...
Feeling each other's steady breathing, after a while, Qian Renxue suddenly spoke softly, breaking the silence:
"So, what are your plans for the future?"
"You told me a long time ago that once you broke through to Soul Saint and truly had the power to protect yourself on this continent, you planned to leave Heaven Dou City to travel around and see the outside world."
Qian Renxue raised her head, looking at him with a deep gaze.
"Judging by the time, that day is fast approaching.
In other words, you're leaving after the All-Continent Elite Tournament of Advanced Soul Master Academies in Heaven Dou City ends?"
Xuan Hao gently stroked her golden hair and casually suggested, "Yes. How about... you quit being the crown prince, leave this mess behind, and come with me for a walk?"
"..." Qian Renxue was speechless for a moment, and rolled her eyes at him as if he were an idiot.
"Why don't you go and say that to the Pope in Wuhun City?
Why don't you go and persuade that woman to give up the Pope's scepter and throne and go wander the world with you?"
"I did say that," Xuan Hao said innocently, spreading his hands.
"But I was rejected without any mercy."
Qian Renxue rolled her eyes, even more speechless:
"Since that woman can't give up the power she holds, why do you think I can agree to it?
For this plan to seize the Heavenly Dou Empire, I've been lurking here since I was a child, investing more than ten years of my most precious youth and effort.
We're only a few steps away from success, how can you expect me to give up at this point?"
"Then there's nothing we can do."
Xuan Hao wasn't angry at her rejection.
Instead, he smiled calmly and said, "Everyone is pursuing what they want.
I understand your ambitions and aspirations, and I will never stop you. But I also have the life I want."
"I have absolutely no interest in the power and status that you all so eagerly pursue. In the end, those empty titles and thrones are things you can't take with you when you die."
"The most important thing about living this life is the word 'experience'.
Go out, go see, go experience different customs and cultures, go see the most unique scenery on this continent, that is the meaning of life."
"If a person always confines himself to one place, facing the same people every day, repeating the same calculations and power struggles..."
"Wouldn't that kind of life be boring?"
Qian Renxue did not answer the question.
She leaned quietly against Xuan Hao's chest, her eyes flashing with a dark, cold light that was completely different from his.
She felt no interest whatsoever in Xuan Hao's description of traveling to famous mountains and rivers and experiencing local customs; in fact, she felt it was a waste of her life.
On the contrary, the utterly boring intrigue, power struggles, and absolute control that held the fate of the entire empire and even the whole continent firmly in its grasp, the absolute power that allowed her to dominate everything from a high position, was what gave her the true joy and trembling in the depths of her soul.
Sensing the silence of the person in his arms, Xuan Hao wisely refrained from saying anything more.
He knew very well that his and Qian Renxue's ways of living and underlying logic were fundamentally two completely different paths, and neither of them could change the other's mind.
He couldn't possibly be content to remain like a caged bird in this seemingly prosperous but actually lifeless Heavenly Dou Imperial City, playing those utterly tedious power struggles with her.
He scoffed at the idea of a ruler who sat on a throne, wore a mask every day to receive the homage of his ministers, and had to think twice before speaking.
He had absolutely no interest in such a ruler.
On this cruel continent, what is the ultimate purpose of desperately cultivating and pursuing power?
To be high above?
To establish an everlasting empire?
To make all people submit?
In Xuan Hao's view, none of these are true.
For him, the sole purpose of power was "freedom".
Having the absolute power to overturn the chessboard is to have absolute choice in this world, to be able to go wherever you want and do whatever you want, without being bound by any rules, power, or even worldly ethics.
If he painstakingly and risked his life to cultivate to an unparalleled level of power, only to end up giving up his most precious freedom, binding himself tightly to a cold and rigid dragon throne, and spending his days scheming and plotting for ridiculous power, thus trapping himself in his own web...
Then all his hard work and struggle to become stronger over the past ten years has been for nothing, a complete waste of time and energy.
...
