Chapter 89

The speed of the movement left Xuebeng no time to react; he could only stare wide-eyed as the long sword approached.

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Snort.

A disdainful snort, a flame directly melted the sword in front of Xuefeng into molten iron that dripped onto the ground; the sword-wielding Xuefeng didn't even have time to say a word before being engulfed by the flame and burned to ashes.

Xue Beng scrape scrape scrape retreated a few steps and held onto the carriage door frame.

Senior, who are you?

No soul rings, no aura, no presence; just like a mass of fire in nature, even no different from an ordinary campfire.

Everyone present failed to sense his aura.

A Li appeared before everyone wearing a flame mask, his voice processed into a mix of male and female tones, saying: "I am the Strange Fire Douluo, a Title Douluo of rank ninety-five or above; soul rings—you're not worthy to see them."

Saying that, he snapped his fingers.

All of Xue Beng's guards present, including the attendants who had followed him for over ten years, were instantly burned to ashes by the suddenly erupting flames.

A Li coldly said: "Prince Xue Beng, there are two paths before you; one is to swallow this bead, I will save you and ensure your safe return to the the Heaven Dou Empire to continue posing as your dissolute prince."

Or two, I will leave you here; you will face a combined force of ten Soul Douluo and thirty Soul Saints from the Star Luo Empire and the Spirit Hall.

Pick one.

Xue Beng looked at A Li in disbelief, terrifiedly asking: "You weren't asked by my uncle, Prince Snow Star, to come save me? How could you."

A Li's gaze narrowed as he looked at Xue Beng, coldly smiling and saying: "Stop acting in front of me, put away your clumsy acting; if you utter another word of nonsense, I'll kill you right now and let Xue Qinghe ascend the throne as emperor."

Upon hearing that, Xue Beng's eyes darted irregularly.

In this situation, with his intellect and strength, he simply couldn't think of any way to break out.

Walking out of this would be a dead-end situation.

The the Heaven Dou Empire surely wouldn't lack a covertly dispatched reinforcement team; the fact that none have arrived yet is probably thanks a lot to his older brother.

Xue Beng's face bore a bleak, bitter smile.

I am a prince, the prince of the the Heaven Dou Empire; you want me to be your puppet emperor, right?

Even if I usually disguise myself as a worthless playboy, what makes you think I would endure this humiliation?

A Li flicked his nail, speaking lightly: "If you refuse to endure this humiliation, your older brother—no, I should say the person the Spirit Hall has disguised as your older brother—will successfully kill your father and ascend the throne as emperor."

The the Heaven Dou Empire's foundation of countless years will be seized by the Spirit Hall without effort; then the Spirit Hall and the the Heaven Dou Empire will reach an agreement to destroy the Star Luo Empire; do you think the the Heaven Dou Empire up and down will have any objections?

After destroying the Star Luo Empire, that impostor Xue Qinghe of the the Heaven Dou Empire will send the empire's army and loyalists to the battlefield against the Spirit Hall, only to be mercilessly slaughtered to the last.

By then, what will happen need not be spelled out explicitly between us.

I'll give you ten seconds to consider.

Xue Beng plopped down in front of the carriage, muttering: "The fallen nation, exterminated clan— the the Heaven Dou Empire's Xue family and such will cease to exist; completely vanish, becoming a mere footnote in history."

And the biggest winner, the Spirit Hall, will become the biggest winner on this board.

I have lost, lost completely and utterly; in the end only death remains, and even if I were to scrape by in this world, I would never let this fake older brother, this counterfeit Xue Qinghe, steal my the Heaven Dou Empire's eight-hundred-year foundation and hand it over to the Spirit Hall.

Saying that, Xue Beng grabbed the spark in A Li's hand and swallowed it in one gulp; the imagined pain did not occur.

Xue Beng looked up at A Li, somewhat puzzled, and said: "Your Excellency, what is this?" A Li replied: "If you have no other thoughts, it can greatly aid your cultivation speed; if you harbor ulterior motives, it will be your death talisman."

Alright, stay here; I'll go deal with those assassins.

Saying that, his whole body dissipated like a flame in place; a figure wearing an ox-head mask, engulfed in flames, walked out of the darkness and slowly approached Xue Beng.

This made Xue Beng nervous; he asked questions but got no answer; yet the figure also showed no intention to harm him.

In less than half a day, A Li returned to Xue Beng's side, still holding a large mass of unknown white gas.

Hey! Want to quickly increase your soul power? A Li suddenly asked Xue Beng.

Looking at the large mass of white mist in A Li's hand, Xue Beng said skeptically: "You don't mean to give me this to boost my soul power, do you?"

I was born into royalty, I know everything comes with a price; there's no such thing as a free lunch falling from the sky; if there's no benefit, only cost drives it.

What is the cost of increasing soul power with this thing?

A Li thought seriously: "These are soul powers refined from those who wanted to kill you; the breath is somewhat mixed; the cost is not great, at most damaging the foundation a bit, but the level increase is at least five levels of soul power or more."

The thing you swallowed can also help you purify a bit, though it takes a while; want to try? Just open your mouth and inhale.

Xue Beng hesitated not at all, taking that mass of soul power from A Li's hand, opening his mouth wide and greedily inhaling the soul power before him.

If an outsider saw this, they would find Xue Beng's manner of inhaling soul power resembling that of an evil soul master; utterly evil.

Originally, to feign lax cultivation, his soul power level had barely reached thirty; at this moment it rose like a rocket.

It surged up to thirty-eight levels of soul power before stopping.

Xue Beng knew this increase in soul power level came at the expense of his bodily foundation; the most direct feeling was that his soul power now felt unprecedentedly insubstantial.

Like a balloon, although the increase of eight levels of soul power is large, the pure soul power cultivated by himself is mixed with large amounts of mixed breath from other soul masters.

The quality of his soul power also dropped several grades.

A Li beside him stroked his chin, thinking for a long time; this method could perhaps be improved; maybe it could forge a unit of soul master elites that grow stronger with each battle.

The more they kill, the stronger they become, but this method damages the foundation and potential; later, their level becomes fixed and cannot be increased further.

Their lifespan will also be severely limited and decline.

If Ye Lingling were to rise to Title Douluo, it might somewhat alleviate things, but this soul master elite unit is undoubtedly a dead-end.

It can only be used to cultivate death warriors.

The the Heaven Dou Empire certainly has plenty of troops to test on; anyway, it doesn't matter if it's not one's own people who die; at worst, just look for those desperate or whose potential is about to be exhausted.

Don't look like you've lost your parents; properly nurture the thing you ate with soul power; then it will naturally help you purify your soul power, as long as you don't harbor ulterior motives.

A Li said lightly.

In the future, the Ugly Ox will stay by your side to protect you; bravely begin seizing power; I will help you properly train your troops, subordinates, so you don't lose too quickly; if you can win, that would be even better, hahaha

In the dense forest, the Strange Fire Douluo's laughter echoed; Xue Beng's pupils flickered with mad flames.

(End of chapter)