The middle-aged man with the crew cut fancied himself a strategist, and now let out a strange laugh.
It sounded dry and grating, enough to send a chill down one's spine.
In truth, he already had an answer in mind.
After all, a prince whom everyone in the palace treated as thin air had suddenly dared to slap the crown prince's man, then deliberately ordered him to bring back every word of those insults.
This was no act of impulse.
Someone acting on impulse would not send a message.
That message was meant for the crown prince.
And that meant the other party had calculated that the crown prince would not dare make a move inside the academy.
"Your Highness, we must look at who stands to benefit from all this."
Xu Tianran raised an eyebrow.
"Please, sir, don't keep me in suspense."
The middle-aged man with the crew cut nodded slightly, then immediately laid out his conclusion.
"If Your Highness falls into the trap tonight and goes to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy to kill Xu Tianyuan, your reputation will undoubtedly be stained, prompting a number of ministers to oppose your accession."
"Whoever benefits then is the mastermind."
"And the person behind Xu Tianyuan will all but reveal himself."
"This person must covet the throne."
As Xu Tianran listened, his eyes lit up, and his expression gradually twisted into a vicious sneer.
"I understand!"
"It's either one of the empire's princes, someone who wants to prop Xu Tianyuan up as a puppet emperor, or the Former Dynasty Crown Prince, whose whereabouts remain unknown!"
At that moment, Xu Tianran felt his mind was working faster than anyone else's. Confidence radiated from him from head to toe.
The middle-aged man with the crew cut looked approving.
"Your Highness sees clearly! We need only investigate along those lines, and we will certainly drag the culprit out."
Xu Tianran nodded in satisfaction.
"You make an excellent point, sir. With you helping me, I'm like a fish in water!"
The middle-aged man with the crew cut waved his hands repeatedly, all humility.
"No, no, no. I merely chose the right man to serve. Your Highness is the one favored by destiny."
The two sang in harmony, lavishing praise on each other as though they had the whole situation in hand and victory already tucked into their pockets.
Ju Zi stood beside them, quietly watching the scene unfold.
A man who had pretended to be useless in the palace for sixteen years had suddenly gone to the academy, brutally beaten Xu Tianran's spy, and deliberately ordered him to repeat those cutting insults word for word.
She could not shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Surely things were not that simple.
But Ju Zi did not dare interrupt.
She was only a pawn. A pawn's duty was to obey, not speak.
After a brief silence, Xu Tianran still felt stifled with resentment.
He slammed a fist into his wheelchair's armrest, the vicious gleam still lingering in his eyes.
"Sir, I still want Xu Tianyuan dead. Unless I kill him, I cannot quell the hatred in my heart!"
"But you were right just now. I cannot do it myself."
"Do you have a foolproof plan?"
The middle-aged man with the crew cut looked utterly confident.
"As it happens, I have thought of just such a plan."
Xu Tianran's eyes lit up.
"Please enlighten me, sir!"
The corners of the middle-aged man's mouth lifted slightly.
"Xu Tianyuan's character is not going to change. In his bones, he is still the same useless fool he always was. Now that he has someone backing him, after all these years of frustration, he is bound to be desperate to grow stronger."
"Whether or not he is level twenty-nine right now, if he wants to grow stronger in the future, he will have to hunt soul beasts and obtain soul rings."
"To hunt soul beasts, he must leave the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy."
"We need only have someone watch his movements closely, find out when he leaves the academy, and send a few experts to intercept and kill him along the way. Wouldn't that settle everything?"
"Your Highness need not lift a finger or take the blame. Afterward, you can even announce that he was killed by a soul beast."
"No one will be able to find fault with it."
Xu Tianran blinked, still harboring doubts.
"What if he stays hidden in the academy and never comes out?"
The middle-aged man with the crew cut smiled.
"We wait."
"A soul master who wants to grow stronger cannot get around the need for soul rings."
"How old is he this year?"
"Sixteen."
"Starting from level twenty-nine, he still has Soul Elder, Soul Ancestor, Soul King, and Soul Emperor ahead of him."
"At every threshold, he will have to go out and hunt for a ring."
"He can hide in the academy for a year, but not for ten."
"Unless he never wants to grow stronger in this lifetime."
"And someone who doesn't want to grow stronger has no right to compete with Your Highness."
After hearing this, Xu Tianran's eyes shone even brighter.
That made sense.
A useless fool who lay down and gave up posed no threat to him whatsoever.
A useless fool desperate to grow stronger would eventually stick his own neck out.
The middle-aged man with the crew cut added another point.
"As for who carries out the deed, Your Highness must not use anyone from the palace, nor anyone close to you."
"It would be best to hire mercenaries from outside. Quick and clean, with nothing that can be traced back to Your Highness."
"Afterward, find any excuse to send them away, and the trail will be severed."
"The only concern is the mysterious expert who saved Xu Tianyuan last night."
"I suspect that person is the one backing Xu Tianyuan."
"To be safe, Your Highness might as well send a Soul Douluo to assassinate him."
By this point, every trace of gloom had vanished from Xu Tianran's face.
He patted the armrest, voicing his approval again and again.
"Excellent! As expected of a descendant of the Grandmaster famed for his wisdom ten thousand years ago!"
His voice carried a hint of fanaticism. "Your ancestor, Yu Xiaogang, trained a god! With your help in the future, there is no reason I cannot become a new god!"
Indeed.
The middle-aged man with the crew cut was none other than a descendant of Yu Xiaogang, and his name was Yu Dazhi.
After Xu Tianran's legs had been blown off, he had sunk into despair and frustration, believing his life was utterly ruined.
It was then that Yu Dazhi had come to him and helped him all the way to becoming crown prince.
Killing his elder brother, killing his younger brother, killing his uncle.
Every relative Xu Tianran had killed over the years, every single death, had involved Yu Dazhi.
"You flatter me, Your Highness." The praise left Yu Dazhi feeling somewhat buoyant. "For me, this was merely something done with a turn of the hand."
He lowered his voice. "With my help, Your Highness, ascending the throne will only be the first step. After that, you will unify the continent and ascend to godhood!"
The two began their mutual flattery all over again.
Whatever Yu Dazhi truly thought was hard to say, but Xu Tianran genuinely saw him as a pillar to cling to.
He believed that with this man assisting him, his grand undertaking was certain to succeed!
Xu Tianran's unwavering faith in Yu Dazhi's abilities had its roots.
Several thousand years ago, after the Douluo Continent and the Sun Moon Continent collided, legends of the Shrek Seven Devils had spread to the Sun Moon Continent through various channels.
According to those legends, Sea God Tang San, who had ended Spirit Hall's tyranny, had endured a bitter childhood. It was solely because he had taken Yu Xiaogang as his master that he had begun his rise against the odds and ultimately ascended to godhood.
Xu Tianran had been raised as a successor from childhood, with great expectations placed upon him. He had begun studying the Douluo Continent's history at an early age, adhering to the principle of knowing both himself and his enemy.
When he learned that someone on the Douluo Continent had actually ascended to godhood, while no one on the Sun Moon Continent ever had, he had set his heart on a goal.
He would become the next person to ascend to godhood.
Yu Dazhi was his opportunity!
"Ju Zi."
In a much better mood, Xu Tianran casually gave her a few instructions. "You heard what he said. Keep a close watch on Xu Tianyuan's movements at the academy from now on, and report to me promptly."
"Yes." Ju Zi lowered her head and obeyed.
Xu Tianran waved a hand, signaling for Ju Zi to leave.
Tonight, he still intended to talk with Yu Dazhi by candlelight and settle their plans for the future once more.
Before you continue