The Foolish Look

"Elder Snake Lance, you may return and report back."

Feng Baiyu hadn't made things difficult for She Long. "Grandpa and I will be staying here for a while. If the opportunity arises, I might get to see Sister Xue."

She Long listened to Feng Baiyu and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He turned to look at the Third Offering. Feng Qingluan asked, "What? Do you need me to see you out?"

"I wouldn't dare." She Long bowed to them both, then immediately turned and left.

After She Long had left, Feng Qingluan glanced at his grandson, then laughed as he walked away. "Ha ha! Ha ha!"

Feng Baiyu had no idea what his grandfather was laughing about, and didn't ask. It probably had something to do with him.

Feng Baiyu turned to Shui Duanliu. "Shui Guan, how many people know that the Heaven Dou Feng Family and the Spirit City Feng Family are one family?"

"Reporting to Young Master, back then, the Master separated the main branch very thoroughly. At most, only the Heaven Dou Imperial Family, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan know about it." Shui Duanliu thought for a moment. "But there hasn't been any open contact over the years. They probably no longer think the collateral branch of the Feng Family has much to do with the Feng Family in Spirit City."

Even blood ties grew distant after a few generations. Besides, would a genius who rose from a collateral branch really care about the former main branch?

Feng Qingluan's ties to the collateral branch of the Feng Family were so tenuous that even an extermination of nine generations wouldn't have dragged them into it.

Leaving them a shred of familial affection and protecting them from being bullied was enough.

In truth, that was exactly what Feng Qingluan had done!

For the past hundred years, Feng Qingluan had only shielded the Feng Family in Heaven Dou City from being bullied. Whatever success they achieved was entirely up to their own efforts.

No one knew Feng Baiyu had entered the estate. Even if someone had noticed the more than one hundred members of the Feng Family arriving, they wouldn't have thought they'd come to pay a visit to him, their young master.

And that was exactly what happened. The Heaven Dou Empire and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect learned of the Feng Family's unusual behavior that very day. But they all assumed someone from the main branch had come, so no one paid it any mind.

After all, things like this happened every three to five years.

The main branch of the Feng Family would send someone to collect the collateral branch's earnings from the past few years—commonly known as... protection money.

Not only did they never think of the stranger Feng Baiyu, they hadn't even suspected Feng Qingluan, the Third Offering of Spirit Hall, had come.

There was no need to pay it any mind!

Just as everyone else thought there was no need to pay it any mind, Qian Renxue was quietly brought into Feng Mansion by the two Titled Douluo, She Long and Ci Xue.

Qian Renxue had come to see Feng Baiyu, so she was dressed as a girl. At thirteen, she had already blossomed into a graceful young lady. She'd inherited her mother Bibi Dong's beauty, with features as finely sculpted as a carving, skin as fair as jade, and golden hair that shone like the sun.

Qian Renxue didn't hurry to greet Feng Baiyu. Instead, she bowed to Feng Qingluan, who stood not far away. "Third Grandpa, it's been so long!"

She Long and Ci Xue hurriedly bowed as well. "Greetings, Third Offering."

"Xue'er, you're here. It really has been a long time." Feng Qingluan knew Qian Renxue hadn't come to see him, of course, and said with a smile, "You're here to see Baiyu, right? She's inside."

"Mm." Qian Renxue hurried over, but after taking just two steps, she realized she was being too rude. She returned to the poised demeanor of a proper young lady. "Third Grandpa, I'm going to see little Bai."

With that, she headed for Feng Baiyu's room.

Seeing how impatient their young master was, She Long and Ci Xue knew better than to follow. They bowed to Feng Qingluan, then dutifully took up their posts at the entrance.

"Tsk, tsk." Qian Renxue entered Feng Baiyu's room and looked him up and down with an amused smile. "Little Bai, you've got some talent. You're only seven and a half, yet your Soul Power has already reached level twenty-four!"

Though they hadn't seen each other in years, Qian Renxue didn't feel the least bit distant from Feng Baiyu.

