Chapter 92: Undying Nine-Heart Begonia and Tang Hao
At night, Heaven Dou Imperial Academy.
Inside Dugu Yan's apartment.
Zhou Chen, who had just finished eating and chatting with Dugu Yan before taking his leave, returned to his room. He lay flat on the bed with his hands behind his head, recalling what had happened with Ye Lingling earlier that day.
To be honest, Ye Lingling's straightforwardness still left him somewhat dazed even now.
"Nine-Heart Begonia…"
Zhou Chen closed his eyes and rested lightly, murmuring to himself.
As far as he knew, the Nine-Heart Begonia martial soul could be said to be the rarest of all martial souls.
This was because such a martial soul had always been passed down through a single line, with only one inheritor per generation.
At any given time, only two Nine-Heart Begonia soul masters could exist simultaneously.
Only when one died could another appear among the next generation.
However, this single-line family possessed an exceptionally powerful influence.
The reason lay in the Nine-Heart Begonia's peerless, all-encompassing healing ability.
Just like earlier that day, Yu Tianheng's arms had clearly been smashed into fragments by Zhou Chen's punch, yet Ye Lingling had still healed them completely.
In the soul master world, where the strong prey on the weak and conflict never ceases, who could guarantee they would never suffer injuries like Yu Tianheng's?
Thus, Nine-Heart Begonia soul masters, with their immense healing power, were fervently sought after by countless battle soul masters, and there was no shortage of people willing to voluntarily become protectors of the Nine-Heart Begonia clan.
Among these protectors was one person Zhou Chen knew quite well: the Haotian Douluo, Tang Hao.
That was right. According to Tang Hao himself, he had a deep connection with the Nine-Heart Begonia Ye family.
Six years ago, after Tang Hao fought three Titled Douluo, fourteen Soul Douluo, and over seventy Soul Sages from Spirit Hall, Spirit Hall suffered heavy losses, but Tang Hao's body sustained extremely severe injuries that nearly killed him.
Unwilling to die, Tang Hao sought out the Undying Nine-Heart Begonia family, namely the Ye family.
The Ye family's current head, Ye Yinzhu, Ye Lingling's mother and the only healing-type Titled Douluo on the Douluo Continent, personally took action and saved Tang Hao's life.
However, Tang Hao's injuries were too severe, and even Ye Yinzhu was unable to fully heal him.
The words Tang Hao once said to Zhou Chen six years ago—"even a healing-type Titled Douluo couldn't fully heal me"—came from this very incident.
From that point on, Tang Hao became the Ye family's protector.
In truth, the reason the Ye family had taken notice of Zhou Chen was likely also because of Tang Hao.
When Ye Lingling mentioned "a Titled Douluo surnamed Tang" earlier that day, she was clearly referring to Tang Hao.
It was almost certain that this old fellow had drunk bad wine while visiting the Ye family and boasted recklessly at the dinner table, accidentally leaking Zhou Chen's identity and causing the Ye family's relatives to set their sights on him.
As a family renowned for auxiliary martial souls, the Ye family, like the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, had an unwritten rule.
That rule was that each generation's successor had to marry a powerful battle soul master.
Only a spouse could be the most reliable protector and ensure the continuation of the family's bloodline to the greatest extent.
And Zhou Chen, whether in appearance, age, martial soul, or strength, perfectly met the Ye family's requirements.
Thus, over the past two years, the Ye family had been collecting information about Zhou Chen and even wanted Tang Hao to pass along a message, asking Zhou Chen to consider marrying into the Ye family.
However, Tang Hao had already been at fault for leaking Zhou Chen's identity to the Ye family, so how could he dare contact Zhou Chen again?
Left with no choice, the Ye family settled for the next best option. They had Tang Hao verbally describe Zhou Chen's appearance while a painter supported by the Ye family attempted to draw a recent portrait based on the description.
Yet Tang Hao, who had been obsessed with cultivation in his youth and lacked much education, kept repeating useless words like "handsome," "good-looking," and "very striking," leaving the Ye family's painter at a complete loss.
Seeing that Tang Hao was unreliable, the Ye family dispatched several groups to Notting City, hoping to meet Zhou Chen in person.
At that time, however, Zhou Chen feared being hunted by Spirit Hall and other major powers, so he stayed hidden in the back mountains of Notting Academy, often not coming down for a year or more.
Even subordinates of the Ziwei Palace found it difficult to see him, let alone members of the Ye family.
In fact, because the Ye family's scouts were overly sneaky and constantly inquiring about Zhou Chen near Notting City, they were even hunted several times by the Ziwei Palace's intelligence organization, the Tianji Guard.
In the end, helpless, the Ye family could only wait and hope for fate, sitting back like a hunter waiting for prey.
Unexpectedly, this desperate method turned out to be the most effective.
When Ye Lingling was watching the excitement earlier that day and heard Zhou Chen and the Shi brothers state their names, she immediately understood Zhou Chen's identity.
Zhou Chen was far too strikingly handsome, his strength far too overwhelming, and his age and name all matched perfectly. It was impossible for Ye Lingling not to recognize him.
This made Ye Lingling extremely excited.
Thus, after healing Yu Tianheng and the others, Ye Lingling took the initiative, vowing to make Zhou Chen her man.
And Zhou Chen, not wanting to offend the Ye family and considering that Ye Lingling was truly beautiful, reluctantly agreed.
After all, for someone as shameless as him, if there was an advantage to be gained, not taking it would be a loss, and taking it cost nothing anyway.
"Sigh, I wonder whether the Ye family is easy to get along with, and whether Ye Lingling's mother is gentle or not. Becoming a son-in-law for the first time—I really have no experience…"
Zhou Chen sighed and muttered to himself.
At that moment, his ears twitched slightly as he heard a series of footsteps.
The footsteps came from outside the apartment.
"They're finally here."
Zhou Chen sat up and waited for the visitor.
Before long, a crimson blood mist suddenly poured into Zhou Chen's room through the window.
The blood mist churned continuously and gradually condensed into a human figure before Zhou Chen.
The figure wore black clothing, had a pale complexion, and exuded a sinister aura. It was Xiao Chenyu, who had cultivated the Blood Fiend Art.
"Greetings, Palace Master."
The moment he saw Zhou Chen, Xiao Chenyu immediately knelt on one knee and spoke respectfully.
"Get up."
Zhou Chen waved his hand to signal Xiao Chenyu to rise, then said calmly, "How did the matter I assigned to you go?"
"Reporting to the Palace Master, the Tianji Guard has now expanded to sixty soul masters, all Soul Elders above level thirty. Following your instructions, they traveled day and night and all arrived in Heaven Dou City at noon today."
Hearing this, Zhou Chen leaned back against the headboard and asked, "What about the others from the Ziwei Palace? Where are they now?"
"The two hundred members of the Tianshu Guard led by Wang Sheng can be seen by you at the latest tomorrow."
Xiao Chenyu paused briefly before continuing. "As for the more than three hundred weaker soul masters led by Headmaster Marks, they have already reached Silves City and will arrive in Heaven Dou City within at most ten days."
"That's good."
Zhou Chen nodded.
Previously, while entangled with Hu Liena in Silves City, Zhou Chen had already ordered Xiao Chenyu to notify all soul masters under the Ziwei Palace to gather in Heaven Dou City.
The purpose was naturally to allow all Ziwei Palace soul masters to collectively use the divine crystals after Zhou Chen obtained the fifty tons of them, rapidly increasing their strength.
End of the chapter.
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