Believe Him or Believe Me

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"Did you hear? It seemed to snow outside the city last night?"

"What snow? That was people fighting. Didn't you feel that jolt?"

"You felt wrong. The sky was still gloomy just now, and then snowflakes suddenly started drifting down."

"Come on, that's not possible."

Gossip was forever one of the most important elements in teahouses and restaurants. This morning, every restaurant in the city was discussing what had happened last night.

There was no other reason. The commotion last night had been too great, and the commotion from Wriothesley and Tang Hao's spar had lasted only five or six minutes. Many city guards and so-called expert residents who rushed to the scene afterward came up empty and had no idea what had happened, so naturally, some people took the chance to stir things up.

"But to unleash an attack that powerful, they'd have to be a Title Douluo at the very least, right?"

"More than that. With the aftershocks from that battle, even a Title Douluo would probably have been badly injured!"

"If you ask me, they had to be at least a level 95 Title Douluo."

"Be bolder. Level 99."

"Uh..."

"Do you believe him, or do you believe I'm the Crown Prince of Heaven Dou?"

"How about you give me 50 Gold Soul Coins and let me show you my strength?"

"I..."

"Pfft, hahahaha..."

Heaven Dou Imperial Palace.

"Qinghe, what is your view?" Xue Ye looked at Xue Qinghe below and spoke slowly.

Because of the Heaven Dou Empire's unique system, its control over the surrounding kingdoms had somewhat declined, but it still held absolute control over the capital, Heaven Dou City.

As for what happened last night, while they had not learned everything, they still understood the general picture.

Duke Wriothesley had fought an unknown Title Douluo and won a one-on-one fight completely. And from the information Xue Xing had pried out of the big-mouthed Dugu Bo, it seemed Wriothesley had even shattered the other party's Martial Soul?

Being able to shatter a Title Douluo's Martial Soul was rather terrifying.

After all, the last time Wriothesley made a move, he had only stuffed Bone Douluo into the city wall.

This time was even more outrageous. He had directly shattered a Martial Soul.

The most crucial point was that, this time, the Duke still had not revealed his soul rings.

It had to be understood that known things were not frightening. Take Sword Douluo Chen Xin, for instance. Although he was hailed as the foremost master of the sword path, because people understood his soul skills and knew Chen Xin's attack patterns, fighting him would not be that difficult.

But things unknown were what truly inspired fear.

"I'm not sure. That Duke is far too mysterious, and I have not seen his soul skills either. However, based on the current analysis, the Duke's strength is at least that of a level 98 Title Douluo." Xue Qinghe frowned. He was not very clear on what exactly had happened last night either.

The only thing that could be analyzed was that, from the Duke's current battles, two pieces of information could roughly be inferred.

Wriothesley was very strong, his level at least 98 or higher. His Martial Soul was a pair of unusual Gauntlets, and he could release ice-attribute attacks.

Wriothesley's fighting style was similar to a wide-area group-attack type, and he possessed a certain degree of defensive strength. His physical power was very strong, so he should belong to the assault-system soul master category.

As for anything else, it was unknown.

As for the remaining details, Xue Qinghe found them very difficult to infer.

After all, when it came to unknown things, people would always put the most operable possibility first.

And with the Duke, the most operable thing, while also the most unpredictable, was his Martial Soul.

Because if that guess was wrong, then all subsequent analysis would be wrong.

This was also one of the reasons Xue Qinghe did not dare make a rash judgment.

"If he is a Title Douluo of this level, then..."

Xue Ye did not continue.

He understood what Xue Qinghe meant. If Wriothesley's level had reached 98 or above, then he would have to think carefully before taking action.

Of course, what Xue Ye cared about even more was another matter: whether the abilities of the Duke's Martial Soul were truly that exaggerated.

If they were, then...

Thinking of this, Xue Ye could not help rubbing his temples, but he still asked, "Qinghe, in your opinion, what is this Mr. Wriothesley's personality like?"

"Personality? The Duke's personality..." Xue Qinghe paused, then said, "Cautious, but also somewhat talkative. He's also rather low-key. It seems that if others don't provoke him, he almost never makes a move."

"Oh?" Xue Ye looked slightly surprised. He had not expected Duke Wriothesley's personality to be like this.

Cautious? Talkative? Low-key?

This was completely different from what he had imagined!

"Could it be because of his age?"

But Xue Ye soon thought of the reason. Still, Wriothesley did not look like he was getting on in years, did he?

At most, he was about thirty, right?

Breaking through to a rank 98 Title Douluo at that age was far too absurd, wasn't it?

But Xue Ye was no fool. He quickly came up with an explanation: perhaps the man's talent was extraordinarily high, and with some fortuitous encounter on top of that, he had ended up as he was now.

What Xue Ye did not understand was why the man did not look like some eminent master.

On that point, Xue Ye was truly baffled.

Xue Qinghe, however, explained, "Perhaps Your Grace, the Duke, doesn't want to draw too much attention."

In truth, Xue Qinghe was not certain about that either.

"Qinghe, what do you think would happen if we made his status as a duke official?"

Now that Xue Ye had heard Wriothesley was so powerful, he wanted to directly make Wriothesley's ducal status a reality.

One had to know, this was a duke!

There were not many dukes in the entire empire.

Even Gelong, the empire's pillar and the foremost man in the military, known as the [Nine-Life Dragon], was only a marquis.

And now, if they could recruit a powerhouse like Wriothesley, then forget making him a duke—even granting him the title of prince of a different surname would not feel excessive to Xue Ye.

After all, this was a top-tier Title Douluo!

Unfortunately, Xue Qinghe had gone to recruit him several times, but he simply would not budge. Sometimes, he was not even willing to see her.

That made things rather awkward.

But awkwardness was one thing. If the title of duke was truly made official, then Xue Ye would have little to say about it.

Still, to say they would make him a duke officially was clearly not something that could be done in a short while.

"In that case, give this 'duke' some medicinal herbs. Isn't that female companion at his side known as the 'Angel of Redemption'? Since we can't start with the duke, then we'll start with his female companion."

"Father Emperor is wise!" Xue Qinghe hurriedly bowed, but in her heart, she muttered, That old fox!

All of Heaven Dou City knew Sigewinne treated people without taking money, so Wriothesley's little clinic lacked nothing except medicine. If Dugu Bo had not often brought over some herbs, that little clinic would have closed long ago.

That was also why Dugu Bo and Wriothesley got along so well.

"Qinghe, the road you must walk is still very long!"

"Father Emperor, this son understands!"

With this move, Xue Ye was teaching her.

Although she did not need Xue Ye's instruction, his words were not wrong. The road she had to walk was still very long!

However, if she were the true Xue Qinghe, Xue Ye's teaching would undoubtedly have been wise and profound; but the problem was, she was not the true Xue Qinghe! Of that, she was perfectly well aware.