Chapter 51: Qian Renxue and a Little Joke

The battle between Chen Ming and Yu Tianheng ended in a rather anticlimactic manner. However, Chen Ming knew very well that the aftermath triggered by this event was far from over; it was merely still in its fermenting stage.

On the afternoon of the duel, Chen Ming took a carriage to Heaven Dou City and checked into an inn. He spent the night meditating instead of sleeping, and early the next morning, he headed toward the Seven Treasures Restaurant located in the luxurious district of Heaven Dou City.

What defined a luxurious district?

Every shop along this street catered exclusively to spirit masters and nobles; ordinary people were usually stopped right at the entrance of the street. While the ground floor of every establishment had no entry restrictions, various conditions applied starting from the second floor.

Although this district was not particularly large, anyone capable of purchasing goods here was either immensely wealthy or of noble birth—and often both.

Even the people working in the shops along this street possessed certain backgrounds of their own.

These individuals were either members of prominent clans, illegitimate children of influential figures, or trusted servants cultivated since childhood. Absolute loyalty was their defining trait.

In short, this district was quite renowned even within Heaven Dou City. Those who owned a shop here were essentially figures with immense connections and capability. A single street alone was enough to elevate the average income level of the entire Heaven Dou City.

The Chen hour corresponded roughly to seven to nine in the morning. It was still early dawn, and even an imperial capital like Heaven Dou City had not yet completely awakened from its overnight slumber.

Before the Chen hour had even passed, Chen Ming arrived at the Seven Treasures Pavilion holding his invitation. Guided by the pavilion's staff, he was led to the designated meeting place with Crown Prince Xue Qinghe.

Chen Ming had originally thought he was arriving very early, but the moment he stepped into the room, he saw a youth with white hair and red pupils sitting in the seat of honor, looking at him with a smiling expression. However, judging from the crumbs at the corner of the youth's mouth and the unfinished pastries still resting on the table, the host seemingly had not expected Chen Ming to arrive quite this early.

"Brother Chen Ming has arrived quite early."

Qian Renxue, disguised as Xue Qinghe, smiled at Chen Ming, gracefully picked up a silk handkerchief from the side to wipe her mouth, and then gestured for Chen Ming to take a seat beside her.

Despite this being their very first meeting, Qian Renxue addressed him as "brother" right off the bat, acting as if she were intimately familiar with Chen Ming. If an ordinary person were in his shoes, their heart would likely skip a beat—either flattered beyond measure or thrown into a panic.

"Greetings, Your Royal Highness." Chen Ming executed a proper aristocratic greeting, then took the seat beside Qian Renxue, a faint smile on his lips and not a shred of panic in his eyes.

He appeared neither overly excited nor excessively cowed, which immediately prompted Qian Renxue to hold him in higher regard.

Having interacted with the younger generation of Heaven Dou Empire's nobility on numerous occasions, Qian Renxue knew all too well what kind of creatures those young aristocrats typically were.

"The pastries of the Seven Treasures Pavilion are peerless in Heaven Dou City, exceptionally superb even by the standards of the imperial palace. Being burdened with official duties day-to-day, I rarely find the time to taste the pastries here. Now that Brother Chen Ming has come..."

Qian Renxue clapped her hands, and a figure dressed in black suddenly materialized beside her.

The black-clad person's movements were swift and bizarre. Although they appeared out of nowhere abruptly, they left not the slightest trace behind, nor was there any fluctuation of spirit power visible on their body.

An ordinary person would likely have been startled. The slightly awkward part, however, was that Chen Ming sensed spatial fluctuations emanating from this person, instantly piercing through the essence of the trick.

This person was not a spatial-attribute spirit master; rather, they had been teleported over by another spatial-attribute spirit master or someone possessing a spatial spirit skill. The primary objective was clearly to give Chen Ming a start.

Considering that the nearby rooms showed no perceptible spirit power activity, Chen Ming surmised that down on the lower floor, a mental-attribute spirit master was likely monitoring the situation in this room, with other spirit masters standing by.

Qian Renxue had merely clapped her hands and hastily signaled the spatial-attribute spirit master to deploy their skill and send the black-clad figure up.

One had to admit that this little routine was quite ingenious.

Mental-attribute spirit masters were rare, and spatial-attribute spirit masters were even scarcer. Ordinary people indeed might not be able to pull off such a stunt.

"Go, order another portion of pastries."

"Understood." The black-clad figure nodded and vanished from the spot.

Chen Ming could sense that this spatial fluctuation was considerably more unstable than the previous one. It seemed that the spatial-attribute spirit master responsible for setting the mood was not particularly skilled in their craft, or perhaps not adept at transmitting someone from a distance to a close-range target.

"Thank you, Your Royal Highness," Chen Ming replied politely to Qian Renxue.

"Oh? You do not seem surprised by what just happened?"

Seeing Chen Ming's composed and polite demeanor, Qian Renxue could not help feeling a hint of curiosity.

This atmosphere-setting gimmick was something she had rehearsed several years ago. Outsiders seeing it for the first time were always immensely astounded.

Although it held no practical significance in reality, watching the expressions of shock on her guests' faces remained one of Qian Renxue's few forms of entertainment.

Aside from being seen through once by her nominal teacher, Ning Fengzhi, or rather, right in front of Bone Douluo who stood beside him, she had never failed with this trick before.

"Every action leaves an impact on the outside world. Although the manner in which that person appeared was quite bizarre, it was certainly not the sort of extraordinary feat beyond human imagination that a Title Douluo might perform."

"Even for a high-level expert at the Spirit Douluo rank, moving at high speed would inevitably stir up airflow. If it wasn't high-speed movement, then spirit power must have been used, yet I saw no trace of spirit power being exerted on their body."

"The first time might have been due to my failure to notice, but I paid close attention when they vanished, and the ability that made them disappear was definitely not activated by the person himself."

"If I may be so bold as to guess, Your Royal Highness likely has a mental-attribute spirit master and a spatial-attribute spirit master by your side, coordinating with one another to pull off such a feat."

"Such sharp powers of observation!" Hearing Chen Ming's detailed breakdown, Qian Renxue couldn't help clapping her hands with a smile, holding him in even higher esteem internally.

Though the underlying principle was actually quite simple, most people simply could not guess it, or rather, they didn't dare to think in that direction. To deduce this entire trick at the mere rank of a Great Spirit Master completely proved that this person's analytical and observational capabilities were extraordinarily exceptional.

Just as Qian Renxue was about to speak again, the black-clad figure suddenly flashed and materialized behind her once more. This redundant reappearance instantly left Qian Renxue's words stuck in her throat.

A clap of the hands meant a teleport; another clap meant sending them back. But... but she hadn't actually asked for a second teleport this time!

Using handclaps as secret signals—wasn't there something inherently flawed about this setup?

She had originally arranged it purely out of boredom to watch others entertain her, but this time it had backfired, turning her into the spectacle.

"Forget it, forget it. Let Brother Chen Ming laugh at my antics." Qian Renxue pressed a hand to her forehead and waved dismissively at the black-clad figure, who looked utterly at a loss for what to do, signaling him to exit through the main door.

Though clueless as to what had gone wrong, the black-clad figure felt a jolt of panic upon seeing the Crown Prince's reaction, sensing that he had somehow botched the assignment.

After bowing deeply, he slowly backed out of the room, then sprinted back to the downstairs room with twelve-tenths of his speed, directly reaching out to grab his two companions whose foreheads were covered in sweat.

"You two have utterly ruined me! The Crown Prince didn't want a second transmission at all; we completely botched this mission!"