Xue Qinghe's gaze swept over Chen Jin.
The Nine Heavens Divine Phoenix martial soul.
A soul ring configuration of yellow, yellow, purple, and black.
Such talent was as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns, even in Spirit Hall.
He was already thinking of winning him over.
"The weather is lovely today. Staying cooped up in my residence is terribly dull."
Xue Qinghe rose and brushed his sleeves.
"Brother Chen Jin, would you be interested in accompanying me to the Royal Hunting Ground?"
"We can hunt and clear our heads along the way."
Chen Jin looked at Xue Qinghe.
The Royal Hunting Ground.
Security there was tight, and its vast grounds were sparsely populated.
Xue Qinghe had something confidential to say that he did not want to discuss amid the many eyes and ears of the Crown Prince's Residence.
"Since Your Highness is in the mood, I would gladly accompany you."
Chen Jin stood.
The Heaven Dou Royal Hunting Ground.
The autumn wind blew bleakly.
Fallen leaves fluttered through the air.
They covered the grass like a thick carpet.
Two fine horses galloped across the field.
Chen Jin and Xue Qinghe rode side by side.
Both had changed into lightweight hunting clothes.
In a patch of bushes not far away.
A plump rock antelope grazed with its head lowered.
Xue Qinghe reined in his horse.
He took an ornate bow from beside his saddle.
He drew a feathered arrow and nocked it.
His arms exerted force.
The bow bent like a full moon.
"Brother Chen Jin, what do you think of the Heaven Dou Empire's future?"
Xue Qinghe asked casually as he aimed.
Chen Jin stopped his horse and watched his movements.
"The empire appears prosperous, but dark currents surge beneath the surface."
"The major factions each harbor their own schemes. Maintaining a balance is no easy task."
Whoosh.
The feathered arrow tore through the air.
The sharp arrow pierced the rock antelope's chest.
The rock antelope fell before it could even struggle.
Xue Qinghe hung the bow back on his saddle.
He turned to look at Chen Jin.
"Well said."
"That is why the empire needs geniuses like you to support it."
Xue Qinghe urged his horse into a slow walk, and Chen Jin followed beside him.
"I would very much like to know what sort of family nurtured someone as powerful as you."
"I checked the empire's records, but found no information about your family."
Xue Qinghe looked at Chen Jin with inquiry in his eyes.
To nurture a genius who could surpass the age limit for soul rings.
The force behind him could not be ordinary.
Chen Jin gave a self-deprecating smile.
"I have no family. I was orphaned as a child."
"Before joining Blazing Fire Academy, I was a member of Shrek Academy."
Xue Qinghe pulled on his reins.
He turned his head, surprise flashing in his eyes.
"You were with Shrek?"
"Then why are you competing for Blazing Fire Academy now?"
Chen Jin looked at the distant mountains.
A cold gleam flashed through his eyes.
"Because they threw me out."
Chen Jin's voice was calm.
It was as though he were recounting something unrelated to himself.
At this, Xue Qinghe could no longer conceal the surprise in his eyes.
"They actually threw you out?"
"An extraordinary genius with the Nine Heavens Divine Phoenix martial soul, at the peak of rank forty, was a mediocre burden in their eyes?"
"What an outrageous joke."
Xue Qinghe laughed aloud.
But his laughter was filled with contempt and disdain for Shrek Academy.
"Yu Xiaogang, Flender-what a bunch of blind fools."
The Heaven Dou Royal Hunting Ground.
The autumn wind swept past.
Withered yellow blades of grass broke beneath the horses' hooves.
They made dull sounds.
Xue Qinghe and Chen Jin rode side by side along a woodland path.
The royal guards followed far behind them, maintaining their distance.
Hoofbeats echoed across the empty field.
Xue Qinghe tugged on his reins, slowing his warhorse.
He turned his head to look at Chen Jin beside him.
"Brother Chen Jin, there is something I have always wondered about."
Xue Qinghe looked at the woods ahead and spoke slowly.
"Although Shrek Academy behaves eccentrically, they do have a knack for training soul masters."
"That Tang San, and Dai Mubai-their strength places them among the best of their peers."
"Since you were once one of them, you should know their capabilities very well."
"They seem strong, and count among the most prominent teams in the tournament today."
"Why did you give up on them so readily and join Blazing Fire Academy instead?"
Chen Jin sat straight-backed on his horse.
His gaze rested on the empty space ahead, his expression calm.
"Strong?"
Chen Jin laughed once.
"What Your Highness sees is nothing but a castle in the air they built from sand and gravel."
"Their strength rests on overdrawing their bodies' potential."
"Flender and Yu Xiaogang's training methods amount to nothing more than endless weighted running and pushing their bodies to the limit."
