Douluo Continent: From Internal Martial Arts to the Law of Heaven and Earth

The four immediately embarked on their return journey, traveling day and night for several months. Just as Tangshan's soul power reached its critical point, they finally returned to the long-lost Tiandou City.

Tian Dou City remains as prosperous as ever. Time has not brought too many obvious changes to this capital of the Tian Dou Empire, and tourists flock here in an endless stream.

Tang Shan still looks the same as he did years ago. His body, which is at its peak, has completely fixed his appearance. However, as his potential is further developed, his skin has become even whiter.

The group of four was very eye-catching. The Zhu sisters' good looks were undeniable, especially Zhu Zhuyun's figure, which had become more and more outstanding over time, making her the focus of attention for those around her.

Not to mention the stunningly beautiful, ethereal silver-haired girl, who had already captured the attention of countless people.

If it weren't for the fact that the three of them exuded extraordinary aura, and the young man in the lead emanating a faint sense of pressure, someone would probably have already been tempted to approach them and strike up a conversation.

Whoosh!

A sharp, cold light suddenly shot out from the crowd, splitting into two daggers in the sky, aimed straight for the Zhu sisters' throats.

Chapter 356 Xue Qinghe's Trouble

The attack was sudden; almost in the blink of an eye, the dagger was already in front of the two girls.

The four had anticipated this. Tang Shan and Gu Yue, who was following him, remained calm and clearly had no intention of intervening.

Zhu Zhuyun rapidly gathered her soul power at her fingertips, flicked it lightly, and precisely struck the blade, stabilizing the rapidly trembling dagger that was accompanied by a loud whooshing sound, thus halting its forward momentum. She then used her five fingers to deliver a series of soft, continuous strikes that wrapped around the dagger, layering the force around its blade and gradually dissipating the sharp killing intent and momentum it carried.

Whoosh!

With a flick of his wrist, he concentrated his energy and tossed the dagger into the air with a sharp, tearing sound. The dagger transformed into a black shadow once more, shooting out along its original trajectory and disappearing into the crowd in an instant.

Zhu Zhuyun defused the counterattack, while Zhu Zhuqing's dodge was practically perfect—the dagger, which looked almost identical to the girl's, was about to pierce her throat when she merely tilted her head at the last second, and the dagger swept past her jade-like neck, taking away only a strand of hair and causing no further harm.

Ah!

A scream rang out from the crowd, clearly indicating that Zhu Zhuyun's counterattack had hit its target.

After scanning with his spiritual power and confirming that no innocent passersby had been harmed, Tang Shan said in a deep voice, "Never mind, let's go into the city first."

The Zhu sisters had no objections and followed behind Tang Shan, quickly weaving through the crowd.

……

Tiandou City, Crown Prince's Residence

A huge bookshelf was placed in the spacious room, and in front of the bookshelf was a desk with stacks of books scattered on it.

Xue Qinghe tore off a scroll, opened it, browsed for a moment, and then casually tossed it aside.

Sunlight shone through the scroll, revealing the contents, on which was a delicate portrait of a young girl.

Rarely, Golden Crocodile Douluo also appeared in Xue Qinghe's study, sitting on a low stool by the window, letting the sunlight shine on his mountain-like, burly body, his eyes slightly narrowed, looking quite content.

The files were opened one by one, then Xue Qinghe threw them aside, his emotions growing increasingly volatile.

Human patience has its limits; when patience reaches its limit, it will eventually explode!

boom!

He slammed his palm heavily on the table, and a blazing, sacred flame instantly ignited, turning the entire desk to ashes in the next instant. Xue Qinghe's angry voice echoed throughout the room.

"What does that old man Xueye mean? It's just that there's no Crown Princess, it's not a big deal, why do you insist that I choose one from among the various noble families!"

Fortunately, Golden Crocodile Douluo was prepared. He released a layer of soul power when Xue Qinghe slammed his hand on the table, enveloping the entire room. Otherwise, if the servants outside had heard Xue Qinghe's disrespect towards Emperor Xue Ye, who knows what kind of trouble it would have caused.

"Xiaoxue, if you really can't handle it, just pick one at random and keep her in the Crown Prince's residence without touching her," Golden Crocodile Douluo couldn't help but advise when he saw that Xue Qinghe was truly furious.

