"Begonia's name, life without end!"
Ye Lingling's crisp voice rang out, and pale purple Begonia petals drifted down, enveloping Gu Xuan and the others.
Aside from Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling, everyone else, including Gu Xuan, suffered various degrees of burns. This was only because Qin Ming had held back at the last moment; otherwise, with the power of his sixth soul skill, it would have been entirely possible to incinerate these small Soul Elders instantly.
Qin Ming retracted his Martial Soul and looked at the group with considerable satisfaction. Being able to force him to use his full strength was proof enough of these youngsters' extraordinary potential.
"Gu Xuan, Yu Tianheng, you two can rest for the afternoon practical class. I have some matters I need to attend to now." After finishing with them and offering a few words of comfort, Qin Ming left immediately.
With Ye Lingling's healing, their burns quickly recovered. Each of them took out fresh clothes to dress properly and sat cross-legged to restore their soul power.
Half an hour later, the group headed to the cafeteria together for a meal.
At the table, Gu Xuan and the others discussed how they could more effectively defeat Qin Ming, but the final answer they arrived at was that it was currently impossible.
If they had all broken through to the Soul Ancestor rank, it might be a different story. But with only Soul Elder-level strength, one full burst from Qin Ming would take them all out. They had no chance of pinning him down; they were only there to be pinned down by him.
After eating, the group returned to the villa to rest. The morning's battle had left them all somewhat exhausted.
Gu Xuan, however, did not rest. This level of training was just a drop in the bucket for him.
He headed into Heaven Dou City and went straight to the Imperial Palace, carrying a golden Crown Prince Token as he made his way toward the Crown Prince's manor.
The current Crown Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire was named Xue Qinghe. However, this Xue Qinghe was not the real one; the real Xue Qinghe had likely kicked the bucket years ago.
Aside from those truly in the know, perhaps only Gu Xuan knew that the current Xue Qinghe was an imposter—Qian Renxue, the granddaughter of Qian Daoliu, the Great Priest of the Spirit Hall's Elder Hall.
A few years ago, the First Prince Xue Luochuan and the Third Prince Xue Haizang had died mysteriously one after another. Only then did Emperor Xue Ye appoint the second son, Xue Qinghe, as the Crown Prince.
Knowing the timeline, Gu Xuan was well aware that Qian Renxue had essentially mastered most of the secrets and powers of the Heaven Dou Empire by now.
In the original records, she was nine years older than Tang San. Since Gu Xuan was one year older than Tang San, it meant Qian Renxue was eight years older than Gu Xuan. Currently, Gu Xuan's true age was twelve, meaning Qian Renxue was already twenty.
Though her strength hadn't been exposed in the original story during this period, she was at least at the Soul Emperor level. By the time of the Spirit Hunt operation five or six years later, she would reach the Soul Saint level, approaching the cultivation of a Soul Douluo.
If it weren't for Tang San's "cheats"—the hundred-thousand-year soul ring from Xiao Wu and the immortal herbs from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well—he definitely would have been the one dominated during the Heaven Dou Palace coup.
However, none of this was very important to Gu Xuan. He currently lacked the power to protect the Heaven Dou Imperial Family. The only thing he could do was try his best to win over resources to improve his own strength and that of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, ensuring they could preserve themselves and even deal a heavy blow to Spirit Hall during the future Spirit Hunt.
In truth, Spirit Hall wasn't purely evil; on the contrary, they were currently the only major power that provided help to commoner soul masters and civilians. However, the current ruler of Spirit Hall, Bibi Dong, was a madwoman.
The Great Priest Qian Daoliu, the first lackey of the Angel God, was inactive, allowing Bibi Dong to trample over Spirit Hall while he—a man of immense strength—cared only about helping Qian Renxue reach godhood.
It wasn't that Qian Daoliu was evil, but his inaction accelerated the continent's instability and allowed a lunatic like Bibi Dong to slowly lead Spirit Hall astray.
