Spirit Hall's Men Were Beaten by the Pope's Shadow

Torches lit the courtyard of the grade-A private room.

Li Chuan, captain of the enforcement squad, stood in the middle of the courtyard with a hand on his saber. Two yellow Soul Rings and one purple rose beneath his feet, and the presence of a level-thirty-five Soul Tyrant bore down on the door. "Qin Zhaoye of Perching Swan Academy is suspected of stealing property confiscated by the branch! Tie the bastard up!"

"You kick my door in at this hour of the night. Where's the branch's written authorization?"

Qin Zhaoye stepped out of the room. A bronze scroll unfurled in his palm, and two purple Thousand-Year Soul Rings lit up beneath his feet.

"Two Thousand-Year Soul Rings?!"

The enforcement squad's vice captain's eyelids twitched. "Captain, didn't the intelligence say he was only level twenty-four? But how did his Soul Power get so much stronger?"

"Who cares what level he is? Form up and cripple his legs first!"

At Li Chuan's command, more than a dozen squad members charged at once. The front rank blocked the way with sabers and shields, while the rear rank sent iron chains snaking toward Qin Zhaoye's waist.

Qin Zhaoye's First Soul Ring lit up.

First Soul Skill, Historical Brush Errata!

Half a breath before the two men at his front left swung their sabers, golden lines appeared on the page, clearly marking where the blades and iron chains would land. Qin Zhaoye stepped half a pace diagonally aside, and his Second Soul Ring flashed immediately afterward.

Second Soul Skill, Folded Page!

He vanished into thin air and appeared in the blink of an eye at a corner of the courtyard, a hundred feet away, right behind three men controlling the field.

"He's behind us!"

The vice captain hurriedly flung out an iron chain.

Qin Zhaoye snapped the scroll shut and used it as a short staff, striking the nerve in the wrist of the man beside him. The iron chain flew out of control and even tripped two of the man's comrades.

With Historical Brush Errata letting him read attacks half a breath ahead, Qin Zhaoye flashed through their ranks again once Folded Page's cooldown ended. After a dozen or so exchanges, the elite squad lay scattered across the ground.

"Everyone, out of the way!"

Li Chuan lost his temper completely. Purple light surged from his Third Soul Ring, and he leaped ten feet into the air, gripping his saber in both hands as he chopped down. "Third Soul Skill, Wind-Rending Slash!"

The wind from the blade cracked the bluestone paving and sealed off every escape route. Qin Zhaoye had used Folded Page twice in succession, and the Soul Skill was still on cooldown.

Qin Zhaoye reached into his sleeve case with his right hand, drew out the dark-gold fragment of a page he had just bought, and unfurled it toward the sky!

Historical Evidence Afterimage: One!

The illusory figure of a young girl appeared in midair, clad in the old-style purple-and-gold robes of the Papal Palace. Six black-purple Spider Spears spread out behind her, and a strike scaled to the Pope's strength in her youth came crashing down!

Li Chuan, still in midair, saw the form of that Martial Soul clearly and cried out, his voice cracking:

"Lord Pope?!"

As soon as he shouted, Li Chuan himself froze.

His Holiness the Pope should have been far away in Spirit City. How had she turned into the shadow of a girl in her teens and popped out to beat up her own people?!

At the courtyard gate, the vice captain heard the shout and dropped to one knee with a smack, as though by reflex. He had only gotten halfway through "Greetings" when the purple-and-gold figure shattered the saber light with a slap!

A blast swept through the courtyard. Li Chuan and his saber smashed through the courtyard wall, and a mouthful of blood sprayed three feet from his lips.

Her strike delivered, the girl's illusory figure dissolved into specks of golden light. The single-use killing move he had bought for fifteen hundred Talking Capital was spent.

Qin Zhaoye dusted off his sleeves and looked at the vice captain, who was kneeling on one knee. "Still going to tie me up?"

The vice captain looked at his unconscious brothers strewn across the courtyard, then at Li Chuan, who was fleeing for his life outside the wall. He scrambled over the threshold on hands and feet, not even daring to pick up his saber.

Once the courtyard fell quiet, Qin Zhaoye opened the scroll, and two golden frames burst onto the public screen in succession.

[Historical deviation announcement · footnote level] The footnote in "Official History of the First Era: Suotuo Dossier" originally read: "The branch enforcement squad patrolled Suotuo's academies at night. All was orderly, and no resistance was encountered." Current progress: deviated. Enforcement captain Li Chuan led his squad in a night raid on Perching Swan Academy and was defeated on the spot by Qin Zhaoye. The squad was wiped out. This footnote has been marked for revision.

That was all the history book said, but things outside were not so simple. The fight had alerted the neighbors, and by early the next morning, ten versions of the story were circulating at the tea stalls, because quite a few locals had peered over the walls that night and seen Spirit Hall's men being thrashed by a purple-and-gold shadow. Some said Perching Swan's monstrous newcomer was the Pope's illegitimate son; others said Spirit Hall had fallen into infighting and summoned an ancestor's shadow to beat up its own people. That, however, came later.

All was orderly, and no resistance was encountered? Qin Zhaoye glanced at the gaping hole in the courtyard wall and couldn't help laughing.

[Golden notice: Footnote-level historical deviation confirmed. Group leader credited with 300 Talking Capital.]

