Fierce Reaction

The days passed one by one. As the stars shifted and time turned, nearly a year had gone by before anyone realized it.

Over the past six months, Xia Tianling would wander over to the Worship Hall whenever he had nothing to do. On the surface, he was seeking Qian Daoliu's guidance; in truth, he was secretly chatting with Qian Renxue.

After going back and forth like this, the two gradually became familiar with each other. With the help of Mind Interference, Xia Tianling had long since managed to learn about the undercover operation from Qian Renxue herself.

As it happened, Crown Prince Xue Qinghe of the Heavenly Dou Empire had died of illness the previous year. However, Spirit Hall had not been responsible for it—he had died of natural causes.

After giving it some thought, Great Enshrined Qian Daoliu decided to play along with the situation. He handed the Angel Suit to Qian Renxue and had her disguise herself as Xue Qinghe, intending to eventually seize the empire.

As for Qian Renxue, she resolutely chose to undertake the mission of infiltrating Heavenly Dou because she wanted to prove herself to her mother.

To prevent others from discovering that Xue Qinghe had been replaced, Qian Renxue simply returned to Spirit City under the pretext of cultivation and rarely showed herself within the Heavenly Dou Empire.

This explained why Xia Tianling had been able to find Qian Renxue so often in the Worship Hall over the past year. It also explained why, in the Original Work, Qian Renxue had been able to remain undercover for more than a decade without the Xue Family discovering her.

As for how Qian Renxue had gone undercover during the previous years, that was unknown. But it was not important, was it?

Back to the present.

Every six days, the students cultivating at Spirit Hall Academy received one day off. Whenever that day came, Xia Tianling would take the opportunity to head to the Worship Hall and chat with Qian Renxue.

After half a year of contact and all sorts of subtle probing, Xia Tianling had already figured out Qian Renxue's nature.

At this point, she was merely a little girl yearning for her mother's love and approval. Though she had some ability, she was still worlds apart from the stunning yet obsessive woman in the Original Work's timeline, who possessed both formidable methods and cultivation.

It had to be said that this made Xia Tianling's upcoming mother-daughter reconciliation plan much easier. In the original timeline, Bibi Dong had still retained a trace of motherly affection for Qian Renxue. She simply could not take the initiative to let go because of her pride and certain issues everyone understood.

Qian Renxue, however, was much harder to deal with. The Qian Renxue of the original timeline had harbored more than a decade of hatred toward Bibi Dong, and that was not something that could be easily erased. That was why Xia Tianling had saved up such a large amount of Fate Power from the beginning: to change this situation in one stroke.

Now, things were much better. He only needed to spend a tiny bit of Fate Power to achieve his goal.

As usual, Xia Tianling chatted with Qian Renxue about everyday life, but gradually steered the conversation toward family affection, repeating the same roundabout points over and over.

Yet the core message behind all his words was only one: "A child with a mother is like a precious treasure. I truly envy you for having Blood Relatives."

Seeing that Qian Renxue had already been led into an emotional, empathetic state, Xia Tianling silently communicated with the system and activated a standard amount of Mind Interference.

"Sister Xue, I actually think Teacher Bibi Dong must still love you. It's just... perhaps she has some unspeakable difficulty." Xia Tianling softly said, "Whenever she is not cultivating, I often see Teacher staring blankly in the direction of the Worship Hall by herself. She is probably missing you."

"What mother would not love her own child? Think about the complicated look in her eyes whenever she sees you. There must be affection for you in it."

"Think about how she and your grandfather argue every time they meet. Doesn't that seem suspicious? Besides, Great Enshrined Grandpa always gives in to her. There must be something going on!"

Xia Tianling guided her step by step, like a devil's whisper and an angel's soft chant. Empowered by Mind Interference, Qian Renxue dazedly agreed.

"It does seem... like there's a problem."

"Sister Xue, look. Your name is Qian Renxue, Great Enshrined Grandpa is named Qian Daoliu, and my Teacher's teacher—the previous Pope—was named Qian Xunji."

Before Xia Tianling had even finished speaking, Qian Renxue immediately understood. Her beautiful eyes widened.

"You mean... the previous Pope, Qian Xunji, was actually my father? But... but that would be... that violates all morality and ethics! How could that be possible?"

"The truth is already obvious. The previous Pope must have done something to wrong your mother, causing her to hate your grandfather—and even you." Xia Tianling spread his hands. "But she must still have feelings for you. Otherwise, she wouldn't..."

"I'm going to ask Grandpa and get to the bottom of this!" Qian Renxue abruptly stood up and, ignoring Xia Tianling's attempts to stop her, rushed out to find Qian Daoliu.

Qian Renxue had turned twelve this year and had only broken through to the Soul Ancestor realm a few days ago. With a full set of Angel Bones enhancing her, how could Xia Tianling possibly stop her?

Xia Tianling, who had been flung aside, was somewhat dumbfounded. Little Xue's reaction was way too intense! This had already gone somewhat beyond the extent he had anticipated.

"Sigh, Little Xue, don't make a fuss. Grandpa will tell you what happened back then."

An aged, imposing voice resounded through the air. It was none other than Spirit Hall's Great Enshrined, the Angel Douluo, Qian Daoliu.

The suddenly appearing Qian Daoliu soothed the agitated Qian Renxue, then turned to look at Xia Tianling, who was sitting on the ground nearby, with a complicated gaze.

"To possess such meticulous thoughts at this age, and to infer the truth from a mere trace of evidence—you truly deserve to be called a genius."

Hearing Qian Daoliu's praise, Xia Tianling felt a little embarrassed and slightly lowered his head.

He could hardly say that he had read the Original Work, could he? He was merely reciting what he had read.

"Actually, Little Tianling, you had already guessed the truth, hadn't you? You simply did not tell Little Xue the facts out of consideration for your Teacher and me, instead intending to guide her gradually." Qian Daoliu spoke calmly. "If you were not a friend rather than an enemy, this old man would truly wish to kill you here. Fortunately, you belong to Spirit Hall."

Xia Tianling listened and gently nodded.

Sure enough, Qian Daoliu, who had become both a Limit Douluo and Spirit Hall's Angel Great Enshrined, was not some fool who had lived for a hundred years in vain. At a glance, he had seen through Xia Tianling's thoughts completely.

But why was he so certain that Xia Tianling was a friend rather than an enemy?

Strange. Very strange.

He was the Angel Douluo, not some psychology PhD Douluo! It was not as though he possessed a mind-reading skill!

Forget it. Qian Daoliu showing him goodwill was ultimately a good thing. He would take things one step at a time.

With that thought, he silently rose to his feet, bowed to Qian Daoliu, and then withdrew from the Worship Hall, leaving the remaining time to Qian Renxue, who had suffered a bit of a shock.

It seemed he had caused Qian Daoliu some trouble? It would probably be awkward for him to tell Qian Renxue about something like this, wouldn't it?

But what did that have to do with him? Was it not all because Qian Xunji, that Chamber Douluo son of his, had been a bastard? He truly did not know how a family that served as representatives of the Angel God of light had raised such a depraved beast.

This was the harm of possessing strength while lacking a Dao Heart!

Xia Tianling once again lamented the importance of proper education and the warped nature of the Soul Master cultivation system.

The consequence of cultivating only power and not the heart was the emergence of scum like Qian Xunji!