Chapter 47: The Talkative Sister-Trolling Mania... Arrival in Star Luo City!

Xie Yue was slightly startled, but immediately hurried after him, calling out:
"Wait! Wait! Brother! Let's get acquainted. My name is Xie Yue, and I come from the Spirit Hall!"
"It doesn't matter if you're not interested right now. Once you see my sister, you'll definitely be interested in her!"
"May I ask your esteemed name, brother? Would you be interested in joining our Spirit Hall?"
"Don't worry! As long as you're willing to join the Spirit Hall, you'll be the brother-in-law I've chosen!"
"If my sister is foolish and unappreciative, I'll drug her and send her right to you!"

Lu Yu stopped in his tracks and frowned as he looked at Xie Yue.
This guy, acting like a stubborn plaster and chattering away like a talkative chatterbox, was completely different from the calm, composed, and decisive leader of the Spirit Hall's Golden Generation that he knew...
He was quite different indeed!
Good grief! He even talked about drugging her? Was he a maniac who would sell out his own sister?
Looking at this silver-haired young man whose personality was entirely at odds with his speech patterns, Lu Yu was utterly baffled.

After a moment of silence, Lu Yu spoke up: "My name is Lu Yu. I hope Your Excellency will stop following me, otherwise, don't blame me for being impolite!"
Hiding his name was pointless. The fact that his cultivation had reached the fortieth rank and that he possessed a ten-thousand-year soul ring would spread before long anyway.
After all, compared to the Heavenly Talisman Scripture and the Lightning Technique—methods completely inconsistent with his martial soul—his soul power cultivation and soul ring configuration were hardly secrets.

With that, Lu Yu quickened his pace, ignoring Xie Yue altogether.

Watching Lu Yu's retreating figure, Xie Yue did not continue to pester him; instead, his eyes flickered continuously.
A talkative chatterbox? A clown? A sister-selling maniac?
All of this was merely Xie Yue's disguise!
He was probing Lu Yu's attitude, and at the same time, using half-true and half-false methods to do everything he could to win Lu Yu over.
Naturally, he couldn't actually sell off his own sister, but if Lu Yu was willing to join the Spirit Hall, Xie Yue wouldn't mind doing some groundwork with his sister to get her to give Lu Yu a chance.
To reach the four-ring realm at such a young age, possess a super-limit soul ring, and even master a domain—a genius whose appearance was flawless—even with his sister's exceptionally high standards, she would surely be moved.

The only thing that made Xie Yue somewhat hesitant was that he wasn't yet familiar with Lu Yu's character.
Although Lu Yu hadn't intervened out of pure righteousness earlier, but rather for mutual benefit, Lu Yu's soul ring and domain had both been exposed, yet he hadn't silenced him to cover it up.
Judging from this, this person's character should not be bad.
Moreover, Lu Yu didn't seem to hold any animosity toward the Spirit Hall; it was just that the two of them were strangers, which was why he hadn't given him a chance to recruit him and had hurried off instead.

After pondering for a moment, Xie Yue shook his head with a wry smile and muttered to himself, "Let Elder Gui worry about these things!"
He needed to find his sister first, then rendezvous with Ghost Douluo and inform him about Lu Yu.

By then, Ghost Douluo would naturally step forward to test him.
Whether to kill him or recruit him would be up for the other party to decide.

Beside the imperial highway, a delegation of nearly a hundred people sat clustered around an open clearing in the forest, their expressions rather gloomy.
These people were none other than the Heaven Dou Empire's exchange delegation.
However, compared to when they had first entered the borders of the Star Luo Empire, there were nearly twenty fewer people in the group.
Among them, several high-level soul masters had died in battle, while some unlucky students had met with accidents during their attempts to escape.
This was the border of the Star Luo Empire, infested with bandits, and there were several small soul beast gathering grounds nearby. The students' cultivation levels were generally around the second and third rings, leaving them with insufficient self-preservation capabilities.

In the center of the clearing, Xue Qinghe looked pale and extremely weak, with a bone-deep wound on his left shoulder.

