Meanwhile.
At the Crown Prince Mansion, the moment Feng Xiaodi, Ozka, Yu Tianshu, and Hu Lieni walked out of Dugu Manor, Qian Renxue received the news!
To keep watch on Feng Xiaodi and the others, Qian Renxue had dispatched three hundred Soul Masters from Spirit Hall! Each Soul Master would monitor them for only one minute, ensuring no one would discover them!
As fragmentary reports trickled in, Qian Renxue was still wondering why these people had bought so much Whale Rubber when Snake Lance Douluo suddenly appeared and cried out, "This is bad! Xue Beng ran into that powerful woman!"
"What!" Qian Renxue sprang up from her chair in shock and hurriedly asked, "He didn't go looking for trouble, did he?"
Snake Lance Douluo's mouth twitched. "Should we intervene? Otherwise, Xue Beng might... They might not show him any mercy!"
Qian Renxue strode forward twice, then suddenly stopped. Frowning, she said, "Even if we go, what good will it do? Would they care about my face?"
Snake Lance Douluo: "..."
"But are we really going to stand by and watch Xue Beng get himself killed? His Majesty's suspicions and displeasure toward you have only grown deeper! If Xue Beng dies now... it won't help us gain control of the court!"
At that, Qian Renxue took a deep breath. "Immediately send someone to notify His Majesty. After that, what happens has nothing to do with us! At least Xue Beng won't have died by our hands! Besides, who says that powerful woman will kill him? Maybe she'll just teach him a lesson."
Just teach him a lesson? Snake Lance Douluo didn't believe it.
"You! You! You dare hurt me?"
On the street, Xue Beng clutched his mangled, twisted wrist and stared at Hu Lieni in disbelief. Gritting his teeth through the pain, he demanded, "How dare you?"
Hu Lieni glanced at Xue Beng's wrist. "So what? Do you only know how to spout nonsense?"
"Guards! Kill her for me! No! Don't kill her! cripple her Soul Power and drag her back! I'll torture her day and night! I'll make sure she gets the finest treatment, so she'll beg for death and—"
The guards heard him and came forward, grinning cruelly.
Shnk! Shnk!
Hu Lieni killed two of Xue Beng's guards with a single sword stroke. Blood gushed from their necks, and their cruel grins twisted into expressions of pain and resentment!
How could anyone dare kill the Fourth Prince's guards? They couldn't accept that they were going to die just like this!
Xue Beng's words cut off too. He swallowed unconsciously, and terror surged through him.
"What—what are you going to do?"
Hu Lieni asked, "I just heard that half a month ago, you forced a woman to come back to your residence, then tortured her to death?"
The muscles at the corners of Xue Beng's eyes twitched. He swallowed back his fear, his throat bobbing, but said nothing.
Hu Lieni continued, "Was this woman also someone you abducted?"
At that moment, the Wooden Hairpin Woman suddenly fell to her knees and kowtowed repeatedly, pleading, "Please, Lord Soul Master, please save me! I'm from a village near Heaven Dou City. My older sister came to Heaven Dou City three months ago and never returned. I came here to find her, then heard that the Fourth Prince had taken her to his residence. I wanted to rescue her, but... but..."
But after Xue Beng saw her face, he wanted to abduct her too!
"Please, Lord Soul Master, give my sister and me justice! I'm willing to serve you as a maid to repay you!"
"Is that so?" Hu Lieni looked at Xue Beng.
Xue Beng grew agitated and roared with bluster, "So what if I did? I'm the Fourth Prince of the mighty Tiandou Empire! My status is incomparably noble! It's their good fortune that I took an interest in those lowly commoners!"
Hu Lieni frowned. "And then? You killed them too?"
"They were nothing but worthless lives! So what if they died? They had only themselves to blame for resisting. I didn't even sell them off to a brothel—"
"Shh~"
Hu Lieni hushed him, cutting off his words as she walked toward him step by step. Slowly, she said, "You don't need to say another word."
"Gulp. W-what are you going to do? I'm warning you, I'm the Fourth Prince of the Tiandou Empire! You wouldn't dare kill me!" Xue Beng began to stammer.
Boom!
Hu Lieni released a terrifying surge of Soul Power, forcing Xue Beng to his knees and pinning him in place!
Then, with the tip of the sword in her hand, Hu Lieni slowly, inch by inch, brought the blade closer to Xue Beng's neck. "Let's see if I dare."
"N-no! I'm the Fourth Prince! I'm the Fourth Prince! The Fourth Prince of the Tiandou Empire! Ah!" Xue Beng was terrified, layer upon layer of sweat beading on his forehead. The blade sliced through the skin of his neck, then the muscle, sinking deeper inch by inch... But the mighty Soul Power pressed him into place, leaving him unable to move!
"Hm? You're already scared shitless?"
A large patch of Xue Beng's trousers was soaked with urine. Hu Lieni looked at him with disgust. "I'm done playing. Since the evidence against you is conclusive, I sentence you to death!"
"No! Please! I'm not a wastrel! I was only pretending!"
Whether Xue Beng had been pretending or not, Hu Lieni didn't care. No matter what, the facts were the facts: he had abducted women and tortured them to death!
Shnk!
