The magnificent imperial palace, the East Palace.

At this time, in a study room inside the palace, two men were playing chess at a table.

These two people, one old and one young.

The younger one had an elegant temperament and facial features that were somewhat similar to those of Yan Fengjun and Yan Chen.

But his complexion and figure were obviously weaker.

This person is the third prince, Yan Hongyi.

The other old man had white hair and beard, and a pair of bright eyes.

His name was Yang Zhe. He was once a tutor assisting the crown prince and held a high official position.

But a few years ago, after the death of the crown prince, he turned to the third prince.

His daily life was like that of a retired man, playing chess and drinking tea with the third prince, and no longer participating in external affairs of state.

"Haha, Your Highness the Third Prince, you made another wrong move. Are you worried about something?"

Yang Zhe smiled faintly.

As he spoke, the chess piece in his hand fell onto the chessboard.

This time, the area in the upper right corner of Yan Hongyi was completely blocked and turned into a dead chess piece, resulting in heavy losses.

Yan Hongyi looked at the chessboard, smiled and shook his head, saying: "It has been three years, and your chess skills are still unfathomable. I have never won against you in chess."

"So, even if I didn't make a mistake in my chess moves, winning or losing is only a matter of time."

As he spoke, Yan Hongyi calmly put away all the killed chess pieces in the upper right corner of the chessboard.

"Oh? Really?"

Yang Zhe laughed hoarsely and said meaningfully: "The chess field is like a battlefield. Even if you know you can't win, you can't lose your fighting spirit and backbone."

Hearing this, Yan Hongyi nodded with an expression of being taught, "Teacher is right."

He deeply agrees with Yang Zhe's wisdom and experience.

"Now that the government and the country are in turmoil, if the Third Prince wants to protect himself, he must maintain the status quo and wait and see what happens."

Yang Zhe put down the chess piece in his hand and suddenly changed the subject.

Hearing this, Yan Hongyi was slightly startled, then he sighed and said, "I went to see my father today, and his health seemed to have weakened a lot..."

Yang Zhe's eyes darkened slightly and he said no more.

Because he knew what Yan Hongyi was worried about.

The current King Yan is becoming increasingly weak due to his health, and he probably no longer has much deterrent power in the court.

When the time comes, the throne will be passed on to the princes based on their abilities.

The eldest prince, Yan Peng, has always been ambitious. Moreover, he is the eldest brother of all the princes, so he may not be willing to be a slave who submits to his younger brother.

The second prince, Yan Fengjun, is like the eldest prince, both are brothers born of the same mother and have the closest relationship.

Therefore, Yan Fengjun has always followed Yan Peng's lead. In the fight for the throne, he is undoubtedly a great help to the eldest prince.

As for the fourth prince Yan Chen, he is very talented in martial arts and is highly appreciated by King Yan. He is also very cunning and skillful.

In just a few years, he had established a faction to fight for the throne.

Just like Qin's General's Mansion, it was enough to give him the confidence to compete with the eldest prince and the second prince.

However, Yan Hongyi is the third prince.

Whether in terms of personal martial arts or the power he controls, there is a big gap between him and the other three princes.

If he starts a dispute, his chances of winning are extremely slim.

However, there are many precedents of fighting for the throne throughout the dynasties.

Behind the supreme royal power is often killing and blood.

At that time, blood ties, family ties, and friendship all became a joke.

Yan Hongyi is well aware of this, so he has always tried his best not to cause trouble.

Even though he had a talent for martial arts that was not inferior to that of the Fourth Prince Yan Chen, he was very slow in martial arts practice.

Even Yan Hongyi didn't exercise regularly and always attended various occasions with a weak look.

As a result, the other princes sneered at him and felt that he posed no threat.

Otherwise, he won’t be able to save his life!

That situation was just like the sudden and innocent death of the prince three years ago.

"I heard that there is a very talented freshman in Tianyan Academy this year."

Immediately, the chess piece in Yang Zhe's hand fell on the chessboard and continued chatting.

"Oh? Genius? Who is he?"

Yan Hongyi's eyes flickered as he asked curiously.

"His name is Lin Hao."

Yang Zhe said with a faint smile.

“Lin Hao…”

Yan Hongyi nodded and said with a smile: "This name has a lot of meaning. The word 'Hao' represents vastness and boundlessness. No wonder he became famous."

