The Royal Family's Internal Strife

After the banquet ended, Xue Ye did not leave in a hurry.

Instead, he stayed for another day.

His main reason for staying was Di Yuan, and Di Hong was secondary.

Di Yuan understood this well. The situation within the empire was complicated now, especially within the Royal Family. The current emperor had three sons: Crown Prince Xue Ye, Second Prince Xue Yu, and Third Prince Xue Xing.

Of them, Xue Yu had the highest cultivation talent. His Innate Spirit Power had reached Level 7. In comparison, Xue Ye and Xue Xing had fairly ordinary cultivation talent.

Xue Ye was already in his thirties, yet his Soul Power Level had not reached Soul Ancestor. He was only a Soul Elder. Ever since Xue Yu had displayed his cultivation talent, the Old Emperor seemed to have grown somewhat regretful and wanted to establish Xue Yu as Crown Prince.

However, Xue Ye's power had already taken shape, so he could not easily depose him. Removing the Crown Prince now could easily throw the empire into turmoil and give the Star Luo Empire to the south an opportunity.

Thus, he could only support Xue Yu.

The Old Emperor's actions gave Xue Ye a sense of crisis. He desperately needed to win over other forces to stabilize his position.

The only forces within the empire that could be courted now were the subordinate kingdoms and duchies. There was also the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. As one of the Upper Three Sects, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had a very close relationship with the Royal Family.

However, they would not easily involve themselves in the Royal Family's internal struggles.

Among the subordinate kingdoms, two already supported the Second Prince. The duchy in the east remained neutral; it was too small to offend either side.

The Balak Kingdom had chosen to support Xue Ye. Even so, Xue Ye's power was only slightly stronger than Xue Yu's. Yet more and more ministers had begun taking Xue Yu's side, which was why he had come to the Silves Kingdom.

Among the four great kingdoms, only the Silves Kingdom had yet to declare its support for either side. But neither had it remained neutral.

That night.

Di Hong sat alone in the garden.

He was utterly speechless.

He had originally planned to set out today to obtain a Spirit Ring, but he had not expected Xue Ye to still be here. He could only postpone it.

Di Ming, who had just returned after enjoying himself outside, passed by the garden and spotted Di Hong sitting there with a speechless look on his face. He immediately grew curious.

"Yo, Fourth Brother, what's wrong?"

Di Hong glanced at him, then tilted his head toward the study.

Di Ming immediately understood.

"Crown Prince Xue Ye still hasn't left? I thought he would leave today."

"No, he's leaving tomorrow." Di Hong sighed.

Di Ming sat across from him and said with a smile, "Crown Prince Xue Ye isn't having an easy time these days."

"Oh?" Di Hong did not understand. He knew nothing about the empire's internal struggles and had no interest in learning about them. To him, becoming stronger as quickly as possible was the only right path. The princes fighting over succession had nothing to do with him.

Within the kingdom, the Crown Prince was his eldest brother, Di Yang. It had nothing to do with him. Even though he possessed Innate Level 20 Spirit Power, Di Yuan had never considered replacing the Crown Prince.

In Di Yuan's eyes, the throne was far less important than strength.

Di Hong himself had no intention of becoming king either. He did not yearn for power, nor did he have the mind for it. Having to deal with those nobles every day and compete with them in schemes and wits would be unbearably exhausting.

Besides, in this world, cultivation was what mattered most.

"You may not know this, but the struggle for succession within the Royal Family has already become intense. Crown Prince Xue Ye and Second Prince Xue Yu have been fighting each other for years. Third Prince Xue Xing has sided with Xue Ye, but it's useless. He has no power of his own, and no one supports him."

"Other than our kingdom and that duchy in the east, the remaining three kingdoms have all taken sides."

"Xue Ye came here under the pretext of the banquet to win over Father King."

"Have you forgotten? At the banquet, Xue Ye conferred a title upon you on behalf of the emperor."

Only after Di Ming explained it did Di Hong understand.

At the banquet, Xue Ye had indeed conferred a title upon him. The rank was not high, merely that of Count, but this was not a countship within the kingdom. It was a countship within the empire. In other words, as a Count, he enjoyed the empire's treatment and possessed a fief within the empire.

Xue Ye's intention to win them over was already obvious.

If they accepted his overture, then once Xue Ye ascended the throne, Di Hong would very likely be directly made a duke, and his fief would expand as well.

It was equivalent to Xue Ye dangling a huge reward before them: as long as you support me, once I ascend the throne, your Di Family will hold a lofty position in the empire, perhaps even equal to the Balak Kingdom.

Though both were kingdoms, the Silves Kingdom's status was far inferior to that of the Balak Kingdom.

Xue Ye was also investing in the future. Di Hong possessed Innate Level 20 Spirit Power, though it was publicly declared to be Innate Full Soul Power. In his eyes, Di Hong was certain to become a Titled Douluo-level powerhouse in the future. If they did not win over such a genius, who would they win over?

That was why Di Hong's ennoblement had received the emperor's approval. The Crown Prince had no authority to confer noble titles.

No matter how muddleheaded the emperor was, he would not let such a genius slip away. By ennobling him, he had tied him and the kingdom to the empire's war chariot, preventing Spirit Hall from winning him over.

Over the years, Spirit Hall had recruited quite a few outstanding children from noble families. Many nobles had already secretly leaned toward Spirit Hall, and there was simply no way to guard against it.

That night, no one knew what Xue Ye and Di Yuan discussed.

In any case, Xue Ye was very satisfied when he departed the next day.

Before he left, Di Yuan brought several of his sons to see him off.

Before boarding his carriage, Xue Ye looked at Di Hong, nodded at him, and then got into the carriage.

Di Hong was somewhat baffled.

But now that Xue Ye had left, he could finally go obtain his Spirit Ring.

It had to be said that Xue Ye was nowhere near as old as he would be decades later. He still looked remarkably handsome. After all, he was from the royal family—if he were out in public, he could easily charm quite a few women.

After Xue Ye left, Di Yuan took him to obtain his spirit ring the next day.

Their destination for this trip was the Spirit Beast Forest within the Kingdom.

Unlike the Soul Hunting Forest, the Spirit Beast Forest did not belong to Spirit Hall. Of course, the Kingdom had never acknowledged the Soul Hunting Forest as Spirit Hall's property either. However, intimidated by Spirit Hall's formidable power, they could only voice their opposition in silence.

The Spirit Beast Forest was property directly under the Kingdom's control.

It was only a few hundred li from Silvis City. For soul masters, a few hundred li was not a great distance, and they arrived within a day.

However, considering that Di Hong was only six years old, Di Yuan did not travel at the fastest pace. Instead, he chose the more comfortable option of traveling by carriage.

Inside the carriage, Di Hong held a map in his hands.

Judging from the map, the Spirit Beast Forest was not particularly large, but it was not small either. It was essentially a scaled-down Sunset Forest. There were Ten Thousand Year Spirit Beasts within it as well, though not many. The Kingdom had merely enclosed the Spirit Beast Forest, built tall walls around its perimeter, and stationed troops and Soul Master Corps there.

Two mornings later, they arrived at the small town outside the Spirit Beast Forest. However, they did not stop. Since it was still early, they headed straight into the Spirit Beast Forest to hunt spirit beasts.