Three days later, in the Star Luo Imperial Palace.
"What did you say? Tiger and Wolf failed?"
Putting down the official documents he was handling, Emperor Dai Yutian of Star Luo widened his tiger-like eyes in shock as he stared at Prime Minister Pierce standing in the hall.
Two Soul Douluos and six Soul Sages couldn't even handle a mere Chu Chengzhou? Are you joking with me?
"Yes, Your Majesty. Tiger and Wolf have fallen into the hands of the Tian Dou Empire.
Through bribes, I learned from the Tian Dou envoys that when Chu Chengzhou left Tian Dou City, Chen Xin was secretly following him. Apart from Tiger and Wolf being captured, the other six were killed on the spot."
Pierce quickly explained.
As one of the masterminds behind this assassination plan, Pierce's strength wasn't great, but he still had some understanding of Tiger and the others' capabilities.
Perhaps two or three ordinary Soul Douluos wouldn't be a match for Tiger's group of eight, but against Titled Douluos, they would only meet failure.
Moreover, Sword Douluo Chen Xin of the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect was renowned across the continent as the "strongest attacker" (as stated in the original story, though with some exaggeration). Among all Titled Douluos, Chen Xin was considered one of the stronger ones. Naturally, Tiger and the others stood no chance.
Hmm, I hope the imperial treasury reimburses the bribes I privately gave to the Tian Dou envoys. Those greedy bastards are insatiable! Curse them—may their sons be infertile!
"Chen Xin? Damn it! A Titled Douluo stooping so low!"
Dai Yutian cursed inwardly.
In his view, Chen Xin teaming up with Chu Chengzhou to set a trap for their experts was utterly disgraceful for a Titled Douluo, completely lacking shame!
And what about sending two Soul Douluos and six Soul Sages to deal with Chu Chengzhou, whose soul power was only at the four- or five-ring level? Wasn't that even more disgraceful?
It was Tiger and the others who acted disgracefully—it had nothing to do with me, the great emperor!
"Your Majesty, the Tian Dou envoy has made it clear that our empire sent assassins after Chu Chengzhou and that there is conclusive evidence. They demand an explanation from the empire. How should I respond?"
Pierce cautiously probed.
The emperor's temperament wasn't exactly mild, so Pierce hoped he wouldn't explode in anger.
"Respond? Go, Pierce, tell that damn Tian Dou envoy that this was done by the Spirit Hall. It's all their setup and slander—it has nothing to do with our empire.
Mm, while you're at it, mention that our empire is willing to send people to assist Tian Dou in uncovering the truth."
Dai Yutian answered without hesitation.
You say this was done by my Star Luo Empire, and that makes it true?
Conclusive evidence? Clearly, this is the evil Spirit Hall framing us!
Last time we took the blame, it was because they had us cornered—to prevent the royal family's White Tiger martial soul from leaking out, we had no choice.
But this time, it's just two Soul Douluos. It's not worth our empire losing face over admitting to such underhanded tactics.
Our Star Luo Empire simply refuses to take responsibility. What can you do about it? If you've got the guts, come and fight me!
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Pierce acknowledged and retreated.
An hour later.
"Pierce, how did things go?"
Dai Yutian asked as Pierce re-entered the hall.
"Your Majesty, there's been a change. When I relayed your response, the Tian Dou envoy said that Tiger and the others' failure wasn't solely due to the presence of Chen Xin from the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect.
Flame Sparrow and Storm Eagle's six men weren't killed by Chen Xin—they were killed by Chu Chengzhou himself.
Additionally, through further bribes, the Tian Dou envoy stated that Emperor Xue Ye has dispatched him to resolve the past conflicts between our empire and Chu Chengzhou."
Pierce spoke with a grave expression.
At this moment, Pierce's heart was bleeding—for the sake of the empire, he had invested both this year's and last year's salary.
"What? That little Chu Chengzhou could kill six Soul Sages in one battle?!"
Instantly, Dai Yutian's eyes widened.
"Your Majesty, although this sounds unbelievable, it's not impossible.
