Bab 534: Royal Family’s Inside Information (2)
Difficult cultivation, his parents' tragedy, his lover's tragic death as sacrifice, all this had fallen on these only twenty year old shoulders. That he could stand straight was already unusual. Extraordinary people had to go through extraordinary events.
"Little freak, what are your plans? Retaliating against Spirit Hall?"
Dugu Bo asked.
Tang San laughed coldly,
"Not right now. I still haven't lost all sense of reason. With my Spirit Emperor power, how could I rock Spirit Hall's foundations? My dad was too rushed back then. I won't make the same mistake. I won't stir things up. Once I move, I'll definitely leave Spirit Hall grievously injured. Until they're thoroughly rooted out. I'm twenty this year, I have plenty of time, when I feel I have saved up enough strength, I'll move on Spirit hall. Old freak, what about you, why are you together with someone like Xue Beng? With your brains, it's not like you couldn't see Xue Beng and prince Xue Xing's position back then in the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy. Are people like that worthy of your protection?"
Dugu Bo looked deeply at Tang San,
"Little Freak, you're still too young. Some things aren't as simple as they seem on the surface. Very often you will have to look carefully to see the truth of things through the surface."
Tang San was startled,
"You're saying there's some problem with Xue Qinghe?"
Dugu Bo nodded silently,
"Do you know why Xue Beng is such a dandy? That's actually something Xue Qinghe forced him to. The present Heaven Dou Emperor Xue Ye originally had four sons. Xie Qinghe was the oldest, Xue Beng was the youngest. Originally, the most outstanding child of the imperial family wasn't Xue Qinghe, but rather emperor Xue Ye's second son. That was an alarmingly talented youngster. Perhaps he couldn't compare to you in Spirit Master cultivation, but in intelligence and wisdom, he was still above you. But when he was twelve, he died prematurely. At that time, as the elder brother, Xue Qinghe was fourteen. The next year, emperor Xue Ye's third son, a son extremely gifted in Spirit Master cultivation, died prematurely at eleven. Therefore, of emperor Xue Ye's originally four sons, only two survive."
A chill bubbling up in his heart, Tang San looked at Dugu Bo, unable to keep his heart from fluttering,
"Don't tell me Xue Qinghe had something to do with the death of the two princes?"
Dugu Bo said indifferently,
"No one can be certain, because there's no proof. Only, two days before the second prince's death, emperor Xue Ye had just convened some ministers to discuss the position of crown prince. Almost all the ministers were inclined towards the second prince."
Tang San's eyes displayed a trace of introspective light,
"Wouldn't it be the actions of someone backing Xue Qinghe?"
Dugu Bo shook his head,
"That's impossible. At that time the four princes all lived in the inner palace, the second prince died from poison, and all the food and drink passed stringent inspections on that day. There absolutely wasn't any chance to add poison. Only people on the inside had any opportunity. It was basically impossible for outsiders to approach. The chamberlains and maids minding the prince were all the trusted aides of emperor Xue Ye. After the event, this became a case without clues. But when the third prince died the next year, the circumstances were almost exactly the same. At that time the fourth prince Xue Beng was still only seven."
"Due to his grief, emperor Xue Ye sent prince Xue Xing to investigate the matter. The results of prince Xue Xing's investigation were very strange. From the clues, he discovered that the two princes were killed by exactly the same poison. But it wasn't a poison drug, but were rather poisoned by a Spirit Master's spirit."
Tang San frowned:
"That still can't prove a relation to crown prince Xue Qinghe!"
Dugu Bo gave a cold laugh,
"Without evidence, go look for who benefits the most. The second and third princes died young, the fourth prince was underage. Who obtained the most benefit? If outsiders did it to strike at the Heaven Dou imperial family, why leave behind the eldest son? In fact, even though Xue Qinghe's innate talent wasn't equal to the second prince, he was still quite intelligent. The reason why Xue Beng turned to this appearance was because he didn't want to die. Back then prince Xue Xing personally instructed him in a unique skill that could save his life."
"As the reigning monarch's younger brother, prince Xue Xing absolutely isn't as simple as the face you see. Originally he did me a life saving favor, that's why I know so much behind the scenes information. Over these years, crown prince Xue Qinghe has obtained the support of more and more chancellors. Emperor Xue Ye also trusts him extremely much, leaving even more affairs for him to handle. But emperor Xue Ye's body is steadily deteriorating. Not long ago, prince Xue Xing suddenly discovered that emperor Xue Ye is suffering from a slow acting poison, and found me to diagnose it. I discovered that what emperor Xue Ye suffered is a kind of mixed poison, the poison is ordinarily introduced through food, and comes from a kind of spice. In the imperial palace, ordinarily only one person uses this spice. That's Xue Qinghe."
"This mixed poison is extremely surreptitious. If it was me from before, I still wouldn't have been able to discover it. It's thanks to the knowledge of those mixed poisons I got from you. Through various clues I discovered, I then associated it with the events back then. Do you still believe Xue Qinghe would be clean?"
