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That night, Chu Chengzhou returned to Tian Dou City.
After sending a letter to Qian Renxue via the servants at his residence, Chu Chengzhou went to Yue Xuan to find his beloved older sister.
"Huh? Little brother, you're back?"
On the fifth floor of Yue Xuan, Tang Yuehua was practicing Absolute Control. Seeing the long-missed Chu Chengzhou return, her face immediately lit up with a joyful smile.
"Uh-huh, Yuehua, did you miss me?"
Taking her delicate hand, Chu Chengzhou gazed at her with deep affection.
"Tsk~, who would miss this little rascal?"
Tang Yuehua blushed slightly and muttered under her breath.
"Is that so? That's truly heartbreaking!"
Seeing her contradictory words and actions, Chu Chengzhou pretended to be hurt.
Then, spotting the harp hanging on the wall in the hall, Chu Chengzhou said, "Yuehua, let's play a duet together!"
"Oh?"
Tang Yuehua couldn't help but feel a bit surprised.
This little rascal had just returned, and instead of doing something mischievous, he wanted to play the harp with her? Could it be that tomorrow the sun would rise in the west?
However, she soon realized what he was up to.
Just as they set up the harp, Chu Chengzhou lifted her into his arms and sat her down in front of the table.
"What are you doing?"
Feeling the heat behind her, Tang Yuehua's face flushed crimson.
"Yuehua, you play your part, and I'll handle mine~"
Chu Chengzhou replied while skillfully moving his hands.
Tang Yuehua: "..."
Soon, the tranquil and elegant hall echoed with the sound of the harp.
However, when the music reached the ears of the two maids downstairs, they couldn't help but notice that their mistress's musical skills seemed to have deteriorated significantly. No, it wasn't even deterioration—it sounded like random plucking.
Gradually, amidst this extremely off-tune melody, strange sounds began to mix in.
After a while, realizing what those sounds were, the faces of the two maids downstairs turned bright red.
How could their mistress behave like this~!
The next morning, Chu Chengzhou returned home.
This was arranged last night through a letter to Qian Renxue. Otherwise, with all his sisters away, Chu Chengzhou wouldn't have bothered coming home.
Not long after returning, a luxurious carriage bearing the swan emblem of the Tian Dou Imperial Family arrived at the entrance, escorted by a squad of royal knights.
In the reception hall, after dismissing the servants, Chu Chengzhou erected a layer of soul power barrier.
"Little Angel, how is the plan coming along?"
Chu Chengzhou asked Qian Renxue.
"No good, I still feel there are flaws—it's not perfect."
Qian Renxue shook her head.
Assassinating Emperor Xue Ye was easy, but ensuring the assassin's identity remained hidden and pinning the blame on Star Luo Empire—now that was no small feat.
"Alright, here's a plan I thought of earlier. Listen carefully..."
Chu Chengzhou explained his relatively flawless plan.
"Not bad, this is great!"
After carefully considering it, Qian Renxue nodded excitedly.
"Dear Brother, if I ascend to the throne, I will grant you the rank of prince!"
Qian Renxue declared generously.
"Prince? Little Angel, a prince appointed personally by the empress usually represents... well, a royal consort, doesn't it?"
Chu Chengzhou smiled.
Qian Renxue: "..."
After pondering for a moment, Qian Renxue spoke seriously, "If I, Qian Renxue, ascend to the position of Angel God one day, I'll appoint you as my royal consort! But if your strength falls short of mine by then, you'll have to break up with all your girlfriends!"
As the only successor of the Angel family, the bloodline of the six-winged angel must be passed down. If she had to choose a husband, then this 'dear brother' of hers, who excelled in talent, strength, and looks, was naturally the best choice.
But Chu Chengzhou had so many girlfriends. As a prideful woman, Qian Renxue found it hard to accept.
Of course, in the world of Douluo, strength was everything. If, after inheriting her ancestral god's position, Chu Chengzhou's strength still surpassed hers, then there would be nothing unacceptable.
But if she proved stronger, hah~—then there would be no room for his promiscuous antics.
Upon hearing this, Chu Chengzhou fell into deep thought.
Defeating Qian Renxue after she became a god? If Little Angel ascended too early, it seemed the difficulty would be considerable!
"What, afraid?"
Qian Renxue shot him a disdainful look.
"Who said I'm afraid? It's a deal!"
Chu Chengzhou straightened up confidently.
What if Little Angel ascended too early? No problem—he could just hold her back a bit.
What if she became too strong after ascending? That was fine too—as long as the deed was done, could she really kill him?
He wasn't worried about Qian Renxue holding the Angel God's sword to his neck and forcing him to break up with Xiao Wu and the others.
Instead, he was more concerned that Xiao Wu might inherit the Sea God's position first and then confront him with the Sea God's Trident, demanding to know his relationship with Little Angel.
