Heaven Dou's Palace

Arriving near the place, Dugu Bo withdraw his serpent. The 4 of us slowly falling controlling spirit power, safely landing. We continued towards the palace without anyone stopping us, it must be one of the perks of being accompanied by Dugu Bo, a titled douluo and a known helper of the emperor.

We continued approaching until we arrived at the courtyard in front of the palace. It seems that the Speed Hall information was true, there were a lot of soldiers and I could sense that they were not the usual ones, something strange was happening.

The soldiers moved, pointing their lances to us stopping our advance. Dugu Bo took out a golden token with the emperor's mark "Move away! We had urgent matters with his majesty"

The soldiers seemed unaffected by it, not withdrawing their weapons "His majesty is resting. By orders of the crown prince, nobody is able to disturb him. Anyone that otherwise try it, will be killed at the moment"

We all frowned, this wasn't a natural reaction. These strange soldiers and not being permitted entrance to Dugu Bo who was a counselor, smelt fishy.

I turned to Dugu Bo "Have you seen these soldiers before?"

Dugu Bo shook his head "All of them are unfamiliar"

"It seemed that the crown prince is up to something. I think that he is the one who poisoned the emperor" Tang San reasoned.

"Qinghe wouldn't try to kill his father" Without a doubt, something fishy was happening, but it didn't mean that Qinghe was the culprit, Qinghe could be also a victim and his name being used.

"Be prepared" warned Tang San "It must be known that we were to come. As experts in poison, they will try to stop us interfering with his majesty's health"

The aura around Dugu Bo started increasing, preparing to battle his way in. "Wait" I stopped them. I took out Qinghe's coin token that he gave me years ago. This token was like a direct order of Qinghe, if they are acting on his behalf, I want to see how they will react. I turned to the soldiers "Can we pass now?"

The soldiers froze in their place, by their alarmed faces it was evident that they didn't know how to react.

"Oh? It is not Tang San and Bai?" a warm voice came from the palace door, it was Qinghe. He approached us with an amiable smile followed by two hooded people "You could have warned me previously, I would have prepared a better reception"

Seeing him so calm, it was clear that he knew about this "What is the meaning of this?" I asked signaling our surroundings.

"My father is sick and I must focus on his protection. This number of soldiers are normal to make sure..."

"Don't joke with me!" I shouted angrily "What are you doing with Spirit Hall?!"

"I do not know what are you referring to?"

"Really?" I invoked my sword and slashed towards one soldier, shooting a white blade made of aura. The soldier in his shocked state, unconsciously activated his spirit, 4 spirit rings surrounding him and turning his skin black "How can you explain this sheer number of spirit masters? All the soldiers here were replaced by spirit masters. Not only that" I signaled at the two hooded people behind Qinghe "Heaven Dou Empire doesn't have access to titled douluos, and even if they had, the normal would be for them to protect his sick majesty rather than you. Spirit Hall is the only one capable of dispatching two titled douluos like nothing! You allied with Spirit Hall and poisoned his majesty!" I accused.

"Let's not pretend anymore, I'm tired" Around Dugu Bo 9 spirit rings appeared, a green mist started twisting around him "Let's try my new strength" From Dugu Bo a condensed green mist was shot towards our surroundings, targetting all the spirit masters and evading us. At the same time, Tang San reacted, shooting a firework, warning our allied to help us.

The two hooded people reacted stepping in front of Qinghe. From one of them, 9 spirit rings appeared, 2 yellows, 3 purples, 4 blacks. With the shine of a black ring, the man started bulging "<7th skill: Porcupine Spirit Avatar>". He Broke his hood and becoming 5 meters wide purple spiked sphere, becoming the form of a porcupinefish. The porcupinefish opened his mouth and started suctioning, all the green mist of the surroundings being swallowed by him. This caused his spikes turning with a shade of green, clearly, he had absorbed Dugu Bo's poison.

He was Porcupinefish Douluo, Ci Xue. A rank 96 spirit douluo. It seemed that they were prepared to fight against Dugu Bo, as they had the best counter to him. Porcupinefish are highly venomous spirits capable of refining poison, the perfect one to stop Dugu Bo most feared poison while the other title douluo can attack him.

