"Greetings, Your Highness the Eighth Prince!"
Everyone in the Imperial Clan Court bowed toward Qin Feng.
Qin Feng ignored them. With one arm draped around a scantily clad beauty, he sauntered straight up to Qin Luo.
"Ninth Brother, you've suffered a lot all these years," he said with an easy smile. "Don't worry—now that you're back, I'll make it up to you."
"Come on, let's go to Wangyue Tower. I'll throw you a proper welcome feast."
"Oh, right—Qin Hu, you come along as well."
He glanced at a burly youth at his side.
"Yes, Your Highness." Qin Hu cast Qin Luo a sidelong look as he answered.
With his sharpened senses, Qin Luo immediately caught the flicker of hostility in Qin Hu's eyes.
A trap, huh?
"You're my brother?" Qin Luo thought coldly.
Anyone could put on a show. Qin Luo raised his head to look at Qin Feng, letting his eyes redden as though with emotion.
"I finally get to see my family…"
"Magpie!"
"Ninth Brother!"
The two almost gagged on the spot.
They both saw the same disgust mirrored in each other's eyes.
Among their own kind, hostility came naturally.
"My little brother's been bullied," Qin Luo said, clinging like a wronged child. "You have to stand up for me!"
"Whoever dares bully my brother, Qin Feng, I'll kill them!" Qin Feng declared.
"Lin Xuan, a centurion of the Demon Suppression Division, stole my woman! Eighth Brother, help me kill him!" Qin Luo said through gritted teeth.
"A real man doesn't lack for women," Qin Feng chuckled. "One woman is nothing. I'll give you a few more."
"Come on, let's drink. Forget these annoying things."
As expected, it was all just an act.
…
Wangyue Tower was one of the tallest, most luxurious restaurants in the capital.
With Qin Feng and Qin Luo dining here, the entire tower had been cleared.
Qin Feng waved expansively at the women behind him. "Whichever ones catch your eye, little brother, I'll give them to you."
Qin Luo lifted his wine cup just as Xi Huang's voice sounded in his ear.
"There's something extra in that wine."
"What is it?" Qin Luo asked. "He actually dares poison me?"
"What's there to be scared of?" Xi Huang sneered. "For the throne, even killing one's own father is nothing. Brothers killing each other is normal."
"Besides, this isn't lethal. It's most likely some kind of aphrodisiac."
Qin Luo blinked. An aphrodisiac?
"Is it going to be a problem for me?" he asked.
"With me here, nothing will happen," Xi Huang said confidently.
In that moment, Qin Luo finally understood why a proper "old man with a golden finger" was so useful. Having an elder to lean on really was like having a treasure in the house.
No wonder Ye Chen's Luck outstripped Lin Xuan's.
"Is that so?" Qin Luo's lips curled.
"Since Eighth Brother is being so generous, I won't be polite."
"Why choose like a child? I want them all."
Qin Feng froze for a heartbeat, then laughed. "All right! Since my little brother wants them, this big brother can only grit his teeth and part with them."
"Of course, after giving you such a grand gift, it wouldn't be too much for me to request a little favor in return, would it?"
He waved, and one of his men stepped forward with a document.
"Qin Hu—he's one of our clan. By seniority, he should be calling you uncle," Qin Feng said with a smile.
"Qin Hu, greet your Ninth Uncle."
Qin Hu stood up, his face stiff. "Ninth Uncle," he said, expressionless.
"You see, as an uncle, how can you take things from your nephew?"
Qin Feng finally revealed his true aim.
The whole feast was for one thing: Qin Luo's bloodline baptism slot.
The agreement stated that Qin Luo willingly renounced his qualification to enter the royal secret realm for bloodline baptism and ceded the place to Qin Hu.
Qin Luo took the document. The corners of his mouth lifted as he read, then he slowly shook his head.
"I can't sign this."
"Oh?" Qin Feng raised an eyebrow. "Little brother, you're not planning to snatch something from a junior, are you? Isn't that a bit disrespectful to your elder brother?"
"If word gets out, how will people view us princes? We're the princes of Great Qin—we ought to set an example."
As he spoke, a powerful aura surged from his body, reaching the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm, and pressed down on Qin Luo.