The next day arrived.
Xuan Hao rubbed his neck, which was a little sore from not sleeping well, and finally walked out of the Crown Prince's residence.
When he leisurely strolled back to the top-floor suite of the Tiandou Royal Hotel, Na'er and her group had already bought all the necessities for their trip into the mountains and were sitting in the lobby waiting for him, all ready to go.
only...
As soon as Xuan Hao pushed open the door, he keenly sensed the strange and inexplicable atmosphere in the air.
In the hall, Na'er, Xiao Wu, Zhu Zhuqing, and even Ning Rongrong, who had just returned from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, all looked up at him.
.Their eyes held neither the joy of a long-awaited reunion nor the resentment of waiting so long; instead, they revealed an extremely complex and indescribable...
eccentric.
It even contained a touch of sympathy, shock, and a strange excitement at trying to explore something indescribable.
"What's wrong?"
Xuan Hao felt a chill run down his spine under those intense gazes.
He looked at himself in confusion, "Am I wearing my clothes inside out?
Or is there something on my face?
What kind of weird looks are you giving me?"
Upon hearing his question, the girls not only did not answer, but instead, as if they had been electrocuted, they all looked away, their eyes darting around frantically.
Ning Rongrong, sitting at the very edge of the sofa, grabbed a juice glass from the table and tactically drank some water.
Her bright eyes darted around, and she looked so guilty that she practically had the words "I did something bad" etched on her forehead.
Xuan Hao immediately identified the culprit.
"Ning, Rong, Rong." Xuan Hao crossed his arms, walked up to her, and looked at her with a half-smile.
"Tell me, what have you been up to behind my back this time?"
"Cough cough...N-nothing." Ning Rongrong almost choked on her juice, her eyes darting around, refusing to look Xuan Hao in the eye.
"You're not telling the truth, are you?" Xuan Hao raised an eyebrow.
"Fine, then you can hire a carriage and slowly make your way to the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well."
"No, no, no! I'll talk, I'll talk, okay?!"
Upon hearing that she was going to be abandoned, Ning Rongrong immediately lost her composure.
She shrank back, cautiously glancing at Xuan Hao's slightly tired face, and stammered out the facts of her crime:
"Well... after I got back yesterday, we were all chatting because we were bored.
I just casually mentioned... something you told me a long time ago, and shared it with Na'er and Xiao Wu..."
Xuan Hao frowned: "Which matter?"
Ning Rongrong swallowed hard, her voice barely a whisper:
"It's what you said... His Highness Crown Prince Xue Qinghe, on the surface gentle and refined, but in reality, he might have some... unknown, extremely peculiar... fetishes..."
Xuan Hao: "..."
Seeing that Xuan Hao hadn't gotten angry, Ning Rongrong grew a little bolder and added in a low voice,
"Then, you went to the Crown Prince's residence yesterday and didn't come back for two whole days and nights.
Plus, when you came in just now, your steps seemed a little unsteady, and you looked quite tired..."
Xiao Wu, standing to the side, couldn't resist.
Her rabbit ears stood up high, her gossip spirit burning brightly, and she whispered the second half of the sentence:
"Brother, that's the Crown Prince's residence.
Once the gates are closed, you two grown men... um... you didn't suffer any losses, did you?"
Although Zhu Zhuqing didn't speak, a hint of strangeness and shock, even a touch of sympathy, flashed in her clear, cold eyes.
"..."
After hearing this extremely absurd imagining, Xuan Hao felt a wave of dizziness wash over him, and a deep sense of powerlessness instantly overwhelmed him.
He rubbed his throbbing forehead, looking at the few seemingly innocent girls in front of him whose minds had completely gone astray, and felt an unprecedented weariness in his heart.
"I said..."
Xuan Hao took a deep breath, "Can't you girls even think straight?!"
"What kind of nonsense is this!
They all seem so innocent normally, but how come they start imagining these kinds of things?!
They're all so perverted!"
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