The following evening, within the Sun Moon Imperial Palace.
Crown Prince Xu Tianran lay sprawled across his bed in an odd posture, groaning continuously. He seemed to draw far more breath than he exhaled.
This was generally how someone on their deathbed looked. Given Xu Tianran's physical condition, he should not have been like this even in another thirty or fifty years. Why was he in such a state today?
The reason was simple. He had been angered into it.
Starting from the morning's Grand Court Session, disastrous reports from the front had arrived one after another.
At the Star Luo Border, the territory they had painstakingly seized had been retaken overnight. Not only had the Ultra-High Altitude Detection Soul Guidance Devices used for experimentation been lost, but an entire Soul Engineer Legion had been wiped out. Even the Death God Tower had not been saved.
Ye Xishui, that so-called Limit Douluo—who, in theory, had no human Soul Master on the continent qualified to challenge her—had fled back to Mingdu overnight, her hair disheveled and her eyes bloodshot.
While cautiously asking Ye Xishui what had happened, Xu Tianran frantically contacted the border communication stations. It was not until dawn painted the horizon white that, based on the intelligence concerning the midnight attack and the reports from soldiers who had attempted to scout the Mingdou Mountain Range only to be driven back, he deduced what had happened the previous night.
Ye Xishui had been blasted back by a Rank 9 Fixed Cannonball! Moreover, that Rank 9 Fixed Cannonball was Metal Storm, produced by the Holy Spirit Cult and seized through trickery and force by Chen Ping of Shrek Academy during the Continental Advanced Soul Master Competition!
When Xu Tianran learned this, his vision went black, and he nearly fainted. He had