Hearing this, a hidden light flashed in Yang Zhe's eyes, but then he shook his head secretly.

It seems that the third prince usually lives in the palace and rarely goes out. He knows nothing about the news from the outside world.

Lin Hao's fame had already spread during the Tianyan Academy's admissions examination several months ago.

Until he was ranked first on the Fantasy Killing Stage rankings two days ago, his fame had completely exploded, and the news had spread to almost every street and alley in the imperial capital.

However, Yan Hongyi is still completely unaware of this until now.

"It seems that His Royal Highness the First Prince's guess is correct. This Third Prince is really a waste and has no desire to compete for the throne."

Deep in Yang Zhe's heart, the thoughts that had been secretly watching him were suddenly relieved.

Obviously, the reason why he chose to come to the East Palace in the past three years, seemingly to assist, was actually for ulterior motives.

Yang Zhe's real identity is a two-faced man sent by the eldest prince Yan Peng to monitor him secretly.

After such a long period of testing and spying, he found that Yan Hongyi's daily life was indeed very monotonous and he had no ambitions.

In this regard, Yang Zhe was already certain that Yan Hongyi had absolutely no hope of winning in the fight for the throne.

"Your Highness, I remember that I have something else to do, so I'll take my leave now."

Thinking of this, Yang Zhe suddenly stood up and said with a smile.

Although his eyes were still calm, deep down, he couldn't wait to leave this boring life.

"Teacher, take care."

Yan Hongyi also stood up, with a smile on his face, without any airs of a prince at all.

However, when Yang Zhe's old figure stepped out of the door, the smile on Yan Hongyi's face slowly faded.

As his smile faded, the black chess piece in his hand fell onto the chessboard.

As the black chess piece fell, the situation that was originally doomed to fail was turned around.

Hese surrounded the white pieces on Yang Zhe's side, making it a dead end, and actually won the game.

"Haha, the chess field is like a battlefield. I have been patient for many years. It's time to change the situation."

A smile appeared on Yan Hongyi's handsome face again.

However, this time, his smile was undisguised, and clearly contained a hint of coldness...

That night, night fell.

The residence of General Wang in the west of the imperial capital was brightly lit.

There were many luxurious carriages parked on the streets on both sides of the palace gate.

The family emblems on it are all of the nobles in the city.

At this time, a young figure appeared in front of the gate of the mansion.

"May I ask who you are?"

The servant of the palace who was welcoming the guests saw that the young man was wearing the uniform of Tianyan Academy and had a parrot on his shoulder. He seemed to have guessed something and hurried to greet him.

"Lin Hao."

There is no doubt that this person is Lin Hao who came to the banquet, he said lightly.

After confirming the identity of the visitor, the palace servant was startled at first, then became more respectful, "Please come in."

Lin Hao did not enter the mansion immediately. He secretly controlled Sibao's vision and scanned the luxurious carriages parked nearby.

After a quick glance, he discovered that there was a gold-inlaid carriage with the emblem of the Ma family on it.

Apparently, his prey tonight, 'Ma Shuoliang', has arrived.

"I don't know if there are any experts in this mansion. Let's find out the bottom first before taking action."

Lin Hao was thoughtful, and then stepped into the gate of the palace.

Generally speaking, in official social interactions, no matter what kind of banquet it is, there will be reciprocity.

The servant who was responsible for welcoming the guests and leading the way, as usual, wanted to present a gift to Lin Hao.

But he found that the latter had empty hands and had no intention of taking out the gift from the storage ring.

Lin Hao didn't care about this. He remained calm and followed the servant to the reception hall.

He went to the banquet to kill someone. Any socializing was unnecessary and uninteresting to him.

As soon as I entered the living room, I heard a noisy sound.

However, this bright and spacious hall was extremely lively and full of people.

It is not difficult to see that those who were invited by the eldest prince are all celebrities from all walks of life, or influential figures in the imperial capital.

They were all dressed in gorgeous dresses, holding wine glasses and chatting about various topics, and their every move showed aristocratic etiquette.

"Tianyan Academy, Master Lin Hao is here!"

Seeing Lin Hao coming in, the emcee who received the message shouted as if it had been planned in advance.

In an instant, Lin Hao, who originally came here to keep a low profile, undoubtedly became the focus of attention of everyone present.

Inside the hall, hundreds of eyes were all looking towards the door and falling on Lin Hao.

