The deathly silence in the forest was broken by Dai Weisi's calm voice.
Zhu Zhuyun and Zhu Zhuqing jolted like cats startled awake, finally recovering from the shock that had overturned everything they knew.
What had just happened?
A Soul Emperor had faced a Soul Saint who had activated his Martial Soul Avatar head-on. Not only had he won, but he had won decisively, killing him in a single blow!
"What are you standing around for?"
Dai Weisi glanced at them.
"Yes, Your Highness!" Zhu Zhuyun reacted first and immediately stepped forward to search the corpses carefully.
Zhu Zhuqing followed close behind. She lowered her head, concealing the complicated look in her eyes as her slender hands searched through the assassins' clothes.
Her sister's shock might have been pure, but Zhu Zhuqing's mind was racing.
A moment later, Zhu Zhuyun stood up and shook her head at Dai Weisi:
"Your Highness, there's nothing. The Storage Soul Tools contain nothing but odds and ends and Gold Soul Coins. There's nothing that could prove who they were. They cleaned up thoroughly."
Dai Weisi had expected this result.
"Your Highness,"
Zhu Zhuqing suddenly spoke, her voice carrying just the right measure of gravity and suggestion. "Within the Star Luo Empire, there's probably only one person capable of mobilizing a Soul Saint who also harbors such murderous intent toward you. Apart from that person... I can think of no one else."
She hadn't said it outright, but her meaning was clear.
Prince Cheng, Dai Fengtian.
With Dai Weisi dead, Dai Mubai would become the sole heir. The greatest beneficiary would naturally be Prince Cheng's faction, which stood behind Dai Mubai.
Zhu Zhuqing's scheming ran deep indeed.
This was an overt ploy. Using the assassination attempt before them, she was subtly directing Dai Weisi's anger toward Prince Cheng's residence.
The more fiercely Dai Weisi and Prince Cheng fought, the less attention Dai Weisi would have to spare for Dai Mubai. That would make Dai Mubai safer, and she herself would have more room to breathe.
Yet Dai Weisi merely gave her a glance with the hint of a smile. His gaze seemed capable of seeing through people's hearts, making Zhu Zhuqing's heart skip half a beat. She instinctively looked away.
"Zhu Zhuqing, your horizons are still a little too narrow."
Dai Weisi shook his head and walked over to the bald Soul Saint's corpse, nudging the head, whose eyes had not closed in death, with his toe.
"A Soul Saint above level seventy, a Soul Emperor, and several Soul Kings. Even my second uncle Dai Fengtian couldn't have kept a force like that so deeply hidden."
"Father's control over Star Luo City goes far beyond anything you can imagine. A force of unfamiliar experts suddenly appearing like this? There's no way he could know nothing about it."
He paused, a trace of disdain entering his voice.
"Besides, that second uncle of mine doesn't have the nerve."
"At most, he'd dare pull a few tricks behind the scenes, killing with a borrowed knife. But putting up resources of this caliber himself to fight me to the death? He couldn't bear to part with them, and he wouldn't dare."
Zhu Zhuyun nodded thoughtfully, feeling that Dai Weisi's reasoning made a great deal of sense.
Dai Weisi continued his analysis:
"Didn't you notice? At first, they didn't seem to have a complete grasp of my abilities."
"That bald man looked like he'd seen a ghost when he saw me heal myself with a Torso Bone. He couldn't have faked that expression. That means their information was limited to the abilities I'd displayed in public."
"When had I displayed them in public?"
He seemed to be asking himself, but his gaze swept over the sisters.
Zhu Zhuyun's heart sank. An answer was on the tip of her tongue.
"The duel with Dai Mubai."
Dai Weisi's voice turned cold. "There's only one force that was present that day, knew the situation, had the means and the motive, and could mobilize this kind of power without anyone noticing."
He raised his head and looked into the distance, as though his gaze had pierced through the layers of dense forest to see the magnificent hall standing at the center of the continent.
"Spirit Hall."
He spoke the name lightly, yet it carried the oppressive weight of a storm gathering over the mountains.
Whether in the Star Luo Empire or the Heaven Dou Empire, Spirit Hall would never send experts on the level of a Soul Saint so brazenly to assassinate a prince over a change of succession.
That would no longer be interference in internal affairs, but an open declaration of war.
The only explanation was that Spirit Hall sensed a threat from him far greater than any heir to an empire could pose.
"It seems these 'little secrets' of mine have made me more hated than I imagined."
Dai Weisi smiled in self-mockery, but his smile was full of chilling coldness.
He stopped dwelling on it. If soldiers came, he would send generals to block them; if water came, he would pile up earth to contain it.
So what if it was Spirit Hall?
He was no longer the prince who had to live at others' mercy.
"Let's go. Don't let this little matter delay our real business."
He called to them, got his bearings, and led the way deeper into the forest.
