Chapter 93: The Crown Prince

[Provincial Prodigy Ranking: Rank 18 - Liana.]

[Cultivation: Inner Scenery (Early Stage).]

[Martial Arts: Supreme Yin Physique. Flawless sword comprehension. Suspected to have grasped the rudiments of intent typically reserved for the Mystic Core realm.]

[Achievements: Current leading disciple of the Silent Thunder Sect. Slayed three Syndicate elites in the Blood Phoenix Ruins alongside Theo. Repelled Archon Zelia’s illusions despite a severe cultivation gap.]

[Titles: Aurora Sword Empress, Frost Sovereign.]

The roaring plaza fell dead silent.

The marriage proposals ceased instantly.

The crowds stared at the glowing golden text, their minds struggling to process the revelation.

A teenager in the early stages of Inner Scenery possessing flawless comprehension?

"I have been cultivating for forty years and haven’t touched sword intent," an old mercenary whispered. "Her talent defies logic."

"Wait a moment," a scholar in the crowd pointed toward the stele. "Look at the names! She fought alongside Theo in the ruins. And Theo’s title... a human furnace that accelerates his partner’s cultivation?"

"...."

"They are dual-cultivating!!"

"No wonder she is so strong! The Fortune-Bearing Consort is fueling the Aurora Sword Empress!"

The plaza erupted into a new, even more chaotic frenzy of gossip.

In the uppermost office of the Grand Bounty Pavilion, Overseer Sylvia sat behind a mahogany desk.

She sipped a cup of spiritually-infused tea, watching the Stele’s broadcast through a crystal projection array.

"Are you satisfied, Overseer?" an elder appraiser asked, standing nearby.

"The scribes paid handsomely for the dual-cultivation rumor," Sylvia noted. "However, ensure that the reports regarding the true depth of his Abyssal Forge remain classified."

She hadn’t sold all of Theo’s secrets.

During her brief scan of his energy, she sensed a primordial depth that defied standard cultivation logic.

Selling a rumor about his physique was profitable...

Leaking the existence of an anomaly capable of shaking the foundations of the province was dangerous.

"Protecting our VIP clients is good business," Sylvia murmured, setting her teacup down.

Deep beneath the capital, in a luxurious subterranean gambling den favored by corrupt aristocrats, a different mood prevailed.

Archon Zelia lounged on a velvet divan. She wore a veil of crimson silk, but it did nothing to hide the lethal sharpness of her gaze. A masked informant knelt on the floor before her.

"Silas has been captured, Archon," the informant reported. "His mental fracture triggered mid-mission. He spilled the location of the southern aqueduct exchange before the sect elders even tortured him."

Silence stretched across the room...

The Syndicate’s reputation was hemorrhaging. First, Zuo Qiuyang failed at the courier station.

Now, a sanctioned Archon’s warning had ended with a captured assassin singing to the local authorities. The Syndicate thrived on fear.

If the general populace believed the assassins could be bought off by the authorities, their aura of invincibility would crumble.

Zelia ran her fingers over the velvet divan, her mind calculating the logistics.

"Theo and Liana," Zelia whispered. The names tasted like ash on her tongue.

The province was watching.

If the Syndicate allowed two junior disciples to humiliate them repeatedly, their wealthy clients would take their contracts elsewhere.

Theo and Liana needed to die, not just as a warning, but as a public execution.

"Adjust the ledger," Zelia ordered. "Increase the bounty on both of their heads. Multiply it by ten. I want every rogue cultivator in the province hunting them."

"As you command."

Back on the balcony of the Azure Cloud Teahouse, Theo stared at the stele. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

"Frost Sovereign," Theo mused aloud.

He glanced at the girl sitting across from him. "That is quite a heavy title for someone who still refuses to eat spicy food."

Liana kept her gaze fixed on her teacup. Her fingers traced the ceramic rim. She offered no response.

