The Crown Prince's Mansion Raised Its Price

The lights were still on at the Crown Prince's Mansion.

Rain dripped from the blue tiles and shattered into silver fragments before the Stone Steps. Xue Qinghe sat behind his desk reviewing memorials, the candlelight softening his features. He looked like the most rule-abiding man in all of Heaven Dou City.

When Bai Jin pushed the Gate open, half those rules broke.

He carried a black fragment of a plaque. Rain clung to his hem, yet his Silver Hair was far too clean for someone who had just returned from the Old City District. Tang San and the others followed, all of them muddied to some degree. Ma Hongjun was still limping, muttering, "Next time, can we pick a warehouse that doesn't leak?"

Xue Qinghe looked up. His gaze settled on the black plaque.

"Did you manage it?"

"Halfway." Bai Jin tossed the fragment onto the desk. "The children are safe, the formation's dismantled, and the Evil Soul Master's done for. As for the other half, someone thought the tea at the Crown Prince's Mansion was too cheap and insisted on giving you more trouble."

Xue Qinghe picked up the fragment.

The plaque was cold, with the words "Slaughter" carved into its face and traces of Soul Power burns along its edge. The moment he brushed it with a fingertip, his brow tightened almost imperceptibly.

"The aura on this thing is filthy."

Tang San stood nearby and said quietly, "It isn't ordinary bloodlust, or the resentment of a Soul Beast. It feels more like someone forced murderous intent into an object to use as the Formation Core."

Xue Qinghe glanced at him, a hint of approval in his eyes.

Tang San took no pride in it. He had only just returned from the warehouse, and the children's pale faces still filled his mind. He knew he had done some things right today. He also knew he had been a step too slow in many others.

Bai Jin glanced at him. "Give me your hand."

Tang San paused, then held it out.

Bai Jin placed two fingers on his wrist and gave a lazy click of his tongue.

"You broke through."

Everyone from Shrek turned to look.

Tang San was startled too. After the fight in the Old City District, he had only felt his Soul Power flowing more smoothly than usual. He hadn't expected to cross that thin bottleneck outright.

"Level thirty-three." Bai Jin released his wrist. "Congratulations. You rescued people and came away with a level."

Xiao Wu's eyes lit up. She looked even happier than Tang San. "Brother!"

Tang San smiled at her, but he knew it hadn't come for free. Bai Jin had forced him to fight without Hidden Weapons, to look at the people first, then the situation, and to save those in the greatest danger before anything else. For that moment, he hadn't put victory first. His Soul Power had surged forward as though it had finally found a way out.

Dai Mubai looked at Tang San, a spark of fighting spirit in his eyes. His Soul Power was higher than Tang San's, yet in the Old City District, Tang San had broken the formation, saved people, and controlled the field—all the things the team had needed most. Zhu Zhuqing said nothing. She only wrung the rain from her cuffs, her gaze more focused than usual. Ning Rongrong tightened her grip on the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda without thinking. She could feel her own bottleneck loosening. Level twenty-eight felt close enough to touch, like a drop of water hanging over her palm that had yet to fall.

Bai Jin swept his gaze over them and smiled. "Don't be jealous. Everyone who survived today will find their Soul Power a little more obedient than it was yesterday. The only difference is that some learn quickly, while others need a beating for longer."

Ma Hongjun immediately turned to Oscar. "He means you."

Oscar rolled his eyes. "He was clearly looking at you."

Standing behind them, Ning Rongrong muttered, "So getting scolded really can make you level up."

Bai Jin turned around. "You can always try it more often."

Ning Rongrong promptly shut her mouth.

Footsteps sounded outside the Gate.

A middle-aged man in the black robes of a Spirit Hall Deacon entered. After bowing to Xue Qinghe, he cupped his hands toward Bai Jin.

"Mr. Bai, I'm Lu Heng. We let two of the Old City District survivors go as you instructed, and our people are following them from a distance. There's also movement on two other leads."

