Heh Heh Heh

"Shang An."

Dugu Yan looked at Shang An, seeming to want to say something but holding back.

"Eat without worry."

Since Shang An had said so, Dugu Yan temporarily put her worries aside. After all, judging by the way he spoke, he did not seem like the sort of person who put on airs beyond his means.

Fengming Restaurant was expensive, sure enough, but its ingredients were all exceptionally precious: snow lotus from the Far North, the neck meat of a thousand-year Pan Ox, highland rice from Pas Plateau...

The dishes tasted far beyond anything found in ordinary restaurants. The chefs might not have matched the imperial chefs of Pope Palace, but they were still among the best of the age. Otherwise, they would not have dared charge such prices.

Of the hundred-odd dishes, most ultimately ended up in Shang An's stomach. The Taiyi Immortal Origin Body could refine essence into qi and assimilate heavenly treasures. Compared to such treasures, the energy contained in food was no more than a drop in the ocean. As long as Shang An wished it, he could keep eating forever.

"Burp. Shang An, what exactly is your stomach made of?"

Xiao Wu let out a full burp. Seeing Shang An still eating swiftly yet elegantly, she leaned over and curiously touched his completely flat stomach.

Dugu Yan also wanted to ask, but she had only just met Shang An, so she was too embarrassed to voice certain questions.

Shang An swallowed the food in his mouth and said, "I just have a bigger appetite."

Dugu Yan was a little speechless. This was called a big appetite? Not even Spirit Beasts could eat as much as him.

Shang An calmly placed the final bite of food into his mouth, then shook the bell in the private room.

The attendant waiting outside immediately came in. Looking at the gleaming empty plates stacked beside them, she suppressed her astonishment and asked:

"Hello, would you like to settle the bill?"

Shang An nodded.

"Call your manager over."

At the mention of the manager, the attendant's expression changed. Without saying anything, she withdrew from the private room and hurried over to the manager.

"Manager, the people in Private Room Three want to see you. I suspect... they want to dine and dash."

"Oh? Then I'll go meet them. I'd like to see which blind fool dares dine and dash at Fengming Restaurant."

The manager and attendant strode boldly toward Private Room Three.

"Sir, hello. Your total comes to four hundred fifty-eight thousand two hundred Gold Soul Coins."

The manager stared directly at Shang An. Shang An did not complain about the price being high. Instead, he tossed over a token, which the manager caught on instinct.

The moment he saw the symbol on the token, the manager's expression changed drastically.

"Greetings, Consultant."

What Shang An had produced was not the Saint Son Token, but his Consultant Token. Consultants held the authority to supervise and guide the development of industries under their command, making them the superiors of those responsible for such businesses.

"Mm. You have done fairly well here, but there are still some shortcomings.

"You could try establishing several special private rooms and tying them to a membership system. Only members who reach a certain rank would be permitted to reserve such rooms. That would better satisfy the vanity of those nobles, and also..."

Shang An spoke as he wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth.

"Thank you for your guidance, Consultant."

The manager stood ramrod straight, as though awaiting instructions from a superior. He even held the bill in his hand, writing down the suggestions Shang An had made.

As for the attendant, seeing the manager's expression told her that Shang An's identity was far from ordinary. She stood to one side with her head lowered and back bent, barely daring to breathe.

"All right, that's all. I'm leaving."

"Yes, Consultant. Please take care. We welcome you to inspect us again next time."

The manager led the group outside. Together with the attendant, he bowed them out as Shang An left. As for payment, he did not mention it at all.

After the group had gone far away, the attendant quietly asked the manager, who was still bent over:

"Manager, who were they?"

"Hmph. You nearly got me into trouble this time. That gentleman is a Consultant from above. This time, he was probably here to inspect the specific conditions of our Heaven Dou City Fengming Restaurant.

"The next time you see that Consultant, make sure to respectfully invite him to Private Room One. Understand?"

"Understood, Manager."

The four of them walked out of Fengming Restaurant. Dugu Yan stared at Shang An with a face full of doubt. In the end, she could not hold it in and asked:

"Shang An, is Fengming Restaurant connected to your family?"

She had heard that Fengming Restaurant had an extraordinary background. A few days ago, an imperial duke had tried to dine and dash there, only to be thoroughly beaten by the Spirit Masters in the restaurant. The next day, he obediently delivered the money himself.

"Mm, I suppose Fengming Restaurant can be considered my family's business."

Shang An hesitated before answering.

"Then your family is really rich."

Dugu Yan felt a little envious. Fengming Restaurant stood in the central district of the Tiandou Imperial Capital, where every inch of land was worth a fortune. Yet Fengming Restaurant occupied nearly five hundred square meters of land.

