Although Dongfang Yao was a genius in everyone else's eyes, to Jing, her younger brother would always be her younger brother. Dongfang Yao would always be the little brother who needed his big sister's protection. Until he defeated her, Yao should stay beneath his sister's wings, where she could protect him.
A domineering, overbearing, cold older sister; a lively, talkative, chuunibyou little brother; and Qian Xunji, who had to keep the two from fighting.
What could Qian Xunji do? All he could do was keep them as far apart as possible.
Qian Renxue didn't understand. Jing was clearly her older sister, and she didn't dislike her. Why couldn't they just get along?
Chapter 14: Bibi Dong Was Already a Lost Cause
Although they were both part of Spirit Hall, Bibi Dong had only been transferred to Spirit City within the past year, after earning merit.
But Qian Xunji didn't pay much attention to Bibi Dong, because he knew she was already a lost cause.
She was now in her thirties. She had missed the golden age for cultivation and was stuck at level 89, a Soul Douluo, unable to break through to become a Titled Douluo.
By the standards of the gods' trials, someone Bibi Dong's age had already been eliminated.
In other words, being lovesick had ruined her life.
The most precious things she had now were probably her two top-tier Martial Souls and her bloodline of Innate Full Soul Power.
When Bibi Dong left Spirit Hall, they settled the accounts. They reclaimed whatever resources they could from the years of support; for what they couldn't reclaim, they charged her in Gold Soul Coins and various precious cultivation resources. Even now, Bibi Dong was still paying off her debt.
The resources they reclaimed included the External Soul Bone, Six-Winged Purple Light Wings.
This External Soul Bone could grow, and it had already fused with Bibi Dong to a great extent. Removing it damaged her foundation and caused her cultivation to plummet.
If Bibi Dong had received proper treatment from a healing-type support Soul Master back then, and had stabilized her cultivation, her talent would still have given her a chance to undergo a divine trial and become a god.
But Yu Xiaogang wasn't some thoughtful, tender-hearted sweetheart. As a son of the head of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Yu Clan, he had been spoiled from a young age. Even though he was a good-for-nothing with only half a level of Innate Soul Power, he had received vast resources to support his cultivation. Later, when he wanted to go to Spirit Hall to obtain books and records, his family had readily pulled strings to help him fulfill his wish.
Yu Xiaogang, driven out of Spirit City, couldn't bring himself to swallow his pride and ask his father for help for a woman. He only hastily treated Bibi Dong's injuries before going back to his research.
Bibi Dong didn't think anything was wrong. She remained devoted to Yu Xiaogang, wandering with him and taking on missions to pay off her debt.
Without a stable place to live, she had to think every day about how to earn money to repay her debt. In the rare moments of free time, she would spend them with Yu Xiaogang, enjoying romantic dates beneath the flowers and moonlight. Bibi Dong neglected her cultivation.
Later, they met Liu Erlong and Flender. The four of them formed a team, and their love life turned into a love quadrangle. Two women competed for one man, fighting over him, openly and secretly, plotting against each other. They had no time for cultivation.
Moreover, Yu Xiaogang, Liu Erlong, and Flender could perform a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. Their interactions had an inexplicable harmony, and that harmony shut Bibi Dong out, creating a kind of invisible emotional abuse.
Without Spirit Hall's help, the Soul Rings Bibi Dong obtained were vastly inferior to those she had acquired before, in terms of attributes, quality, and age.
And, naturally, Bibi Dong was too busy falling in love and competing for Yu Xiaogang to go to Slaughter City and obtain the Divine Slaughter's Domain, or to be chosen by the Rakshasa God.
But none of that mattered. All Bibi Dong needed was to be in love and stay with Yu Xiaogang.
And so she muddled through each day, getting jealous of Liu Erlong, getting snapped at by Liu Erlong's lovesick admirer Flender, and then watching Yu Xiaogang try to smooth things over.
Of course, Qian Xunji's collection notices still arrived right on schedule, and someone would come to collect the money.
