Second Prince Murdered

"Young Master, you're back. What did the First Prince want with you?"

After returning to the dormitory, Ning Bei thought Qian Renxue's purpose in seeking him out should not have been as simple as getting his support for her to become Crown Prince. Otherwise, she only needed to look for Ning Fengzhi; there was still a teacher-student relationship between the two of them.

"Ah, nothing. We just had a meal together to build some rapport."

After Ning Bei took the Mind Awakening Pill, he cultivated for two hours, then fell asleep.

In the morning, before Ning Bei had even woken up, knocking sounded in the room.

"A Bei, are you up? Hurry and open the door."

It was Dugu Yan's voice.

Ning Tao opened the door and welcomed her in.

Dugu Yan greeted her, then came to Ning Bei's bedside.

"A Bei, wake up already. The elixir you gave me worked so well. I spent the whole night yesterday cultivating."

Ning Bei was so annoyed by the noise that he couldn't take it anymore. He opened his eyes and looked speechlessly at the excited Dugu Yan.

"Would I lie to you? You need moderation in cultivation too, or your body won't be able to take it."

"I just couldn't resist the temptation of my Soul Power rising so quickly. I'll be careful from now on."

Dugu Yan stuck out her tongue playfully, then dragged Ning Bei out of bed to go have breakfast together.

In the days that followed, Ning Bei actually lived quite comfortably. He cultivated at night, teased Dugu Yan a little during the day, and his days were extremely carefree.

During this period, Ning Bei had also thought things through. He felt there was no need to hold back Dugu Yan's feelings, but doing it right in front of the original match, Yu Tianheng, still made him feel a little strange.

During this week, Ning Bei selected his third Soul Beast to go into battle. It was a Man Faced Demon Spider with close to two thousand years of cultivation. As for the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, A Bao, Ning Bei currently did not plan to expose its existence yet and was preparing to use it as a trump card.

First, A Bao's current cultivation was still not high, and it was not much stronger than the Man Faced Demon Spider.

Second, A Bao's current role somewhat overlapped with the Golden Armor Battle Bear.

In his current Soul Beast team, the Hurricane Hunting Falcon served as an agility-attack Soul Beast and also held air superiority, while the Golden Armor Battle Bear served as both power attacker and meat shield. The Man Faced Demon Spider just happened to exist as a control-type Soul Beast, enriching Ning Bei's battle methods.

Not only could the Man Faced Demon Spider spit spiderwebs to trap enemies, it also possessed intense poison, making it more suitable for the team than the current A Bao.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Ning Bei could now form a team by himself.

After a week of school, Ning Bei brought Ning Tao back to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. As soon as they reached the entrance, Ning Rongrong came running out eagerly and hugged Ning Bei's leg.

"Brother, where's A Bao?"

Ning Bei, who hadn't even had time to feel happy, immediately darkened. He lifted Ning Rongrong up with both hands.

"You little brat, shouldn't you ask first how Brother was doing at school? You ask about A Bao the moment we meet."

Ning Rongrong's features scrunched together as she looked at Ning Bei. Clearly, her brain, not even a year old yet, was still not enough to process the current situation—how to avoid making Brother sad while successfully getting the Little Bear.

At this moment, Ning Fengzhi walked out and looked at the siblings in amusement.

"Bei Er, bullying Rongrong again? Hurry up and give her the bear."

Seeing Ning Fengzhi openly take sides, Ning Bei rolled his eyes. Your heart has already leaned all the way to the neighboring Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.

But he did not refuse. He summoned the Pill Pagoda and called out A Bao.

Under A Bao's expression of utter hopelessness, Ning Bei placed Ning Rongrong on its back.

After nearly two months of nurturing, A Bao's cultivation had already reached almost five hundred years, and its body had grown a size larger as well.

It was hard to imagine that the honest-looking Little Bear beneath Rongrong already possessed battle power comparable to a thousand-year Soul Beast.

Those terrorclaws of its, to put it bluntly, would slice through the floor tiles of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect no differently from cutting tofu.

Seeing that Rongrong had a playmate, Ning Fengzhi also turned his gaze to Ning Bei and signaled for him to come inside for a talk.

The two of them came to a room and sat down. Ning Fengzhi sized Ning Bei up with a strange look.

"I hear you've been very close to Dugu Bo's Granddaughter lately?"

Ning Bei knew this matter could not be hidden from the other party's eyes and ears, and coughed lightly twice.

"Ahem, ahem. As the son of the Sect Master, personally befriending the granddaughter of a Titled Douluo and bringing powerful aid to the Sect is what I ought to do. I have that awareness!"

Ning Fengzhi stared at the brat in front of him with black lines all over his forehead. What a shameless thing. That was a Sect guest elder I traded a Spirit Bone for. How did you make chasing girls sound so fresh and refined? Just who did you inherit this thick-skinned, shameless look from?

Ning Bei seemed to read Ning Fengzhi's thoughts and stared back at him without the slightest panic, as if saying, Then explain all those little mothers of mine. You still have the nerve to talk about me?

That was right. As the master of a Sect, under the argument that he could not put all his eggs in one basket, Ning Bei had several young little mothers.

Ning Fengzhi also understood the look in Ning Bei's eyes and awkwardly changed the subject.

"Let's set that aside for now. Xue Qinghe seems to have sought you out?"

Ning Bei nodded when he heard this.

"That's right. We had a meal together. He asked me what I thought about the position of Crown Prince, but it seemed there was another meaning as well."

Ning Fengzhi looked at Ning Bei in surprise. He had not expected the other party to be able to think so far at such a young age.

"Oh? I'm not surprised that he wants us to support him in becoming Crown Prince. What do you mean by another meaning?"

"It seemed that he took a liking to the talent I exposed and wanted to recruit me. Of course, incidentally recruit the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect too—to serve him, that is."

Ning Fengzhi listened to Ning Bei's analysis and nodded.

"Mm. Xue Qinghe does have a certain degree of shrewdness, but you'd best not get too close to him."

"Oh?"

Seeing his confusion, Ning Fengzhi continued, "Just a few days ago, the Second Prince was poisoned in his own home."

Ning Bei understood at once. It seemed the other party had already begun to make her move. The Second Prince had drawn Qian Renxue's wariness because of his outstanding intellect, and before long, the Third Prince would die at home in the same way. The Third Prince had the greatest talent for cultivation among all these princes—at least higher than Xue Qinghe's talent on the surface. In the end, only the young Xue Beng survived by pretending to be a good-for-nothing dandy.

Seeing that he said nothing, Ning Fengzhi thought he was considering who had killed the Second Prince, so he went on, "This is the critical period for choosing the Crown Prince. I suspect there's a very high chance Xue Qinghe was behind this."

Ning Bei's thoughts were interrupted. He did not argue against that view and simply nodded.

"The other princes will likely be in dangerous positions from now on as well. But Father, please don't worry. I know how to interact with the First Prince. For now, he needs something from us. As long as we don't openly stand behind the other princes, he definitely won't make a move against us."

After hearing this, Ning Fengzhi nodded with relief. Ning Bei was the successor he felt most satisfied with. Ning Fan's temperament was also decent; it was just that his cultivation talent was a little lacking.

Worried that Ning Bei might become too timid and hesitant, he explained, "There's no conflict between his becoming Crown Prince and our interests, so we don't need to be overly cautious either. We just need to be careful not to form too deep a relationship with him."