Acting Frenzy: She Should Thank Me!

Xue Yao instantly activated his "Oscar-winning actor" mode.

He did not answer immediately, instead lowering his head to toy with the exquisite white jade wine cup in his hands, as if deep in thought.

A moment later, he looked up at Xue Qinghe with the clear, innocent gaze of a six-year-old child, one that held a touch of simple, rustic logic.

"A threat? I don't think so."

Xue Yao blinked, his tone sounding perfectly natural. "I think Martial Soul Hall is actually quite good."

"Oh? Quite good?" Xue Qinghe raised an eyebrow slightly, pressing on with an unruffled expression. "In what way?"

"Your Highness, when I was in the Farack Kingdom, I didn't just stay in the deep palace; I also walked through the rural villages under the kingdom's rule." Xue Yao shrugged, his tone carrying an air of naive innocence.

"Before I came to Tiandou City, I saw that every year, when the day for awakening martial souls arrived, the deacons from the local Martial Soul Hall branches would go to every village and every town to awaken the martial souls of all the commoner children for free."

"Regardless of wind or rain, no matter how poor the village was, they would go. And their attitude was always kind. Even if someone awakened a useless martial soul like a hoe or Blue Silver Grass, they would still patiently register them."

At this point, Xue Yao pursed his lips and glanced around the luxurious Elegant Pavilion in Moonlight Pavilion.

"On the contrary, some nobles in Tiandou City are stingy behind closed doors and don't care about the lives of ordinary people at all. If it weren't for Martial Soul Hall, over ninety percent of the commoners on the entire continent might never know if they had soul power in their entire lives."

Xue Yao looked up, meeting Xue Qinghe's eyes directly, his small face full of earnestness.

"To the commoners, whoever awakens my martial soul is a good person. Everyone says Martial Soul Hall has ambition, but if their ambition is to let more soul masters have food to eat and schools to attend... then what is wrong with that kind of ambition?"

Clack.

The chopsticks in Xue Qinghe's hand were placed gently onto the jade tabletop.

He looked at the six-year-old boy before him with his clear eyes and simple, brutal logic, feeling as if his chest had been lightly struck by something.

Martial Soul Hall is quite good. The deacons are very kind. Giving commoners a chance.

These few sentences contained no flowery rhetoric, nor any political flattery. They were the most genuine reflections from the perspective of a prince who still possessed a conscience and had not yet been pickled by his own social class.

But it was precisely this "authenticity" that completely breached the defenses deep within Qian Renxue's heart.

As a descendant of the Angel Clan, wasn't the original doctrine of Martial Soul Hall to save the world and bestow grace upon the commoners?

Having lurked in the Heaven Dou Empire for so many years, Qian Renxue had grown accustomed to the hypocritical curses and fears the nobles held toward Martial Soul Hall. Today, she had actually heard the purest recognition of Martial Soul Hall from the mouth of a six-year-old child!

"Good... very good."

A flash of undisguised satisfaction and brilliance flickered deep within Xue Qinghe's eyes.

He stood up, walked over to Xue Yao, and gently patted him on the shoulder.

"Little brother Xue Yao, your perspective is very pure, untainted by the decadent atmosphere of the Tiandou City nobility. Maintain this purity, and there will surely be a place for you at the pinnacle of the continent in the future."

As he spoke, Xue Qinghe took a white jade token engraved with a Swan pattern from his robes and handed it to Xue Yao.

"Take this East Palace Gold Token. In the future, if you encounter any trouble in Tiandou City, feel free to come find me with it. The doors of the Crown Prince's Residence will always be open to you."

Success!

Xue Yao was ecstatic inside, but his face displayed the perfect expression of being overwhelmed by favor.

He hurriedly stood up, took the token with both hands, and bowed deeply. "Many thanks to Your Highness the Crown Prince for your cultivation! I will certainly strive to cultivate and will never fail your expectations!"

"Go on, it's getting late. I'll have the guards take you back to the academy," Xue Qinghe said with a gentle smile.

A few minutes later.

As the door was gently closed, the sound of Xue Yao's footsteps gradually faded away.

Inside the Elegant Pavilion, the gentle, spring-breeze atmosphere vanished without a trace.

"Hum—"

In the shadows of the pavilion corner, the space rippled like water.

A thin old man draped in a black robe, holding a snake-headed lance, appeared out of thin air like a ghost.

A Title Douluo, Snake Lance Douluo!

"Young Master."

Snake Lance Douluo bowed slightly, his voice raspy as if rubbing against sandpaper.

He looked up, his cold, viper-like eyes fixed on the direction of the door.

"This child's talent is simply shocking. Level fifteen at six years old, a self-created Wind Blade soul skill, and he even managed to force back Dugu Bo's granddaughter with just a few words. Such a monster—if he is allowed to grow, he will definitely become a grave threat to our Martial Soul Hall in the future!"

Snake Lance Douluo gripped his lance tightly, a bone-chilling coldness radiating from his body.

"Young Master, to ensure your plan to usurp the nation goes off without a hitch, this subordinate requests to sneak into the Viscount Mansion tonight and secretly eliminate him. We must not leave such a peerless pillar for the Heaven Dou royal family!"

