In Star Luo City, Dai Youheng stood by the window of his hotel room, his gaze seeming to pierce through the layers of rooftops and settle on the heavily guarded White Tiger Duke's Mansion.
"The opportunity has finally come..." Dai Youheng murmured, a cold, sharp gleam flashing in his eyes. Traveling alone meant his target had left the two strongest shelters: the Duke's Mansion and the Star Luo Imperial Palace.
But the impending hunt had not gone to his head. Instead, he analyzed the situation with exceptional calm.
"I still can't be careless." He turned and spoke to the Snow Empress's phantom in the air. "No matter how useless that fellow is, he's still the White Tiger Duke's illegitimate son. However unwelcome he might be, there's no way he'd travel far alone without a single guard. Most likely, the Duke's Mansion assigned him a guard at the Soul King or even Soul Emperor level, enough to ensure his basic safety without making too much of a fuss."
A Soul King. A Soul Emperor. For someone like him, whose soul power was currently only rank seventeen and who was fundamentally still a food-type Soul Master, such power was difficult to confront head-on.
Even with the Snow Soul Ice Condensation Pill and the Emperor's Palm bolstering him, he might be able to ambush an utterly unprepared Soul Elder. But dealing with an experienced, constantly vigilant Soul King or Soul Emperor guard at the same time would be extremely risky. His clever scheme could easily backfire.
"I need a helper." Dai Youheng tapped his fingers lightly against the window frame, his mind racing. "Someone who can draw fire for me, or even eliminate the guard in my place."
A cold smile curled his lips. Killing with a borrowed blade was always the most efficient, least laborious method.
So where should he find this "blade"?
He soon settled on a target. Given Xu Jiujiu's beauty, identity, and status, her admirers in the Star Luo Imperial City could have formed a reinforced regiment.
That simp Youheng was merely the most extreme and conspicuous of them.
Among her other suitors, there were bound to be plenty who felt profound displeasure and disgust at that simp's behavior-a toad lusting after swan flesh.
Soon, one name caught his attention-Huang Heyun.
He was the vice-captain of the Star Luo National Academy Team. His soul power level was comparable to Xu Jiujiu's, likewise at the Soul King level, though he was several years older and nearly twenty.
His martial soul was the Dark Demon Tiger, whose attributes clashed with the Dai Family's White Tiger Martial Soul. His family likewise held a hereditary dukedom and had long fought the White Tiger Dai Family both openly and in secret. Their relationship was abysmal.
More importantly, Huang Heyun also harbored feelings for Xu Jiujiu. And her attitude toward him was clearly much "warmer" than the pure disgust she showed the old Youheng.
Of course, Dai Youheng saw it clearly. This was certainly not because Xu Jiujiu had any special affection for him. It was purely because Huang Heyun and his family were useful.
The Star Luo Xu Family had seized the throne from the White Tiger Dai Family years ago.
Over the years, although the imperial family relied on the Dai Family to defend the borders, deep down, they never stopped guarding against its growing power. They even feared that one day it might reclaim the imperial throne.
The Huang Family, which possessed the Dark Demon Tiger Martial Soul and enough strength to stand against the Dai Family to some degree, naturally became the imperial family's best pawn for keeping the Dai Family in check.
As an imperial princess, Xu Jiujiu had long regarded her marriage as a political bargaining chip. Whoever was useful to her Xu Family and the Star Luo Empire, she was willing to offer herself to him as that chip. Naturally, she gave Huang Heyun tantalizing glimpses of hope, keeping him firmly bound to the imperial family's war chariot.
And Huang Heyun was far smarter than that simp Dai Youheng.
He knew full well that a woman like Xu Jiujiu could never be won through fawning alone. He worked even harder at cultivating and increasing his own value, because he understood that only by proving himself useful to the Star Luo Empire and the Xu Family could he possibly obtain that bargaining chip called marriage.
"He's the one." Dai Youheng settled on his target. A perfect hired fist who already resented the simp Youheng, had sufficient strength, and could easily be provoked.
Huang Heyun cultivated in the Star Luo National Academy's Imitation Cultivation Zone every evening, making him relatively easy to target.
He waited patiently for several more days, confirming that after one final round of futile fawning, the simp had finally been forced to pack his bags and prepare to return to Shrek Academy the following day.
Otherwise, he would be expelled for arriving late.
Expulsion itself did not matter. What mattered was that if he were expelled, how could he remain at the academy and continue currying favor with Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, and the others? He had to cling tightly to the protagonist group's coattails.
The time has come!
That night, the moon was dark and the wind high.
Dai Youheng quietly left the hotel and slipped toward the Star Luo National Academy like a shadow melting into the night. During the holidays, the academy was particularly deserted. The Dark Forest, an Imitation Cultivation Zone prepared specifically for dark-attribute Soul Masters, was especially devoid of visitors late at night.
Just as Dai Youheng had expected, Huang Heyun was cultivating diligently there. For the Dark Demon Tiger Martial Soul, cultivation was most effective at night.
Dai Youheng slipped into the cultivation zone like a phantom. His extraordinarily faint presence allowed him to walk past the academy's patrolling guards without being noticed. He soon located the figure sitting cross-legged in meditation where the dark energy was densest.
Without hesitation, he summoned the Fate-Reversing Heavenly Demon Pill.
"First Soul Skill, Snow Soul Ice Condensation Pill."
An icy-blue phantom pill merged into his body. Ultimate cold flowed through him, and a crystalline, glasslike sheen flashed beneath his skin before vanishing.
Strength, defense, and a sense of absolute control over the ice element instantly filled his entire body.
He glided silently behind Huang Heyun. The entire approach was soundless, not even disturbing the surrounding dark energy. He slowly raised his right palm, concentrating the ultimate cold deep within it until even the air warped slightly.
Though he had yet to fully master the Emperor's Palm, Great Cold Without Snow, its essence of freezing everything had already begun to take shape!
His palm strike had also reached a modest level of proficiency. Making such progress in so little time had even earned Youheng praise from the Snow Empress for his talent.
Thump!
Youheng's palm struck lightly against the vital point at the center of Huang Heyun's utterly unguarded back!
"Aaargh-!"
Huang Heyun was violently torn from his meditation. A terrifying chill unlike anything he had ever experienced instantly invaded his body and rampaged through it, freezing his soul power and sealing his meridians in ice!
The blood he spat turned into ice crystals in midair. His stiffened body pitched forward, his face filled with horror and pain!
"Who? What rat dares ambush me?" Shocked and furious, he desperately circulated his soul power to resist the dreadful cold, but it had little effect. For the moment, he could barely move!
The soul power contained in that palm strike was not strong, at most somewhere in the teens. It was not enough to injure him severely, yet it still left him temporarily immobilized. Even his palms felt stiff.
At that moment, an icy hand grabbed his collar, roughly hauled him up, and forcibly twisted his body,
making him face his attacker.
"Boy, take a good look. Who am I?" a cold voice asked, laden with mockery.
Huang Heyun raised his head with difficulty. By the faint light, he made out that face. The face he loathed beyond measure-the face of that simpering illegitimate son of the Dai Family!
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