"It's a deal!"
Qian Renxue agreed without hesitation.
Late at night, under the cover of darkness, a figure slipped out of Tian Dou City.
Once far from the city, Chu Chengzhou summoned Little Black and raced southwest toward Star Luo City at incredible speed.
Little Black was fast; with plenty of time before dawn, he carried Chu Chengzhou across half the continent, stopping twenty miles outside Star Luo City.
Why come here?
Star Luo Imperial Academy, like Tian Dou Imperial Academy, was built outside the capital due to the large number of students and the need for numerous simulated training grounds.
Standing atop a hill, Chu Chengzhou could clearly see the entire Star Luo Imperial Academy below in the dark.
After scanning with his spiritual perception, Chu Chengzhou quickly located his target for tonight.
The target was easy to find because his soul power level was unique within the academy.
Dai Feng, the Grand Elder of the Star Luo Royal Family, was a Level 89 peak Soul Douluo. His wife, Zhu Qiulan, was also a high-level Soul Saint. Together, they could unleash the martial soul fusion technique Nether White Tiger, rivaling ordinary Level 95 Title Douluos. He was a cornerstone figure of the Star Luo Royal Family and served as the principal of the academy.
Star Luo City housed many powerful individuals. Including the Nether White Tiger fusion technique, there were at least a dozen fighters with Title Douluo-level strength. It was a dragon's den and tiger's lair, so Chu Chengzhou dared not sneak directly into the Star Luo Imperial Palace to assassinate the emperor, lest he stumble.
Moreover, according to Qian Renxue's intelligence, the former Star Luo Emperor, White Tiger Douluo Dai Tao, was still alive. If his wife was alive as well, their combined strength would likely rival Little Black's, even with his bloodline limitations.
To be safe, it was better to "trick" Emperor Dai Yutian out of Star Luo City.
This operation wasn't difficult. With Void Illusion Realm, Chu Chengzhou could control Dai Feng, and the devoted Dai Feng would surely do his bidding.
"Tsk, I traveled thousands of miles in the dark, and you're still cuddling with your wife? Unfair!"
Chu Chengzhou mentally complained.
The next moment, he activated Void Illusion Realm, unleashing his spiritual power. Dai Feng and his wife, asleep in their dreams, had their consciousness altered and became temporary servants.
Fifteen minutes later.
"Behold, our Lord!"
Under the cover of night, seven or eight miles north of Star Luo Imperial Academy on the only road leading to Star Luo City, Grand Elder Dai Feng and his wife Zhu Qiulan knelt devoutly before the great Lord God.
"Mm, how much wealth do you possess?"
Chu Chengzhou nodded and asked.
How much wealth do you possess?
If anyone else heard this, they'd be stunned, followed by rage—how dare someone covet their fortune?
But to Dai Feng and his wife, it felt perfectly natural. They were eager to offer all their wealth to the great Lord God.
"Great Lord, your humble servant possesses..."
Dai Feng rattled off his assets like beans spilling out of a bamboo tube.
"Stop! No need to continue. Here's your task: within three days, find every way possible to gather money. Three days later, the plan officially begins."
Interrupting Dai Feng's inventory, Chu Chengzhou gave them their orders.
It was reasonable to collect some fees for such a big operation, right?
Dai Feng, as the Grand Elder of the royal family, was undoubtedly a big shot with considerable wealth.
These three days were given to Dai Feng to liquidate his assets.
"Yes, Great Lord!"
Dai Feng and his wife responded without hesitation.
"Good, you may go."
Waving his hand, Chu Chengzhou dismissed them.
Dai Feng and his wife left, not returning to Star Luo Imperial Academy but heading straight to Star Luo City to handle their assets.
For noble families, cash flow accounted for only a small portion of their wealth; most valuable assets were real estate.
Upon returning to Star Luo City, Dai Feng and Zhu Qiulan immediately instructed their servants to contact major chambers of commerce in the city to sell off their properties.
Anything that could be sold was sold; anything that couldn't be sold was mortgaged. In short, they scrambled to raise funds.
"Feng Ge, within three days, we should be able to gather around 100 million gold spirit coins for our Lord."
After tallying their assets and estimating, Zhu Qiulan told Dai Feng.
To be fair, as the third-ranking member of the imperial family, Dai Feng's wealth was substantial—and this didn't even include the soul bones on their bodies.
"One hundred million? Great Lord! Your humble disciple is unworthy of you!"
Upon hearing this, Dai Feng cried out, dropping to his knees and bowing three times in the direction of Chu Chengzhou.
'Not enough!'
After standing up, Dai Feng frowned deeply.
As the most devout follower of the Great Lord, how could 100 million gold spirit coins demonstrate his devotion?
Not enough, far from enough!
