Xiao Hongchen, Meng Hongchen

Ju Zi stepped out of the private room and gently closed the door behind her.

A second before the gap closed, she heard the two men laughing again inside.

She stood in the corridor, her thoughts tangled into a mess.

Xu Tianran and Yu Dazhi's analysis sounded seamless.

But from beginning to end, they had taken one thing for granted: someone was backing Xu Tianyuan.

Ju Zi did not think so.

That morning, Xu Tianyuan had slapped her several times in succession, controlling his strength with incredible precision.

She had also seen with her own eyes that when Xu Tianyuan said he would "kill Dai Hao within a year," there had not been the slightest hesitation or fear in his eyes.

Was someone really backing Xu Tianyuan?

At that thought, Ju Zi shuddered.

She quickened her pace and disappeared into the restaurant's dim corridor.

The sun set, and night descended.

In the courtyard of Villa 007, Master Xu felt thoroughly pleased after finishing a full day of sunbathing.

He sat up in his lounge chair and willed it.

Hum.

Three Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet, circling him as they slowly drifted.

Two yellow, one purple.

His first ten-year soul ring had already advanced into a hundred-year soul ring.

The third, purple Soul Ring was particularly dazzling, its glow dense and solid, faintly radiating a weighty presence.

Three rings.

He had finally, officially entered the Soul Elder realm, his soul power holding steady at rank thirty-two.

In a single day, he had leaped from a rank twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster to a rank thirty-two Soul Elder.

If word of that speed got out...

It would probably infuriate those self-proclaimed geniuses at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy enough to make them all drop out.

Xu Tianyuan carefully examined the changes in his soul power.

It was more condensed, more substantial, and more obedient.

Even at the same rank thirty-two, if he unleashed this soul power, an ordinary Soul Elder would not last three moves against him.

That was the difference in purity.

"Invincible at his own rank" sounded a little arrogant, but in his case, it really was not boasting.

More importantly, he had sunbathed his way to his third Soul Ring.

He did not have to go to the Star Dou Great Forest, risk his life fighting soul beasts, bow to anyone's whims, or worry about being ambushed and killed along the way.

All he had to do was lie in his courtyard and bask in the sun, and he could keep growing stronger without end.

This life was even more comfortable than being emperor.

Xu Tianyuan stretched contentedly and was just about to celebrate properly.

Grrrrr.

His stomach growled.

It should have been a joyous moment, but unfortunately, his stomach's protest ruined the mood.

Xu Tianyuan had spent the entire day lying in his courtyard sunbathing, grabbing whatever he could find for a couple of bites at noon. Now, hunger had completely taken over his mind.

Earlier, immersed in the joy of his increased strength, he had barely noticed.

Now that he relaxed, hunger came charging in.

Man is iron, food is steel-skip a single meal, and hunger makes you reel.

He finally understood what that meant.

"I need to go get some fries from the cafeteria."

Xu Tianyuan rubbed his empty stomach, his expression utterly serious.

Come to think of it, where was the cafeteria?

He had never been to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy before. He was completely in the dark and could barely even tell north from south or east from west.

No, I'd better go out and ask someone.

Xu Tianyuan rubbed his stomach. Unable to hold out any longer, he decided to visit a neighbor.

The villa district housed the students the academy was focusing on nurturing. Surely, if he stopped any one of them to ask for directions, they would not ignore him.

He pushed open the courtyard gate and stepped outside.

What a coincidence.

He had barely taken a few steps beyond the villa gate when he ran straight into a boy and a girl coming toward him.

The boy looked to be in his teens, probably a little younger than him.

He had short, silvery-white hair and handsome features, and wore the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy's uniform.

His expression was haughty, his chin slightly raised. The conceit peculiar to youth lurked in his eyes, as though few things beneath the heavens were worth his attention.

The girl looked about the same age.

Her long, silvery-white hair was tied in a high ponytail. She had blue eyes, delicate, lovely features, and skin as fair as jade. She was not tall, looking petite and endearing.

The two walked side by side, talking.

"Excuse me, you two."

Xu Tianyuan was nearly delirious with hunger and had not considered who they might be. He hurried over.

"I've just arrived, and I don't know where our academy's cafeteria is. Could you please point me in the right direction?"

He thought he was being quite polite.

He was only asking for directions. It offended neither heaven nor reason and broke no laws. Surely that wouldn't get him cursed at?

The next second, the white-haired boy gave him a single-word reply.

"Scram."

Xu Tianyuan was stunned.

He stood there, dumbfounded, for two seconds.

I only asked for directions. What's this brat's problem?

He opened his mouth, momentarily unable to react.

"Xiao, he's only asking for directions. Be polite."

The white-haired girl bumped the white-haired boy with her shoulder, then turned toward Xu Tianyuan.

Then she froze.

Meng Hongchen stared at Xu Tianyuan with a lovestruck expression, her gaze lingering on his face as she looked him up and down, almost unable to tear her eyes away.

She swallowed.

Meng Hongchen had seen plenty of handsome boys in her life.

The geniuses at the academy were all reasonably good-looking, and plenty of them regularly tried to get close to her.

She had always been indifferent, finding them annoying.

This one was different.

His brows and eyes were beautifully shaped, his features sharply defined, his nose straight and high, and his lips distinctly outlined.

Yet there was also a languid air about him. When he looked at someone, he wore the hint of a smile, as though even the sky falling would have nothing to do with him.

Even more devastating was his figure.

Broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and excellent proportions-even ordinary clothes could not hide them.

Meng Hongchen felt her heartbeat quicken.

For the first time in her dozen-odd years of life, she learned what it felt like to blush.

"Hehe, don't be mad, handsome. That's just how he is."

"You want to go to the cafeteria, right?"

"I know where it is."

"I haven't had dinner either. Why don't we go together?"

The enormous contrast between the siblings' personalities left Xu Tianyuan at a loss for a moment.

Still, the way the white-haired girl had addressed the boy made their identities clear to him.

Xiao Hongchen.

Meng Hongchen.

Xu Tianyuan was absolutely certain he had not mistaken them.

It was quite unexpected.

He had moved in less than two days ago, yet had already met Ju Zi, Ke Ke, Xiao Hongchen, and Meng Hongchen in succession.

All of them were important, named characters in the original story.

"Sure."

With no reason to refuse, Xu Tianyuan gladly accepted Meng Hongchen's invitation.

But just then, Xiao Hongchen's icy voice rang out again.

"Meng, if you go to the cafeteria with trash like him, people will gossip."

His face was full of contempt. He would not even spare Xu Tianyuan a proper glance.

"I've heard of you before. The sixth prince, Xu Tianyuan."

"For trash like you to get into the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, you must have accumulated blessings over eight lifetimes."

"I suggest you attend your classes, cultivate diligently, and study hard. Don't get any ideas about my little sister."

"Otherwise..."

Xiao Hongchen did not finish his final sentence.

But anyone could hear that it was a threat.

From Xiao Hongchen's perspective, he certainly had the confidence to make threats.

His grandfather was a Titled Douluo.

He himself possessed extraordinary talent.

A mere worthless prince did not deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as him.

"Xu Tianyuan?"

Meng Hongchen clearly remembered something too, and the way she looked at Xu Tianyuan changed.

Rumor had it that this sixth prince was ignorant and unskilled, idled his days away, and frequented brothels every day. His reputation in the Sun Moon Empire could not have been worse.

By all rights, she should have been repulsed.

The problem was that even knowing all this, she could not muster the slightest disgust.

He was too handsome.

She had never seen anyone so handsome.

So handsome that she felt those rumors were probably born of jealousy.