Chapter 393: The Tenth-Level Spirit Engineer, De Hongchen
This assembly of the court had been convened for the sake of an announcement. With the Second Prince dragged away like a farcical clown and confined to his own palace, the morning audience was drawing to a close.
Except for a few key figures, the rest of the officials departed one after another. Yet the documents they carried in their hands were destined to stir a storm throughout the entire Sun Moon Continent.
When the others had dispersed, the Emperor rose from his throne and walked down the high steps. His expression grew solemn as he turned toward Xu Jiyun.
"Jiyun, I heard from the guards that when you entered the palace earlier, there were only three men left at your side. Where are the others?"
Xu Jiyun's face darkened slightly.
"Father, most of the others perished on the road, sacrificing themselves to protect me. As for those who had gone to lie low in various parts of the continent, they never returned at the appointed time. I fear something has happened to them."
"I see." The Emperor fell silent.
He did not worry about the missing men betraying secrets of the Sun Moon Continent; those were the royal family's specially trained deathsworn, utterly reliable.
"Make sure their families are properly consoled."
"Yes," Xu Jiyun nodded heavily. That was his intention as well.
"Go back to the rear palace first. Your mother has been terribly anxious." The Emperor's face softened with a faint smile.
"Yes, Father." Xu Jiyun gave a slight bow and quickly took his leave.
It had been more than two years since he last saw his mother. A mother's heart always worries for her son far from home; after such a long absence, he naturally had to see her and put her mind at ease.
When Xu Jiyun was gone, the Emperor's smile slowly faded. He turned to the man at his side.
"Hall Master Hongchen, tell me—do you know if the Imperial Teacher's current seclusion will succeed in resolving the problem of the spirit guidance arrays?"
The man addressed as Hall Master Hongchen was a middle-aged figure with gentle features. At these words, he frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, then answered:
"Your Majesty, I cannot say for certain. Before entering seclusion, my father said this retreat had a good chance of solving the conflict of spirit power within the arrays. But as for the actual situation now, this minister dares not claim to know."
"Very well. The Imperial Teacher's retreat is of the utmost importance—better not to disturb him, let things follow their course." The Emperor sighed softly. "If that final issue of spirit power conflict can be resolved, perhaps before the coastlines are exposed we can complete a wide-scale deployment of the spirit guidance devices. At that time, the combat strength of our Sun Moon Imperial Spirit Engineer Legion will rise yet again."
"Your Majesty, if there is nothing else, this minister will take his leave," Hall Master Hongchen said with a nod. "Rest assured, in all matters relating to spirit guidance devices, the Mingde Hall will give its full support."
"Good." The Emperor watched Hall Master Hongchen depart, then shifted his gaze to the Chancellor. "Now, you and I must discuss how we are to deal with the Douluo Continent when the time comes…"
. . . .
Mingde Hall.
Originally, it had been called Minghuang Hall.
"Sun and Moon make the light (Ming)." At first, Minghuang Hall was meant to be the Royal Spirit Engineer Hall of the Sun Moon Empire.
Indeed, that was its original role: to gather the empire's most talented spirit engineers under one roof, to serve the imperial cause.
But the renaming of Minghuang Hall to Mingde Hall was tied to the first ever tenth-level spirit engineer of the Sun Moon Continent.
That was De Hongchen, the former Hall Master of Minghuang Hall.
In honor of him, the Sun Moon Emperor changed the name to Mingde Hall.
After attaining the rank of Tenth-Level Spirit Engineer, De Hongchen retired from the public eye, and the position of Hall Master was passed on to his son, Yao Hongchen.
"Hall Master."
"Greetings, Hall Master."
"…"
Returning nods to the various members who greeted him along the way, Yao Hongchen tightened his grip on the documents in his hand and stepped into a secluded meditation chamber deep within Mingde Hall.
As he channeled spirit power into the floor beneath his feet, the chamber slowly began to sink downward until it came to rest.
When he opened the door again, the scene before him was utterly different from what it had been a moment before.
Beneath Mingde Hall—there was a hidden world.
"Here already?"
A faint voice drifted across the vast underground space, its tone echoing off the emptiness.
The chamber contained only a single massive workbench. Around it lay piles of rare and precious metals stacked haphazardly, while finished and half-finished spirit guidance devices were tossed together like discarded scrap.
Just a glance at the intricate core arrays inscribed on those spirit guidance devices showed they were at least of the eighth rank.
It was hard to imagine—spirit guidance devices that countless engineers would fight tooth and nail to obtain were here treated like refuse.
The speaker wore loose, voluminous robes and sat casually atop a heap of spirit guidance devices, idly toying with a strangely shaped device.
At its center was something like an eye, and from it radiated countless intersecting lines.
Array patterns sprawled across its surface like flowing nebulae, vast as the heavens. Just looking at it for an instant made Yao Hongchen—himself a ninth-level spirit engineer—feel his scalp prickle and his vision swim. He quickly tore his gaze away.
"Father, the Third Prince has returned."
"You're stating the obvious." De Hongchen rolled his eyes. "With World Command in my hands, how could I not know the Third Prince has returned?"
"If Father already knows, then why not go to the palace and see for yourself? Aren't you interested in the intelligence on the Douluo Continent?" Yao Hongchen blinked and couldn't help but ask.
"Of course I'm interested. And haven't you brought it to me?" De Hongchen shot a glance at the stack of documents in his son's hand. "Besides, I'm in seclusion, remember?"
Seclusion…
Yao Hongchen's mouth twitched.
Who on earth carried out seclusion like this?
With a casual wave of his hand, the documents flew into De Hongchen's grasp. The white-haired old man's expression lit with a touch of eager anticipation.
"Let me see if the Douluo Continent has anyone worth fighting."
"Hm? Titled Douluo? Interesting. Why don't we have titles here in the Sun Moon? I'm already level ten, and all I get is the title of Imperial Teacher. Who wants that shabby thing? I should give myself a title too…"
"Oh? Impressive. This Douluo Continent has two Rank Ninety-Nine Titled Douluo. What's this—Limit Douluo? Amusing, very amusing. Though their spirit power ranks are three levels higher than mine, they don't have spirit guidance devices. That doesn't necessarily make them my match. I'll have to exchange pointers with them one day."
"…"
Black lines slowly crawled across Yao Hongchen's face. "Father!"
"Eh?" De Hongchen finally looked up from the papers to his son. "Why are you still here?"
Yao Hongchen: "…"
"His Majesty asked me again today when the spirit guidance devices will be ready." Yao Hongchen pressed a hand to his temple in exasperation. "Father, the arrays are already finished. How long are you planning to hide behind the excuse of seclusion?"
"How long?" De Hongchen rolled his eyes. "Let's say ten months."
"What?!" Yao Hongchen gaped in disbelief. "But that's exactly when the Douluo Continent is expected to discover us!"
"Exactly. That's why I'll drag it out till then." De Hongchen gave his son a sidelong glance, then sighed. "Idiot. Why are you so invested in the Sun Moon's invasion of the Douluo Continent?"
"The Xu family came from Douluo in the first place. Their desire to attack is revenge!"
"And what of our Hongchen family? We've no grievance with the Douluo Continent. Why should we care so much?" De Hongchen's eyes drifted back to the papers. "Day in and day out, all you think about is fighting. If you put half that energy into research, you wouldn't still be stuck at the ninth level."
"…Huh? This place called Han Shi looks interesting. Could the food really be as good as these reports claim?"
Yao Hongchen: "…"
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