After once being Yu Xiaogang's dog, Su Changge never wanted to be anyone's dog again.
But facing Xue Qinghe (Qian Renxue), he seemed to have no room to refuse.
Once again, Su Changge fell to his knees.
The three of them then began plotting for several hours over the struggle for the throne.
Their plan boiled down to two points!
Xue Qinghe would gather resources and secretly win over various factions for the Thirteenth Princess.
The Thirteenth Princess would go to the palace to care for the old king, willing to serve him hand and foot. In short... she needed to leave an impression of filial devotion in the old king's heart.
As for Su Changge, he would play the lackey, ready to come whenever he was called.
Night fell. His body and spirit utterly drained, Su Changge walked out of the Thirteenth Princess Mansion on unsteady legs. He glanced at the Matchlock Musket Cavalry waiting outside, their expressions strange.
The Matchlock Musket Cavalry: "Lord Changge truly lives up to his reputation as the power behind the throne in the Murong Earldom. He can get by on a woman's favors anywhere. Who would've thought... even the Thirteenth Princess would fall beneath Lord Changge's spear."
In a certain corner, Xue Qinghe watched Su Changge and the others leave. Then she turned to the black-robed man beside her.
"Pufferfish Douluo, what do you think is the difference between Su Changge and me?"
"How did he get the Thirteenth Princess wrapped around his finger so easily, while I keep running into one wall after another?"
Pufferfish Douluo fell silent for a long while, as though weighing his words.
After all, an oddball like Su Changge was a rare sight.
"Mm... in this subordinate's view, Su Changge can manipulate human nature so easily because he is... more shameless than Your Highness, more shameless than anyone."
"Shameless!?"
Xue Qinghe froze, then nodded firmly. "That's right. He's a thousand, ten thousand times more shameless than I am."
"But the more shameless someone is, the more useful he can be."
"Keep an eye on him. Don't let him die too easily."
By the time Su Changge and his group returned to the mansion, it was almost dawn.
The instant he stepped into the courtyard, several waves of Soul Power stirred from all directions. A dark-purple barrier shrouded the entire estate, cutting off all perception from the outside.
The moment the ambush began, dozens of Matchlock Musket Cavalry swiftly assembled. They loaded their muskets and formed a protective ring around Su Changge.
Su Changge, meanwhile, used the Soul Rings hovering before him to identify their attackers.
Seven Soul Elders!
Every one of them had yellow, yellow, and purple Soul Rings.
With that kind of configuration, they'd be considered elites even at the Kingdom Advanced Soul Master Academy.
"Seven Soul Elders to deal with one little Soul Grandmaster like me. The master behind you must really think highly of me."
"Who sent you? The First Prince? The Third Prince? Or the Seventh Princess?"
Su Changge's gaze swept across the seven Soul Elders, calm as still water. Not a ripple crossed his face. He had clearly expected this.
"Does it matter who sent us?"
"You won't live to see the morning either way!"
"You've only got yourself to blame. So what if you rejected that person? Why not just hide away like a coward?"
"A mere earldom, and you still dare to stir up trouble? Who gave you the nerve?"
"And of all the people you could have pledged yourself to, you had to choose that lowly Thirteenth Princess... You dared to slight that person. If you don't die, who will?"
The leading Soul Elder's voice was hoarse, his expression full of scorn as he looked at Su Changge.
"You're the First Prince's men!?"
Su Changge had already worked out who these Soul Elders were.
"Figures. Among all the princes and princesses, only the First Prince, with his advantage, would dare act so brazenly!"
"Heh... and what if you guessed right?"
"No one knows we came to kill you. But even if someone did, who would dare stop us?"
"You should be proud to die at our hands!"
Buzz!!!
The Soul Rings beneath the seven Soul Elders' feet blazed with dazzling light. Powerful Soul Power surged, and several Soul Skills shot straight toward Su Changge and the Matchlock Musket Cavalry.
"None of you move. I'm in a bit of a temper today."
Su Changge ordered the Matchlock Musket Cavalry to fall back, then pulled out the Ruyi Staff. Two purple Soul Rings rose beneath his feet, and Soul Power far beyond that of an ordinary Soul Elder exploded from him.
After gaining his second trait, the purity of his Soul Power had reached a staggering level.
Even Su Changge himself had no idea how strong he was now.
"First Soul Skill: Titan Ape Demon Transformation!!!"
Crack!
The air itself seemed to shriek beneath Su Changge's extreme speed.
The enemies' Soul Skills missed completely. Before the seven Soul Elders could react, the Ruyi Staff in Su Changge's hand had pierced through one of their brows.
The dying groan of a shattered skull sounded like the whisper of death, making the other six Soul Elders tremble in unison.
"His First Soul Ring and Second Soul Ring are both Thousand-Year Soul Rings!"
"And that speed... what kind of monster are you?"
One Soul Elder roared as if he'd seen a ghost.
They had once been prodigies of the kingdom and had even participated in the qualifying rounds of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament.
They'd seen the top Soul Master geniuses!
But among those geniuses, not one had raised their First Soul Ring to the Thousand-Year level.
Whoosh!
Su Changge paid no heed to their cries. The Ruyi Staff in his hand became a thousand afterimages. Wherever it passed, the six Soul Elders were either dead or maimed.
After killing the last Soul Elder, Su Changge stood still.
Soul Elders weren't a threat to him now, but even a mosquito was still meat.
His second trait activated!
The remaining Soul Power and blood essence of the seven Soul Masters were refined and devoured by Su Changge in an instant.
"Level 29!"
Feeling the change in his Soul Power, Su Changge gradually quelled the restless urge to kill in his heart.
His Third Soul Ring wasn't far off.
With the deaths of the seven Soul Elders, the dark-purple barrier above the courtyard shattered.
At the same time, a ghostly figure silently appeared beside Su Changge. He paused briefly to look at the seven bodies, then turned to Su Changge.
"To defeat seven Soul Elders as a Soul Grandmaster, Lord Su is certainly no ordinary man."
"Don't say that, Senior. My meager abilities don't amount to even one ten-thousandth of yours."
"If you keep talking like that, you'll put pressure on me."
Su Changge put the Ruyi Staff and the seven bodies on the ground away in his Soul Tool, then spread his hands toward the black-robed man before him.
This was Pufferfish Douluo, whom Xue Qinghe had secretly ordered to protect Su Changge.
"Lord Su, I find you more and more interesting."
"Please, Senior, have some self-respect. In this life, the next, and the one after that... I'll only ever like beautiful women. I'm not interested in men."
"I hope you'll put your values in order too, and stop being interested in me."
Su Changge had clearly overestimated Pufferfish Douluo's tolerance for cold jokes. The pressure of a Titled Douluo bound him in an instant, pinning him to the spot.
Seeing that Pufferfish Douluo was angry, Su Changge immediately reined himself in.
What was the best way to settle an internal conflict?
Of course, by redirecting it toward an external enemy!
"Senior, I was only joking just now."
"After all, what we're about to do is something earth-shattering."
"Something earth-shattering!?"
Pufferfish Douluo was bewildered by Su Changge's sudden remark.
"Exactly!"
"Since you've come along, we may as well strike while the iron's hot. Tonight, we'll kill the First Prince and completely upset the balance in the Royal Capital!"
"The struggle for the throne has been quiet for too long. It's time to move on to a new stage."