Xue Yao instantly switched into "Oscar-worthy actor" mode.
He didn't answer right away. Instead, he lowered his head and toyed with the exquisite white jade wine cup in his hand, as though he were giving the question serious thought.
A moment later, he looked up and met Xue Qinghe's gaze with clear eyes, the kind of innocent, sunny look unique to a six-year-old child, yet touched with a simple, earnest logic.
"A threat? I don't think so."
Xue Yao blinked and said in a perfectly natural tone, "I think Spirit Hall is pretty great."
"Oh? Pretty great?" Xue Qinghe raised an eyebrow slightly and probed without giving anything away. "What makes it so great?"
"Your Highness, I didn't spend all my time cooped up in the palace when I was in the Farack Kingdom. I've also been out in the countryside under the kingdom's rule." Xue Yao shrugged, his tone brimming with an innocent lack of worldly experience.
"Before I came to Heaven Dou City, I saw that every year, when the time came to awaken Martial Souls, the uncles who served as deacons at the Spirit Hall Branch would visit every village and every town to awaken the Martial Souls of all the commoner children for free."
"Rain or shine, no matter how poor the village, they would still go. And they were always kind. Even when a child awakened a hoe or Blue Silver Grass, a Trash Martial Soul, they still patiently entered their names in the records."
At that, Xue Yao curled his lip and glanced around the luxurious Elegant Pavilion at Moonlight Pavilion.
"On the other hand, some of the nobles in Heaven Dou City are stingy as anything behind closed doors. They don't care one bit whether ordinary people live or die. Without Spirit Hall, more than ninety percent of the commoners across the continent might never find out whether they have Soul Power."
Xue Yao looked up and met Xue Qinghe's eyes directly, his little face full of earnestness.
"For commoners, whoever awakens their Martial Soul is a good person. Everyone says Spirit Hall is ambitious, but if its ambition is to help more Soul Masters get food on the table and an education... what's so bad about that kind of ambition?"
"Tap."
Xue Qinghe gently set down his chopsticks on the jade tabletop.
He looked at the clear-eyed six-year-old boy before him, whose logic was simple and blunt, and felt as if something had given his chest a gentle nudge.
Spirit Hall was pretty great. The deacons were kind. They gave commoners a chance.
There was no flowery language in those words, nor any political flattery. They were the most genuine reflections of a prince with a conscience, one who hadn't been marinated in the ways of his own class.
But it was precisely that "genuineness" that shattered the defenses deep within Qian Renxue's heart.
As a descendant of the Angel Clan, wasn't Spirit Hall's original creed to save the world and bless the common people?
After lying low in the Heaven Dou Empire for so many years, Qian Renxue had grown used to hearing the nobles' hypocritical curses and fearful muttering about Spirit Hall. And today, from the mouth of a six-year-old child, she had heard the purest recognition of Spirit Hall!
"Good... very good."
Deep in Xue Qinghe's eyes, a glint of satisfaction shone through.
He rose and walked over to Xue Yao, gently patting him on the shoulder.
"Brother Xue Yao, your perspective is pure. You haven't been tainted by the rotten aristocratic culture in Heaven Dou City. Keep that purity, and you'll surely have a place at the pinnacle of the continent one day."
As he spoke, Xue Qinghe took a white jade token carved with a swan from his robes and handed it to Xue Yao.
"Take this East Palace Gold Token. From now on, if you run into any trouble in Heaven Dou City, bring it to me whenever you like. The gates of the Crown Prince's Residence will always be open to you."
Success!
Xue Yao was overjoyed, but his face showed just the right amount of flustered surprise.
He hurried to his feet, accepted the token with both hands, and bowed deeply. "Thank you for your support, Your Highness! I'll work hard at cultivation and won't let you down!"
"Go on. It's getting late. I'll have a guard escort you back to the academy," Xue Qinghe said with a gentle smile.
A few minutes later.
As the door closed softly, Xue Yao's footsteps gradually faded into the distance.
The warm, spring-breeze atmosphere in the Elegant Pavilion vanished in an instant.
"Vmmm—"
In the shadows at the corner of the pavilion, space rippled like water.
A gaunt elder, cloaked from head to toe in black and holding a Snake Lance, appeared out of thin air like a ghost.
A Titled Douluo, Snake Lance!
"Your Highness."
Snake Lance Douluo bowed slightly, his voice rasping like sandpaper.
He raised his head, his icy, viper-like eyes fixed on the doorway.
"That boy's talent is downright terrifying. Fifteen ranks at six, a self-created Wind Blade Soul Skill, and he even forced Dugu Bo's granddaughter to back down with just a few words. If that kind of monster is allowed to grow, he'll become a grave threat to Spirit Hall!"
Snake Lance Douluo tightened his grip on the lance, a bone-chilling aura faintly radiating from him.
"Your Highness, to ensure your plan to seize the throne succeeds without a hitch, I ask permission to sneak into the Viscount Mansion tonight and eliminate him in secret. We absolutely cannot let the Heaven Dou Imperial Family keep such an unparalleled pillar of support!"
