Douluo Continent: The Martial Soul Flowing Blade Like Fire terrifies Bibi Dong

Chapter 46 His Highness is wise

Su Chen turned around, slowly walked back to the main seat and sat down, his fingers gently tapping the large tabletop carved from thousand-year-old sandalwood.

The tapping sound was exceptionally clear in the quiet hall, each strike seeming to resonate with Salas's heartbeat.

"Salas." Su Chen slightly raised his eyes, his gaze falling on the Platinum Bishop. "My teacher's secret order mentioned the Heaven Dou Royal Academy. But I need more specific details. Tell me, where exactly has this game of chess in Heaven Dou City progressed?"

Upon hearing this, Salas immediately stepped forward, his expression becoming extremely solemn and professional. As the highest-ranking eye of the Spirit Hall within the Heaven Dou Empire, he was intimately familiar with every movement in the city.

"Your Highness, the current situation appears to be a power struggle within the royal family over the crown prince, but in reality, it has already involved the issue of which side the imperial high command and the major sects have aligned themselves with." Salas organized his thoughts and reported in a deep voice, "Emperor Xue Ye's health has been deteriorating in recent years. Although Crown Prince Xue Qinghe has established extremely high prestige in the court, is gentle and refined, and treats scholars with respect, winning the support of some civil officials and neutrals, Prince Xue Xing has always harbored great hostility and vigilance towards the Crown Prince."

"Prince Xuexing may seem like a member of the royal family who only knows how to fight for power, but in reality, he is extremely cunning. He controls the mobilization of nearly half of the city's defense forces, and more importantly, he firmly holds onto the Tiandou Royal Academy card. Recently, Prince Xuexing has been extremely active. He is not only secretly suppressing the Crown Prince's faction's influence in the military, but also frequently contacting people from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School."

Upon hearing the words "Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School," Su Chen's fingers, which were tapping the table, paused slightly, and a cold, sharp smile curled at the corner of his lips: "Has that old fox Ning Fengzhi finally lost his temper and decided to make his move?"

"Yes, Your Highness." Salas nodded respectfully. "Although Ning Fengzhi is nominally the Crown Prince's teacher, he never puts all his eggs in one basket. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School has recently increased its financial support to the Heaven Dou Royal Family and, through Princess Xue Xing's connections, is attempting to establish a deeper cooperative relationship with the Heaven Dou Royal Academy. They even intend to send their direct descendants' geniuses to the academy to consolidate the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School's influence among the younger generation of the empire."

"Besides Prince Xue Xing and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, there's another troublesome character, the Fourth Prince Xue Beng." A hint of disdain flashed in Salas's eyes, but he still reported the truth. "On the surface, Xue Beng is an idle and good-for-nothing playboy who only knows how to cause trouble, spending his days indulging in womanizing in Heaven Dou City. But my spies planted in the prince's residence discovered that he is secretly using his playboy reputation to constantly recruit down-on-his-luck Soul Masters and noble children who are hostile to the Spirit Hall. Moreover, within the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, he has also gathered a large number of lawless noble students, specifically to exclude and suppress commoner geniuses who are unwilling to take sides or get close to the Spirit Hall."

Hearing this, Dugu Bo couldn't help but sneer: "That Xue Beng is a piece of trash. I saw him a few times in the palace back then. He's utterly hopeless. It's ridiculous that Prince Xue Xing would expect such a scoundrel to keep the Crown Prince in check."

"Old Poisoner, you've misjudged him." Su Chen leaned back in his chair, his gaze as deep as a cold pool. "Of all the princes who have survived in the deep palace until now, which one is truly useless? Xue Beng's frivolous behavior is just a disguise he uses to save his life. The more incompetent he appears, the less Xue Qinghe will consider him a real threat. The dogs that bite are often the silent ones."

Dugu Bo's heart skipped a beat. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was indeed true. If Xue Beng were truly a clueless good-for-nothing, Xue Qinghe's methods would have made him disappear without a trace long ago.

"Your Highness is wise." Salas was full of admiration for Su Chen's analysis and continued, "As Your Highness said, Avalanche and Prince Xuexing, one openly and one covertly, have formed an extremely stubborn xenophobic force within the Heaven Dou Royal Academy. Recently, they have even begun to openly exclude our Spirit Hall personnel from exchanges within the academy, creating several incidents of friction."

Although the three educational councils nominally control the academy, they can only turn a blind eye to pressure from the royal family.

"The three education committee members—" Su Chen chuckled lightly, "Meng Shenji, Zhi Lin, and Bai Baoshan. These three old guys, although their strength has barely reached the threshold of Soul Douluo, are political opportunists. They don't want to offend the royal family, nor do they dare to completely offend the Spirit Hall, so they can only survive in the cracks. Expecting them to take charge of the overall situation is simply a pipe dream."

The hall fell silent again, save for Su Chen's steady breathing. He closed his eyes, rapidly processing and reassembling all the information Salas had reported.