Facing the gazes of so many dignitaries from the imperial capital, Lin Hao walked into the hall slowly with a calm expression.

The Tianyan Academy uniform he wore tonight was relatively ordinary compared to the gorgeous costumes of the nobles in the field.

However, after practicing both combat and martial arts for a period of time, Lin Hao's energy and spirit are extremely abundant.

Therefore, even though he was dressed in ordinary clothes, the sharp aura emanating from his body was particularly dazzling among the crowd.

"So he is Lin Hao. He looks really impressive."

"The ultimate cultivation talent, number one on the Phantom Killing Stage ranking list, wow, wow, wow, it's incredible."

"I heard that he has both eyes missing, but how come he looks normal except for his pupils?"

"You don't understand this, do you? The blind swordsman from Tianyan Academy, do you think he's powerful?"

Lin Hao's arrival immediately attracted everyone's attention, and all the topics revolved around him, making him the protagonist of this banquet.

"Brother Lin Hao, you are finally here."

At this time, Yan Fengjun walked out of the crowd and walked towards Lin Hao with a very eager expression.

Hearing the words 'Brother Lin Hao', Lin Hao couldn't help but feel a strange feeling in his heart.

If you want to build relationships, you can't get too excited so quickly, right?

Even Qin Yu and Raymond, who have known each other for such a long time, don't usually call each other brothers.

Next to Yan Fengjun, Lin Hao found a burly man standing there.

He has a resolute face and his facial features are slightly similar to Yan Fengjun's, but he is much more mature and is about thirty years old.

Lin Hao secretly guessed that this guy should be the eldest prince Yan Peng.

At the same time that Lin Hao used the four treasures' vision to secretly observe the other party.

Yan Peng's eagle-like sharp eyes were also looking at Lin Hao.

Young, calm, and indifferent.

Very good, the person my second brother chose this time is indeed a talent.

This was Yan Peng's impression of Lin Hao when he first met him.

As for Lin Hao's missing eyes, he didn't care at all.

If a person with excellent martial arts talent grows up and wants to observe the movements around him, there are naturally many ways to do it.

For example, the blind swordsman from Tianyan Academy is like this.

"Lin Hao, the person standing next to me is my eldest brother, Yan Peng."

Yan Fengjun introduced with a smile.

"I am very happy to be invited to the Grand Prince's banquet."

Lin Hao was neither humble nor arrogant, and spoke politely with a smile.

While speaking, Sibao's eyes were secretly looking around, searching for Ma Shuoliang in the crowd.

Soon, the prey was found.

His official position was Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

As we all know, the Ministry of Revenue is the agency in charge of household registration and finance, and it has a lot of money.

Look at this fat guy, wearing gold and silver, he must have made a lot of money.

In this regard, Lin Hao likes this kind of wealthy prey very much. After completing the task, he can make some money by the way.

However, Ma Shuoliang also seems to be afraid of death.

But he was accompanied by a guard, and judging from his aura, he should be at the level of a seventh-level warrior.

"Lin Hao, I already know about your performance in all aspects of Tianyan Academy in recent times. After seeing you today, I found that you are indeed different from others."

The eldest prince Yan Peng looked at Lin Hao for a while and then said with a deep smile.

His voice was deep and powerful, and his eyes were full of murderous intent. It was obvious that he was a man who had been tempered on the battlefield.

The methods used by such people in power are extremely cruel and brutal.

"Thank you for the compliment, Your Highness."

Lin Hao still had a smile on his face, but he was thinking about how to carry out the next assassination secretly.

At least, you must never let yourself show any signs of doubt.

"Ten years ago, I also studied at Tianyan Academy. So, we are senior and junior students."

Yan Peng was obviously very satisfied with Lin Hao, and his tone of voice was full of strong social skills.

"I'm very curious about how you killed the seventh wave of illusion enemies in the illusion of the Illusion Killing Platform and got the top spot on the ranking list."

"It's too noisy here. If you don't mind, come with me to the study and I'll explain."

Yan Peng's face was quite excited.

On the surface, he seemed like a martial arts fanatic who wanted to discuss the battle on the Fantasy Killing Arena with Lin Hao.

But those present were all veterans who were well versed in officialdom, and anyone with a discerning eye could tell at a glance that the eldest prince was planning to change the venue and privately win over Lin Hao.