"He was merely giving it a try. Besides, only he and I were in that courtyard at the time. There was no third party present. He can't prove what I said, and I can't prove what he said," Qian Renxue said.
"Under those circumstances, if I told Dugu Yan about this, do you think she would believe Xue Qinghe or him?"
"One wrong move, and I would be the one sowing discord."
"He's a child who was just injured, and then someone falsely accuses him of stirring up trouble. Dugu Yan would only feel even guiltier toward him."
"With what he said today, if it works, he gets his revenge. Even if Xue Qinghe refuses to help, he loses nothing."
"Well..." Snake Lance Douluo froze.
"This child's scheming runs far too deep."
"Deep scheming..." Qian Renxue shook her head.
"I wouldn't go that far. He probably just wants to kill Baers to vent his anger. Anything beyond that was most likely a lucky accident."
"But whether it was deep scheming or a lucky accident, he's worth taking this risk for."
Snake Lance Douluo was somewhat worried. "Young master, if it really is the former, don't you think he's a little too dangerous?"
A six-year-old child already possessed such cunning and calculation. If he saw through Qian Renxue's disguise someday, that would be trouble!
"Dangerous?" Qian Renxue laughed.
"Do you think I can't keep him under control?"
"You certainly have that ability, young master," Snake Lance Douluo said.
"But we don't currently have a suitable way to deal with Baers."
Everyone in Heaven Dou City now knew that Baers had offended Dugu Yan. Under these circumstances, making Baers disappear without anyone knowing, having Xuan Ming do it himself, and keeping Dugu Bo clear of the matter so that relations between the Heaven Dou Imperial Family and the Balak Kingdom remained unaffected was simply too difficult.
"It certainly can't be done inside Heaven Dou City. But what if it happens outside the city?" Qian Renxue said.
Snake Lance Douluo paused. "Baers is already scared out of his wits. How could he possibly dare leave Heaven Dou City?"
"Besides, if Xue Qinghe invites him out and something happens, suspicion could end up shifting to the Heaven Dou Imperial Family."
Chapter 24: Which one to cultivate first
"Xuan Ming has innate full soul power and hasn't obtained a soul ring yet," Qian Renxue said.
"Don't you think that's an excellent excuse?"
Baers couldn't die in Heaven Dou City, nor could his death have the slightest connection to Dugu Bo or the Heaven Dou Imperial Family.
But what if a soul beast did it?
More than one prince had come from the Balak Kingdom, and princes from the other major kingdoms were also in Heaven Dou City. Given a chance to befriend Poison Douluo's granddaughter, those princes certainly wouldn't miss it.
To persuade Xuan Ming to set aside their grudge, Baers would personally help him hunt for a soul ring, only for an accident to occur. He would be attacked by a soul beast, leaving not even his bones behind!
As long as there were enough witnesses to convince the Balak Kingdom's other two princes that all of this was true, Baers could disappear with a perfectly legitimate explanation!
Once he had worked out the plan, Xue Qinghe began taking action.
First, he approached Baers and explained his intentions, planning to use this opportunity to help him and Xuan Ming turn their weapons of war into gifts of jade and silk.
Baers was now consumed by fear of Poison Douluo. Hearing that Xue Qinghe was still willing to help him, he naturally agreed without a moment's hesitation.
Next, Xue Qinghe approached the old emperor, proposing an autumn hunt in the name of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family with the princes currently gathered in Heaven Dou Imperial City. Dugu Yan would also participate, making it a small opportunity to publicize Dugu Bo's appointment as a guest elder of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family.
The old emperor naturally agreed and placed Xue Qinghe in full charge of arranging it.
Only after completing these preparations did Xue Qinghe finally approach Dugu Yan.
"An autumn hunt over at Sunset Forest?" Dugu Yan frowned slightly.
"Isn't that too far away?"
"It isn't that far. The royal autumn hunts have always been held around there. Besides, doesn't Xuan Ming need to hunt for a soul ring? We can take care of that at the same time," Xue Qinghe said.
