At the sight of Dugu Yan's unusual Martial Soul, the attendant beside the richly dressed man turned pale. "Your Highness, that looks like Jade Phosphorous..."
"Who cares if it's jade scales or black scales?" The richly dressed man looked thoroughly displeased.
"A mere little Soul Master dares oppose this prince? This is rebellion!"
"Seize them both!"
At his command, several guards immediately surrounded them.
Dugu Yan panicked at the sight.
What was going on? Could they not even recognize her Martial Soul?
"Looks like having an overly rare Martial Soul isn't necessarily a good thing," Xuan Ming said.
The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul was practically extinct. At least, on the surface, only Dugu Bo's family possessed this Martial Soul on the Douluo Continent now.
Not everyone could recognize something so rare.
"My grandfather is Poison Douluo!" Dugu Yan shouted angrily.
"Stop shouting. Let's run first." Xuan Ming's gaze sharpened, and a tranquil white light instantly enveloped the area. The guards who were about to act suddenly felt as though they had fallen into a quagmire. Their vision blurred, and even breathing became difficult.
Before they could recover, Xuan Ming grabbed Dugu Yan and took to his heels!
When encountering his domain for the first time, even a Titled Douluo would be startled by that feeling of sinking into a quagmire and having everything suppressed.
The guards, all at least Soul Elders, were no different. It was not that they could not break free, but that they had been frightened. Like raw recruits seeing dead men on their first battlefield, their minds had frozen.
But once they recovered and unleashed their Soul Power, they could easily break free of these restraints.
He did not even qualify as a Soul Master yet. The enormous gap between their Soul Power Levels remained a fatal weakness.
"..."
After Xuan Ming pulled Dugu Yan away, the domain's suppressive effect vanished, and the richly dressed man and his guards escaped the quagmire.
"Your Highness, are you all right?" the attendant asked nervously.
"After them! Bring them back!" With the surrounding passersby watching him, the richly dressed man roared in humiliated fury.
"Bring them back to me!"
Seeing how furious their prince was, the guards who had recovered dared not say anything and hurried after them.
Xuan Ming, who had not run far, had hoped to escape through the crowd. But the moment the people along the street saw the pursuers with glowing Soul Rings behind him, they all darted to the roadside, leaving the road empty.
Seeing this, a guard with a Flying Eagle Martial Soul accelerated, flew ahead, and landed in the middle of the road to block their path.
The remaining guards quickly caught up and surrounded Xuan Ming and Dugu Yan.
"I'm Dugu Yan! My grandfather is Poison Douluo, Dugu Bo!" Dugu Yan shouted, unwilling to give up.
What was going on? Were there actually nobles frequenting Heaven Dou City who did not recognize her?
"I think they aren't locals, and they haven't heard of your grandfather," Xuan Ming said.
Dugu Bo was alone, seldom ventured out, and had made no major news. Unlike Titled Douluo from great sects with their extensive households, it was quite normal for people never to have heard of him.
The passersby around them might know Dugu Yan, but they clearly did not want to meddle and only wanted to watch the show.
"You actually dared to run?" The richly dressed man caught up and glared furiously at the pair.
"Go on, keep running!"
Dugu Yan looked at the surrounding guards with some alarm. "Can you still use that move from earlier?"
They were all at least three-ring Soul Elders. With such a vast gap in cultivation, even her Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison was useless.
Chapter 14: Eldest prince Xue Qinghe
"I can, but it probably won't do much good," Xuan Ming said.
They had been careless earlier, which was why he had frightened them. Now that they had experienced it, the same trick would most likely fail.
He had hoped to escape through the crowd here, never expecting Heaven Dou City to have such simple, honest folk. Although quite a few people in the crowd had already recognized Dugu Yan, not one was willing to speak.
"What's your first Soul Skill?" Xuan Ming asked.
"Jade Phosphorous Illusion Poison. It's a poisonous mist with powerful anesthetic and hallucinatory effects, but their Soul Power Levels are so much higher than mine that my mist probably won't do anything," Dugu Yan said.
Xuan Ming glanced at the guards surrounding them. "Just release your poison right here. Leave the rest to me."
"Release it right here? You'll be poisoned too," Dugu Yan said.
"I won't. Just release it," Xuan Ming said.
"Now, release it!"
Dugu Yan took a deep breath. "First Soul Skill-Jade Phosphorous Illusion Poison!"
Her yellow Soul Ring flashed, and a cloud of gray-green poisonous mist poured from her mouth, instantly enveloping her and Xuan Ming. The guards about to advance and seize them tensed and hurriedly retreated.
The intangible, tranquil white light spread again. Xuan Ming summoned the Blood Spear and charged out of the poisonous mist, sprinting at full strength toward the richly dressed man to kill him.
It all happened too quickly. Before the guards enveloped in white light could react, Xuan Ming had already reached the richly dressed man. The spear in his hand gleamed with deadly blood-red light as it thrust straight for his throat!
The breastbone was too hard. His vulnerable throat was a safer bet!
"Stop!"
A low shout rang out, accompanied by a powerful impact. Caught unprepared, Xuan Ming was sent flying several meters and crashed heavily to the ground.
"General Ge Long, show mercy."