The Zhu sisters exchanged a glance and silently followed.
As the three pressed onward, Dai Weisi kept adjusting their course based on his memories of the original story.
He remembered that the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well lay in the central depths of the Sunset Forest, in a basin shrouded year-round in poisonous fog and miasma. Ordinary Soul Beasts and Soul Masters didn't dare approach it.
He needed to look for the features of that area.
As they went deeper, the Soul Beasts around them grew more powerful, and a peculiar, barely perceptible scent began to fill the air, mingled with the smell of sulfur and decaying vegetation.
Dai Weisi knew they weren't far from their destination.
Just as the three passed through a patch of low shrubs, something unexpected happened!
A gray shadow shot out of the darkness to their side without warning, swift as lightning and utterly silent! Its target was Zhu Zhuqing, who was walking at the rear of the group!
The sharp blades of its claws gleamed with a cold, eerie light. It was clearly an agility-type Soul Beast, and exceptionally skilled at concealment and ambush!
"Watch out!"
Without looking back, Dai Weisi struck behind him with his palm. Powerful Soul Power instantly condensed around him into a golden wall of light.
"First Soul Skill, White Tiger Protection Barrier!"
"Clang!"
Its attack thwarted, the gray shadow used the impact to flip through the air and land lightly on a branch ten meters away, revealing its true form.
It was a giant cat with a lithe, powerful body, covered in gray-black markings that blended almost perfectly with the shadows of the surrounding trees.
Its eyes were an eerie blood red as it stared fixedly at the three of them, full of savagery and cunning.
"An eleven-thousand-year-old Ghost Shadow Cat." Dai Weisi identified the Soul Beast's species and age at a glance.
This kind of Soul Beast was known for its speed and stealth. Its claws carried a mild paralytic toxin, making it one of the forest's finest assassins.
The sight of the Soul Beast made Zhu Zhuyun's beautiful eyes blaze with excitement.
She was exactly level fifty and needed to obtain her fifth Soul Ring!
And this Ghost Shadow Cat was a perfect match for her Nether Civet Martial Soul, both in age and attributes! It was practically a gift from heaven!
"Your Highness, this Soul Beast..."
Her words carried a hint of appeal and longing.
"It's yours."
Dai Weisi was succinct. "Finish it quickly."
"Yes!"
With permission granted, Zhu Zhuyun hesitated no longer. Her Martial Soul instantly possessed her!
Four Soul Rings, two yellow and two purple, rose from beneath her feet. Her figure became more agile and alluring, sharp claws sprang from her hands, and she transformed into a black phantom as she rushed forward to meet it.
"Second Soul Skill, Netherworld Hundred Claws!"
Zhu Zhuqing immediately moved to support her from the side. Her Soul Rings lit up, and her speed likewise rose to its limit as she drew the Ghost Shadow Lynx's attention from another direction.
The Ghost Shadow Cat was worthy of being a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, possessing exceptional intelligence.
Surrounded by the two "little cats," it showed no panic. Instead, it let out a piercing shriek, and its form abruptly blurred, as though it had become several shadows, making it difficult to tell which was real.
For a time, shadows and flashes of claws clashed throughout the forest at such incredible speed that only the rapid, continuous clanging of their exchanges could be heard.
Dai Weisi didn't intervene, merely standing to one side, ready to assist.
This was Zhu Zhuyun's fight, and a test for her as well.
The fight lasted nearly a minute.
Zhu Zhuyun was clearly more experienced in actual combat. She caught an opening in one of the Ghost Shadow Cat's feints and cried out.
"Fourth Soul Skill, Netherworld Slash!"
A black blade of light cleaved down at its head, forcing the Ghost Shadow Cat to take the attack head-on.
But just then, the cunning Soul Beast suddenly roared and sharply tucked in its body, taking the Netherworld Slash squarely on its back!
"Pfft!"
Blood sprayed, and a wound deep enough to expose bone appeared on its back.
But the Ghost Shadow Cat used the force of the impact to shoot away like a cannonball, darting at lightning speed in the opposite direction from Dai Weisi and the others!
It had deliberately exposed an opening, taking a wound in exchange for a chance to escape!
"Trying to run?"
How could Zhu Zhuyun let a Soul Ring already at her lips fly away? She immediately moved to give chase.
"Wait!" Dai Weisi suddenly called out, stopping her.
He looked in the direction the Ghost Shadow Cat had fled, an intrigued smile curling his lips.
That was the approximate direction where he had calculated the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to be.
The Ghost Shadow Cat seemed very familiar with that area. It wasn't fleeing at random, but had a clear destination.
"Interesting. Is it going to lead the way for us?"
Dai Weisi chuckled.
"Come on, let's follow and see. I want to see where it's trying to run."
The three hesitated no longer. Their figures flickered as they followed close behind the wounded Ghost Shadow Cat, pursuing it into the unknown depths of the forest!