Blue Tyrant Academy.
Oscar finally managed to persuade Dai Mubai to temporarily give up his suicidal plan of snatching the God of War Cloak.
"Oscar, you're right. Even if that Xiao Lin bought the God of War Cloak, he definitely won't be able to use it."
Dai Mubai had regained his calm. Then, frowning slightly, he continued,
"But even so, I can't keep letting my God of War Cloak stay in Xiao Lin's hands."
"Although Xiao Lin's strength is inferior to mine, the strength of the Royal Fight Team around him far surpasses that of our Blue Tyrant Team."
"If I want to take back the God of War Cloak, I can only choose to gamble with him."
"I'll gamble using strength—defeat him, and take back my God of War Cloak."
Dai Mubai rested his chin on his hand, his eyes sharp and filled with confidence.
"But how should I design it so that Xiao Lin will gamble with me?"
His mind raced as he tried to think of a way.
However, very quickly, Dai Mubai gave up thinking.
"Forget it. Rather than wasting time thinking about how to set up this bet, I might as well focus on improving my strength first."
He felt he still had plenty of time, and there was no need to come up with it right now.
"Boss Dai…"
Oscar, standing to the side, hesitated to speak. He felt that Dai Mubai was a bit of an idiot.
Just imagine—if you spent a huge sum of money to buy the God of War Cloak, who would gamble it away so casually?
Even a hardened gambling addict wouldn't do something like that.
…
Meanwhile.
At Xue Beng's residence, inside the bathhouse.
In a steamy bath filled with mist, Xue Beng and Ma Hongjun were soaking together, enjoying massages from maidservants.
"Damn it. That bastard Xue Qinghe's power is growing stronger and stronger."
Suddenly, Xue Beng opened his eyes, his face twisted with ferocity.
Ever since Xue Qinghe had publicly shown his close relationship with Xiao Lin in front of many factions last time, some previously undecided neutral parties had begun to side with Xue Qinghe.
This made Xue Beng extremely unhappy.
Although Xue Beng wasn't particularly smart, he did possess some scheming instincts.
Telling Ma Hongjun about this was essentially revealing one thing to him—
That Xue Beng valued Ma Hongjun very highly.
And Ma Hongjun, who was enjoying himself, had all his pores open, feeling relaxed as he slowly opened his eyes.
"Your Highness Xue Beng, you're being too anxious. Even if Xue Qinghe has a lot of support, in the end, the one who decides the heir is still Emperor Xue Ye."
Ma Hongjun didn't understand politics, but he understood human nature to some extent.
Ever since awakening certain evil attributes, Ma Hongjun had gotten used to viewing people from a darker perspective.
"If Emperor Xue Ye really supported Xue Qinghe, he would've established him as crown prince long ago."
As soon as Ma Hongjun said this, Xue Beng immediately felt much better.
"You're right, Fatty."
Xue Beng called him by his nickname, then his eyes rolled as he curiously asked,
"By the way, Fatty, the one who should be anxious now is my uncle. He's probably given you more benefits recently, hasn't he?"
Hearing this, Ma Hongjun narrowed his eyes, a cold smile appearing on his chubby face.
"That idiot is completely in the palm of my hand."
"As long as I show my talent and strength, he keeps giving me benefits endlessly—though he's not as generous as you."
Hearing this, Xue Beng immediately grinned.
"My Uncle Xue Xing is just stingy."
"By the way, there's something I need to tell you."
Xue Beng had invited Ma Hongjun to bathe together not just for casual relaxation. His expression turned serious as he spoke solemnly.
"Last time, you asked me to investigate the people who ambushed you. I already know who they are—they're from the Xu family, a hidden clan of the Star Luo Empire."
"My informants told me that recently, members of the Xu family have been looking for people with outstanding talent and potential, trying to capture them for breeding."
"Last time, your companion Oscar was one of their targets."
As soon as Xue Beng said this, Ma Hongjun's face grew darker and darker.
They dared to kidnap geniuses for breeding—and yet they didn't target him?
This was an insult to him.
Xue Beng didn't notice Ma Hongjun's expression and continued,
"Although the Xu family's actions have stirred public outrage, no one has sufficient evidence to prove that the disappearance of other geniuses was done by them."
"Perhaps someone is using the Xu family to accomplish their own unspeakable secrets."
"I also had my informants investigate the Xu family. It's said that the younger generation of the Xu family, those about your age, lack sufficient potential, so they've been looking to ally with some force."
"I think this is an opportunity."
"In the future, once your strength grows, Fatty, why not become a son-in-law who marries into the Xu family, then swallow them whole?"
Xue Beng came up with a rather underhanded idea—having Ma Hongjun marry into the family.
However, this idea happened to align perfectly with the ambitions of the scheming Ma Hongjun. Upon hearing it, Ma Hongjun's tiny eyes widened, flashing with a trace of lewd wickedness.
He began coveting all the women of the Xu family.
"In the future, the Xu family will become your force. Then we'll come together to the Heaven Dou Empire, and I'll grant you a fiefdom. Fatty, you'll truly be a winner in life."
"That's only right. The Xu family owes me."
Ma Hongjun gave a lewd grin. In the next moment, his evil fire flared up, and he began making moves on Xue Beng's maidservants in the bathhouse.
Seeing this, Xue Beng smiled faintly, then walked out of the bathhouse alone and said to the guards waiting nearby,
"Go send the catgirl I bought at the auction to Fatty."
"Yes."
Watching the guard leave to carry out the order, a trace of disdain flashed in Xue Beng's eyes.
He had never trusted Ma Hongjun. That was why he constantly used women to confuse him, indulging Ma Hongjun's evil fire at every turn.
Xue Beng imagined what Ma Hongjun would be like in the future, when his body was consumed by lust and he no longer had women.
That would be when Ma Hongjun was at his weakest.
By then, once he became the emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire, it would be the moment of Ma Hongjun's death.
Hmph!
Did Ma Hongjun really think he would grant a commoner such a vast territory and establish a duchy?
Xue Beng snorted coldly to himself, then strode away toward his residence.
He still needed to recruit some distinguished guests from the Xu family and properly form an alliance with them.
Ma Hongjun could just become a breeding stud.
An alliance with the Xu family was the truly important bargaining chip for him to become the future emperor.
As for why Xue Beng would do this—besides the reasons mentioned above—
There was also a very important reason: Ma Hongjun was already ruined.
Or rather, Ma Hongjun's martial soul was already ruined.
He had long since investigated this at the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy—it was personally confirmed by Qin Ming.
How could he not believe it?
In the future, Ma Hongjun would either fail to grow or only become a fallen degenerate.
If his faction included fallen degenerates, that would not be beneficial to his future reign as emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire.
So rather than continuing to cultivate Ma Hongjun, it would be better to discard the father and keep the child.
Have his own maids and attendants bear Ma Hongjun's offspring, then raise and cultivate them properly.
The cooperation with the Xu family was the same.
It was said that the Xu family possessed a secret technique that could preserve the bloodline of the father with one hundred percent certainty.
And it wasn't just Ma Hongjun's bloodline that needed to be preserved—Oscar's bloodline was even more crucial.
The condition for cooperating with the Xu family was Oscar's bloodline.
(End of Chapter)