Dugu Yan thought for a moment. "First prince, you aren't planning to use this opportunity to bring up Baers again, are you?"
"You saw it yourself. Xuan Ming still bears a grudge over this," Xue Qinghe said, not denying it.
"Besides, you must still be angry about it too. I just wanted to use this opportunity to let you both vent a little."
"Vent?" Dugu Yan raised her eyebrows.
"How?"
"Baers has been pampered all his life. During the autumn hunt, some battles with soul beasts will be unavoidable," Xue Qinghe said.
"When the time comes, although we can't take his life, we can still make him suffer a little and let you vent."
"But there will be so many people at the autumn hunt. We won't have a chance," Dugu Yan said.
"Everyone knows Baers foolishly offended you. Never mind doing something to him in secret-even if you openly beat him up, everyone would pretend they hadn't seen a thing," Xue Qinghe said.
"After all, it's an autumn hunt. A few bumps and scrapes are inevitable."
Dugu Yan thought it over. "All right, I'll go back and tell Xuan Ming."
"Let's go together," Xue Qinghe said.
"I happen to have a few gifts for him too."
"Gifts?" Dugu Yan paused.
"What gifts?"
"He accidentally damaged Senior Ye's plants at home yesterday. Didn't you know?" Xue Qinghe said.
Dugu Yan looked puzzled. "Wasn't Baers the one who damaged them?"
Xue Qinghe froze. "Baers?"
"Yes. Xuan Ming said you brought Baers to see him yesterday, and that fellow flew into a rage out of humiliation, shattered a rock in the courtyard, and damaged the plants," Dugu Yan said.
"Grandma Lan was furious. Those were her treasures that she'd been growing for years."
"From what you're saying, first prince... was Xuan Ming the one who did it?"
Xue Qinghe's expression grew somewhat unnatural. "No, it was Baers. I've already given him a harsh scolding."
Ye Lan had quite a temper. Seeing the flowers she had grown damaged would certainly have infuriated her.
It was understandable that Xuan Ming hadn't dared admit it when faced with that scene.
In any case, Baers only had a few days left to live. Having him carry one more black pot of blame hardly mattered.
"Senior Ye, yesterday Baers accidentally shattered a rock and damaged your plants. I specifically found these in the imperial gardens as an apology. Please take a look. Shall I have someone plant them for you?"
"The imperial gardens?"
Ye Lan examined the plants before her. "These probably aren't from the imperial gardens, are they?"
The plants she grew weren't merely ornamental. They were treasures that could be used as medicine.
The ones Xue Qinghe had brought were also quite precious medicinal herbs.
The imperial gardens were full of things that looked pretty but had no practical use. How could they have these?
"Please accept them, Senior Ye. Consider them a small token of my sincerity," Xue Qinghe said.
"All right." Ye Lan did not refuse.
In truth, she knew Xuan Ming had shattered the rock. After all, when she left that morning, she had seen the boy stabbing at it.
She simply hadn't expected Xuan Ming to actually burst the thing apart.
Still, so many things had been smashed. It would have been a lie to say she wasn't angry.
Since Xue Qinghe had brought replacements so quickly, he surely had something to do with this.
Perhaps he had even taught Xuan Ming what to say.
In that case, refusing would only make her seem petty.
Ye Lan went to guide the accompanying gardeners as they transplanted the plants in the backyard, while Xue Qinghe went to the front courtyard.
By then, Dugu Yan had also told Xuan Ming about the royal autumn hunt.
"But I don't understand cultivation. When the time comes, I won't know how to choose a soul ring or how old a soul ring I should look for," Xuan Ming said.
"Besides, these martial souls of mine..."
"There's no need to worry about that." Xue Qinghe walked over.
"Quite a few powerful soul masters will accompany us. They'll offer their advice when the time comes."
