The Title Douluo-level enshrined attendant, upon hearing the emperor's reward, couldn't help but feel a bit shocked.
Ten spiritual pills—pills of this caliber were effective even for Title Douluo powerhouses.
Spiritual pills were considered the highest grade of conventional pills, each one extremely valuable. Pills above spiritual pills could only be immortal pills refined from rare, near-mythical immortal herbs.
Ten spiritual pills would likely require a level nine soul engineer to sell everything they owned to afford them.
Moreover, in addition to the spiritual pills, there were several types of top-grade rare metals—enough to craft three level nine soul tools. The rarity of level nine soul tools needed no explanation; even level nine soul engineers rarely possessed more than a few.
As for the reward of a residence in the imperial city, that was fairly standard. Whenever a princess was married, it was customary to grant the groom a residence in the imperial city.
It could be said that the emperor's rewards saved Wang Chen a tremendous amount of time collecting resources, allowing him to focus solely on cultivation.
The enshrined attendant then asked, "Your Majesty, will the wedding of Princess Tianzhen and Wang Chen follow the usual custom of selecting an auspicious date three months from now, or…?"
When the emperor arranged a marriage for a princess, it wasn't a matter of holding the wedding immediately after the decree. The process was typically quite elaborate, and unless there were urgent circumstances, it generally required three months of preparation.
In special cases, it could be postponed or expedited.
Xu Jing sat on the dragon throne, his fingers lightly tapping the armrest. Though he had many sons, Xu Tianzhen was his only daughter, and he had always doted on her immensely.
If there hadn't been a lack of suitable women in the imperial clan, he might not have agreed to marry his daughter to Wang Chen.
Now, thinking about his daughter getting married, he felt a pang of reluctance.
However, as the emperor, from a political perspective, he wanted his daughter to marry Wang Chen quickly and bear heirs with imperial blood.
After a moment of contemplation, Xu Jing spoke with a complex expression, "Princess Tianzhen's wedding will follow court etiquette and must be grand, with meticulous preparations. Three months may not be sufficient for thorough arrangements, so extend it to five months.
Also, ensure that the residence for the princess and Wang Chen is built close to the imperial palace."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The attendant nodded respectfully and left to convey the emperor's decree.
…
Evening, at Wang Chen's home.
Wang Chen was sitting cross-legged, cultivating the Tongmai Technique.
This past month of studying under Kong Deming had been immensely beneficial. He had learned various advanced knowledge about soul tools and cutting-edge soul tool technology concepts.
These advanced theoretical knowledge and cutting-edge technological concepts were extremely valuable, impossible to learn at places like the Mingde Hall or the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy.
While the Mingde Hall and the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy were prestigious, the soul tool knowledge taught there was limited to below level nine, considered only foundational.
Learning anything about level nine soul tools in the Sun Moon Empire required paying a significant price.
What Kong Deming taught Wang Chen was even more precious, representing the pinnacle of the Sun Moon Empire's current soul tool technology.
Compared to Kong Deming's knowledge, the Wang family's inherited soul tool knowledge was worlds apart.
Additionally, Wang Chen had used the Black Book to record all of Kong Deming's powerful soul tool techniques.
One of these techniques was the Method of the Natal Soul Tool.
The so-called Method of the Natal Soul Tool involved using one's martial soul, with the aid of the power of heaven and earth, to fuse with a soul tool.
This fusion was entirely different from the attachment of Wang Chen's Spirit Weapon martial soul. The degree of fusion was extremely deep, essentially merging the martial soul and soul tool into one.
If the natal soul tool were damaged, the martial soul itself would suffer severe damage.
But precisely because of this, the Method of the Natal Soul Tool could significantly enhance a soul tool's power.
In the later parts of the original story, Kong Deming used this method to elevate the peak level nine soul tool, the Silver Moon Divine Light Shield, to level ten, surpassing even Limit Douluo in strength.
However, the current Kong Deming, whose cultivation hadn't yet reached level ninety-five and who hadn't comprehended the Unity of Heaven and Man realm, had only partially completed the Method of the Natal Soul Tool.
It was only after Wang Chen recorded it and used the Black Book's targeted deduction and perfection function that the Method of the Natal Soul Tool was fully completed.
The cultivation conditions for the Method of the Natal Soul Tool were extremely stringent, with an extraordinarily high threshold.
The Unity of Heaven and Man realm was a given—only Super Douluo powerhouses could typically comprehend it.
Moreover, using the power of heaven and earth to perfectly fuse one's martial soul with a soul tool required two prerequisites.
