The human heart is full of evil

The Fourth Prince looked at Long Chen, gently lifted the teacup in front of him, poured a cup of tea for Long Chen, and chuckled: "Brother Long, you are truly a Dragon among men. Regardless of anything else, your courage is admirable."

"Your Excellency, you are too kind. I still don't know how you managed to recognize me," Long Chen said.

He truly wanted to know where he had slipped up, as he believed his disguise technique was absolutely flawless.

"Even the wisest man makes a mistake. To be honest, I didn't recognize you, Brother Long. However, the ring on your hand reminded me of you. Combined with your eyes, I was able to identify you," the Fourth Prince said, pointing at Long Chen's hand.

Long Chen suddenly realized that the space ring on his hand was engraved with the unique pattern of the Alchemist Guild. He had completely forgotten about such a huge oversight.

"Your Excellency is truly observant, which is admirable. However, I am very curious, why did you want to help me?" Long Chen asked.

"Hehe, you might not believe it, Brother Long, but I actually really dislike Xia Changfeng. Regardless of anything else, Chu Yao is my sister. Although affection is a luxury within the palace, in my heart, I still hold some for her. In fact, I couldn't bear to see Chu Yao marry someone she doesn't like, but you know how it is—the royal family is like that. There is only benefit and no emotion; that is the helplessness of being born into the royal family."

"I have petitioned the Empress Dowager several times, hoping she would withdraw the order, but unfortunately, there were no results. In the end, I even angered the Empress Dowager and was driven out of the Taihe Palace."

"Today, when I recognized you had come to visit Chu Yao, I could see that you are sincere toward her. However, my ability is limited, and this is all I can do to help you," the Fourth Prince sighed and said.

"Your Excellency is too kind. Long Chen will keep today's matter in mind," Long Chen said. Regardless of anything else, he essentially owed the Fourth Prince a favor today.

"Additionally, I have also looked into the matter of your Dragon family's salary being withheld, but after investigating halfway, I couldn't continue. Therefore, I am powerless regarding your Dragon family's affairs," the Fourth Prince said.

Long Chen frowned and asked: "Could Your Excellency give me a hint?"

"This is, after all, an internal matter of the royal family. It is like a pool of muddy water, and there is infighting between siblings. I am truly powerless," the Fourth Prince shook his head and said.

Long Chen's eyes lit up slightly. Although the Fourth Prince did not answer directly, his intentional mention of infighting between siblings made things interesting.

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

That left the First, Second, Third, Fifth, and Sixth Princes. On the day of the Fengming Lantern Festival, Long Chen had carefully observed these people while he was under the stage. Except for the First Prince, none of them looked like astute individuals.

Therefore, suspicion pointed directly at the First Prince. Moreover, that day at the Huayun Auction House, Long Chen had recognized the murderer who killed Li Hao to silence him. All evidence pointed in that direction.

"Many thanks," Long Chen cupped his fists and said.

"Hehe, I didn't say anything. I dare not accept your thanks," the Fourth Prince laughed.

The Fourth Prince sighed again and said: "Sometimes, I envy you nobles who can be free and unfettered. Unlike us, we are often unable to act according to our own will. We have to cater to people we clearly don't like."

"Look, Xia Changfeng is returning to the Great Xia Empire in ten days to prepare for his marriage to Chu Yao. Although I wish I could beat him up, I have to send him off with a smile. This is the sorrow of being born into the royal family."

"He is leaving in ten days?" Long Chen asked calmly, though a flash of ruthlessness appeared in his eyes, which he quickly suppressed.

The Fourth Prince seemed not to see the change in Long Chen's eyes, took a sip of tea, and said to himself: "Yes, he will pass through Nanguan and take a shortcut back to the Great Xia Empire. After all, there is much to prepare for a royal wedding."

Long Chen nodded and secretly noted the matter down. At the same time, a bold idea emerged in his heart. If he succeeded, the matter of Chu Yao would be easily resolved.

The Fourth Prince chatted with Long Chen for a while longer before politely sending him away. When the Fourth Prince returned, there was another woman in the room.

The woman looked to be in her thirties, with a slender figure and an aura of nobility, giving people a feeling of being inviolable.

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

The Fourth Prince smiled slightly, picked up his teacup, and took a sip: "Danger means risk, and high risk means high reward. I think this is worth it. If Long Chen fails, he will become a corpse, which is beneficial and harmless to us. If he succeeds, I can proceed to the next step of the plan. Mother, you don't need to worry."

The woman was the Fourth Prince's mother, the Western Palace Consort of the Fengming Empire. At this moment, she shook her head and said: "I hope you know what you are doing. The reason I married into the Fengming Empire was because I came with a mission. You and I both need to remember that."

"Hmph, you were originally a Great Xia Princess who came to the Fengming Empire for this purpose, and what about me? Was I born a Puppet? They want to seize the Fengming Empire's territory and want Xia Changfeng to rule this country, then monopolize that treasured land. By then, the credit will all be theirs. Can we, mother and son, only be their tools? On what grounds?"

