Douluo Dalu II: I, Huo Yuhao, join Sun Moon

Douluo Dalu—Chapter 174: Meeting the Duchess

The Duchess frowned slightly: "There is no need to select suitable killers. When the assassins arrive, let them all go to the Sun-Moon Empire. The price can be negotiated."

"But we must find a way to kill Huo Yuhao," she continued. "Otherwise, when he grows up, he will inevitably become a disaster."

"No matter what, he is Brother Hao's son. If war really breaks out between the Sun-Moon Empire and the Star Luo Empire in the future—and Huo Yuhao stands firmly on the side of the Sun-Moon Empire—Brother Hao will inevitably be influenced by him."

Although she trusted Dai Hao and would not betray the Star Luo Empire, once Dai Hao met Huo Yuhao on the battlefield, he would be more or less influenced by him, which was not good for the Star Luo Empire.

Click, click.

A burst of hurried footsteps sounded outside. The Duchess subconsciously turned and looked toward the source. It was a young servant in gray cloth, with obvious anxiety on his face.

Zhang Tieshan took a step forward and stopped the servant to prevent him from approaching the Duchess. Then he asked, "What happened?"

He recognized the servant. He was the gatekeeper of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion. His main duty was to guard the gate. Of course, given the Mansion's power, there were likely multiple gatekeepers.

"Sir Zhang, a group of people in black robes are outside. They claim to be guests invited by the Duchess and want to enter the mansion to take a look," the gatekeeper explained immediately.

"Alright, I understand. Go back and bring them here now," Zhang Tieshan said with a smile, following the timing.

"Yes, Sir Zhang." The gatekeeper hurriedly left. After a moment, a group of black-robed men was led by the gatekeeper, then the gatekeeper tactfully departed and closed the door.

Looking at these black-robed men, the Duchess said calmly, "My request is very simple: kill Huo Yuhao. You all need to go to the Sun-Moon Empire."

She could send others to kill Huo Yuhao, but among her subordinates, only Zhang Tieshan was quite strong; the rest were relatively weak.

Her subordinates often helped Dai Huabin bully others, but Dai Huabin was now dead, so they naturally lost that opportunity.

Of course, since Dai Huabin was dead, she was now paying more attention to Dai Yueheng, her only surviving son. Her subordinates, except for Zhang Tieshan, had been sent to Mingdou Mountain Range to guard Dai Yueheng.

Under these circumstances, she didn't want to transfer her subordinate back just to deal with Huo Yuhao.

Although Zhang Tieshan didn't want to go to the Sun-Moon Empire, he considered the Duchess's status and said, "I will go with you. Don't worry. Madam will give you enough compensation and will not shortchange you."

Since Sun had a good reputation in the industry, many nobles cooperated with them. It was said that this assassin organization even had support from extremely rare Titled Douluo, so Zhang Tieshan didn't dare to be arrogant and spoke in a negotiating tone.

"So you want Huo Yuhao dead so badly, Duchess? Then your plan today might fail," a black-robed man spoke slowly.

The Duchess frowned. "What do you mean? As a killer, you curse my plan to fail? If the assassination fails, you will never receive any reward from me."

"It's okay. I can still earn the reward after killing you," the man said calmly, slowly removing his hood to reveal his face. The Duchess was stunned: "Are you Huo Yuhao?"

Since the Soul Fighting Competition, the Duchess had been paying attention to Huo Yuhao. His words had significantly impacted the White Tiger Duke and herself. But she never expected him to suddenly appear at the Duke's Mansion.

Although she didn't like Huo Yuhao, she was no fool. Since he was among these black robes people, it meant these others were his accomplices.

Her safety was now under threat.

Thinking quickly, she took a few steps back and tried to flee. Before fleeing, she shouted, "Zhang Tieshan, take them down!"

Zhang Tieshan immediately moved to attack Huo Yuhao. He knew he didn't have much time. Given the importance the Sun-Moon Empire placed on Huo Yuhao, it was impossible for them to simply send him to cause trouble for the Duchess.

He could only act on the principle: "The first to strike is the strongest; the last to strike will suffer." 

He aimed to temporarily control Huo Yuhao rather than kill him outright.

Once he succeeded, the other black-robed men would be hesitant to act rashly.

Before Huo Yuhao could make a move, a short, fat man in a black robe reached out and grabbed Zhang Tieshan's arm. His gentle voice came: "Yuhao wants revenge, so don't stand in his way. If you want to fight, there are many here willing to fight with you!"

Zhang Tieshan was surprised.

He sensed the other's majestic power and immediately looked at the man. His eyes fell on the toad-like skin on the other's hand and the nine soul rings floated beneath his feet.

His face changed instantly.

It was clear that the man temporarily suppressing him was the head of Illustrious Virtue Hall.

After all, the strength of a Titled Douluo plus the iconic martial soul revealed his identity.

Even the hall master was here?

Damn. It seems the information about Huo Yuhao's assassination attempt has been leaked. Could there be a traitor among the Sun?

At this moment, Huo Yuhao bypassed Zhang Tieshan and started to chase after the Duchess, who was fleeing nearby.

He wasn't worried about her escaping, as someone had been guarding the back door for a long time.

Huo Yuhao was very familiar with the structure of the Duke's Mansion.

Although in the original story, Huo Yuhao was assigned to the firewood room, Huo Yun'er sometimes talked about things related to the mansion.

And those memories had become ingrained. Under their influence, Huo Yuhao knew the layout of the mansion very well.

Sure enough, when the Duchess reached the back door and opened it, she saw a black-robed man standing outside, with nine soul rings floating beneath his feet.

There was no doubt—this was an invincible enemy. As a soul emperor, she could never match this black-robed man.

Of course, if she couldn't escape through the back door, she still had other options. She could shout for help and see if more people would come.

"Enemy attack!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

(End of this chapter)