I Hate Spirit Hall

Xuan Hao stared at the pitch-black street for a while. His ragged breathing gradually steadied, but the fear in his eyes had not fully faded.

Whether it was a ghost did not matter. What mattered was that, in that instant, every cell in his body had screamed at him—that thing posed a fatal threat to him!

Ghost or not, he had to run!

"Little brother, what are you doing out here alone so late at night?" Bibi Dong asked softly.

Xuan Hao took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his guilt as he pretended to remain calm. "I... I just finished eating! I ate too much, so I came out for a walk to digest my food."

Bibi Dong raised an eyebrow slightly but did not expose his clumsy lie. Instead, she asked, "What about the adults in your family? Why have they not come looking for you so late at night?"

"Adults?" Xuan Hao thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I don't know. They're probably dead. Anyway, I haven't seen them since I was old enough to remember."

Bibi Dong narrowed her phoenix eyes and continued questioning him. "Then where do you live? Shall Elder Sister take you home?"

Xuan Hao frowned slightly.

Are you checking my household registration?

Unsolicited kindness hides ulterior motives!

Without drawing attention to it, he took a step back and opened up a safe distance between them, his gaze full of vigilance. "Elder Sister, you may be pretty, but we don't know each other. Why are you asking so many questions?"

Bibi Dong was about to speak again when Xuan Hao suddenly threw out a sentence. "Um... I'm pretty much done digesting. Goodbye!"

Before he had even finished speaking, Xuan Hao turned and ran. He was so fast that he had dashed more than ten meters away in the blink of an eye.

Watching the small, thin figure vanish into the distance, the smile on Bibi Dong's lips finally widened.

No background, no family, not even a place to live.

A wild genius with a top-tier Martial Soul and extraordinary talent.

What a treasure to find while out and about!

"Trying to run?"

Bibi Dong chuckled. Her body did not move, yet she instantly vanished from where she stood.

Xuan Hao felt the back of his neck tighten, and his entire body was lifted into the air as though he were floating through clouds.

"Damn it—let go of me!"

No matter how he kicked and struggled, the hand gripping his collar remained utterly unmoved.

The scenery before his eyes shifted rapidly. After only a few breaths, when Xuan Hao's feet touched solid ground again, he was no longer on the dark street. Instead, he stood in an extravagantly furnished room with soft carpets laid across the floor.

Bibi Dong sat elegantly on the sofa, her long legs crossed as she looked down at the bewildered Xuan Hao.

Hu Liena stood obediently behind her, curiously examining the "little beggar" whom her teacher had personally captured and brought back.

"Let's introduce ourselves properly."

Bibi Dong propped up her chin with one hand. She had lost some of her earlier friendliness, replaced by the unquestionable authority of someone in power.

"I am Bibi Dong, the current Pope of Spirit Hall."

"..."

Xuan Hao froze.

Although he had guessed that this woman was no ordinary person and had vaguely found her familiar, he truly had not expected to walk straight into the BOSS's line of fire like this.

The room fell into a brief dead silence.

Several seconds later, Xuan Hao blinked and carefully squeezed out a sentence.

"Um... should I kneel?"

"Pfft—"

Bibi Dong, who had worn a solemn expression moments ago, was amused by the child's sudden thought process and could not help laughing aloud.

"No need." Bibi Dong waved her hand, seemingly in quite a good mood.

"When I caught you just now, I examined your bone age. You are only six years old."

"Your body is brimming with Soul Power. Although your meridians are somewhat obstructed and you clearly have never cultivated through meditation, this is indeed Innate Full Soul Power."

"With such talent and such a powerful Martial Soul, if you had awakened through Spirit Hall, reports would have been submitted layer by layer long ago, and you might even have been sent directly to me."

"Tell me, why did you appear alone in such a dangerous place as the Star Dou Great Forest? And what is going on with your Martial Soul?"

Since his secret had already been exposed, Xuan Hao knew he could not hide it any longer.

He sat cross-legged on the floor, lowered his gaze, and spoke in a tone that was half truth and half lie. "A few days ago, I awakened my Martial Soul in the village. Back then... the awakening ceremony failed. The deacon said that I had no Soul Power and no Martial Soul."

Bibi Dong frowned slightly but did not interrupt him.

"That night, the village was attacked by wolf bandits." Xuan Hao's voice lowered. "I almost died. Just as one of those wolf bandits was about to bite through my neck... I don't remember what happened either. My mind overheated, and I lost consciousness."

