The west gate of Star Luo City was heavily guarded.
Because of the Third Prince Dai Mubai's disappearance and the bizarre disappearance of the Zhu Family's second young lady, the entire city had been placed on the highest alert. Before the massive iron gates, squad after squad of armored soldiers stood armed and ready, interrogating everyone leaving the city as if they were searching them.
"Stop! What are you doing?" A military officer blocked the few rather bedraggled figures ahead with his sword.
Yu Xiaogang stepped forward expressionlessly. He wasn't angered by the soldiers' rudeness; instead, he seemed exceptionally composed. Slowly, he reached into his robes and took out a dark, ancient token that gleamed with a cold metallic luster. He waved it before the officer.
On the token, six intricate totems shimmered in the sunlight with an authority that made Soul Masters tremble.
It was the token Tang Hao had given him some time ago. The symbol on it marked it as a token of the Spirit Hall Elder Hall, something generally reserved for powerful Titled Douluo.
The moment the aggressive officer recognized the token, his face went deathly pale and he froze in place. His hand, gripping his sword, shook violently. Then, with a thud, he fell to his knees. The clatter of his armor against the ground rang especially sharply in the dead silence at the city gate.
"Th-this lowly one... failed to recognize Mount Tai! I didn't know you were... His Majesty's honored guest. Please forgive me, my lord!" The officer's voice turned shrill with terror. He didn't know the token's exact origins, but he recognized it as a Pope Token, something only the few people standing at the pinnacle of the Douluo Continent could possess. A great figure like that could destroy his family with a single breath.
"Can we leave now?" Yu Xiaogang asked hoarsely.
"Of course! Quickly, open the gates! See the lord off!"
Under the soldiers' awed, fearful gazes, Yu Xiaogang and Tang San led the blond youth behind them out through the gate, bundled up tightly beneath a bamboo hat. They strode away from this seemingly inescapable dead end as if they owned the place.
After leaving Star Luo City and traveling about ten li, the blond youth finally pulled off his bamboo hat beside a deserted, tree-lined road.
He had an exceptionally handsome face, though it carried a certain air of dissipation. His golden hair was slightly disheveled, and his especially striking eyes were naturally two different colors, one red and one blue. He was none other than the Third Prince of the Star Luo Empire, the deserter now nailed to a pillar of shame—Dai Mubai.
"Thank you, Grandmaster, for saving my life." Dai Mubai bowed to Yu Xiaogang, then let out a long breath and glanced back with lingering fear. "Damn, I nearly got stuck in that pitch-black Star Luo City."
"Since you were willing to pay Flender a hefty sum to take the job, I, as his brother, naturally couldn't stand by and do nothing," Yu Xiaogang said calmly. Then he looked at Tang San. "Xiao San, you young people should get to know each other. You'll be comrades at Shrek Academy from now on."
Yu Xiaogang walked ahead alone to scout the road, leaving the two boys some space.
Yu Xiaogang hadn't yet had a chance to tell Gu Tian that, after the new school year began next year, he would take Tang San to study at Shrek Academy in Suotuo City.
Students on the Douluo Continent generally qualified to enter advanced Soul Master academies only after graduating from a junior Soul Master academy. Junior Soul Master academies couldn't teach middle school students, but that didn't mean advanced Soul Master academies couldn't accept junior Soul Master students.
Tang San looked at the prince beside him, who was a few years older. Although Dai Mubai was now a deserter, the aristocratic pride about him and his lavish, money-spending ways gave the currently penniless Tang San a powerful urge to attach himself to him.
"Xiao San, I heard from the teacher that you actually have Twin Martial Souls?" Dai Mubai patted Tang San on the shoulder, genuine admiration in his striking eyes. "To achieve that in a remote place like Nuoding City is no small feat. We people of Star Luo believe the strong are supreme. Compared with the useless fools who only know how to scheme in the imperial palace, I like you much better."
Having suffered all kinds of humiliation at Gu Tian's hands, Tang San was greatly pleased by the prince's praise. He hastily demurred. "You flatter me, Boss Dai. Compared with your White Tiger Martial Soul, mine are just unorthodox tricks."
The two chatted as they traveled. With their similarly wretched circumstances and certain dark thoughts they kept hidden from others, they found more and more to talk about.
"Boss Dai, I heard... the competition within the Star Luo Imperial Family is exceptionally brutal. Now that you've left, what about that young lady from the Zhu Family...?" Tang San asked tentatively, wanting to find out what sort of person the prince really was.
At the mention of Zhu Zhuqing, Dai Mubai's handsome face showed not the slightest trace of guilt. Instead, an expression of utter loathing appeared.
"That girl?" Dai Mubai gave a cold snort, his voice devoid of warmth. "It's her own bad luck. As a daughter of the Zhu Family, she was paired with me, a prince destined for exile. This calamity was written in her fate. If she really gets executed and buried with me, then she'll have helped me avert that fate in the great scheme of things. It'll be her good fortune."
