As soon as he finished speaking, Xue Qinghe raised a hand and wiped his face. A moment later, his entire body was enveloped in a soft golden glow.
Within that light, his originally masculine features began to change, and his figure grew slender and graceful.
When the light faded, the person standing before Ye Qiong was no longer the crown prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, but a golden-haired woman in a long, golden palace gown. Her beauty was peerless, and her bearing was sacred and noble.
"My real name is Qian Renxue."
"My Chat Group nickname is 6G Sky Wing. So, do you still want to keep pretending, Group Owner?"
Good grief. No wonder she'd become the Angel God in the future. That presence, that face—she was truly top-tier.
Ye Qiong secretly praised her, but kept an expression of shock on his face, as if this sudden turn of events had left him speechless.
Seeing his reaction, Qian Renxue's lips curved in a satisfied smile.
She enjoyed the feeling of having everything under control.
She believed that after she'd voluntarily revealed all her cards, this mysterious Group Owner would show his sincerity too.
"The reason I'm being so frank is that I know very well that in the face of your abilities, any disguise is meaningless."
Qian Renxue spoke slowly, her voice calm once more.
"I'm curious. Who are you, exactly? Where did you come from? And what is that Chat Group?"
Ye Qiong finally recovered from his "shock." Looking at Qian Renxue, he smiled and said, "Since you've put it that way, there's no point in me keeping up the act."
"However, I must ask you to forgive me for not being able to reveal my origins."
"As for your offer to recruit me..."
"I refuse."
"Nope, nope, nope."
Qian Renxue had clearly expected that answer. Not a trace of surprise showed on her face.
"I thought as much."
She paced slowly, her golden hem brushing lightly across the carpet.
"Someone like you wouldn't easily put yourself beneath another. Very well. Since I can't recruit you, how about we make a deal?"
"A deal?" Ye Qiong raised an eyebrow.
"Exactly."
Qian Renxue turned around, her blue-green eyes fixed on Ye Qiong.
"Tell me about my future, and in return, I'll grant you one request within my power."
"Any request?"
"Any request."
Qian Renxue's tone was firm.
"Power, wealth, status—I can give you any of them."
"I'm not interested in those things."
Ye Qiong shook his head. As a Trailblazer, he had no interest in the puny forces of this little world of Douluo Continent.
His sights had always been set on the stars across the cosmos.
"I have just one request. I'll post a commission in the group, and you'll need to accept it and help me complete it."
He paused, then added, "The task might be a little difficult, but with your abilities, you might be able to pull it off if you put in the effort."
A flicker of curiosity crossed Qian Renxue's eyes.
What sort of task could it be?
"Fine. I accept."
She nodded without much hesitation.
To her, nothing mattered more than knowing her own future.
"Then you can tell me now. What exactly does my future look like?"
Ye Qiong looked at her, smiled, and began his "spoilers."
"Your future... Well, it's tangled up with a young man named Tang San."
Tang San?
Qian Renxue furrowed her brows. She'd heard that name in the Chat Group more than once. The Group Owner's previous revelations had all involved that kid.
"During the Spirit Master Tournament preliminaries, Ning Fengzhi will introduce him to you. You'll bring up Tang Hao leaving the Clear Sky Sect and fighting Spirit Hall to become a Titled Douluo, hoping to use it to build a connection and recruit Tang San. But he'll say he has to prepare for the tournament and politely turn you down. You'll even give him your crown prince's token."
"Later, at your younger sister Xue Ke's graduation ceremony, he'll go by the name Tang Yin. You won't recognize him, and his skill at the harp will catch your attention. You'll try to recruit him again, and he'll reject you outright once more."
What? Me? Rejected twice in a row by a junior? What kind of joke was that?
Qian Renxue's expression darkened at once. She couldn't believe she'd do something so undignified.
But she didn't know that this world had something called the author's will, which could also be called fate. It could control everything.
Almost no one could escape fate's control.
Except for an otherworldly demon like Ye Qiong.
"And that's not all. Later, you'll develop feelings for him that are both love and hate."
A trace of amusement crept into Ye Qiong's voice.
What kind of crown prince are you pretending to be? You can't even recruit one person. You used Tang Hao's story as bait and deliberately hid key information. Tang San wasn't an idiot. Why would he fall for that?
You should've learned your lesson after getting rejected once. Instead, you went right back for a second try and set yourself up for another humiliation.
And that crown prince's token—were you afraid Tang San wouldn't have a pass to sneak into the palace later?
Handing your opponent a knife like that. I've never seen anything like it.
And that second time—you must've been blind. He changed his name to Tang Yin, and sure, he got more handsome, but his features couldn't have changed all that much. How did you not recognize him? Then you went and developed this love-hate obsession with him. It's the trashiest soap opera of the year.
"Enough!" Qian Renxue snapped, furious and mortified.
There was no way she'd fall in love with that bastard!
"Don't rush me. That's just the beginning." Ye Qiong ignored her fury and continued.
"You'll spend decades lying low in Heaven Dou, plotting to seize the throne. You'll slowly poison Emperor Xue Ye, using spices you supplied to trigger the poison."
"But Prince Xue Xing will have already invited Poison Douluo Dugu Bo to guard him, and Tang San will teach Dugu Bo how to identify the poison."
"After Emperor Xue Ye falls gravely ill, you'll bring more than three thousand Spirit Hall Soul Masters into Heaven Dou City to seize control of the palace. You'll also send four elders to surround the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and keep Shrek under surveillance. But Tang San will still expose you."
"Even then, you'll still try to recruit him. After he rejects you outright, you'll try to fight him, but you'll lose to Tang San and end up fleeing back in disgrace."
"Ah! Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Qian Renxue slammed her hand on the table. Her powerful Soul Power instantly pulverized the tea table beside her.
"I have Snake Lance and Pufferfish, two Douluo, under my command, along with more than three thousand powerful Soul Masters! Three thousand! How could Tang San, a mere nobody, possibly unravel my carefully laid plans?"
She couldn't accept that decades of scheming would end in such a humiliating fashion.
At that, Ye Qiong only laughed.
"Of course he could. Tang San's an expert in the use of poison, and Poison Douluo is skilled with it too."
Using spices to poison someone? That was such a stale palace-intrigue plot device. Anyone with half a brain would know what a glaring flaw it was. With Dugu Bo there, getting exposed was only what you deserved.
As for everyone else, you sent them off, and Tang San still managed to sneak in. Your ability to plan was like a child playing house.
Even after your defeat snowballed and everything fell apart, you still wanted to recruit him. You've got some nerve.
You only remembered to fight after he rejected you. What were you doing before that?
Damn it. Decades spent undercover, all for nothing. You didn't have a single thought of your own.
That innate Soul Power of rank twenty—what countless Soul Masters dreamed of having. And you wasted it all playing palace politics. You had all those precious years to cultivate, but instead you chose schemes and intrigue. In the end, you never made the most of your talent and had to flee in a panic. What a waste.
Ye Qiong looked at Qian Renxue, silently criticizing her in his heart, but continued aloud.
"After you flee back to Spirit Hall..."
Before you continue