Ye Guyi followed Ye Cheng and left.
Although Ye Cheng held an official position as a consecrated elder of the Holy Spirit Cult, he also had his own private wealth. In the prime real estate of Mingdu, he owned a small courtyard.
The two shared the same surname, so they chatted along the way, but couldn't trace any familial connection between them.
Ye Cheng felt a little regret, but he just smiled. After all, meeting her like this could be considered fulfilling one of his final wishes.
"Uncle Ye… that Xu Cheng is the Holy Son of the Holy Spirit Cult, but why doesn't he seem the least bit sinister?"
Inside the soul car, Ye Guyi, seeing that this "elder of her family" had a gentle temper, gradually opened up after a few words and asked curiously.
"You must call him 'Your Highness'!" Ye Cheng frowned slightly and softly instructed.
"But I'm not even joining the Holy Spirit Cult..." Ye Guyi shrank back a bit at his heavier tone and muttered.
"I'm not asking you to call him Holy Son Your Highness, but Royal Highness. His real identity is the Eleventh Prince of the Sun Moon Empire. Right now, he controls heavy military forces and wields tremendous power... Of course, I'm telling you this just so you show him the basic respect he deserves. Don't stir up trouble," Ye Cheng explained gently.
"Oh." Ye Guyi had spent some time wandering the lands of the Heavenly Soul Empire as a child, so she wasn't some delicate sheltered lady, but someone who had truly seen the dark and brutal underworld. She had a much deeper understanding of what top-tier authority and power really meant.
"No wonder even that woman had to bow her head to him," Ye Guyi nodded slightly.
"Remember: see less, listen less, ask less. Just do your own work. Otherwise, if you get into trouble, even I might not be able to help you," Ye Cheng continued.
"But you're a Super Douluo!" Ye Guyi's beautiful eyes widened in amazement at Ye Cheng.
Even though she didn't intend to cause trouble, hearing that still shocked her.
"This is Mingdu, not the capitals of the three old nations on the continent. Here, it's truly a place of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, with tangled powers everywhere. Even though I've cultivated my whole life and barely scraped together a little bit of passable strength, I wouldn't lightly provoke trouble," Ye Cheng shook his head.
"And remember: address him as 'Your Highness' when you meet him! Got it?" His tone became slightly stern.
"Got it..." Ye Guyi nodded.
The young girl carefully looked out the car window.
It was her first time since arriving in Mingdu that she could slowly appreciate the scenery, instead of sinking into darkness... Seeing the towering skyscrapers outside, the soul cars whizzing through the streets, and strange individuals carrying bizarre soul devices, even the massive mechanical cat heads in simple street shops—it all made her feel like she had entered a magical realm.
"Is the future of the continent in Mingdu?" she asked suddenly.
"Under His Highness's leadership, Mingdu will guide the continent and become its true pearl..." Ye Cheng nodded slightly.
"Such high praise..." Ye Guyi murmured in amazement.
"It's simply the truth."
——
"What did you say? The national treasury is empty?!!"
Xu Cheng stared in shock.
Earlier that morning, Xu Zhen had sent a letter from the palace, asking him to come over.
As soon as he stepped in, he heard this explosive news.
Given the rapid development of the Sun Moon Empire, its dominance over the soul tool market, and its vast wealth of metal resources, bankruptcy was the last thing Xu Cheng had ever expected!
"It's perfectly normal. A nation is like a massive soul tool. To keep it running, you need constant repairs, parts replacements, energy refills, array maintenance, and so on. Tell me, doesn't all that cost money? As an emperor, you're basically a soul engineer, figuring out how to repair this giant machine at the lowest cost and highest efficiency, making sure it doesn't break down," Xu Zhen said leisurely as he fished by the lake.
"That's true," Xu Cheng smacked his lips.
He was just sighing—throughout history, there were barely any times when a treasury was truly full.
Everything costs money—this and that—and corruption among officials was inevitable. Often, by the time five hundred thousand was allocated, after all the skimming, only some rough grain and fodder reached the common people.
There were plenty of jokes like: "The emperor's money—they take two hundred thousand, I take one hundred thousand, and I still have to thank them."
Of course, there were exceptions. People like Xuan Ziwen could complete projects without pocketing a dime, sometimes even returning surplus funds—which was precisely why he faced so much resentment.
"In recent years, the Sun Moon Empire's soul tool technology has exploded. Just the missile projects and the basic soul device research you proposed have burned through billions of gold soul coins. Plus, our Awakening Plan and the Primary Soul Engineer Subsidy Plan are all still burning money. And now, because you halted soul tool exports, the little bit left in the treasury ran out a few days ago," Xu Zhen lamented.
