By some twist of fate, Pufferfish Douluo agreed to Su Changge's request.
It was because of one thing Su Changge had said: "No wonder Your Highness is so young, yet there are already a few more lines of age between your brows. With subordinates like you, who only know how to carry out orders mechanically and never think for themselves or solve problems for Your Highness on a strategic level, all the pressure falls on Your Highness's shoulders. It's no wonder he looks old..."
That brief remark had directly shattered the Dao heart of the fiercely loyal Pufferfish Douluo.
As he thought back on all the things Qian Renxue had done after replacing Xue Qinghe and infiltrating the kingdom on Spirit Hall's behalf to carry out the plan to seize it, the more Pufferfish Douluo considered it, the more reasonable Su Changge's words seemed.
And the more he considered it, the more ashamed he felt.
Because all these years, aside from handling a few problems that required force, he and Snake Lance Douluo had left every plan and strategy to Qian Renxue, who had to rack her brains to come up with them.
"Little friend Su, this is the First Prince Snyder's Mansion."
"What should we do next? Do we storm the First Prince's Mansion and kill everyone, or go straight for Snyder himself?"
Outside the First Prince's Mansion, Pufferfish Douluo held Su Changge as they hid in the shadows. He pointed toward a residence a hundred times larger than the Thirteenth Princess Mansion and asked Su Changge what they should do.
Perhaps he believed Su Changge could help make up for their shortcomings and ease Qian Renxue's burden.
Su Changge's standing in Pufferfish Douluo's heart skyrocketed, rising past the level of an ant and straight to that of a little friend.
"Just kill Snyder."
"Leave the First Prince's core staff intact. That way, the Royal Capital will stay in chaos longer."
Pufferfish Douluo thought it over. Su Changge had a point.
Then he led Su Changge past the First Prince's many layers of guards. Like a ghost, they appeared in the bedchamber where Snyder lay.
"Who's there?!"
The moment Pufferfish Douluo and Su Changge appeared, they alerted First Prince Snyder.
Two yellow, three purple, and three black Soul Rings—eight in total—rose from beneath Snyder's feet...
But before he could make a bigger commotion, Pufferfish Douluo had already crippled him with a poison-type Soul Skill.
At that moment, Su Changge caught a fleeting glimpse of the Martial Soul phantom behind Pufferfish Douluo and confirmed his identity.
"A Soul Douluo!"
"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I'd never have believed that the First Prince of the Haagen-Dazs Kingdom, the strongest contender for the throne, was actually a Soul Douluo."
"First Prince, you've hidden your strength... incredibly well."
Pufferfish Douluo gripped Snyder by the throat. His hoarse voice held a hint of approval.
Though the gulf between a Soul Douluo and a Titled Douluo was vast, in the broad expanse of the Douluo Continent, a Soul Douluo was powerful enough to dominate a region and found a sect or academy.
If Su Changge hadn't made that inspired suggestion to deal with Snyder tonight, then once Snyder had built up his power and gathered tens of thousands of elite soldiers and numerous high-level Soul Masters to his side, even Pufferfish Douluo might not have been able to kill him by force later.
There was a good chance that Her Highness's plans would have come to nothing.
Thinking of this, Pufferfish Douluo looked at Su Changge with even greater satisfaction.
This kid was practically Her Highness's lucky star!
"A T-Titled Douluo!"
"How... how is that possible?"
"Who are you? Who... who sent you to assassinate me?"
"No matter what they offered, I'll pay double... no, I'll pay ten times as much!"
Desperate for a sliver of hope, First Prince Snyder struggled without stopping. Broken words kept bursting from his nostrils.
He had accounted for everything, yet never imagined that a transcendent being like a Titled Douluo would lower himself to come assassinate him.
"Even if we kill you, the Gold Soul Coins and rare treasures in your vault will still be ours."
Pufferfish Douluo's voice was languid. He remained unmoved.
As an elder of the Hall of the Pontiff, what hadn't he seen?
"Senior, let's not waste time with him. The longer we wait, the more likely something will go wrong. Let me kill him with my own hands, as a token of my loyalty to Her Highness."
Beside him, Su Changge's eyes burned with excitement. He quickly took out the Ruyi Staff and thrust it toward Snyder's heart.
This was a Soul Douluo at the peak of his strength.
If Su Changge killed him, the effect of his second trait would surely propel him straight to the peak of level 29, saving him countless hours of tempering his Soul Power.
Unaware of Su Changge's little scheme, Pufferfish Douluo didn't stop him. He simply watched as Su Changge killed First Prince Snyder.
In his eyes, Su Changge was clever and knew how to play his cards right.
Why would he stop him?
Su Changge had willingly placed the evidence of the prince's murder in his hands. Didn't that show that Su Changge had fully embraced his role and truly taken himself for Her Highness's loyal hound?
"Little friend Su, since you're so loyal to Her Highness, I can't be too stingy."
"Don't you have a storage-type Soul Tool?"
"I'll leave the First Prince's treasury to you. Take as much as you can carry."
"Oh, and..."
As he spoke, Pufferfish Douluo paused. He broke Snyder's right leg and took out a Soul Bone that shimmered with a dark gold hue.
"This Soul Bone should be around twenty thousand years old. It's yours."
When Pufferfish Douluo tossed the Soul Bone into Su Changge's hands, Su Changge was still a little dazed.
Wait, had the God of Luck possessed him today?
His luck was off the charts!
A twenty-thousand-year-old Soul Bone, the First Prince's treasury... and all the essence in Snyder's body.
What was there to hesitate about?
"A man dies for the one who knows his worth! Senior, rest assured. I, Su Changge, will follow Her Highness for the rest of my life, attend to her every need, and never abandon her, in life or death!"
Thud! A muffled sound rang out.
Su Changge had dropped to his knees again.
Not long after Pufferfish Douluo took Su Changge through the First Prince's treasury and plundered it clean, the guards at the First Prince's Mansion finally noticed something was wrong and discovered the prince's corpse...
In no time, before the sky had even begun to brighten, word of the First Prince's death had spread throughout the entire Royal Capital.
The struggle for the throne had entered a new stage!
"So... Su Changge talked you into dealing with First Prince Snyder in the middle of the night, and you gave Su Changge his treasury as a reward?"
At Xue Qinghe's temporary lodgings.
Xue Qinghe stared at Pufferfish Douluo, who had come to claim credit, looking utterly defeated and at a loss for words.
In his heart, he cursed Su Changge until he was full of holes.
"Your Highness, he deserved it."
"If little friend Su hadn't pointed it out, I wouldn't have understood things so clearly."
"Your Highness, Snake Lance and I were wrong all along. We put the entire burden on your shoulders and failed to ease your worries."
"But rest assured, Your Highness. That won't happen again. We'll do our utmost to think what you think and solve the problems that trouble you. We won't leave you all alone again..."
Seeing how sincerely Pufferfish Douluo laid his heart bare, Xue Qinghe couldn't bring himself to interrupt.
But when he heard Pufferfish Douluo call Su Changge "little friend Su," then heap praise on Su Changge's loyalty, vision, strategy... even his looks, Xue Qinghe couldn't take it anymore. He turned and walked away.
Seriously, was there something wrong with Su Changge?
What had he done to turn a Titled Douluo who had once been so proper into this?