Chapter 201: Wei Chen’s Confusion

“Who…?” Wei Chen uttered, his face full of confusion.

Lian Cheng sneered. This man’s expression was as foolish as his title. A young master? He, Lian Cheng, a self-made man and the Heaven Forging Lord, had never held a good impression of such silk-pants.

“This humble one’s surname is Lian, given name Cheng. This humble one…” Lian Cheng began, but Wei Chen raised a hand, stopping him.

“No, I mean… who asked you?” Wei Chen said, his face clearly asking if something was wrong with this guy.

“Pfft!” Mo Xingyao spat out her tea as laughter burst from her, completely unable to hold it in.

“You are terrible, my lord,” Dream Butterfly lightly slapped Wei Chen’s back. Her other hand opened her fan to cover her mouth, but the quiver in her voice revealed how hard she was trying to suppress her laughter.

Seeing himself being mocked, anger rose within Lian Cheng’s heart. But as the Heaven Forging Lord, he knew better than to give his opponent the satisfaction of seeing him lose control.

Mo Xingyao quickly forced herself to calm down.

“Oh… you cannot go a day without making fun of people, can you?” she said, wiping the tears from her eyes with a smile. Then she gestured toward Lian Cheng.

“This is Lian Cheng. I am planning to sign a contract with him. We will sponsor his studies until he completes them, or for one hundred years. After that, he will work for us as a chief artificer,” Mo Xingyao explained.

“I see,” Wei Chen nodded. “If you are going this far, it means this guy has some real skill, huh?” He looked at Lian Cheng, but then he frowned, and his gaze turned sharp with scrutiny.

Mo Xingyao noticed the change in his expression and became wary. Did her fiancé sense something wrong with this man? She said nothing and waited for him to speak.

In this world, it was common knowledge that people from hidden ancient factions possessed deeper insight than ordinary individuals. Secrets and mysteries rarely circulated openly, and such knowledge was often monopolized by these ancient forces.

So she waited.

Lian Cheng felt a strange sense of dread when he met Wei Chen’s gaze. It was as if this man was peeling away his flesh and looking directly into his soul.

Which was… exactly what Wei Chen was doing.

Wei Chen sensed something off about him, something unnatural, but he could not immediately identify it. He tried to determine whether Lian Cheng possessed a death-cheater soul, but the death qi surrounding him was below the usual threshold.

Wei Chen then took out a pair of glasses from his storage ring. They were given to him by Yan Rongjun and were used to detect death-cheater souls within a person or artifact, like the one Yun Feng had hidden in his ring.

Looking through the glasses, Wei Chen saw an ancient soul, one that had existed for thousands of years, carrying a considerable amount of death qi.

It was enough to cause discomfort, but not enough to trigger a clear classification as a death-cheater soul.

Wait…

That death qi… it was the accumulation of resentment from others and the weight of his own longevity. It was the kind of aura found in ancient beings.

But if that was the case, why did this soul not cross the threshold to be identified as a death-cheater?

Wei Chen fell into thought. He needed an answer. This concerned his work.

He looked at Lian Cheng one last time before turning to Mo Xingyao.

“Yaoyao, I just remembered that I have something important to handle back at the sect.”

Mo Xingyao nodded. “Do not worry. You should go. Do not let us hold you back.”

He then turned to Dream Butterfly. “I am sorry, Yu’er. Can you stay with Yaoyao? I have something urgent to deal with.”

Dream Butterfly smiled. “Do not worry, my lord. I will take care of Sister Yaoyao. You can go with peace of mind.”

Watching the interaction between her fiancé and her close companion, Mo Xingyao suddenly felt annoyed.

For some reason, it felt like they were treating her like a child.

What did these two mean by taking care of her and going with peace of mind? As if she would cause trouble.

She was already an adult okay?

With that, Wei Chen excused himself and left the room.

Mo Xingyao gave Lian Cheng some time to consider and handed him the contract to read. Then she brought Dream Butterfly to her room to chat, with Yin Lan following them like a shadow.

At the corridor, after Mo Xingyao’s group went to her courtyard to rest along with Dream Butterfly, who had just arrived, Lian Cheng was left alone, pressured by the situation to withdraw for now. His thoughts turned to Wei Chen.

No… it was not Wei Chen in particular. To be more precise, it was Wei Chen’s glasses.

From his experienced eyes, those glasses were undoubtedly an artifact. And not just any artifact, but one that could not be produced in this backward lower realm.

No… even if it were him at the peak of his power in his previous life, forging such an item would still be a challenge. The difficulty did not lie in its durability, but in its function related to the soul.

As of now, from what he could observe, he only knew that the glasses targeted the soul. Perhaps they were used to observe something within it, or worse… to alter something at the very core of a person’s soul.

“No wonder Yaoyao does not seem as pushy as she was in my previous life,” Lian Cheng muttered.

He walked along the corridor toward the residence Mo Xingyao had prepared for him. He needed a quiet place to think.

The change in Mo Xingyao’s soul seemed so subtle that he had not even noticed it. He had been sitting right in front of her, barely a meter apart, yet he had felt nothing unusual from her soul.

Outside the Thousand Treasure Pavilion headquarters, he recalled the righteous heroes and supreme figures from his previous life. At present, those individuals were still in their infancy, still cultivating or undergoing the trials that would shape their rise.

Whether it was veterans like Jian Heng, who would one day become the Sword Emperor renowned across the Immortal Realm, Yun Feng, the Mad God of Battle, or Zhang Tianlong, the Immortal Flame Emperor of the Southern Immortal Volcanic Manor…

(Author note: Zhang Tianlong is the one who Wei Chen and Yun Feng met during the martial competition.)

He needed to gather these people and stand against Wei Chen. If that was still not enough, he might even have to make concessions to the hidden ancient forces to bring them onto his side.

— Underworld – Wei Chen’s Palace —

Wei Chen transferred to his castle through his connection with it. Right now, he stood in front of its main gate, where a group of craftsmen and carpenters were trying to mount the name plaque above the entrance.

“Deathstar” was the name Wei Chen had given to his castle. Because… why not? It actually looked like the Death Star from his previous life.

At least seventy percent of it matched. He had already read the manual that came with the ownership papers. There was a barrel-like opening beneath the castle that could fire a powerful beam capable of destroying immortal armies.

Above the castle was a dome that could simulate any weather he wished, from a pleasant temperate climate to an Antarctica-like frozen environment.

It also had artificial gravity, so when the castle aimed its barrel at something, it would not affect the people inside. Although, they might feel a bit disoriented if they saw the ground above their heads when the barrel was aimed upward.

With all of these features gathered in one place, not naming it Deathstar would be an insult to every fanboy.

“Ah, Lord Wei, you’re back.”

A familiar voice called out to him. Wei Chen looked in that direction and saw Zhang Niu, who was now serving as his butler.

“How about changing your name to Alfred?” Wei Chen asked with a smirk.

Zhang Niu shook his head, his composure flawless. “Thank you for your consideration, but I would rather keep my old name, Lord Wei. Even though I have already died and now serve you in the Underworld as your butler, I still wish to keep the name my parents bestowed upon me.”

Zhang Niu refused politely and professionally.

Wei Chen chuckled, but then a loud shout came from another direction. Curious, he walked over to see what was happening.

What he saw was a familiar face. It was Murong Xuanji, who was now working as a cleaner, specifically tasked with cleaning the servants’ quarters’ latrines and the spirit beast stables.

“Hey! Shit-eater! You still have a schedule to clean my battle mount’s stable next! What are you doing here? Are you trying to dodge your duties?” The overseer walked up and slapped Murong Xuanji on the head.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep