A month passed quickly, and the entire Heaven Dou City was decorated for the wedding the next day.
Under royal pressure, Shui Bing'er finally gave in. She had no choice but to marry Xue Beng.
Even the deans of Blazing Fire and God Wind Academies personally tried to persuade her, saying that becoming the empress would greatly benefit the Elemental Academies. As Shui Qingwu predicted, the two deans weren't heartless, but they bore the future of countless children—so they had to sacrifice Shui Bing'er.
…
"Haha, the pill is done!" In the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's medicine hall, Yang Wudi was overjoyed. Using the Aromatic Silk Beauty Immortal Herb, he'd mutated the Snow Silkworm and, after a month of refining, finally produced the Snow Spirit Pill.
The pill didn't boost power much, but greatly purified ice-attribute soul power, making skills stronger and easier to control. With it, Shui Bing'er would fully master the Ice Phoenix.
Just as he celebrated, some disciples began gossiping about the crown prince's misdeeds. This annoyed Yang Wudi, who wondered why people kept talking about Xue Beng in front of him.
He was sick of it. Heaven Dou Empire's crown prince was a disaster.
Dugu Bo deliberately had people accidentally reveal such things to him—Ning Fengzhi's idea. If it were anyone else, they'd have realized it was too deliberate, clearly meant to make him dislike Xue Beng.
Dugu Bo would even say, if his friend or granddaughter were forced to marry someone like Xue Beng, he'd storm the palace. Any real man would.
Ning Fengzhi wanted to rile Yang Wudi up, to make him act—preferably to tear down the palace and take care of Xue Beng.
After storing the pill, Yang Wudi left for the mountainside, where he'd arranged to meet Shui Bing'er. He waited all day, but she didn't show.
"That's odd. She's always punctual. Could something have happened?" Yang Wudi wondered. Since she didn't come, he decided to head to Heaven Dou City to find her.
He was always a man of action and immediately descended the mountain the fastest way—jumping down.
At that moment, a dark figure stealthily followed him—it was Bone Douluo Gu Rong, sent by Ning Fengzhi to protect him, since Tianlin still hadn't come out of seclusion.
If Tianlin wasn't ready, Yang Wudi would be in mortal danger, so Gu Rong was the backup plan, even if it meant delaying their takeover of the Elemental Academies.
As for Shui Bing'er, Ning Fengzhi couldn't help her—maybe marrying Xue Beng was her fate.
In fact, Tianlin was ready to come out at any time. The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's requirement for an 800,000+ year god-given soul ring was long met; it was now at 999,999 years. Tianlin was breaking through to a million years.
The red soul ring with nine golden stripes now showed a tenth, its color transforming from red to dark gold.
Although six gods had made the ring, the Asura God shaped it, so its color matched his power.
"Xiao Tian, almost done! Hang in there!" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was excited. Tianlin's soul bone armor had greatly increased his endurance—he could now bear a second million-year soul ring.
A million-year soul ring was on a completely different level from a nine-hundred-thousand-year one—equal to a god ring. If successful, Tianlin's actual combat power would be astonishing.
"Uncle Tianlin is amazing. He's far beyond Xiaobai now, maybe even on par with my mother," Xiaobai admired Tianlin greatly—among soul beasts, the strong are respected.
…
Yang Wudi reached Heaven Dou City in less than half an hour—nothing for a Soul Douluo.
He was puzzled by the city's festive decorations and the "double happiness" characters on every door.
He found a Speed Clan disciple who gathered intelligence in the city. "Hey, I'm Yang Wudi, vice head of the medicine hall. What's going on here—some kind of mass wedding?"
"Sir, it's not a mass wedding. The crown prince is getting married, and the entire city is to celebrate by royal decree," the disciple replied.
"By royal decree? So Xue Beng, after all his misdeeds, now wants to settle down?" Yang Wudi sneered, having heard too much about Xue Beng's bad reputation.
"And who's the bride? Who's so unlucky to marry that guy?"
"It's a girl named Shui Bing'er from Skywater Academy," the disciple answered.
Upon hearing that, Yang Wudi lost it. He grabbed the disciple's collar and roared, "Who? Shui Bing'er? Nonsense! No way she'd fall for Xue Beng!"
The disciple trembled, "Sir, I wouldn't dare lie to you. It's true. The city's been saying Shui Bing'er and the crown prince are in love, and she agreed to the proposal."
"Bullshit!" Yang Wudi shoved him away. "She came to Seven Treasure Mountain every day to avoid Xue Beng—how could they be in love? This is a scheme to force her hand."
He realized it immediately. He was lazy, but not stupid.
"That shameless Xue Beng—I'll kill him today!" Yang Wudi summoned his Breaking Soul Spear and charged toward the palace.
He valued friendship, and after being provoked for days, there was no way he'd let his friend be pushed into the fire.