Seeking Justice in the Balak Kingdom

When Yu Xiaolou and I reached the academy gates, Qing Luo was hurrying out with two teachers.

She walked at the front, her expression taut and her lips pressed into a thin line, with the two night-duty teachers following behind her.

When she saw Yu Xiaolou and me approaching from the southern path, Qing Luo abruptly stopped.

She stared at Yu Xiaolou's torn clothes and the bruises that had yet to fully fade from his face. Then she hurried over, checked him thoroughly from head to toe, and only turned to me after confirming that he still had all his limbs.

"Young Master, what happened?"

"Help Xiaolou back first. I'll explain as we walk."

Qing Luo shoved the lantern into the hands of one of the teachers and gave them a few instructions, telling them to go back and rest first. Though the two teachers were full of questions, they saw Yu Xiaolou's condition and did not press for answers. They nodded and returned to the duty room.

Qing Luo and I each supported Yu Xiaolou from one side as we headed back.

Yu Xiaolou's injuries had mostly been healed by the restorative effect of Azure Dragon Longevity, but he had been tied up for most of the day without so much as a drop of water. He was still weak, and his legs trembled as he walked.

"Sister Qing Luo, you have no idea. Brother Tian Lin took down two Soul Kings by himself. Two! I saw it with my own eyes. There were two corpses outside the mine. Roger had it even worse—he wet his pants."

"Shut up first." Qing Luo shot him a glare, then turned to me and lowered her voice.

"Young Master, is Roger dead?"

"Mm."

"He sent two Soul Kings?"

"Mm."

Qing Luo fell silent for two seconds. Her hand was still supporting Yu Xiaolou's arm, but her fingers visibly tightened, her knuckles trembling slightly beneath his sleeve.

Worry, anger. Anger that she had not been there, anger that she had been unable to help, anger that while her young master had been fighting for his life in the forest, she had been cultivating in the dormitory.

"Were you hurt, Young Master? Are you feeling unwell anywhere? Did you overdraw your Soul Power? Were your meridians injured?"

"I'm fine. Azure Dragon Longevity's restorative effect is still active. My meridians and Soul Power have both recovered to their peak, and all my wounds have healed."

"Really?"

"Really."

Qing Luo stared into my eyes for two seconds. Only after confirming that I was not brushing her off did she slowly loosen her clenched fingers. The tautness in her shoulders visibly eased.

After settling Yu Xiaolou in his room, I briefly told Qing Luo everything that had happened in the corridor. From the letter slipped through the door crack, to the two Soul Kings and Roger in the southern forest, to finding Yu Xiaolou in the mine.

After hearing it all, Qing Luo stood where she was, her hand at her side clenched into a fist. Moonlight streamed through the corridor window, casting the contours of her profile into sharp relief.

"Roger's father is a viscount of the Balak Kingdom. This won't end here."

"I know. I'll return to the clan first thing tomorrow morning. Keep a closer eye on Xiaolou. His wounds may have healed, but he still needs a couple days of rest. Help him get food from the cafeteria, and get an extra serving of meat dishes. He likes braised pork."

"Rest assured, Young Master."

I set off before dawn the next day.

The carriage raced all the way, arriving at the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan grounds before noon. The guards at the entrance were about to salute when they saw me return, but I waved them off and headed straight for the back mountain. Yu Yuanzhen was cultivating beside the Thunder Pool, surrounded by surging lightning. The aura of a level ninety-six Title Douluo was even more condensed than before, faintly showing signs of reaching its peak.

With immortal herbs and cultivation techniques working together, his progress over these past three months had been faster than in the previous three years.

He sensed my approach, ended his cultivation, and opened his eyes. Seeing my expression, he shut the door to the cultivation chamber without another word.

"What happened?"

I told him the entire story from beginning to end.

Especially the part where they had sent two Soul King-level deathsworn to assassinate me.

As Yu Yuanzhen listened, his expression darkened inch by inch.

When I finished the last word, he was silent for a moment. Then he slammed his palm onto the stone table beside him, shattering it. The lightning-aspect Soul Power in the air suddenly turned violent, crackling arcs of electricity repeatedly leaping across the walls.

"What a Barkley Family. They sent two Soul Kings to kill someone from my Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and did it on Thunder Academy's grounds." His voice was low, so low it sounded like muffled thunder rolling from the depths of his chest.

"It seems this old man has kept too low a profile these past years. So low that some people have forgotten what the five words Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan mean."

He rose to his feet, pushed open the cultivation chamber door, and instructed someone outside, "Call the Second Elder."

Before half an incense stick's time had passed, Yu Luomian appeared at the entrance to the Thunder Pool.

He still wore that dark purple robe, his movements crisp and decisive. When he saw me, he gave a slight nod.

After several months apart, the aura around him had clearly changed. His former pressure had been sharp and outwardly imposing, but now it was restrained.

"Big Brother."

"Second Brother, Tian Lin was assassinated at Thunder Academy." Yu Yuanzhen went straight to the point.

Yu Luomian did not ask for details. He merely shifted his gaze to me and waited for confirmation. I nodded. His expression instantly darkened.

"Whose people?"

"A small family from the Balak Kingdom."

"A small family dared lay hands on a disciple of our clan? I don't think they need to continue existing."

Yu Yuanzhen nodded. "Tian Lin will go with you. They came for him, so he must be present."

Only then did I notice how Yu Luomian's aura differed from before. When he had blocked Yue Guan in Sunset Forest, he had been a level eighty-five Soul Douluo. His aura had been powerful, but it had always had clear limits. Yet the Yu Luomian standing before me now felt unfathomable.

"Second Elder, you broke through?"

Yu Luomian glanced at me and nodded.

"It was thanks to your Purple Lightning Vine and the Nine Heavens Thunder God Art. This old man had been stuck at level eighty-five for more than a decade. With that immortal herb and cultivation technique, I broke through to Title Douluo in one stroke."

He took me into the air with him.

"Let's go. This old man wants to see what gave a small family the nerve to touch the core successor of my Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. You are our clan's treasure. How dare a small family touch you?"

The royal capital of the Balak Kingdom was not too far from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan grounds.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the royal capital's towering walls came into view. Before the guards atop the walls could sound the alarm, two figures were already hovering directly above the central plaza of the city.

The noon sun beat straight down, baking the bluestone paving slabs of the plaza until they were scorching hot. Merchants hawked their wares, soldiers patrolled, and children chased one another in play. When the two figures appeared out of thin air above the plaza, everyone raised their heads in unison.

Yu Luomian stood in the air with his hands behind his back, looking down upon the palace and noble district below. Then he unleashed his martial soul.

A blue lightning dragon emerged behind him, its body coiling and stretching as lightning flashed fiercely in its eyes. Nine soul rings rose beneath his feet: two yellow, two purple, and five black. The pressure of a Title Douluo crashed down upon the entire royal capital as though the heavens had collapsed.

Every sound in the plaza vanished within three breaths. Merchants forgot to call out, soldiers froze with their spears suspended in midair, and parents yanked children into their arms and covered their mouths. Even the horses tethered at the edge of the plaza all buckled their forelegs at once, letting out low, mournful whinnies.

Some soul masters recognized the martial soul in the sky. A middle-aged soul master setting up a stall beside the plaza had his lips tremble several times before he finally forced out a distorted sentence from his throat.

"A Title Douluo! A Title Douluo from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan!"

His voice was not loud, but it carried exceptionally far across the deathly silent plaza. The entire street instantly erupted into chaos.