The street, originally bustling with people coming and going, became clogged.
Quite a few people gathered around the two of them.
"How could he bear to lay a hand on such a little child!"
"Shock him good!"
"Isn't that Princess Xue Ke?"
"Now that you mention it, it really does look like her."
Holy crap! Where did all these people come from?
Startled by the spectators packed around them in ring after ring, Su Ling grabbed Xue Ke's hand and ran.
"Where are you taking me, big brother?"
"I'm still little, big brother. You're not allowed to do anything bad."
"If you really can't hold back, big brother, I could also..."
The spectators, who never minded making a spectacle even bigger, broke into another round of cheers at Xue Ke's words.
Su Ling carried Xue Ke across several streets, stopping only after he was sure he had shaken off the spectators.
"Little girl, you can eat carelessly, but you can't speak carelessly."
Su Ling set Xue Ke on the ground and began figuring out how to send her back.
Xue Ke tugged at the hem of his clothes, then pointed at her bare feet.
While they were running away, Xue Ke had accidentally lost a shoe.
Su Ling picked her back up. After all, standing on the ground without shoes was rather painfully uncomfortable.
Xue Ke took the opportunity to kick off her other shoe and wrapped both arms tightly around his neck.
Su Ling carried Xue Ke along two streets without being spotted by the earlier crowd. He glanced down at Xue Ke in his arms. She was looking up at him, her two little bare feet swinging in the air.
The socks she had been wearing had vanished too.
"Did you do that on purpose?"
"Do what on purpose?" Xue Ke tilted her head, putting great effort into playing dumb.
Su Ling decided not to ask further and simply treated it as something she really had done unintentionally.
After all, who would suspect a four-year-old?
Su Ling found a rock to sit on and settled Xue Ke on his knees.
"Where do you live? I'll take you back."
"The Heaven Dou Imperial Palace."
Su Ling's hands paused.
The Heaven Dou Imperial Palace. Of course I know you live in the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace. The question is, how do I get there?
Su Ling took a deep breath.
"Give me directions."
"Driver, turn left up ahead, then right, then go all the way to the end and turn left..."
Xue Ke kept mumbling away, but Su Ling remembered none of it. He simply had her point out the general direction.
"What's your name, big brother?"
"Su Ling."
"Do you like me, big brother?"
"I don't know."
"What did you come to Heaven Dou City for, big brother?"
"I don't know."
"Then, big brother..."
"Xue Ke." Su Ling looked down at her. "Say another word and I'll sell you to Yu Xiaogang."
Xue Ke immediately pressed her lips together, wrapped both arms around his neck, and clung to him without letting go.
"What's a Yu Xiaogang?"
Su Ling: ...
Su Ling carried her toward the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, buying her a lollipop along the way.
With the lollipop in her mouth, Xue Ke started swinging her little feet by Su Ling's waist again. As they swung, Su Ling sensed something was wrong.
Su Ling's steps faltered.
With remarkable nimbleness, Xue Ke's little foot lightly touched him through his clothes.
Su Ling's face darkened.
"Xue Ke."
"Hmm?"
"What is your foot doing?"
"Nothing." Xue Ke sucked on her sugar figurine with an innocent expression and drew her little foot back.
Su Ling also thought it must have been a coincidence. What would a four-year-old know about such things?
But less than two seconds later, it pressed against him again, even giving him a light step this time.
A vein twitched at Su Ling's temple. Four. She's only four.
"Move again, and I really will give you to Yu Xiaogang."
"You're so mean, big brother."
Xue Ke pouted and finally behaved herself.
The gate guards at the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace spotted a young boy approaching from afar, carrying a little girl in sumptuous clothes. They were about to stop him when they took a closer look.
That little girl was actually Princess Xue Ke. Frightened out of their wits, the guards immediately dropped to their knees.
"Your Highness!"
"Get up, get up." Xue Ke leaned halfway out of Su Ling's arms and waved a hand.
The guards hurriedly brought Xue Ke new shoes.
After putting them on, Xue Ke reluctantly climbed down from Su Ling, grabbed his hand, and ran into the palace.
Before long, Xue Ke had pulled Su Ling to Xue Ye's bedchamber.
The smell of medicine filling the room hit them head-on. A thin man leaned against the head of the bed, his complexion sallow and his eyes deeply sunken.
Seeing her father like this, Xue Ke released Su Ling's hand, ran to the bedside, and leaned over to grasp Xue Ye's hand.
"Father."
"Ke'er." Xue Ye's voice was somewhat weak, but he still sat up straight at the sight of his daughter.
"You sneaked out of the palace again."
Xue Ke turned to Su Ling. "Father, his name is Su Ling. I want to marry him."
Xue Ye: ???
Su Ling: ???
Xue Ye slowly shifted his gaze to Su Ling. Though his eyes were tired, they still held the scrutiny of a ruler.
After a fluctuation of Soul Power, Xue Ye was somewhat shocked. The boy before him was about six or seven years old, yet already possessed rank-twenty Soul Power!
Even with innate full Soul Power, that would mean gaining ten ranks of Soul Power in a year!
This was unquestionably the potential of a Titled Douluo!
"Xue Ke, don't be ridiculous."
Although the boy before him was exceptionally talented, Xue Ke was still young, after all. Xue Ye feared his daughter had encountered some swindler or womanizing rogue.
"I'm not being ridiculous!"
Xue Ye stroked Xue Ke's head helplessly.
"May I ask where you come from, young friend?"
Xue Ye did not believe a boy with such heaven-defying talent had no backing.
If he truly had none, then, given that Xue Ke liked him, marrying his daughter to him was not out of the question. It would also add a Titled Douluo's fighting strength to the empire.
"Me?..."
Su Ling had intended to say Holy Soul Village, but saying it would be pointless. He did not think Xue Ye knew of such an out-of-the-way place.
"I'm just an ordinary resident of the Heaven Dou Empire."
Hearing this, Xue Ye was somewhat pleased. The boy probably was not someone sent by a sect or powerful clan to scheme against the Heaven Dou Empire's foundations.
He did not think any power would dare leave such a gifted child out on the streets.
"Then would you be willing to marry Xue Ke?"
Though this had come suddenly, his health was worsening by the day. Using Xue Ke to recruit someone certain to become a Titled Douluo in the future was quite a bargain for the empire. Besides, Xue Ke liked him. If he passed this village, there might be no such shop ahead again.
"Well, Her Highness the princess isn't old enough to discuss marriage yet. Let's wait a little longer."
"Then how about marrying me in eight years, when I'm twelve?"
The legal marriage age in the Heaven Dou Empire was twelve. After all, because of Martial Souls, people in the Douluo World who awakened Soul Power had very short childhoods and periods of old age.
"Um, I think His Majesty's physical condition is somewhat abnormal. It seems he's been poisoned."
"Poisoned?"
Both Xue Ye and Xue Ke exclaimed in surprise.
Xue Ye had thought it was merely a chronic ailment left over from his early years on the battlefield. Countless healing Soul Masters had examined his condition, and all had been helpless.
Even the Poison Douluo had failed to discover that he was poisoned, yet the boy before him had declared it with complete certainty!
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