"When I woke up again, all those wolf bandits were dead. I discovered that I seemed to have become stronger, and I found more than a dozen Gold Soul Coins on their bodies."

"The villagers looked at me as if I were a monster, so I ran away. But I didn't understand anything. I just thought I'd try my luck in the Star Dou Great Forest and see if I could get myself a Soul Ring."

A flash of understanding appeared in Bibi Dong's eyes.

Martial Soul awakenings triggered by extreme emotional stimulation were rare, but not without precedent, especially for Beast Spirits.

Moreover, that terrifying Dragon Spirit could indeed easily cause slaughter when it went out of control.

"Since that is the case... since you have already awakened, why did you not report to a local Spirit Hall branch? With your talent, you would immediately receive the best training as soon as you went there."

Xuan Hao fell silent.

Why didn't I go?

What nonsense. Going there would be the same as signing away my life!

Not to mention Tang Hao, who might emerge at any time carrying the Clear Sky Hammer and start smashing people, there was also the open and covert struggle between the Papal Palace and Worship Hall within Spirit Hall.

As a genius possessing top-tier Twin Dragon Spirits, once he entered Spirit Hall, he might very well be dragged into the political struggle between those two factions. He might not even know how he died.

Besides, he was a man!

Bibi Dong might look normal now, but she was crazy to the core. She treated Hu Liena well because she was raising her like a daughter.

Him? He was a man!

For all he knew, Bibi Dong might suddenly lose her mind one day and stab him to death.

In comparison, the Heaven Dou Empire was the real answer.

The current Heaven Dou Crown Prince, "Xue Qinghe," was Qian Renxue in disguise!

As long as he made it to Heaven Dou City and found a way to cling to "His Highness the Crown Prince," he would have the Spirit Hall Young Master's background as an invisible shield, the resources of the Heaven Dou Empire, and no need to directly face Spirit Hall's messes.

Most importantly, Heaven Dou City had Dugu Bo and the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well!

The closer one is to the water, the sooner one catches the moonlight.

"Speak."

Seeing Xuan Hao remain silent for so long, Bibi Dong lightly tapped the table. "What are you worried about?"

Xuan Hao picked at the expensive carpet, as though he were engaged in an intense mental struggle.

At this moment, no matter what excuse he fabricated, if he showed even the slightest resistance toward Spirit Hall because of "benefits" or "fear," it would arouse Bibi Dong's suspicions.

Only emotion—only that childish, unreasonable emotion—could serve as the perfect cover.

He sniffed and lowered his head.

"The village chief told me that my parents... were once Soul Masters of Spirit Hall."

Bibi Dong paused slightly. "And then?"

"Then there was no then." Xuan Hao tightly twisted his hands together. "Before I was old enough to remember, they accepted a mission from Spirit Hall and left. After that, they never came back."

"Everyone in the village said they sacrificed themselves for Spirit Hall's glory. But... some people secretly told me that they weren't dead."

"They said the outside world was wonderful, that my parents must have gone to live good lives in a big city, that they thought I was a burden and did not want me anymore, so they threw me in the village to fend for myself."

"So... I hate Spirit Hall! Whether they died or abandoned me, it was because of Spirit Hall! Why should I still go to that place?"

After saying this, Xuan Hao lowered his head again, looking like a dead pig that feared no boiling water—whether they killed or tortured him was entirely up to them.

Those words were half true and half false, but the logic was airtight.

In the Spirit Master World, where mortality rates were extremely high, people disappearing while carrying out missions was simply too common.

And for a six-year-old child left behind in a village, the resentment of being "abandoned," or of having parents die in service without any explanation, was enough to become the strongest reason to reject Spirit Hall.

The room fell into a long silence.

The way Hu Liena looked at Xuan Hao had completely changed. There was sympathetic pity in her eyes, the feeling of one who shared the same affliction. She was also an orphan. If her teacher had not taken her in, her fate might likewise have been filled with hardship.

As for Bibi Dong, the fingers gripping her scepter tightened slightly.

She looked at the stubborn child before her. All the threats and inducements she had prepared suddenly became impossible to say.

This reason sounded childish and emotional.

But for a six-year-old child, it made perfect sense.

Spirit Hall truly was a cold-blooded machine that could sacrifice anything and conceal anything for the sake of so-called "greater justice" and "Angel Glory."

If it had been any other reason, she might have believed that the child was lying or hiding something.

But this reason... was too real. So real that it stirred an inexplicable irritation within her.