I Hope to Serve by Your Side, Your Highness

I Hope to Serve by Your Side, Your Highness

Xue Qinghe saw all of Su Yuntian's suspicions and knew that the blond, red-eyed youth did not trust him.

But what did it matter if he did not trust him? What did it matter if he was suspicious?

Su Yuntian was already in his grasp. So long as Su Yuntian had even a little sense, he would choose to "trust" him and accept Xue Qinghe's arrangements.

Otherwise, who would help him find his brother, Su Yuntao?

Xue Qinghe was very confident about that.

Neither arrogant nor impatient, he pretended not to know Su Yuntian and asked, "I nearly forgot. I still don't know your name, little brother."

"I..." Su Yuntian glanced at Xue Qinghe again, took a deep breath, and said, "My name is Su Yuntian. I am the younger brother of Su Yuntao, a deacon at the Nuoding City Spirit Hall branch. Two days ago, I awakened as a Soul Warrior."

"My Martial Soul is a Weapon Martial Soul. It is shaped like a key, and I named it—the Key of Royal Law."

As Su Yuntian introduced himself, he summoned his Martial Soul.

Xue Qinghe could not help but sigh. "I truly never expected that someone could awaken their Martial Soul at the age of eleven. The world is vast indeed; there are all manner of strange things."

Su Yuntian smiled. "Neither did I."

After chatting a little more about Su Yuntao, Xue Qinghe finally asked, "Since your brother has gone missing, what do you plan to do? Will you continue staying in Nuoding City?"

Su Yuntian shook his head. "No. Although that girl saved me at dawn yesterday, one of the assassins escaped. If I remain alone in Nuoding City, I fear my life will be in danger."

"You mean..."

"If possible, I hope to serve by Your Highness's side!"

Su Yuntian stood from beside the table and bowed to Xue Qinghe.

With his head lowered, Su Yuntian pressed his lips together, his heart heavy.

Of course, he did not want to be someone's dog. But with Qian Renxue's ruthless nature, if he did not lower his head now, there would surely be endless trouble later.

He would never believe that Qian Renxue had saved him out of kindness.

But with the blade already at his throat and his life in the other party's hands, what else could he do?

Of the three Soul Elder-level assassins who had appeared last night, one was still at large. If he ended up alone and was caught by that assassin, what could he do then?

Su Yuntian lowered his head now so that one day, he could stand tall.

"Xue Qinghe" smiled as well.

It was the smile of victory.

He had known from the beginning that this would be the outcome.

Later, Xue Qinghe returned to his room.

A Soul Master dressed as a guard had long been waiting inside. He held a wooden box in both hands and presented it before Xue Qinghe.

"Inside the box is Withered Sword's head."

Back then, the assassin Withered Sword had used Su Yuntian's life as leverage, demanding that Qian Renxue spare him.

Qian Renxue had indeed let him go and had not interfered with Withered Sword's departure, but that did not mean no one else would pursue and kill him.

Xue Qinghe had fulfilled his promise to Su Yuntao. In this world, only three people knew that Su Yuntian possessed the Angel Martial Soul, and Withered Sword, the fourth person to learn of it, was already dead.

By this morning, the three dead soldiers who had attacked the Spirit Hall branch and fought Su Yuntian—Old Blade, Broken Spear, and Withered Sword—had all died one after another.

Aside from Old Blade and the other two, several of Xue Qinghe's subordinates had also taken part in the attack on the Spirit Hall branch and the pursuit of Su Yuntian. However, none of them had seen Su Yuntian's Martial Soul.

Therefore, Xue Qinghe had no need for some large-scale purge. He only needed to keep sending them on the most dangerous missions, and within half a year, this batch of dead soldiers would be wiped out by casualties.

The matter of "Xue Qinghe ordering the attack on the Spirit Hall branch and abducting Su Yuntian" would become an eternal secret.

After bringing Su Yuntian into his entourage, Xue Qinghe had no further reason to remain in Nuoding City. He ordered the party to set out and return to the imperial capital of the Heaven Dou Empire.

Nuoding City lay in Fasnuo Province in the southwestern region of the Heaven Dou Empire. To return from Nuoding City to Heaven Dou City, Xue Qinghe's party first had to travel north through the entirety of the Silves Kingdom, then head east to enter the imperial capital region of the Heaven Dou Empire.

The journey was long, nearly two thousand li. At a normal marching pace, it would take at least a month.