Xue Qinghe's chest heaved violently, and it took him a long time to regain his composure: "Grandpa Jin'e, I just don't understand. So what if there's no Crown Princess? Xue Ye's grandfather, Xue Tunxing, didn't have one either, and it didn't affect his succession to the throne."

Golden Crocodile Douluo said helplessly, "Although Xue Tunxing doesn't have a Crown Princess, he has no shortage of women in his youth. You don't even have a woman by your side now, so naturally Emperor Xue Ye is anxious."

Upon hearing Golden Crocodile Douluo's words, Xue Qinghe slumped back into her chair, utterly dejected: "I'm a woman too, is it reasonable for me to be looking for a Crown Princess? And to say I'm attracted to men is utterly absurd."

After listening to Xue Qinghe's complaints, Golden Crocodile Douluo's lips twitched: Little Xue, if you weren't interested in men, that would be a real problem.

Seeing that Xue Qinghe was genuinely resistant to the idea of ​​finding the Crown Princess, Golden Crocodile Douluo had an idea and suggested, "Xiao Xue, why don't we go back to the Hall of Worship? Let's just give up on this plan of the Heaven Dou Empire. Your soul power level has fallen behind quite a bit because of this plan."

"No need. Now that the plan has begun, I can't give up halfway. As for the soul power level..." Xue Qinghe's face showed a hint of distress. "It's not that I'm not trying, it's just that once the soul power quality reaches its peak, the cultivation speed slows down significantly. There's nothing I can do about it."

If Tang Shan weren't completely unaware of my identity, I would have suspected he deliberately gave me the immortal herb to slow down my cultivation and give him time to catch up.

Golden Crocodile Douluo slowly opened his squinted eyes, a golden light flashing in them: "No matter what, the benefits of that ultimate fire far outweigh the side effects. So be it if my cultivation speed is a little slower. Tang Shan also has an ultimate attribute. It won't be so easy for him to catch up with you."

Hearing Golden Crocodile Douluo's words of comfort, Xue Qinghe finally breathed a sigh of relief. Recalling her experiences over the past year, she bit her lip and asked, "Grandpa Golden Crocodile, didn't Tang Shan say when he'd be back?"

Golden Crocodile Douluo said, "It's been around recently. In the last reply, Tangshan said he was on his way back."

As soon as Golden Crocodile Douluo finished speaking, he suddenly sat up. He sensed two terrifying auras, no less powerful than his own and somewhat familiar, appearing in the direction of the Heaven Dou City gate.

"They've arrived."

……

With a flash of silver light, the four people from Tangshan appeared out of thin air in Tiandou City, with the majestic and ancient city wall behind them.

After glancing around to make sure they hadn't attracted attention, the four of them naturally ventured into the city and blended into the crowd.

"Teacher, why do the assassins we've been sending seem to be getting weaker and weaker?" Zhu Zhuyun followed behind Tang Shan, recalling the enemy she had just casually dealt with, and was somewhat puzzled.

"They think they have no hope of assassinating you. We are now in the core of the Heaven Dou Empire. It would already take a lot of resources to find us, not to mention the loss of our powerful members if the assassination fails and we kill them instead."

Taking the Zhu sisters away from the Star Luo Empire was naturally not going to be smooth sailing. After all, they were betrothed to the prince, and Tang Shan himself was stained with the blood of the Star Luo Soul Douluo. The Star Luo Empire would naturally retaliate.

However, after Tang Shan broke through to the Divine Realm, his ability to sense danger and avoid it was enhanced once again. Whenever he encountered three Soul Douluos, he took the initiative to avoid them, not giving them a chance to surround him.

At that time, Gu Yue suggested that Xiong Jun could kill them with a single slap, but Tang Shan refused this tempting offer. It wasn't that he was soft-hearted, but rather that he felt it was better to handle some things personally after he had grown stronger.

Originally, he wanted to settle this matter with the Star Luo Empire, but since they were unwilling, when the Heavenly Dou army came to Star Luo in the future, they shouldn't blame him for being ruthless.

Tang Shan couldn't handle the Soul Douluos, since they all appeared in groups, but dealing with the occasional Soul Saint wasn't a big problem. As a result, two more Star Luo Soul Saints fell into Tang Shan's hands.

Later, the Star Luo Empire also learned to be smarter and shifted its assassination targets from Tang Shan to the Zhu sisters. Their purpose was clear: if I can't have them, you can't have them either. They would rather die than allow them to defect.

