Douluo: The Venom System Is Awesome

The increasingly expanding sphere of influence and hardline style of the organization had clearly already attracted the attention and vigilance of all parties.

Whenever night fell, Mu Junyu would return covered in the dust and grime of the streets.

He would often carry a faint scent of alcohol, yet his eyes remained clear and sharp.

In an offhand manner, he would reveal these scattered pieces of intelligence to Qian Renxue whenever they were alone.

On the surface, Qian Renxue would remain expressionless, occasionally even scolding him for "neglecting his proper duties and only digging up useless gossip."

Deep down, however, she had to admit that these unvarnished pieces of information from the very bottom of society were sometimes far more authentic than the intelligence she obtained through her own channels.

But today, something had occurred that left Mu Junyu furious...

Mu Junyu sat in a dim corner of a noisy tavern.

The sour, astringent scent of cheap ale mixed with the charred grease of roasted meat permeated the air.

Beneath his mask, his ears keenly captured the surrounding clamor.

It wasn't until the loud, boastful conversation from a nearby table—occupied by well-dressed young men who were clearly from an elite Soul Master Academy—reached his ears that he focused his attention.

A young man, surrounded by his companions, wore the typical air of superiority and fervor of a noble scion as he slammed his hand against the table.

"Once I graduate, I am determined to join the military! The empire is in dire need of talent right now!"

"We soul masters who have received orthodox education should be the main pillars in resisting the expansion of Martial Soul Hall!"

"We must never let those barbaric, unreasonable wretches tarnish the glory of the empire!"

His words drew a chorus of agreement and cheers.

At this moment, a middle-aged man at a nearby table, who appeared to be a commoner, couldn't help but set down his cup and interject with a look of confusion.

"Young brother, we keep hearing you talk about resisting Martial Soul Hall, but..."

"What exactly has Martial Soul Hall done that is so heinous?"

"I heard they even provide soul power crystals for poor children to awaken their martial souls for free, and even give out subsidies?"

The academy student looked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on; he whipped his head around, his face full of mockery and disdain.

His voice rose sharply, filled with performative indignation:

"What have they done? Their list of misdeeds is too long to record!"

He began counting off on his fingers, listing them one by one as if he were stating some monstrous crimes.

"First and foremost, they actually released all the slaves within Martial Soul City!"

"They even publicly declared that those of lowly status enjoy the same rights as free citizens? This is simply turning black into white and disrupting the natural order!"

"They allow those filthy commoners, even former slaves, to touch and process the soul power crystals that only noble soul masters are qualified to use! Just to awaken their useless martial souls!"

"This is a desecration of the glory of soul masters!"

"They allow those vagrants, who are barely clothed and don't even have a decent pair of shoes, to walk right into the Royal Library as long as they wash themselves! And read books for free!"

"How sacred is knowledge? How can it be allowed to be defiled by the lowly?"

"They have opened a large number of crude soul master academies with pitifully low thresholds, specifically recruiting children of commoners and even beggars and orphans!"

"This is simply filling the ranks with dregs and diluting our noble soul master bloodline!"

"What's even more detestable!"

The more the young man spoke, the more agitated he became, his face turning red.

"They even sent those so-called enforcement teams to monitor the workshops and manors in Martial Soul City!"

"They forcibly decreed that their hired laborers can only work eight hours a day! Eight hours!"

"What is that supposed to accomplish? This is clearly cutting off our families' wealth and bewitching the hearts of the people!"

"Is the young brother from Martial Soul City?" the middle-aged man asked.

"Yes! My family only left because we couldn't stand the oppression of that bitch, the Pope..."

"Hey, hey! Young brother, watch your tongue!" the middle-aged man kindly warned.

"All the nobles who oppose her tyranny, no matter how high their status, have been suppressed or exiled on trumped-up charges!"

The young soul master continued to spout death-defying words without a care.

Mu Junyu's gaze had grown increasingly fierce, like a dragon coiled and ready to strike! "Such perverse, tyrannical, and overbearing behavior! If we nobles of the Heaven Dou Empire do not unite to resist, are we just going to sit back and watch our thousand-year foundation be destroyed in a single day?!"

Once he finished his "passionate speech," his companions at the table applauded and cheered, as if they had just heard a declaration of justice.

Meanwhile, the commoners at the next table looked at each other, their faces filled with confusion and a trace of imperceptible disapproval.

Releasing slaves? Giving the poor a chance? Limiting working hours?

These things... didn't actually sound like bad ideas, did they?

But they dared not contradict these well-dressed soul master lords.

Mu Junyu's knuckles turned slightly white as he gripped his rough ceramic cup.

Beneath his mask, his expression was terrifyingly gloomy.

As he listened to those noble scions slander compassion and reform as tyranny, and dress up their vested interests as noble glory, a cold rage churned within his chest.

These high-and-mighty parasites, they enjoy the remnants of their ancestors' shade and view commoners as mere grass, yet they treat any act that truly benefits the people as a monstrous disaster!

He slammed his cup of cheap liquor down, downing it in one gulp as the spicy liquid scorched his throat.

Chapter 41: What Reward Do You Want

Mu Junyu set the empty ceramic cup heavily onto the table with a dull thud, drawing surprised glances from nearby diners.

His chest heaved violently, his breathing beneath the mask growing heavier, that icy rage nearly shattering the constraints of his reason.

But in the end, he merely took a deep breath of the thick, greasy air, tossed down a few copper soul coins, stood up, and left the nauseating tavern without looking back.

Afterward... he donned a more conservative mask, threw on a cloak, and returned to this very tavern!