However, most of Xue Qinghe's attendants were career soldiers of the Heaven Dou Empire or Soul Masters he had recruited using his status as a prince. The entire party numbered fewer than one hundred, making them the elite among elites.

They covered more than a hundred li each day and needed only half a month to return to Heaven Dou City.

Su Yuntian's status was somewhat awkward. He was neither a servant nor a guard. Xue Qinghe simply had Su Yuntian ride in the same carriage as him, intending to arrange an identity for Su Yuntian after they reached Heaven Dou City.

The world of Douluo Continent had a rather strange technological development.

It had high-tech items like spatial storage Soul Tools, yet its primary methods of combat still centered around cold weapons.

The buildings here included Gothic structures with soaring spires and Islamic-style buildings with gold-edged domes, but there were even more thatched huts, wooden houses, and small plain dwellings.

Xue Qinghe's carriage had tires and shock absorption, yet for more commoners, their own two feet remained the main means of transportation.

This showed that regardless of the world, the gap between rich and poor always existed. Life was not easy for the working masses.

Although Su Yuntian rode in Xue Qinghe's carriage, Xue Qinghe often got out to ride on horseback, mingling with the Soul Masters and guards in the party. As a result, most of the time inside the carriage, there were only Su Yuntian and the maid Da Xue.

Da Xue loved sleeping and called it "beauty sleep." Often, as soon as she got into the carriage, she would curl up in a corner and fall asleep.

Thus, Su Yuntian found the journey exceedingly boring.

There was no phone to play with and no pretty girls to flirt with. With nothing else to do, Su Yuntian could only sit in meditation day after day and cultivate his Soul Power.

Following the method Su Yuntao had taught him, he spent more than half of every day meditating inside the carriage, accumulating Soul Power.

What delighted him was that during the short half-month journey from Nuoding City to Heaven Dou City, Su Yuntian's Soul Power rose by two levels in succession. By the time the party arrived outside Heaven Dou City, he was already a level 9 Soul Warrior, only one step away from reaching level 10 and obtaining a Soul Ring.

Only after arriving in Heaven Dou City did Xue Qinghe arrange the identity of "attendant" for Su Yuntian.

An attendant generally referred to a knight's attendant, which essentially meant an apprentice. Most attendants came from ordinary backgrounds, though nobles occasionally sent their illegitimate sons out to train and experience life.

For that reason, an attendant's social status was slightly higher than that of ordinary commoners, lower than that of Soul Masters and minor nobles, and roughly comparable to career soldiers of the empire.

But being an attendant to Xue Qinghe, the First Prince, was another matter entirely.

After all, even when beating a dog, one had to consider its owner. With Su Yuntian following behind Xue Qinghe, few people would dare cause him trouble.

And so, Su Yuntian moved into the imperial palace of Heaven Dou City together with Xue Qinghe and the maid Da Xue.

At noon one day, Da Xue had some free time and called Su Yuntian over, asking him to play chess with her.

But the board had only just been set up, and neither side's pieces had moved more than a few steps when Da Xue yawned twice and fell asleep directly on the chessboard.

"Big Sister Da Xue, you..."

Su Yuntian was speechless. Left with no choice, he sat down cross-legged on the spot, palms facing upward, and began cultivating his Soul Power.

During this period, he was eager to break through to level 10, because only upon reaching level 10 could he hunt a Soul Ring and gain room for further growth.

However, he could not smoothly take the step from level 9 to level 10.

It had been nearly a month since he arrived in Heaven Dou City, yet his Soul Power remained stuck at level 9 without advancing in the slightest. This left him utterly puzzled.

Today, he once again attempted to break through to level 10, mentally prepared for another failure.

Unexpectedly, just as he was focusing on his cultivation, someone arrived.

"Xiaotian, the circulation path of your Soul Power seems to be somewhat inaccurate."

The newcomer was Xue Qinghe.

Su Yuntian hurriedly stopped circulating his Soul Power, opened his eyes, and revealed pupils as red as rubies.

Note 1: Xue Qinghe, or Qian Renxue, was an old hand at acting. She had started acting at the age of ten and had been at it for six years now.

Note 2: Earlier, the protagonist Su Yuntian considered learning Soul Power cultivation methods from Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang and Tang San. In truth, the Mysterious Heaven Skill was impossible to learn, because the protagonist could directly study Qian Daoliu's cultivation method through Qian Renxue! I think it should not be inferior to the Mysterious Heaven Skill. Of course, the early stages are relatively simple and do not involve anything too profound yet.