"Such a shoddy, hole-riddled lie—and you dare bring it before me?"
Bibi Dong shook her head and closed her eyes again, seemingly having lost all interest in the attention-seeking Storyteller.
"He merely wants to use such sensational claims to swindle rewards from ignorant commoners."
"From now on, don't bother me with trivial matters like this."
"Your Holiness, please hear me out!"
At those words, cold sweat broke out across the Shadow Guard's forehead. He hurriedly lowered his head even further and added in a rush:
"Though Su Chen is full of wild claims, today, in full view of the public, he lifted a solid bronze cauldron weighing nearly six thousand jin with one hand. What's more, he drew the attention of multiple factions in Heaven Dou City!"
"According to our informants, Ning Fengzhi of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect personally visited with Sword Douluo Chen Xin. He offered five million Gold Soul Coins and the position of honorary elder to recruit him, but Su Chen refused on the spot."
"And..."
As he spoke, the Shadow Guard suddenly took a deep breath and delivered his final—and most explosive—piece of news:
"Even His Highness, Crown Prince Xue Qinghe of the Tiandou Empire, entered Su Chen's private room alone this evening. The two spoke in private for quite some time before His Highness Xue Qinghe left respectfully."
Crash!
Just as expected, the instant the name Xue Qinghe reached Bibi Dong's ears, she abruptly opened her eyes.
Ning Fengzhi trying to recruit him seemed normal to Bibi Dong. That old fox had always liked drawing all manner of extraordinary people into his fold.
But...
Xue Qinghe had gone there too?!
The spies below might not know Xue Qinghe's true identity, but Bibi Dong knew it perfectly well!
He wasn't the Crown Prince of Heaven Dou at all. He was the daughter she had given birth to in utter humiliation all those years ago—the young mistress of Spirit Hall, Qian Renxue, wielder of the divine-grade Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul!
"Snow actually went out of her way to approach a Storyteller at an inn?"
Bibi Dong narrowed her eyes, perplexed.
She knew Qian Renxue's temperament all too well.
That girl was arrogant to the extreme, with the Angel Clan's lofty, self-admiring nature flowing through her very bones.
Qian Renxue wouldn't even spare a glance for ordinary so-called geniuses.
All these years, while undercover in the Tiandou Empire, she had spent her time winning over ministers who held power over the court. She had never wasted a moment on some nobody without connections.
And now she had gone to a crowded inn, spoken privately with him for a long time, and even left respectfully?
"Lifting a six-thousand-jin cauldron with one hand, and refusing the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect..."
"Does this Su Chen really have some extraordinary talent? Could he even see through Snow's identity?"
At the thought, Bibi Dong's gaze gradually grew deeper.
Though she still scoffed at that so-called Perfect World, where a single punch could shatter stars, and considered it utter nonsense, anyone who could make Qian Renxue treat him so seriously was no ordinary charlatan.
"Interesting."
Bibi Dong slowly rose from the bath, letting the warm droplets slide along her perfect curves.
Soon, a luxurious purple robe seemed to fly over of its own accord and settle around her shoulders.
"Pass down my order."
"Send more people. Keep that man called Su Chen under constant watch, day and night."
"Record everything in meticulous detail: the books he tells each day, the people he meets, even how many bowls of rice he eats. Then send it all to me."
"And keep a close eye on his interactions with Xue Qinghe."
"If he shows any sign of threatening Spirit Hall..."
As she spoke, Bibi Dong slightly raised a finger and drew it through the air. A wisp of purple-black Death Spider Emperor poison instantly corroded a large hole in the white jade pillar beside her.
"Kill him without mercy!"
"Yes, Your Holiness!"
At those words, the Shadow Guard looked as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He scrambled out of the bathing chamber.
After the guard left, Bibi Dong was once again alone in the vast bathing chamber.
She looked toward Heaven Dou City and murmured:
"Perfect World? Ten Fiends?"
"I'd like to see how long you can keep up this charade."
The next day.
When the first rays of morning sunlight fell across Heaven Dou City's wide streets, the entire city seemed to spring to life in an instant.
Today, nearly all the bustle and traffic converged in one direction: Listening Rain Pavilion.
After Su Chen's astonishing one-handed cauldron lift the day before, and the wild tale of the Blood Moving Realm's hundred-thousand-jin strength spreading like wildfire, the crowds outside Listening Rain Pavilion had become impossible to describe.