According to intelligence, during the previous Soul Master Tournament, Chu Chengzhou's strength at the four-ring level wasn't much weaker than an ordinary Soul Sage. Now that his soul power has advanced to the five-ring Soul King level, his strength must have increased accordingly."
Upon hearing this, Dai Yutian fell into deep thought.
There were two paths before him. One was to accept the olive branch provided by Tian Dou and choose to reconcile with Chu Chengzhou.
The other was to ignore Tian Dou and continue targeting and assassinating Chu Chengzhou.
The first path meant a loss of face for the empire, as it was essentially a form of submission.
The second path, however, was fraught with unknown risks.
If subsequent assassinations succeeded in killing Chu Chengzhou, it would be a cause for celebration. But if they failed and Chu Chengzhou grew stronger, it would become the empire's nightmare.
As the ruler of a nation, Dai Yutian was well aware of the destructive potential of a lone powerhouse.
Even if Chu Chengzhou, once fully grown, wasn't a match for the entire empire, he could wreak havoc by constantly attacking the empire's cities, inflicting incalculable losses.
Especially with his mutated martial soul, which was perfect for causing destruction.
Other lone powerhouses needed to personally be present to cause chaos. Sending high-level experts to surround them might not result in immediate death, but it would effectively suppress their actions, preventing them from acting recklessly.
But Chu Chengzhou was different. Once he released his summon, he could escape while leaving behind a summon that could regenerate after death to continue wreaking havoc. Surrounding him with experts wouldn't work.
After all, according to intelligence, Chu Chengzhou's summons could change size and possessed intelligence.
Sneak into a large city, drop a shrunken summon into a corner, and leave. After waiting a few days, the summon would emerge to cause trouble, and the empire wouldn't be able to find the culprit.
After much deliberation, Dai Yutian said, "Did the Tian Dou envoy mention any conditions for reconciliation?"
Though Dai Yutian's personality was domineering, he wasn't foolish. He knew that for reconciliation, the Star Luo Empire would have to pay a price since they were the ones who initiated these underhanded tactics.
And considering the previous scapegoat incident, this was already the second time they'd resorted to such tactics.
If Chu Chengzhou agreed to reconcile without any demands, Dai Yutian would undoubtedly suspect ulterior motives—pretending to reconcile while planning revenge once he grew stronger.
Of course, even if the reconciliation terms were harsh, it didn't rule out that possibility.
But the empire had no choice. Unless they had a foolproof way to eliminate Chu Chengzhou, they had to choose reconciliation. After all, the empire's vast resources couldn't withstand retaliatory strikes.
"Your Majesty, the Tian Dou envoy said that the prerequisite for negotiation and reconciliation is for the royal family to dissolve the engagement of Miss Zhu Zhuqing. As for other matters, nothing has been mentioned yet."
Pierce reluctantly stated.
What is humiliation? This was it! And this matter was the root of the conflict between the empire and Chu Chengzhou.
Hearing this, Dai Yutian's face darkened as he involuntarily thought of his useless third son.
In truth, Dai Mubai's talent wasn't bad—it was even better than Dai Wei's. The reason he was suppressed by Dai Wei was simply due to his age disadvantage.
But who would've thought that Dai Mubai was such a hopeless case—lacking ambition, cowardly, and even letting someone snatch away his fiancée. Truly a waste.
If he weren't his biological son, Dai Yutian would've strangled him to death.
"Hmph, I approve of this matter! As for the rest, Pierce, ensure the empire's interests are protected."
Snorting coldly, Dai Yutian agreed.
Although agreeing to this felt like slapping his own face, there was no actual loss.
After all, even if the royal family didn't agree, it wouldn't change the fact that Zhu Zhuqing was already in Tian Dou.
Besides, the Zhu family had plenty of women. Picking another one isn't hard. Without such a useless son, why bother with a fiancée? Might as well wait to die!
"Yes, Your Majesty, I take my leave!"
Pierce bowed and responded.
"Wait a moment."
Dai Yutian stopped Pierce as he was about to leave.
