The Three Great Esteemed Guests

"Xue Tianya, Meng Shenji, and Bai Baoshan, imperial worshippers of the Heaven Dou Empire, have come to pay a visit. We ask Mr. Zhu to spare us a moment."

Several sonorous voices suddenly rang out from outside the hotel.

Liu Erlong's pretty face changed. "People from the Heaven Dou Empire are here. Are they here for you?"

Zhu Huang nodded. "They're here for me." The name he had left at Heaven Dou Auction House was Mr. Zhu. In all the world, the only Mr. Zhu worthy of the Heaven Dou Empire dispatching three worshippers was probably him. Even the head of the Zhu family in the Star Luo Empire would not have been qualified.

Liu Erlong said, "I've heard of these three. They're all experts recruited by the Heaven Dou imperial family. Xue Tianya is an eighty-sixth-ranked Soul Douluo, with the martial soul Blood Sword. Meng Shenji is an eighty-third-ranked Soul Douluo, with the martial soul Black Demon. Bai Baoshan is an eighty-first-ranked Soul Douluo, with the martial soul Heaven Star Furnace."

She looked a little embarrassed. "I didn't expect all three of them to come together. I'm afraid I won't be able to help much. Even Bai Baoshan, the weakest of them, isn't someone I can defeat right now. But don't worry. If it really comes to blows, I can still hold him off for a while."

"Thank you for telling me. Don't worry. A mere three Soul Douluo aren't worth my concern."

Zhu Huang chuckled softly and said calmly, "Since you've come to visit me, come on up." His voice was not loud, yet it carried clearly into the ears of the three men outside the hotel, as if he were speaking right beside them.

Liu Erlong's eyes widened, somewhat incredulous. A mere three Soul Douluo? He did not even take Soul Douluo seriously? Wasn't that a little too arrogant?

There was no way he could be a Title Douluo, right? That would be far too unbelievable!

Outside the hotel, Xue Tianya and the other two exchanged a look, their gazes solemn. With Xue Tianya in front and Meng Shenji and Bai Baoshan behind him, the three of them walked together toward the third floor of the hotel.

When they arrived in the third-floor hall, they saw a man in a fitted black suit sitting on the sofa. His posture was casual, and the way he drank tea was casual as well. No joy or anger could be read from his masked face, but merely sitting there, he gave off the air of a deep abyss and a towering mountain. A heavy pressure rushed toward them, making the hearts of the three great worshippers sink.

It was a formless aura, invisible and intangible, yet truly present. It was not even something the other party was deliberately releasing, but rather something that naturally seeped out from his every movement, born from overwhelming strength and its innate influence over all existences other than himself.

The stronger a person was, the more they could sense how terrifying it was. Ordinary people would only subconsciously feel that this man was frightening, falling silent before him as if chilled by fear, trembling in terror. But only Soul Douluo experts like them could truly perceive just how terrifying this man was.

Xue Tianya's once-straight back had unknowingly bent a little, and his mouth was filled with bitterness. He knew this man was powerful; otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to kill five thousand battle-hardened elite soldiers, along with six Soul Emperors and six or seven Soul Kings, with a flick of his fingers. But they had not expected that they had still underestimated him.

This absolutely was not an aura a Soul Douluo could emit. It was not even something an ordinary Title Douluo could accomplish. Though Title Douluo were rare, they had seen a few before. Even the most formidable among them, Sword Douluo, was indeed sharp and unrestrained, with sword energy soaring to the heavens, but he still could not bring them such crushing pressure.

This was a peerless expert!

The same thought arose in all three of their hearts at once, and they cursed Prince Xue Xing bloody in their minds. Just what kind of terrifying enemy had he provoked for the empire?

"Mr. Zhu!"

Xue Tianya took a deep breath and spoke with difficulty, all his attention focused on Zhu Huang. As for Liu Erlong, who sat beside him as if facing a great enemy, the three of them selectively ignored her.

Zhu Huang glanced at him. "You are Xue Tianya?"