Two more messages popped up from the Group Hub. The people in the group had been waiting for the second one.

[Group Hub: The scene of the deviation has been automatically transcribed. The live post has been pinned beneath the announcement.]

[Group Hub: A Spirit Hall Branch enforcement squad has been detected conducting an overnight search in Suotuo City. The historical wager "Will Bibi Dong take action in reality to investigate the group leader?" has been officially decided. The result is "Action"! Payout and settlement will now proceed!]

[Golden notice: Historical wager payout. Prize pool: 1,000 Talking Capital. The group leader takes a ten percent commission and is credited with 100 Talking Capital.]

The moment the statement appeared, the three in the group erupted. After all, two of them had wagered on action.

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: Payout time hahaha! I put three hundred on action and got more than three hundred eighty back, stake and winnings included.]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: I put four hundred on action and got five hundred fourteen.]

In his dormitory at Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy, Tang San had no mind to watch these descendants divide their winnings. He was still staring at the footnote-level deviation announcement. He lowered his head and looked at the back of his left hand; the words "Blue Silver Emperor" still hadn't been wiped off.

How many does that make now? The words "nothing of note" about Suotuo City had long since turned gray. The branch had raided the western outskirts and come up empty, turning another entry gray. And tonight, the entire enforcement squad had been wiped out.

The things recorded in the history book really could change along with the living.

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: @The Bystander Sees Clearly, Brother Huo, come out and show yourself? Who was it who said the Pope cared about appearances and definitely wouldn't take action? That three hundred went down the drain, didn't it?]

A long while passed before Huo Yuhao showed himself. His first message was just two words.

[The Bystander Sees Clearly: Miscalculated.]

[The Bystander Sees Clearly: I was right about the Pope's concern for appearances, but I didn't expect her subordinates to move overnight. They handed us this hard proof themselves.]

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: I feel sorry for Brother Huo for three seconds. All right, three seconds are up. But Qin Zhaoye really is fierce. He even dared to turn the tables on a Spirit Hall enforcement squad, and changed a footnote in the history book just like that.]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Of course. He does have the title of greatest source of deviation hanging over his head, after all. @Tang San, did you see that, Grandmaster? The words in the history book aren't set in stone.]

Then what about Father, Tang Hao, still being alive? What right do I have to keep pretending I don't know, and obediently go to Shrek along the path laid out in the history book?

He typed a line into the input box and deleted it, then typed another and deleted that too. He went back and forth three times. The sentence he finally settled on wasn't very long. He glanced at the member list again. Bibi Dong's name was still there, and though he hesitated, he pressed send in the end.

[Tang San: After graduation, I'm not going straight to Shrek. I'll find my dad first and get some answers, then go to Shrek.]

He had barely sent the message and hadn't even had time to regret it when the light screen shook violently. An enormous golden frame crashed into the center of the public screen!

[Historical deviation announcement · paragraph level] "Official History of the First Era: Annals of Tang San" originally read: "At twelve, Tang San graduated from Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy and went straight to Suotuo City to enroll at Shrek Academy." Current progress: deviated. Tang San has decided to find his father and confront him after graduation, then proceed to Shrek. This paragraph has been marked for revision.

Tang San stared blankly at the light screen, not blinking for a long time. The Annals of Tang San—that's about me, isn't it? It had turned gray too.

[Group Hub: Due to the paragraph-level historical deviation, the historical wager "Will Tang San still enter Shrek as recorded in the history book?" has triggered an itinerary variable. This wager has officially entered "overtime." Switching sides and additional wagers are now open!]

Then another thousand Talking Capital appeared in Tang San's account, and he stared in surprise.

By then, though, the other three in the group were already in an uproar.

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: A paragraph-level one already! Grandmaster is personally stepping onto the field to change his fate. And if he finds his father before going to school, then my bet that he "won't go to Shrek" still has a chance. I'm putting another two hundred on it in overtime.]

Tang Wulin grew anxious and quickly typed a line.

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: Read what he actually said! Grandmaster said, "I'll find my dad first and get some answers, then go to Shrek." So he'll definitely still go in the end. I'm putting all three hundred eighty I just won into overtime and sticking with entering as usual.]

Huo Yuhao slowly showed himself. He actually felt he had a chance this time.

[The Bystander Sees Clearly: But what if he finds Clear Sky Douluo along the way, and father and son go straight into seclusion for special training? No one can say for sure. I'm switching sides this time, two hundred on him not going.]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Brother Huo has finally seen the light. Place your bets, no more changes!]

[Group leader: The overtime channel is open. Switch sides as you please; no credit will be extended.]

Qin Zhaoye closed the scroll, then glanced toward the corner at the far end of the long street.

In the shadows at the street corner, Luo Tan had followed the torchlight from the south of the city and seen the purple-and-gold figure sweep through the enforcement squad from beginning to end.

Without even looking at the secret report she had drafted on the way, she burned it to nothing with a wisp of foxfire. Then she took out another sheet of secret paper and wrote a line:

"Qin Zhaoye did not leave the academy that night."

She had changed her report, but she was not the only covert agent in Suotuo City. That night, an urgent jade slip from another agent was still delivered to a desk in the Papal Palace. A sentence was appended to the end of the battle report:

"That afterimage bore the form of your Martial Soul in your youth."

Bibi Dong stared at the line, tapping her fingertips gently on the desk without stopping for a long while.