As for Bibi Dong, Gu Xuan both pitied and hated her. He pitied her for her experiences in the original story—being broken by that subhuman trash of a teacher, Qian Xunji—but he hated her for being a "love-brain" who couldn't distinguish good from evil, wanting to destroy the entire world just because of her own misfortune.
Sometimes Gu Xuan thought that if he had Qian Daoliu's strength, he would definitely pin that madwoman to the ground and give her a good thrashing. Even if he couldn't make her see reason, he would stop her insane behavior.
But alas, though Qian Daoliu lived an upright life, in his old age, he had sand in his eyes and couldn't see the black and white clearly.
Better not to mention it!
As for Qian Renxue—or rather, Xue Qinghe—she had taken Ning Fengzhi as her teacher a few years ago under the recommendation of Emperor Xue Ye. This was a formal disciple-teacher relationship, much like Tang San and the Grandmaster.
Yet Ning Fengzhi didn't know that his beloved disciple was a two-faced imposter and a master spy.
Gu Xuan couldn't really warn Ning Fengzhi, either. It would be impossible for him to accept such a thing right now, and even if he did, it might only disrupt their plans without yielding any real benefit.
It was better to let things develop according to the original story, allowing Gu Xuan to clearly know the future progression of the timeline. If the enemy changed their plans, Gu Xuan would be flying blind, losing his greatest advantage.
As for bringing the two Title Douluos, Sword and Bone, to simply assassinate Qian Renxue, Gu Xuan didn't even dare think about it. Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo certainly had the capability, but they didn't have the power to withstand Qian Daoliu's wrath.
While Qian Daoliu allowed Bibi Dong to run wild in Spirit Hall, he also stayed indoors, giving smaller fry like them time to develop. It was a double-edged sword.
So, Gu Xuan simply thought of nothing and let Qian Renxue continue her act as Xue Qinghe in the imperial family, while he tried his best to influence her.
Because of the relationship between Ning Fengzhi and Xue Qinghe, Gu Xuan had met Qian Renxue very early on and even affectionately called her Big Brother Xue.
And honestly, that woman played the part so convincingly that one couldn't tell it was a fake at all.
Sometimes Gu Xuan would intentionally try to make her slip up, like suggesting they go to the restroom together or other activities that might reveal her true nature, but Xue Qinghe always found a perfect reason to stall him—and the reasons were always annoyingly logical.
Once, Gu Xuan wanted to see if she could truly maintain a perfect male disguise using her soul bone skills. Since peeing together didn't work, he tried various ways to sleep in the same bed as her, all under the guise of strengthening their "brotherly" bond.
Because of that incident, Qian Renxue—who used to stay at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan for a week at a time to study—never stayed overnight again. No matter how late it was, she would find an excuse to leave.
Gu Xuan never tired of these antics. He wasn't afraid of provoking her because he noticed that, aside from the first few times, she didn't actually seem angry.
Later on, she seemed to have gotten used to Gu Xuan's lack of seriousness. As long as he didn't actually succeed, she almost seemed to enjoy the back-and-forth.
It was as if Gu Xuan was her only source of fun while living under her suppressed identity.
And there was one thing Gu Xuan had to admit: the disguised Qian Renxue truly looked like Xue Qinghe—even her chest was gone. Don't ask how Gu Xuan knew; ask about the two kicks he took and the period of retaliation he suffered from her.
Later, a rumor spread that Xue Qinghe had a "male phobia," which could be interpreted as an inability to have close contact with men. Furthermore, despite having dozens of women in his harem for years, not a single one had gotten pregnant. Gu Xuan's visit today was to bring him whale glue—an aphrodisiac—and other high-end supplements.
Since dozens of women hadn't produced a child in all these years, it naturally couldn't be their fault. That left only one conclusion: Xue Qinghe had a problem.
In fact, Xue Qinghe did have a problem. She was a "receiver" herself; how could she be the "attacker"?
As for arranging a different man to act as a stallion, that was even more impossible. The imperial family placed great importance on bloodlines. Qian Renxue could use her soul bone skills to mask herself, but another man wouldn't have the imperial bloodline.
(End of Chapter)
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