"Does Your Majesty have further instructions?"
"Pierce, go... Never mind, you may leave!"
As he spoke, Dai Yutian recalled something and waved his hand dismissively.
Though somewhat perplexed, Pierce didn't dwell on it and retreated from the hall.
"Someone, summon the Second Elder of the family!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The palace guards outside the hall responded.
Subsequently, a glint of determination appeared in Dai Yutian's eyes.
Dai Yutian believed that between reconciliation and non-reconciliation, he should adopt a dual approach.
On one hand, the empire would reconcile with Chu Chengzhou. On the other hand, assassinations would continue.
After all, putting himself in Chu Chengzhou's shoes, Dai Yutian didn't truly believe that reconciliation would erase Chu Chengzhou's resentment toward the empire.
Take the example of emperors killing meritorious officials. Did they kill them because the officials were already plotting rebellion?
Perhaps some were, but most weren't. The reason for killing them was simply because they had the capability to rebel.
They didn't need to raise the banner of rebellion. As long as they had the ability, they deserved death.
Similarly, if Chu Chengzhou gained the strength to retaliate against the empire in the future, it would be best to eliminate him preemptively to prevent him from becoming a major threat.
Of course, to avoid leaving traces, future assassinations couldn't be directly carried out by the empire or the royal family.
The continent wasn't short of desperate individuals. As long as the reward was sufficient, there would surely be experts willing to take on such dirty jobs. As long as the intermediaries covered their tracks well, even if they failed, it wouldn't implicate the empire.
Moreover, after the empire chose reconciliation, Chu Chengzhou and the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect's vigilance would naturally relax, making it easier to succeed.
---
More than ten days later, Chu Chengzhou returned to his residence from the palace.
"Zhu zhuqing, take a look at this!"
Chu Chengzhou waved two gilded scrolls in his hand.
"What are these?"
Blinking, Zhu Zhuqing asked in confusion.
Smiling, Chu Chengzhou didn't speak but handed her the two identical copies of the marriage contract.
Due to the inconvenience of transportation and communication, envoys sent between factions on the continent were almost always flight-type soul masters.
The Star Luo envoy acted swiftly. By now, the negotiations for reconciliation had concluded. Today, when Chu Chengzhou went to the Tian Dou Imperial Palace, the Star Luo envoy handed him the marriage contract signed years ago by the Star Luo royal family and the Netherworld Spirit Cat family, binding the third prince Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing.
From that moment on, Zhu Zhuqing was no longer the prospective princess of the Star Luo Empire.
Opening the gilded cover of one book, the words "Marriage Contract" caught Zhu Zhuqing's eye.
Seeing her name alongside Dai Mubai's, with signatures from her father and Emperor Dai Yutian at the end, tears began to fall from Zhu Zhuqing's eyes.
Gently wiping away the tears from his big cat's face, Chu Chengzhou said, "Don't cry, we should be happy. Let's tear these up! From now on, you're just Miss Zhu Zhuqing, and my wife!"
Nodding heavily, Zhu Zhuqing summoned soul power and shredded the high-quality marriage contracts into pieces, then hugged Chu Chengzhou tightly.
"Kiss me!"
Facing his sister's request, Chu Chengzhou didn't refuse—and couldn't refuse.
Before long, unable to resist, Chu Chengzhou began making small moves.
"Let's wait... We're still young. In a couple of years..."
With a flushed face, Zhu Zhuqing pushed Chu Chengzhou's head away and whispered.
She was not yet 15. Previously, she had heard from the elders in her family that losing her virginity too early would affect her cultivation.
In truth, Zhu Zhuqing didn't know that it wasn't losing her virginity that affected cultivation but rather indulging in pleasure. And how many young people, upon tasting forbidden fruit, could resist indulging too deeply?
"Mm, let's wait two more years for the wedding night. But..."
As he spoke, Chu Chengzhou unleashed his spiritual power, activating Void Realm Illusion and pulling his 'sisters'' consciousness into a dreamlike realm.
---
Half a month later.
