Read upto chapter 458 on patreon.com/Mad_verse
------
On a quiet road, an ordinary horse-drawn carriage passed through the Fasno Province and slowly approached the Balak Kingdom.
Inside the wooden carriage, the curtain covering the door was stained. Who knew how long it had been since it was washed? Even the horse pulling the carriage looked listless and weak. It was an old horse past its prime, moving at a pace comparable to a mule.
The carriage appeared very old, and the driver was an elderly servant in his sixties. There seemed to be another person sitting inside, but he didn't look like someone from a wealthy family.
"Help..."
At that moment, a faint cry for help came from up the road.
The old servant driving the carriage was startled and looked ahead. Lying in the middle of the road was a man in his twenties with black hair. His face was twisted in pain as he rolled back and forth on the ground.
"Uncle Zhang, what's going on?"
A clear, bell-like voice rang out from inside the carriage.
"Miss, it seems someone is injured," the old servant replied.
"Then... let's quickly get him into the carriage," the voice inside sounded anxious.
"Miss, don't move. It could be a bandit in disguise. I'll check first."
The old servant sighed. Because of his young mistress's kindness, he often felt a headache. The continent was in chaos, with bandits and assassins appearing frequently. Any sensible person would ignore such a situation.
But his young miss insisted on helping...
The old servant shook his head helplessly and slowly stepped out of the carriage to approach the injured boy.
"Ah... it hurts..."
The boy's face was painful, and his forehead was sweaty. He clutched his arm, gasping for air, clearly in serious condition.
"Just a young man..."
The old servant's wariness diminished because the person calling for help was only a young man. He scanned the nearby bushes and, noticing no movement, relaxed and went over to help the boy.
"How are you? Are you alright?" the old servant asked.
"I'm fine," the boy stubbornly replied, though his trembling voice betrayed his pain.
"Let me help you into the carriage to rest."
"Thank you..."
With the servant's help, the boy slowly climbed into the carriage. The corner of his mouth curled into an almost imperceptible smirk.
Lifting the curtain, one could see a young girl in a white dress sitting quietly inside. Her black hair flowed over her shoulders, her eyes were bright, and her teeth were white. Her snow-white skin had a radiant glow, and her pure white floral dress draped to the ground, making her look like a blooming lily.
The girl appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen years old, extremely beautiful, and sweet.
"Hello. My name is Ilya. What's your name?" The girl in white smiled warmly at the injured youth.
"Uh... Hi, my name is... Fang! Xiaoniu!" the young man glanced at Ilya and said calmly.
"Well, Fang Xiaoniu, I'll remember that."
Ilya nodded seriously. Seeing Fang Xiaoniu's sweat-covered face, a trace of worry appeared in her beautiful eyes. She quickly moved closer and carefully examined his injuries.
"Come, let me see. Where are you hurt?"
Fang Xiaoniu replied, "My finger... was bitten by a mosquito."
Ilya: "..."
Fang Xiaoniu: "It's excruciating. I think it was a poisonous spirit beast that bit me. It's at least ten thousand years old, maybe even mutated. I'm feeling dizzy, and my limbs are weak. I might be going into shock."
Ilya's face darkened, and she rolled her eyes at the young man. Putting her hands on her hips, she said, "Are you joking?"
Fang Xiaoniu raised a finger and pointed at the small red dot on his skin before Ilya.
"It's true. It's excruciating!"
Seeing Ilya's exasperated expression, Fang Xiaoniu couldn't help but laugh inwardly.
This young man was, in fact, Fang Xuan. He had faked his injury to hitch a ride to the Balak Kingdom. His goal was to gather information about the kingdom from these two.
After two days of investigation, Fang Xuan had found a suitable target for his martial spirit duplication. It was in the Balak Kingdom!
The Balak Kingdom also had a grudge against him. Three years ago, during the Heaven Dou Academy's Genius Tournament, he had killed Prince Douglas of Balak Kingdom. Since then, the kingdom has harbored deep resentment toward him, sending assassins repeatedly to eliminate him.
Now, Fang Xuan had risen to the rank of Titled Douluo, gaining the power to stand above the world. This time, he headed to the Balak Kingdom to find a target for his martial spirit duplication and to... destroy the kingdom!
"Ilya, are you from the Balak Kingdom?" Fang Xuan asked.
"Yes, I was born there. However, for certain reasons, I've lived in Fasno Province for the past few years. Now that I'm finally going home, I'm very happy." Ilya brushed a lock of hair away from her forehead and smiled innocently, clearly pleased to be returning.
"Oh… so you must know much about the Balak Kingdom?" Fang Xuan raised his eyebrows and continued, "Do you know if there's a powerful spirit master in the kingdom famous for his speed?"
"Famous for his speed?"
Ilya frowned slightly, rubbing her chin with her jade-like hand. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly realized, "Oh! You mean the Balak Kingdom's Imperial Tutor, Roderick, the fastest man in the world!"
Roderick!
Fang Xuan's eyes gleamed. He finally found his prey, making him even more eager to get details from Ilya.
She said Roderick was an exceptionally powerful Spirit Douluo with immense strength and high status, serving as the Balak Kingdom's Imperial Tutor.
His unique martial spirit was the ancient divine beast, Kun Peng!
The Kun Peng martial spirit gave him incredible speed, making even Titled Douluos, who are stronger than him, fall short.
Due to Kun Peng's extreme velocity, Roderick had earned his reputation across the continent as the fastest man alive.
"The Kun Peng martial spirit seems remarkable," Fang Xuan mused.
"Very well... Roderick will be my target this time!"
A slight smirk appeared at the corner of Fang Xuan's mouth. He never copied useless martial spirits. Instead, he chose to replicate those he lacked, carefully picking based on what would further strengthen him. He wouldn't waste a precious opportunity by copying a generic martial spirit.
Fang Xuan didn't yet possess the wind-type Kun Peng martial spirit!
"Bang!"
Suddenly, a violent crashing sound echoed from outside. The old horse pulling the carriage let out a terrified neigh, and the carriage and the horse toppled over.
Fang Xuan furrowed his brows and extended his mental strength, sensing multiple cold, murderous auras quickly approaching...