"Think it over, little brother. Think it over—then give your answer."
Boom.
Qin Luo casually summoned the Tai Xu Bell, letting it hover above his head. The moment the sacred artifact appeared, all that pressure vanished like smoke.
Qin Feng's face darkened. He had not expected this stray prince, dragged back from the wild, to give him no face at all.
"Eighth Brother, it's not about disrespect," Qin Luo said mildly.
"It's precisely because I am his elder that I can't sign this."
"Respecting elders is a junior's duty. If people learned that Qin Hu, as a junior, tried to steal food from his elder's bowl, what would they think of him?"
"And besides…" Qin Luo's eyes slid over to Qin Hu, full of contempt.
"What good is raising a piece of trash of a junior?"
The word "trash" sank into Qin Hu's chest like a knife, igniting his fury.
"You're spouting nonsense!" he roared.
A Divine Power Realm aura burst from his body as he glared at Qin Luo. "Even if you're a prince, today I, Qin Hu, will challenge you and show you what it means that there are higher heavens and stronger men!"
That bloodline slot had been his. Qin Luo appearing out of nowhere and taking it had already enraged him.
Now Qin Luo was calling him trash in public. That was something he couldn't swallow.
"Trash is trash. All it takes is one sentence to make you lose control. Tsk…" Qin Luo shook his head.
"It isn't terrible to be weak. What's terrible is being weak and not knowing your place, still daring to provoke someone stronger. Eighth Brother, you actually bother mentoring this kind of junior?"
He looked at Qin Feng with exaggerated surprise.
Qin Luo's words made Qin Feng reevaluate him.
He'd expected Qin Luo to refuse the agreement, but he hadn't expected him to be this arrogant, this dismissive of others.
"Heh. Really? Qin Hu is a renowned genius of my royal clan. If you call him trash, then what does that make the rest?" Qin Feng asked lightly.
He was clearly baiting Qin Luo.
Qin Luo sneered inwardly. "Naturally, the rest are worse than trash."
The sentence landed right in Qin Feng's snare, but Qin Feng didn't fly into a rage.
Why not?
He glanced at Qin Luo's face. Arrogance? Disdain? Or… something else?
In the end, it didn't matter. Qin Luo's expression was utterly indifferent.
If he praised the royal clan, would they rush to help him?
What a joke. As a villain, the only reliable way to win people over was with strength. So-called "morality" was useless to him.
Boom.
Sword intent surged as Qin Luo drew his blade. His Ninth-Layer Divine Power cultivation slightly surpassed Qin Hu's.
"Arrogant fool!" Qin Hu roared, tightening his grip on his greatsword. "Kill!"
Sword qi howled around him—his sword intent had reached its peak. His sword technique had reached Perfection.
This was the source of Qin Hu's confidence.
But compared to Qin Luo, he was nothing. Qin Luo suppressed him completely.
Bang!
Their first clash left Qin Hu's face changing instantly. He couldn't withstand a single exchange.
"Oh?" Qin Feng was genuinely surprised now. He hadn't expected Qin Luo's swordsmanship to be this terrifying.
"Is this really so-called bloodline atavism?"
Sword energy tore open several terrifying wounds on Qin Hu's body. With a single strike, Qin Luo sent him flying out of Wangyue Tower.
Just as Qin Feng was about to move, a sharp aura locked onto him. He froze for a heartbeat—and in that instant, the battle ended.
Thud.
Even as Qin Hu's body hit the ground, Qin Luo had already leapt down after him, stomping heavily on his head.
Cold steel pressed against Qin Hu's neck.
"That's it? You think you can challenge me?"
"Useless. Truly trash."
Humiliation burned through Qin Hu's mind. Blood spurted from his mouth, and he passed out on the spot.
Qin Luo looked up at Qin Feng above. "Eighth Brother, don't forget to send over the little gifts you promised to my residence."
With that kick, he hadn't just shattered Qin Hu's confidence—he'd trampled Qin Feng's pride as well.
Between the fight at the city gate and the duel at Wangyue Tower, Qin Luo's name spread like wildfire.
In a single day, he made sure everyone in the capital understood one thing:
The Ninth Prince of Great Qin, Qin Luo, had returned.
And this was not something the dynasty had ever planned to announce so loudly.