After pondering for a long time, Dai Feng suddenly came up with a brilliant idea. "Someone come!"
"Master."
Soon, a middle-aged man dressed as a steward approached.
"Go and contact the heads of the major chambers of commerce in the city and have them come to the mansion."
Dai Feng ordered.
"Yes, Master!"
The steward immediately departed.
Dai Feng's plan was simple. While his own wealth was limited, that didn't mean he couldn't acquire more.
If personal wealth wasn't enough, loans would suffice!
As for repayment? That wasn't within Dai Feng's considerations.
Given his status as Grand Elder of the royal family, backed by the empire, who would worry about him repaying the loans?
Dai Feng: Contributing to the Great Lord is the highest honor of your lives!
Three days later, in the morning.
A flying-type Soul Ancestor disguised as a servant left Star Luo Imperial Academy, carrying a handwritten letter from Dai Feng, and flew toward Star Luo City.
Meanwhile, halfway up the mountain, Dai Feng and his wife brought a large sum of money to meet the great Lord God.
"Behold, our Great Lord!"
Devoutly, Dai Feng and his wife knelt and called out.
"Mm, how did things go?"
Nodding, Chu Chengzhou asked.
"Great Lord, everything went smoothly! Also, this is a gift from your humble disciple."
Saying this, Dai Feng handed over a large bag.
Looking inside, Chu Chengzhou found it filled with various storage-type soul tools.
"How much is there?"
Seeing so many soul tools, Chu Chengzhou immediately grew interested.
"Great Lord, these storage soul tools contain a total of 300 million gold spirit coins!"
"Three hundred million? Is the Star Luo Royal Family this wealthy?"
Chu Chengzhou raised an eyebrow.
Under full effort, raising 300 million gold spirit coins in three days—among the people he knew, there were only four on the entire continent who could pull it off.
One was his wealthy father-in-law Ning Fengzhi, another was Emperor Xue Ye of the Tian Dou Empire, another was Emperor Dai Yutian of the Star Luo Empire, and the last was Pope Bibi Dong of the Spirit Hall, who commanded tens of thousands of soul master legions.
No matter how you looked at it, Dai Feng's wealth couldn't compare to these four, right?
"Great Lord, 100 million is what your humble disciple contributed, and the remaining 200 million was borrowed through loans."
Dai Feng said devoutly.
Time was tight, so the chambers of commerce couldn't raise more funds in such a short period. Otherwise, he could've borrowed even more.
After all, as the Grand Elder of the royal family, backed by the empire, who would worry about him repaying the loans?
Chu Chengzhou: "..."
Wow, loan contributions? Nice, very nice!
Meanwhile, a letter was delivered to the Star Luo Imperial Palace.
Two hours later, a luxurious carriage bearing the royal white tiger emblem, escorted by a group of Star Luo Royal Knights, left the palace and headed toward the academy outside the city.
Midway, an invisible spiritual force invaded the mind of the imposing figure inside the carriage.
Instantly, Dai Yutian inside the carriage revealed a look of terror. Before he could shout, it was too late—he had become someone's temporary servant.
Immediately, Dai Yutian's eyes shone with devotion. He called out to those outside the carriage, "Stop!"
"Your Majesty!"
Heires, the leader of the Star Luo Royal Knights, rode to the carriage window, dismounted, and bowed.
"Return to the palace!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Although Heres was puzzled why the emperor had suddenly changed his mind about visiting the academy, he executed the order without hesitation.
Soon, the convoy turned around and returned to Star Luo City.
At the same time, in the woods atop a hill beside the road, Chu Chengzhou wore a relieved expression.
"Damn, I didn't expect Dai Yutian to have a head soul bone. I almost stumbled!"
Chu Chengzhou cursed inwardly.
The Star Luo Empire's emperors rose to power through strength; their capabilities were unquestionable. Though Dai Yutian hadn't achieved the Title Douluo rank, his soul power level matched that of Grand Elder Dai Feng—a Level 89 peak Soul Douluo.
A Level 89 peak Soul Douluo's soul power level, combined with a high-year soul bone, placed his spiritual power above that of ordinary newly minted nine-ring Title Douluos.
While Chu Chengzhou's spiritual power wasn't much stronger, thanks to his continued cultivation of Eternal Thought, his earlier use of Void Illusion Realm to control Dai Yutian's consciousness barely succeeded.
Fortunately, the devil had one trick, but the righteous had another. This brief spiritual clash, unnoticed by others, ended with Chu Chengzhou victorious.
However, Chu Chengzhou didn't directly kill Dai Yutian. After all, compared to Dai Feng, the Grand Elder, how could Dai Yutian's wealth compare?
Even if Dai Yutian didn't have a private stash, as emperor, he undoubtedly had access to open the Star Luo Royal Treasury, possibly without needing approval from other high-ranking officials.
