Heaven Dou City
By the time Xue Qinghe pushed open the gates of the Crown Prince's Mansion, the sky was nearly dark.
He rubbed his throbbing temples, feeling that the old guys in court had been particularly difficult to deal with today.
Every one of them had probed indirectly, hiding daggers in their words.
"Exhausting."
He muttered under his breath, tugging at his tightly fastened collar.
The corridor was long and empty, his footsteps echoing with soft taps.
All he wanted now was to shed this disguise and catch his breath.
The study looked as it always did, piled high with official documents.
He walked to the innermost bookshelf and pressed his hand against the spine of the Imperial Codex on the third shelf.
Click.
A Secret Door slid open a crack.
He had barely stepped inside when—
"Mom!!!"
A little golden cannonball charged straight at him and slammed solidly into his arms.
Xue Qinghe's entire body went rigid.
He looked down.
It was a little girl of about six years old.
Her golden hair was tied into two little buns, and her bright eyes looked up at him.
She smiled like a sunflower.
But there was a problem.
First, this face had absolutely nothing to do with Xue Qinghe's.
Second, Xue Qinghe was the crown prince. He was a man.
Third, this little girl was calling Crown Prince Xue Qinghe mother.
"...Let go."
Xue Qinghe lowered his voice, trying to sound more imposing.
Yet his hands moved of their own accord, instinctively supporting the little girl's shoulders.
Afraid she might fall.
"No!"
The little girl hugged him even tighter, rubbing her small face against his robes.
"Mom came back so late today. Qianxue waited until she was hungry."
Her voice was soft, with a trace of grievance.
For some reason, the irritation in Xue Qinghe's heart faded a little.
He shut the Secret Door behind him, then swiftly pulled a silver ring from his robes.
Soul Power flowed into it.
The ring gave off a faint glow.
His body began to change.
His shoulders narrowed, his waist slimmed, and curves gradually appeared at his chest and buttocks.
His facial contours softened, the sharp edges belonging to a young man slowly fading away.
At last, a cascade of brilliant golden hair fell over his shoulders like a Waterfall.
The disguise was gone.
Standing there was a golden-haired young woman.
Her features were exquisite, her cool temperament carrying a hint of barely noticeable weariness.
This was her true appearance.
Qian Renxue, daughter of the Spirit Hall Pope and the Spirit Hall Young Master embedded within the Heaven Dou Empire.
She looked down at the little girl still clinging to her.
Her feelings were impossibly complicated.
It all had to start a few days ago.
That day, she had been cultivating in the secret chamber.
Just as her Soul Power circulation reached a critical point, space suddenly rippled.
Then this little girl had appeared out of thin air.
The first word out of her mouth was, "Mom!"
Qian Renxue had nearly blasted her away on the spot, with a Soul Skill already gathered in her palm.
Her identity absolutely could not be exposed!
Yet the sudden sense of bloodline intimacy stopped her hand.
What was even more outrageous was that the little girl had immediately displayed her Martial Soul—the Twelve-Winged Angel!
Its golden light blazed brilliantly.
Holy and majestic.
It was purer and more powerful than Qian Renxue's Six-Winged Angel.
Qian Renxue had been utterly stunned.
She interrogated the girl for half the day, though naturally she could get nothing coherent out of a six-year-old child.
The little girl called herself Lin Qianxue and claimed she had come from the future, that she was Qian Renxue's daughter.
Absurd!
Utterly absurd!
Yet possessed by some strange impulse, Qian Renxue had still kept her.
After spending these days together, that inexplicable closeness had only grown stronger.
The little girl knew Qian Renxue loved the Honey Cake from the shop on West Street in Heaven Dou City, and knew she hated being disturbed while cultivating.
She even knew about the tiny birthmark on her back near her shoulder blade.
Those details forced Qian Renxue to begin facing that unbelievable possibility.
"Mom?"
Lin Qianxue shook her hand.
"You're spacing out again~"
Qian Renxue came back to herself and pulled her onto the daybed.
