...
After passing through the bustling streets of Tiandou City, Xuan Hao followed his memories and slowly arrived at the gate of the former Blue Tyrant Academy.
Nowadays, the signboard above the entrance has long been changed, and five large characters are written on it in a flamboyant style: Shrek Academy.
Logically speaking, it should be the preliminary round of the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament, and the entire Soul Master Academy in Tiandou City should be in a state of extreme excitement and high spirits.
However, Shrek Academy in front of me exuded an indescribable sense of death and desolation.
Forget about going to the Great Soul Arena with drums and gongs; even the number of students walking around the academy was pitifully small, and the atmosphere was as strange as a stagnant pool.
The reason is actually quite realistic: Shrek Academy did not register to participate in this year's Soul Master Competition.
Since Liu Erlong handed over the academy, into which she had poured countless efforts, directly to Flander, the past year or so has been filled with chaos and countless messes.
The most devastating blow came three months ago.
Tang San, the absolute core of the Shrek team and the main control-type Soul Master who was originally expected to shine in this competition, has completely withdrawn from Shrek Academy!
With Tang San gone, the Shrek team, already riddled with problems, completely fell apart.
The remaining few defeated soldiers varied in strength and had different intentions.
No matter how much Flander tried to persuade them, he simply couldn't reassemble a team that could compete on stage.
They can't even muster all seven of their main players, so how can they compete in the All-China Elite Tournament?
However, if it were only Tang San who left, Shrek Academy wouldn't have fallen to such a state.
What truly made Shrek Academy unable to hold its head high in Heaven Dou City was another key member—Dai Mubai.
Over the past year, Dai Mubai has completely let loose in Tiandou City, offending many powerful figures.
Just six months ago, this guy, relying on his status as the Prince of Xingluo and being a little drunk, lost his mind and actually made a suggestive remark to Dugu Yan, who was shopping on the street.
The result was predictable.
Dugu Yan is not some delicate, easily manipulated pushover.
Faced with Dai Mubai's entanglement, she didn't even bother to warn him, and directly slapped him with the venom of the Azure Phosphorus Serpent.
The once invincible Evil-Eyed White Tiger has become a cripple with no feeling in his lower body, lying on the bed like a dead dog, needing to be taken care of in every way, including eating, drinking, and relieving himself.
When this happened, the Star Luo Empire was initially furious!
After all, no matter how incompetent Dai Mubai was, he was still the rightful third prince of the Star Luo Empire.
Their own prince was poisoned and crippled in the street in the Heavenly Dou Empire. This was simply rubbing the face of the Star Luo royal family on the ground!
The Star Luo royal family immediately slammed their fists on the table and shouted, even sending an envoy to exert pressure, vowing to demand that the Heavenly Dou Empire hand over the murderer and give them an explanation!
However, this resounding assertiveness lasted for less than three days.
Three days later, Poison Douluo Dugu Bo stood on the city wall of the Heavenly Dou Imperial City with a cold face.
The Star Luo Empire's attitude underwent a bizarre 180-degree turn in an instant!
Faced with the inquiry from the Heavenly Dou Empire, the Star Luo delegation responded righteously and without flinching:
"Dai Mubai? Who is Dai Mubai? We don't know this person at all!"
"Our country's third prince, Dai Mubai, went missing in Xingluo City many years ago and his whereabouts remain unknown!
That guy in Tiandou City who was poisoned and crippled is nothing but an audacious liar impersonating a member of the royal family!"
Not only Dai Mubai, but even the Xingluo Zhu family's attitude towards Zhu Zhuqing underwent a wonderful change.
The head of the Zhu family announced in public:
"My clan's eldest daughter, Zhu Zhuqing, went missing a year ago while on a training expedition and has not returned since.
The girl named Zhu Zhuqing in Tiandou City has absolutely no connection with my Xingluo Zhu family!"
This self-deceiving and blame-shifting rhetoric sounds utterly absurd, but the underlying logic is so realistic it chills you to the bone.
The reason is simple: Dai Mubai is useless.
A cripple with both legs crippled and even infertile, his condition was absolutely unacceptable for him to continue participating in the Star Luo Empire's brutal struggle for the throne.
He had lost all political value.
Now that Dai Mubai is crippled, Zhu Zhuqing, as his fiancée, has naturally lost her greatest value as a bargaining chip in the marriage alliance.
In this situation, if the Star Luo Empire continues to pursue the matter to the end for the sake of the so-called "royal face," they will inevitably offend Xuan Hao, this lawless madman, and the titled Douluo behind him!
How much is face worth?
Faced with absolute strength, pride is just trash that can be discarded at any time.
Who doesn't know the major powers across mainland China now?
Xuan Hao is a madman who doesn't even care about the three major sects and dares to single-handedly storm the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect's territory!
The emperor of the Star Luo Empire dared not gamble.
He dared not gamble; if he persisted, what if this madman suddenly lost his temper and led a group of Title Douluos to raid the capital of the Star Luo Empire?
If the opponent were just an ordinary Title Douluo, such as Sword Douluo or Bone Douluo, the Star Luo Royal Family might still rely on their own experts and thousands of troops to stand up to them.
However, Dugu Bo's existence turned the Star Luo Empire's tough stance into a complete joke!
Are you kidding me? That's Poison Douluo!
The Spirit Hall is so arrogant and domineering that it dares to attack even the three major sects if provoked, but it doesn't dare to push too hard when facing Dugu Bo, this "poison gas bomb".
Even if Dugu Bo entered Wuhun City alone and swaggered in, the Wuhun Hall would still treat him with the courtesy due to a Title Douluo, treating him as an honored guest.
Why?
Because other titled Douluo kill people one by one with a single strike, at most killing a hundred or so at a time.
But if Dugu Bo were to go to Xingluo City, he could activate his Martial Soul True Body on the city wall and spread poisonous mist...
That would be a far cry from a matter of losing face; it would be a catastrophe that could wipe out tens of thousands of people in the entire Star Luo Kingdom within minutes!
Why provoke a living ancestor who can slaughter a city for the sake of a crippled prince who has already lost his value?
If the Emperor of Xingluo wasn't completely brain-dead, he would know which option to choose.
Therefore, Dai Mubai could only be an unclaimed "imposter," left to fend for himself in a corner of Tiandou City.
...
Following the tree-lined path to its end, Xuan Hao skillfully bypassed Shrek Academy's teaching area and arrived at a secluded, detached villa in the grove behind the mountain.
This is Liu Erlong's private residence.
Surrounded by tall trees, it completely shuts out the noise from the front yard, making it a rare and peaceful place.
As soon as Xuan Hao stepped outside the courtyard gate, he saw two figures sitting at the stone table in the courtyard through the waist-high fence.
One black and one white.
The woman dressed in a black, sleek outfit with a hot and mature figure was Liu Erlong; while sitting opposite her, in a silver-white long dress with a noble and elegant demeanor, was none other than Tang Yuehua, the mistress of Yuexuan.
Upon seeing this, Xuan Hao abruptly stopped in his tracks, completely stunned.
How did these two end up together?
Although Na'er had casually mentioned in her report to him about the past year that Tang Yuehua and Liu Erlong had become more familiar with each other because of him as their "common link,"
But in Xuanhao's mind, one was a fierce and hot-tempered mother dragon; the other was an elegant and dignified noblewoman who had been trained in the highest aristocratic etiquette.
These two women, whose personalities are completely opposite, even polar opposites, can actually sit at a table and chat calmly.
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