Chapter 63: Assassination

Chapter 63: Assassination

The intense pain left Dai Yao no time to think.

Just moments after drinking the tea, the deadly poison spread through his blood and rapidly coursed through his entire body.

His skin turned a strange purple beneath his blood vessels.

"This is it!" He thought, feeling a sense of despair.

With a mental command, the Chaos Green Lotus in his spiritual world emitted a green light. Wherever the green light passed, the poison immediately dissipated.

The pain quickly eased, and the purple hue on his face visibly receded.

If not for the sweat pooling on the floor and his ragged breathing, it would almost seem like what had just happened was a dream.

"I should have been more cautious!" This experience served as a harsh wake-up call for Dai Yao.

After defeating Dai Yaming, he had grown complacent, thinking that, within Star Luo Academy, there would be no danger to him.

Never let your guard down!

That phrase had to be etched into his very bones. Enemies are never satisfied with just one failure, and a bit more caution could save your life.

Having survived, Dai Yao was filled with rage:

"Who tried to kill me?!"

The most likely culprit was Dai Yaming's mother. Dai Yaming had been defeated by him, losing his hope of becoming a Title Douluo, and was eliminated from the competition for the throne—this was a deep-seated grudge.

Moreover, as an imperial consort, Dai Yaming's mother possessed soul bones, and her family's influence was not small. She certainly had the means to carry out such a scheme.

The other possibility was the Empress's faction. Dai Yao had become a significant threat to Davis, and now, after the duel with Dai Yaming, this opportunity to poison him could be used to frame Dai Yaming's mother. By doing so, they not only rid themselves of Dai Yao but could also frame their political rival, killing two birds with one stone.

The two of them had the most motive, though there were other possibilities, none as likely as these.

Dai Yao rubbed his chin, pacing back and forth as he analyzed who might have poisoned him.

Meanwhile, in the shadows above the wooden cabin, a figure whose body was concealed in the darkness stared at Dai Yao in utter surprise.

This person was the one who had poisoned him.

This was no ordinary poison—it had come from the hands of the Azure-scaled Douluo.

The Azure-scaled Douluo, also known as the Poison Douluo, was a Title Douluo who had attained great mastery over poison. His expertise was so profound that few on the entire continent could match it.

How could his poison not be enough to kill a great soul master?!

The person in the shadows was Zhu Tao, a member of the victorious Star Luo Royal Academy's team. With a soul power level in the forties, he was considered a rare genius among his peers.

His most important identity, however, was that of a member of the Zhu family.

Upon returning to the academy, he had received orders from the Empress to assassinate Dai Yao.

The Empress, whose surname was Zhu, wielded immense power as the wife of the Star Luo Emperor. But Zhu Tao did not merely follow the Empress's orders.

One of the major reasons they had defeated the Spirit Hall was because of his soul bone, which had been gifted to him by the Empress herself, under certain conditions.

Soul bones were treasures that all soul masters dreamed of, and no matter how unreasonable the Empress's demands were, Zhu Tao would have no hesitation in accepting them.

If she ordered him to assassinate a prince, he would do so without question.

Moreover, as a member of the Star Luo Royal Academy's team, Zhu Tao had easy access to the academy's inner sanctum. The academy had covert security forces, and ordinary assassins would not have been able to infiltrate.

Zhu Tao had watched as Dai Yao writhed in pain on the ground. Despite being affected by snake poison, for some reason, Dai Yao had gotten back to his feet.

"Fourth Prince, although I don't know what methods you used to recover from the snake poison, the Empress wants your life, and there's no way you can escape!" Zhu Tao thought.

"I had planned to let you die quietly, but now it seems I can't do that."

He was a sensitive-attack type soul master with a Martial Soul of the Nether Shadow Leopard, a mutated Martial Soul that was perfectly suited for assassination tasks. His soul bone ability was a specialized assassination skill, which had caused great distress to many support-type soul masters during the Elite Competition of the Advanced Soul Master Academy.

"As a Soul Sect powerhouse, killing you will be as easy as slaughtering a chicken!" Zhu Tao thought disdainfully.

With a surge of soul power, his Martial Soul manifested, and his figure seemed to meld into the shadows, leaving a long trace in the air as he activated his soul bone skill—Night Assassination.

The overwhelming soul power pressure caused Dai Yao to struggle to rise.

"This is a powerful soul power pressure. This person is probably already at the Soul Sect level!" Dai Yao gritted his teeth, trying to resist the pressure that came from the difference in their ranks.

Had it not been for his years of training beneath the waterfall, he would likely have already collapsed to the ground, unable to move.

In fact, from the moment he had recovered from the poison, Dai Yao had been on high alert. Since someone had tried to kill him, they would certainly have sent someone to watch over him, to see if the poison took effect and if he would die.

That person's power could not be low, or else he would have detected them.

His training location was remote, and ever since he had closed the door to visitors, few people had come by. The only one nearby was Feng Wutong.

But he didn't want to alarm Feng Wutong—if the assassination was exposed, they would definitely kill to silence the witnesses, which would endanger Feng Wutong's life.

He could only rely on himself.

After recovering from the poison, Dai Yao had secretly begun to channel his soul power, preparing for the inevitable encounter with whoever was lurking nearby.

To his surprise, this person not only reached the Soul Sect level but also attacked immediately, not giving him a chance to call for help.

"Facing a Soul Sect, the White Tiger Martial Soul has no ability to resist!" In the face of life and death, Dai Yao remained exceptionally calm.

A brilliant cold light, radiating an aura of death, shot toward him.

In the blink of an eye, a dazzling image of a green lotus bloomed, completely enveloping Dai Yao.

When the cold light collided with the green lotus, it felt like striking an iron wall and failed to make any progress.

"What is this?" Zhu Tao thought, astonished.

A Soul Sect powerhouse, and using a soul bone skill, had his attack blocked by a mere Great Soul Master?! This was beyond his expectations.

As the cold light gradually faded into starlight, disappearing completely, Zhu Tao looked up to see Dai Yao holding a green lotus in his hand. Two purple soul rings slowly spun around it.

The second purple soul ring was sparkling brightly.

"Two thousand-year soul rings?! When did a Great Soul Master become able to absorb thousand-year soul rings?" Zhu Tao stared at the green lotus in Dai Yao's hand, then immediately realized:

"No! You're a twin martial soul user!"

He cried out in shock.

Before the assassination, he had gathered information on Dai Yao, knowing that his Martial Soul was the Sacred White Tiger, a top-tier beast martial soul.

But the green lotus in Dai Yao's hand was clearly his second Martial Soul.

"I've really messed up!" Zhu Tao lamented, almost in tears. He never imagined that the person he was sent to assassinate would have twin Martial Souls!

Now that he had crossed Dai Yao, there was no turning back. He could only go all in, knowing that if Dai Yao survived and grew strong enough, it would be his death.

From the moment Zhu Tao released his soul bone skill to the moment Dai Yao activated the second soul skill of the Chaos Green Lotus, only a few breaths passed.

Dai Yao's soul power was far beyond that of an ordinary Great Soul Master. But even so, half of his soul power had already been depleted, showing just how taxing the second soul skill was.

The enemy in front of him took an offensive stance, and Dai Yao's mind raced, calculating his remaining soul power. He had one more chance to strike.

The hope of survival rested on his first soul skill.

The Godslayer Spear.

(End of Chapter)

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