Back in Spirit City, Feng Baiyu had been her number one—and only—underling. Even after all these years, Qian Renxue still hadn't forgotten.

"Sure, sure, sure." Feng Baiyu listened to Qian Renxue and shot back without the slightest courtesy. "Unlike you, with your dignified Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul and Innate Level 20 Soul Power. You're only level forty-three, and you've already turned fourteen!"

"You!"

Qian Renxue's fists clenched.

They hadn't seen each other for four years, and as soon as Qian Renxue heard Feng Baiyu had arrived, she'd rushed over to see him. But the jerk couldn't say a single nice thing—he'd gone and mocked her for cultivating too slowly!

"What can I do?" Qian Renxue slumped at the mention of her cultivation speed. She sat down beside Feng Baiyu and said, "The Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul's cultivation speed slows after Soul Power reaches level thirty. And then I had to Mimic Xue Qinghe, kill him, and take his place as a prince in public. Of course I'd be slower... Hey, what's with that look?"

"The look I'd give a fool." Feng Baiyu didn't hold back at all. "Sister Xue, whose earth-shattering wisdom came up with the idea of sending you undercover in Heaven Dou, killing a prince, and climbing the ranks step by step?"

"You can say whatever you want about me, but don't talk about my father!" Qian Renxue didn't care that She Long and Ci Xue had left. She glared at Feng Baiyu, displeased. "Obviously, it was to infiltrate the Heaven Dou Empire for Spirit Hall and ultimately take control of it without bloodshed, achieving the strategic goal of unifying the Douluo Continent!"

"If we went to war, how many people would die?" Qian Renxue said. "But if I take control of the Heaven Dou Empire, I can minimize the casualties! Don't you think that's a great thing?"

"What kind of romance-novel logic is that?" Feng Baiyu said, exasperated. "Even if the emperor has no troops or power, does just having the title mean one word from him can decide the rise and fall of a nation and its subjects?"

"You think if the Heaven Dou Emperor announced that he was surrendering to Spirit Hall, that would mean the Heaven Dou Empire had been conquered?"

"Do you believe the people below him who command armies wouldn't immediately declare themselves kings and march on Heaven Dou City under the banner of 'purging the court of traitors'?"

"More people would die then, and they'd all be commoners and soldiers. The parasites among the nobility wouldn't suffer at all."

As Feng Baiyu spoke, Qian Renxue's fair, smooth face turned red, then livid, and finally deathly pale.

Could the Nation-Stealing Plan really be impossible? Then what had she been doing all these years?

Looking at Qian Renxue's expression, Feng Baiyu could tell that a whole host of people had conspired to bring this plan about.

Perhaps Qian Renxue had wanted to prove herself to her grandfather and mother, or perhaps she'd hoped to build up her reputation. Whatever the reason, there would have been some justification.

At the time, Bibi Dong had been influenced by the Rakshasa God and wanted to kill Qian Renxue. It had taken the last remnants of their mother-daughter bond and pressure from Qian Daoliu to stop her. Sending Qian Renxue to Heaven Dou had also been a way to keep her out of sight and out of mind.

Qian Daoliu knew what his son had done, that he was a beast. Out of guilt toward Bibi Dong, he'd supported her rise to the position of Pope. Sending Qian Renxue away from Spirit City had also been a way of protecting her.

Of the three, only Qian Renxue had truly wanted to carry out the "Nation-Stealing Plan." Qian Daoliu and Bibi Dong hadn't taken it seriously at all.

Otherwise, why send only two brutes as bodyguards? If they'd sent even one strategist of normal intelligence, it wouldn't have taken them all these years just to kill Xue Qinghe.

Feng Baiyu didn't know when Qian Renxue would have realized the problem on her own. But before he pointed it out today, she certainly hadn't!

Perhaps she would have understood eventually, but the sunk costs were too high. She could only keep going down that road.

Now that Feng Baiyu had laid it all bare, Qian Renxue looked dejected. "Then what was the point of wasting all those years? Just to assassinate the eldest prince?"