Xu Tianzhen

But as long as she awakened one of those top-tier martial souls, her innate soul power definitely would not be low. Even if she failed to awaken any soul power, he could still make sure his little sister lived happily and never suffered because she could not become a soul master.

The Purple-Haired Youth silently made up his mind. He rubbed the Purple-Haired Little Girl's head and smiled. "No matter what kind of martial soul you awaken, you'll always be my little sister—the little princess of our family."

"Mm, it'd be great if I could awaken the same martial soul as Big Brother."

The little girl's face was full of excitement. She was especially looking forward to the upcoming Martial Soul Awakening.

Inside the Awakening Hall, parents continuously brought children in. Before long, they would emerge with their children again. Some sighed dejectedly, while others wore excited expressions. Their children's awakening results could be seen from their faces alone.

As time passed, the sunlight grew increasingly fierce. At that moment, the Purple-Haired Youth spotted Luan Feng and Luan Yu bringing Liu Xing and Firefly over. His eyes lit up, and he quickly pulled his sister toward them.

"Fire Phoenix Douluo, Ice Phoenix Douluo, have you also brought your juniors here to awaken their martial souls?"

The Purple-Haired Youth glanced curiously at Liu Xing and Firefly. As far as he knew, both Douluos had remained unmarried their entire lives. Moreover, since they came from commoner backgrounds, they had no younger relatives. Why had they brought two children here for their martial soul awakening today?

"So it's the Crown Prince! Has Your Highness brought the Princess here to awaken her martial soul?"

Fire Phoenix Douluo likewise looked at the Purple-Haired Youth in confusion. Logically, as members of the imperial family, neither he nor the little Princess beside him needed to come to the Awakening Hall for a martial soul awakening. Imperial descendants had dedicated Awakening Masters serving them. However, when she thought of the Purple-Haired Youth's prince father, who commanded heavy military forces, she understood.

Just like herself and Luan Yu, they could clearly awaken the two little ones' martial souls themselves, yet they had deliberately brought them to the Awakening Hall. It was a gesture of allegiance to the imperial family. After all, privately awakening martial souls did not violate Sun Moon Empire law, but for people of their status and power, awakening their descendants' martial souls in private could raise suspicions of concealing their martial souls and innate soul power. They would draw special scrutiny from the imperial family, and the loss would outweigh the gain.

The Purple-Haired Youth and his sister were doing the same. By coming specifically to the Awakening Hall for their martial soul awakening, they were signaling to the Sun Moon Empire Emperor that their prince father had no intention of overstepping his bounds.

As for whether it would have any effect, that depended on one's perspective. But the gesture had to be made.

Having thought it through, Fire Phoenix Douluo hurriedly pulled Liu Xing and Firefly over to introduce them. "These two little ones are children my sister adopted. We brought them here to awaken their martial souls. Come, Liu Xing, Firefly. This is the Crown Prince and the Princess."

"Crown Prince, Princess."

Having been on the Douluo Continent for two years, Liu Xing and Firefly had already become familiar with this world's customs. Though they did not care much inwardly, they still had to keep up appearances so as not to cause trouble for Aunt Feng and Aunt. Thus, they gave the Purple-Haired Youth and the Purple-Haired Little Girl slight bows and spoke softly.

"My name is Xu Tianran. Just call me Brother Tianran."

The Purple-Haired Youth, Xu Tianran, nodded gently with a smile on his face.

"Your Highness, propriety must not be neglected."

Fire Phoenix Douluo's expression changed as she said sternly.

Xu Tianran still wore a broad smile and chuckled. "Fire Phoenix Douluo, there's no need for that. I simply find these two little ones endearing. They happen to be the same age as my sister, so they can spend more time together in the future."

Liu Xing narrowed his eyes. Aunt Feng clearly did not want them to have too much contact with this Xu Tianran. A Crown Prince and a Princess—he was obviously the nephew of the current Sun Moon Empire Emperor. There was no family affection within the imperial household, or at least very little. No wonder Aunt Feng did not wish to interact with him too much. She was the commander of the Fire Phoenix Spirit Tool Master Legion and controlled one of the Sun Moon Empire's Five Great Guardian Hands. If she had too much contact with Xu Tianran, it would inevitably make the current emperor suspicious.

Following the principle of adapting to local customs, Liu Xing had spent the past year learning about the Sun Moon Empire's history in detail. It was said that the Xu Family's emperors throughout the generations, including the current emperor, all had dark skin, vastly different from the people of the Original Douluo Three Kingdoms. Yet judging by Xu Tianran's appearance, the Sun Moon Empire's imperial bloodline had evidently changed somewhat through intermarriage over the past several thousand years.

"Hello, my name is Xu Tianzhen."

Just as Liu Xing was pondering this, the Purple-Haired Little Girl, Xu Tianzhen, ran up to him and Firefly to introduce herself. With her head tilted and her large eyes blinking, she truly looked adorable and innocent.

"Hello, Princess. My name is Liu Xing, and this is Firefly."

After dealing with Nan Qiuqiu so often, Liu Xing had become quite adept at handling familiar, outgoing little girls like her.

Xu Tianzhen pouted unhappily at his words. Planting her hands on her hips, she glared fiercely at Liu Xing. "You can call me by my name or call me Tianzhen, but you're not allowed to call me Princess."

Liu Xing took back what he had just thought. This little girl was not innocent at all. She was indeed adorable, but at such a young age, she was already so perceptive. As expected of an imperial descendant raised under elite royal education—even a six-year-old girl was so skilled at reading the room.

Clearly, Xu Tianzhen had seen that her brother's attempt to get closer to Aunt Feng had failed, so she had taken the initiative to help him. With a little sister capable of providing such support, Xu Tianran was obviously no simple character either. Liu Xing's head hurt. Having only just arrived, he did not want to get involved with imperial descendants, nor did he want to put Aunt Feng and Aunt in a difficult position.

But since they had already run into each other, avoiding them was useless. A relationship between a few children should not make His Majesty the Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire suspicious, right? After all, Liu Xing had heard that this generation's Sun Moon Empire Emperor was broad-minded and ruled with benevolence and righteousness. Not only did he faithfully uphold the agreement with the Original Douluo Three Kingdoms and strongly suppress ambitious schemers seeking to start a war, but he also treated his own brothers and sisters very well. He had even entrusted most of the military authority to his younger brother—Xu Tianran and Xu Tianzhen's father.

That was exceedingly rare within an imperial family. Liu Xing had never met His Majesty the Emperor and would not comment on him, but if the man's character was not an act, he probably would not care about such a trivial matter.

Since the Princess had made her position so clear, continuing to call her Princess would be somewhat ungrateful. Liu Xing nodded helplessly. "Then... we'll call you Tianzhen."

Xu Tianzhen's face brightened with delight, and she clapped her hands. "That's more like it. From now on, in Mingdu, I'll protect you two. If anyone bullies you, just give them my name. If that doesn't work, I'll beat them so badly even their parents won't recognize them."

Xu Tianran smacked the back of Xu Tianzhen's head and scolded lightly, "Tianzhen!"

Xu Tianzhen stiffened, inwardly crying that things were bad. She had gotten carried away. Her brother cared greatly about their family's image.