?
Instead of sending the imperial children to the publicly recognized Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy...
He had announced that Princess Xu Tianzhen would choose her own school!
The imperial family would not interfere.
Every academy had read the same message into that announcement.
The imperial family was dissatisfied with the current Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.
They intended to select another academy within the country and support it as the new royal academy.
For a time, the whole country had been abuzz!
The dean of every academy in the Sun Moon Empire with any claim to a name...
Had spared no expense and come laden with sincerity.
They sought people out and pulled strings, all for a single chance to meet Princess Xu Tianzhen.
They wanted her to enroll in their own institutions.
It was not as though Jing Hongchen had made no effort.
But for some reason...
Princess Xu Tianzhen had not chosen the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.
Instead, she had chosen the Mingdu Soul Engineer Academy.
For a while, this had left Jing Hongchen deeply puzzled.
He had thought the terms he offered had failed to meet Xu Tianzhen's expectations.
Or perhaps the rumors were true.
Was the imperial family really dissatisfied with the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy? Did they intend to support another royal academy?
To that end, he had sought out the imperial family's resident expert, Kong Deming, to ask about the situation.
Kong Deming, however, had told him he was overthinking it.
The imperial family had no grievances whatsoever with the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.
Only then had he relaxed.
"Jing... you... I..."
After hearing Jing Hongchen's string of things his academy had that theirs lacked...
Park Guk-chang completely lost his composure. He stammered for ages, wanting to argue, only to find he could not refute a single point.
"I'm not comparing those things with you." Park Guk-chang pointed straight at Chen Mo. "I'm telling you, Chen Mo must come back with me, because this is Princess Xu Tianzhen's decree."
At this, Park Guk-chang grew smug. "Her Highness said I must bring Chen Mo back to the Mingdu Soul Engineer Academy alive today!"
At those words...
Jing Hongchen froze.
No wonder Park Guk-chang had dared to act so boldly today.
He had come bearing the princess's orders.
But so what if she was a princess? He would never let go of a genius like Chen Mo, no matter what.
Jing Hongchen quickly recovered. "The princess is still young. She may well have made an idle remark, which you twisted into a decree while pretending to obey her."
"Are you intending to defy an imperial decree, Hall Master Jing?" Park Guk-chang refused to back down.
Jing Hongchen frowned.
Should I just kill this lot?
Afterward, I could act as if nothing had happened and I had never seen them.
At that thought, his already charged Soul Cannon stood ready to fire at any moment!
Just then, Chen Mo suddenly spoke up from beside him.
"Wait!"
"You just said that princess, or whatever, ordered you to bring me back alive, right?"
Park Guk-chang nodded. "Correct. What, have you come around?"
"You're getting ahead of yourself."
"I'm just curious. Since the princess ordered you to bring me back alive, why did you try to kill me just now?"
"Isn't that blatant defiance of her decree?"
A flicker of panic crossed Park Guk-chang's eyes, and he hurriedly said, "Nonsense! Just now, I was only..."
"Only what? Only trying to kill me, right? Or were your actual orders for this mission to kill me?"
At this, Chen Mo turned to Jing Hongchen. "Dean, what crime is it to wantonly murder a student of a royal academy?"
Jing Hongchen replied, "Wantonly murdering a student of a royal academy is a capital offense! Attacking and killing a gifted student is treason, punishable by death!"
Understanding dawned on Chen Mo's face. He looked at Park Guk-chang again. "You just said this was the princess's decree, right?"
"Yes," Park Guk-chang answered with a nod, still not catching on.
A genial smile curled Chen Mo's lips. "Then are you saying the princess intends to commit treason?"
???
"You little brat! You can eat whatever you please, but you can't say whatever you please!"
"Do you know what a grave crime it is to slander the princess?"
Park Guk-chang's expression changed drastically.
Chen Mo, however, remained unhurried. "You said you were acting on the princess's decree and had to bring me back alive. But your real aim was to kill me. Round that off, and doesn't it mean the princess wants to kill me? In that case, hasn't the princess committed treason?"
"If it wasn't the princess's decree, then you were pretending to obey while acting against her wishes, wantonly attacking and trying to kill a gifted student of a royal academy. You, Park Guk-chang, intend to commit treason!"
Jing Hongchen and Park Guk-chang were dumbfounded.
Good grief.
You could use rounding like that?
Chen Mo's stance was clear: I'm a professional at pinning accusations on people.
Before you continue