"Those bastards from the Star Luo Empire!"
A powerhouse of the imperial family cursed through gritted teeth, "This is clearly an assassination attempt on His Highness the Crown Prince!"

Huyan Zhen suddenly spoke up, "We have no evidence. Even if we know the Star Luo Empire did it, what can we do?"

Everyone fell silent. After a long while, Meng Shenji suddenly said in a hoarse voice, "Lu Yu hasn't returned yet..."

Upon hearing this, everyone's expression shifted slightly, and Xue Qinghe even frowned.
Lu Yu hasn't returned yet?
Could something have happened to him?
That shouldn't be...

The teachers from the other academies wore various expressions, but most of their eyes carried a trace of schadenfreude.
Lu Yu was hailed as the number one genius of the Heaven Dou Empire, and his beyond-limit soul ring configuration, along with his astonishing cultivation talent, completely overshadowed the geniuses of all the other academies.
If something happened to him, the various academies would naturally be glad to see it.

At that moment, Xue Qinghe suddenly said in a deep voice, "Rest in place. We stay for three days and search the vicinity for Lu Yu!"
"I want to see him alive, or his corpse if he's dead!"

Hearing his command, the teachers from the various academies naturally dared not raise any objections, and the imperial powerhouses took action immediately.

The sky gradually darkened, and the temperature dropped accordingly. A wild wind blew. Although the soul masters of the Heaven Dou Empire exchange delegation no longer feared this level of cold, everyone's heart felt somewhat heavy.
Having just entered the Star Luo Empire, they had already encountered such a perilous situation; the journey ahead would likely be fraught with danger.

"Your Highness!"
At that moment, a slightly joyful shout suddenly rang out, instantly catching everyone's attention.

Looking toward the source of the sound...
They saw a few soul masters from the imperial delegation hurrying back. One of them said, "We found Lu Yu!"

Xue Qinghe's eyes lit up slightly, and Meng Shenji sprang to his feet.

Shortly after, a figure emerged from the forest, possessing an ethereal grace and an unmatched, handsome appearance.

"Your Highness." Lu Yu stepped forward, bowed to Xue Qinghe, and then smiled at Meng Shenji.

"Are you alright?" Xue Qinghe looked Lu Yu up and down and asked softly.

Lu Yu shook his head and said, "Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. I merely lost my way; I was never in any danger."

Xue Qinghe nodded and said, "As long as you're alive. We'll rest for the night and continue on our journey tomorrow morning."

Early the next morning, the Heaven Dou Empire exchange delegation set off once again on the road to Star Luo City.
However, because they no longer had carriages, their advancing speed became much slower.
After all, students whose cultivation was generally at the second and third rings could not sustain rapid marching for long.

By the afternoon of the third day, the procession finally managed to purchase carriages and horses in a small town.
To the surprise of many, the subsequent journey encountered no further accidents, and everything was peaceful all the way.
Only a handful of people knew the inside story and had remained completely free of worry the entire time.

On the seventh day, the Heaven Dou Empire exchange delegation encountered a small-scale army of the Star Luo Empire.
The other party claimed that the Star Luo Empire's imperial family had learned of the exchange delegation being attacked at the border and had specifically sent troops to escort them safely.

Many students and teachers sneered, believing they were just putting on a show.
Yet Lu Yu knew...
The Star Luo Empire was terrified!
Only the imperial family of the Star Luo Empire knew best that the people who attacked the delegation were not sent by them at all!
This was clearly a blatant framing attempt!
If something happened to Xue Qinghe within the borders of the Star Luo Empire, a war would inevitably break out between the two nations.
Although the Star Luo Empire did not fear a war, the problem was...
The Spirit Hall was always lurking like a tiger eyeing its prey. Once the two great empires battered each other into mutual exhaustion, the Spirit Hall would reap the fisherman's profit!

Having set out from Heaven Dou City and traveled through various detours, the Heaven Dou Empire exchange delegation finally arrived in Star Luo City after spending twenty days on the road.