Chapter 76: The Nine Heart Begonia Family

After entering the room, Dugu Bo was still quite looking forward to Shi Quan cooking today.

In a cheerful atmosphere, dinner ended; since school hadn't started yet, the three of them stayed directly in the courtyard to rest. The courtyard was very large and had many vacant rooms, so Dugu Yan quickly arranged rooms for Shi Quan and Ye Lingling.

"Xiao Quan." After Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling had each returned to their rooms, Dugu Bo called out to stop Shi Quan.

"What is it, Grandpa Dugu?"

"Have you specifically looked into the situation of Ye Lingling's family?"

Shi Quan was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No, what do you mean by that, Grandpa Dugu?"

Dugu Bo cautioned, "Although this Ye Lingling is the successor of the Nine Heart Begonia of this generation, she doesn't seem to be well-regarded within the Nine Heart Begonia Family. I don't know the specific reason, but you had best be careful."

Shi Quan said in confusion, "The Nine Heart Begonia clan only has two holders of the Nine Heart Begonia martial soul. As the inheritor of the martial soul, Lingling should be the next head of the Nine Heart Begonia Family; how could she not be well-regarded?"

Dugu Bo rolled his eyes at Shi Quan. "If you want to know the specific reason, there are two very simple methods. One is to ask Ye Lingling, and the other is to use your connections to investigate. The fact that Ye Lingling didn't go home during the holiday shows that her situation with her family isn't harmonious; otherwise, why would she have followed you, kid, back here?"

"I will take note of it." Shi Quan nodded.

"But you don't need to worry too much. With me around, those people from the Nine Heart Begonia Family wouldn't dare do anything to you," Dugu Bo said proudly.

"Thank you, Grandpa Dugu."

"Alright, that's all. Go and do your cultivation."

Dugu Bo waved his hand at Shi Quan, and Shi Quan immediately returned to his own room.

"So, is Lingling's current personality and inner loneliness because of her family?" Shi Quan thought to himself.

The next morning.

After breakfast, Shi Quan let Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling return to the academy first.

Shi Quan then came to the Crown Prince's Mansion.

"Stop! This is a restricted area of the Crown Prince's Mansion; unauthorized persons are forbidden from entering." As soon as he arrived at the entrance of the Crown Prince's Mansion, Shi Quan was blocked by two fully armed guards.

Shi Quan took out the token Xue Qinghe had given him. "I am Shi Quan, a student of the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, here specifically to request an audience with His Highness the Crown Prince."

"The Crown Prince's Token?" Seeing the token in Shi Quan's hand, the expressions of the two guards changed, and their attitude immediately shifted from their previous severity to a fawning manner. "Lord Shi Quan, please come in. There will be a maid inside to guide you."

Shi Quan nodded and walked into the Crown Prince's Mansion.

This was the second time Shi Quan had come to the Crown Prince's Mansion, but he still felt that sense of low-key luxury and grandeur. Led by a maid, after walking for about ten minutes, Shi Quan was finally hosted by the maid and seated in a reception hall of nearly one hundred square meters.

Sipping the fragrant tea prepared by the maid, Shi Quan waited quietly. After about half an hour, Xue Qinghe's slightly magnetic male voice sounded from outside the room.

"Brother Shi, I've kept you waiting."

"Brother Xue, you are too polite. I hope my sudden visit hasn't disturbed you," Shi Quan said politely to Xue Qinghe as he walked in.

Xue Qinghe quickly waved his hand and said with a smile, "How could that be? I'm only too happy that Brother Shi could come; how could it be a disturbance?"

"Brother Xue, actually, I came today because I wanted to ask you to help me look into something," Shi Quan said straightforwardly.

"Oh?" A sharp glint flashed in Xue Qinghe's eyes, and he said with a chuckle, "Brother Shi, feel free to speak. As long as I can help, I certainly will."

"Brother Xue should know Ye Lingling, right?"

"Ye Lingling? The one with the Nine Heart Begonia martial soul?"

"That's right."

"What would you like me to investigate, Brother Shi?"

Shi Quan said directly, "Brother Xue, could you help me look into the matters between Ye Lingling and the Nine Heart Begonia Family?"

A smile played on the corners of Xue Qinghe's mouth. "It seems Brother Shi already knows something? That's why you asked me to help you investigate?"

"Yes, I only found out recently. I heard that Lingling and the Nine Heart Begonia Family seem to be at odds, so I'm just curious."

"Curious?" Xue Qinghe looked at Shi Quan meaningfully but didn't say anything, nodding in agreement. "I have also heard a little about Ye Lingling's affairs. I will help you investigate; this isn't exactly a secret. At most, it will take two or three days, and I will have someone send the gathered information to you then."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Brother Xue."

"It's nothing, this isn't a big deal."

"Then, Brother Xue, I will head back to cultivate now and won't disturb you any further."

Shi Quan did not linger at Xue Qinghe's place and turned to leave.

Watching Shi Quan's departing back, a faint smile appeared at the corners of Xue Qinghe's mouth. She hadn't expected that the first thing Shi Quan would ask her to do was to investigate information about Ye Lingling.

"It seems he has some interest in this Ye Lingling." Xue Qinghe smiled lightly and immediately arranged for personnel to begin investigating the matter.

After all, it was the first time Shi Quan had asked for her help, so Xue Qinghe was quite attentive to this matter.

When Shi Quan returned to the academy dormitory, he found that everyone else except him had already returned, including Ning Rongrong.