Bai Jin leaned back in his chair. "Go on."

"Behind the Auction House, someone moved three sealed wagons tonight. Soul Power conceals what's inside the crates, so we don't yet know what they contain. And over the past two weeks, the Western City Apothecary has bought unusually large quantities of painkillers, sedatives, and blood-drawing herbs."

Xue Qinghe's eyes cooled.

"What about beneath the Imperial City?"

Lu Heng lowered his voice. "We haven't found an entrance. But the torn page from the old warehouse said the Gate would open in seven days. I suspect they're waiting for a particular hour."

The Crown Prince's Mansion fell silent.

Outside the window, the rain pattered steadily, like someone slowly sharpening a blade in the dark.

Xue Qinghe set down the plaque, his tone still mild. "I can't mobilize the Imperial Guards to search the Imperial City."

"Of course you can't." Bai Jin smiled. "Your Highness must love the people like your own children, be generous and kind, and make everyone think you know nothing at all."

Xue Qinghe tapped a fingertip lightly against the desk.

There were people from Spirit Hall in this mansion, people from the Heaven Dou Imperial Family, and eyes whose origins even he couldn't fully identify. If he made a grand move as Crown Prince, Xue Ye would ask questions. Prince Xue Xing would ask questions. And whoever hid in the shadows would retreat straight back into their shells.

He could kill. He could work undercover. He could endure.

But precisely because he had endured for so long, he knew better than anyone that one wrong step could overturn the entire board.

Bai Jin looked at him. "Don't overthink it. You stay in the open and smile like a good man. Leave the dirty work to me."

Xue Qinghe said evenly, "You don't look suited to clean work either."

"Of course not." Bai Jin sounded entirely justified. "I'm expensive."

Xue Qinghe looked at him. "And what about you?"

"Me?" Bai Jin pulled a lollipop from his sleeve and peeled off the wrapper. "I'm in charge of being unreasonable."

Dai Mubai's mouth twitched. But he had to admit that when Bai Jin said it, no one thought he was bluffing.

After a moment's silence, Xue Qinghe said, "Seven days."

"Mm. Seven days." Bai Jin bit down on the lollipop. "Training by day, following leads by night. Lu Heng watches the Auction House. Tang San comes with me to the apothecary. And you, little Crown Prince, keep being a good Crown Prince. Don't touch anyone you shouldn't."

Xue Qinghe's brow lifted slightly. "I'm not a child."

Bai Jin gave him a look.

"Anyone who wants to charge underground personally while people are watching him is a child."

Xue Qinghe: "..."

Ma Hongjun whispered to Oscar, "Why do I get the feeling His Highness wants to hit him?"

Oscar answered seriously, "Don't worry. He wouldn't dare."

"Why not?"

"He'd lose."

Ning Rongrong couldn't hold back a laugh.

Xue Qinghe set down his teacup, still every inch the dignified Crown Prince, though a faint trace of resignation had entered his eyes.

"Bai Jin, Heaven Dou isn't the wilderness. Every step we take here is watched."

"That's what makes it troublesome." Bai Jin stood, his azure eyes clear and bright beneath the lamplight. "But trouble is no reason to retreat. If that door really opens in seven days, it won't only be Evil Soul Masters who die."

Tang San raised his head.

The words were spoken softly, but they silenced every joke.

Bai Jin stretched and turned toward the door.

"Rest for four hours."

The Shrek group's eyes lit up.

At the Gate, Bai Jin stopped and added, "After four hours, three laps around the city wall."

Ma Hongjun howled, "Didn't we just finish fighting?"

"That's why you're running." Bai Jin didn't look back. "Only those who can still run after a fight have the right to live until the next one."

Tang San clenched his fist, feeling the newly stabilized level-thirty-three Soul Power within him. "I understand," he said quietly.

The rain kept falling.

The lights of the Crown Prince's Mansion burned as they always had, as though nothing had happened.

But everyone knew that from this night on, Heaven Dou City had only seven days of peace left.