The inn's hall and upstairs private rooms were so packed that there wasn't room to squeeze in a pin. Even the street outside was completely blocked by a dense sea of people.
Heaven Dou City's guards had even been forced to send out two squads just to maintain order at the inn's entrance and prevent a serious stampede.
The hall was a sea of voices, and the excitement was still at fever pitch.
Every eye was fixed on the empty stage, eagerly awaiting the arrival of Mr. Su, who seemed like a Banished Immortal, and his tale of how little Shi Hao had used his mortal body to withstand the terrifying Green-Scaled Eagle's precious technique.
At the front of the packed crowd, Tang San and Zhao Wuji had arrived early to claim their spots.
Zhao Wuji stood with his arms crossed over his chest. His face was a mass of flesh, and his tiger-like eyes were fixed on the stage. An aura that warned everyone to keep their distance radiated from his entire body.
Tang San stood beside him, a faint, almost imperceptible sneer at the corner of his mouth.
Just as the atmosphere in the hall grew more and more charged, the crowd packed around the inn's entrance suddenly fell silent.
Then, as though they had encountered a plague god, everyone instinctively—and some nearly scrambling on hands and knees—retreated to either side, forcibly opening a wide path through the completely blocked doorway!
"What's going on?"
Many turned their heads in confusion.
An elderly man, tall and lean, walked in from outside with his hands behind his back, unhurried.
The old man had a weathered, ancient face, but what made people's blood run cold was his unruly head of green hair!
Even his eyes were emerald green.
A faint, sweetly acrid scent wafted from him.
Anyone who caught that scent immediately felt dizzy and short of breath.
"P-Poison Douluo?!"
Someone in the crowd suddenly cried out, apparently recognizing him.
"My heavens! It's Senior Dugu Bo!"
"Doesn't he always keep to himself, and barely even give the Heaven Dou Imperial Family the time of day?"
"What brings him to this crowded inn to listen to a Storyteller today?"
"Exactly! He's a Titled Douluo!"
Facing the reverent gazes around him, Dugu Bo merely gave a cold snort and paid them no mind.
The sole reason he had come was that the day before, he had heard a rumor in Heaven Dou City that struck him as particularly laughable.
Someone had actually dared to declare in public that if you boiled venomous centipedes and spiders together, they wouldn't kill you—instead, you could use them to prepare a medicinal bath to temper a three-year-old child's body?
As the forefather of poison-users, the undisputed foremost expert in poisons on the Douluo Continent, Dugu Bo felt this was the gravest insult to his life's work in toxicology!
So today, he had come in person to see just how many guts this ignorant brat called Su Chen had, daring to make up nonsense about poison!
Just as Dugu Bo strode in with his poisonous aura, daring anyone to come near, and took a seat at an empty table.
A faint sound of footsteps arose from behind the stage.
At once, over a thousand pairs of eyes turned in that direction, including Zhao Wuji's murderous scowl and Dugu Bo's shadowed gaze.
Su Chen wore a blue-green robe and held a folding fan. Still looking like a carefree Banished Immortal untouched by worldly concerns, he walked leisurely onto the stage.
After settling into the grand armchair, Su Chen casually swept his gaze over the crowd, then rapped the block once with a sharp crack.
The crisp sound instantly set every listener's heart pounding with anticipation.
"Picking up where we left off!"
As the sharp crack of the block echoed through Listening Rain Pavilion, everyone in the hall—who had felt somewhat oppressed by Dugu Bo's arrival—immediately focused on the stage.
At the front, Zhao Wuji's fists clenched with a series of cracks, but he didn't leap up to pick a fight like some reckless brute.
After all, this was the Heavenly Dou Imperial City, and rumors of the young man lifting a cauldron one-handed the day before had spread everywhere. Zhao Wuji might have a fiery temper, but he hadn't survived in the Soul Master World this long by being a brainless fool.
"Hmph. Let's hear what kind of pearls you can spit out first."
Zhao Wuji sat there with his arms crossed, as imposing as an iron pagoda. He sneered to himself: "If you really are full of hot air, using my Martial Soul as a stepping stone for your nonsense, I'll smash this rickety stage to pieces. Then we'll see whether that so-called hundred-thousand-jin strength of yours can withstand my Vajra Bear!"
On the other side, Dugu Bo didn't immediately make a scene either.