The power distribution map of Tiandou City was clearly drawn in his mind.

A moment later, Su Chen opened his eyes again, and in that instant, a sharp light flashed in his eyes that was chilling.

"It seems that the teacher sent me into the Heaven Dou Royal Academy as an envoy not just to protect His Highness the Crown Prince." Su Chen's voice was deep and full of pressure. "Since Prince Xue Xing wants to build the Heaven Dou Royal Academy into a fortress against the Spirit Hall, then I will personally smash this fortress from the inside."

Salas's spirits lifted, and he quickly asked, "Your Highness, what do you intend to do? Just give the order, and I will immediately mobilize all the elite troops of the Spirit Hall within Heaven Dou City, ready to serve you at any time!"

"Using the Spirit Hall's trump card? That's too low-level." Su Chen glanced coldly at Salas. "If we send people to the academy to suppress them in a big way, it will only give them a pretext to attack us together with Prince Xue Xing and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School. To deal with such self-righteous politicians, we need to use the most ruthless and unreasonable methods, but in a way that they can't find fault with."

Su Chen stood up, walked to the center of the hall, held up four fingers, and said in a chilling tone, "I'm not in a hurry to go directly to the palace to see that Crown Prince. In this game, I'm going to attack from four lines simultaneously, suppressing both the younger generation and the upper echelons of the Heavenly Dou Empire!"

Salas, Yue Guan, and Dugu Bo held their breath, listening intently to Su Chen's plan.

They knew that what this Holy Prince was about to say would surely unleash a bloodbath throughout the entire Heaven Dou Empire.

"The first line of defense: the academy." Su Chen retracted a finger. "Isn't the Heaven Dou Royal Academy supposed to be the Empire's number one academy? Doesn't it boast of being the cradle of noble elites? Isn't Prince Xue Xing hoping to use this reputation to back him up? Then my first step will be to utterly humiliate this academy. I'll show all the nobles of the Heaven Dou Empire that their proudest institution of learning is nothing but a fart in front of my Spirit Hall's envoy!"

"The second line: geniuses." Su Chen retracted his second finger, a cruel sneer playing on his lips. "Old Poison, your precious granddaughter's Royal Fighting Team should be the academy's top fighting force, right? Yu Tianheng's Dao Heart has already been crippled by me today, but he still has the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan behind him. I will openly and fairly trample these so-called geniuses under my feet in front of the entire academy. I will crush their pride, strip them of their confidence, and make them tremble with fear at the mere mention of the Spirit Hall for decades to come, without even the courage to look us in the eye!"

Upon hearing this, Dugu Bo couldn't help but shudder.

He knew all too well Su Chen's methods of crushing people; that way of killing someone by destroying their spirit was a hundred times more cruel than simply killing them.

Those hothouse flowers of the Royal Fighting Team would definitely experience a nightmare worse than death if they encountered a demon like Su Chen, who crawled out of the blood sea of ​​Hushan.

"The third line of defense: public opinion." Su Chen retracted his third finger and turned his gaze to Salas. "Salas, I want you to utilize all the Spirit Hall's intelligence networks and covert agents in Heaven Dou City. After I enter the academy, spread the news of every crushing defeat I've made there as quickly and dramatically as possible. I want the entire population of Heaven Dou City to be talking about how the future of the Heaven Dou Empire is a bunch of utterly useless trash. I want to use this torrent of public opinion to force Prince Xue Xing and the royal family to completely lose their prestige among the people."

Salas trembled with excitement. This method of manipulating people's hearts was even more deadly than a real battle!

He could almost picture Prince Snowstar's comical state of exasperation and helplessness under the pressure of public opinion.

"The fourth line of action: the Crown Prince." Su Chen retracted his last finger, placed his hands behind his back, and his eyes were terrifyingly deep. "That Crown Prince is in the open, but due to his status as a prince, he can't do many things too ruthlessly. So I'll stay in the shadows and kill those he can't kill, and clear away those obstacles he can't eliminate. Anyone who dares to block the Spirit Hall's path, anyone who dares to hinder the plan to seize the country, I'll make them disappear from this world completely."

"Academy, geniuses, public opinion, the Crown Prince. Four forces working in tandem, intertwined." Su Chen's voice echoed through the hall, like the pronouncement of death. "I will use the most absolute pressure to tell the entire Heaven Dou Empire: Before absolute power, any conspiracy, any balance of power, is nothing but fragile glass, shattering at the slightest touch!"

After completing Su Chen's full plan, the three people in the main hall remained unsettled for a long time.

Yue Guan watched Su Chen's retreating figure, his eyes filled with undisguised fervor and awe.

He originally thought that Su Chen was just a battle maniac with heaven-defying talent in cultivation.

But now he understands that this Holy Prince is not only a man-eating tiger, but also a peerless tyrant who controls the overall situation and sees the world as a chessboard.

Bibi Dong made the perfect decision by handing over the Heaven Dou Empire's doomed game to Su Chen.