Chapter 66

The Fourth Prince looked at Long Chen, gently picked up the teacup in front of him, poured a cup of tea for Long Chen, and smiled lightly.

"Brother Long, you are truly a dragon among men. No matter what, your courage is truly admirable."

"Fourth Prince, you are too kind. I still don’t know how you recognized me," Long Chen said.

He really wanted to know where he had slipped up. He believed his disguise was flawless.

"As the saying goes, even the wise make mistakes. To be honest, I didn’t recognize you at first. However, the ring on your hand reminded me of you. Plus, your eyes gave you away," the Fourth Prince pointed to Long Chen’s hand.

Long Chen suddenly realized that the spatial ring on his hand had the emblem of the Alchemist Guild, a major oversight he had forgotten.

"Fourth Prince, your keen observation is truly admirable. However, I’m curious, why are you helping me?" Long Chen asked.

"Hehe, you might not believe me, but I really dislike Xia Changfeng. After all, Chu Yao is my sister. Although family ties are a luxury in the palace, I still have some feelings for her.

"I couldn’t bear to see Chu Yao marry someone she doesn’t like, but you know, the royal family is all about interests, not emotions. That’s the helplessness of being born into the royal family.

"I have advised the Empress Dowager several times to revoke her decision, but to no avail. In the end, I even angered her and was expelled from the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

"Today, when I recognized Brother Long visiting Chu Yao, I could see that you are sincere about her. However, my abilities are limited, and this is all I can do for you," the Fourth Prince sighed.

"Fourth Prince, I appreciate your kindness. I will remember this today," Long Chen said. After all, he now owed the Fourth Prince a favor.

"Regarding the deduction of your family’s salary, I have investigated it, but I couldn’t proceed further. So, I am powerless to help your family," the Fourth Prince said.

Long Chen frowned and asked, "Can you give me a hint, Fourth Prince?"

"This is a matter within the royal family, a murky pool where even siblings scheme against each other. I am truly powerless," the Fourth Prince shook his head.

Long Chen’s eyes brightened slightly. Although the Fourth Prince didn’t answer directly, mentioning the siblings was significant.

There were seven princes in total. Excluding the Fourth Prince, there were six others, and the Seventh Prince could be ruled out.

That left the First, Second, Third, Fifth, and Sixth Princes. On the Phoenix Lantern Festival day, Long Chen had carefully observed these few from the audience. Except for the First Prince, none of them seemed particularly shrewd.

So, the suspicion pointed to the First Prince. Moreover, at the Huayun Auction House, Long Chen had recognized the killer who silenced Li Hao, and all the evidence pointed in the same direction.

"Thank you," Long Chen bowed.

"Hehe, I didn’t say anything, so you don’t need to thank me," the Fourth Prince laughed.

The Fourth Prince sighed again, "Sometimes, I envy you commoners, who can live freely, unlike us who are often bound by circumstances, forced to please people we don’t like.

"In ten days, Xia Changfeng will return to the Great Xia Empire to prepare for his marriage to Chu Yao. Although I wish to beat him up, I have to smile and see him off. That’s the sorrow of being born into the royal family."

"He’s leaving in ten days?" Long Chen asked, his expression unchanged, but a fierce look flashed in his eyes, which he quickly suppressed.

The Fourth Prince, seemingly unaware of the change in Long Chen’s eyes, took a sip of tea and said, "Yes, he will take the southern route and take a shortcut back to the Great Xia. After all, a prince’s wedding requires a lot of preparation."

Long Chen nodded, mentally noting the information, and a bold idea formed in his mind. If he succeeded, Chu Yao’s problem would be solved.

The Fourth Prince and Long Chen chatted for a while before politely seeing Long Chen off. When the Fourth Prince returned, there was a woman in the room.

The woman looked to be in her thirties, with a slender figure and an aura of nobility, giving off an intimidating presence.

"You are doing something very dangerous," the woman said.

The Fourth Prince smiled, picked up his teacup, and took a sip, "Danger is risk, and high risk means high reward. I think it’s worth it.

"If Long Chen fails, he will become a corpse, which will benefit us. If he succeeds, I can proceed with my next plan. Mother, you don’t need to worry."

The woman was the Fourth Prince’s mother, the Western Palace Lady of the Phoenix Empire. She shook her head, "I hope you know what you are doing. I married into the Phoenix Empire with a mission, and we both need to remember it."

"Hmph, you were originally a princess of the Great Xia, and you came to the Phoenix Empire for this purpose. What about me? Was I born to be a pawn?