"You might as well take charge of the treasury early. Consider it training."
Xu Cheng: "..."
So that's what this was about?
Then again, it made sense. War burns money. Research burns money. And Xu Cheng had forbidden the Sun Moon Empire from pillaging conquered lands or profiting from war.
At this rate, no matter how rich the Sun Moon Empire was, it was bound to be bled dry eventually.
No—it had already been bled dry.
While the achievements were tremendous, the undeniable reality was... the treasury was broke.
This also meant that in the future, he could no longer throw money around lavishly, casually promising "don't worry about the budget" ever again.
"Got it." Xu Cheng nodded slightly.
"Oh? Already thought of a solution?" Xu Zhen glanced at him with interest. His fishing rod twitched slightly, and ripples spread across the lake—there was a fish about to bite.
"Or... are you thinking about those provincial dukes?"
"Exactly. Them," Xu Cheng said, his tone calm as he stared at the carp being pulled from the water. "I've been investigating some of the dukes for a while now. They're all filthy rich, with assets starting at billions of gold soul coins. After all, they directly control the military and administration of entire provinces, and can even privately maintain armies. Their power is so vast that each of them is basically a small kingdom. Their relationship with us is nothing more than 'attachment': providing some token military support during wars and paying a pitifully small tribute every year."
"Seems like you've been dissatisfied with them for a long time. This so-called gathering you're planning..." Xu Zhen chuckled.
"I won't go as far as killing them. Anyone willing to openly attend will be spared. Over generations, they'll marry into the Mingdu aristocracy, merge their resources into Mingdu's, and gradually become one with us. If a peaceful method works, why choose bloodshed?" Xu Cheng shook his head.
"Of course, as for those who refuse the summons and prepare to rebel... I'll still give them a whole corpse when I wipe out their families and seize their assets."
The attendant nearby turned pale with fear, trembling as if terrified he might be dragged off and executed just for hearing this.
"You still need to kill a few as an example. Without that, the rest of the monkeys won't obediently hand over their treasures," Xu Zhen nodded approvingly.
"Of course, that'll only solve the immediate problem. It'll buy us two or three years at most. These provincial dukes have oil to squeeze, but they're nowhere near as rich as the old aristocrats from the original continent. I'm especially eyeing the resources and wealth of the three old empires... my mouth waters just thinking about it," Xu Cheng said with a smile.
"Two or three years..." Xu Zhen's eyelid twitched slightly.
Simply by plundering these dukes, they could easily scrape together at least a billion gold soul coins — yet even that wasn't enough to burn through? What exactly was Xu Cheng planning?
Researching all generations of mechas, launching satellites, exploring the oceans... and none of these were projects that could be completed overnight. They required massive amounts of talent, resources, and funding.
To be honest, Elder Cheng's project alone already demanded astronomical funding.
Fortunately, he had secured a sponsor. Plus, with the vast resources of the Star Dou Forest, where production and supply happened directly without middlemen skimming profits, they managed to save quite a bit on costs.
But even so, the more than four hundred million gold soul coins Xu Cheng had swindled from the Star Luo Empire had already been almost completely used up — a testament to just how huge the funding black hole of scientific research could be.
And this was even under the condition that there was no corruption among familiar faces...
"Not enough. Far from enough," Xu Cheng waved his hand dismissively.
The ultimate goal of soul devices was the sea of stars.
Moreover, he also intended to rely on the rapid development of soul devices to quickly forge a powerful force that could resist the gods themselves — so that in the future, when they encountered spatial storms in the God Realm, they might have a bit more leverage.
"Whatever, as long as you're happy," Xu Zhen said, shaking his head helplessly.
"I have no intention of meddling in future matters. You can handle them yourself. Just let me enjoy a peaceful retirement, living out my final years in leisure."
...
On the way back to the Academy.
Xu Cheng pondered.
As for "harvesting" and commercial warfare, countless examples from his previous life could be referenced — so many that he couldn't count them on one hand.
The gold soul coin system had been around on the continent for tens of thousands of years, deeply rooted. After the collision with the Sun-Moon Continent, it had slowly integrated into the Sun-Moon Empire's lands, becoming tightly bound to them. Therefore, it absolutely could not be seized by force.
Otherwise, the consequences would be extremely severe — the collapse of the monetary system would not only doom the old continent but even the Sun-Moon Empire itself wouldn't escape disaster.