The next day, a shocking piece of news spread like wildfire through every street and alley of Tiantou City.

It became the subject of whispered conversations, leaving people both terrified and stunned.

The cheap tavern named Ashes in the west of the city had met with disaster!

And it was a horrific, bloody case!

It is said that when the waiter went to open the door at dawn, the thick stench of blood nearly knocked him unconscious.

On the walls of the tavern's main hall, four young men's corpses were nailed alive with thick wooden wedges!

They were still wearing the flashy Imperial Academy uniforms from the day before, now soaked in blood and reduced to rags.

Their manner of death was extremely brutal; it was clear they had suffered inhuman torture before they died. What made one's scalp tingle even more was that all four of their mouths had been pried open in a crude manner, their tongues missing, leaving only bloody, mangled voids! On the wall, a few large characters were scrawled in blood:

"Beasts who waste food and air!"

The news spread like wildfire, shaking the upper echelons of Tiantou City, especially the nobility and the circle of academy-affiliated spirit masters, who felt a bone-chilling cold. The imperial security department quickly sealed off the scene, but the investigation hit a dead end. The people in the tavern were a mixed bag, and with so many guests the night before, no one had noticed anything unusual.

The killer's methods were cruel and efficient, leaving behind no obvious traces of spirit power fluctuations or other clues.

It was as if a ghost from the darkness had finished its punishment and quietly vanished.

People speculated endlessly about the killer's identity and motives.

Was it a vendetta? A warning from a rival faction? Or... some kind of terrorist act targeting the noble academy faction?

Only a very few people, such as the handful of commoners who had also been in that tavern the night before and vaguely remembered the four youths' arrogant boasting, had a blurry and terrifying guess in their hearts.

But they kept their mouths tightly shut, not daring—and not wanting—to say a single word.

These four guys were notorious in the area, extremely harsh toward the common folk and never treating them like human beings, so naturally, no one would cheer for them.

And at the Crown Prince's Residence, when Xue Qinghe heard the report from his subordinates about this horrific bloodbath, he frowned slightly.

She raised her head, a faint, imperceptible ripple of emotion flashing deep within her golden eyes.

She thought almost immediately of Mu Junyu, who had returned last night with a faint scent of alcohol and blood, and a lingering, icy hostility that had yet to dissipate.

She had no evidence, and she would not ask.

But the map of her perception regarding him seemed to have had another piece quietly filled in.

She lowered her eyelids and continued writing, though her pen tip pressed down with a bit too much force, leaving a clear scratch on the expensive paper.

The fallout from the bloodbath continued to ferment within Tiantou City.

The noble class felt endangered, and security patrols were visibly increased.

But the true killer had vanished like a stone into the sea, leaving no further traces.

Inside the Crown Prince's Residence, everything seemed as calm as before, save for the fact that the air pressure around Xue Qinghe was a few degrees lower than usual.

Two days later, during a quiet dusk when only the two of them were present.

Qian Renxue dismissed her attendants, leaving only her and Mu Junyu, who was leaning lazily against the window, in the study.

She did not look at him, her fingertips tracing the edge of an ancient book, her voice calm and waveless, as if asking a casual question.

"Was the business at the Ashes tavern a few days ago your doing?"

There was no preamble, no probing—it was direct enough to be startling.

Mu Junyu turned his head; the setting sun outside the window gilded his profile with a dark golden halo, yet it could not shine into his deep eyes.

He looked at her perfect profile and did not deny it, merely letting out a lazy "Mm," counting as an admission.

"Why?" Qian Renxue finally raised her eyes; there was no reproach in her golden pupils, no fear, only a pure sense of inquiry.

Mu Junyu tugged at the corner of his mouth, his smile filled with utter mockery.

"Nothing. I just heard a few flies buzzing, annoying enough to disturb one's peace, so I swatted them dead."

He paused, his tone becoming flat, yet all the more chilling.

"They enjoy the dividends brought by the reforms of Martial Soul Hall and the potential power brought by a broad foundation of faith, yet while they enjoy it with peace of mind, they use the most vicious language to slander the person who enacted these policies. They rely on their ancestors' shade to act like tyrants, all while cursing those who provide a way for the lower classes to survive as being tyrannical."

His gaze sharpened as he looked at Qian Renxue.

"Since your tongue only spits out filth and cannot speak like a human, there is no use in keeping it. It would be cleaner to cut it out..."

JPY15

The study fell into a brief silence. The light of the setting sun shifted slowly, stretching the shadows of the two figures.

Qian Renxue listened quietly, her face remaining devoid of expression.

She was silent for a moment, and then, ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly, she nodded.

"Well done."

There was no judgment of his methods, only an acknowledgment of the result and the motive.

This time, it was Mu Junyu who was slightly taken aback.

He had anticipated all sorts of reactions from her: rebuking him for being reckless, worrying about inviting trouble, or even being disgusted by his bloodthirst... but he had never expected such straightforward affirmation.

Qian Renxue stood up and walked slowly toward him.

The afterglow of the sunset enveloped them both.

She raised her hand, not to attack, but using those slender fingers that held hidden strength.

She gently brushed away an almost invisible wrinkle on the lapel of his chest.

Her fingertips were cool, touching his chest through the fabric of his clothes.

"To defend Martial Soul Hall like this..."

She lifted her eyes, her gaze deep as she looked straight at him, and then she patted his head.

"What reward do you want~"

Her voice remained cold and detached.

But her eyes were filled with a mixture of countless emotions, along with a hint of being pleased that even she herself had not yet noticed.