The long sword flashed, and blood sprayed three meters into the air! Xue Beng made a gurgling sound as blood bubbled in his throat. After struggling for more than ten seconds, he collapsed lifelessly to the ground.
In an instant!
The entire street fell utterly silent. No one dared even breathe too loudly!
"The... the Fourth Prince, Xue Beng... he's dead!"
Boom! Those words hit the street like a depth charge, sending everyone scattering in a panic!
Only the Wooden Hairpin Woman and the old woman who had said her daughter-in-law was abducted stayed behind. They urged her, "Lord Soul Master, please leave quickly! You killed the Fourth Prince. The Tiandou Empire won't let you go!"
"Lord Soul Master, I'm willing to serve you as your maid for the rest of my life! We have to flee now! The Tiandou Empire's army will be here soon!"
"That's right, Lord Soul Master, run! The farther away, the better!"
"You should leave too. Don't let me drag you into this. I'll be leaving soon."
"Ah, yes, yes, yes!" The old woman nodded repeatedly and hurried toward the alley at the end of the street.
"Why aren't you leaving?" Hu Lieni looked at the young Wooden Hairpin Woman.
The Wooden Hairpin Woman firmly shook her head. "You stood up for me and my sister. You're our benefactor! I'll never abandon you and flee alone! Besides, I already promised to serve you as your maid for the rest of my life!"
"Uh..." Hu Lieni sighed inwardly, then asked, "Do you know where Xue Beng's residence is? Maybe your sister is still alive. We can go rescue her together."
"Well..." The Wooden Hairpin Woman hesitated before asking, "Benefactor, can you really get away unscathed? Once we go to Xue Beng's residence, it won't be so easy to escape! My sister and I mustn't drag you into this!"
"I can escape. Don't worry!"
The Wooden Hairpin Woman hesitated for a few seconds, then tensed from head to toe. "Benefactor, follow me!"
Hu Lieni smiled. "Just point the way. I'll take you there. It'll be faster!"
Five minutes later, news of Xue Beng's death had just reached the palace. Xue Ye flew into a rage and dispatched the Soul Master army, determined to suppress the culprit!
By then, Hu Lieni had already killed dozens of guards at the Fourth Prince Mansion and freed seven imprisoned women. She had also found more than twenty bodies beneath the back garden, in the ground and at the bottom of the lake!
"Phew~"
"The nobility! The Tiandou Empire! They're all tumors in this world! Immortal Court's expedition can't come soon enough!!"
Hu Lieni let out a long breath. Her clenched fist had turned pale, drained of every trace of color.
"Benefactor!"
The Wooden Hairpin Woman supported another woman whose clothes were stained red with blood and called out, "Benefactor, please leave! We won't drag you down!"
Hu Lieni was deeply moved. "I'll take you all out of Heaven Dou City!"
With that, she carried all eight of them into the air with her Soul Power and flew straight beyond Heaven Dou City.
Half an hour later.
Watching Hu Lieni fly away once more, the Wooden Hairpin Woman immediately knelt with her older sister! The other six women followed suit, all bowing their heads in a deep kowtow.
The Wooden Hairpin Woman lifted her head and addressed the others. "Everyone, we're far from Heaven Dou City now. You're safe. Go home, or find somewhere to hide! From now on, stay away from Heaven Dou City!"
Elsewhere.
Hu Lieni found a scenic spot and buried the bodies of more than twenty young women before heading back.
As soon as she returned to Dugu Manor, she saw Dugu Bo, his face wreathed in a bitter smile.
"Ah..." Dugu Bo sighed helplessly and said nothing.
What was he supposed to say?
He had thought castrating Ning Fengzhi would be a disaster of epic proportions. Then Yu Tianshu kicked Dai Mubai to death! Dugu Bo adjusted his mindset and raised his tolerance, deciding that Dai Mubai's death had to be the limit of their troubles! But then Hu Lieni went and killed the Fourth Prince, Xue Beng, in public! And before he died, she had even tortured him a little... He had been so scared that he'd lost control of his bowels and bladder.
Qian Pingchuan asked, "Senior Sister, why were you so impulsive?"
Hu Lieni was Bibi Xi's disciple, so Qian Pingchuan could naturally call her Senior Sister.
Hu Lieni's face was expressionless as she explained heavily, "I dug up more than twenty young women's bodies at Xue Beng's residence! And some of the bodies were mutilated..."
"What? He tortured young women to death?"
"Mm." Hu Lieni nodded and didn't want to say anything more.
Nearby, Yu Tianshu cursed furiously, "That fucking animal! The more I learn about this world, the more I feel like I can't sit still!"
Ozka asked, "Do you feel like bloodbathing the Tiandou Empire? Count me in!"
Feng Xiaodi chimed in, "In the Douluo World No. 1, the Tiandou Empire, the nobility, and the Soul Masters are not bound by the law! Senior Dugu should know that."
Called out, Dugu Bo replied helplessly, "In our world, the nobility and Soul Masters wield absolute power. It's common for them to fly into a rage and kill people or oppress the common folk! No law will punish them. Some nobles even abduct commoners and take them back as slaves! If someone rescues those slaves, the empire's army will step in to protect the nobles and bring the slaves back! They may even execute commoners who dare defy the nobility!"
Before you continue