In the afternoon, sitting on a lounge chair in the courtyard bathed in the sunset's glow, Chu Chengzhou waited for his ultimate technique to upgrade.
Soon, the quality of his Defensive technique in the AFK cultivation bar ascended, transforming into red.
At the same time, a flood of information and insights about the upgraded defensive technique poured into Chu Chengzhou's mind.
After a long while, having digested the insights, a smile unconsciously formed on Chu Chengzhou's lips.
The next second, attributeless soul power surged, and a seemingly illusory azure-colored soul flower materialized a foot above his head. As petals drifted down, a layer of azure light emanated from Chu Chengzhou's body.
Immediately afterward, Chu Chengzhou converted his attributeless soul power into the light attribute soul power of Light Lion Summon Xiao Bai. The azure-colored soul flower above his head, along with its falling petals and the radiating light, instantly turned white, corresponding to the light attribute.
As the attribute of soul power changed, the illusory flower also transformed into corresponding colors: fiery red for Fire Phoenix Summon Xiao Hong, metallic gold for Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear Summon Big Bear, and pitch-black for Mysterious Water Turtle Summon Gui Er.
Green for Sky Azure Tree Xiao Qing? Hmm, this color isn't suitable for appearing above the head. (T/N: In Chinese having green on your head implies that your spouse is cheating on you.)
After experiencing the upgraded defensive technique, Chu Chengzhou shifted his thoughts, renaming it Instant Bloom. Then he removed it from the AFK cultivation bar and replaced it with the Sun Shooting Divine Arrow technique.
With the defensive weakness patched, the next priority was naturally to enhance his offensive capabilities.
Instant Bloom, one of the thirty-six celestial divine powers from ancient myths, manifested as thousands of golden flowers above the head, adorned with dangling beads, radiating endlessly with dazzling brilliance. It was one of the Primordial Lord of Heaven's defensive divine powers.
Of course, Chu Chengzhou's Instant Bloom wasn't that powerful—he was far from being compared to the Primordial Lord of Heaven. To be precise, there was no comparison.
Defensive Technique: Instant Bloom
Can defend against all physical, energy, and mental attacks. As long as the soul flower remained unbroken, any form of harm would be ineffective. Moreover, due to its red quality, the defensive intensity of the protective divine light generated by the soul flower could rival 100,000-year defensive-type soul skills.
However, compared to 100,000-year defensive soul skills, Instant Bloom was slightly inferior in one aspect.
Generally speaking, a soul master's True Body could amplify the effects of their soul skills.
For instance, in the original story, Zhu Zhuqing's Netherworld Spirit Cat True Body increased speed and amplified all soul skill effects by 50%.
If Instant Bloom were a defensive soul skill inherent to her Netherworld Spirit Cat martial soul, its defensive effect would naturally increase by 50%.
But Instant Bloom wasn't a soul skill—it was a self-created technique and couldn't benefit from True Body amplification.
However, even though self-created techniques didn't receive True Body amplification, the soul master's overall strength temporarily increased in True Body state, enhancing the specific effects released, albeit without a clear percentage boost.
Moreover, as a purely defensive technique, Instant Bloom couldn't immunize against binding-type control skills or mental illusions.
If a mental illusion also had a mental attack component, the illusion's effect would remain, but the mental attack would be resisted by the soul flower above the head.
Aside from mental illusions, Instant Bloom could block any adverse effects.
For example, if Chu Chengzhou were in a high-temperature environment, activating Instant Bloom would completely negate the effects of the high temperature until the soul flower above his head was broken.
Additionally, due to the technique Absolute Control granting him relatively perfect control over his own power, although Instant Bloom couldn't be used on others, expanding the range of the protective divine light generated by the soul flower above his head wasn't an issue.
However, the larger the protective divine light's range, the weaker the soul flower's defensive limit became. Additionally, the stronger the attacks received, the more soul power would be consumed.
"Seems like I can go to Slaughter City and earn a Killing God Domain?"
Chu Chengzhou thought to himself.
