Even applying for a job required the right setting. The Duke's Mansion was too stiff for him to work his magic, while a pleasure house was too casual to be formal enough.
After weighing everything, Xiao Zi decided to arrange their meeting somewhere between the two. It had to be inconspicuous and escape notice, because he intended to use a certain secret art on Dai Huabin.
"I'm in a hurry, but I can't rush." Tapping his fingertips rhythmically against the tabletop, Xiao Zi considered his options.
Qian Renxue looked equally grave. "Star Luo City is the Star Luo Imperial Family's home base, with many powerful Titled Douluo. You have rank-twenty innate soul power, and you're all alone with no registered identity. In their eyes, you're special-an excellent candidate for a death soldier."
Xiao Zi said, "I've thought about staging a chance encounter on their way back to Shrek, but Dai Yueheng would be traveling with them, surrounded by a large contingent of guards. Once they enter Shrek, where Titled Douluo experts stand as thick as trees in a forest, I'll have even less chance to act."
To be fair, creating the perfect conditions for a chance encounter was no easy task. He wasn't actually confident he could pull it off.
Fortunately, luck was part of strength too, and the opportunity soon arrived.
Across from the White Tiger Duke's Mansion, Xiao Zi sat on a restaurant rooftop, watching from afar with Qian Renxue, whose soul had left her body.
On the bustling street, people occasionally looked up at the sky, but not one spotted anyone on the rooftop. Their gazes passed straight through the pair, overlooking them entirely.
After observing him these past few days, Qian Renxue knew Dai Huabin inside out-one-sidedly, of course-and the look she gave him was hard to describe.
"This duke's second son would have been a prince ten thousand years ago. Why is he so hung up on one person? Every time he practices his punches, he grits his teeth in hatred, and even when he goes out drinking, he never stops cursing him. Are you sure you want to throw your lot in with someone like that?"
Xiao Zi smiled faintly. "He's just been spoiled by a life of luxury, with nobody around to advise or guide him. He's not bad at heart. He's even a little innocent."
Qian Renxue seemed to remember something. "The Huo Yuhao whom Dai Huabin keeps talking about is the White Tiger Duke's illegitimate son. He's currently studying at Shrek too... Could he be your real target?"
With their memories shared, she knew the timeline of Douluo II and believed Xiao Zi wanted to use Dai Huabin to meet the child of destiny.
Xiao Zi countered, "Do you think I'm the kind of beggar who wants something for nothing and spends every moment waiting for someone else's handouts?"
Speaking of Huo Yuhao, Tang San's son-in-law who inherited the position of God of Emotion, he could have been considered a colleague of Xiao Zi's in his previous life. If Xiao Zi remembered correctly, the man had ascended to the heavens as soon as he became a god, going off to find his wife and indulge in romance without offering his companions in the mortal world any help.
I'm not an idiot. How could I entrust my future to a complete stranger? Not to mention that Tang San keeps him under surveillance, puts him through all sorts of training, and turns him into his lackey.
"Something's happening down below!" Qian Renxue suddenly alerted him.
The main gates swung wide open, and servants came and went, loading bags of luggage onto a carriage. Dai Yueheng and Dai Huabin emerged afterward, talking to each other.
Qian Renxue said, "The holiday isn't over yet. Are they leaving already?"
While she was still wondering, Dai Yueheng spoke down below, resolving the mystery. "The inner court has a lot to attend to. I have to arrive early. Huabin, are you really not coming with me?"
Dai Huabin waved his hands repeatedly. "No, no. I'm not an inner court disciple, and I want to spend more time with Mother. You go ahead, Brother!"
Dai Yueheng looked as though he wanted to say something, but it became a helpless sigh. "While you're staying at the mansion on your own, don't forget to cultivate, and whatever you do, don't stir up trouble."
His younger brother had grown up and no longer accepted discipline, which worried him greatly.
On the rooftop.