A young man in splendid clothes, looking about fourteen years old, approached under the escort of the imperial guards and stopped the heavily armored general from attacking again.
"Your Highness, this boy openly attacked Prince Baers in the imperial city. He cannot be spared," General Ge Long said quietly.
Prince Baers was the second prince of the Balak Kingdom and the current Heaven Dou Empire emperor's cousin's son. If they did not settle this quickly and destroy the body to erase the evidence, word getting out would likely cause even more trouble.
"Qinghe!"
Seeing the imperial guards arrive, the richly dressed man showed no nervousness at all. Instead, he looked as though he had found his own people.
"Baers, what's going on?" Xue Qinghe asked.
Baers walked over. "Qinghe, you're just in time. They..."
"Your Highness! Save me!" Held captive by several guards, Dugu Yan hurriedly shouted when she saw Xue Qinghe arrive.
Xue Qinghe turned to look. "Yanzi?"
Seeing this, the two guards holding Dugu Yan hurriedly released her.
Was she one of Eldest Prince Xue Qinghe's people?
"What exactly is going on?" Xue Qinghe could not quite make sense of it.
"Xuan Ming!" With no time to explain, Dugu Yan hurried over to check on Xuan Ming, who had been sent flying.
"Qinghe, you... know her?" Baers had an ominous feeling.
"She's Poison Douluo Dugu Bo's granddaughter, and a student at Heaven Dou Royal Academy," Xue Qinghe said.
"Poison Douluo?" Baers's expression stiffened.
"A Titled Douluo?"
Xue Qinghe gave Baers a rather helpless look. "Although Poison Douluo seldom ventures out, surely you've at least heard of him?"
"I..." Baers completely panicked.
A Titled Douluo's granddaughter?
He was done for!
"Qinghe, save me!" Baers said urgently.
"What exactly happened?" Xue Qinghe asked.
There had been some friction between the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire this year, and the conflict had happened to take place in the Balak Kingdom's territory. With the matter just settled, the emperor had invited the Balak Kingdom's princes to visit Heaven Dou City. It had barely been two days since the banquet ended. What was this mess?
"I... it was all that slave!" Baers angrily pointed at Xuan Ming, who lay on the ground.
"He was the one who offended me!"
"I really didn't know she was Poison Douluo's granddaughter. Qinghe, you have to help me!"
"A slave?" Xue Qinghe frowned slightly.
Judging by how concerned Dugu Yan was about that child, did he look anything like a slave?
"Xuan Ming, how are you?" Dugu Yan nervously helped him up.
Xuan Ming clenched his teeth, unable to speak.
He felt as though his whole body was falling apart!
"Yanzi, don't panic." Xue Qinghe beckoned, and a Soul Master from among the guards approached, summoned a green staff, and used a healing Soul Skill on Xuan Ming.
Before long, the abrasions on Xuan Ming's body had healed, and his complexion had visibly improved.
"How do you feel?" Dugu Yan asked.
"I'm fine," Xuan Ming said.
"Does anything feel uncomfortable?" Dugu Yan asked.
"He merely broke a few bones. I've already healed them. It's nothing serious. He just needs some rest," said the guard who had used the healing Soul Skill.
"Merely a few broken bones?" Dugu Yan raised her head, her green-glowing eyes sweeping coldly over the guard.
The guard panicked inwardly. "I misspoke, I misspoke..."
Xue Qinghe approached and dismissed the guard. "Yanzi, don't be angry. This was a misunderstanding."
"A misunderstanding?" Dugu Yan looked coldly at Prince Baers beside him.
"I had already released my Martial Soul and told them who I was, yet they still attacked. All these people saw it. A misunderstanding?"
"Well..." For a moment, Xue Qinghe had no answer.
Although Dugu Bo was a Titled Douluo, he seldom ventured out, and there was very little discussion of him in the Soul Master World. The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul was also extremely rare; hardly anyone had ever seen it. Baers had grown up in Barak City and cared nothing for cultivation, so he genuinely knew little about Dugu Bo.
But even if that was the truth, how many people would believe it?
Even he did not believe it!
"Thank you for saving us, Your Highness." Dugu Yan helped Xuan Ming to his feet and bowed to Xue Qinghe.
"I'll tell my grandfather what happened today."
As she spoke, Dugu Yan's murderous gaze swept over Baers and the others.
Xue Qinghe had an ominous feeling. "Yanzi, don't be angry. This..."
"Your Highness, Xuan Ming isn't feeling well. We'll take our leave." With that, Dugu Yan scooped Xuan Ming into her arms and hurried away in the other direction down the street.
"Qinghe, this..." Baers looked anxiously at Xue Qinghe.
"What are we supposed to do?"
That was a Titled Douluo!
How could he possibly afford to offend someone like that?
"Don't panic yet." Xue Qinghe reassured Baers, but in his heart, he already held out no hope for this matter.
This was Dugu Bo!
A man who repaid even the slightest grievance!
Dugu Yan had nearly come to harm in Heaven Dou Imperial City. How could Dugu Bo possibly let it go easily?
Never mind Baers-even the Heaven Dou Imperial Family would have to apologize to him next!
Chapter 15: No other choice
"Could you put me down?"