The other hooded person took away his hood, showing a pale face man with white hair at shoulder length and some black tattoos over his eyes, that make him resemble a mime. Over his right hand, a purple book appeared surrounded by 9 rings, 2 yellows, 2 purples, and 5 blacks. He was Paper Douluo, Jian Long. A rank 96 spirit douluo with a Grimoire as his spirit.

One of his black rings shined and the pages from the Grimore started passing, the pages left the Grimoire and started forming a 5 meters long elephant made from papers "<5th Skill: Big Elephant Talisman>". The elephant charging to us.

I looked at Tang San and Yang Wudi who nodded. We all have experimented with many battles, gaining experience, so we acted accordingly. Tang San and I moved behind Yang Wudi while Yang Wudi invoked his spear, his eight rings surrounding it.

I invoked my sword and lifted it, 4 rings shining brightly and 4 different colored lights shooting towards both enemies titled douluos. Due to the difference in the realm, the effect will be reduced, but I was able to restrict them to almost 10% of their attributes. At the same time, green waves started beating from my sword "<Sword Domain: Life>", supporting Dugu Bo and Wudi at the same time, increasing their strength.

Yang Wudi was considered the strongest of the 4 single-attribute clans, a pure power system, focused on penetration. As someone said, sometimes the best defense is an offense. Wudi thrust his spear, his spirit rings shining "<7th skill: Soul Piercing Spear Avatar>" his spear grew becoming 10 meters long and crashed with the elephant. Tang San used his Deathgod Domain on Wudi's weapon, even increasing his power more. The elephant couldn't resist, the spear piercing it, making the elephant disperse in papers.

Seeing the attack destroy his skill, Jian Long was shocked. He didn't expect for a spirit douluo to be able to overpower him, and for mere spirit emperors to be able to put any fight. He quickly activated another skill "<6th skill: Robust Tortoise Talisman>" like before pages left the Grimoire, this time forming in a tortoiseshell in front of him. Even with his defense, Wudi's weapon pushed him to the ground, the Deathgod Domain's energy permeating him.

Even if Wudi's attack couldn't break his defense, he was blocked by his spirit avatar, being debilitated by my spirit and Tang San's Deathgod Domain.

With all the titled douluos blocked in their fights, I turned to Qinghe "Why?"

Qinghe continued smiling "I might ally with Spirit Hall. With second uncle and fourth brother chasing after the throne, I need to secure it for me. A civil war will create a lot of chaos, weakening Heaven Dou Empire" he then extended his hand "I really appreciate both of your talents, especially yours, Bai. I am sure that I would be a lot weaker without your help. I considered you as my only true friend. Why don't you join me? I can promise whatever you want"

"How could we trust you?!" shouted Tang San "You even poisoned your own father for power. What would you not do for power?"

"You may be right, some limits are necessaries," Qinghe said "I will be sincere with you. I am not Xue Qinghe. My real name is Qian Renxue. Xue Ye was never my father, my true father was the last Supreme Pontiff.

I clenched tightly my sword, furiously looking at who now presented as Qian Renxue "You lied to me" I softly said "I trust you! And you lied to me!" I shouted angrily "I considered you as my friend, all these years I wouldn't give a fuck about you being part of Spirit Hall" some tears falling my eyes "I trusted you, I even would have helped you. You were my only friend while if it didn't affect my clan, Heaven Dou Empire could be ignored" (Fuck. Paul was right) "But no! You lied to me and even your fucking Spirit Hall tried to destroy my clan" white aura started being absorbed by my sword, shotting a powerful white aura around it "How could I join you?!"

Renxue flinched a little making a step back with a little depressed face with concern "I-I didn't have anything to do with that attack, that was big sister and grandfather plan" he said slowly. He quickly recuperated his cool "I can repay your losses with whatever you want, Bai. I own you at least his much"

"So, will you kill that fucker of a crocodile and the ones behind him?". Of course, he couldn't, the Golden Crocodile Douluo was one of the highest-ranked, not even talking that the people behind him who were the rulers of Spirit Hall.

"You are requesting too much!" he said pissed "This would be the same as destroying Spirit Hall!"

"The death can't be returned. I will pay Spirit Hall blood with blood!" I swung my sword towards him a white pillar of sword qi shot.