"This method can indeed raise soul power quickly in the early stages, but they are digging their own graves."
"There is a limit to what a soul master's meridians can withstand. Without suitable medicinal herbs to nourish them, relentless strain will only leave hidden injuries that can never heal."
"When those injuries erupt later, their soul power will never advance another step for the rest of their lives."
As Xue Qinghe listened to Chen Jin's analysis, his eyes repeatedly lit up.
He had not expected Chen Jin to see through Shrek's training methods so thoroughly.
"So that is how it is."
Xue Qinghe nodded.
"Still, I have heard that Shrek has special solutions for unusual martial souls."
"Take Ma Hongjun, who possesses the Evil Fire Phoenix martial soul."
"His martial soul has a tremendous flaw. One careless mistake, and his evil fire could burn him to death."
"But Shrek tolerates him and helps cover for him."
"As long as he finds a few women and releases his evil fire through intercourse, he can safely increase his soul power."
"The secular world scorns such a method, but in the soul master world, it does count as a shortcut to surviving and growing stronger."
Xue Qinghe looked at Chen Jin, his golden hair fluttering in the wind.
"You possess the Nine Heavens Divine Phoenix martial soul. Before it evolved, the conflicting flames within you were probably even fiercer than his."
"If you had stayed at Shrek, you would only have needed to ask, and Flender and Yu Xiaogang would have used the same method to find women for you and resolve your martial soul's difficulties."
"After all, the talent you have displayed far exceeds Ma Hongjun's."
"Why did you reject a method that could solve the problem so easily, and choose to fall out with them instead?"
Chen Jin pulled on his reins.
His warhorse stopped and snorted.
He turned to meet Xue Qinghe's gaze.
"Your Highness thinks that method is easy?"
Chen Jin looked at Xue Qinghe without a flicker of wavering in his eyes.
"Someone who sustains his cultivation by trampling the chastity of innocent women is no soul master. He is a beast wearing human skin."
"How many ordinary women's lives has Ma Hongjun ruined to release his evil fire?"
"Not only does Flender fail to restrain him, he even uses money to smooth things over for him, treating it as a necessary sacrifice."
"Yu Xiaogang is even more sanctimonious. He considers it an inevitable price of martial soul mutation, never once thinking of helping purify his martial soul at its source."
"In their eyes, as long as they can grow stronger, morality and basic principles can be trampled at will."
Chen Jin's voice was even, but every word landed heavily.
"But I, Chen Jin, disdain wallowing in the same filth as people like them."
"My Nine-Heaven Divine Phoenix is fire of the highest purity and supremacy."
"The divine phoenix soars through the nine heavens. It perches only on the parasol tree and drinks only from sweet springs."
"If I used the same vile methods as Ma Hongjun to quell the flames within me, I would be polluting my martial soul and defiling my bloodline."
"The divine phoenix has a spirit. If surviving required such filthy methods, I would rather let the flames burn me to death."
"That filthy shortcut means destroying one's own future."
Xue Qinghe sat rigid in his saddle.
He looked at Chen Jin.
The autumn wind brushed the treetops with a rustling sound.
Yet towering waves rose in Xue Qinghe's heart.
He had grown up amid the whirlpool of power between the Heaven Dou Imperial Family and Spirit Hall, and had seen far too many people who would stop at nothing for strength and authority.
The despicable, the shameless, the cruel-there were too many to count.
Even he himself was playing a false role and doing things that could not bear the light of day to carry out Spirit Hall's plan.
In the soul master world, the strong reigned supreme, and morality was often the most useless thing of all.
Yet this red-clad man before him, possessing a god-level martial soul, had spoken such thunderous words.
He would rather burn to death than defile his martial soul's purity.
Such conviction and integrity were all too rare.
At that moment, the Six-Winged Angel martial soul within Xue Qinghe resonated.
It was a resonance belonging to martial souls of holiness and light.
As he looked into Chen Jin's clear, resolute eyes, the wariness and desire to win him over in his heart quietly changed.
They became heartfelt admiration.
This man was worthy of his Nine Heavens Divine Phoenix martial soul.
He was not one of those mediocrities enslaved by power. He was a true master.
Xue Qinghe took a deep breath and suppressed the shock within him.
A sincere smile appeared on his face.
"Brother Chen Jin, I take back what I said."
"You truly are not cut from the same cloth as those people at Shrek."
"They are gamblers who will stop at nothing to grow stronger, while you are a true wayfarer."
"With the conviction to hold firm to such beliefs, it is no wonder your martial soul could evolve into the Nine-Heaven Divine Phoenix."
"Shrek pushed away a true god with their own hands. Sooner or later, they will pay the price."
Chen Jin looked at Xue Qinghe, his expression softening.
