Douluo Continent: Starting from Tianshui Academy

Chapter 74 The Frustrated Prince Xuexing

After traveling for several hours, Ye Liangchen and his group finally left the Heavenly Dou Imperial City and arrived at the Heavenly Dou Plain, which is a hundred kilometers away from the city.

At this moment, in a royal palace in the Heavenly Dou Imperial City, Prince Xuexing was extremely anxious. The eight powerful experts he had sent out late last night had mysteriously disappeared, and his subordinates were searching everywhere, but no news had come back yet.

"Report!"

Just then, one of Xue Xing's men rushed over to deliver the news.

"What's going on?" Prince Xuexing asked coldly.

"Your Highness, the royal guards have discovered the bodies of Commander Orton and several key members in the moat east of the city."

"Moreover, the Nine Star Begonia family and the Dugu Bo family have long been deserted, as if they disappeared overnight. Our people have not found any clues."

At this moment, the subordinate reported the matter to Prince Xuexing with trepidation, not daring to utter a single word.

"Snap..."

The teacup in Xuexing's hand fell to the ground and shattered into several pieces.

The Shadow Squad leader and several core members were super elites he had secretly cultivated, with the lowest cultivation level being a Soul King. In order to capture a mysterious young man named Lan Chen, eight of them were lost in one fell swoop, and even their leader, Orton, died. He was a level 72 Soul Saint!

At this moment, Xuexing felt a headache and a tightness in her chest; she felt extremely frustrated.

"How did the Shadow Squad members die? Are there any signs of poisoning on their bodies?" Xue Xing asked. If Dugu Bo killed them, their bodies would have contained some kind of poison.

"Reporting to the Prince, Commander Orton and the others' bodies have been brought back to the secret base, and we are investigating the cause of death."

"I will go and see for myself."

Upon hearing that the royal guards had brought back the bodies of the Shadow Squad, Xue Xing immediately went to investigate to see how they had died.

When Xue Xing arrived at the secret base of the Prince's Mansion, several guards were examining a corpse. Upon seeing their master, they immediately bowed respectfully.

"Your Highness!"

Xuexing waved her hand and asked her subordinates, "How did Commander Orton die? Was he poisoned?"

"Your Highness, Commander Orton was not poisoned. It seems that the other eight were killed by some kind of sharp claws."

A commander at the Soul King level reported the autopsy findings to Prince Xuexing.

"Not poisoned? What kind of claws killed it?"

Upon hearing his subordinate's words, Prince Xuexing was immediately taken aback. If it wasn't Dugu Bo who killed him, then another powerful figure must have intervened.

Xue Xing is still unaware that Dugu Bo's martial soul has evolved into a dragon and that the poison is gone. He still believes that his Shadow Squad was killed by another powerful figure.

Dugu Bo killed those members of the Shadow Squad using the Soul Skill "Dragon Claw," leaving behind terrifying claw marks.

Prince Xuexing was completely bewildered. In his understanding, there were many kinds of claws that appeared after a martial spirit possessed a body, such as dragons, tigers, cats, leopards, and eagles. Now he had no way of finding out who killed his subordinate.

"Get Orton and the others sorted out and buried them! Take some money from the funeral and give it to their families."

Xue Xing shook her head helplessly, instructed her subordinates to handle the aftermath, and then returned to the main hall of the palace in a dejected state.

"Avalanche, you stupid idiot who screwed over your uncle."

"Just to investigate that kid's background, I lost so many powerful warriors."

"Snap!...Splash, splash..."

Thinking about this, Xuexing felt extremely aggrieved and slammed her hand on the coffee table, smashing it to pieces.

Just then, an avalanche rushed into the palace from outside, asking his uncle about the situation. He was always looking to kill Lan Chen.

"Uncle, how's Lan Chen? Did they catch him?"

Seeing Xue Beng, that jerk who was such a troublemaker, Xue Qin was furious and slapped him across the face.

"Bar…"

Xue Beng got slapped by his uncle, and a bright red five-finger handprint immediately appeared on his face, looking like it hurt a lot.

"Uncle, has something happened?"

Although Xue Beng was slapped, he dared not complain. After all, he could only rely on this uncle to protect him now, otherwise he might be killed by his brother one day.

"That kid Lan Chen is really strange. This time I sent eight members of the Shadow Squad, and we didn't even see a hair on his head."

"Commander Orton and his seven men are all dead, thrown into the moat, and it wasn't Dugu Bo who killed them."

"It seems Dugu Bo wasn't lying to me before. With a mysterious powerful figure protecting Lan Chen, that kid doesn't take our royal family seriously at all. You should avoid causing trouble in the future. If you continue like this, you might get killed one day."

Xuexing instructed her nephew that playing the role of a spoiled brat was fine, but he shouldn't court death. When he encountered someone like Lan Chen who feared nothing, royal authority was completely useless.

"Uncle, I understand."

Xue Beng calmly withdrew from the hall and walked outside, but in his heart he said fiercely: Lan Chen, if I don't avenge this, I, Xue Beng, swear I will not be human. When I seize the throne, I don't believe I won't be able to find you.

Meanwhile, in another mysterious manor in Tiandou City, Xue Qinghe, played by Qian Renxue, was also reviewing the messages sent by her subordinates.

"Heh, Snowstar, you've lost eight members of the Shadow Squad in one go, even your Shadow Squad leader, Orton, is dead. That's quite unexpected!"

