This Was All My Fault!

The storm slowly dissipated, leaving behind nothing but devastation and the lingering, pungent stench of poison in the air.

Xiao Yu hovered in the sky, coldly sweeping his gaze over the direction where Dugu Bo had vanished. His wings, swirling with ice and fire, folded gently as he dispelled the watery barrier around him.

The people around him didn't dare so much as breathe. Their terrified eyes brimmed with hope—hope that Xiao Yu wouldn't vent his fury on them.

Dugu Bo's brazen attack had given a glimmer of hope to the people, who had been utterly despairing. They had prayed that Lord Poison Douluo would be able to kill this Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, but the outcome was almost too much to bear.

Lord Poison Douluo, a mighty Titled Douluo, had actually lost to this Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in such a humiliating fashion. Even his escape had been utterly ridiculous.

And Poison Douluo's flight was like a basin of cold water, dousing the tiny flame of joy that had just begun to kindle in their hearts.

Qian Renxue stood below, her fists clenched so tightly that her nails nearly dug into her palms. Her expression was unbearably complicated.

She was stunned by how terrifyingly strong Xiao Yu had become, and worried that he had made irreconcilable enemies of the Heaven Dou Empire and Dugu Bo. And there was also a trace of... yearning and excitement at the prospect of possessing such world-defying power—something even she herself had yet to notice.

Xiao Yu paid no more attention to the crowd below, frozen in fear, or the Soul Saints silenced in the sky.

His gaze swept over Yu Yi and the others, who had completed their revenge, excitement blazing in their eyes.

"Aw—! (Let's go!)"

A clear, ringing cry rang out. Six streaks of light, radiating powerful auras, shot into the sky, tearing through the night as they sped toward the Royal Soul Beast Forest. They left behind a devastated, panic-stricken Heaven Dou Imperial Palace—and a Heaven Dou City whose understanding of the world had been utterly overturned.

It was only more than ten seconds after Xiao Yu left that the people finally began to recover.

"W-We're alive." Someone spoke, and at the sound of that voice, soldiers one after another collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath.

"So this is a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast? It's actually this powerful."

Their understanding of Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts had been limited to legends. They'd assumed that no matter how strong such a beast was, it couldn't be all that powerful; there were simply very few of them.

But now that Xiao Yu had appeared before them, their old assumptions had been completely overturned. The gap between a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast and other Soul Beasts was even greater than the gap between a Titled Douluo and a Soul Douluo.

A Titled Douluo hadn't even been able to withstand a single blow from a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. The thought that an enemy like that could come and go from the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace at will sent chills down their spines.

It was all the fault of that damned Xue Xing and Xue Beng. Why had they gone and provoked a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast? Now the entire Heaven Dou Empire had been disgraced.

An hour later

Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, Xue Ye's bedchamber.

The atmosphere was suffocating. Emperor Xue Ye seemed to have aged ten years overnight. He sat slumped on the throne, his eyes bloodshot and webbed with red.

The sight of Xue Beng's headless corpse and Xue Xing's severed body kept replaying in his mind like a nightmare.

"Your Majesty, please accept our condolences..." Below him, four Soul Saint retainers stood with their heads bowed, their faces pale with relief at having survived and burning with deep humiliation.

They had witnessed firsthand the terror of the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast called "Yu," and had personally experienced their own helplessness before absolute power.

That declaration, too, hung over the entire Heaven Dou Imperial Family like an invisible mountain.

"Accept my condolences? How am I supposed to do that?!" Xue Ye's voice was hoarse with fury. He slammed his hand on the table and sprang to his feet. "My son! My own younger brother! Right before my eyes, they were killed by a beast... by a beast..."

He broke into violent coughing and couldn't finish.

"Your Majesty, the pressing matter is how to respond," one of the older Soul Saints said, steeling himself.

"That Soul Beast... Yu... its strength is unfathomable. Even Lord Poison Douluo was... wounded and forced to flee. Its declaration was no idle threat. If we provoke it again, we could face utter ruin!" His words were full of deep apprehension.

"Are you saying we should just let this go?!" Xue Ye growled, his eyes filled with bone-deep hatred and unwillingness. "What of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family's authority? What of my dignity?!"

"Your Majesty, we must have our revenge, but we need to consider it carefully," another Soul Saint said gravely. "The root of this matter is that Fourth Prince and the Prince... did indeed send people to kill its companion first."

"Now it has had its revenge, and its declaration made it clear: 'The blood debt has been repaid; the matter is settled.' If we raise a large army now and provoke it, the consequences will be unthinkable. It... it can come and go from the Imperial Palace as it pleases!"

That last sentence sent a chill rising from the spines of everyone present.

Xue Ye fell silent, his chest heaving.

How could he not know that the man was speaking the truth? That world-defying pressure, that terrifying strength with which it had casually injured a Soul Saint and driven off a Titled Douluo—all of it had made the emperor feel more helpless than ever before.

Faced with cold reality, even the flames of vengeance had to be temporarily suppressed.

He waved a weary hand. "Send out the order: seal off all information and forbid anyone from discussing tonight's events! As for the public... say we were attacked by a powerful, unknown Soul Beast, and that Xue Beng and Xue Xing... perished. Give them a proper burial."

"Yes..." The Soul Saints obeyed, all of them breathing a sigh of relief. It was undoubtedly the wisest choice—and the most helpless one.

"By the way, where is the Crown Prince? Have him come see me!" Xue Ye suddenly thought of Xue Qinghe. Xue Qinghe had spent this whole time with that Soul Beast's offspring; perhaps he knew something.

Yes, Xue Ye believed that the Xiao Yu he had met before was the offspring of the Soul Beast from tonight. Otherwise, how could he accept that he had once spent time with a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?

Qian Renxue had been waiting outside for orders, already guessing that Xue Ye would summon her. As soon as she heard his voice, she hurried in.

"Father, I'm here." Qian Renxue pretended to be grieving and bowed to Xue Ye.

Looking at the only child he had left, Xue Ye felt an indescribable sorrow. At that moment, there were so many things he wanted to ask Qian Renxue.

For example, had she urged that Soul Beast to kill Xue Beng just to secure her position as Crown Prince? And hadn't she been on good terms with that Soul Beast's offspring? Couldn't she have mediated between them? He would have been willing to pay compensation.

And...

He thought of so many things, but when he saw the sorrowful look on Xue Qinghe's face, he couldn't bring himself to say any of them. All he could do was let out a helpless sigh.

But just as he was about to tell Qian Renxue to rise, she suddenly dropped to her knees and cried, "Father, this is all my fault. If I hadn't met that little beast back then, Fourth Brother wouldn't have suffered this calamity."

"If I'd noticed back then that Fourth Brother had taken a Scarlet Mad Lion to provoke that little beast, his pet wouldn't have died. He wouldn't have held a grudge, and this disaster would never have befallen us."