The most prosperous capital city on the continent was even more bustling than he remembered.
Xiao Yan strolled slowly along the main street, his gaze seemingly casually sweeping over the buildings on both sides of the street, but in reality, he was carefully searching for the marks left by the Dark Hall in the city.
The markings of the Dark Hall are extremely well hidden—usually a seven-tiered Herta, only the size of a fingernail.
It may be engraved in an inconspicuous corner of a building, such as the side of a corner brick or the bottom of a wooden pillar for a door.
Or it can be cleverly integrated into the patterns of shop signs as a decorative element.
If one is not a member of the Dark Hall, even if they saw it, they would not know its true meaning.
Ordinary people would only think it's a child's doodle or a craftsman's casual work, and would never imagine that it's a communication code of a huge underground organization.
However, just as he was walking along the main street looking for signs, a commotion suddenly broke out ahead.
Amidst the woman's gasp, the hushed whispers of passersby, and suppressed resentment, the scene unfolded.
Another man's arrogant and domineering shout, sharp and piercing, pierced through the noise of the entire street, like a dull knife scraping back and forth on glass.
Xiao Yan frowned slightly and took a few steps in the direction the sound came from.
The crowd formed a tight circle around the street corner ahead, with only a few passersby occasionally peeking in from the outer edge before shaking their heads and backing away.
As he turned the corner, a scene unfolded before him that made his expression slightly somber.
A young man dressed in brocade robes was swaggering in front of a tavern, followed by seven or eight attendants who looked like guards.
The young man appeared to be in his early twenties, of medium build, with a presentable face, but his brows carried a hint of spoiled arrogance.
He was toying with a folding fan in his hand. The fan ribs were carved from the finest white jade, and the carving was exquisite and delicate, clearly the work of someone who used the craftsmanship of the Imperial Family.
The fan is painted with gold-flecked landscapes, which shimmer in the sunlight.
At this moment, he was casually tapping his palm with his folding fan, a contemptuous smile on his lips. This man was none other than Xue Beng, the fourth prince of the Heaven Dou Empire.
Before him, an elderly man with gray hair knelt on the ground.
The old man was dressed simply, with patches on his cuffs. His hair was messy and stuck to his forehead. His face was full of wrinkles, deep lines, each one etched with the hardships of life.
He looked like an ordinary street vendor, with several broken earthenware jars scattered around him, and pickled vegetables could be seen lying on the ground among the shards.
The old man kowtowed and pleaded, his forehead bleeding and blood trickling down his nose, staining a small patch of the ground in front of him red.
His voice was already choked with sobs, hoarse and filled with despair:
"Your Highness, have mercy! Your Highness, have mercy! This old man only has one granddaughter. Her parents died early, and I raised her from infancy. I beg Your Highness to have mercy and release her. I kowtow to you, I kowtow to you--"
Between the old man and the Xue Beng, a girl of sixteen or seventeen was being supported by two servants, one on each side.
The girl had delicate features, wore two braids, and a faded floral blouse. She struggled desperately but could not break free from those two iron-like hands.
Her eyes were brimming with tears, but she stubbornly bit her lip, refusing to cry out, her body trembling slightly with fear.
Xiao Yan's gaze lingered on Xue Beng's face for a moment.
Upon recognizing him, memories from two years ago flooded back.
Back then, the students of the Shrek Academy were introduced by their senior, Qin Ming.
Originally, they were supposed to participate in the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament as representatives of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
But it was precisely because of the Xue Beng's unreasonable interference.
Thanks to Prince Xue Xing's protection, the Shrek Academy members were expelled from the Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
Although Xiao Yan is no longer a member of Shrek, this memory is not pleasant.
He still vividly remembers Xue Beng's arrogant and domineering attitude, his view of others as mere ants.
Unexpectedly, two years later, this person not only did not restrain himself, but became even more outrageous.
"Old man, it's your granddaughter's good fortune that I, the prince, have taken a liking to her."
Xue Beng tapped the old man on the head with his folding fan. The force was light, but the insult was strong, as if he were hitting a disobedient dog.
His tone was dismissive and arrogant.
"How much are these lousy pickled vegetables worth? A plate of pickled vegetables is worth at most a few Copper Soul Coin."
If your granddaughter comes back to my residence with me, I will give you ten gold coins, enough for you to sell pickled vegetables for the rest of your life.
That's enough to buy ten thousand plates of your pickled vegetables. You should kneel down and thank me.
The old man kowtowed repeatedly, the blood on his forehead staining the ground red. Each kowtow left a faint bloodstain on the stone slab.
His voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible, but he kept repeating the same things.
They begged for Your Highness's mercy. The crowd grew larger and larger, but no one dared to step forward.
Several young men looked indignant, their fists clenched tightly, but they were held back by their companions.
That's the Fourth Prince, a prince of the Heaven Dou Empire. Who among ordinary people would dare to provoke him?
