Xu Tianran had already held Su Qingxue's refusal against him, but his face still wore an expression of gracious respect for talent, as though nothing had happened.
"Let's go. Back to the palace first."
Xu Tianran waved a hand and stopped trying to ingratiate himself. He needed to return to the palace and wait for news-the news that the Su Clan had been exterminated.
Su Qingxue had dared refuse him, so punishment was necessary. But given Su Qingxue's talent, an overt punishment was out of the question. That would push Jing Hongchen and even Kong Deming to the opposing side.
The former would be manageable. If he pushed the latter to the opposing side, however, it would no longer be a question of whether he could keep his position as crown prince, but whether he could keep his life.
Still, although he could do nothing to Su Qingxue openly, he had already made some preparations in secret.
With that Soul Douluo-level Evil Soul Master acting personally, it was equivalent to a Titled Douluo leading a force to wipe out the Su Clan. With a Titled Douluo leading the attack against a Soul Douluo clan, the Su Clan could not possibly have any survivors.
At the thought that everyone in the Su Clan was already dead, Crown Prince Xu Tianran's displeasure with Su Qingxue instantly diminished by more than half.
Of course, despite that considerable reduction, Xu Tianran had no intention of letting Su Qingxue off. As crown prince, he had a powerful desire to possess everything beautiful. In his eyes, once his father died, everything in the entire Sun Moon Empire would belong to him.
If something that belonged to him dared slight him, he naturally could not let it off.
But given Su Qingxue's talent, he could not deal with it anytime soon. Only after he destroyed the original Douluo Three Kingdoms and became an emperor for the ages, possessing absolute prestige, could he move against Su Qingxue.
After all, once the world was united, whether there were any geniuses would no longer matter as much as before.
In fact, when the day of unification truly came, the Holy Spirit Cult, along with Kong Deming, would all need to be dealt with. As an emperor for the ages, he did not want anyone above him who could keep him in check.
Soon, Xu Tianran returned to the crown prince's sleeping quarters, where Ju Zi, still young but already one of his confidants, was waiting.
Glancing at Ju Zi's skin, which was only slightly inferior to Su Qingxue's, Xu Tianran, whose lower half had not yet been crippled, felt the urge to vent his displeasure on her.
But immediately afterward, Xu Tianran suppressed that streak of brutality within him.
Before he secured the throne, he still needed to put on a show of gracious respect for talent. More importantly, he could not let others see him blinded by beauty. Otherwise, if they attacked him over it, he might not be able to withstand them.
At this point in the timeline, never mind his position as crown prince-even his father had barely sat on the imperial throne for a few days. He therefore needed restraint, at least enough to give people nothing to criticize on the surface.
"Your Highness."
Ju Zi respectfully bowed to the crown prince, while another of Xu Tianran's confidants beside her greeted him casually without even standing up.
Ju Zi's slightly envious gaze inadvertently swept over Xu Tianran's other confidant. She greatly envied his casual manner, yet could not quite hope for the same herself.
The reason was simple: not long ago, that other confidant had saved Xu Tianran's life.
Because of this, Xu Tianran had granted that confidant special permission to be more casual when meeting him from then on, without worrying about etiquette. From then on, the two of them would be brothers.
That was precisely why the man dared remain seated and greet Xu Tianran so casually. Otherwise, someone would already have rebuked him for disrespecting the crown prince and knowing nothing of proper conduct.
Xu Tianran glanced at his confidant, his face wreathed in smiles, but intense displeasure with the man had already arisen in his heart.
He had only been saying that to a subordinate. Who would have thought the man would actually dare behave so casually?
"How are things with the Su Clan? Are they all dead?"
After dismissing the outsiders and leaving only his confidants, Xu Tianran asked them.
Hearing this, the confidant who had saved Crown Prince Xu Tianran's life shook his head. "No. A Titled Douluo emerged in the Su Clan. Everyone we sent died."
Xu Tianran's gaze turned cold at those words.
A Soul Douluo was no great concern; as long as the job was done cleanly and no one could find evidence, that would be that. But a Titled Douluo was one of the Sun Moon Empire's most crucial forces. There was no way to trouble the Su Clan again.
If Evil Soul Masters really went after a Titled Douluo clan, it would not be something that could simply be brushed aside.
Once the Titled Douluos collectively felt their lives were in danger, they would insist on getting to the bottom of it. If the emperor dared refuse, then once the Titled Douluos joined forces, even Kong Deming could only ensure that the emperor still bore the surname Xu.
If the one surnamed Xu dared refuse, they could simply keep replacing him with another Xu. If every member of the imperial family refused, the throne could even cease to belong to the Xu family. Titled Douluo-level clans could not be killed at will. That was the bottom line for all high-ranking nobles, no matter the country.
"That Soul Douluo who went to the Su Clan is dead, right?"
Upon hearing that a Titled Douluo had emerged in the Su Clan, Xu Tianran asked with some lingering fear. He truly feared that the Evil Soul Master at the Soul Douluo level might have said something he should not have.
"He's dead. Against a Soul Douluo-level Evil Soul Master, the Su Clan certainly wouldn't dare take him alive. Besides, Your Highness, you didn't go under your own identity back then."
"That's good, then."
Remembering that he had disguised himself as his third brother when he went, Crown Prince Xu Tianran breathed a sigh of relief.
With his third brother's identity serving as a shield, even an investigation would not lead back to him. He therefore did not need to worry much about being implicated in the Evil Soul Masters' surprise attack on the Su Clan.
In fact, because he had gone under the third prince's identity, if those Evil Soul Masters had uttered the words "third prince," the Su Clan might even help him eliminate a rival.
A Titled Douluo-level existence might not have enough influence to erase a prince, but they could, to a certain extent, obstruct a prince's eligibility to inherit the throne.
After all, a prince was merely a prince, not the crown prince. Even a crown prince who offended several Titled Douluos before taking the throne would face considerable difficulty in succeeding.
During the Douluo II era, the title of Titled Douluo still carried quite a lot of weight.
"Enough about that. The Su Clan can't be wiped out right now, so we can't take advantage of the situation to comfort Su Qingxue and bring him over to our side. With his status, he probably won't get the chance to play the hero and save the beauty, either. How should we get close to her? Any ideas?"
Hearing this, Xu Tianran's confidant stepped forward. "Crown Prince, I did some investigating. Su Qingxue has a younger brother, and he takes quite good care of her younger brother. For a while, she was even constantly making Soul Tools to earn money, and she gave quite a few of those gold coins to her younger brother."
Xu Tianran's eyes lit up. "You mean..."
"The Su Clan being safe doesn't mean Su Qingxue's younger brother will be safe. If Su Qingxue's younger brother were to suffer a little mishap and encounter danger, and Your Highness just happened to appear..."
Hearing this, Xu Tianran smiled. "Excellent. His younger brother really is well suited to having an accident."