My Daddy Said...

"Ah!"

Before his lackeys could clash with Dugu Yan, Xue Beng suddenly let out a piercing scream!

He dropped painfully to his knees, and the Swan Martial Soul behind him actually lowered its proud head stiffly toward Xue Qianren, who was approaching from afar!

"Senior, are you in trouble?"

Xue Qianren hurried past the kneeling Xue Beng and took Dugu Yan's arm, his face full of concern.

"I heard you calling me from a distance, Senior. When I looked back, I saw people surrounding you. These must be the academy's gang of bullies, right? Did they bully you?"

Xue Qianren nervously felt Dugu Yan's arm, looking somewhat flustered.

"I'm fine. Thank you."

Dugu Yan glanced at the little hand gripping her arm and couldn't help shyly tucking back a strand of hair.

Then, she immediately patted her head in vexation.

Dugu Yan, oh, Dugu Yan! His Little Highness was clearly just concerned about you. Where has your mind wandered off to!

Dugu Yan stuck out her tongue sheepishly, a blush rising to her cheeks.

"Aaaah!"

"What did you do to me!"

Xue Beng screamed shrilly, his face contorted.

He felt as though even his Martial Soul was about to leave him!

"Do you know him, Senior?"

"Why does he have a Swan Martial Soul?"

Xue Qianren asked in puzzlement.

"Stop calling me Senior. My name is Dugu Yan. You can call me Sister Yanyan from now on."

"As for him... he's Xue Beng, the fourth prince of the current Heaven Dou Empire..."

Dugu Yan smiled and softly explained to Xue Qianren.

She paid no attention whatsoever to Xue Beng, who was kneeling on the ground and screaming.

"Hahaha! Release me already!"

"I'll have all nine generations of your family exterminated!"

His hair disheveled, Xue Beng looked like a vicious ghost as he shouted, fierce on the outside but cowardly within.

"You don't recognize me?"

Now Xue Qianren was genuinely a little puzzled!

"Who the hell are you! You think you're worthy of me knowing you?"

Xue Beng panted heavily. This brat did look somewhat like his eldest brother, but obviously, he couldn't possibly be his eldest brother!

"Fourth Uncle, oh, Fourth Uncle. I thought you really were only pretending to be a wastrel..."

Amused, Xue Qianren crouched down.

Smack!

A small, blood-red handprint appeared on Xue Beng's face. He immediately stared at Xue Qianren's face, dumbfounded.

At the same time, the watching lackeys all sucked in a breath of cold air!

"Throwing your weight around, forcibly seizing women, committing every evil imaginable despite being a student!"

"You think you deserve the surname Xue?"

Xue Qianren's expression turned cold. Before Xue Beng could react, he stood, planted his little foot squarely on Xue Beng's chest, and stomped him flat onto the ground!

"Ah!"

Xue Beng's eyes nearly split at the corners, and a crisp cracking sound even came from his chest!

"Your Highness, spare him!"

Dugu Yan's expression changed. She nervously grabbed Xue Qianren's arm while hooking her calf, like a length of white jade lotus root, around his leg to lessen his force.

"Your Highness, Xue Beng's status is special. You absolutely mustn't do anything foolish!"

Dugu Yan nervously explained the consequences, her heart both flustered and secretly delighted.

"Aaaah!"

"It's you!!!"

"I know now! You're that bastard from who knows where!"

Xue Beng shouted in agony. Hearing how Dugu Yan addressed him, he finally remembered Prince Xue Xing telling him that Xue Qinghe had gained a child!

"Mmh~"

"Ah!"

Along with Dugu Yan's muffled grunt of pain, Xue Beng's chest instantly caved in!

In an instant!

The lackeys abruptly fell to their knees and kowtowed hard. Dugu Yan had no time to question where Xue Qianren had gotten such strength; she merely stared blankly at his resolute eyes.

"You... killed him?"

Dugu Yan murmured the question, her mind completely blank.