Offending him could result in anything from a beating to jail time or even death.
A cold glint flashed in Xiao Yan's eyes, but his face remained expressionless.
He stood at the back of the crowd, silently raising his right hand that had been hanging by his side, a tiny, faint wisp of Soul Power gathering at his fingertips.
The Soul Power, as fine as a hair, flickered slightly at his fingertips before he flicked it away.
The whole process was so fast it took less than half a breath, and none of the onlookers noticed his movements.
Xue Beng raised his foot to kick the old man, cursing and shouting, "You don't know what's good for you!"
However, before his foot could land, he suddenly froze in place.
He felt a sudden chill in the back of his right knee, as if someone had stuffed a block of ice into it, and his entire leg went numb in that instant.
His knees buckled, and he collapsed to his knees before the old man with a thud.
His kneeling posture was extremely awkward, with both knees on the ground and his hands instinctively pushing down, only to land in the salted vegetable juice that was all over the ground.
The valuable white jade folding fan was flung far away with a thud and rolled into the muddy ditch by the roadside.
A suppressed gasp erupted from the crowd, which quickly subsided.
"Your Highness, Fourth Prince!"
The guards behind Xue Beng were startled and quickly stepped forward to help their master.
Seven or eight people rushed forward in a flurry, but at the same time, their feet slipped.
The chilling energy that Xiao Yan unleashed struck Xue Beng's knee and then split into several extremely fine aftershocks that precisely penetrated the soles of each servant's feet.
The soles of the servants' feet instantly froze, and the seven or eight of them, like dominoes, pulled and pushed each other, falling into a heap in front of the restaurant, creating an extremely messy scene.
Someone in the crowd couldn't help but chuckle, then quickly covered their mouth.
Xue Beng's face turned red. He struggled for a while in the salted vegetable juice before finally standing up in a disheveled state. The hem and cuffs of his brocade robe were completely soaked in the salted vegetable juice, emitting a sour and foul smell.
As he brushed the stains off his clothes, he angrily shouted at those around him:
"Who! Who did this! Step forward if you dare!"
I'll skin you alive! You dare lay a hand on me in Heaven Dou City? You're asking for it!
His gaze swept back and forth through the crowd, but the onlookers all lowered their heads expressionlessly or pretended to watch the spectacle; not a single one stepped forward.
His Soul Power perception was only at the Soul Elder level, so he couldn't detect that faint chill that had long since dissipated.
Xiao Yan stood at the back of the crowd, lightly flicked non-existent dust off his sleeve, and turned to leave.
He didn't want to cause a big commotion in Heaven Dou City, as the Spirit Hall's influence there was not to be underestimated.
But this doesn't mean he would stand by and watch his old friend bully men and women right under his nose.
He only gave Xue Beng a minor punishment, making him look bad in public and teaching him a lesson, without revealing his own identity.
Consider it a convenient way to collect interest from my past self.
Of course, most importantly, this chill will gradually erode the Xue Beng's body.
If they do not receive timely treatment, they may be unable to have sexual intercourse at best, and at worst... their meridians may freeze, their blood vessels may become blocked, and they may die.
Xue Beng should also be aware that some people around him disapprove of his actions.
Although he was the fourth prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, he understood the principle that the strong are respected.
With his guards helping him, he walked away, grumbling and cursing.
The grandfather and grandson were helped into the depths of the alley by several kind onlookers. The street gradually returned to calm, the crowd dispersed, and everything went back to normal.
After leaving that street, Xiao Yan continued to carefully search the city for the marks left by the Dark Hall.
He spent about half an hour scanning all the coded points on both sides of the main street. Most of them had been blurred by the wind and rain, and only three were still intact.
He followed the signs northwards, passing through several bustling commercial streets.
The shops on both sides of those streets were even more densely packed than those on the main street, selling everything from cloth and porcelain to medicinal herbs and jewelry.
We then passed through a densely populated residential area where houses were packed tightly together and alleys were so narrow that only one person could pass at a time.
Clotheslines hung haphazardly in the air, and several stray cats basked in the sun on the walls. Finally, he found the final marker at the end of a secluded alley in the north of the city.
The mark was carved on the corner of an inconspicuous house.
The house had blue bricks and gray tiles, low courtyard walls, and several corners of the steps at the entrance were missing.
The wall was covered with unknown vines, some of which had even crawled into the wall through cracks. The door was a pair of wooden doors, the paint long since peeled off.
The wood's natural color was revealed, and the brass rings on the door were so rusted that they were difficult to even move.
If it weren't for the seven-story Herta pattern carved on the side of the loose brick at the base of the wall, Xiao Yan probably would have walked straight past this doorway without even noticing.
The Herta pattern was only the size of a thumbnail and was carved very shallowly; it would be completely unnoticed unless one was specifically looking for it.
Even if someone notices it, most people would assume it's just a child's doodle.