"Yo, the lone wolf is back?" Ning Rongrong looked at Shi Quan's figure and said indifferently.

Shi Quan didn't stand on ceremony and said directly, "Why are you here again? Didn't you say you were only following me to learn for one year?"

"This young lady comes and goes as she pleases. I just want to come to the academy to study now, so what? Blehh..." Ning Rongrong made a face at Shi Quan.

Shi Quan couldn't help but roll his eyes at Ning Rongrong. His current relationship with her was that of bickering enemies; if they didn't argue a bit on any given day, it would actually feel strange.

The start of the term at Heaven Dou Imperial Academy didn't have any miscellaneous opening ceremonies; on the first day, each class would just hold a class meeting to ensure all students had arrived.

The second day of the academy term.

Xue Qinghe's people sent over the information they had investigated.

Looking at the contents of the documents, Shi Quan's brows couldn't help but furrow tightly.

The Nine Heart Begonia Family was a family that placed great importance on bloodline inheritance. Because of the unique nature of their martial soul, in order to ensure the continuation of the family, the Nine Heart Begonia Family was extremely strict regarding bloodline management.

The partners of family members had to be powerful Spirit Masters, so that even if they didn't inherit the Nine Heart Begonia martial soul, they could inherit the other person's martial soul and become powerful Spirit Masters, thereby contributing their strength to protect the family.

As for Ye Lingling's lineage, when it reached her father, he possessed no soul power upon awakening. In the case of someone like her father, the family would execute them directly, under the pretext that the Nine Heart Begonia Family does not raise idlers.

However, Ye Lingling's maternal grandparents could not bear to see their son killed, so they pulled a "swapping the cat for the crown prince" maneuver, actually finding someone who looked eighty or ninety percent like him to replace Ye Lingling's father.

Ye Lingling's father was thus able to save his life and lived as an ordinary person, marrying and having children outside. However, to everyone's surprise, even though both of Ye Lingling's parents were ordinary people, they gave birth to Ye Lingling, the new generation's successor to the Nine Heart Begonia martial soul.

The fact that Ye Lingling had awakened the Nine Heart Begonia martial soul was soon discovered by people from the Nine Heart Begonia Family.

The matter of her maternal grandparents "swapping the cat for the crown prince" back then was also quickly uncovered. To prevent similar things from happening again, the Nine Heart Begonia Family not only used thunderous means to execute her maternal grandparents and her parents, but also severely punished the branch to which her maternal grandparents belonged, serving as a deterrent to all other branches.

Of course, to the outside world, Ye Lingling's parents were killed by a Spirit Beast in an accident.

After Ye Lingling's parents were killed, the people of the Nine Heart Begonia Family took her back into the family to begin her training; at the beginning, everything was quite good, and logically speaking, Ye Lingling would never have known that her parents, grandfather, and grandmother were killed by the hands of their own family members.

But the internal affairs of the Nine Heart Begonia Family were not harmonious either, and by chance, Ye Lingling still learned of everything.

At that time, Ye Lingling had just turned twelve years old.

For the first six years, she grew up happily and blissfully in the company of her parents; later, her parents died together in an accident, which was already a significant blow to Ye Lingling, and the appearance of the Nine Heart Begonia Family gave Ye Lingling warmth again, where she received the best resources and the most attention in the family, and just like that, another six years passed.

As it turned out, in the end, Ye Lingling discovered that all of this was fake, and those she was closest to and loved most had died at the hands of her own clansmen; such a blow was undoubtedly enormous for a twelve-year-old child.

At that time, if Ye Lingling had even the slightest thought of defecting, the Nine Heart Begonia Family would have immediately executed her and then cultivated a new generation of Nine Heart Begonia martial soul inheritors.

She was very smart, so she chose to stay, and from that moment on, Ye Lingling became a different person, becoming reticent, her eyes losing their former luster and gradually becoming hollow.

The people of the family naturally discovered her abnormality, but fortunately, the family had no direct evidence to prove that she already knew the ins and outs of the matter, and furthermore, her branch had forcibly insisted on protecting her, which was how Ye Lingling was able to survive within the family; otherwise, Ye Lingling would have long since reunited with her parents in another world.

The Elder of their branch had also been constantly comforting her to work hard, saying that if one day she could become the head of the family, the grievances and injustices she had suffered in the past could be redressed.

Ye Lingling knew clearly that even if she became the head of the family in the future, she would only be a puppet, because she was an Auxiliary Soul Master, and those who truly held power in the family were the Spirit Masters with combat strength.

It was called the Nine Heart Begonia Family, with the Nine Heart Begonia as the focus, but in reality, the two possessors of the Nine Heart Begonia martial soul were merely tools to support the family.

Within the Nine Heart Begonia Family, whichever branch inherited the Nine Heart Begonia martial soul would see their say in the family rise linearly; this was also the reason why the Elder of their branch had always supported her—it was purely for the sake of more power.

As for Ye Lingling, this Auxiliary Soul Master, they never worried that she would escape the family's control.

This was a drawback of an Auxiliary Soul Master family; if there were more possessors of the Nine Heart Begonia martial soul, the Nine Heart Begonia Family would not have developed to such a pathological degree.

Perhaps it was precisely because of the uniqueness of the Nine Heart Begonia martial soul that such a special family as the Nine Heart Begonia Family was born; this Douluo Continent was, after all, a world where strength was respected.

A sect like the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, which achieved the reputation of being one of the Three Upper Sects based on an auxiliary martial soul, was unique and impossible to replicate.