Qian Renxue was very pleased that Xue Xing had lost power. After all, she was the young master of the Spirit Hall, and the person who died was not her subordinate. The more power the Heaven Dou royal family lost, the better it would be for her.

"Young Master, we should stop investigating that boy named Lan Chen."

"This kid is absolutely a prodigy. It's as if he had already predicted that we would go to the Dugu residence. He had the Ye family and the Dugu family leave beforehand, and they disappeared from Tiandou City without a trace overnight. Such methods are truly terrifying."

"Eight members of Snow Star's Shadow Squad were silently killed. According to intelligence from our spies planted in Snow Star's royal palace, they were not killed by Dugu Bo."

"Young Master, Old Dragon and I suspect that Lan Chen might be the same boy we encountered in Sunset Forest. If that's the case, Young Master, you will surely die if you confront him."

Snake Spear and Porcupine emerged from a house and told Qian Renxue what they had been guessing, also advising their young master not to court death.

"The two elders are right, I will be careful."

Qian Renxue is still unable to ascertain Lan Chen's true identity, but she believes she will find out sooner or later, after all, the Spirit Hall stands behind her.

Dugu Bo and the Nine Star Begonia family disappeared from Tian Dou City, and this was quickly learned by Emperor Xue Ye's people, who immediately reported it.

"Your Majesty! This old servant has something urgent to report."

An old eunuch rushed to the outside of Emperor Xueye's palace to report to his master.

Emperor Xueye, who was discussing the movement of life with several concubines in his palace, was so startled by the old eunuch's scream that he lost his erection.

"Ah Gui! What's wrong?"

On a snowy night, the emperor rose and had his concubines help him get dressed. He then went outside his bedchamber and stared coldly at his servants.

"Your Majesty, yesterday Dugu Bo resigned from his position as a royal retainer and also had his granddaughter and the Ye family's young girl withdraw from the Heaven Dou Royal Academy. Overnight, the Dugu and Ye families disappeared from Heaven Dou City."

"What? Such a big thing, why are you only reporting it now?"

"Your Majesty! This matter is being handled by Prince Xuexing and His Highness the Crown Prince; this old servant only learned of it now."

"Hmph! What is Xue Xing up to? She couldn't even keep Dugu Bo? The Nine-Heart Begonia Soul Master is extremely important to our empire, how could she just disappear like that?"

Emperor Xueye was having a good time with his concubines when the old eunuch interrupted him, and he was still furious. But after hearing what the old eunuch had said, his anger vanished instantly, and he strode out of the palace.

"Oh dear! His Majesty's tendency to falter at crucial moments is becoming more and more frequent. He can't even play a game properly, and the ladies can't enjoy themselves."

After watching Emperor Xueye leave, the concubines all showed resentful expressions.

"Isn't that right? Sisters, forget about His Majesty, let's play the game ourselves."

The next moment, the concubines beamed with joy, then took out various items and began to play all sorts of games, thinking to themselves, "Without you, Butcher Zhang, can't I still eat pork?"

Upon returning to the palace on a snowy night, Emperor Xue Ye immediately summoned Prince Xue Xing, wanting to find out how his younger brother had lost such a talented individual. Especially Dugu Bo, the only Title Douluo in the Heaven Dou royal family. The royal family treated him like an ancestor, but now he was no longer willing to accept this.

"Brother, what brings you here?"

Although Prince Xuexing knew that his emperor brother would ask about what happened yesterday, he still pretended to ask a question after arriving at his brother's place.

"Brother, why did Dugu Bo leave?"

Emperor Xueye has not yet been poisoned by Qian Renxue, his mind is still normal, and he has a great imperial majesty. He has the temperament of Emperor Tiandou completely under his control.

"Brother, this is what happened..."

Xue Xing had no choice but to use the same excuse Dugu Bo had given her to appease her emperor brother.

"Hmph! This Dugu Bo, our royal family treated him well, but he just turned around and left, even taking the Nine Star Begonia family with him."

"Brother, he is a Title Douluo. He can come and go as he pleases. We can't stop him! However, this matter is related to a boy named Lan Chen. That kid is simply a prodigy. I think he is no more than 15 years old, but he already has a level 49 soul power. As soon as he came to the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, he defeated Xue Beng. He completely disregarded our imperial family."

"Outrageous! How dare he hit my son? Who is this brat? How dare he be so bold?"

"I don't know. That kid just appeared out of nowhere. I sent people to investigate secretly last night, but we didn't even see a hair on his head. Instead, I lost eight experts: one Soul Saint, three Soul Emperors, and four Soul Kings. My heart is still bleeding."

"What?! So many of our empire's top experts have died in one fell swoop? This is outrageous!"

"Brother, calm down. Dugu Bo once warned me that this boy has a powerful and mysterious Title Douluo behind him. If we make a move against him, the Heaven Dou Empire's royal family may cease to exist. At first, I thought Dugu Bo was just bragging, but last night I sent people to test him, and the result was the same. My men were killed by the person behind this boy, not by Dugu Bo. We must be careful."

"Alas! My mighty Heaven Dou Empire was humiliated in public, and we couldn't do anything about it."

After listening to his brother recount the whole story, Xueye felt as if he had been slapped across the face, a burning pain shooting through him.

Since it concerned a major event for the Heavenly Dou Empire, Xue Xing didn't hide anything. Internally, everyone could fight amongst themselves, but externally, everyone would unite as one.

After analyzing the situation, the two brothers decided to wait and see for the time being and not to launch a large-scale investigation. They had to be careful when facing an unknown and powerful force.

(End of this chapter)