"If you want to understand it that way, that's fine," Xuan Ming said.
His talent counted as a bargaining chip, but that chip would not always be useful.
Much of the time, he still needed an actual deterrent.
Dugu Bo's ability to pose a threat stood in a class of its own across the entire Douluo Continent.
Neither Soul Masters nor nations would want to offend this walking poison gas bomb.
If Dugu Bo could show that he valued him enough, his safety would have more guarantees.
"All right." Dugu Bo thought it over and agreed.
"You helped me before, and now I'll help you. That makes us even."
"But I still have one condition. No scheming against Yanyan!"
"What would I scheme against her for?" Xuan Ming asked in puzzlement.
"We've already reached an agreement. If I schemed against her and you found out, you'd turn on me outright. Wouldn't I be finished?"
"That may be true..." Dugu Bo looked a little awkward.
"But I really don't quite dare trust you."
"I don't expect you to trust me either," Xuan Ming said.
"Your stance can keep me safe, and if you stand with me, Spirit Hall will also assume you're already working for them. Naturally, they won't move against you anymore."
"We're simply each getting what we need."
Qian Renxue wanted to bring him under her command, so she could tolerate him, but Dugu Bo had no such designs on him.
When talking to this Old Poison, keeping things simple and direct was safer.
Their interests did not conflict, and Dugu Bo had no intention of controlling him. As long as they were not enemies, that was enough.
Time flew, and half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
With Dugu Bo keeping his promise and expressing how much he valued him through all sorts of open statements and hints, life at Heaven Dou Royal Academy went fairly smoothly. Xue Qinghe did not interfere with him much either.
Qian Renxue appeared roughly once a month to exchange a few words with him and check on his cultivation. She was not as aggressive as before. She had probably changed strategies and wanted to boil the frog in warm water.
As for the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Dugu Bo never brought the place up, and neither did Dugu Yan.
Ultimately, that place was Dugu Bo's lair. Without enough trust, he would never reveal all his secrets.
If he brought it up out of nowhere, it would inevitably arouse suspicion. He could only let things take their course.
"The eldest prince is going to become the crown prince!"
On a day off, Xuan Ming sat fishing beside the lake. Ye Lingling followed his example and sat next to him with a fishing rod. Since neither of them liked talking, a quiet activity like fishing was one of their few forms of entertainment.
However, the restless Dugu Yan always broke that tranquility.
Watching the large fish scatter through the lake at the shriek, Ye Lingling could not help giving Dugu Yan a resentful look.
"Sister Yanyan, you scared the fish away again."
"So what if they ran? You can't catch big fish anyway," Dugu Yan said.
"And when you finally catch a little one, you can't bear to keep it and have to let it go. All that effort for nothing."
"All right, stop fishing. The eldest prince is becoming the crown prince. The investiture ceremony is in two days."
"Are you going to become the crown princess?" Ye Lingling asked in puzzlement.
"You're the one becoming the crown princess," Dugu Yan snapped.
"Then why are you so happy? The emperor isn't worried, but the eunuch is," Ye Lingling quipped.
"You scared all my fish away."
Dugu Yan's expression froze. "Lingling, could you stop copying the way Xuan Ming talks? You're not cute at all anymore."
After spending so much time with Xuan Ming, Ye Lingling's little tongue was growing more and more venomous!
The plot's been a bit padded lately. The main plot will move forward tomorrow...
Chapter 67: Even ruder than me
"Eldest prince, should I start calling you Your Highness the Crown Prince now?"
After the investiture ceremony was complete, Xue Qinghe moved into the crown prince's residence in the Eastern Palace.
To celebrate his move, Xue Qinghe invited quite a few friends over for a banquet. Xuan Ming was dragged along as well.
However, knowing that Xuan Ming liked peace and quiet, Xue Qinghe settled him in the rear courtyard and only came over after the banquet ended.
"If your tone could carry just a little warmth, I think that sentence wouldn't sound so strange," Xue Qinghe said helplessly.
Xuan Ming always spoke with an obvious sense of distance, no matter whom he was addressing. Even Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling, who could be said to spend every day with him, were no exception.
Those two seemed to have grown used to that distance and did not find it alienating, but anyone unfamiliar with him would easily sense Xuan Ming's coldness that kept others a thousand miles away.
He had thought studying at Heaven Dou Royal Academy would gradually change and eliminate that distance in Xuan Ming. Yet more than half a year had passed without the slightest change.
"Do you need something, Your Highness?" Xuan Ming asked directly.
Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling had been sent away by Xue Qinghe and gone home early.
Since His Highness the Crown Prince had something to discuss with him, he would have to stay at the crown prince's residence tonight.
"In a while, I'll need you to meet someone with me," Xue Qinghe said.
"Who?" Xuan Ming asked.
"The sect master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Ning Fengzhi," Xue Qinghe said.
"Does the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect have designs on the Heaven Dou Empire too?" Xuan Ming asked.
The corner of Xue Qinghe's eye twitched. "It's fine when it's just the two of us here, but don't speak so directly outside. It's frightening. Be a little more tactful."
Xuan Ming nodded. "Does the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect also want to do its part for all living beings under heaven?"
"..." Xue Qinghe.
"I told you to be tactful, not snide."
