Douluo: Starting from the Nine-Curved Vine Dragon

Chapter 438 Everyone is waiting for the appearance of a dead man.
The next day.

A momentous event, worthy of being recorded in the annals of the empire, occurred in the capital of Xingluo.

The current imperial family, the Dai family, voluntarily abdicated in favor of the Xingguan Xu family. The head of the Xu family, Xu Chenhuan, the sect leader of the Xingguan Sect, inherited the title of Xingluo Emperor and conferred upon the Dai family the title of Duke of the Empire, which is hereditary and perpetual, and is known as the White Tiger Duke.

At the same time, Xu Chenhuan also betrothed his great-granddaughter to the former Crown Prince of Xingluo, who is now the heir apparent of the White Tiger Duke, Davis.

The marriage between the former and current royal families was not only intended to silence public opinion, but also because of something on Davis—jealousy of the divine succession.

As the saying goes, husband and wife are one; what's yours is mine, and what's mine is still mine.

Davis's position as the principal wife changed from Zhu Zhuyun at the beginning, to the daughter of a high-ranking member of the Spirit Hall, and finally to the great-granddaughter of the Xu family patriarch.

That's how it is in aristocratic families; free marriage is never an option because marriage is a bargaining chip for exchanging benefits, not love.

Davis's legal wife is a member of the new royal family, the Xu family. So all he needs to do is wait for the storm to pass and find any excuse to inherit the position of the God of Jealousy.

If the person is still alive afterward, then it means they "voluntarily" relinquished their divine position and handed over the inheritance to the Xu family.

If the person dies afterward, it means they died of a serious illness and passed away unfortunately. The ancestral tablet will be inherited by the widow, surnamed Xu.

Davis, as one of the parties involved, had more or less guessed some of the signs of the Xu family's wishful thinking. However, given the current situation, his Dai family didn't even have a single Super Douluo with a soul power exceeding level 95, let alone a god. They could only grit their teeth and accept all of the Xu family's arrangements.

The Spirit Hall chose to remain silent about Davis's decision to demote his second wife to a concubine and instead marry a daughter of the Xu family.

Although it was Jin E's strategy to have the Dai family marry the daughter of a high-ranking member of the Spirit Hall, it still damaged the Spirit Hall's reputation. Even though there were rumors that Jin E had supposedly perished, the Spirit Hall still had a god-level powerhouse like the Pope.

However, since the Pope had not yet appeared, the Spirit Hall, lacking confidence, did not retaliate.

Xingluo City, in the southwestern suburbs.

The Hall of the Martial Spirit Pope.

Yu Xiaogang stood before the papal throne, looking at Xu Chenhuan who had come uninvited.

With Pope Bibi Dong absent and the Second Elder, Jin E, suspected of having perished, the Spirit Hall is now leaderless.

Within the two major factions.

The Hall of Offerings lineage has declined due to the suspected deaths of several of its members, leaving it without a true leader and thus devoid of any voice within the Spirit Hall.

As for the Pope's lineage, since the Holy Maiden and her brother are also gone, only the Pope's male favorite—no, the Honorary Elder of the Spirit Hall, Yu Xiaogang—has enough status to lead the Pope's lineage.

A few days ago, during the night raid on the border fortress, Yu Xiaogang, because of his high status, was not specifically targeted by anyone on the Heaven Dou side except for Flander and Liu Erlong. Thus, he successfully escaped under the protection of a group of Spirit Hall experts.

As for why Bibi Dong thought Yu Xiaogang was dead, it was entirely because she didn't know that the inheritance of the God of Greed had been forced to be handed over under the coercion of the Golden Crocodile.

Therefore, after seeing Lin Rong take out the divine artifact, the Heart of Greed, they assumed that Yu Xiaogang had died at Lin Rong's hands.

"Jade-faced... Elder." Xu Chenhuan forced a kind smile, looked at the expressionless middle-aged man before him, and patiently asked:

"Where is your Pope now?"

"The situation on the mainland is urgent. The Tian Dou family is powerful, and the Body Sect has been expelled from the country by Tian Dou and has settled in my Star Luo Empire."

"How our three forces allocate the imperial resources and how we join forces to fight against the Heavenly Dou Empire are all urgent matters."

"The tripartite talks require the personal attendance of the strongest members of the three major forces. The old man and the Poison Sect Master are both waiting for your Pope to step forward and facilitate this tripartite talks." The Star Crown Xu family and the Body Sect were already at odds, and after the battle at the border fortress, they became irreconcilable enemies.

Therefore, Xu Chenhuan knew that if he wanted to talk peacefully with Du Huang, he needed a third god to act as a peacemaker. The most suitable person to be this was actually Jin E, but Jin E was almost certainly dead, so the only one qualified to take on the role was Bibi Dong.

Only Lin Rong, Yu Yuan, and Du Huang knew about Bibi Dong's death.

Therefore, Yu Xiaogang believed that Bibi Dong was still in seclusion somewhere on the mainland with Hu Liena, cultivating in seclusion.

However, because of Liu Erlong's matter, Bibi Dong did not tell him where she was in seclusion, so he did not know where Bibi Dong was now.

But this is something that can't be told to outsiders; Yu Xiaogang has his pride, after all.

If he doesn't even know this, wouldn't people think he's fallen out of favor?

"Excuse me, Your Excellency, God of the Earth."

"Dong'er's secluded training location is a top secret, please forgive me for not being able to disclose it."

"To prevent this secret from being leaked, I, the elder, will not send anyone to inform you."

"But please rest assured, Your Excellency. Just wait a few days, and once the news spreads across the mainland, Dong'er, who knows about this matter, will appear."

Yu Xiaogang believed he had performed perfectly, without revealing any flaws in his lies, but he was facing a deity who had inherited a divine position.

Throughout his conversation, Xu Chenhuan's divine sense completely enveloped him.

Under the influence of his divine sense, Xu Chenhuan saw everything Yu Xiaogang did, including his micro-expressions and heartbeat.

"In that case, I will await the arrival of your esteemed Pope in Xingluo City."

However, he did not choose to expose Yu Xiaogang's lie, but continued to play along, although his tone of voice and his behavior towards others underwent subtle changes.

After saying that, Xu Chenhuan left the Papal Palace without waiting for Yu Xiaogang's reply, inwardly complaining:

"What kind of man is the most favored by the Pope of the Spirit Hall? He doesn't even know where he is in seclusion."

"If it were really as exaggerated as the rumors suggest, how could this Jade-Faced Man not know where the Pope is in seclusion?"

Yu Xiaogang also noticed the change in Xu Chenhuan's attitude.

It's not that his senses are particularly sharp; it's just that his past experiences have made him exceptionally sensitive in this area.

"Gods? What's so great about gods!"

“I am also a god... I was once a successor of a god. It's all that old codger Jin E's fault for forcing me to hand over the divine succession. Now that I'm dead, the divine succession has fallen into the hands of the enemy.”

"No, I still have hope."

Yu Xiaogang took a few steps back, sat on the papal throne, and stroked the armrest, thinking:

“The Dai family still has a divine inheritance. When Dong’er returns, I can make the Dai family obediently hand over the jealousy divine inheritance whenever I want, and they will even have to kowtow and apologize to me. If it weren’t for the Dai family, I wouldn’t have lost the greed divine inheritance.”

(End of this chapter)