Granted a Countship, Rewarded with Ten Million Gold!

(Release Note: First published on QQ Reading. The book went premium at fifty thousand words; books on QQ Reading all go premium at fifty thousand words.)

The night grew ever deeper, hazy and mysterious. Countless stars, like radiant gemstones, were scattered densely across the vast heavens, while the bright full moon hung high in the sky, continuously casting down its soft, gentle glow.

Beneath that clear moonlight, which poured down like flowing water, the atmosphere outside the Crown Prince's Mansion was incomparably oppressive and heavy. Numerous figures overlapped one another, their numbers astonishingly great!!!

The imposing ordinary soldiers wore sturdy, splendid silver armor and gripped sharp silver spears tightly in their hands. They stood ready outside the Crown Prince's Mansion, surrounding it so completely that not even the slightest gap or weakness remained.

Ordinary soldiers had encircled the Crown Prince's Mansion from every direction, while the Royal Knights, formed from powerful Soul Masters, had tightly sealed off the mansion's main entrance.

Several hundred members of the Royal Knights all wore dazzling golden armor and held their own favored weapons firmly in hand. Every one of them had resolute eyes and solemn expressions, their gazes locked tightly onto the grand Crown Prince's Mansion ahead.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!!! We failed to protect Her Highness properly and allowed the assassin to enter the Crown Prince's Mansion. Our crimes are grave, and we deserve death a thousand times over. Please punish us, Your Majesty!!!" The two Soul Saint guards who had previously been unconscious had now awakened. Both knelt on the ground, weeping bitterly.

Before the Royal Knights stood five figures, gathered together and standing straight. Of them, the middle-aged man in the center drew the most attention.

In stark contrast to the other four, he wore a dazzling golden imperial robe and a crown inlaid with all manner of gems that glittered brilliantly. His right hand tightly gripped a golden scepter symbolizing the supreme authority of the Heaven Dou Empire.

His eyes were deep as the sea, bright as burning torches, as though they could see through every secret in the world. Sharp and majestic, they were currently fixed on the palace before him, his expression filled with grief, worry, and sorrow, all mixed together like shattered seasonings.

Xue Ye paid no attention whatsoever to the two powerful Soul Saint guards kneeling on the ground. All he wanted to know now was whether his imperial child, Xue Qinghe, was safe and whether she had fallen victim to the assassin!

His imperial child, Xue Qinghe, possessed tremendous prestige among both the common people and the court. In his heart, she was even the perfect heir, someone who could lead the Heaven Dou Empire to ever greater prosperity in the future. Yet such a perfect heir had actually been assassinated by a Soul Douluo!

If his imperial child Xue Qinghe had truly met with misfortune, then that Soul Douluo assassin had to die. Even with wings, the assassin would not escape! The Heaven Dou Empire would dig three feet into the ground if necessary to uncover the mastermind behind this!

They would wipe them out, destroy their legacy, utterly crush their forces, and make every person connected to this matter accompany his imperial child Xue Qinghe in death!!!

Even an ordinary man's wrath could make blood splash three feet high, much less that of an emperor.

If the enemy truly escaped their encirclement, leaving Heaven Dou City alive would be impossible!

The moment he received the news, he had already issued orders. Nearly all forces within Heaven Dou City had been mobilized. Even if the assassin ultimately escaped their encirclement, tens of thousands of soldiers and countless Soul Masters were waiting outside.

Xue Ye's gaze swept coldly over the two men kneeling on the ground, as though he were looking at corpses. He said icily, "If Qinghe has met with misfortune, then you truly cannot escape blame! However, I do not intend to execute you. Go die at that assassin's hands instead!"

Xue Ye sighed softly, looking as though he had aged several years in an instant.

"Your Majesty, we should enter immediately. Looking at the current situation, we have already missed the best time for a rescue. Though Your Majesty may be unwilling to admit it, this is the truth. By now, the other party has likely noticed our encirclement and therefore dared not show himself, hiding within the Crown Prince's Mansion instead." The brawny middle-aged man in golden armor standing beside Xue Ye spoke.

The other four figures standing to Xue Ye's left and right were the three Education Committee Members of Heaven Dou Royal Academy, dressed in teachers' robes, and the commander of the Royal Knights, dressed in golden armor. Every one of them possessed Soul Douluo-level strength!

Upon hearing this, Xue Ye's previously bright, spirited eyes instantly dimmed. How could he possibly not understand?

From the time he received the news until the forces were assembled and arrived here, they had long since missed the ideal opportunity for rescue. He simply refused to admit it and had been deceiving himself here.

Thinking of how outstanding his imperial child Xue Qinghe was, Xue Ye could not help but feel that Heaven was so unfair!

Emperor Xue Ye's face darkened. Heartbroken, his body trembling, he finally gave the order, "Convey my verbal decree! All Soul Masters are to charge into the Crown Prince's Mansion at once. Whoever kills the assassin shall be richly rewarded, granted the title of Count, and given ten million gold!!!"

Xue Ye seemed to have exhausted all his strength in saying those words. His face was filled with grief, and then his vision abruptly darkened as he fell straight backward.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!! Your Majesty!!!" The three Education Committee Members and the commander of the Royal Knights hurriedly supported Xue Ye, their faces full of worry as they called out anxiously.

The heir to the Heaven Dou Empire had already met with disaster. If the emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire were to fall as well, then the remaining prince, Xue Beng, would find it even harder to shoulder such heavy responsibility. The vast Heaven Dou Empire, which occupied half of the Douluo Continent, would likely face the danger of splitting apart!

"It is nothing. Nothing... I want that assassin to die without a complete corpse!" Xue Ye's voice trembled incessantly.

"Commander, the assassin, the assassin... has appeared!" A member of the Royal Knights stared fixedly at Lin Xiao as he slowly stepped out through the main gate, shouting the warning anxiously.

The four hurriedly supported Xue Ye and helped him stand upright. When they looked at Lin Xiao, who was slowly approaching them, all of them immediately became vigilant.

As for the other members of the Royal Knights, when they saw Lin Xiao, their eyes burned with fervor. That was a countship, and a reward of ten million gold!

A friend's book—over a million words of Douluo content, quality guaranteed.