"You flatter me, Your Highness."
"I merely do what I wish to do and uphold the path I wish to uphold."
"As for Shrek, what they do has nothing to do with me."
"As long as they don't provoke me, I can't be bothered with them."
"But if they don't know what's good for them, I certainly won't show mercy."
Xue Qinghe burst out laughing.
"Good!"
"Repay kindness with kindness and vengeance with vengeance-that's true character!"
As the two spoke, a sudden rustling came from the bushes a short distance ahead.
A snow-white figure flashed between the green leaves.
Xue Qinghe's gaze was swift, locking onto that direction.
"Look over there!"
Xue Qinghe raised his hand and pointed.
A small, snow-white beast stood atop a steep rock.
The little beast had four long horns like white jade and a lithe body, its eyes fixed warily on the horses nearby.
"A Four-Horned Snow Antelope!"
Delight appeared on Xue Qinghe's face.
"This is a rare, precious beast in the Royal Hunting Ground. It's so fast that ordinary hunters can't even touch its shadow."
"Brother Chen Jin, interested in a little contest?"
"Let's see which of us can take this quarry first."
Chen Jin looked in the direction Xue Qinghe pointed. The Four-Horned Snow Antelope was pawing the ground uneasily.
"Since Your Highness is in the mood, I shall gladly oblige."
Chen Jin tightened his reins and leaned forward, ready to charge.
Xue Qinghe laughed heartily, the gloom in his eyes swept away.
"Good!"
"Then let's see who's quicker!"
Before his words had faded, Xue Qinghe abruptly squeezed his horse's flanks.
The warhorse beneath him gave a long whinny and shot toward the rock like an arrow loosed from its bow.
Not to be outdone, Chen Jin pressed his legs in, and his warhorse became a streak of red lightning, keeping pace beside Xue Qinghe.
The Four-Horned Snow Antelope was alert. The moment the hoofbeats sounded, it leaped off the rock and darted into the dense forest.
"Hyah!"
Xue Qinghe shouted and spurred his horse into the woods.
The two fine horses raced through the forest, sending fallen leaves swirling through the air.
Seeing this, the imperial guards and the disciples of Blazing Fire Academy behind them hurried to spur their horses after them.
"Protect His Highness the Crown Prince!"
"Keep up!"
The guard commander called out urgently.
However, the terrain here was extremely complex.
As they ventured deeper into the woods, the terrain grew increasingly steep, the ground covered in crisscrossing roots and sharp stones.
Ordinary horses simply could not maintain their speed on such footing.
The guards' warhorses were soon impeded by thorns and dense woodland, forcing them to slow down.
Xue Qinghe's and Chen Jin's mounts, however, were exceptional steeds bred by the Heaven Dou Imperial Family, with extraordinary strength in their legs.
Moreover, both men possessed profound Soul Power and sat as steady as Mount Tai in their saddles. Relying on superb horsemanship and the protection of their Soul Power, they managed to weave freely through the dense woods.
The wind howled past their ears.
Branches continually scraped their hunting clothes with a rustling sound.
Up ahead, Xue Qinghe nimbly dodged one ancient tree after another, his movements agile, nothing like those of a crown prince who spent his years deep within the palace.
Chen Jin followed behind him, the distance between them never exceeding a few meters.
The snow antelope ahead was extremely fast, constantly changing direction like a white phantom among the trees.
Xue Qinghe and Chen Jin pursued it relentlessly through the woods.
As time passed, the trees around them grew ever taller, their overhead canopy shutting out the sunlight.
The light in the forest dimmed.
Behind them, the guards' shouts gradually weakened beneath the wind and hoofbeats.
At last, they vanished entirely.
In the two men's world, only each other's hoofbeats and the sound of the snow antelope running ahead remained.
They had left the rest of their party far behind and entered the primeval forest in the deepest reaches of the Royal Hunting Ground.
The Heaven Dou Royal Hunting Ground.
Deep within the sea of trees.
Ancient trees towered into the sky.
The thick canopy blocked the sunlight, leaving only a few dappled rays falling upon the fallen leaves.
The Four-Horned Snow Antelope ran swiftly and had now vanished without a trace.
Xue Qinghe reined in his horse.
The warhorse gave a low snort and stopped beneath an enormous ancient tree.
Chen Jin also drew in his reins, coming to a steady halt beside Xue Qinghe.
All around them was deathly still.
The clamor of the imperial guards had long since been shut away several miles behind them.
Here, there was only the rustle of wind through the treetops.
Xue Qinghe swung down from his horse.
His movements were deft as he tied the reins to a nearby branch.
Chen Jin likewise leaped from his saddle.
He patted his horse's neck and let it graze on the weeds nearby.
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