Theo leaned forward, a teasing smirk tugging at his lips. He wasn’t going to let her escape the banter.

"Aurora Sword Empress. I must say, the scribes were feeling remarkably poetic today."

Liana took a slow, deliberate sip of her tea.

She set the cup down, met his gaze, and tilted her head slightly.

"The Fortune-Bearing Consort," Liana said softly.

Theo choked on his breath.

A shudder ran down his spine.

Liana’s eyes curved into a faint, victorious crescent. She had found his ultimate weakness.

"I apologize," Theo groaned, rubbing his temples in defeat. "I spoke out of turn."

Vespera roared with laughter, slapping the table so hard it splintered. "Oh, the mighty Abyssal Sword Sovereign, defeated by a single phrase!"

"Enough," Theo pleaded. "Truce. From this day forward, nobody mentions the stele’s nicknames."

He looked toward the corner of the balcony to secure a witness for the treaty.

"Elara, you are our witness," Theo said, turning to the young girl. "No one is allowed to use those titles... Elara?"

The young princess did not respond.

She was sitting on a padded stool, her hands clutching a half-eaten candied apple. Her knuckles were bone-white.

The color had drained entirely from her face, leaving her skin as pale as a corpse.

Her gray eyes were locked onto the Heavenly Mandate Stele, wide with a terror.

She was biting her bottom lip so hard that a drop of blood trickled down her chin.

Theo’s playful demeanor vanished instantly. He followed her gaze toward the center of the lake.

The stele had finished revealing the mid-tier prodigies. The final names were solidifying at the very top of the golden pillar.

[Provincial Prodigy Ranking: Rank 2 - Seris of the Heavenly Sword Manor.]

[Provincial Prodigy Ranking: Rank 1 - Aurelius.]

The crowd in the plaza fell into a reverent hush. Even the loudest mercenaries lowered their voices out of sheer respect.

Theo read the glowing description beneath the first-place name.

[Martial Arts: Possesses the True Dragon Physique and the Emperor’s Sword Bone. Born with divine grace. Capable of drawing upon the destiny of the empire to fuel his inner scenery. Mastered the Dragon Transformation Art and the Imperial Edict Sword Technique.]

[Achievements: Undefeated among peers. Captured a colossal beast from the Northern Seas alive. Engaged in a three-day duel with the former first-ranked prodigy—the Holy Son of the Demonic Sect—and achieved a breakthrough mid-battle to permanently cripple him.]

Vespera stopped laughing.

She took a long drag from her wine gourd, her expression turning uncharacteristically grim.

"The Emperor’s Sword Bone," she muttered. "It allows the wielder to bypass the natural limitations of the physical body. A child born with that bone is destined to either unite the empire or burn it to the ground."

Theo narrowed his eyes. The description was absurd...

The power scaling of the True Dragon Physique alone meant this Aurelius was likely capable of fighting Mystic Core elders to a standstill.

But it was the lack of a surname that caught Theo’s attention.

Only the Imperial Family omitted their surnames in provincial records.

"Elara," Theo said softly.

He stepped forward, placing a reassuring hand on the trembling girl’s shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Elara flinched at his touch. She desperately wiped the blood from her lip, her chest heaving as she struggled to draw breath.

"I... I am... fine," she stammered.

Liana stood up from the table. She moved to Elara’s other side, placing a hand on the girl’s back.

"That is the Crown Prince of the Central Dynasty," Liana murmured, projecting her voice directly into Theo’s mind via qi transmission to avoid alerting the nearby patrons.

Theo stared at the glowing golden name at the pinnacle of the stele.

Aurelius.

He was the undisputed strongest prodigy of their generation. He possessed the bloodline, the resources, and the unyielding destiny of a future emperor.

He was Elara’s brother... though how an imperial prince’s sister had ended up in a slave cage, Theo had yet to uncover.

And judging by the sheer terror radiating from the little princess... he was her deepest nightmare.