The Fourth Prince suddenly roared with an ashen face. He was like a provoked Demonic Beast, ready to devour someone at any moment.

"Xia'er, I know you are unconvinced. With your talent, you are not inferior to anyone, but this is fate," the Western Palace Consort sighed helplessly.

"What fate? Fate is changed by people. My fate must be controlled by me. I don't want to be a Puppet anymore. I want to become the Emperor of this country," the Fourth Prince snorted coldly.

"That is impossible," the Western Palace Consort shook her head.

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

"She has been hit by my Soul-Stealing Technique, and she is basically completely under control. However, as a precaution, I still add 'ingredients' every day," the Western Palace Consort said indifferently.

"That's good. Now we just wait for Long Chen's good news. I hope he doesn't disappoint me," a smile appeared on the Fourth Prince's face as he picked up the teacup and drank it in one gulp.

When Long Chen returned home, he was stunned to see several carriages parked at the entrance. As soon as he entered the door, the butler told Long Chen that there were guests at home.

Long Chen was stunned. It seemed like no one had visited the Dragon family for several years. When did guests appear?

He went straight to his mother's residence and saw his mother talking to several people from afar. Seeing Long Chen coming, she hurriedly said: "Chen'er, come here and meet your two aunts."

Among the few people were two women who looked slightly older than his mother. Long Chen had no choice but to call them aunts.

"Hehe, good child, you've grown so big in a blink of an eye. Quickly, all of you, hurry and meet your cousin," one woman hurriedly said to the few people behind her.

Those few people, three men and two women, looked slightly older than Long Chen. One man said awkwardly: "Cousin, it's been many years since we last met."

Long Chen nodded. He had an impression of this person. When they played together as children, the one who snatched his toys and was bitten by Long Chen until he cried was him.

Although he felt it was abrupt for his mother's family to arrive, seeing the smile on his mother's face, Long Chen couldn't say anything and had to cope with it reluctantly.

After those people finished speaking and got up to leave, Long Chen learned from his mother that they had come to apologize to her.

"Chen'er, when our Dragon family was in crisis, my family stood by and watched. I was indeed resentful in my heart. However, they came this time and explained the ins and outs. In fact, they also had grievances. It wasn't that they didn't want to help us, but they didn't dare," Lady Dragon sighed.

"Now that things have passed, you have become a noble Alchemist, and our Dragon family can be considered to have risen. I have also let go; let the past be the past. I hope you won't take it to heart, after all, they are my relatives."

Long Chen let out a cold laugh in his heart. Didn't dare? When the Dragon family was so destitute that they almost had no money to eat, what were they doing?

Even if they couldn't help openly, it would have been very easy to help secretly with money. To put it bluntly, it was hypocrisy.

Now that Long Chen had risen, the entire Imperial Capital knew about him. He also had a close relationship with Great Master Yun Qi and dared to compete with Marquis Ying at the auction, fully showing Long Chen's dominance.

Long Chen used this method to tell everyone that his Dragon family was no longer the old Dragon family and wasn't someone who could be bullied by anyone who wanted to.

Coming to apologize only now was clearly the behavior of sycophants. Although Long Chen despised them in his heart, his mother had already forgiven them, and it was not appropriate for him to argue about anything.

As long as his mother was happy, let her be. Living in the secular world required enduring the secular way of handling things.

Seeing that Long Chen was not so repulsed by her family, Lady Dragon felt relieved. After all, no matter how much resentment there was, they were her relatives, and having been lonely for so many years, Lady Dragon also longed for family affection.

He chatted with his mother for a while. His mother briefly asked about Long Chen's recent situation, and Long Chen vaguely explained it, reporting only the good news and not the bad, to let Lady Dragon feel at ease.

After returning from his mother's place, Long Chen entered seclusion. He had been busy with trivial matters for a while and had not truly practiced with peace of mind.

Now he had a plan: to keep Xia Changfeng in the Fengming Empire forever. However, Xia Changfeng would inevitably bring many guards with him, so he had to be fully prepared. This time, he must kill this bastard.

But ever since he condensed the eleventh Qi cyclone, he had become increasingly confused about his own cultivation path. He didn't know how the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art could advance to the Blood Condensation realm.

However, he had no way out now. Without a Dantian, practicing the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art was his only way out.

The eleven Qi cyclones operated at full power, crazily absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, like eleven huge bellows, continuously sucking Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi into the Fengfu Star.

Long Chen discovered that the efficiency of absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was more than ten times higher than when he had ten Qi cyclones, which made him feel a lot more at ease.

Three days later, a loud explosion sounded in Long Chen's Dantian. He was stunned; it was just that one Qi cyclone had reached saturation, causing the vibration, and there was no Breakthrough.

Long Chen had an urge to go crazy. When would this ever end? If this continued, he would go insane himself.

Just as Long Chen was about to go crazy over the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, Bao'er's voice came from outside the door.

"Young Master, someone is looking for you."