What Comes Next? Stay Tuned

Heaven Dou royal family, the crown prince's bedchamber.

Xue Qinghe gently kneaded her aching cheeks, unable to suppress a wave of irritation.

She had maintained this identity for too long. Every day, she had to be refined and gentle, flawless in both speech and conduct. Even the curve of her brows and the corners of her eyes seemed as though they had been measured with a ruler.

Only after returning to her chambers and dismissing everyone could she briefly peel the mask of "Xue Qinghe" from her face.

"Young Mistress." A barely audible voice came from behind the screen.

Qian Renxue did not turn around.

She sat before a bronze mirror, her fingertips pressing beneath her cheekbones again and again, working the stiffness from her muscles.

The person in the mirror had elegant features, but those eyes were as cold as snow that had never melted atop a mountain peak.

"Speak."

"We have investigated it thoroughly."

The voice behind the screen was kept extremely low. "A young man with dark blue hair released his Martial Soul in the street. He had two Soul Rings, one yellow and one purple. Then, people along half the street began laughing, and it swiftly spread throughout all of Heaven Dou City. No one was injured or sick, yet no one was spared, and it could not be stopped. The man left amid the chaos without harming anyone."

Qian Renxue's hand paused.

"One yellow and one purple?"

"Yes. It matches the Soul Ring configuration of the red-dressed girl who appeared in Notting City."

"And that masked brat as well," Qian Renxue murmured.

She raised her head and looked into her own eyes in the mirror, her voice turning indifferent once more. "Keep investigating."

"Lord Snake Lance and Lord Pufferfish have already gone."

"After disguising themselves, they questioned seventeen witnesses on the main street. Three of them were Soul Masters."

"According to the descriptions, the young man was roughly seven chi tall and lean, with dark blue hair and messy ends."

"He wore an asymmetrical work jacket patched together in burgundy, black, and purple. Its collar was open, exposing a fitted black inner layer. He wore dark slim trousers and black leather boots. He had a smile on his face the entire time. His smile was..."

The person paused.

"Speak."

"Exceptionally sinister."

"...?"

Qian Renxue's fingers slowly clenched.

Just moments ago, she had lifted her teacup when the corners of her mouth suddenly curved up for no reason.

It was not that she wanted to smile. Something had seeped in from the air.

She had thought it was simply exhaustion from government affairs.

Yet before she could even set down her teacup, that urge to smile had surged up again.

She had smiled.

It had been brief and faint, but it was indeed the first time since disguising herself as Xue Qinghe that she had been unable to control herself.

"Truly a terrifying Spirit Skill... Find this person. Do not let Spirit Hall come into contact with him."

"Yes."

After that, Snake Lance and Pufferfish investigated for several more days.

Yet that dark-blue-haired young man seemed to have been swallowed whole by Heaven Dou City's night, leaving behind not even a strand of hair. The more people they questioned, the more chaotic the accounts became.

Some said he had gone east, while others said he had headed south.

Others even claimed to have seen him with their own eyes: after smiling, his entire body folded in half like a sheet of paper and slipped into a rat hole beneath a wall.

"Nonsense." Qian Renxue gave only two words in reply.

She sat behind the desk in the crown prince's hall, half a stack of case files spread before her.

They all detailed the unusual incidents in Heaven Dou City over the past few days.

She read quickly, scanning several pages at a time with little expression between her brows. Only occasionally did she make a light mark in the margins with her pen.

Snake Lance's low voice came from beyond the door. "Young Mistress, we still have not found any trace of that person. However, while conducting inquiries, our people did bring back some... things."

"Speak."

"A few sheets of paper. They were acquired from an old bookstall in the south of the city. Apparently, they have been circulating privately throughout Heaven Dou City lately. Even some insignificant young noble ladies have been copying them."

Qian Renxue set down her pen and lifted her head.

The door opened a crack, and Pufferfish personally entered carrying a wooden tray.

A gray cloth covered the tray, upon which several sheets of paper had been neatly arranged.

The paper was slightly yellowed, its edges uneven. A few sheets even bore faint charcoal smudges, as though they had been salvaged from beside a stove.