"Yes!"

"What is your purpose?"

"This..."

Xue Tianya said, "Mr. Zhu, there have been some misunderstandings between you and Prince Xue Xing of the empire. His Majesty sent us to understand the situation."

At this moment, he no longer dared say anything about arresting a criminal. He did not want to die yet.

Zhu Huang said, "What happened between me and Prince Xue Xing is not merely a misunderstanding. He wanted to kill me, so I will kill him. The same goes for those five thousand men. They wanted to kill me, so I killed them. Go back and tell Xue Xing to wash his neck and wait. I, Zhu, never break my word. If I say I'll kill him, I'll kill him."

Cold sweat immediately broke out on the foreheads of Xue Tianya and the other two, their expressions becoming extremely ugly. He braced himself and said, "Mr. Zhu, enemies should be reconciled, not made. Prince Xue Xing did indeed offend you, but you also killed five thousand elite soldiers of the empire, as well as a dozen or so soul masters. Could you not calm your anger?"

"No need to say more. Leave."

Xue Tianya and the other two looked at one another. Xue Xing was an imperial prince of the empire and Emperor Xue Ye's own younger brother. Whether publicly or privately, they could not possibly sit by and watch him be killed. Was this man truly going to go to war with the empire?

Even if you were powerful, the empire had countless soul masters and an army of a million. It was not so easy to bully.

Thinking of this, all three of them felt somewhat indignant.

"Hehehe..."

Just when they did not know what to say, a strange laugh suddenly rang out. That laughter was like a night owl, both piercing and unpleasant, yet dense as needles. It came from all directions, slipping through every crack, making everyone's head buzz and feel terribly uncomfortable.

Liu Erlong, the weakest among them, showed discomfort on her face. She stood up at once and looked around.

Xue Tianya and the other two, however, immediately revealed looks of joy, and their backs unconsciously straightened a little. Xue Tianya called out loudly, "Your Eminence Dugu!"

"Hahaha! This old man heard that a poison expert was staying at Luoyue Hotel, someone who poisoned five thousand elite soldiers to death in an instant, including two Soul Emperors. How could this old man not come and meet such a poison expert?"

As the voice fell, a figure abruptly appeared at the stairway. Before everyone could clearly see his appearance, in the next instant, he appeared abruptly in the hall again, three meters away from Zhu Huang. He sized Zhu Huang up, a sharp light flickering in his eyes.

"Dugu Bo!"

Liu Erlong's face instantly turned pale, fear and worry showing in her eyes. Her delicate body trembled slightly, but she did not retreat. She only moved a few steps closer to Zhu Huang, still maintaining a stance of standing and falling with him.

"You're Poison Douluo, Dugu Bo?"

Zhu Huang raised his eyes and looked at the newcomer. He appeared to be around fifty years old, with a head of emerald-green hair. Even his beard was green, and his clothes were green as well. From head to toe, he was green. His entire aura was cold and sinister, and his pupils were different from those of ordinary people, standing vertical like a snake's, giving off a gloomy and eerie feeling.

"Indeed, this old man is!"

The old man, Dugu Bo, carefully sized up Zhu Huang, wanting to see the face beneath the mask, but he was blocked by an invisible force of spiritual power and could not see through it no matter what.

This made his heart tremble, and his expression gradually became solemn. He also felt pressure from the aura Zhu Huang emitted, just like when he had still been a Soul Douluo facing a Title Douluo.

Dugu Bo's pupils shrank, and stormy waves surged in his heart.

But he was a Title Douluo, after all, and his mental fortitude was far stronger than Xue Tianya and the others'. His face gave nothing away as he said calmly, "I heard Mr. Zhu is a great master of poison. This old man is not talented, but when it comes to the path of poison, if I claim second, no one dares claim first. I would like to learn about Mr. Zhu's poison arts."

He emphasized the words "path of poison" heavily, doing his utmost to limit the upcoming contest to the use of poison. He believed that when it came to the art of poison, he feared absolutely no one.