Facing Snake Lance Douluo's request, Xue Qinghe—or rather, Qian Renxue—did not answer immediately.

She picked up the fruit wine on the table, which had already gone cold, and downed it in one gulp.

The face that had been as gentle as jade had now shed all its disguises, becoming cold as frost, arrogant, and filled with majesty.

"Eliminate him? No need."

Qian Renxue sneered, tossing the jade cup onto the table.

"A genius who appears once in a century, and one who can still be won over—how could I possibly let him go so cheaply to that old man Emperor Xue Ye?"

Snake Lance Douluo paused, then lowered his head. "But Young Mistress, he is, after all, a Viscount personally enfeoffed by the Heaven Dou Empire and deeply favored by Emperor Xue Ye..."

"Favored? That is merely a tactic for Xue Ye to win over people's hearts."

Qian Renxue walked to the window, looking down at the brightly lit Tiandou City, a mocking curve playing on her lips.

"Did you not hear what he said at the banquet just now?"

"Although this child was born into the nobility, his nature is pure and kind; he has no sense of belonging to this hypocritical aristocratic system of Heaven Dou. On the contrary, his mind is simple, and because of Martial Soul Hall's initiative to awaken martial souls for commoners for free, he holds great goodwill toward us in his heart."

A sharp light flickered in Qian Renxue's eyes.

"He is a peerless blade. And a blade that values only resources and power, one not yet completely shackled by the Heaven Dou Imperial Family!"

"Since he has goodwill toward Martial Soul Hall, we shall secretly provide him with resources and protection to win him over! As long as he can be used by me, this 'Heavenly Pillar' of the Heaven Dou Empire will one day become the most lethal dagger plunged into the heart of Emperor Xue Ye!"

Snake Lance Douluo suddenly realized, a trace of awe flashing in his eyes.

"The Young Mistress is wise! It was this subordinate who was short-sighted."

"However..." Qian Renxue's tone shifted abruptly, her gaze becoming extremely sharp and cold.

"Pass on my order. From today on, the East Palace's shadow guards are to protect Xue Yao in secret around the clock. Do not let the dark hands of any other factions in Tiandou City harm a hair on his head."

"Additionally, activate all our secret lines in Tiandou City and seal the intelligence that Xue Yao is already at level fifteen!"

Qian Renxue gritted her teeth, her cold voice laced with deep disgust and wariness.

"We must never let that madwoman at the Pope Palace know of his existence!"

Qian Renxue knew Bibi Dong too well.

If Bibi Dong were to find out that such a heaven-defying prodigy had appeared in Tiandou City, that madwoman would absolutely use any means necessary to send someone to snatch him. If she couldn't have him, she would cruelly destroy him.

Moreover, Qian Renxue needed Xue Yao to be a core member of the Angel Clan, not a thug for Bibi Dong's Pope Palace!

"Understood! This subordinate will arrange it immediately!" Snake Lance Douluo accepted the order respectfully, then his figure flashed and merged back into the darkness.

Qian Renxue stood alone by the window, watching the night sky.

"Xue Yao... Heh, I would like to see just how big of a surprise you can bring me."

At the same time.

Having left Moonlight Pavilion and boarded the carriage returning to the academy, Xue Yao was leaning comfortably against the soft cushions.

He toyed with the White Jade Gold Token that represented the privileges of the East Palace, the corners of his mouth unable to stop curling upward wildly.

"Thrilling, simply too thrilling."

Xue Yao let out a long, heavy breath, wiping the cold sweat that had seeped into his palms.

During that performance in the Elegant Pavilion, one wrong word would have likely landed him in a queue on the road to the underworld.

But the high risk had brought an extremely rich reward!

Through that genius speech of a "six-year-old child praising Martial Soul Hall," he had not only successfully dispelled Qian Renxue's killing intent but had also precisely struck the weak point of her desire to recruit talent.

The current situation is:

Qian Renxue will absolutely never send anyone to assassinate him again.

Not only will she not assassinate him, but to prevent this "unsharpened peerless blade" from dying prematurely, Qian Renxue will send experts from the East Palace to protect him in secret from every angle!

If Prince Xue Xing or any other nobles who disliked him tried to strike from the shadows at this time...

They would likely have their throats slit by Qian Renxue's shadow guards before they even got close to the Viscount Mansion.

"This is what you call using force to strike force."

Xue Yao couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Qian Renxue thought she had seen through the mind of a six-year-old child, believing that with a few small favors and the "grace of appreciation," she could cultivate him into a loyalist of Martial Soul Hall and turn him into a trump card for her plan to usurp the country.

To keep this trump card all to herself, she would even take the initiative to help Xue Yao hide his edge, keeping him hidden from the sight of the Martial Soul Hall headquarters.

This was simply the perfect, free ultimate bodyguard combined with an information firewall!

"I've freeloaded your protection, taken your privileges for nothing, and you still have to secretly block knives for me, all while praising me for having a simple mind."

Xue Yao tossed the East Palace token into the air and caught it steadily, a flash of cunning light in his eyes.

"This move, this move is one where Qian Renxue even has to thank us!"