First, one must have complete mastery over their martial soul. Second, the martial soul and the soul tool must be perfectly compatible, like the Silver Moon Divine Light Shield and the Silver Moon martial soul, which were perfectly matched and thus able to fuse.
If, for example, a fire-attribute soul tool were paired with a water-attribute martial soul, they naturally couldn't fuse.
Forcing a fusion would cause a severe rejection reaction, with the soul tool breaking at best, or the martial soul—and by extension, the soul master—suffering severe damage at worst.
With these conditions combined, no soul engineer in the entire Sun Moon Empire currently met the requirements.
Even Wang Chen was missing one condition: he lacked a soul tool perfectly compatible with his Spirit Weapon martial soul.
Thus, Wang Chen had to temporarily set aside cultivating the Method of the Natal Soul Tool.
These days, he had been busy pondering how to create a soul tool perfectly compatible with his Spirit Weapon martial soul.
Creating a soul tool unique to oneself was highly difficult, unlike crafting a soul tool by following predecessors' blueprints step-by-step.
It was like the difference between applying a formula to solve a problem and creating a formula to solve a problem—completely different levels of difficulty.
Fortunately, Wang Chen had the Black Book, whose latest function allowed him to enhance his comprehension by consuming mental strength.
Additionally, Wang Chen had Kong Deming, a knowledgeable and powerful teacher with experience in this area, who could offer many useful suggestions.
Now, Wang Chen already had an idea of how to create a soul tool perfectly compatible with his Spirit Weapon martial soul.
It wouldn't take long for him to design the blueprint and, through gradual experimentation, craft it.
In fact, what Wang Chen coveted most was a spatial soul tool like the Silver Moon Divine Light Shield.
There was a saying: Time is secondary, space is king. The power of spatial abilities needed no explanation—those who understood, understood.
Mastering spatial power meant, at the very least, having top-tier life-preserving methods. Even if you encountered an opponent you couldn't defeat, you could escape, and they could only watch helplessly.
However, what frustrated Wang Chen was that, due to his insufficient cultivation and mental strength, he couldn't sense spatial power at all, making it impossible for him to craft a spatial soul tool.
After all, if you couldn't even sense spatial power, how could you create a spatial soul tool? It was wishful thinking.
Through studying with Kong Deming, Wang Chen learned that to sense spatial power, one needed at least to condense a soul core.
A soul core was akin to a spatial node (in the original story, when condensing a soul core, it absorbs spatial power). With this node, infinite possibilities arose. The stronger one's mental strength, the easier it was to sense spatial power.
Kong Deming's mental strength was at the tangible and qualitative realm—yes, a level above the tangible yet intangible realm of Title Douluo powerhouses.
Thus, Wang Chen's top priority now was to increase his cultivation. As long as his cultivation was sufficient to condense a soul core and possess a spatial-attribute natal soul tool, Wang Chen was confident that neither Ye Xishui nor Long Xiaoyao of the Holy Ghost Church could threaten his life.
While Wang Chen was cultivating, a slightly sharp voice rang out.
"The imperial decree has arrived! Wang Chen, come to receive the decree!"
Hearing that an imperial decree had arrived, Wang Chen walked out of the villa and saw a fair-faced, beardless eunuch, the emperor's trusted confidant dressed in enshrined robes, reading the decree.
"By the mandate of heaven, the emperor decrees: My imperial daughter, Princess Tianzhen, is gentle and virtuous, graceful and refined, and deserves a worthy match.
It is known that Duke Wang Chen possesses a dragon's charm and phoenix's grace, with overflowing talent. I hereby grant a residence in the imperial city, ten spiritual pills, top-grade rare metals such as Heavenly Fiend Mysterious Iron, Heavenly Martial Origin Stone… Five months from now, an auspicious date will be chosen for the wedding. Thus decreed!!!"
After hearing the contents of the decree, Wang Chen thought to himself, As expected, the emperor intends for me to become the prince consort. But these dowry gifts are truly lavish.
The imperial family is indeed wealthy. An ordinary level nine soul engineer would probably have to empty their coffers to afford this.
"Your servant Wang Chen receives the decree and expresses gratitude!" Wang Chen accepted the decree.
After handing the decree to Wang Chen, the eunuch clapped his hands, and immediately, a line of lesser eunuchs carrying exquisite boxes formed a neat row. These boxes contained none other than the treasures granted by the emperor.
"Prince Consort, please carefully inspect these treasures to avoid any mistakes. These items are worth a fortune," the eunuch said with a smile on his effeminate face.