Candlelight flickered, illuminating their similar golden hair.
At a glance, their features really did resemble each other by seven or eight parts.
"Qianxue."
Qian Renxue chose her words carefully.
"You said before... you came from the future?"
"That's right!"
Lin Qianxue nodded vigorously, her little braids bobbing along with the motion.
"Future Mom was amazing! She was a God in the heavens, with golden wings behind her. With a wave of her hand, Divine Light descended."
Becoming a God?
Qian Renxue's heart skipped a beat.
That was the goal she pursued, and the ultimate dream passed down through Spirit Hall for generations.
She pressed her lips together, feeling her cheeks grow warm.
That question... she still had to ask it!
"Then..."
She took a deep breath and lowered her voice even further.
"Who... is your dad?"
She had finally said it!
Qian Renxue's ears reddened, and she instinctively turned her face away.
This was too embarrassing~
She was the dignified Young Master of Spirit Hall, yet she was asking about the identity of her future husband.
Besides, having a daughter meant she would have to get married, and do that, that shameless sort of thing!
Just thinking about it made her face burn.
Lin Qianxue's eyes instantly lit up.
She bounced up from the daybed.
"Is Mom finally going to find Dad?!"
"..."
Qian Renxue neither admitted it nor denied it.
She simply wanted to know more.
"That's wonderful!"
Lin Qianxue clapped her hands and spun in a circle, her golden skirt hem fluttering.
"If Dad knew Mom was going to look for him herself, he'd be so happy~ He always said Mom was the one who chased him first back then, but I never believed him—"
"Who chased whom?!"
Qian Renxue snapped her head around.
"Ah..."
Lin Qianxue covered her mouth, her eyes darting about.
"Well... anyway, Dad's name is Lin Qing. Lin as in forest, Qing as in blue-green. Mom is Qian Renxue, and I'm Lin Qianxue. Doesn't that sound super nice?"
"Lin Qing..."
Qian Renxue repeated the name in her heart.
She had some impression of nearly every famous young Soul Master on the continent.
Yet she had never heard of anyone named Lin Qing.
Could he be a genius from the common world?
Or the secretly trained heir of some great clan?
Her future husband, Qian Renxue's future husband, could not possibly be an ordinary man, could he?
She had confidence in her own taste.
"What is your dad's Martial Soul?" Qian Renxue pressed.
"A dragon!"
Lin Qianxue blurted out, her small face full of pride.
"Dad's Martial Soul is so awesome! One punch can shatter a mountain, one kick can Break a river, and when he glares, those bad guys are so scared their legs go weak!"
A dragon?
Qian Renxue swiftly searched through her memories.
There were not many clans on the continent with dragons as their Martial Souls.
The strongest was the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, but their surname was Yu, not Lin.
Could it be a mutated Martial Soul?
Or perhaps... some even more ancient bloodline?
"Mom~"
Lin Qianxue leaned closer, placing her little hands on Qian Renxue's knees.
"When are we going to find Dad? I miss him so much."
"No rush."
Qian Renxue forced a smile and rubbed her hair.
"Mom still has a mission to complete."
Disguising herself as Xue Qinghe, infiltrating the Heaven Dou Empire, and ultimately taking control of this vast nation.
This was her trial, and the mission she had stubbornly sworn to complete.
Before that, she could not reveal her identity lightly.
Lin Qianxue's small face fell, her pout big enough to hang an oil bottle from.
But soon, she rallied and clenched her tiny fists.
"Then Mom needs to finish her mission quickly! I want to see Dad sooner, and I want him to see my Twelve-Winged Angel too. Dad will definitely praise me for being amazing!"
Seeing her daughter's sparkling eyes, something hard within Qian Renxue quietly softened.
She gently hugged Lin Qianxue and said softly, "All right. Mom promises you."
Once the situation in Heaven Dou stabilized, she would investigate.
Just who was this man named Lin Qing?
Was he worthy of being Qian Renxue's husband, and worthy of being Qianxue's father?
Before you continue