Outside the laboratory.
In the long corridor.
Xu Cheng encountered Elder Kong — this old man was quite tall, over two meters, standing out among the average soul masters who were about 1.8 meters tall. His presence alone was enough to exert pressure.
Looking up at Elder Kong's gentle gaze, Xu Cheng couldn't help but think of a certain person's "wielded sayings" — classic phrases like "Hearing the Way in the morning, one could die in the evening."
"You personally coming here — it's truly my humble honor," Xu Cheng said with a chuckle, trying to laugh off the pressure while forcibly pushing the strange image of a muscular Elder Kong from his mind.
"The Mingde Hall's research must not be interrupted. Your Highness mustn't favor one side over the other," Elder Kong said meaningfully, gazing at Xu Cheng.
Under that towering figure, Xu Cheng broke out in a cold sweat.
No wonder his old man had called him over first thing — clearly to give him a warning. His old man must have already suffered under Elder Kong's intimidating presence before.
And now, he had simply passed the buck to Xu Cheng, hiding away leisurely to go fishing. Truly worthy of being an emperor — his tactics were unfathomably devious.
Xu Cheng gritted his teeth silently. He had been schemed against thoroughly...
"Hehe, how could I possibly neglect Mingde Hall? It's the foundation of the Sun-Moon Empire, and also the first priority for development. How could I possibly cut off my own roots?" Xu Cheng said with a big grin.
"Alas, too many emperors, after achieving success, tend to forget the road they came from. Still, I am not trying to use my seniority to pressure you. Now that the national treasury is empty and there are too many urgent needs, I have no wealth to offer — but I do have a stockpile of soul devices. If you have use for them, take them," Elder Kong said.
Seeing that Xu Cheng didn't seem to be faking his sincerity, Elder Kong finally relaxed and handed him a high-grade storage soul device.
"This is..." Xu Cheng was a bit surprised. A casual glance into the storage ring left him stunned.
An enormous quantity of basic soul devices, along with a wide variety of advanced soul devices, and even more than a dozen nine-level soul devices — some incomplete, some half-finished — were piled within. It was clearly a ring that a soul engineer had used personally for decades, perhaps even longer.
A true personal treasure hoard.
It was as if Elder Kong had handed over all his life's savings.
Just the contents of this storage device alone were worth more than all the dukes' combined assets — and by far.
This was the true weight of the Sun-Moon Empire's stabilizing force — the value of the continent's number one soul engineer.
However, the heaviness of the ring in Xu Cheng's hand was not just in terms of monetary value.
More importantly, it was the meaning behind it.
It was Elder Kong's true recognition of him.
After all, although Elder Kong was a member of the royal family and had always acted for the sake of the Sun-Moon royal house, even during Xu Zhen's reign — in the most difficult times — he had never offered this kind of support.
Let alone something like this...
Still, could it be that his cheapskate old man pushing him forward at this moment had even deeper considerations? For instance...
"Don't overthink it. I am helping you because I see the future of the Sun-Moon Empire in you. Over the past few years, I have watched you constantly — every minute, every second was a test. Thankfully, today you have delivered a near-perfect answer sheet," Elder Kong said with a gentle smile.
"..."
Looking at the heavy storage ring in his hand, Xu Cheng felt a swirl of emotions.
There was a sense of an elder, afraid of being misunderstood, awkwardly trying to make amends...
Elder Kong could never have guessed that Xu Cheng's real goal had never been to harvest the Sun-Moon Empire's grassroots — but rather the three original nations of the old continent.
The term "financial warfare" was simply too advanced for the people of this world to understand.
"I have spent my whole life without marrying or having children — dedicating everything to research and to the Sun-Moon Empire. But with standards set so high, I never found a suitable successor. So whether you take this or not, it was always going to be yours sooner or later," Elder Kong chuckled.
Then he gestured toward the office.
"Alright, now it's your turn to suffer."
"Flirting around everywhere... A man should always bear the consequences of his actions."
Seeing Elder Kong's carefree smile, Xu Cheng had a bad feeling.
The office door slowly opened.
Two beautiful figures, one tall and one shorter, stepped out.
Though their heights were a bit different — one was 1.78 meters, the other 1.68 meters — their stunning faces were exactly alike. Waist-length light blue hair flowed like ocean waves, and the two pairs of furious light blue eyes were both staring daggers at Xu Cheng.
Xu Cheng's mouth twitched.
Had it really come to this so soon?
(End of Chapter)