Arrival at the Tears of the Sky

"Your Holiness!"

Just as Bibi Dong was deep in thought, hurried footsteps suddenly rang out.

Ghost Leopard Douluo rushed in and landed in the center of the hall in the blink of an eye, his expression panicked.

"Your Holiness the Pope! Something terrible has happened!"

Bibi Dong returned to her usual indifferent expression and frowned.

"What has you so panicked?"

"Elder Golden Crocodile... was gravely wounded and is at death's door!"

Those few words crashed into the empty hall.

The air froze in an instant.

A flicker of incredulous surprise passed through Bibi Dong's eyes.

Golden Crocodile Douluo was a Level 98 Super Douluo, one of the Elder Hall's strongest fighters, and had guarded Spirit Hall for decades.

Across the entire Douluo Continent, opponents who could reliably overpower Golden Crocodile were few and far between. Even dreaming of injuring him was almost a tale from the Arabian Nights.

"The cause." Bibi Dong's voice was cold and measured, though turmoil lay beneath it.

Ghost Leopard Douluo raised his head, his expression growing more grave.

"Your Holiness, do you remember the Church of the Old Ones I reported to you about before?"

Bibi Dong's eyes flickered, and she nodded slightly.

She remembered the secretive sect lurking in the shadows of the continent, its movements shrouded in mystery.

"The Church of the Old Ones has recently been very active among the people of the continent, spreading rumors, sowing panic, recruiting followers from the lower classes, and secretly building up its power."

"Elder Golden Crocodile noticed something was amiss and personally led a team to wipe out a Church of the Old Ones stronghold, intending to uproot the threat in one stroke."

Ghost Leopard Douluo spoke rapidly, every word heavy.

"With Elder Golden Crocodile's Level 98 strength, we thought nothing could possibly go wrong—that he would crush and suppress them!"

"But who could have imagined that just two missionaries from the Church of the Old Ones would be terrifyingly powerful!"

"One called herself a witch, and the other called himself a prophet!"

"The two joined forces and transformed into a giant body tens of meters tall to face Elder Golden Crocodile head-on!"

"Throughout the battle, the giant switched between multiple forms and unleashed countless bizarre and unfathomable special abilities!"

"They overwhelmed him with strength, suppressed him with speed, and used bizarre techniques!"

"Elder Golden Crocodile was completely countered throughout the fight, unable to strike back at all. In the end, he was grievously wounded and driven into a wretched retreat!"

Every word reached Bibi Dong's ears.

A towering wave of shock swept through her mind.

A Level 98 Super Douluo!

One of the continent's very strongest!

Yet he had been crushed head-on and gravely wounded by missionaries from an unknown sect!

What did that mean?

It meant their true cultivation was absolutely above Level 98!

Bibi Dong's mind churned wildly, her thoughts reeling.

She knew every one of the Douluo Continent's top experts.

Titled Douluo, Limit Douluo, reclusive masters—she had missed none.

When had terrifying monsters of this caliber appeared on the continent out of thin air?

Far beyond Level 98!

That had already touched the ceiling of the Limit Douluo realm!

They might even... have reached the realm of Level 99 Peerless Douluo!

Unknown powerhouses, a secretive sect, and bizarre fighting power!

An inexplicable chill crept up Bibi Dong's spine.

Spirit Hall had ruled the continent for years, yet for the first time, an unknown threat had appeared beyond its control.

The atmosphere in the hall was suffocating.

Ghost Leopard Douluo spoke again, dropping an even more shocking secret.

"Your Holiness, the informant I planted in the Elder Hall sent back a top-secret message."

"On the verge of defeat, Elder Golden Crocodile may have glimpsed the Church of the Old Ones' core secret!"

"The sect worships an evil god!"

"According to secret records, this evil god has countless ties to the being Ning Xuanyuan prophesied would destroy the entire world in the future!"

"The information comes from confidential internal files of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. It is highly credible!"

Boom!

Another thunderbolt exploded in Bibi Dong's mind.

Her mind was shaken to its core a second time, and wariness and fear spread through her entire body.

Two ordinary missionaries already possessed enough fighting power to crush the Level 98 Golden Crocodile Douluo.

Then how terrifyingly powerful was the evil god they worshipped?