Listening to Dugu Bo, Tang San's expression immediately grew serious. This was the first time he encountered people using something like mixed poison in this world, and it was furthermore used on the emperor. Dugu Bo's Title was Poison. That he was unable to discover this poison with his previous abilities clearly showed how much thought the poisoner had put into it.
Recalling Xue Qinghe's modest and respectful appearance, even though Tang San in his heart wasn't willing to believe it, Dugu Bo's words still made his impression of Xue Qinghe change to some extent. But as is said, take what you hear to be false, only believe it when you see it, he would still have to find the concrete details from his own later observations.
"Then why are you following Xue Beng? You're not afraid it will make Xue Qinghe act against him? Moreover, no matter what is said, this is still the internal affairs of their imperial family. Don't tell me you want to help Xue Beng take his place?"
Dugu Bo gave a cold snort,
"Xue Beng that kid isn't simple either, he's an extremely clever person. Only he's always hidden himself very deep. You see that he presently has no more than forty something ranks spirit power. Actually, that isn't because he hasn't had the chance to cultivate even higher, but rather him deliberately not putting effort into cultivating, letting his spirit power stagnate. This matter relating Xue Qinghe and the mixed poison, I've only told prince Xue Xing. Right now even emperor Xue Ye is kept in the dark. Only I made him an antidote that can slowly dissolve the poison. I only told emperor Xue Ye that he had been poisoned, and had him continue acting as if he was, so don't tell anyone about it. I don't want to get involved with the matters of the imperial family, but if you want to deal with Spirit Hall later, then you should hope that Heaven Dou Empire has a stable ruling class. You returned from Star Dou Great Forest just now, so you still might not know of the two major things that happened."
"What major things?"
Tang San asked doubtfully.
Dugu Bo lowered his voice:
"The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan were ambushed. Because the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School discovered it in time, they responded appropriately. They paid with the lives of more than two thirds of their disciples and retreated into Heaven Dou City. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan has already been wiped from this world. A total massacre. Only some children not in the sect at the time managed to survive."
"What?"
Tang San shot to his feet, involuntarily crying out in alarm. However, even when losing his self control like this, he still didn't forget to lift Xiao Wu.
"How is that possible? The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan are two of the three upper sects. Even Spirit Hall wouldn't be able to extinguish them so easily?"
Dugu Bo sighed, his eyes revealing a meaning of the fox grieving for the death of the hare,
"Facts are facts. Two great sects are finished. Even if the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School wasn't completely extinguished, it still greatly lost strength. The two great Title Douluo were seriously injured simultaneously, and of them, the Sword Douluo had his strength greatly reduced from the heavy injuries. Think, capable of mobilizing several tens of thousands of Spirit Masters to besiege and annihilate two great sects practically simultaneously, who has that kind of power?"
Tang San looked somewhat dully at Dugu Bo, muttering:
"Fiercely done, Spirit Hall."
Dugu Bo smiled wryly:
"Through these events I learned that I've originally always underestimated Spirit Hall. They can actually possess such tremendous strength. By the descriptions from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, when they launched the attack, the counterpart had mobilized four Title Douluo. And the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan was attacked almost at the same time. Extinguishing the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan without three or four Title Douluo is impossible. But there's absolutely no evidence of the Spirit Hall Supreme Pontiff being present, and you say Ghost Douluo and Chrysanthemum Douluo were in Star Dou Great Forest. This means that Spirit Hall itself actually possesses the strength of more than ten Title Douluo."
Tang San's eyes suddenly displayed a trace of alarm,
"The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan was destroyed, then Teacher..."
Dugu Bo said:
"Grandmaster is alright. Right now he's already formed an alliance with the Heaven Dou imperial family, and is just painstakingly training the empire's Spirit Masters. The destruction of two of the three upper sects rocks the balance of the two great empires. Spirit Hall's actions this time can be said to have caused intense panic in both empires. It's impossible for them not to deal with Spirit Hall. If you can draw on their power to deal with Spirit Hall, wouldn't that be half the work for twice the effect? That's why, get to the bottom of this matter with Xue Qinghe as soon as possible."
Tang San didn't sit back down,
"Old freak, you research the imperial family side some more. I have to go see Teacher at Shrek Academy. With his clan destroyed, even if Teacher's natural disposition is staunch, I'm still afraid he's unable to stand such a heavy blow. I'll go see him at once."
Dugu Bo nodded,
"Go. Take care to hide yourself. Right now you've made an enemy of Spirit Hall. Especially destroying their good occasion this time as well, plus killing so many of their experts. They absolutely won't let that rest. Don't go strutting on the streets afterwards. Even if this is the capital of Heaven Dou Empire, Spirit Hall's influence still isn't weak."
"I will."
Finished saying this, Tang San hurriedly left the tea house, heading straight for Shrek Academy.
After this exchange with Dugu Bo, the confusion caused by the matters with Xiao Wu settled again. Everything was a lot more complex than he had imagined. This left Tang San with no other choice than to reconsider his plans.
Holding Xiao Wu, Tang San used the fastest possible speed to reach Shrek Academy while not attracting attention. Grandmaster was like a second father to him. One might say that without Grandmaster, he wouldn't be who he was today. Tang San could imagine Grandmaster's pain over his family being destroyed.