As for exposure afterward? Once the goods were in hand, Chu Chengzhou wouldn't care about being exposed, nor would he return them.
Moreover, his ultimate goal in coming to Star Luo City was to maximize Star Luo Empire's hatred toward him, pushing them to spare no expense—even exhausting their foundation—to eliminate him.
At that point, Qian Renxue could take advantage of the chaos, sending someone to assassinate Emperor Xue Ye. Naturally, Star Luo would have no choice but to take the blame.
There was no helping it. When these two events coincided, who else besides Star Luo would believe it wasn't their doing?
As for the issue of Star Luo's overwhelming foundation... unless someone as strong as Qian Daoliu appeared, even if he couldn't defeat them, escaping wouldn't be a problem.
After all, Little Black, the summoned Dark Evil God Tiger, had wings and was over 110,000 years old. How many experts on the continent could catch up?
Besides 'Sky Invincible' Qian Daoliu, perhaps only Qing Luan, the Spirit Hall's third elder with a Level 97 Title Douluo soul power, could possibly keep up.
Later, Chu Chengzhou glanced at Dai Feng and his wife, who had been waiting nearby.
Dai Yutian had already been 'captured,' and their assets had already been handed over. Thus, they had completed their 'mission' and lost their remaining value.
Activating Void Illusion Realm, Chu Chengzhou unleashed his spiritual power, pulling their consciousness into an illusion.
The next second, terrifying spiritual power crushed through, silently obliterating their consciousness—they had been defeated.
"Not bad!"
Detecting the unique soul power fluctuations of soul bones emanating from their bodies, Chu Chengzhou nodded in satisfaction and stored their corpses in a storage soul tool.
After hastily returning to the palace, Dai Yutian gathered some storage soul tools and headed straight for the royal treasury.
"Hail, Your Majesty!"
The guards outside the treasury gates bowed deeply.
"Open the treasury doors!"
Dai Yutian nodded slightly and issued the command.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The captain of the guards, an eight-ring level, received the order and took out a silver key to unlock the first door of the treasury.
Boom—
A low rumble sounded as the thick iron doors slowly opened, revealing the second door inside the passage.
Dai Yutian entered alone and used a golden key to unlock the inner door.
Once inside the treasury, he casually closed the inner door behind him.
At this moment, seeing that it was the emperor himself entering the treasury, a figure exuding the aura of a Soul Douluo appeared beside Dai Yutian and bowed, "Hail, Your Majesty!"
The Star Luo Royal Treasury had two layers of doors, both made entirely of thick iron and embedded with materials that blocked spiritual detection.
The outer door's key was held by the guards, while the inner door's key was kept by Emperor Dai Yutian. Additionally, an eight-ring Soul Douluo guarded the treasury, effectively preventing theft.
Even if a thief were a Title Douluo, it would be nearly impossible to steal the treasures without making any noise.
However, today the Star Luo Royal Treasury didn't attract a thief—it attracted a 'mole.'
"Mm, I've come to retrieve the inheritance soul bones!"
Nodding, Dai Yutian made up an excuse.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The treasury guard turned to lead the way.
But the moment he turned around, a fierce gleam flashed in Dai Yutian's eyes. Activating his White Tiger martial soul, he struck the guard's back with a ruthless Black Tiger Claw Strike.
Shhkk—
Caught completely off guard, the unsuspecting treasury guard was pierced through the left side of his chest by the sharp tiger claws.
"Cough..."
Looking down at the tiger claw protruding from his chest, the Soul Douluo-level treasury guard tried to speak but only spat out crimson blood before losing all signs of life.
Pushing the guard's body aside, Dai Yutian—the biggest mole in Star Luo history—immediately went wild, looting the treasures inside the treasury like a rat in a rice barrel.
Precious herbs? Packed!
Ancient soul tools? Taken!
Huh? There are quite a few storage soul tools? Perfect, no need to worry about not having enough space now.
Soul bones? Pack them all!
Piles of gold spirit coins? Take everything!
More than an hour later, as the heavy treasury doors reopened, Dai Yutian, carrying numerous storage soul tools, left the royal treasury.
At this moment, the once-bountiful Star Luo Royal Treasury was empty, leaving only the body of the soul-bone-less treasury guard.
Due to the special materials used to construct the treasury, which blocked spiritual detection, the guards outside remained unaware that the treasury their emperor had just emptied.
After leaving the treasury, Dai Yutian returned to his chambers and packed his private stash into storage soul tools.
Just then, a guard reported from outside the hall, "Your Majesty, Crown Prince Dai Weisi requests an audience!"
Hearing this, Dai Yutian smiled and immediately stepped out of the hall.
Perfect! His Great Lord had instructed him to bring Dai Weisi along later, saving him the trouble of sending someone to fetch him!
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