Meng Hongchen pressed her finger to his lips, her tone firm. "Why so many buts? You don't want to?"
With his mouth blocked, Huo Yuhao couldn't speak and had no choice but to shake his head. He was definitely willing, but something about staying in the Hongchen family estate just felt a bit awkward.
"Then that's that! Yuhao, you don't have to worry about a thing. You're my grandfather's last disciple. Isn't it only natural for you to live in our Hongchen house? And since I say it's okay, that means the whole Hongchen family agrees too!"
After her determined speech, Meng Hongchen dragged Huo Yuhao by the hand to a bedroom on the second floor—right next to hers.
"Okay, you'll stay here! I'll go grab a servant to tidy up the room for you."
Huo Yuhao stared dazedly at her figure skipping down the stairs. He let out a helpless laugh and murmured, 'She really is one strong-willed senior sister.'
But he liked that about her.
And so, Huo Yuhao smoothly moved into the Hongchen household. Unless something unexpected happened, he figured he'd probably be staying there for the long haul.
The other two members of the Hongchen family, upon hearing the news, had no objections at all.
Jing Hongchen was delighted. His granddaughter's relationship with his prized disciple was advancing by leaps and bounds.
As for Xiao Hongchen, he just felt a little emotional. He vaguely recalled trying to claim the room next to his sister's once, only to be kicked out on the spot.
'So this is how a brother ranks in his sister's eyes… huh.'
Another month passed.
Huo Yuhao strolled leisurely through the streets of Mingdu. After a month of effort, the reconstruction of Mingde Hall was nearly complete. In just a few days, the newly designed facility would officially reopen, operating as a highly efficient soul tool research and manufacturing center.
At that point, countless planned research projects would begin mass production and deployment—including the latest power armor suits developed by Mingde Hall, and an array of military-grade soul tools powered by sealed milk bottles.
Now, Huo Yuhao was heading to the Haohen Soul Tool Shop. While he had overseen the reconstruction of Mingde Hall, the Haohen shop hadn't been idle either.
At his direction, Mu Chen had purchased land on the outskirts of Mingdu and built a soul tool factory, which had already been in operation for over half a month.
And today, he was meeting their big client—the Third Prince—to discuss business matters, as a large custom order had already been completed ahead of schedule.
The central district of Mingdu, funded and developed by the royal family, exuded luxury and grandeur at every turn. Unlike the surrounding zones filled with towering buildings, this core area had shorter structures and a rich historical charm.
Haohen Soul Tool Shop had branches across Mingdu, but in this central district, they maintained a refined estate dedicated to meeting important clients.
Arriving at the elegant little estate, Huo Yuhao stepped inside and spotted the Third Prince already seated in the place of honor, waiting.
Given that Huo Yuhao was now widely known as the godson of Grand Worshipper Kong Deming, it was no surprise that even the Third Prince would wait for him.
Unlike the pale-skinned Xu Tiannan, the Third Prince didn't have the jet-black complexion typical of the Sun Moon royal line. His hair was golden, a trait of his Sun martial soul. His skin had a rich bronze tone, reminiscent of someone from Latin America, and like Xu Tiannan, he was strikingly handsome.
"So this is His Highness the Third Prince, Xu Tianfan. A pleasure to meet you. My apologies for being a few minutes late—I'd been finalizing some things with your order. I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."
Smiling politely, Huo Yuhao stepped forward and offered a slight bow.
Xu Tianfan frowned slightly, dissatisfied with the informal greeting from someone addressing a royal. But he managed a strained smile and replied, "So you're Huo Yuhao, the godson of Worshipper Kong. An honor to meet you. Please, have a seat."
Huo Yuhao picked up on the prince's impatience right away. He nodded without further pleasantries and calmly sat beside Xu Tianfan. A nearby servant poured him a cup of tea.
'This Third Prince… he's nowhere near as shrewd as the Crown Prince.'
Huo Yuhao still remembered how Xu Tiannan had gone out of his way to treat him warmly during their first meeting—long before Huo Yuhao had any real status.
Frankly, someone of Xu Tianfan's rank wouldn't normally trouble himself with purchasing military-grade soul tools. But ever since the news of Huo Yuhao becoming Kong Deming's godson spread like wildfire within the palace, the prince had no choice but to come in person.
His irritation mostly stemmed from Huo Yuhao's slight delay—something he hadn't expected. If it had been Xu Tiannan in his place, even a delay of an hour or two wouldn't have bothered him. He'd still put on a gracious front to win favor with someone as valuable as Huo Yuhao.
After a sip of tea, Huo Yuhao got straight to the point.
"Since Your Highness came in person to inspect the goods, I won't waste time with idle talk. Everything's here. Please take a look."
He handed over a storage-type soul tool—a wristband—to the prince.
Xu Tianfan said nothing, simply motioning for the soul engineer beside him, who bore a Level 7 badge, to take it.
The engineer released his spiritual power to scan the wristband's contents—a sizable cache of soul tools. None were higher than level five or six, so he quickly confirmed everything was in order.
He nodded to the prince, who also nodded in satisfaction.
"Very good. I'm satisfied with the goods. I'll have the payment transferred to your account shortly."
Huo Yuhao smiled pleasantly at the prince's words, but inwardly, he sneered.
'You're satisfied? Good. That's what I wanted to hear.'
Originally, both Huo Yuhao and Jing Hongchen—already aligned with Xu Tiannan in the royal succession struggle—had planned to sabotage the Third Prince's order.
But after the completion of the sealed milk bottles and power armor, they scrapped the idea entirely.
Because they no longer needed to sabotage anything. In the face of these newer, advanced soul tools—some even usable by ordinary civilians—the batch being sold now was practically obsolete.
And all of Mingde Hall's newest research remained under tight security, with only the military forces aligned with Xu Tiannan in the loop.
(End of Chapter)
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