"I don't think there's anything wrong with my tone or what I said. If you didn't have a ghost on your conscience, why would you think I was being snide?" Xuan Ming said.
"Of course, if Your Highness finds my words unpleasant, I'll stop talking. You can talk, and I'll listen."
With that, Xuan Ming truly said no more and quietly watched Xue Qinghe.
Behind his back, Xue Qinghe's right hand clenched into a fist.
Back at the Worship Hall, every time she said something, this fellow would retort!
After spending a few months at the Pope's Palace, he had come back as a wad of cotton!
No matter what she said or how hard she pushed, she got no useful response...
Xue Qinghe sighed. "The emperor wants me to get in contact with Ning Fengzhi. With you there, my dealings with him will be a little easier."
Over these past few months, Dugu Bo had expressed both openly and indirectly how much he valued Xuan Ming. With that connection, even the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had to treat Xuan Ming cautiously. After all, though Old Poison's threat to an individual was only that of the most ordinary Titled Douluo, his threat to nations and Soul Master sects was anything but ordinary.
In Heaven Dou City's most prosperous commercial district stood a restaurant that rivaled the Heaven Dou Royal Grand Hotel.
Seven Treasure Pavilion was a property of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. It brought together Soul Masters and merchants from all over and was everyone's ideal trading venue.
Led by a servant, Xue Qinghe and Xuan Ming arrived at Seven Treasure Pavilion's VIP area.
"Sect Master Ning, Sword Douluo."
When they entered the private room, a refined-looking, gentle middle-aged man was already waiting there. Beside him sat an old man with an indifferent expression and snow-white hair and beard.
Xue Qinghe immediately stepped forward to offer his greetings, and the other man rose as well.
"This must be the genius with Twin Martial Souls Your Highness mentioned before?"
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Ning Fengzhi turned his attention to the unusually built child standing silently behind Xue Qinghe.
Xuan Ming did not respond. He simply stared at Chen Xin, who sat on the couch with his eyes closed in concentration. The two dragons behind him instinctively grew wary as well.
"Xuan Ming." Xue Qinghe gently nudged Xuan Ming.
"This is Sect Master Ning."
"Mm," Xuan Ming answered, his gaze not shifting in the slightest.
"Uncle Jian." Noticing Xuan Ming's wariness, Ning Fengzhi spoke as well.
Chen Xin opened his eyes and stood. He glanced at Xue Qinghe without speaking, then looked at Xuan Ming, who was staring fixedly at him, and withdrew his concealed sword intent.
"What did you see?" Chen Xin asked Xuan Ming.
"Someone even ruder than me," Xuan Ming said.
The corner of Xue Qinghe's eye twitched. "Xuan Ming, this is Sword Douluo, Senior Chen Xin."
"Does a Titled Douluo's idea of manners mean putting a sword to someone's throat the moment they meet?" Xuan Ming asked.
"A sword?" Xue Qinghe was somewhat puzzled.
"Please forgive us, Your Highness. Uncle Jian was curious about this little genius and wanted to test him," Ning Fengzhi said.
"Your vigilance is quite good." Chen Xin's gaze changed, losing its earlier indifference. He had taken some interest in this child who could detect his sword intent.
The sword intent he had concealed just now had been poised to strike. Even a Soul Saint would struggle to detect it, but anyone unprepared for that concealed sword intent would have no way to defend themselves once his sword struck.
Though he did not think a child could sense the Seven Kill Sword's sword intent, judging by the child's wariness after entering and what he had said, he was clearly extremely sensitive to danger!
"..."
After the less-than-pleasant opening, Ning Fengzhi and Xue Qinghe began their back-and-forth wrangling.
Xuan Ming said nothing throughout and did not listen either. He had no interest in these two's dealings, nor was there any place for him to speak here. Today, he was merely an accessory, a tool person.
"Please forgive him, Sect Master Ning. Xuan Ming is rather withdrawn, but he means no offense."
After discussing affairs of state for an unknown length of time, Ning Fengzhi brought the conversation back to Xuan Ming.
But looking at Xuan Ming, who had actually closed his eyes and was meditating behind him to one side, Xue Qinghe struggled to maintain his expression.
You really won't give me any face at all!
"I understand. Children, after all. The one at home is quite difficult to handle too," Ning Fengzhi said with some fellow feeling.
"Though this child doesn't like to talk, compared to mine, he's already very sensible."
"Fengzhi, Rongrong is very sensible," Chen Xin countered.
"Besides, aren't you embarrassed to take issue with a child, especially your own daughter?"
Ning Fengzhi was somewhat speechless. "So I'm the one being unreasonable?"
"You are, a little," Chen Xin said.
"As her elder, if the child doesn't know better, that's your responsibility. You don't teach her, yet turn around and criticize her. Isn't that shirking responsibility?"
"..." Ning Fengzhi.
Is it that I won't teach her? Do you let me teach her?!
Whenever I say a few extra words to that little ancestor, you two all but start teaching me a lesson!
"Sorry to make a spectacle of ourselves, Your Highness." Ning Fengzhi was somewhat embarrassed.
"Not at all. Children will know better once they grow up," Xue Qinghe said.
"I hope so." Ning Fengzhi sighed.
"Speaking of which, my daughter is about the same age as this child. Why don't we find an opportunity for them to meet?"
Xue Qinghe looked at Xuan Ming. "What do you think?"