Qian Renxue Was So Angry She Laughed

The setting sun spilled across the official road, stretching the convoy's shadow long and thin.

His lessons for the day over, Dai Xuanyu pushed open the carriage window and watched the outline of Star Luo Imperial City gradually emerge in the distance. A faint shadow crossed his eyes.

The carriage rattled onward. Yang Wudi sat across from him, having finished teaching for the day.

Yang Wudi could not have been more pleased as he looked at Dai Xuanyu.

Ever since Yang Wudi had joined Dai Xuanyu's convoy on its way to Star Luo Imperial City, Dai Xuanyu had been impatient to begin lessons in pharmacology.

Naturally, Yang Wudi admired a student so eager to learn.

And over the past few days of teaching, Dai Xuanyu had surprised him again and again.

No wonder His Majesty the Star Luo Emperor had personally named the boy crown prince.

His precocious intelligence bordered on the uncanny, and his talent for pharmacology was just as extraordinary.

The more Yang Wudi saw of this perfect student, the more pleased he became.

He had even considered teaching Dai Xuanyu the Breaking Clan's art of refining medicine.

But Dai Xuanyu had politely declined.

"Your Highness, we'll reach the city in another half day," Wang Hao's deep voice came from outside the carriage.

"Understood," Dai Xuanyu replied.

Just as he was about to turn his attention back inside the carriage, he noticed that Wang Hao had not left. He seemed to have more to say.

Seeing this, Dai Xuanyu said frankly, without the slightest attempt to conceal anything, "If there's something else, say it. Is my teacher not worthy of trust?"

"As you command, Your Highness."

With Dai Xuanyu's permission, Wang Hao appeared inside the carriage with a whoosh.

He dropped to one knee and reported respectfully to Dai Xuanyu:

"Your Highness, a secret report has arrived from the palace. The Saint King's tiger roar that shook the imperial city that day has put every faction on alert."

"The imperial city has been under lockdown lately. His Majesty asks that you delay your return."

It seems those factions still refuse to give up. Dai Xuanyu had expected as much.

The strange phenomenon produced by the Awakening of the Evil Eyes Saint King Martial Soul that day was bound to catch the attention of the various factions' spies hidden in Star Luo City.

The Star Luo Imperial Family had publicly claimed that the disturbance had been caused by one of its powerful members, but that could hardly dispel every faction's suspicions at once.

The story would not withstand close scrutiny, even if his father, Dai Heng, had surely already made arrangements to deal with the aftermath.

The major factions never readily believed what was put in front of them.

Unlike the weak Heaven Dou Imperial Family, any major upheaval within the Star Luo Imperial Family was bound to put many factions on alert.

Spirit Hall most of all.

Given its wolfish ambitions, it certainly did not want the Star Luo Imperial Family to grow stronger.

Dai Xuanyu was certain that the moment the tiger's roar had sounded across Star Luo Imperial City, the factions' spies had already rushed the news out by fast horse.

Once the major factions learned of it, they would inevitably order their spies to intensify their investigations.

That was why Dai Xuanyu had done all those things afterward: to sever any connection between himself and the phenomenon that day.

He had to admit, being young was sometimes an advantage. It made him easy to overlook.

"That's good. Let them keep investigating. The more slips those spies make, the better."

"Then we can catch them all in one net!" The corner of Dai Xuanyu's mouth lifted as he murmured to himself.

Those spies could rack their brains until the sky cracked and still never imagine that the phenomenon that day had been caused by Dai Xuanyu's Martial Soul Awakening.

By searching harder and harder for clues, they had instead given the Star Luo Imperial Family an excellent opportunity to clear them out.

Even the mighty Star Luo Imperial Family, with its firm grip on Star Luo City, could not prevent spies from slipping in.

It would not solve the problem once and for all, but at least clearing them out regularly would become much easier.

And that was why Dai Heng, the Star Luo Emperor, had told Dai Xuanyu to delay his return to the imperial city.

After all, as far as the outside world knew, Dai Xuanyu was still in seclusion at his residence.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of miles away in Heaven Dou Imperial City...

At the crown prince's residence, Qian Renxue, disguised as Crown Prince Xue Qinghe, was reading a secret report.

"This Heaven Dou Imperial Family is rotten to the core!" By the time Qian Renxue finished reading, she was so angry she almost laughed.

Several days earlier, a tiger's roar had suddenly shaken all of Star Luo Imperial City.

Not only had the roar been thunderous, it had made countless tiger- and cat-type Soul Masters feel their Martial Souls tremble under the weight of a superior bloodline.

Yet the Heaven Dou Imperial Family still knew nothing of intelligence this important.

Just how rotten and paralyzed had the Heaven Dou Empire's intelligence network become?

No wonder the Heaven Dou Empire is so useless! Qian Renxue finally understood.

She had long known the Heaven Dou Empire was useless, but ever since she had assumed Xue Qinghe's identity, its blunders and incompetence had continued to overturn her expectations.

No wonder an empire this weak, incompetent, corrupt, and paralyzed had been beaten senseless by the Star Luo Empire.

Qian Renxue soon consoled herself. But that's exactly what gives me the chance to carry out the Nation-Stealing Plan!

The Nation-Stealing Plan launched by Spirit Hall could only work in the Heaven Dou Empire, which leaked like a sieve.

Attempting it in the Star Luo Empire would invite trouble far too easily.

"Ci Xue, how has Spirit Hall responded?"

Qian Renxue then turned her question to the burly middle-aged man before her.

She had asked about Spirit Hall outright because she wanted to know both that woman's response and her grandfather's.

Ci Xue understood her meaning and replied respectfully, "Young Mistress, the Great Enshrined has taken no significant action. He left the matter in the Pope's hands."

"As far as I know, His Holiness the Pope has sent Ghost Douluo under her command to slip into the Star Luo Empire and investigate."

That woman again... Irritation flashed across Qian Renxue's face.

How could they casually hand something so important to that woman?

"I hope the Heaven Dou Empire's intelligence network hasn't completely collapsed," Qian Renxue said with a sigh.

What good did it do her to have this information now?

She could hardly tell that old man Xue Ye directly.

I've got it. Qian Renxue's eyes suddenly lit up, and she instructed Ci Xue, "Ci Xue, here's what you'll do next..."

"As you command, Young Mistress." Having received her instructions, Ci Xue immediately set to work.

Qian Renxue's idea was simple: Ci Xue would spread the news covertly through Heaven Dou Imperial City.

Otherwise, if she relied on the Heaven Dou Empire's own intelligence network, she might be waiting until the seas dried up and the rocks crumbled.

The longer the delay, the harder it would be to uncover the truth.

Qian Renxue knew what Spirit Hall was plotting, and she naturally did not want any changes in the Star Luo Empire.

If they could not weaken it, they would maintain the status quo.