Although he had suppressed the matter of the innate domain after Xuan Ming fought on the streets of Heaven Dou City, the matter of his twin martial souls couldn't be concealed.
After all, anyone could see the changes a beast martial soul had caused in Xuan Ming's body, and he had also produced that spear. Quite a few people had witnessed that scene.
"Then, first prince, do you understand how to cultivate twin martial souls?" Xuan Ming asked.
"Well..." Xue Qinghe looked thoughtful.
Although twin martial souls were rare, they had appeared before. Over the past century, there had been three such cases, including Xuan Ming.
But to this day, only that woman from Spirit Hall had successfully cultivated twin martial souls.
She vaguely remembered her grandfather telling her that the greatest problem with twin martial souls was that having more soul rings than an ordinary soul master caused such a massive increase in one's attributes that the body couldn't withstand it. Without solving that problem, it was difficult to bring out the advantages of twin martial souls.
That woman seemed to have used some special method to share the burden of her excessively increased attributes, but only she knew exactly what that method was.
"At present, the only example of someone successfully cultivating twin martial souls is the Pope of Spirit Hall. If you have the chance, you could ask her for guidance," Xue Qinghe said.
"For now, my suggestion is to choose one martial soul to cultivate and leave the other without soul rings."
Every soul ring on that woman's second martial soul, the Soul Devouring Spider Emperor, was over fifty thousand years old. It was by adding such old soul rings that she had reached Titled Douluo so quickly, and even a realm that those worship elders struggled to attain.
Since the solution to the drawbacks of cultivating twin martial souls remained unknown, it was safer to add soul rings to only one martial soul, just like an ordinary soul master.
"Then which one should he cultivate first?" Dugu Yan asked.
"The tool martial soul or the beast martial soul?"
Chapter 25: Inconvenient
Once everything was ready, the grand autumn hunting procession left Heaven Dou City, heading toward Sunset Forest under the escort of the imperial guards.
The Heaven Dou Empire had ten provinces. Five were directly controlled by the Heaven Dou Imperial Family. The four enfeoffed kingdoms-the Balak Kingdom, the Haagen-Dazs Kingdom, the Silves Kingdom, and the Morick Kingdom-each controlled one province. Lastly, a duchy ranked just below a kingdom occupied the empire's smallest province in the east.
Sunset Forest, where the autumn hunt would take place, lay northeast of the Heaven Dou urban area. It could also be considered slightly north of the central Heaven Dou City region, over a hundred li east of Heaven Dou City.
The terrain was rugged, with hills, valleys, numerous rivers, and dense forests. Famous for its sunsets, it boasted beautiful scenery, and the area surrounding the forest was also an enormous scenic region.
Because of its northerly location, the temperature here was lower than in Star Dou Great Forest, and the vegetation consisted primarily of northern temperate plants.
Sunset Forest contained many soul beasts, including thousand-year and ten-thousand-year soul beasts. Although its overall area was smaller than Star Dou Great Forest's, it had no shortage of high-level soul beasts.
The autumn hunting procession set off in the morning and reached the hunting grounds by evening.
This autumn hunt was not particularly formal. There was a war this year, and the armies at the two countries' border had yet to withdraw. Emperor Xue Ye did not participate. It was merely a social gathering for the imperial princes and the kingdoms' princes, little more than going through the motions.
Besides, the central figure of this autumn hunt wasn't the imperial family, but Dugu Yan.
"So annoying!"
Toward evening, Dugu Yan returned irritably to her tent after being forced to deal with a crowd of princes.
"Every last one of them sticks like a dogskin plaster, shamelessly trying to strike up conversations with me. Don't they find it boring?"
"Especially that Baers. He really has no shame at all!"
"..."
Xuan Ming and Ye Lingling sat beside the fire, quietly listening to Dugu Yan complain.
Ye Lingling had also happened to reach rank ten yesterday and could obtain her first soul ring, so at Xue Qinghe's suggestion, she had come along too.