An evil god!

It dared call itself an evil god!

It feared neither heaven and earth nor the rules!

Could it be... that this power did not belong to the mortal world at all?

Was it truly a god-level being from the Divine Realm, one that had transcended the plane of the Douluo Continent?!

At that thought, Bibi Dong's presence grew utterly heavy.

All indifference vanished from her eyes, leaving only profound gravity and wariness.

A secretive sect lurking in the shadows, worshipping a god, and possessing several subordinates whose fighting power surpassed that of Limit Douluo was simply too terrifying.

And its claws had already spread into Spirit City, right under her nose!

Bibi Dong said in a grave voice, "Pass down my order. All Titled Douluo are to return to Spirit Hall at once for a meeting. No delays!"

Ghost Leopard Douluo cupped his hands. "Yes."

At the summit of the Far North.

The Snow Empress brought Qian Lingye to the deepest part of the temple.

A frigid pool, so clear that its bottom was visible, lay quietly before them.

Its water was crystal clear, yet an extreme, eternal cold flowed through it, freezing even the air until it warped.

This was the Tears of the Sky.

The cold here was terrifying. Ordinary Soul Masters and Soul Beasts needed only to come within three zhang of it for their very souls to freeze in an instant, turning them into ice sculptures.

Even an overlord like the Titan Snow Demon King, nearly 300,000 years old, did not dare touch the water lightly.

Only the Snow Empress's ice and snow origin could protect Qian Lingye and allow him to stand there unharmed.

The Ice Empress followed close behind, staring coldly at Qian Lingye as she spoke in an icy voice:

"Don't indulge in wishful thinking."

"The Tears of the Sky produces only one drop every ten thousand years, containing the purest ice and snow origin of heaven and earth."

"In the entire Far North, only my elder sister and I have the Ice and Snow Goddess's approval and can touch it."

"If you dare touch it, your soul will freeze in an instant, and you'll die without an intact corpse!"

Those words were no empty threat.

The Tears of the Sky was a sacred treasure of the Far North, and its law excluded all others.

Apart from the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress, anything that touched it would die, without exception.

The Snow Empress also spoke at that moment, her tone solemn:

"Take our advice and stop here."

"The Tears of the Sky was formed from the ancient Ice and Snow Goddess. Only a divine body of the purest ice and snow can contain it."

"Bing'er can touch it only because I bestowed my blessing on her. You don't have the slightest trace of ice and snow origin. If you force contact with it, you will surely die."

Qian Lingye raised his eyes and fixed his gaze on the frigid pool. "I have to at least try."

Both women's expressions darkened. They took him for an arrogant fool courting death.

But in the next second, the snowflake mark on Qian Lingye's arm, dormant for so long, suddenly burned hot!

The searing heat pierced his flesh and poured straight into his soul!

Restlessness, exhilaration, resonance!

The response was stronger than ever before, far surpassing the previous two times the tokens had awakened!

Qian Lingye was instantly certain.

That's right!

This is the third Old Ones token!

He ignored the two women's attempts to stop him, ignored the laws of the Far North, and ignored their warnings of life and death.

Qian Lingye lifted his foot and walked straight toward the frigid pool.

"You don't know whether to live or die!" the Ice Empress snapped, nothing but mockery left in her eyes.

The Snow Empress's heart tightened, and she prepared to break the ice and save him.

The instant Qian Lingye's fingertip touched the water—

Hum—!

Extreme cold swept through his entire body in an instant!

Frost spread wildly from his fingertip, visible to the naked eye. In an instant, it completely sealed Qian Lingye in ice, turning him into a perfect ice sculpture.

The Ice Empress sneered. "You brought this on yourself!"

But in the very next instant, a sight that defied everything they knew suddenly unfolded.

The ice covering his body did not tear his flesh apart or freeze his soul.

Instead, like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, it melted rapidly and burrowed frantically into his body through the pores of his skin!

He recklessly devoured and absorbed the essence of extreme cold filling the air and the sacred treasure's origin.

The speed, the efficiency!

Both far surpassed those of the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress.

The mocking smile on the Ice Empress's face instantly froze. Her pupils contracted, and her face filled with utter disbelief!

"This... how is this possible?!"