Next, it was just a matter of continuing to send people to their deaths. Tang Shan and Gu Yue Ling Yuan Jing's spiritual power ensured that no matter how secretive the other assassins were, unless they possessed a rule-based soul skill that allowed them to remain hidden for a long time, they would all be detected by their spiritual power.

The ability of internal martial arts to sense danger and avoid it ensured that the four of them did not have to be on high alert to guard against assassins' attacks, allowing them to rest when they needed to and fight when they needed to, achieving a unique balance between tension and relaxation.

As for interfering with Tangshan's early warning capabilities, that's clearly not the case. This is called Douluo Continent, not Star River Emperor.

Tang Shan's mental will is currently the strongest on the continent. Even the two Douluo, Qian Jun and Jiang Mo, from the Hall of Worship are several levels weaker than him. After all, Tang Shan can directly reach level 98 after breaking through, while the two Douluo have only cultivated to the peak of level 96 based on their willpower.

As for Golden Crocodile Douluo's will, his concentration of will does not mean that he broke through the limit through willpower. His breakthrough in the Title Douluo stage mainly relied on his understanding of his martial soul.

Getting back to the main point, the assassins sent by the Star Luo Empire to target the Zhu sisters still didn't return, all perishing at the hands of Tang Shan and Gu Yue.

After sending out several more waves of powerful Soul Masters without any success, the Star Luo Empire seemed to have completely given up. The assassins they sent were of increasingly lower strength, until eventually, they were all within the range that the Zhu sisters could handle.

After that, Tangshan also gave up the fight, treating the enemies behind them as a test for Zhu Zhuyun and Zhu Zhuqing.

Until the assassination attempt just before entering the city, the assassin was merely a two-ring Great Soul Master. He was pierced through the heart by a dagger thrown by Zhu Zhuyun, and it was clear that he was going to die.

Tang Shan's hasty departure was not to prevent the appearance of other assassins, but to avoid trouble—killing someone in the street, especially in a somewhat special place like the city gate, would naturally attract the attention of the city defense troops, and Tang Shan had no intention of playing along with them.

In addition, Tang Shan was well aware of the beauty of the three girls beside him, and he also had a thorough understanding of the character of the Tiandou nobles. He didn't want to stage a show of breaking into the prison and getting slapped in the face.

The best option is to have Gu Yue teleport them in directly. Once they return to the Crown Prince's residence, they can inform Xue Qinghe, and all subsequent troubles will naturally disappear.

"Looks like we can finally have some peace and quiet for a while!" Zhu Zhuyun stretched and said with a sigh of relief.

Tang Shan glanced at her and reminded her, "Don't just focus on resting; you can't neglect your cultivation."

"Teacher, don't worry. I've already mastered the Transformation Realm, and I've completed 60% of the Blood Transformation. I shouldn't be far from perfection," Zhu Zhuyun replied with a smile.

Tang Shan nodded, recalling the upright attitude of the Zhu sisters over the past year. Although he didn't admit it aloud, he also recognized his two apprentices in his heart.

They are all talented, hardworking, and have excellent comprehension skills. What's even more remarkable is that they have grown rapidly amidst the constant assassinations in the Star Luo Empire. They are truly promising talents.

Tang Shan remembered the remaining immortal herbs in his storage bracelet and made up his mind.

Chapter 357 Returning to the Crown Prince's Residence

The four did not linger in Tiandou City, but headed straight for the Crown Prince's residence. They did not stop for long along the way, and soon they were discovered by Golden Crocodile Douluo's spiritual power.

Leaning against the windowsill, Golden Crocodile Douluo's eyes widened when his spiritual power detected the four people: What the hell? There were clearly two when they went out, how come there are four now? And where did Gu Yue, who had amazing talent but ordinary appearance, go? Who is that silver-haired girl? Her appearance... Oh no, Xiao Xue is in danger!

Xue Qinghe was naturally unaware that Golden Crocodile Douluo had already discovered Tang San and his group, and was even engaged in a fierce brainstorming session about it. Ever since hearing Golden Crocodile Douluo say that two powerful individuals had entered Heaven Dou City and deduced from this that Tang San had returned, she had been overjoyed.

As for finding the Crown Princess, she had temporarily put that aside; nothing was more important than returning to Tangshan.

Golden Crocodile Douluo turned his head and glanced at Xue Qinghe, who could not hide his joy. Recalling the girl beside Tang Shan, he had a premonition that a big show might be about to happen.