Although her grandfather, Dugu Bo, was a Title Douluo, the Dugu family had few members because of their Martial Soul and possessed little in the way of industry.

Furthermore, Dugu Bo disliked being bound by others. He had only become a guest elder because he owed Prince Xue Xing a favor, and he did not earn much. So while Dugu Yan could be considered a young lady of status, compared to those nobles, she truly had little money.

"So-so. I'm not interested in money."

Shang An's tone was calm, as though he were talking about something entirely unrelated to himself.

Dugu Yan was nearly drowned by Shang An's smug aura. So I really am just poor.

Seeing Dugu Yan's expression, Shang An added an explanation.

"Yan Yan, don't overthink it. It's just that I have too much money, so I'm no longer interested in it."

It would have been better if he had said nothing. The moment he said it, Dugu Yan felt as though she had been surrounded and mocked by moneybags. Could they not just get along happily?

After passing over that little incident, the two still chatted quite pleasantly.

At last, Dugu Yan bade the three of them farewell.

"Shang An, goodbye. If you need anything, you can come find me. My home is Dugu Manor, north of Heaven Dou City."

"Goodbye, Yan Yan. I believe we'll meet again very soon."

The two waved goodbye.

Once Dugu Yan's figure had gone far away, Shang An said to the two beauties who had been ignored for quite some time:

"Let's go. I remember Spirit Hall has property in Heaven Dou City, right?"

Then Shang An scooped Xiao Wu up and held her in his arms.

"Let's go!"

The jealousy and faint resentment in Xiao Wu's heart instantly vanished. H-He hugged me on the street. How embarrassing!

It was the dead of night,

The moon was dark and the wind was high,

Xiao Wu had already fallen asleep, while Shang An and Ni Huang had gathered together.

"Let's go, Ni Huang."

Ni Huang nodded. She roughly understood His Holiness the Holy Son's personality, and she knew where he meant.

"Xiao An, should we..."

As she spoke, Ni Huang made a throat-slitting gesture. She was extremely displeased with that Xue Beng. He had dared flirt with her and insult Xiao An. He truly deserved death. In this world, only Xiao An could flirt with her, and she would not allow anyone to insult the best Xiao An in the world.

"No need. He's a prince, after all. We'll just teach him a little lesson."

Shang An spoke as though he held no grudge at all. He, Shang An, had studied the Analects and followed the Saint's earnest teachings. The Master said: "He who first creates figurines—will he have descendants?"

Shang An liked to act according to the Analects.

The Taiyi Dharma Domain opened, and the two silently infiltrated the imperial palace. The strength of the Heaven Dou Empire was far inferior to that of the Star Luo Empire, especially in terms of high-end combat power. Heaven Dou did not even possess a single Title Douluo.

Dugu Bo was merely a guest elder and would not participate in the war between Heaven Dou and Star Luo.

Meanwhile, the several duchies under the Heaven Dou Empire were practically semi-independent. They obeyed summons but not commands, and the Heaven Dou Emperor simply could not command those duchies beneath him.

The Star Luo Empire, on the other hand, followed a policy of iron-blooded centralization. Its nation was as solid as a single piece of iron, its strength highly unified, and even its ordinary military forces surpassed those of the Heaven Dou Empire.

It could be said that if Spirit Hall had not stood between the two empires and posed a powerful threat to both, the Heaven Dou Empire would have long since been destroyed by the Star Luo Empire.

And after infiltrating the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace tonight, Heaven Dou's weakness was revealed beyond doubt. Within the grand imperial palace, there were only several Spirit Saints and one Spirit Douluo. That Spirit Douluo was likely Xue Ye's personal guard.

Shang An did not concern himself with any of that. He quickly located Xue Beng's residence through the sense of his aura. Xue Beng still lived in the imperial palace and did not yet have the authority to establish his own residence.

After entering the palace where Xue Beng resided, under the concealment of the Taiyi Dharma Domain, not a single guard discovered that two people had already entered the prince's quarters.

Xue Beng was utterly unaware. He was still exercising himself, constantly directing and pressing down upon two ragged, weak, pitiful young girls. It was truly vile.

Seeing Xue Beng enjoying himself, Shang An revealed a dangerous smile.

"Xue Beng, tonight will be your last night of happiness."

Shang An never delayed revenge overnight. He dared flirt with his woman? Heh. The Saint had said that the one who started this should be beaten until he had no future. Shang An had a merciful heart, after all, so he only intended to leave him without descendants and spare his dog life.

He had even let him enjoy himself for one extra night. He was truly too merciful. Sigh, he needed to change this habit of being so softhearted.

With a wave of Shang An's small hand, the Taiyi Dharma Domain enveloped the bedchamber. No matter what happened inside, no one outside could detect it.

"Heh heh heh, Fourth Prince, I'm here."