His venomous emerald eyes narrowed slightly as he picked up the teacup on the table and took a small sip, his expression cold.
"A medicinal bath to temper the body? Using poisonous things as tonics?" Dugu Bo scoffed inwardly.
"I'll sit right here today and hear how you intend to make this lie that defies the principles of poison hold water."
"Once I find a flaw, I'll make you taste the agony of ten thousand snakes devouring your heart."
For a time, the two powerful men, each with his own designs, held back and watched coldly.
On the stage, Su Chen naturally took in both their expressions, but couldn't have been less interested in responding.
"System, activate Immersive Experience and cover the entire audience."
Su Chen thought the words to himself. Then his folding fan snapped open with a swish, and his voice flowed forth:
"Yesterday, we reached the moment when the descendant of the Primordial Demonic Bird, the Green-Scaled Eagle, went completely berserk after discovering its offspring had been stolen."
"Faced with several-thousand-jin boulders hurled by three-and-a-half-year-old little Shi Hao, the Bone Script at its brow flashed. It unleashed the incomplete precious technique hidden deep in its bloodline—the Silver Moon Wheel!"
As Su Chen spoke, a strange ripple spread over Listening Rain Pavilion like waves on water.
The thousand or so listeners in the hall, including those in the upstairs private rooms, felt the scene before their eyes twist.
The next instant, they were horrified to discover that they seemed to be standing in a vast, primeval wilderness!
Gales howled overhead, and sand and stones swept through the air.
A terrifying Ferocious Beast, seven or eight meters long and covered in cold, blue-gold scales, circled across the sky, blotting out the sun.
Its mere presence left everyone there struggling to breathe.
"W-What kind of technique is this? An illusion?" Below, Immovable Bright King Zhao Wuji tensed, his muscles tightening in an instant.
Even though he knew it was fake, his Soul Saint's instincts still sensed a deadly pressure emanating from the Green-Scaled Eagle!
While everyone was left stunned and shivering by the lifelike illusion, Su Chen's voice rang in their ears like a narrator's.
"The Silver Moon Wheel tore through the void and streaked toward the Stone Village children below."
"At this critical moment, the village chief, Shi Yunfeng, finally arrived with Shi Linhu, Shi Feijiao, and the other strong men of the village!"
In the scene, dozens of bare-chested men charged in front of the children, roaring as they gripped crude bone spears and broad swords.
"These men of the Great Wilderness had spent their lives battling Ferocious Beasts. Even without cultivation, they possessed astonishing strength."
"Faced with the descending silver crescent, the village chief, Shi Yunfeng, didn't hesitate. He brought out a strange beast bone!"
"This was the Ancestral Artifact of Stone Village!"
At Su Chen's words, the crowd saw the dull-gray beast bone.
Dense Bone Script surfaced across its surface and wove together. At last, it transformed into the blurry silhouette of an ancient Ferocious Beast, which slammed into the Silver Moon head-on!
Boom!!!
Two terrifying forces collided in midair. Towering trees were uprooted around them, while countless boulders were instantly crushed to powder!
The listeners in Listening Rain Pavilion instinctively threw up their arms to shield themselves. Though the impact caused no actual harm, the sight of utter devastation made their hearts pound wildly.
"What terrifying power!" A flicker of alarm crossed Dugu Bo's eyes.
A clash of this magnitude was already no weaker than a fight to the death between high-ranking Soul Douluos!
Yet just as everyone thought the people of Stone Village had finally blocked the deadly strike,
Su Chen's story took a sudden turn.
"The Ancestral Artifact had blocked the Silver Moon Wheel, but in the violent collision, the three Green-Scaled Eagle eggs the older children had stolen accidentally tumbled away."
"One of the eggs, glowing with a green light, hit the ground with a crack. Its shell split open in an instant."
Hearing this, everyone's hearts gave a lurch.
It was over.
Sure enough, in the sky of the illusion,
when the Green-Scaled Eagle saw its offspring's egg broken, it went completely berserk!
The Green-Scaled Eagle beat its wings furiously, every blue-gold scale on its body standing on end. It threw caution to the wind and plunged downward with all its might!
The Ancestral Artifact's glow dimmed, and Shi Linhu and the others were shaken until they spat out mouthfuls of blood. The whole village was about to be struck by the Primordial Demonic Bird.
At the critical moment, the charred Willow Tree at the entrance of Stone Village, reduced to nothing but a dead stump, suddenly moved.
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