The Killing God Domain's effects were quite potent. Even the most basic Killing God Domain could amplify the user's strength by 10% and suppress the opponent's strength by 10%. Adding and subtracting, it created a 20% gap.
And this was just the basic Killing God Domain. As the martial soul grew, or through continuous killing, the Killing God Domain's effects could improve further—up to amplifying the user's strength by 20% and suppressing the opponent's strength by 20%.
Though the Killing God Domain was excellent, Slaughter City wasn't a benevolent place. The prerequisite for obtaining the Killing God Domain was achieving a hundred consecutive victories in the Hell Slaughter Arena.
Apart from some official "privileged dogs," soul masters in Slaughter City were restricted from using soul skills. They could only use the inherent power of their martial souls, self-created soul skills, soul bone skills, and external tools like soul-guided devices.
Though Chu Chengzhou couldn't summon Big Bear and other summons in Slaughter City, if everyone was restricted from using soul skills, objectively speaking, even Titled Douluos like She Long wouldn't stand a chance against him. Achieving a hundred consecutive victories in the Hell Slaughter Arena wouldn't be difficult.
But a hundred consecutive victories in the Hell Slaughter Arena was only one of the prerequisites for obtaining the Killing God Domain. The Hell Road afterward was the true challenge.
Previously, Chu Chengzhou hadn't planned to go to Slaughter City to obtain the Killing God Domain—not because he feared the Dark Golden Three-Headed Bat King or the Ten-Headed Sun Snake on the Hell Road, but because he believed he couldn't withstand the pervasive evil energy erosion on the Hell Road.
In the original story, Tang San could pass through because he had domain powers, using his Blue Silver Domain to isolate the evil energy.
As for the consequences of not having domain protection and being unable to resist the evil energy erosion, one could refer directly to Hu Liena's performance in the Hell Road in the original story.
Originally, Chu Chengzhou planned to wait until his soul power level increased, as higher levels would naturally allow him to better resist the evil energy erosion on the Hell Road.
Tang Hao was also one of the contemporary Killing Gods. At the time, Tang Hao went to Slaughter City for training without possessing a domain. If Tang Hao could do it, then so could he.
But since the upgraded and transformed Instant Bloom could block any adverse effects except mental illusions, his trip to Slaughter City could naturally be moved forward.
After all, that damned place was definitely going to be visited, not only to obtain the Killing God Domain but also for the sake of his wives.
The real timeline differed from the original story, but in Chu Chengzhou's view, Hu Liena would still go to Slaughter City for training because she was a proud and competitive girl.
Moreover, this girl was somewhat overconfident. In the original story, she entered Slaughter City for training at only the five-ring level. If not for Tang San, she would've surely died on the Hell Road.
He naturally had to protect his own wife, so Slaughter City was a must-visit—and sooner rather than later.
Going early posed no issues. Obtaining the Killing God Domain and becoming the Killing God of Slaughter City would grant him free access to return whenever he wanted.
But if he went too late and his overconfident wife perished on the Hell Road, he wouldn't have time to regret it.
As for how to get to Slaughter City?
There was a rumor among the evil soul master circles of the continent's soul master community that Slaughter City was paradise for evil soul masters. If they were wanted fugitives with nowhere else to go, they only needed to enter Slaughter City to escape the Spirit Hall's pursuit.
This rumor was indeed true because Slaughter City was essentially a place with entry but no exit. Over a thousand years, only a handful of people had emerged from that damned place. Naturally, the Spirit Hall's pursuers wouldn't chase into Slaughter City.
Perhaps this rumor was spread covertly by the Spirit Hall to lead those evil soul masters to their deaths?
But that wasn't the point. With this rumor, while the entrance to Slaughter City might be a secret, it certainly wasn't classified.
Otherwise, how would evil soul masters know where to go to die?
Many evil soul masters knew, and soul masters occasionally entered Slaughter City. Therefore, the long-standing Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect likely knew the location of Slaughter City's entrance.
To go to Slaughter City, all he had to do was ask his father-in-law, Ning Fengzhi.
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