Seeing Lou Xu meet his gaze with unwavering eyes, not flinching in the slightest, Dai Changkong smiled and bent slightly to look him in the eye.
"A brilliant young talent. I was right about you."
He took a dagger from beneath the desk and gently set it on the tabletop.
The dagger was exquisitely crafted, with red lightning flickering across it. It was none other than Jingzhe!
"To be frank, I wish to change the Star Luo Empire's policy of feeding war with war, but the nobles are tangled together like gnarled roots, and the tail has grown too large to wag. I have realized that Runes equipment has boundless potential. If applied to industries that support the people's livelihoods, it could lay an unshakable foundation for the Star Luo Empire for ten thousand generations!"
"Xu, this is your handiwork. What do you think?"
After taking such a roundabout approach, Dai Changkong had suddenly become so direct that Lou Xu pursed his lips, unsure what to say.
His gaze was deep, but he did not immediately speak.
Dai Changkong noticed and took out a medal, setting it beside Lou Xu's hand.
"Xu, would you be willing to shoulder the position of Star Luo Imperial Preceptor?"
"Just nod, and I will present this Star-Iron King Medal to you with both hands. From then on, you will be the Star Luo Empire's sole Non-Royal King. Within the empire, everyone except me will bow their heads before you. No official or general will dare disobey."
Lou Xu scrutinized Dai Changkong and met his glittering eyes. His gaze burned like that of a man trapped in the desert who had spotted an oasis.
The medal on the desk was gently pushed back.
"You give me too much credit, Your Majesty."
"It has been less than half a year since I awakened my martial soul. How could I possibly have developed something as earth-shattering as Runes equipment?"
"You should give this medal to my grandfather."
Lou Xu pushed the medal back, watching Dai Changkong's expression intently.
Dai Weisi had resorted to force after failing to recruit him. Lou Xu dared not gamble his own safety on whether that trait ran in the family.
Glancing toward Xiong Jun from the corner of his eye, Lou Xu prepared to shout at any moment.
Unexpectedly, Dai Changkong merely smiled and did not press the matter.
He put away the medal and glanced at Xiong Jun, who was eating and drinking heartily below the dais. His gaze remained fervent when it returned to Lou Xu.
As the Star Luo Emperor, a level eighty-nine Soul Douluo who had spent years mastering imperial power, how could he fail to see it?
Everyone outside claimed that Runic Forging was the fruit of the Divine Craftsman Lou Gao's years of research.
Even Lou Gao himself had appeared in person to speak of the hardships he had endured in creating Runic Forging and his hopes for its future.
But Dai Changkong kept a close eye on Dai Weisi. On the day Lou Xu awakened his martial soul, both Dai Weisi's foolish actions and Lou Xu's extraordinary qualities had come to his attention.
He was certain that Lou Xu had played an irreplaceable role in the creation of Runic Forging.
The Star Luo Empire governed with iron and blood and enriched itself through conquest. Was that because successive emperors had been unwilling to develop trade?
No. It was because the Star Luo Empire lacked a top-tier sect like the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect to serve as a hub!
All wealth and grain flowed into the hands of the powerful. How were the common people supposed to wrest them back?
He had ascended the throne in his youth.
For the first twenty years, he had struggled against the Clear Sky Sect and the nobles joining forces to suck the empire dry.
For the next ten, he had struggled as the Star Luo Empire sank into a whirlpool, with no path to prosperity.
Was the Star Luo Empire doomed to be born in war and perish in war?
Now that Runes equipment had emerged, heaven had bestowed an opportunity. How could he abandon it so easily?
"I... overstepped. In my eagerness to enrich the people, I lost my judgment for a moment. Please do not take offense."
Seeing Dai Changkong cup his hands in apology, Lou Xu suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of absurdity.
It was like walking down the street only for a beautiful stranger to rush up and say, "Sure, I'll marry you. Send me fifty first so I can see your sincerity."
When Dai Changkong declared that he was the true creator of Runes equipment, he had indeed been somewhat shocked.
Reform this, prosperity for the people that-if his grandfather had been here, he might actually have believed it.
But what decent person dragged a child over in the middle of the night to talk about these things?
Lou Xu glanced at the two brothers below the dais, and the wariness in his eyes deepened.
One was arrogant and overbearing; the other drifted all over the continent.
Having raised those two sons, their father was supposed to be a good emperor who threw himself into governing well?
Ha.
When he came back to his senses, Dai Changkong was bent over the desk, writing a letter.
He held the finished letter near a candle flame to warm it. Once the ink had dried a little, he folded it into an envelope, stamped it with the Evil-Eyed White Tiger wax seal, and solemnly handed it to Lou Xu with both hands.
