"Your Eminence?!"
"A Titled Douluo?!"
The Third Offering's final words before his death still echoed in his ears, deafening and sobering.
He stared blankly at the pool of blood on the ground, his throat dry, unable to utter a word.
Why?
How could the down-and-out Blacksmith Association have a Titled Douluo who obeyed Lou Xu's every command?
He had been there on the day of the Martial Soul Awakening. Twenty levels of innate soul power, dazzlingly bright.
That very day, he had rushed back to Star Luo City, assembled his troops, and persuaded the Third Offering to come. He had thought it a deal that could only turn a profit.
Instead, the hunter had become the prey.
And the prey had casually torn the backer he had coaxed and pestered into coming into several pieces.
Seeing Dai Weisi stare vacantly, unable to squeeze out a word, Lou Xu curled his lip.
"Don't want to talk?"
"Then go back and tell your father." He paused.
"From now on, Gengxin City will leave the Star Luo Empire and govern itself under the Blacksmith Association. Within three years, I want twenty mineral deposits."
He patted Dai Weisi's blank face, each slap ringing crisply.
"And... dare to reach out those claws again, and I'll chop them off myself. Understood?"
"I... I understand." Dai Weisi's voice broke. Only then, through his daze, did he realize what he had agreed to-carving a huge chunk of flesh from the Star Luo Empire while it was still alive.
But he dared not utter even half a word of refusal.
"Senior Brother Si Long, see our guest out." Lou Xu turned toward the door, leaving only a few casually spoken words behind.
"Oh, and have the injured blacksmiths identify whoever hit them. Pay it all back, blow for blow."
"All right. Understood."
Si Long, who had been knocked to the floor by the shock, braced himself against the table and stood. A flicker of fervent admiration rose in his eyes as he watched Lou Xu and Xiong Jun leave.
That Titled Douluo elder truly was terrifying beyond belief!
What exactly had Junior Brother gone through on this trip?
He radiated such overwhelming dominance!
Lou Gao had never expected the trouble from the Star Luo Empire that had plagued him for over a month to be resolved so easily. He caught up with Xiong Jun to thank him, only for Xiong Jun to wave dismissively and say,
"What are you thanking me for? That Lou boy suits my taste. The Bear Lord was ordered to protect him-how could I not act? Rather than thanking me, get the Bear Lord some good wine and meat!"
Lou Gao took it to heart and dispensed with further formalities. He turned and ordered the attendants to prepare the most lavish meal they could, then took Si Long to clean up the aftermath.
After arranging lodgings for Xiong Jun, Lou Xu prepared to return to his room.
But he found Xiao Wu crouching outside his door, her face deathly pale. The moment she saw him, she burst into tears.
"Lou Xu, I felt Lord Xiong Jun's aura again just now. I... I don't want to be eaten..."
The commotion when Xiong Jun manifested his soul power phantom had been too great, and terrifying memories had instantly flooded her mind.
She had asked an attendant where Lou Xu's room was. Finding him absent, she could only crouch outside and wait.
"If you do as I say, you won't be eaten. Go back and cultivate. Nothing will happen."
Lou Xu tapped her forehead, his tone tinged with helplessness.
"Then... can I stay with you...?"
Xiao Wu raised her head, pleading in her reddened eyes. When she saw Lou Xu frown slightly, she hurriedly added,
"The room's too big. I'm scared on my own. I... I need contact with human auras to cultivate..."
Looking at those lively eyes beneath fluttering lashes, Lou Xu could only helplessly take her into his room.
The mechanism clattered, and the meteoric iron door slowly opened, revealing a clean, orderly interior.
Tall metal bookshelves divided the spacious room.
One half was a bedroom, fully furnished in warm white tones, simple yet luxurious.
The other half held forging equipment. Flames burned perpetually in the forge, and a long-cooled, unfinished longsword lay flat on the anvil.
Lou Xu found a single bed and placed it beside his own, then told Xiao Wu to cultivate.
The little rabbit could not settle down and wandered around his room. Growing annoyed, Lou Xu swept his gaze over the bookshelves, pulled out Legends of the Continent, a book resembling a collection of myths, and handed it to her. He pressed her onto the sofa and told her to read properly.
Unexpectedly, after reading for a while, the normally restless Xiao Wu became absorbed in the book, and the room fell quiet.
Xiao Wu likes this sort of thing?
Lou Xu scratched his head.
Never mind. As long as she quiets down, that's a good thing.
He walked over to the forge, picked up the unfinished longsword, and examined it closely.
He had hammered it into shape with brute strength before awakening his martial soul.
While crafting the Quicksilver Sash, he had absorbed knowledge from Ornn's legacy, greatly improving his forging skills.