Qian Renxue did not touch them immediately. She merely lowered her gaze to inspect them.

The writing on the top sheet had been copied so many times that it had blurred, yet the first line remained clear:

"During a certain year of the Douluo Calendar, Two Mountains sailed the same vessel and headed out to sea."

She slowly picked up that sheet.

"What is it about?" she asked.

"It appears to be... an old tale concerning two Titled Douluo."

Pufferfish lowered his head. "But pseudonyms were used. Some people have already compared the details. One of them has Spirit Skills and an appearance remarkably similar to that person from the Clear Sky Sect."

Qian Renxue said nothing and turned to the next page.

This page spoke of Sea God Island, sea winds, white waves, and three people coming ashore side by side.

There were not many words, but there was much blank space. It ended after the line, "The island mistress glanced back, and her smile captivated all," with nothing written below.

"Who wrote this?" she asked.

"We have not been able to find out."

Pufferfish said, "The old woman selling these papers was illiterate. She said someone had given them to her for free and told her to use them as kindling. She thought it would be a pity to throw them away, so she resold them to a book peddler."

Qian Renxue fell silent for a while before placing the paper back on the tray.

"You may leave for now."

"Yes."

The door closed again, leaving her alone in the hall.

Qian Renxue did not immediately pick up those sheets again.

She simply sat there, lightly tapping the table twice with her fingertips.

The Spirit Skill that had made the entire city laugh had yet to be explained.

Now, these papers had appeared as well, telling stories about those few people who had once stood at the very pinnacle of this continent.

She suddenly felt that there might be a connection between the two matters.

"The whole city laughing, and now these papers," she murmured, as though speaking to herself.

"What exactly are you trying to do?"

The night outside the window was quiet. Only the wind passed beneath the corridor, making the pages at the corner of her desk tremble faintly.

The bottom sheet had been folded, and several words could vaguely be seen at the end:

"To know what happened next, wait for the next installment."

Three days later, another batch of papers began circulating.

This time, it was an entire booklet.

It was titled "Old Tales of Sea God Island."

The book said that Haoyue and Tianyue had sailed out together, and there had been no conversation aboard the ship.

When they reached the densest sea fog, Tianyue suddenly asked, "Why do you always wear that bamboo hat?"

Haoyue did not answer. He merely pulled the bamboo hat lower.

When the sea fog dispersed, Tianyue saw a slender silver ring around Haoyue's left ring finger.

That silver ring was neither a Soul Tool nor a token of the Clear Sky Sect.

It had been picked up from the frozen corpse of an unknown person when the two had fought in the northern snow mountains one year.

Tianyue did not ask again.

When the ship reached Sea God Island, the island mistress personally came to welcome them.

The island mistress was breathtakingly beautiful. At her smile, even the seabirds forgot to flap their wings. She looked at Haoyue first, then Tianyue, before finally saying, "Gentlemen, it has been a long time."

The book wrote, "When those four words were spoken, even the tides did not recede."

Later, the island mistress made a vow: "Whoever becomes a god, I shall belong to him."

Tianyue was the first to withdraw. It was not that he could not compete, but that he could not fight for her. When he left, it rained on Sea God Island for three days.

That night, the island mistress knocked on Haoyue's door and gave him a lamp.

Haoyue accepted the lamp without saying anything. At daybreak, he left.

He did not say where he was going. He only said, "If I do not become a god, I will not return."

When the ship left the shore, Tianyue was already gone. Haoyue stood alone at the bow all night, gripping the silver ring in his arms until it had warped out of shape.

The book did not say whether Bo Saixi knew about this.

It left only one line on the final page:

"Actually, Tianyue did not leave first that day. He hid in the sea fog and watched that ship until it vanished completely."

Qian Renxue frowned. "What kind of nonsense is this..."

Inside an inn in Heaven Dou City, Luo Yan gently set down his pen.

Looking at the stack of papers before him, he revealed a faint smile.

Qian Daoliu loved Bo Saixi, Bo Saixi loved Tang Chen, and Tang Chen... loved Qian Daoliu!

This was... far too entertaining!!!