Leaving

The three traveled for two days and reached the nearest city. There, Zhao Yuan spent money on three horses. After resting for a day, they left and returned to Qingyang City.

Riding along the main road, Zhao Yuan was utterly speechless.

"This time, we were careless. We should've brought more people."

The horses they were riding now were ordinary ones, while the three they had lost were Heavenly Soul Horses. The price of a single Heavenly Soul Horse was enough to buy ten War Horses.

Huangfu Ji said nothing. They had indeed been careless this time.

The three traveled at an unhurried pace, stopping and starting along the way. By the time they returned to Qingyang City, ten days had passed.

During those ten days, something had also happened in Qingyang City.

An imperial envoy arrived in the Duchy carrying an admission notice. The notice bore the emperor's seal, meaning it had been personally issued by the emperor.

And the name written on it was none other than Huangfu Ji.

Yuan Hao's face darkened as he looked at the notice in his hand, his eyes carrying an icy chill.

There was no need to think about it. This had to be the work of the Loyalty Faction. Once Huangfu Ji left the Duchy, he would completely slip out of Yuan Hao's control.

He was already beginning to feel his control weakening. Huangfu Ji was growing ever stronger. In only six years, he had cultivated to rank thirty, and now he had even gone to obtain his third Soul Ring.

A twelve-year-old Soul Elder—this was simply too astonishing. Both assassination attempts against Huangfu Ji had ended in failure.

This time, he had originally intended for Huangfu Ji to die in an accident, yet it had unexpectedly failed as well.

The Advisors had all arrived.

Yuan Hao handed them the admission notice to pass around.

After reading it, all of their expressions darkened.

The young Advisor said, "Prime Minister, we absolutely cannot let Huangfu Ji leave the Duchy."

"Yes. Once he leaves the Duchy, he will completely escape our control," the middle-aged Advisor echoed.

Within the Duchy, no matter how Huangfu Ji cultivated, there would be a limit to his growth. After all, there were no powerful Soul Beasts within the Duchy. Starting from the seventh Soul Ring, Soul Masters had to leave the Duchy for those large Soul Beast Forests to hunt Soul Beasts, or else go out to sea.

But for land-based Soul Masters, going out to sea to hunt Soul Beasts was practically courting death. Thus, they could only leave the Duchy to hunt Soul Beasts.

The young Advisor continued, "Huangfu Ji is gradually growing up. In a few more years, he'll come of age."

"We're already finding it increasingly difficult to control him."

"If we let him leave the Duchy, it will be like a fish returning to water or a tiger returning to the mountains. We'll never be able to restrain him again."

Yuan Hao closed his eyes and let out a heavy breath through his nostrils.

"Then what do you think we should do?"

"This admission notice was personally issued by the emperor."

As the nominal Dean of Heaven Dou Royal Academy, admission notices personally issued by Xue Ye were something only a handful of people in the entire Empire could receive. If they refused, would that not be slapping Xue Ye in the face?

He still wanted the Empire's support in seizing the Duchy.

Offend the emperor and still expect things to go well? How could that be possible?

Huangfu Ji possessed Innate Full Soul Power. Naturally, such a matter could not be hidden from the Empire, which had known about it long ago.

Now that Huangfu Ji had yet to come of age, sending him to the Empire to study gave no one anything to criticize.

Of course, whether he would be able to return in the future depended on the Empire's intentions. A Grand Duke with Innate Full Soul Power was best kept under the Empire's control.

Xue Ye indeed had such intentions. If he wished to revitalize the Empire, he naturally could not allow its vassal states to grow too powerful.

Besides, if Huangfu Ji grew up and remained loyal to the Empire, he could become the Empire's Guardian Douluo, ranking above a Prince and enjoying glory and wealth for generations. Wasn't that far better than being a Grand Duke in some small province?

When the time came, he could take back Qingyang Province as well.

It was not as though he could not see through Yuan Hao's little schemes. He could make use of them just the same.

