[Douluo Calendar, May 13, 2025: Grand Marshal Qin Ming of the Heaven Dou Empire led his army to attack Dorgon, but the battle fell into a stalemate.]
[The Spirit Hall dispatched elite soul masters to reinforce Dorgon.]
[Three Titled Douluo from the Spirit Hall launched a midnight assassination attempt on Qin Ming, the Grand Marshal of the Heaven Dou Empire, but were intercepted by Poison Douluo. One was killed, one was injured, and one escaped.]
...
The scene shifted to a large military tent.
Poison Douluo grabbed a black-clad man by the neck as if he were picking up a chick.
"When did even Titled Douluo start skulking around like this?" Poison Douluo sneered.
The man in his grip was a Spirit Hall elder named Ghost Leopard Douluo.
Ghost Leopard Douluo's face was filled with defiance as he said coldly, "Kill me if you want! Old poison, I never expected you to have advanced to this level. Looks like the world has been deceived by you! You must be plotting something big!"
Poison Douluo sneered. "Me? Stop making up stories. I just want to return to the mountains and listen to my teacher's guidance! But you bastards insist on making things difficult for my fourth junior brother, so I have no choice but to waste my time here with you!"
"Fourth junior brother...?" This time, Ghost Leopard Douluo was stunned.
Qin Ming smiled. "Senior brother, it looks like Spirit Hall is determined to be our enemy. In that case, why don't we go all out and remove Spirit Hall for good?"
"Good!" Poison Douluo laughed.
[Douluo Calendar, May 29, 2025: Grand Marshal Qin Ming launched a surprise attack on Spirit City, breached the city, stormed the Pope's Palace, destroyed the Pope's statue, but was eventually forced to retreat. The people of Spirit City were left in panic.]
[Qin Ming devised a plan to kill Golden Crocodile Douluo and Falling Devil Douluo!]
[The entire Spirit Hall was enraged!]
...
[The Prime Minister of the Heaven Dou Empire advised that Qin Ming had grown too powerful and now had the potential to rebel. He must not be allowed to continue expanding his influence, or he would become a future threat.]
[The court officials wished to recuperate and avoid further military campaigns.]
On the other side, this was the report Qian Renxue received—once Qin Ming attacked Spirit City, the officials of the Heaven Dou Empire started piling on accusations against him, trying to frame him for crimes and demand punishment.
Of course, Qian Renxue knew that all these officials had already been bought by Spirit Hall.
While she was infiltrating Spirit Hall, Bibi Dong had also sent people to threaten the court officials.
Her methods were much simpler and more direct—Spirit Hall had no shortage of soul masters, all natural-born assassins. By threatening the officials' lives, she made sure they wouldn't dare to disobey.
Qian Renxue allowed this to happen. She was furious.
The news of Golden Crocodile Douluo and Falling Devil Douluo's deaths made her erupt in rage. Those two old men had doted on her, yet Qin Ming had killed them both. How could she tolerate this?
Qin Ming had used the Heaven Dou Empire's army to make the entire Douluo Continent tremble. That was fine—whether he rebelled in the future or not didn't matter to her.
But what he should never have done was attack Spirit City and kill her two grandfathers!
Since that was the case, she no longer cared whether Qin Ming lived or died!
And as for the mess in the Heaven Dou Empire, she didn't want to deal with it either. Since she planned to stay at Zhou Sheng'an's thatched cottage, there was no need to waste effort on state affairs. She only needed a replacement for herself.
Qian Renxue waved her hand and directly approved the decision.
"In that case, have Qin Ming return to the capital."
...
Elsewhere, at Zhou Sheng'an's thatched cottage, two visitors arrived.
One was a short, green-haired young man, while the other appeared to be a frail scholar.
"Ji Xiang greets Master Zhou."
"Du Bubai greets Master Zhou!"
Both of them knelt directly at the entrance.
Standing by the door was Er Ming, now in human form.
He chuckled. "These two brats are funny. They knelt as soon as they arrived. What, trying to force their way in with sincerity?"
"I'll tell you now—our teacher doesn't buy into that nonsense! And if you dare wake him up, I'll twist you into a pretzel!"
Er Ming grinned, revealing his sharp teeth.
Ji Xiang and Du Bubai remained silent, kneeling straight as they gazed at the window of the house.
It was winter, and although the snow outside had been swept away, the air was freezing.
One of them was a Soul Elder, while the other had no soul power at all. Kneeling on the icy ground wouldn't take long to ruin their legs.
Yet, neither of them made a sound and continued kneeling in silence.
Er Ming smirked but ignored them, reclining in his rocking chair for a nap.
Half an hour passed, and Zhou Sheng'an, who was sleeping inside, still showed no signs of waking up.
The two young men were already pale, their bodies trembling from the cold.
Er Ming curled his lips. "What are you two idiots still doing? Go home. Ever since my fourth junior brother entered the world, there've been countless people with the same idea as you. Our teacher is already sick of it."
Ji Xiang, shivering, muttered, "We sincerely seek knowledge... The war is just starting to settle down, and I want to save people..."
Er Ming yawned lazily. "Save people? Then go study medicine."
"Medicine alone can't save the Douluo Continent. People need stability, and they need faith in something... I... I want to learn from Master Zhou about these matters..."
Ji Xiang gritted his teeth.
Er Ming scoffed. If someone else had heard Ji Xiang's ambitions, they might have been moved, but Er Ming was a soul beast—he didn't care about humans.
He turned to Du Bubai and smirked. "And you? Are you also after 'the people of the world'?"
"No, I want to reach level one hundred and become a god!" Du Bubai's eyes were firm.
Er Ming raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Oh? Now that's interesting. But how do you know my teacher can teach you that?"
"I deduced it from the presence of Poison Douluo at Grand Marshal Qin Ming's side!"
Du Bubai lifted his small face, looking proud.
Er Ming nodded, chuckling. "You've both come to the right place. Our teacher is a genius—there's nothing he doesn't know! But getting him to accept you as disciples won't be easy."
"We'll wait as long as it takes!" Ji Xiang's lips were already blue, yet he stubbornly insisted.
Du Bubai was just as determined. "Even if I freeze to death here, I will kneel until Master accepts me as his disciple! If Qin Ming can shake the world, I will surpass him!"
"Then wait, if you must." Er Ming yawned and closed his eyes again.
Half an hour later, snowflakes began to drift down from the sky.
The snow settled on the two young men, but they remained motionless, letting it cover them.
Soon, the snowfall turned heavy. Still, they did not move.
Inside the courtyard, no snow fell, but outside, half a foot of snow had accumulated on the ground. The two young men were now completely covered in snow, looking like snowmen.
Suddenly, Ji Xiang couldn't hold on any longer. His body lurched forward, and he collapsed unconscious.
Er Ming opened his eyes, shook his head, and walked into the house.
"Teacher, there's a fool outside who's been kneeling for a whole day. He just fainted from the cold..."