Li Xiaoyao's outrageous maneuver—
Left Tang San and Oscar at a loss for words.
Li Xiaoyao seemed to have sensed what the two were thinking.
He chuckled and said—
"Hehe! Tang San! Oscar!"
"Do you think my plan won't work?"
Tang San had just wanted to argue, but remembering Dean Flender's warning not to make an enemy of Li Xiaoyao, he fell silent again.
After pondering for a moment, Tang San gave a relatively conservative answer.
"Brother Xiaoyao, your plan... isn't impossible, but... it's far too risky, and far too torturous."
Their Tang Sect had always been like this: they might not repay a favor, but they would settle a grudge on the spot.
Making him change his identity and endure in silence for ten or twenty years—how was that any different from killing Tang San?
Oscar nodded along beside him.
"Yeah, Boss Xiaoyao, ten years is too long. There are too many variables! What if Dai the Boss hits a bottleneck midway, or gets discovered by the Star Luo Empire..."
Dai Mubai's eyes narrowed as he said in a low voice.
"Little Ao, there are no what-ifs. I've made up my mind. Even if the road ahead is covered in thorns, I'll walk it to the end!"
Between accepting his fate and slowly waiting to die, or quietly building his strength before making a powerful return, Dai Mubai could still tell which was better.
Who would want to die if they could live?
There had been no other way before. The iron laws of the Star Luo Imperial Family had stood before him like an uncrossable chasm. Failure in the succession struggle meant certain death. He could only force his way through despair, even knowing he might be crushed to pieces.
But things were different now. Li Xiaoyao's words were like a bolt of thunder, shattering the dead end in his understanding.
It turned out there was another path beyond despair.
Compared to becoming a sacrifice in the whirlpool of power, compared to living a carefree and happy life, what did a mere ten years of endurance amount to?
Dai Mubai took a deep breath. What churned within his chest was no longer despair, but a burning obsession.
He looked at Li Xiaoyao, his gaze as firm as iron.
"Brother Xiaoyao, thank you for waking me up."
Although the hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins had left him stumped, Li Xiaoyao had still given him another way out.
After a pause, Dai Mubai continued.
"Brother Xiaoyao, a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins is a little too much!"
"But that isn't a problem. Please give me a few days!"
A hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins? A few days?
Li Xiaoyao understood what Dai Mubai meant.
Dai Mubai only intended to prepare his own share.
As for Zhu Zhuqing, who was engaged to him?
Li Xiaoyao could only say—hehe.
"Brother Mubai, are you only planning to prepare a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins? Didn't you just say you would prepare a share for Classmate Zhuqing as well?"
As his words fell, Li Xiaoyao's gaze casually swept toward the hotel room door, and a meaningful curve formed on his lips.
With the spiritual power of a level-seventy Quasi Soul Sage, he had long discovered Ning Rongrong, Xiao Wu, and Zhu Zhuqing eavesdropping outside.
"What is it, Brother Mubai? Are you..."
"Planning not to prepare Classmate Zhuqing's share after all?"
As though he had not seen Dai Mubai's ugly expression, Li Xiaoyao deliberately drew out his words. His voice was not loud, yet it was just enough to penetrate the door.
"Cough, cough, cough. Brother Xiaoyao, it's not that I don't want to help Zhuqing. It's just that my purse is truly empty. Even if Zhuqing finds out, I believe she'll understand me."
Dai Mubai's face instantly flushed red in embarrassment.
The burden of supporting two people was too great. His supporters had not been giving without expecting anything in return—the Star Luo Empire's nobles had always been practical. Their previous support for his cultivation and succession bid had been for the future rewards of power.
Now that he had fled to Suotuo City for years, some of his supporters had long since withdrawn their resources. Some had even maliciously spread rumors that he was "obsessed with women and unfit for great responsibility."
Li Xiaoyao: ༼⁰o⁰;༽
Obsessed with women? Unfit for great responsibility?
Uh...
Wasn't that true?
Just a few days ago, you were still drinking and whoring!
Only a few days had passed, and you'd already forgotten?
Dai Mubai, you really did have a nobleman's terrible memory!
Meanwhile, the scene shifted.
Zhu Zhuqing, her face full of despair, left the place that had made her feel suffocated.
Her own Elder Sister's relentless pressure.
Her parents' cold indifference.
And Dai Mubai's heartless abandonment.
All of it filled her with deep despair.
She had only wanted to become stronger.
She had only wanted to survive.
Why did everyone have to treat her like this?
A tear slid down from the corner of her eye.
Ning Rongrong and Xiao Wu were worried about Zhu Zhuqing—
So the two of them hurried after her.
"Uh... Zhuqing... are you okay?"
Seeing Zhu Zhuqing shedding tears alone on the balcony, the two feared she might do something foolish and jump straight from the top floor of the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Hotel.
"Zhuqing, if you ask me, you should have rushed in just now and beaten that Lecherous Tiger senseless."
Xiao Wu gritted her teeth.
Dai Mubai's heartlessness had truly opened her eyes.
"A heartless Lecherous Tiger like him is worlds apart from my Pure and Clean Third Brother, who respects his teachers and values loyalty and affection!
"My Third Brother would even lend a hand to a little rabbit by the roadside if it ran into trouble. Unlike Dai Mubai, who is clearly engaged to you yet can't even bear to share a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins with you, and even makes excuses about having an empty purse—I heard him outside the room just now. He said, 'Give me a few days,' to prepare his own share!"
Xiao Wu clenched her little fists, her rabbit ears trembling slightly with rage.
"Exactly! So what if he's a prince of the Star Luo Empire? He doesn't even have the most basic sense of responsibility! Zhuqing, don't be sad. A man like that isn't worth your tears!"
Ning Rongrong stood beside her with her arms folded, her delicate little face filled with contempt for Dai Mubai.
"Rongrong, Xiao Wu, thank you for caring about me!"
"I'm fine. I'm just feeling a little down."
Zhu Zhuqing wiped away her tears and forced a smile.
She could not let her own troubles affect the friendship among them.
"Zhuqing, don't worry!"
"Isn't Rongrong here?"
Ning Rongrong patted her modest chest, her tone carrying a bold and lavish confidence.
"Forget a mere hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins. Even three hundred thousand, five hundred thousand, or a million—I can take it out right now!"
"If Dai Mubai can't gather it, that's because he's incompetent. With Rongrong here, Rongrong will solve your Gold Soul Coin problem. We can't let our 'little sister Zhuqing' suffer such injustice!"
After saying that, she quietly added in her heart.
"Of course—there's a price! You, Zhu Zhuqing, have to become Brother Xiaoyao's concubine!"
To her, a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins was nothing more than pocket money casually spent. As the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, she had been clothed in finery and fed luxurious food since childhood. In her eyes, Gold Soul Coins had always been nothing but cold numbers.
The sect's Heavenly Warehouse was piled high with rare ores, priceless precious herbs, and even Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones. Which of those was not far more valuable than a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins?
As Ning Rongrong spoke, she took out a Soul Tool set with a sapphire. She was just about to inject Soul Power and retrieve her Gold Soul Coin savings card when Zhu Zhuqing gently pressed down her hand.
She only said—
Before you continue