Along with the admission notice, he had also sent another decree, granting Yuan Hao full authority over Qingyang State's affairs. Although this had already been approved before, this time it was put into writing.

At the same time, Xue Ye had also hinted at something to Yuan Hao in the decree.

After taking back the admission notice, Yuan Hao handed the decree to the Advisors.

The young Advisor saw the implication at once.

"It seems Xue Ye does not want Huangfu Ji to remain in the Duchy. Sending him to study at Heaven Dou Royal Academy is likely intended to keep him there."

Yuan Hao sat up straight and asked, "So we just let Huangfu Ji leave?"

The young Advisor nodded. "We have no other choice. The emperor has already issued the admission notice and sent down a decree. If we do not comply, it will be difficult to answer to the Empire."

"However, once Huangfu Ji leaves the Duchy, whether he lives or dies will have nothing to do with us."

His meaning was clear: once Huangfu Ji left Qingyang Duchy, they would send people to kill him in secret.

Yuan Hao nodded.

"In that case, let Huangfu Ji go."

"I'll make a trip to the Spirit Hall Main Hall."

Since they intended to kill Huangfu Ji outside the Duchy, they would need to borrow Spirit Hall's power.

"That useless Jing Hong failed to kill Huangfu Ji twice. He could not even seriously injure him."

The young Advisor bowed. "Prime Minister, Jing Hong is, after all, a military commander. Assassination is not his specialty."

"Besides, during this assassination attempt, he overlooked Zhao Yuan's presence."

"As for the army, Prime Minister, it would be best to win them over."

Yuan Hao gave a cold snort and said nothing more.

After they finished discussing the matter, he sent someone to deliver the admission notice to Cheng Yao at the Junior Soul Master Academy.

As soon as Huangfu Ji returned, Cheng Yao handed the admission notice to him.

Looking at the notice personally issued by Xue Ye, Huangfu Ji knew it was time for him to temporarily leave the Duchy.

Although Zhao Yuan and Liu Erlong had known about it for a long time, seeing the admission notice still made them deeply reluctant to part with him—especially Liu Erlong.

"When are you leaving?" Liu Erlong asked.

"Tomorrow," Huangfu Ji said.

"Oh." Liu Erlong nodded without saying anything further.

After sitting for a while, she got up and left the dormitory. Huangfu Ji did not see her again for the rest of the day. When he asked Zhao Yuan, Zhao Yuan did not know either.

Huangfu Ji assumed Liu Erlong had gone home.

It was not until the following morning, when he was preparing to leave, that he saw Liu Erlong.

She stood outside the academy, holding an exquisite square wooden box.

Zhao Yuan immediately understood when he saw this, then found an excuse to leave.

The two stood facing each other as a gentle breeze brushed past, stirring Liu Erlong's hair.

"You're leaving. I thought that we might not see each other for years, so I made this cake myself. It's for you."

With that, blushing, she handed the wooden box to Huangfu Ji.

Huangfu Ji accepted it with a smile.

"Thank you."

After putting the wooden box into his Soul Tool, he took out an exquisite ring.

"This ring is a storage Soul Tool. It's for you."

Liu Erlong did not stand on ceremony and accepted it directly.

"Remember to write to me often. I'll write to you too."

Huangfu Ji nodded.

Liu Erlong added, "You must be careful."

Huangfu Ji smiled and nodded, then swung himself onto his horse.

"If you run into any trouble, you can go directly to Zhao Yuan."

"Oh, I know. What trouble could I possibly have?" Liu Erlong waved her hand, signaling for Huangfu Ji to hurry up and leave.

"Hyah!"

Huangfu Ji cracked his whip and rode away.

After his figure disappeared into the distance, Zhao Yuan emerged.

"That's it? You didn't say anything more?"

"There was nothing more to say." Liu Erlong took out the ring again. After hesitating for a moment, she put it on the middle finger of her right hand.

Zhao Yuan merely glanced at it before leaving.