Ning Xuan had been outmatched?
He had needed the wall to support him as he walked?
Let alone Salas-even Ning Xuan himself was stunned by Tang Yuehua's words.
Was this still the dignified, elegant Lady Yue?
Qian Renxue, who had been sitting silently to one side, engrossed in watching the drama, also widened her eyes.
Well, well, well.
So this was what Lady Yue was like in private.
"Tang Yuehua, you..."
Salas was furious.
"Bishop Salas, you may leave."
Chen Xin suddenly projected his voice, ordering him out.
"Hmph."
Salas's expression was so dark it could have dripped water. He flicked his sleeves and turned to leave.
But even after Salas left,
the atmosphere in the reception hall barely improved. Instead, it grew even stranger.
Tang Yuehua gradually began to panic as well.
Her features were exquisite, her bearing noble and elegant, yet now she also had a touch of a young girl's endearing shyness.
She no longer dared look at anyone else in the hall and fled in disarray.
Only when Ning Xuan, Chen Xin, and Qian Renxue were the only three left in the reception hall did Chen Xin finally give a dry cough, easing the atmosphere.
Ning Xuan's expression also regained its composure.
He looked at Qian Renxue and said,
"Your Highness, sorry to have..."
But before he could finish, Qian Renxue reached into her robes and placed a strip of paper two fingers wide on the table.
"Young Sect Master, you might want to look at this."
She spoke quite frankly.
Ning Xuan froze.
He instinctively stood and took the note. His pupils abruptly contracted after a single glance.
Seeing this, Chen Xin hurried over as well.
"Your Highness, may I ask where this came from?"
Chen Xin asked gravely.
"Someone left it at the Crown Prince's Residence in the middle of the night."
Qian Renxue's tone was calm, but her eyes held a probing look as she watched them.
Immortal herb?
What exactly was it?
Qian Renxue did not know.
But she could imagine the significance hidden beneath those words.
"I don't think I'm the only one who received this note."
"Even Salas must have one, or he wouldn't have behaved that way today."
An honorary elder of Spirit Hall might hold considerable standing,
but antagonizing the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect over a dead man was by no means wise.
Qian Renxue did not believe Salas could fail to see that.
"Do you have any clues about who delivered the note, Your Highness?"
Ning Xuan could not help asking.
Qian Renxue met his eyes with a smile.
"You should know better than I do, Young Sect Master."
Ning Xuan immediately drew a deep breath and turned to exchange a look with Chen Xin.
Liu Erlong or Yu Xiaogang!
It could only have been them. They had deliberately released news of the immortal herb, then taken advantage of the chaos to escape, fishing in troubled waters.
"What bastards."
Chen Xin could not help cursing under his breath.
That damned Yu Xiaogang. Even dead, he had brought them such enormous trouble.
Now that news of the immortal herb had been released,
everyone in the Soul Master World would probably know very soon.
The immortal herb would no longer be a secret!
Qian Renxue's gaze sharpened as she asked,
"Your Eminence Chen Xin, is the immortal herb real?"
At the same time.
In a wild grove within a mountain hollow.
Liu Erlong finally woke from her coma.
She was very weak, lying on ground overgrown with weeds and covered in dead leaves. With difficulty, she turned her head and saw a blazing fire.
A burly figure sat imposingly beside the flames.
"Xiao... gang..."
Liu Erlong spoke instinctively.
Hearing her, the burly man slowly walked over. Only when he drew close did he stop and look down at her.
"Liu Erlong of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan?"
Liu Erlong froze.
She had never heard this unfamiliar voice before?
"Who are you? Where's Xiaogang...?"
Images from the previous night flashed through her mind, and Liu Erlong immediately asked anxiously.
"Dead."
The burly man withdrew his gaze.
"Your fiancé punched his head apart. He died horribly."
Liu Erlong stiffened as though struck by lightning.
The next moment, tears fell like rain, and she was as anguished and despairing as if her parents had died.
"I'm curious. Why did he want to kill you?"
The burly man continued questioning her.
"Because he's a beast."
Liu Erlong raised her head, tear tracks still on her cheeks, and cursed through gritted teeth.
The burly man neither agreed nor disagreed.
"It'll be difficult for me to help you if you don't tell me the truth."
"You can help me?"
Liu Erlong froze, then hurriedly asked.
"I risked my life to save you from him and Chen Xin. What do you think?"
A cold gleam flashed through the burly man's eyes.
Wasn't Ning Xuan widely acknowledged to be a good-for-nothing?
Yet the Soul Power cultivation and combat talent he had displayed last night could even rival those of some veteran Titled Douluos.
This left Tang Hao deeply puzzled and very curious.
Of course.
Most importantly!
He had received word that the disappearance of his son's Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul was very likely because of Ning Xuan as well.
He had to find out the cause before he could prescribe the right remedy.
"He and I have already broken off our engagement, so I'm no longer his fiancée."
Liu Erlong spoke bitterly.
A faint sense of regret had already begun to stir in her heart.
If she and Ning Xuan had not broken off their engagement, then even if she had given the immortal herb to Xiaogang, Ning Xuan would not have known. Naturally, last night's events would never have happened.
"You broke off your engagement?"
Tang Hao was somewhat surprised.
"You mean he hunted you down just because he broke off his engagement with you?"
"Not entirely."
Liu Erlong spoke with resentment.
"It was because of the immortal herb. It must have been because of the immortal herb."
Immortal herb?
Tang Hao was even more puzzled. What was an immortal herb?
"After breaking off our engagement, he wanted his betrothal gifts back. That immortal herb was one of the gifts he gave me, and that's why he attacked us so mercilessly last night."
"He's truly vicious. If he wanted it back, we could have just given it to him. Why did he have to slaughter us to the last?"
Liu Erlong ground her teeth with venomous hatred.
Yet she gave no thought at all to how contradictory her words were.
They had clearly already fled with the immortal herb.
Now she was saying that if Ning Xuan wanted it, they could simply give it to him.
If things truly were as she said, why had they fled?
"But why did he seem to have already reached Soul Douluo cultivation?"
Tang Hao asked again.
Because of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Family's martial soul shackles, rank 79 was a heavenly scourge that no one could break through.
"Was that because of the immortal herb too?"
Liu Erlong spoke through gritted teeth.
"It must have been the effects of that immortal herb he took that helped him break through to Soul Douluo."
The immortal herb again?
Tang Hao's pupils abruptly contracted.
Then wasn't the cause behind all of this the immortal herb?
Then...
A cold gleam flickered in his eyes.
If he could seize the immortal herb back, could little San's Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul reappear?
"Can you take me back to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan?"
Liu Erlong suddenly asked.
No matter how useless Yu Xiaogang was, he was still her eldest uncle Yu Yuanzhen's biological son.
Now Ning Xuan had punched his head apart and killed him.
Her eldest uncle Yu Yuanzhen had to be told about this.
"I can..."
Tang Hao was just about to nod.
His expression suddenly changed drastically as a brilliant light abruptly burst forth between Liu Erlong's brows.
"Watch out!"
Tang Hao cried out.
But he was a step too late. That brilliant light suddenly plunged into the center of Liu Erlong's forehead like a sharp sword.