Wang Chen glanced at the exquisite boxes, exchanged a few words with the emperor's trusted confidant, and the eunuchs, having completed their task, returned to the palace.
Wang Chen stored all the emperor's granted treasures in his storage soul tool and returned to his room.
Back in his room, Wang Chen couldn't help but think of Meng Hongchen's face, feeling a bit worried.
These days, he hadn't visited Meng Hongchen, fearing that involving her might bring her danger.
But now, with the emperor's marriage decree, he was worried that Meng Hongchen, upon learning of it, might take it badly and do something foolish.
Wang Chen immediately wrote a consoling letter and placed it in a soul tool password box.
He then instructed a Wang family disciple studying at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy to deliver the letter to Jing Hongchen's trusted aide, Dean Lin Jiayi.
The reason he didn't deliver it himself or send a powerful Wang family guard to deliver it directly to the Hongchen family was to avoid the attention of prying eyes.
Wang Chen's prominence had recently been too great, and his every move attracted countless eyes. For ordinary people, Wang Chen could easily evade their scrutiny.
However, avoiding the gaze of the Super Douluo from the Holy Ghost Church monitoring him would require considerable effort.
Thus, having a Wang family disciple who was attending the academy deliver it was the least conspicuous method. Even if someone with ulterior motives tried to open the box, the soul tool password box, specially modified by Wang Chen, could only be opened by Kong Deming in the entire Sun Moon Empire.
If someone tried to break it open by force, it would self-destruct, and Wang Chen would sense it.
…
Time passed, and it was the next day.
The news of the emperor's marriage decree quickly spread throughout Mingdu.
As the Sun Moon Empire's most dazzling genius and now Kong Deming's personal disciple, Wang Chen was already the focus of countless people's attention.
The high-ranking level nine soul engineers of the Sun Moon Empire all understood that this wasn't a simple marriage decree but a political alliance. Princess Tianzhen was the link between Wang Chen and the imperial family.
However, the general public didn't know this, so Wang Chen's marriage to the princess naturally became a topic of conversation after meals.
A pretty young woman said enviously, "Princess Tianzhen is so enviable. Born noble, the only daughter of His Majesty the Emperor, pampered beyond measure.
Now she's marrying Lord Wang Chen, Kong Deming's personal disciple, a duke at fifteen, and an enshrined court official. She's truly the happiest woman in the Sun Moon Empire."
Her close friend sighed, "There's no use being envious. She was born with everything. She started at the finish line, while ordinary women like us have to work hard to find a suitable match."
The pretty young woman said dreamily, "If my future husband could be even a tenth as great as Lord Wang Chen, I'd be satisfied."
"…"
At the same time, in Meng Hongchen's private room at Mingde Hall.
Meng Hongchen sat in her room, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably. Upon learning that the emperor had decreed Wang Chen's marriage to Xu Tianzhen, she felt as if the sky had collapsed, the earth had cracked, and the sun and moon had dimmed.
"Why… why is it like this… I came first. Brother Wang Chen, don't you want me anymore? You said you'd marry me, sob sob sob." Meng Hongchen sobbed softly.
She and Wang Chen had grown up together, childhood sweethearts, innocent and carefree. She had always thought she would be Wang Chen's future wife, but now, an imperial decree had shattered her dreams.
"Brother Wang Chen… how could you marry someone else…" Meng Hongchen's voice trembled, her vision blurred by tears.
At that moment, the door was gently pushed open, and Jing Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen walked in.
Seeing his granddaughter crying so heartbrokenly, Jing Hongchen felt a pang of pain in his heart.
He walked to Meng Hongchen's side and sighed, "My dear granddaughter, don't cry."
Meng Hongchen looked up, her tear-filled eyes fixed on Jing Hongchen, choking out, "Grandfather, Brother Wang Chen is going to marry someone else… What should I do?"
Seeing his sister crying so sadly, Xiao Hongchen angrily said, "Sis, don't cry over that fickle scumbag Wang Chen. Once I achieve success in my cultivation, I'll beat his face into a pig's head!"
Meng Hongchen sobbed, "Get lost! Don't you dare say bad things about Brother Wang Chen, sob sob sob."
Xiao Hongchen: Σ_(」）
Seeing this, Jing Hongchen sighed, feeling helpless. He knew Meng Hongchen's feelings for Wang Chen, but with things as they were, he was powerless. Who could defy the emperor's decision?
Moreover, with Wang Chen's current status and position, he was no longer someone the Hongchen family could claim.
Just as Meng Hongchen was crying her heart out, a knock came at the door.
Dean Lin Jiayi called out, "Hall Master, there's a letter!"
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