Behind the most luxurious carriage, a huge, specially made iron cage was being dragged along by two first-tier magical beasts, Red Wind Horses.
Inside the cage, Dai Mubai—the once-spirited man who had called himself the Evil-Eyed White Tiger—was curled up in a corner like a dead dog.
His clothes were ragged, and his signature golden hair, caked with dirt and dried blood, stuck to his swollen, pig-like face.
The thick, fine-steel collar around his neck not only locked around his throat; the Dou Qi runes carved into it constantly suppressed what little physical strength remained in his body, making it difficult for him even to stand.
"Look! It's the Misty Cloud Sect's procession!"
"What's in that cage? Looks like a golden-haired person?"
"What person? Elder Ge Ye said it's a rare magical beast captured from another world. Something called a lecherous tiger. It looks human, but it's really just an animal."
The people lining the streets pointed and whispered, watching Dai Mubai like he was part of a monkey show.
"I'm a prince. I'm Young Master Dai—"
Dai Mubai listened to the surrounding chatter and murmured weakly.
His dantian had been destroyed, and his whole body was wracked with pain.
He wanted to roar, to kill, but the moment he showed even the slightest hint of ferocity—
Bzzzt!
The runes on his collar released an electric current, making his whole body convulse as foam spilled from his mouth.
"We're here."
As the carriage stopped, a grand residence came into view: the Xiao Clan!
The Xiao Clan's reception hall.
The atmosphere in the Xiao Clan was rather oppressive.
The Xiao Clan's patriarch, Xiao Zhan, and three elders were receiving the esteemed guests from the Misty Cloud Sect with nervous, deferential expressions.
In a corner of the hall, a handsome young man with an air of despair and resentment clenched his fists tightly.
He was this world's Child of the Plane: Xiao Yan.
At the moment, he was still the good-for-nothing stuck at the third stage of Dou Qi.
"Nalan, my niece, may I ask what brings you here today?" Xiao Zhan asked with a strained smile.
Nalan Yanran's expression was cool and detached. She was just about to bring up the matter of breaking off the engagement when Elder Ge Ye beside her jumped in first, smiling broadly. "Patriarch Xiao, there's no need to rush. We can discuss the main matter later."
"Before we came, the Sect Master specifically instructed me that, having heard young master Xiao Yan has been feeling down lately, we should bring him a small gift to cheer him up."
As he spoke, Ge Ye clapped his hands.
Several Misty Cloud Sect disciples pushed the huge iron cage into the hall.
"This is—" Xiao Zhan and Xiao Yan both stared, stunned.
"This is a strange beast from another world, which calls itself a White Tiger."
Ge Ye pointed at Dai Mubai, shivering inside the cage, his voice full of mockery. "Though this beast is lecherous and arrogant by nature, I've already crippled its cultivation and pulled out its teeth."
"Give it to young master Xiao Yan as a guard dog, or kick it a couple of times when you're in a bad mood to blow off some steam. It should be quite useful."
"White Tiger?"
Xiao Yan paused, looking at the strange man in the cage. His golden hair was a mess, his eyes were different colors, and he'd been beaten so badly he was barely recognizable.
For some reason, seeing someone worse off than himself made the resentment in Xiao Yan's heart, born of being a good-for-nothing, inexplicably fade.
"So there really is someone worse off than me in this world."
Xiao Yan smiled wryly and slowly walked up to the cage.
Dai Mubai happened to raise his head. His once-arrogant, Evil-Eyed gaze was now filled with pleading.
He was hungry.
He was in pain.
He wanted food.
"Woof, whimper—" Dai Mubai let out a sound like a dog's whine.
"Looks like it's hungry."
Xiao Yan casually picked up a half-eaten meaty bone from the table beside him and tossed it through the bars.
Clack. The bone landed on the cage floor, filthy with mud.
In the past, if anyone had dared throw a bone at Young Master Dai, Dai Mubai would've slaughtered their entire family.
But now, driven by his instinct to survive, under the gaze of countless eyes across Douluo Continent—
Dai Mubai really did lunge at it like a dog. He snatched up the bone and gnawed at it ravenously!
As he chewed, tears of humiliation streamed down his face.
"Hahahaha! What a good dog!"
The Misty Cloud Sect disciples and the Xiao Clan members burst into laughter.
At the same time, on Douluo Continent.
This scene shattered the Star Luo Empire's last psychological defense.
The Star Luo Empire's imperial palace, Golden Throne Hall.
"Crash! Crash! Crash!"
The Star Luo Emperor seemed to have gone mad. He swept every memorial, jade seal, brush, and inkstone from the imperial desk onto the floor, then drew the sword at his waist and hacked wildly at the pillar before him.
"Beast! Worthless son! Good-for-nothing!"
The Star Luo Emperor stood with his hair disheveled and eyes bloodshot. He looked nothing like a ruler of an empire.
Pointing at Dai Mubai gnawing on a bone in the light screen, he rasped, his voice hoarse to the extreme: "You're My son! You're a prince of the Star Luo Empire!"
"How can you eat that? How can you gnaw on someone else's leftovers like a dog?"
"Even if you die, you should die on your feet! You should fight with your White Tiger Martial Soul until every last drop of your blood has been spilled!"
"Humiliation! This is the greatest humiliation since the founding of the Star Luo Empire!"
Below the hall, the civil and military officials knelt in rows, each with his head buried between his knees, trembling and not daring to breathe too loudly.
It was too humiliating.
Truly, too humiliating.
The imperial bloodline they'd always been so proud of, the Evil-Eyed White Tiger they'd always extolled—in that world, he'd really become a dog.
How would they face their people now?
How would they face the Heaven Dou Empire?
"Your Majesty—"
An elderly minister raised his head with a trembling hand, tears streaming down his face. "This—this can't be blamed on the Third Prince."
"The strong in that world are too terrifying. Even a Da Dou Shi could cripple His Highness with a wave of his hand. If he hadn't eaten, he truly might have starved to death."
"Then let him starve to death!"
The Star Luo Emperor roared, chopping off one corner of the dragon throne with his sword. "I'd rather have a dead prince than a living dog!"
"Pass down My decree!"
"From this day forth, remove Dai Mubai from the imperial clan registry! Strip him of his status as a prince! Revoke every title he holds!"
"The Star Luo Empire has no such good-for-nothing!"
In the rear palace, Dai Mubai's birth mother had already wept herself unconscious several times. When she awoke and saw the light screen, all she wanted was to find a rope and hang herself.
Shrek Academy, a secluded corner.
Zhu Zhuqing stood quietly in the shade of a tree, watching the man on the light screen. His face was filthy, and he was wagging his tail and begging for half a bone.
Her face showed no emotion. She didn't even shed a single tear.
"Dai Mubai, so this is who you are?"
Zhu Zhuqing questioned him coldly in her heart.
"Ever since I was little, my family told me that my fate was bound to yours."
"You're a prince, and I'm your fiancée. We were supposed to cultivate a Martial Soul Fusion Skill together, fight for the throne together, and survive together."
"For the sake of this so-called destiny, I crossed thousands of miles, fleeing all the way from the Star Luo Empire to Suotuo City. How many times did I face life and death? How many scars did I bear?"
"I thought that as long as I found you, as long as we could fight side by side, we'd still have hope."
"But when I found you, what were you doing?"
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