The opportunity they had waited so painstakingly for suddenly arrived. Xiao Zi and Qian Renxue exchanged a glance, each seeing delighted surprise in the other's eyes...
The chance is here!
White Tiger Duke Dai Hao guarded the frontier year-round, while the Duchess remained secluded in her private quarters and never went out.
Dai Yueheng's departure meant the greatest obstacle was gone. There was no one left to rein Dai Huabin in.
"We still need to be careful," Xiao Zi told Qian Renxue beside him. "Given Dai Yueheng's personality, he might well leave a safeguard behind. When Dai Huabin goes to pleasure houses to listen to music, he usually brings quite a few guards. Their strength is probably somewhere between rank sixty and seventy."
Against a rank-twenty-six Soul Grandmaster, Soul Emperors and Soul Saints could practically seize him with one hand and pinch him with the other. They might snuff him out with a flick of a finger before he even got a word in.
"I have to borrow someone else's strength!" Xiao Zi made his decision, rapidly considering candidates. "It has to be someone on bad terms with Dai Huabin, whose family background is evenly matched with his, and who can help me keep the Duke's Mansion's guards occupied."
When the snipe and clam fought, the fisherman reaped the spoils. The one who acted last was the true winner.
Star Luo City, knows Dai Huabin, on bad terms with him...
With all those conditions stacked together, the field quickly narrowed, and Xiao Zi found a suitable target.
Dugu Shangshan, vice-captain of the Star Luo Empire National Team, was a Power Attack System Soul King whose martial soul was the Netherworld Mad Lion. He had once encountered Dai Huabin at a pleasure house and quarreled with him over the same woman. Only out of regard for the White Tiger Duke had he refrained from openly breaking with him.
The two were on poor terms, but not to the point of fighting to the death. A clash wouldn't cost anyone their life, and rescuing Dai Huabin with the strength Xiao Zi displayed on the surface wouldn't arouse suspicion either.
"He'll do!"
After investigating Dugu Shangshan's movements, Xiao Zi learned that he happened to be a regular at pleasure houses, where he went to listen to music. His haunts coincided perfectly with Dai Huabin's. Where there was contact, there would be friction-a perfect, seamless fit.
Over the next few days, without his older brother to discipline him, Dai Huabin was like a wild horse freed from its reins. He stopped practicing his punches and hurling abuse at Huo Yuhao, instead sinking into the tender embrace of women, so blissful that he forgot all thought of returning.
This day was no different from any other. On a whim, Dai Huabin decided not to take a carriage and instead walk from the Duke's Mansion to a pleasure house to listen to music.
Meanwhile, Dugu Shangshan was also riding leisurely toward a pleasure house in his carriage. Recalling the girls' fresh beauty, his heart even skipped a beat.
Whoa-
The horse let out a whinny and came to an abrupt, violent halt. Inside the carriage, Dugu Shangshan channeled his soul power to brace himself, narrowly avoiding being flung out.
"Who was that?!"
Throwing aside the carriage curtain, he emerged in a furious huff to investigate. A handsome youth stood in front of the carriage, a flash of lightning flickering through his purple eyes before he turned and ran.
Although the youth ran farther and farther away, an invisible thread connected them, allowing Dugu Shangshan to pinpoint his location clearly. His spoiled young master's temper flared, driving him to give chase and teach the person who had barged into his path a lesson.
In the crowded marketplace, two figures wove through the throng, one chasing the other, drawing startled cries from the people around them.
Xiao Zi moved lightly, watching behind him as he ran. He kept the distance neither too great nor too small, afraid his target might lose him.
His route seemed utterly random, but he was actually drawing the man in the direction he wanted. When he spotted a familiar figure, the corners of his mouth lifted into a smile of success.
Once he confirmed that Dugu Shangshan had followed, Xiao Zi severed the mental thread connecting them and slipped into the crowd. The advantage of concealment through laws revealed itself once again.
Furious at having been led around like a performing monkey, Dugu Shangshan kept searching for that figure, only to suddenly spot someone else...
"Dai Huabin?"