Dai Mubai spat and continued cursing. "Women? What the hell do they matter when it comes to power? Once I reach Suotuo City and enroll at Shrek, with my talent and hundreds of thousands of Gold Soul Coins, what kind of woman couldn't I find? Risking my life for a fiancée I've never even met? Only an idiot would do that."
Hearing Dai Mubai's utterly cold words, Tang San didn't feel repulsed. Instead, he felt the thrill of finding a kindred spirit. In his eyes, a woman like Xiao Wu, who had betrayed him, deserved the same fate.
"Boss Dai, you speak your mind. You're truly a man of honest feelings!" Tang San exclaimed sincerely.
Dai Mubai burst out laughing and slung an arm around Tang San's neck. "Ha ha! Good! Xiao San, I can tell you're a sensible one. Since we get along so well, once we're back at Shrek, we'll officially become sworn brothers! From now on, I'll be your big brother. If I have a bite of meat, you'll never go without a bowl of broth!"
The two laughed loudly in the woods. As the saying went, birds of a feather flocked together; at that moment, their two equally selfish, dark hearts became thoroughly entangled.
Just then, a cold wind blew past, lifting a loose sheet of paper from the edge of the woods.
The sheet landed right on Tang San's large bundle. He pulled it off, glanced at it, and saw a missing-person notice plastered all over Star Luo City.
[Zhu Zhuqing, second young lady of the Zhu Family, went missing last night. A reward of ten thousand Gold Soul Coins for anyone who provides information!]
The notice bore a hand-drawn portrait. Though it consisted of only a few strokes, it captured in vivid detail her cold, captivating features and the distinctive air of a feline Soul Master.
The instant Tang San recognized the portrait, his pupils shrank to pinpricks.
In that moment, the scene he had seen earlier that morning outside a clothing shop flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.
The young woman wearing a sun hat, which concealed most of her face but couldn't hide her icy beauty...
The young woman wearing one of Gu Tian's spare, oversized T-shirts, with a pair of long, straight legs on display...
The young woman holding Gu Tian's hand, who hadn't even spared Tang San a proper glance...
"Gu Tian... Zhu Zhuqing..."
Tang San's breathing grew ragged, and his arm trembled with excitement.
"Boss Dai! I think I know where your fiancée is!" Tang San abruptly turned his head, a viper's gleam shining in his eyes.
"What?" Dai Mubai froze.
"This morning, right outside Jinxiu Pavilion in Star Luo City." Tang San gritted his teeth, each word seeming to grind between them. "I saw Gu Tian buying clothes with a girl. I thought it was strange at the time, but now I realize her features matched the portrait exactly! She was Zhu Zhuqing!"
Boom!
Dai Mubai punched a nearby tree so thick that two people could barely wrap their arms around it. His violent White Tiger Soul Power split the trunk with a crack.
"Bitch! Shameless little slut!" Dai Mubai's handsome face twisted with rage, his differently colored eyes bloodshot. "I'm not even dead yet! And she's already sneaking around the city with another man? What kind of thing is Gu Tian? How dare he lay a hand on my woman?"
In the eyes of an intensely selfish man like Dai Mubai, he could accept Zhu Zhuqing dying, but he couldn't tolerate her throwing herself into another man's arms. To him, it was a greater humiliation than being branded a deserter.
"I heard the Grandmaster say that Gu Tian also has Innate Full Soul Power and a Mutated Martial Soul," Tang San added, fanning the flames. "And judging from how sure of himself he looked this morning, he clearly intends to make Miss Zhu his own."
"Boss Dai, your status is a little delicate right now. You can't go back and teach him a lesson yourself." Tang San looked at the furious Dai Mubai, a venomous smile curling his lips. "But we can't just swallow this humiliation. Gu Tian threw his weight around at Nuoding Academy, thinking he was something special just because he had some lousy Martial Soul, and now he's stolen your woman, too. Since he's in the city and the Zhu Residence is offering ten thousand gold to find her..."
Tang San lowered his voice, a chilling greed seeping into his words. "I plan to sneak back into the city and expose Gu Tian to the Zhu Residence. With Zhu Ganglie's hot temper, the moment he learns his own daughter ran off with some unknown young man, he'll surely rally the entire clan and hack Gu Tian to pieces. Then not only will the ten thousand Gold Soul Coins be ours, but Gu Tian will be dead, too! I can even take the woman beside him and bring her to you for some fun."
Dai Mubai looked at Tang San with cold eyes and gave a firm nod. "Good! Xiao San, I'll leave this to you. Once we have the money, we'll meet in Suotuo City! Don't worry. As long as you don't give away my whereabouts, those old fogeys of the Zhu Family won't dare touch you."
"Don't worry, Boss Dai. I, Tang San, would never betray a brother."
Tang San looked toward Star Luo City, his heart brimming with perverse delight. Gu Tian, did you think taking Zhu Zhuqing away was her salvation? No. It was your one-way ticket to hell.
I'll make sure you're reduced to bones and dust beneath the crushing might of the Star Luo Empire's military!