Xue Qinghe

Heaven Dou City, Crown Prince's Residence.

After confirming Tang Chen's location, Su Yu left the Crown Prince's Residence and headed to the academy for class.

It was not until dusk that Su Yu finished the day's lessons and returned to the Crown Prince's Residence.

Inside the lavish study, the refined and elegant Xue Qinghe sat behind his desk, his face still bearing that gentle smile that made others feel as if they were bathed in spring breezes.

Seeing Su Yu enter, Xue Qinghe rose to his feet and opened the hidden door leading to the secret chamber.

"Come with me."

Su Yu's brows furrowed slightly as he keenly sensed something unusual.

He took out Gu Yuena's scale and clasped it in his palm before following after him.

Passing through the dim corridor, Su Yu stepped into the secret chamber once more.

The instant he clearly saw the scene within, Su Yu's eyes widened.

Inside the secret chamber stood another Xue Qinghe, wearing the same faint smile.

The Xue Qinghe who had brought Su Yu inside stepped forward two paces and stood shoulder to shoulder with the Xue Qinghe in the chamber.

The two spoke in unison. "Well? Can you guess which one is the real me?"

Without hesitation, Su Yu pointed at one of them and said, "Sister Xue, stop fooling around..."

Qian Renxue, who had been identified, raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? Won't you take a closer look?"

Su Yu gave a sly smile and shrugged. "I was indeed a little unsure just now, but you've already helped me confirm it."

Hearing that, Qian Renxue narrowed her eyes slightly. "Su Yu, are you very pleased with yourself?"

"Ahem, not bad."

Xue Qinghe bowed and apologized. "This subordinate is incompetent. I was recognized so easily..."

Qian Renxue waved her hand, signaling for Xue Qinghe to rise, then asked curiously, "Little Yu, how did you figure it out?"

"If I said it was intuition, would that sound a little too careless?"

"..."

"It really was intuition!"

Facing Qian Renxue's suspicious gaze, Su Yu explained, "I can't really explain it either, but I feel that he—this Brother Xue—is missing something."

Xue Qinghe hurriedly asked, "What is he missing?"

"I can't explain it..."

At those words, Xue Qinghe's expression practically fell apart.

Su Yu quickly said, "Actually, you needn't worry. Although I can't explain it, I can tell that this 'something' should be something only I can perceive."

"Sister Xue, your grandfather, Senior Pufferfish, Senior Snake Lance, and Senior Di Tian... all of you have some kind of 'something' that I can't put into words, but can genuinely sense..."

"This Brother Xue doesn't have it."

Qian Renxue murmured, "Us... do we have something in common?"

A moment later, Qian Renxue's eyes lit up, as though she had found the key to the matter.

Su Yu asked, "Sister Xue, have you figured it out?"

Just as Qian Renxue was about to speak, she realized there was another issue.

Her tone became somewhat hesitant. "Little Yu, if I remember correctly, what we have in common is that we have all read the first half of the Brass Book."

"The first half of the martial soul?"

Su Yu froze, then looked equally puzzled. "You mean the 'contamination'? But hadn't Senior Qian Daoliu already eliminated the hidden danger?"

Qian Renxue nodded. "That is also what I find puzzling."

"Once I return this time, I'll ask Grandfather about it."

Meanwhile, Xue Qinghe looked somewhat dazed, clearly unable to understand the cryptic exchange between them.

Qian Renxue gave a light cough, then transmitted her voice. "For the coming period, he will remain here and learn how to play the Xue Qinghe I have been playing."

"Once his training is complete, I will return to Spirit City."

"As we discussed before, I will leave Pufferfish with you."

"If you need to use your soul skill to confirm anything, I will have Snake Lance send you a letter. Then you can go directly to Elder Pufferfish and have him cooperate with your experiments."

Su Yu could not help but marvel inwardly. Having two Title Douluo serve as dedicated messengers and tools...

Damn rich bastard. Even if you have plenty of Title Douluo, you can't use them like that!

After ending the voice transmission, Qian Renxue looked at Xue Qinghe and said, "For the coming period, disguise yourself as a maid and remain by my side."

"Back then, the training you received was to play Xue Qinghe. Now, what you need to do is play me, the one who replaced Xue Qinghe."

"There are still some subtle differences."

Xue Qinghe nodded in acknowledgment, not daring to be careless in the slightest.

"Nothing else. Let's go out."

After Xue Qinghe left, Su Yu clicked his tongue in amazement and asked, "Brother Xue, can that kind of disguise fool a Title Douluo?"

Qian Renxue smiled. "Why don't you guess what his martial soul is?"

Su Yu curled his lips. "There are countless kinds of martial souls in this world. How could I possibly guess?"

Qian Renxue said, "His martial soul is his body."

Su Yu's eyes went round. "A Body Martial Soul?!"

"That's right, a Body Martial Soul."

Qian Renxue continued, "He follows the Extreme School, pursuing absolute control over his body."

"Through that control, he can alter his appearance on the level of flesh and blood. Even after ending his soul skill, his appearance has already been fixed and will not revert to its original form."

Su Yu's mouth twitched slightly, then he asked, "Wait, what about the martial soul?"

"Looking alike isn't enough. He needs to have a Swan martial soul too."

Qian Renxue nodded. "You're right. Under normal circumstances, a martial soul is the best marker for identifying someone."

"He absorbed a soul bone from a Mirror Shadow Beast. The soul bone skill lets him copy a person's martial soul and soul rings."

"So, he copied my disguised martial soul and soul rings. That is why he can deceive everyone."

Su Yu said, "That was very thorough."

Su Yu turned to Qian Renxue and smiled. "Brother Xue, if you hadn't joined this plan back then and wasted your time on so-called socializing, what realm would you have reached by now?"

Qian Renxue's gaze flickered, and a trace of loneliness showed in her eyes.

"It's fine. It's not too late to pull back from the brink now."

"Little Yu, once I return, I'll have plenty of time to cultivate."

"Your chance to surpass me is completely gone."

Su Yu shook his head. "That's not certain..."

"There's one more thing, Brother Xue. You can't just bury yourself in cultivation. You should also do some real combat training and build up combat experience."

Qian Renxue raised an eyebrow. "You should worry more about yourself."

"I have thought about it. Look, the lowest-ranked guards in the residence are Soul Kings. The gap between us is too great, so sparring isn't practical."

"After becoming a Soul Grandmaster, I can indeed go to the Great Soul Arena. But I'd have to rank up bit by bit there, and I really don't want to bully Soul Grandmasters at the same level. I'd easily shatter their fighting spirits."

Qian Renxue was directly amused. "So you're saying you're very brave?"

"Are you kidding? I'm unbelievably brave! The words 'invincible among equals' were made for me!"