By his current standards, the craftsmanship of this longsword was truly crude.
The forging system of the Douluo Continent was cruder still.
According to the course of history, only twenty thousand years later would a complete blacksmith system emerge, incorporating soul tool technology and developing the processes of Soul Forging and Heavenly Forging.
Even Lou Gao, the foremost divine blacksmith of this age, faced the dilemma of a severed path ahead.
Lou Xu often saw Lou Gao shut himself in his office, racking his brains over pieces of metal.
Thus, while crafting a divine artifact, an idea had taken root in his mind.
Since soul tool technology is nowhere to be found, could rune technology replace it and bring a rune-forging system here?
Ornn's ability to casually craft divine artifacts with legendary attributes relied on more than primal fire and the Living Forge's innate ability to manifest laws. Most important were his thoroughly perfected forging skills and his transcendent Rune Inscription techniques.
As it happened, all of these were included in the knowledge he had inherited.
Finding paper and pen, Lou Xu carefully recalled the details of the runes, transcribing and organizing them.
Scratch, scratch...
The pen tip roamed across the paper. Lines of ink spread out, then soaked into the page one after another, while the sunlight outside gradually sank down the western wall.
The Star Luo Imperial Palace, Imperial Study.
The lamps still blazed in the early hours before dawn.
Thud!
Dai Weisi dropped to both knees, his head bowed deeply, the back of his clothes soaked with cold sweat.
On the dragon throne, the Star Luo Emperor, Dai Changkong, said nothing.
The ruler who had governed the empire with an iron fist for thirty years was now reading the urgently gathered intelligence report in his hands over and over.
By his third reading, his clenched knuckles were already cracking.
Bang!
His fist slammed into the armrest, and Dai Weisi shuddered violently.
"The Third Offering is dead, and I must cede Gengxin City and offer up twenty mineral deposits."
Dai Changkong spoke slowly, his voice terrifyingly calm.
"Father..."
Dai Weisi pressed his forehead to the floor, his voice trembling.
"That man... the Third Offering's Martial Soul Avatar couldn't withstand even a single blow from him. He..."
"Shut up."
Dai Changkong rose, slowly descended from the dais, and walked up to Dai Weisi, looking down at the eldest son he had once valued most.
"Tell me, who ordered you to lead troops to surround the Blacksmith Association?"
"It... it was my decision, but the Third Offering agreed too! He said that as long as we captured that boy with twenty levels of innate soul power, the Star Luo Empire would..."
"Look up."
Interrupted again, Dai Weisi dared not continue. Filled with dread, he raised his head to look at his father.
Smack!
A resounding slap knocked Dai Weisi's face to one side, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.
"Idiot." Dai Changkong's voice was as cold as ice.
"With talent like that, even Spirit Hall would cradle him in its palms and worship him!"
"You didn't seize him on the spot, didn't investigate after he disappeared for two months, and dawdled with your fiancée in the Gengxin City lord's manor for over a month... then went to throw your weight around just as he was about to return?"
"As if offending the Blacksmith Association wasn't enough, you provoked a Titled Douluo who could crush a Soul Douluo without even using his martial soul?!"
Thump!
A solid kick struck Dai Weisi in the chest, smashing his head hard against the floor.
He quickly rose back onto his knees, not daring to make a sound. His head stayed lowered, and he dared not meet Dai Changkong's eyes.
A deathly silence settled over the Imperial Study.
Dai Changkong slowly returned to the dragon throne and closed his eyes.
A father could discipline his son, but an emperor had to solve problems.
Neither the Dai nor the Zhu family had a Titled Douluo.
The Star Crown lineage had dwindled, and the level-ninety-four Star Crown Douluo would not act for the sake of a Soul Douluo's corpse.
A genius with twenty levels of innate soul power, accompanied by a Titled Douluo of unknown background.
When he becomes a Titled Douluo, will he be better than the Clear Sky Sect, which joins forces with the nobles to suck our blood?
At that thought, Dai Changkong pulled his lips into a self-mocking smile.
He had shown poor judgment before, and now he was thinking of pinning his hopes on a child. He truly was like a desperately sick man grasping at any physician.
For now, cutting his losses and doing his utmost to befriend Lou Gao and his grandson was the best choice.
After a long while, the emperor opened his eyes. Calm returned to his gaze, and his imperial majesty was fully displayed.
"Convey my verbal decree. Give the Third Offering a grand burial and treat his family generously; remove the lord of Gengxin City from office and lower his noble rank by one grade; withhold the eldest prince's stipend for six months and confine him for one month to reflect on his mistakes."
"Bring me a decree scroll."
"By the fortune of the Star Luo Empire, Emperor Dai Changkong hereby decrees..."
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