When he reached Shrek Academy's gate, the students on duty this time didn't block him. The frightening display of the Shrek Seven Devils in the Academy that time left an extremely profound impression on all the students.
...
Grandmaster's face was a lot more rigid than before, coldly watching the students doing their utmost to run in front of him. The chill on his face seemed like it could make the air solidify.
These of course weren't common students, but the young Spirit Masters with promising potential sent over by the imperial family. The reason why there were no Spirit Masters among those imperial forbidden guards Xue Beng had along, was because the majority of the Spirit Masters were already here, conducting unified training under Grandmaster.
Heaven Dou Empire possessed a lot of Spirit Masters, but the ones truly grasped in the imperial family's hand weren't many. Including the Spirit Masters from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, there were altogether less than five thousand. And the powers among them were just a handful. In the area of Spirit Masters, Heaven Dou Empire was far from able to compare to Spirit Hall.
Of course, if war truly started, Heaven Dou Empire could still dispatch some Spirit Masters from other regions. However, their overall strength was comparatively low. It was also due to the lack of Spirit Masters that the two great empires had no choice but to patiently endure against Spirit Hall. On a true battlefield, Spirit Masters facing one hundred alone wasn't empty talk. Among the several tens of thousands of Spirit Masters controlled by Spirit Hall, there were powers like clouds, and they also had the backing of those duchies and kingdoms. Even if the two great empires joined hands, they still wouldn't dare speak of certain victory. Even more, on the surface the conflict still wasn't completely roused, therefore they could only endure silently, storing their strength.
Grandmaster had split more than four thousand Spirit Masters into twenty teams for training. Even though Shrek Academy was a bit small, this could still be considered the most suitable place in Heaven Dou City. Not only were all kinds of facilities completely allocated, three were still numerous mimicry environments for Spirit Master cultivation.
The twenty groups Grandmaster had sorted them into were separated according to cultivation direction. Among them, the most numerous were power attack and agility attack type Spirit Masters. Added together they accounted for sixty percent of all the Spirit Masters or so.
Right now Grandmaster was just training a team of power attack type Spirit Masters. Before ordinary special training, terrifying hell model physical strength type drills were naturally unavoidable.
Zhao Wuji stood to one side, his Gravity Control open, completely falling on the more than two hundred Spirit Masters currently running, making the weight each person carried extremely well distributed. Under the tiger like glare of Liu Erlong, these Spirit Masters could only train honestly.
Not long ago, because of Grandmaster neglecting sleep and work, Liu Erlong had suddenly fallen ill. This had made Grandmaster rest a while because he had to look after her. But Liu Erlong couldn't keep pretending forever. Helplessly, she could only accompany Grandmaster to train these students together, helping share some of his burden so he could relax a bit.
She also knew that Grandmaster's exhaustion came even more from the heart. She equally endured that kind of pain. Even though the two weren't husband and wife in truth, their hearts were still as one. Tortured by this kind of pain, she had also almost collapsed. She also wanted to take revenge, but after constantly obtaining reports from Heaven Dou Empire about Spirit Hall's strength, even her fiery temper had to grow colder and colder.
Just at this time, suddenly, a somewhat irritable voice echoed,
"I won't do it. This isn't something humans can endure."
One Spirit Master currently in training suddenly halted, quickly stepping out of the area of Zhao Wuji's Gravity Control, sitting his butt on the ground and gasping for big mouthfuls of breath.
The training Grandmaster gave these Spirit Masters really was very tough. Because they were all already twenty or thirty years old, their training capacity was thirty percent higher than the Shrek Seven Devils back then. These Spirit Masters' training was too difficult for words.
With someone taking the lead, among the more than two hundred Spirit Masters there was immediately a lot who halted, their clothes long since drenched in sweat, violently gasping for breath as soon as they stopped. One expectant gaze after another turned to Grandmaster.
Grandmaster looked at those students taking the lead to move away, coldly saying:
"Who said this couldn't be endured?"
That Spirit Master looked thirty years old or so, build robustly, a power attack type, spirit power at the forty eighth rank. Among Spirit Masters of the same age, that was considered quite good.
As a Spirit Master, always living like a prince, the focal point no matter where, when had he ever suffered like this? Shooting a glance at Grandmaster, he gasped:
"Got skill... got skill... you come and... try it?"
"Right, this isn't training for humans, if it goes on, we'll all collapse."
With someone taking the lead, the resentful voices immediately spread, the halted Spirit Masters whispering among themselves, looking at Grandmaster with gazes filled with resentment and even hatred.
Liu Erlong snorted furiously, stepping in front of that Spirit Master in a few steps, pulling him up from the ground,
"Line up, continue training, otherwise, I'll give you training alone."
Looking at a violent mother dragon like Liu Erlong, the robust Spirit Master's eyes held some fear, but he still defiantely said:
"We're not your oxen. At worst I'll quit. I don't want to die here. Grandmaster is also only a Grandmaster of theory, if he can't do it, why have us do it? Even Title Douluo might not be able to endure this kind of torment without using spirit power."
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