"I've heard about this Xue Beng. I came here for him in the first place."

"The power he wielded made the evil he committed all the more unforgivable."

"He wasn't the chief culprit. The chief culprit still sits high in the imperial palace."

Xue Qianren lifted his foot.

"Sorry. I hurt you."

Looking apologetic, Xue Qianren gently rubbed the reddened part of Dugu Yan's leg.

"I... you..."

Dugu Yan pressed her lips together. She had no time to worry about the strange sensation in her leg. A prince was dead now, and matters had already spiraled out of control!

"He wouldn't have faced any consequences, so I had to kill him myself."

"And all of you will face the sanctions of the law."

Xue Qianren stepped aside and faced the four lackeys kneeling on the ground.

"Spare us, Your Highness! Spare us, Your Highness!"

"We'll turn ourselves in right now! We'll never dare do it again!"

All four began wailing like ghosts and howling like wolves!

"Give me a list of your group's members, along with everything you've done."

"Especially anything Xue Beng said while exploiting his status. Write it down for me without getting a single word wrong."

Xue Qianren's gaze was indifferent. As the saying went, troubled times called for harsh laws, and chronic illnesses called for potent medicine.

What, you're saying I might treat the Heaven Dou Empire to death?

So what? I'm not from Heaven Dou anyway!

Whether Heaven Dou lives or dies doesn't matter, as long as the legend of Xue Qianren lives on!

"Sister Yanyan, you should leave first. This is my business. It has nothing to do with you."

Xue Qianren's gaze softened a little as he looked at Dugu Yan, who was still questioning everything she knew.

"I..."

"I'll stay with you!"

Dugu Yan gritted her teeth and stepped straight forward.

Xue Qianren was a very good imperial grandson, and he would also be a very benevolent and righteous ruler. She absolutely couldn't just stand by and watch him step into a hopeless situation!

If she said that Xue Beng had first tried to act against her with ill intent, and that Xue Qianren had acted on impulse, then out of consideration for her grandfather, Xue Qianren would surely be fine!

"Sister Yanyan, do you know what my daddy wants to do?"

Xue Qianren smiled gently and lightly took Dugu Yan's hand.

"Grandfather's methods are too mild. That's why the powerful run rampant and parasites flourish."

"My father wants change. He wants to change the fact that the Heaven Dou Imperial Family is weak!"

Xue Qianren spoke loudly. The lackeys kneeling on the ground and the students secretly watching from nearby instantly froze!

"My father said: no matter how exalted imperial authority is, it cannot stand above justice; no matter how overbearing the powerful are, they cannot overrule the law!"

Xue Qianren spoke with righteous conviction, every word ringing like a stone striking the ground!

"If justice cannot be found in the law, then it will be found in the blade in his hand!"

"And killing Xue Beng to uphold justice was precisely the first stroke of my honored father's blade, swung to tear open Heaven Dou's rotten curtain!"

Xue Qianren's expression remained unchanged as he watched the academy's teachers and students hurry over from afar.

Naturally, the three education commissioners were at the very front: Meng Shenji, Bai Baoshan, and Zhi Lin.

Their expressions, however, didn't seem particularly pleasant.

"Young Master, isn't your plan a little too radical?"

At the Crown Prince's Residence, Snake Lance had hurried back. He chose his words carefully as he questioned "Xue Qinghe," who was handling documents.

"Do you mean killing Xue Beng?"

"Xue Qinghe" replied casually. In fact, he, too, felt that what Xue Qianren had said made a great deal of sense, so he had indeed entertained the idea of finding an opportunity to kill Xue Beng.

"More or less, but if you force the emperor's hand now, Your Highness, can you really take full control of Heaven Dou?"

Snake Lance was somewhat puzzled.

"Naturally, I can't take control of Heaven Dou yet, but merely using it to fabricate Xue Beng..."

"What did you say? What do you mean, forcing the emperor's hand?"

"Xue Qinghe" raised his head in astonishment.