Forget it, why worry so much? Anyway, Tang Shan isn't a bad person. Even if he doesn't end up with Xiao Xue, he definitely won't be a threat to the Spirit Hall.

Golden Crocodile Douluo gave up on his dilemma. He had lived for almost two lifetimes as an ordinary person, and at his advanced age, why should he meddle in the love affairs of young people? Let nature take its course.

With a change in mindset, the world opens up new possibilities. With a flick of his wrist, the low stool he was sitting on transformed into a recliner, and he lay down directly, saying to Xue Qinghe beside him, "Xiao Xue, Tangshan is almost at the door."

Xue Qinghe was naturally unaware that Golden Crocodile Douluo's mindset had undergone a complete transformation in a very short time. He only hoped to see Tang Shan as soon as possible. After hearing Golden Crocodile Douluo's message, she hurriedly left the study.

The four people from Tangshan quickly arrived at the entrance of the Crown Prince's residence. At the same time, a luxurious carriage stopped at the gate, its wheels making a steady sound as they rolled over the bluestone road, attracting their attention.

Under the somewhat surprised gazes of the four, exquisite scrolls were taken out of the carriage, placed on a square tray, and carried to the gate of the mansion by a burly soldier.

Then, the burly soldier said in a deep voice to the guards at the door, "These are the images of the next batch of eligible women that His Majesty has searched for. Please take a look, Your Highness, and let them pass."

Tang Shan was startled. What had he just heard? The Great Emperor Xue Ye was helping Xue Qinghe search for images of women of marriageable age. What was going on?

Before the soldiers at the gate could react, the gate was opened, and Xue Qinghe, dressed in a magnificent robe and exuding elegance and handsomeness, stood behind it.

As soon as she opened the door, Xue Qinghe saw Tang Shan standing in the doorway, and behind him, a strikingly beautiful young woman. Before she could react, the burly soldier knelt down on one knee with a thud, holding a tray aloft and presenting it to Xue Qinghe. His voice boomed, "Your Highness, these are the portraits of the new batch of eligible women His Majesty has found. Please take a look. His Majesty has also instructed me to convey a verbal order, hoping that Your Highness will select a Crown Princess as soon as possible."

The air fell silent instantly, and an awkward atmosphere filled the air. To make matters worse, many passersby cast curious glances at them.

Xue Qinghe's expression froze instantly when he looked at the burly soldier with the loud voice in front of him.

She recognized him; he was a personal guard of Emperor Xueye, and one of the few Soul Saints in the Heaven Dou Empire.

The fact that the Great Emperor Xueye specially dispatched him shows how much importance he attaches to this matter. The seemingly awkward scene before them is clearly intentional.

The meaning is clear—select a Crown Princess as soon as possible. I'm giving you face now so you can choose for yourself. Don't wait until things get messy and I have to arrange it directly.

In reality, given Xue Qinghe's status as Crown Prince, her marriage shouldn't have been her own decision, but rather arranged by Emperor Xue Ye. However, Xue Qinghe now possesses considerable leverage: the unparalleled genius Tang Shan is her subordinate, Dugu Bo is beginning to gravitate towards her, and her teacher is Ning Fengzhi. With all these factors combined, Emperor Xue Ye granted Xue Qinghe the right to choose her own marriage partner.

The purpose of royal marriages is to acquire political resources and create favorable conditions for their future succession to the throne. However, for Xue Qinghe, who holds an absolute advantage, there is no need for such a thing, since she currently controls absolute power.

Emperor Xueye allowed Xue Qinghe to choose her own marriage partner, but he absolutely forbade her from remaining unmarried, and rumors even circulated that she preferred men. The reason was simple: she was the future emperor, the core of the future of the Heavenly Dou Empire, and her words and actions reflected the face of the Heavenly Dou Empire. Emperor Xueye would never allow Xue Qinghe to tarnish her reputation.

Seeing Xue Qinghe frozen in place, the burly soldier was not in a hurry. His arms were as steady as Mount Tai, the tray remained motionless, and his head was lowered, like a silent sculpture.

Beside Tang Shan, Gu Yue blinked her bright silver eyes, curiously observing Xue Qinghe. She also knew Xue Qinghe's true gender and was eager to know how this inheritor of the divine power would respond.

"I understand. I'll take these things for now. You may leave." Seeing that the soldier remained unmoved like a stubborn rock, Xue Qinghe finally gave in, took the tray, and waved his hand impatiently, signaling the soldier to leave.