"Xu, I understand that this abrupt invitation has left you wary. Please deliver this letter to Chairman Lou on my behalf. As long as I remain on this throne, my promise will hold!"
Lou Xu accepted the letter, his face breaking into the innocent smile a child ought to have.
"Rest assured, Your Majesty. I'll make sure my grandfather gets it."
"It's getting late. If I get back any later, I'm afraid Grandfather won't let me through the door. There's no need to see us off, Your Majesty. We'll be going now."
Lou Xu hopped down from the imperial dais and hurried away with Xiong Jun, who had eaten and drunk his fill, and Xiao Wu, who still wanted more.
With Dai Changkong looking as though he wanted to become his father, Lou Xu truly did not want to stay another second!
Watching the three leave, Dai Weisi looked puzzled.
"Father, even if that boy did not create the runic weapons, he still has close ties to the Divine Craftsman Lou Gao. Why did you simply let him leave?"
Dai Changkong stared at Lou Xu's retreating figure, then looked at his worthless son and slowly descended from the dais.
"Kneel."
At the icy command in their ears, both brothers' legs weakened, and they fell to their knees.
"Look up."
Dai Weisi did not need to think. He knew those words were meant for him.
Not daring to make a sound, he raised his head in trepidation, cold sweat pouring down his back.
Smack!
"I ascended the throne at twenty and persuaded the Clear Sky Sect to settle in the Star Luo Empire. At twenty-one, I pacified Dragonflame Province. At twenty-five, I conquered the Freljord Kingdom. By thirty, none of the four coastal provinces dared disobey me, and none beneath heaven dared withhold their respect..."
He paused.
He looked at Dai Weisi, whose blood dripped from the corner of his mouth onto the floor, and Dai Mubai, who trembled beside him like chaff in a sieve.
It felt as though a thorn had lodged in his heart, leaving him unable to dispel his frustration.
"I have been wise all my life. How did I raise two fools like you?!"
He panted heavily. Only after a long while did his breathing settle, and he forced himself to speak patiently and instruct them.
"That burly man treated the palace as though it were deserted. I do not even need to guess-he was the one who killed the Third Offering last time.
Do you think that your mother and I could make them stay by using our Martial Soul Fusion Skill, even with Offering Xu guarding the rear courtyard?"
Seeing Dai Weisi tremulously nod under his questioning gaze, the anger he had just suppressed erupted again.
"Idiot!"
Smack!
Another slap.
"If I can befriend him, why should I make him an enemy?!"
He walked to the desk, picked up the dagger, and hurled it at Dai Weisi. It whistled through the air and struck him, but he remained rooted to the spot, not daring to move.
The Jingzhe Dagger fell to the floor with a clang.
"Pick it up! Pick it up!"
"Look at what Runes equipment is!"
"Can Heaven Dou's Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect make this?!"
"This is an opportunity the Evil-Eyed Saint King has bestowed upon the Star Luo Empire! Even if we captured Lou Xu today, what then?!"
He stepped forward, seized Dai Weisi by the collar, and hauled him up. The pressure of a high-level Soul Douluo poured out unconsciously.
The atmosphere in the hall abruptly froze. Dai Weisi dared not look directly into those eyes, which seemed to roar like a king of beasts. Sweat poured off him like rain, and terror gripped his heart, but his mind raced as he spoke.
"Father, I understand! I know I was wrong!"
"Attacking them would only drive them away... I was foolish! Thank you for your guidance, Father!"
Seeing Dai Weisi's evasive eyes, then recalling the fearless child of only six from moments before, Dai Changkong felt an even sharper pang in his heart.
If the Star Luo Empire's heirs were like that child, why would its great cause of unification fail to flourish?
He dropped Dai Weisi, turned away, and left them with a warning.
"Whichever of you ascends the throne in the future, never move against the Lou Family. That is all I have to say."
After dismissing the two, he returned to his desk, somewhat dispirited.
Rubbing the medal that had been pushed back into his hands, Dai Changkong felt no drowsiness at all.
Late into the night, a young guard was brought into the Imperial Study.
He was the same man who had picked Lou Xu up, and he had also driven the carriage that took him home.
"Your Majesty, before leaving, the Earl asked me to pass on a message."
"Speak."
"The Earl said... when the method of Runic Forging reaches maturity, that will be the day it is spread throughout the world. Time will tell whether your sincerity is genuine or false."
"Did he truly say that?!"
"Every word is true, Your Majesty!"
"Hahaha!"
"The Saint King has blessed us! The Star Luo Empire will soon grow mighty!"
"..."
Before you continue