...
"Rongrong, don't cry, let me finish what I have to say."
Xuan Hao suppressed all his helplessness and nonchalance, his gaze becoming colder and more serious than ever before.
He looked directly into Ning Rongrong's eyes and said, word by word, "I didn't lie to you. Xue Qinghe is indeed a woman."
"Or to be more precise..." Xuan Hao took a deep breath, "The real Crown Prince of the Heavenly Dou Empire, Xue Qinghe, is already dead.
The current Crown Prince Xue Qinghe is someone else in disguise!
And the person who has usurped the Crown Prince's identity is a woman!"
"Buzz—!"
Upon hearing this, Ning Rongrong's crying stopped abruptly. Xiao Wu, Dugu Yan, Ye Lingling, and even the usually calm Zhu Zhuqing were all stunned, frozen in place as if struck by lightning.
Their eyes widened, their breath almost stopping. Their brains raced, yet they couldn't process this shocking, earth-shattering secret.
"I know this sounds like a fantasy, but this matter is extremely dangerous and involves a great deal of people.
Since I consider you all as my own people, I'll just tell you everything today."
Xuan Hao's gaze swept over everyone present like a sharp blade, finally settling on Ning Rongrong's face:
"But! You must all remember this well: you are absolutely not allowed to divulge a single word of what you hear in this room today! Not even a single one!"
"Especially you, Rongrong."
Xuan Hao's tone was more stern than ever before.
"You absolutely, absolutely cannot tell your father and the others about this!
Otherwise, you won't be helping the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, but rather bringing a truly devastating calamity upon your sect, leaving no one alive!"
Seeing Xuan Hao's murderous expression, Ning Rongrong turned pale and nodded mechanically.
The others were also overwhelmed by the heavy atmosphere and subconsciously held their breath.
Seeing that everyone finally realized the seriousness of the situation, Xuan Hao slowly uttered that name:
"That woman's true identity is Qian Renxue, the biological daughter of the former Pope of the Spirit Hall, Qian Xunji."
"Not long after Qian Xunji's death, the Spirit Hall announced that the Pope's daughter had died from excessive grief. But in reality, she was not dead at all.
From that time on, she was secretly sent to Heaven Dou City and infiltrated the Heaven Dou royal family.
She seized the opportunity to assassinate the real Xue Qinghe, and then used a disguised spirit bone to perfectly take his place."
"Do you really think the bloodline of the Heavenly Dou royal family is so fragile?
In the years that followed, the Second Prince and the Third Prince died one after another due to various 'accidents' and 'sudden illnesses'... Without a doubt, all of that was orchestrated by Qian Renxue herself to solidify her position as Crown Prince and clear obstacles."
"The Spirit Hall...have they gone mad?!"
Dugu Yan gasped, feeling a chill run down her spine.
"What are they after?!"
"What's the motive?
Of course, it's to steal the entire Heaven Dou Empire."
Xuan Hao said calmly, "The Spirit Hall pulled this 'switching the prince' act to take half the continent without bloodshed.
As long as Qian Renxue successfully ascends the throne as Xue Qinghe, the Spirit Hall can legitimately merge with the Heaven Dou Empire.
At that time, with the Spirit Hall's rich spiritual master resources and the Heaven Dou Empire's national strength combined, they can launch a powerful counterattack against the Star Luo Empire and complete the unification of the continent."
"Since the conspiracy is so big, we should expose her!" Xiao Wu said eagerly.
"madness."
Xuan Hao interrupted her without hesitation, asking in return, "Do you think that if Qian Renxue's identity is exposed now, the Spirit Hall will obediently admit defeat and retreat?"
"Don't be naive! How many years has the Spirit Hall been plotting against these two great empires?
Do you really think those kingdoms and duchies on the borders of the two great empires are all loyal ministers and generals?
They've been flirting with the Spirit Hall for a long time!"
"Once Qian Renxue is exposed and the plan to seize the country fails, war will break out in an instant!
With the terrifying number of soul master legions currently under the control of the Spirit Hall, they are fully capable of forcibly occupying and splitting the border kingdoms before the two great empires can react and assemble their armies, establishing their own kingdoms on the spot and standing against the two great empires!"
"If things get out of control and escalate to that point, it will be a full-scale war that engulfs the entire Douluo Continent!"
