Xiao Yu Descends Upon the Imperial Palace

At the summit of the giant tree, Xiao Yu—now evolved into a Spirit Feather Divine Guard—hovered in silence.

Starlight flowed across his body, and his ice-blue and crimson feathers radiated a suffocating pressure. His deep eyes were like cold pools, reflecting the silhouette of Heaven Dou City as its lights began to flicker on in the distance.

The icy killing intent contained within that gaze caused Yu Yi and the others, who were prostrate below, to feel a palpitation in their hearts.

The alarm bells in the mind of Qian Renxue had long since been ringing at full volume. Disregarding her composure, she unleashed her soul power, quickly arrived beneath the giant tree, and shouted up at Xiao Yu: "Yu! Wait!"

Qian Renxue's voice carried an unprecedented urgency: "I know what you are going to do! But you cannot go to Heaven Dou City!"

Xiao Yu's gaze fell upon Qian Renxue, and the pressure originating from his life-level caused the Six-Winged Angel martial soul within her to emit a low, uneasy hum.

He nodded slightly: "This matter has nothing to do with you."

After becoming a Spirit Feather Divine Guard, Xiao Yu had also gained a second ability within his bloodline—telepathic communication.

Hearing the clear, resonant male voice echo in her mind, Qian Renxue's body trembled violently. She looked at Xiao Yu in shock, but before she could speak—

"Ao—!" A clear, long howl, yet one containing an unquestionable will, erupted from Xiao Yu's throat.

On the platform, Yu Yi, Yu Er, Yu San, Yu Si, and Yu Wu all raised their heads in unison to respond!

The formidable aura of ten-thousand-year soul beasts on their bodies erupted without reservation, intertwining with Xiao Yu's aura to form a terrifying momentum that made the entire core area of the Royal Soul Beast Forest tremble.

Qian Renxue's face turned deathly pale. There was no time to be shocked by Xiao Yu's ability to speak; he was clearly dead set on going to Heaven Dou City to demand an explanation.

She hurriedly spoke: "Yu! Think of the consequences! The Heaven Dou imperial family will never sit idly by! Titled Douluo will intervene! You will..."

But before she could finish, Xiao Yu's figure, along with his icy, extreme gaze, had already vanished from before her eyes!

Six streaks of light shot out from the top of the giant tree, heading straight toward Heaven Dou City.

"No!" Qian Renxue's heart sank to the bottom of a valley.

She looked fiercely toward the direction of Heaven Dou City and, without the slightest hesitation, gave chase at her fastest speed.

She had to stop him, or... at the very least, arrive before disaster struck!

Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, within the prince's residence of Xue Beng.

Xue Beng was pacing back and forth anxiously, his expensive velvet carpet trampled into messy indentations.

He suddenly grabbed a crystal glass from the table and smashed it hard against the wall, shards and crimson wine splattering everywhere.

"Trash! All of you are trash!" He growled with a twisted expression, "That old thing Xue Xing! He couldn't even handle a simple soul emperor mission! Now that he's alerted the Emperor, the entire Royal Forest has been surrounded like an iron barrel!"

His current anger did not stem from concern for Xiao Yu—in his mind, with Aoris, a dignified soul emperor, leading the strike, that soul beast had no chance of survival.

What he feared was the exposure of Xue Xing's operation! Great Emperor Xue Ye had been enraged and ordered a thorough investigation, and Crown Prince Xue Qinghe had personally sealed off the scene.

Once the trail led back to Xue Xing, he, as the one who knew and instigated the plot, would inevitably be implicated!

"Damn beast! You still try to harm me even in death!" Xue Beng gritted his teeth: "And Xue Xing! You can't accomplish anything and only make things worse! And the Emperor, it's just a soul beast forest, why care so much?"

"And Xue Qinghe, couldn't you just stay on your vacation? Why do you have to meddle in this? Isn't it just a beast?"

Xue Beng cursed everyone he could think of, as if this could alleviate the guilt and panic in his heart.

"It's fine, it's fine." But after he finished cursing, Xue Beng began to mutter again: "Uncle is a prince, he surely wouldn't have left any clues behind, it's fine."

As if he had convinced himself, Xue Beng let out a long sigh of relief and was just about to call someone to clean up the mess.

But just at that moment.

"BOOM—!!!"

A deafening explosion sounded like a thunderclap above the residence!

The entire study shook violently.

"What is happening?! An enemy attack?!" Xue Beng was jolted into a stumble and scrambled to the window in terror.

The scene before him caused his pupils to contract sharply.

He saw that the main hall of the prince's residence had already been reduced to ruins.

Amidst the swirling dust and smoke, a massive yet elegant figure hovered in mid-air. The edges of its wings, which blotted out the sky, flowed with ice-blue and crimson patterns of destruction, and its holy feathers seemed to be draped in the deep, starry universe.

Those eyes, looking down from above, were as cold as ten-thousand-year black ice, carrying a tangible killing intent that locked onto him firmly!

Xiao Yu had actually found and smelled Xue Beng's scent long ago, but instead of striking immediately, he had chosen to announce his arrival.

Xue Beng's pupils shrank to pinpricks, his mind went blank, and his lips trembled uncontrollably: "No... impossible... a hallucination... it must be a hallucination!"

He staggered backward as if he had seen a ghost, knocking over the chair behind him.

Although Xiao Yu's form was vastly different from when he was Leo, with just one glance, Xue Beng knew that this creature attacking his residence was Xiao Yu.

But, wasn't it already dead? That was a soul emperor! How could it have survived that? How is this possible???

Furthermore, even if it didn't die, how could it possibly appear here? This is the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace! The most important place in the entire Heaven Dou Empire! A soul beast just broke in like this???

Where were the soldiers? The palace guards? And his father, did they not know about this?

A shadow of immense panic and confusion loomed over Xue Beng; he could not accept such a thing.

But at this very moment, he had no time to let his mind wander, for after announcing his presence, Xiao Yu began to fly toward his study.

"You, don't come over!!" Xue Beng scrambled out of the window, rolling and crawling as he hurried toward the back, seemingly desperate to escape this place.

But he had forgotten that this was the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace; behind his study, aside from a storage room, there was nothing but a high perimeter wall.

Xue Beng had only run a few steps before he reached a dead end, leaving him no choice but to watch in terror as Xiao Yu slowly flew toward him from behind.

"Isn't this our Prince Xue Beng? How have you become so pathetic after just a few days of not seeing each other?" Xiao Yu looked at the foul-smelling Xue Beng with a playful expression.

The voice reaching his ears made Xue Beng's entire body shudder violently. Who! Who was it! Who was speaking!?

"Stop looking, it's me speaking." Xiao Yu's voice came again, but upon hearing this, Xue Beng did not relax; instead, he looked at Xiao Yu with even greater horror.

"It spoke, the Soul Beast spoke? You, are you a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?!" In Xue Beng's understanding, only a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast could speak.

He was stunned, he was breaking down; this was actually a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, and he had actually provoked a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast? Was he dreaming?

In less than a second, Xue Beng abandoned all princely decorum and knelt down before Xiao Yu.