When the Abomination Douluo arrived at the Elite Tournament arena, it was already close to noon. It seemed that dealing with those corpses had taken quite a bit of time.
He somewhat laboriously squeezed his body, which was much larger than an ordinary person's, into the seat before finally letting out a slight sigh of relief.
Soon, his gaze was drawn to the match on the stage.
"Are those our disciples?"
"Yes." Seeing the Abomination Douluo lean in closer, Lin Xiao nodded slightly. "Is this the first time you've watched the Elite Tournament, Sixth Brother?"
"Mm, I never had any interest in kids fighting before." The Abomination Douluo had always been straightforward. "But now..."
"Holy Spirit Sect—Holy Spirit Sect—"
As the Holy Spirit Sect disciple on stage delivered the final blow, the surroundings instantly erupted in cheers. As the competition progressed, more and more spectators were drawn to this mysterious team with their strange martial souls.
The disciples on stage had already grown accustomed to it. One by one, they raised their heads, looking toward the audience stands through the veils hanging from their bamboo hats, and raised their arms to wave.
"But now, I think this match is actually pretty good." The Abomination Douluo's latter half of the sentence came out quietly, causing Lin Xiao to shift his gaze from the stage.
"Old Eight, I can't see the expressions of those disciples on stage, but I can feel that they are smiling."
"Sixth Brother?" Lin Xiao's expression changed slightly upon hearing the Abomination Douluo's words.
"Ever since I sewed my parents' corpses together, no one in the village was willing to take me in. It was the old Cult Master who brought me back to the Holy Spirit Cult."
"Later, when the Cult Master succeeded to his position, he always told us that he wanted to lead the Holy Spirit Cult to walk openly under the sunlight." As the Abomination Douluo spoke, he suddenly turned his head to look at Lin Xiao.
"But I feel that compared to us now, those disciples on stage are the ones truly walking under the sunlight."
The Abomination Douluo's words made Lin Xiao sit up a little straighter. After carefully sensing his surroundings and detecting no other Holy Spirit Cult presences nearby, he finally relaxed slightly.
He hadn't expected these words to come from the usually taciturn Abomination Douluo. But perhaps only he would speak his true thoughts without any reservations.
"It's just a task arranged by the cult." Lin Xiao spoke slowly, his body relaxing back down.
"No—" The Abomination Douluo shook his head but said nothing more.
The cheers from the audience gradually died down, and the Holy Spirit Sect disciples had already returned to the rest area.
This was the last match of the morning. Lin Xiao glanced at the time and was just about to lead the others away when a deep, resonant voice suddenly echoed across the entire arena.
"Silence—"
"The Prince Regent has arrived—"
Two voices rang out one after another, not only causing the various teams in the rest area to stop moving but also making the surrounding spectators halt and look toward the high platform on one side.
Lin Xiao also turned his head, wanting to see where Xu Tianran had been these past two days.
However, the moment he appeared, Lin Xiao was slightly stunned.
The person pushing Xu Tianran's wheelchair was not Juzi, but the palace servant who had always accompanied Xu Tianran and whom Lin Xiao had seen in the palace before.
He hadn't noticed it at the time, but now he could sense that this palace servant was clearly a Titled Douluo.
Xu Tianran, in a wheelchair, had changed into a different outfit. His bright yellow court robes were adorned with the sun patterns symbolizing the Sun Moon Empire, and on his waistband was embroidered a purple dragon claw, representing his own martial soul, the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon.
Even from a distance, Lin Xiao could still see that Xu Tianran's face was abnormally pale, his arms trembling slightly, and beneath his sleeves, bandages that had not been fully concealed could be seen.
Could it be that Xu Tianran had been absent these past two days because he was injured? Had the three great empires' operation succeeded?
Just as he was thinking this, Xu Tianran's voice came through the amplification soul tool from afar.
"People of the Sun Moon Empire!"
Xu Tianran's voice was extremely solemn, completely different from usual. Within the cold tone was an unmistakable killing intent.
"Over these past few days, surely everyone has noticed the changes in Mingdu City. You may also be wondering why several teams are missing from the Elite Tournament."
"Today, this one shall inform you all of everything."
"The Elite Tournament is a grand festival on the Douluo Continent that occurs only once every five years. Yet the Star Luo, Heavenly Soul, and Dou Ling Empires took advantage of this opportunity, while the Sun Moon Empire was holding the Elite Tournament, to launch an assassination attempt against this one."
As his words fell, the surroundings erupted in an uproar.
Of course, many people had noticed the disturbances in Mingdu City over the past few nights. Some soul masters could tell that experts had been clashing. But only now did everyone confirm that it had been an assassination attempt by the three great empires targeting Xu Tianran.
Xu Tianran sat on the high platform, watching the audience below constantly exchanging words and listening to the rising and falling clamor. But he did not stop them; he quietly waited for the people below to gradually quiet down.
"Three years ago, the three great empires attacked Mingdu City, injuring over a hundred civilians. One elder of the state religion also lost their life because of it, and my imperial father fell gravely ill from the humiliation and has remained bedridden to this day."
As Xu Tianran spoke, his tone shifted slightly, as if choking with emotion. "Now, these despicable villains dare to attempt once again to take this one's life through a surprise attack, to make this one fear, to make the Sun Moon Empire fear, to break the backbone of the empire!"
"Since more than four thousand years ago, our Sun Moon Empire has always been on good terms with the three great empires, promoting soul tools only for the convenience of countless people."
"Yet the three great empires, fearing the power of soul tools, have obstructed us at every turn and repeatedly provoked the dignity of our Sun Moon Empire."
"Though this one lacks the abilities of the emperors of the Sun Moon Empire through the ages, I cannot allow the Sun Moon to be humiliated by others..."
Xu Tianran paused slightly, his gaze sweeping around. He saw that all the people's eyes were drawn to him, focused entirely on his person.
In the rest area, those who knew the inside story, like Lin Xiao and the Abomination Douluo, had already changed expressions. They knew exactly what Xu Tianran was about to do next.
"Thus, even at the cost of this crippled body, I will avenge the humiliation suffered by our Sun Moon!"
Xu Tianran raised his right arm high. His sleeve naturally fell, revealing the blood-soaked bandages on his arm clearly to the eyes of countless people. Some enraged citizens' breathing had already grown heavy.
To most ordinary people, they did not know exactly what kind of person Xu Tianran was. They only knew that in the years since Xu Tianran became Prince Regent, soul tools in the Sun Moon Empire had developed rapidly, and countless convenient soul tools had appeared in daily life.
Now, seeing Xu Tianran injured from an assassination attempt, with his wounds not yet fully healed, they all stood up at once.
"The three great empires humiliate our Sun Moon. Our Sun Moon shall defend our dignity with steel!"
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