"You should have experienced firsthand how terrifying the destructive power of a Soul Master army is in the Soul Arena. But Soul Battles are for friendly sparring, while war is a meat grinder.
Once the bloodthirsty and warlike nature inherent in Soul Masters is unleashed without restraint in a war without the constraints of rules... do you know what kind of scene that would be?"
"That will be a scene of corpses strewn across the land and rivers of blood."
Xuan Hao took a deep breath.
"War has never been a romantic duel like in chivalric novels. Burning, killing, looting, and civilians being displaced are inevitable outcomes.
At that time, it won't be just a few hundred or a few thousand people who die, but hundreds of millions of innocent lives."
Xuan Hao closed his eyes and leaned back on the sofa.
"Therefore, Qian Renxue's identity must not be exposed now.
Maintaining the status quo can at least preserve the surface peace on the continent.
Once the facade is broken... more people will die."
After a long, deathly silence, the air in the room seemed to freeze.
Ning Rongrong swallowed hard, staring intently at Xuan Hao.
"Since this is the Spirit Hall's most core top secret... how did you know about it?
Why would Qian Renxue tell you about such a treacherous plan that could cost you your head?"
Looking at the group of girls who were numb with shock, Xuan Hao let out a long sigh of relief, leaned back on the sofa, and completely gave up.
"Fine, since we've already come this far, I might as well tell you everything, so you can stop guessing all day long."
Xuan Hao crossed his hands on his lower abdomen.
"Because my true identity is the personal disciple of Bibi Dong, the current Pope of the Spirit Hall.
Hu Liena, the one you met from the Spirit Hall's Golden Generation, is my senior sister."
"What?!"
"The Pope's disciple?!"
The values that Ning Rongrong, Xiao Wu, and the others had just had forcibly mended were shattered into pieces once again in an instant.
"Don't look at me like that." Xuan Hao rolled his eyes in annoyance and began to recount his extremely outrageous history of making his fortune.
"The reason I came to Tiandou City all alone back then was because I had caused a huge disaster in Wuhun City and had to run away overnight with a bucket."
Xuan Hao pointed to the 100,000-year-old red spirit ring on his body that had just shocked everyone:
"Aren't you all curious about how I got this third spirit ring?
This is the root of the trouble I caused back then."
"At that time, my teacher, Pope Bibi Dong, was leading a hunt for a 100,000-year-old transformed soul beast.
In the meantime, I accidentally caused a mess.
Knowing that it had nowhere to go, the 100,000-year-old soul beast simply sacrificed itself to me to prevent the Spirit Hall from succeeding."
Xuan Hao shrugged, his face clearly showing how terrified he was:
Think about it, a 100,000-year soul ring must be accompanied by a 100,000-year soul bone!
How old was I back then?
I was terrified that my teacher would kill me in a fit of anger and take my bone, so that very night, I packed my bags and ran away, fleeing all the way to Tian Dou City."
"As you all saw after arriving in Tiandou City, my talent and strength are right there, and coupled with my usual arrogance, the nobles and sects of Tiandou City, relying on their rich imaginations, fabricated a whole bunch of unfathomable 'hidden family' backgrounds for me out of thin air."
"At the time, I was worried about having nowhere to hide.
Since everyone insisted on making such assumptions, I didn't dare to clarify. I could only go with the flow and continue to live a life of leisure and waiting to die in this spoiled rich kid persona."
Xuan Hao sighed: "Later, as my reputation grew in Tiandou City, Qian Renxue naturally set her sights on me. She's a ruthless person.
In order to win over this 'peerless genius,' she came to my door in private and revealed all her secrets and plans to seize the country, asking me to help her complete the plan.
And then... I was forced to stay in Tiandou City and get on her pirate ship."
After listening to this almost magical "history of struggle in Tiandou City," Ning Rongrong, Dugu Yan, and the others looked at Xuan Hao with a completely different expression, becoming extremely complex and even carrying a sense of unbelievable absurdity.
Pure hoax?!
So all these years, we've all thought you were a spoiled brat with a terrorist backing you, someone who could bully others at will, but it turns out...
Your formidable background was all fabricated by the imaginations of the people in Tiandou City, combined with your own superb acting skills, and you just concocted it all?!
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