In response to Snake Lance Douluo's request, Xue Qinghe—or rather, Qian Renxue—didn't answer immediately.
She picked up the fruit wine on the table, now gone cold, and downed it in one gulp.
Her face, once as warm and gentle as jade, had shed every last trace of its disguise. Now it was icy, proud, and full of authority.
"Eliminate him? No need."
Qian Renxue sneered and tossed the jade cup onto the table.
"A once-in-a-century genius, and one who can still be won over at that—how could I let old Xue Ye have him so easily?"
Snake Lance Douluo paused, then lowered his head. "But, Your Highness, he is a viscount ennobled by the Heaven Dou Empire, and greatly favored by Emperor Xue Ye..."
"Favor? That's just Xue Ye's way of winning people over."
Qian Renxue walked to the window and looked down over the brightly lit Heaven Dou City, the corner of her mouth curling in contempt.
"Didn't you hear what he said at the table?"
"Although he was born a noble, his heart is pure. He has no sense of belonging to Heaven Dou's hypocritical aristocratic system. On the contrary, he's simple-minded, and because Spirit Hall awakens commoners' Martial Souls for free, he has a great deal of goodwill toward us."
Qian Renxue's eyes glittered.
"He's a peerless blade. And one that values only resources and power, and hasn't been completely bound to the Heaven Dou Imperial Family!"
"Since he likes Spirit Hall, we'll secretly provide him with resources and protection and win him over! If we can get him to serve me, then this pillar of the Heaven Dou Empire will become the sharpest dagger plunged into Xue Ye's heart!"
Snake Lance Douluo finally understood, and a trace of awe flashed in his eyes.
"Your Highness is wise! I was shortsighted."
"But..." Qian Renxue suddenly changed tack, her eyes turning sharp and icy.
"Pass on my orders. From today onward, the East Palace's covert guards are to protect Xue Yao around the clock, without his knowledge. Not a hair on his head is to be harmed by any other faction in Heaven Dou City."
"Also, activate every one of our informants in Heaven Dou City and seal away all information that Xue Yao is already at rank fifteen!"
Qian Renxue gritted her teeth. Her cold voice carried a deep loathing and wariness.
"Absolutely do not let that madwoman in the Pope Palace find out he exists!"
Qian Renxue knew Bibi Dong all too well.
If Bibi Dong found out Heaven Dou City had produced such an outrageous genius, that madwoman would stop at nothing to send someone to steal him away. And if she couldn't, she would cruelly destroy him.
Besides, Qian Renxue needed Xue Yao to become part of the Angel Clan's inner circle, not a pawn for Bibi Dong's Pope Palace!
"Yes! I understand. I'll make the arrangements at once!" Snake Lance Douluo accepted the order respectfully, then flashed away and melted back into the darkness.
Qian Renxue stood alone by the window, gazing at the night sky.
"Xue Yao... Heh. Let's see just how much of a surprise you can bring me."
At the same time.
After leaving Moonlight Pavilion, Xue Yao sat in the carriage on his way back to the academy, leaning comfortably against the cushions.
He toyed with the White Jade Gold Token that represented the East Palace's privileges, the corners of his mouth lifting uncontrollably.
"That was thrilling. Absolutely thrilling."
Xue Yao let out a long breath and wiped the cold sweat from his palms.
If he'd misspoken even once during that performance in the pavilion, he'd probably be lining up on the road to the underworld by now.
But the higher the risk, the richer the reward!
With his brilliant speech about how a six-year-old admired Spirit Hall, he'd not only successfully dispelled Qian Renxue's murderous intent, but had also struck right at her soft spot: her desire to recruit talent.
The situation now was this:
Qian Renxue definitely wouldn't send anyone to assassinate him again.
Not only would she refrain from trying to kill him, but to keep this "peerless blade still in its sheath" from dying young, she'd send experts from the East Palace to protect him from every angle in secret!
If Prince Xue Xing or some other noble who disliked him tried to send someone after him now...
They probably wouldn't even get close to the Viscount Mansion before Qian Renxue's covert guards quietly slit their throats.
"That's what you call turning someone else's strength against them."
Xue Yao couldn't help laughing.
Qian Renxue thought she'd seen right through a six-year-old boy. She figured that with a few small favors and a "debt of gratitude," she could raise him into a loyal follower of Spirit Hall and turn him into a trump card in her plan to seize the throne.
To keep that trump card all to herself, she'd even take the initiative to hide Xue Yao's brilliance from Spirit Hall headquarters.
It was the perfect free bodyguard, complete with an information firewall!
"I got your protection for free, took your privileges without paying a thing, and you even have to shield me from attacks behind the scenes. And in the end, you still have to praise me for being simple-minded."
Xue Yao tossed the East Palace token into the air and caught it neatly, a sly glint in his eyes.
"This time, Qian Renxue's the one who still has to thank us!"
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