"They want to seize the Phoenix Empire and have Xia Changfeng rule this country, then monopolize that treasure land. When the time comes, all the credit will be theirs. Why should we, mother and son, be their tools?"

The Fourth Prince suddenly turned pale with anger, like a provoked beast ready to attack.

"Xia’er, I know you are upset. With your talents, you are no less than anyone, but that’s fate," the Western Palace Lady sighed helplessly.

"What fate? Fate is changed by people. I want to control my own fate. I don’t want to be a puppet anymore. I want to become the emperor of this country," the Fourth Prince coldly snorted.

"That’s impossible," the Western Palace Lady shook her head.

"Don’t worry, I have planned everything. By the way, how is the Empress Dowager?" the Fourth Prince asked.

"She is under my soul control, and I can basically control her completely. However, to be safe, I still add ‘ingredients’ every day," the Western Palace Lady said calmly.

"That’s good. Now, let’s wait for good news from Long Chen. I hope he doesn’t disappoint me," the Fourth Prince smiled, finished his tea in one gulp.

...

When Long Chen returned home, he saw several carriages parked at the gate and was taken aback. As soon as he entered, the butler informed him that guests had come.

Long Chen was surprised. It had been years since anyone had visited the Long family. When did they have guests?

He rushed to his mother’s residence and saw her talking with a few people. When she saw Long Chen, she quickly said, "Chen’er, come over and meet your two aunts."

Among the people, there were two women who looked slightly older than his mother. Long Chen had to call them aunts.

"Hehe, good child, you’ve grown so much. Come, you all, meet your cousin," one of the women called to the people behind her.

There were three men and two women, all slightly older than Long Chen. One of the men said awkwardly, "Cousin, it’s been so long."

Long Chen nodded. He remembered this person. When they were young, he had taken Long Chen’s toys and cried when Long Chen bit him.

Although the sudden visit from his mother’s relatives was unexpected, seeing his mother’s smile, Long Chen didn’t say much and just responded politely.

After the guests finished talking and left, Long Chen learned from his mother that they had come to apologize.

"Chen’er, when our Long family was in crisis, my family did nothing to help, and I was indeed resentful.

"But they explained the reasons this time. They also have their grievances. They weren’t unwilling to help us, but they were afraid," Lady Long sighed.

"Now that the crisis is over, and you have become a noble alchemist, our Long family has risen.

"I have let go of the past. I hope you won’t hold it against them. After all, they are my relatives."

Long Chen inwardly sneered. What fear? When the Long family was on the brink of starvation, where were they?

Even if they couldn’t help openly, they could have provided financial support secretly. It was all hypocrisy.

Now that Long Chen had risen, everyone in the capital knew about his close relationship with Master Yunqi and his boldness in challenging the Ying Marquis at the auction. This showed that the Long family was no longer the same.

Their visit to apologize now was clearly a sign of opportunism. Although Long Chen despised it, his mother had forgiven them, so he couldn’t say much.

As long as his mother was happy, he would let it be. Living in the secular world meant enduring its ways.

Seeing that Long Chen wasn’t too hostile, Lady Long felt relieved. No matter how much resentment, they were still family, and after so many years of loneliness, she longed for family ties.

After chatting with his mother for a while, she briefly asked about his recent situation. Long Chen vaguely explained, only sharing the good news to reassure her.

After returning from his mother’s place, Long Chen entered seclusion. He had been busy with trivial matters and hadn’t truly focused on cultivation.

He had a plan to keep Xia Changfeng in the Phoenix Empire permanently. However, Xia Changfeng would bring many guards, so he needed to be fully prepared to eliminate this scoundrel.

Since forming the tenth qi vortex, he had become increasingly confused about his cultivation path, unsure how to advance to the Blood Condensation stage.

However, he had no choice but to push forward. Without a dantian, cultivation was his only path.

The ten qi vortices operated at full capacity, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth like ten giant bellows, continuously drawing it into the Fengfu Star.

Long Chen found that the efficiency of absorbing spiritual energy was more than ten times higher than when he had nine qi vortices, which reassured him.

Three days later, a loud explosion came from Long Chen’s dantian. Long Chen stared at the eleventh qi vortex that had formed, stunned.

Long Chen felt like going crazy. When would this end? If it continued, he would go mad.

Just as Long Chen was about to lose it, Bao’er’s voice came from outside the door.

"Master, someone is here to see you."