Then, during one mission, Bibi Dong encountered danger and had no choice but to go all out and use Martial Soul Possession.
When she did, the skin on her upper body was covered in purple-black armor, and even her face was hidden behind a carapace. Beneath her eyes, four more little eyes had grown. Her legs disappeared, and her lower body became a huge, round, bulbous mass. Eight thick, long legs grew from it, carrying her swiftly along. They were covered in thick green bristles and coated in a nauseating slime. Drops plopped onto the ground, corroding it with a sharp hiss. She looked like a gigantic venomous spider.
After they survived the crisis, Yu Xiaogang's attitude changed. He became distant and cold. Before, when Bibi Dong had clashed with the other team members, he had merely tried to smooth things over.
After seeing Bibi Dong's Martial Soul Possession, he started taking the others' side.
Did Yu Xiaogang love Bibi Dong? Of course he did.
But people were visual creatures, and the Yu Clan, where Yu Xiaogang was born, was famous for its philandering ways. Growing up in such a family, Yu Xiaogang had naturally been influenced by what he saw and heard.
There were two reasons he didn't simply abandon Bibi Dong. First, he was propped up by his own devoted-lover persona. Second, Bibi Dong was so talented that Yu Xiaogang's father wanted him to stay with her, marry her, and have a child who would inherit her talent.
But Yu Xiaogang had always enjoyed watching two talented, beautiful young women, Bibi Dong and Liu Erlong, compete for his affection, so he had never made a choice.
Now that he had seen what Bibi Dong looked like during Martial Soul Possession, Yu Xiaogang was completely turned off!
Yu Yuanzhen, Yu Xiaogang's father, was naturally dissatisfied. Bibi Dong had lost Spirit Hall's protection, and in his eyes, she was easy prey. If she hadn't been Yu Xiaogang's lover, he would have captured her long ago and made her a breeding tool.
If Yu Xiaogang didn't want Bibi Dong, Yu Yuanzhen would make his move.
What could Yu Xiaogang do?
He had seen Bibi Dong's Martial Soul Possession. All he could think about was that swollen, venomous green spider hair and the huge spider abdomen, covered in disgusting slime. Drops dripped to the ground, corroding little pits into it, and white spider silk sprayed from her rear...
Ugh, he was totally not interested!
Yu Xiaogang's standing in the Yu Clan depended entirely on Yu Yuanzhen's favor. He had no real authority.
Yu Yuanzhen wouldn't let Yu Xiaogang fool around when it came to matters of real importance.
Bibi Dong had full Innate Soul Power, and both of her Twin Martial Souls were top-tier. She had the talent to become a Titled Douluo. If the children of the Yu Clan inherited her bloodline and talent, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan could produce several more Titled Douluo.
What did a useless son like Yu Xiaogang matter?
The Yu Clan moved to capture Bibi Dong. Yu Yuanzhen made his move in person, while Yu Xiaogang pretended not to notice.
In the end, it was Liu Erlong who stepped in to help Bibi Dong.
She bought Bibi Dong time by performing a Martial Soul Fusion Skill with Flender and Yu Xiaogang.
After that, Bibi Dong was heartbroken. She understood that she had talent but no strength to match it, no backing, and that in other people's eyes, she was nothing but easy prey.
She went into hiding, changed her name, and wandered from place to place. She wanted to focus on cultivation, but the injuries left behind when her External Soul Bone was removed had never been properly treated. After all these years, they were seriously affecting her cultivation.
She had wasted so much time that she had also missed the golden age for cultivation.
Once the romance ended, she had to wake up and face reality, to take a good look at the consequences of her choices.
Bibi Dong realized clearly that she had squandered a winning hand.
She was already a lost cause!
Qian Xunji knew that with Bibi Dong's brains, she would ruin herself all on her own!
To be honest, he was a little surprised she had made it back to Spirit Hall alive, though it was also what he had expected.
Bibi Dong, the former Spirit Hall Saintess declared dead, had betrayed the Spirit Hall that had raised her since childhood. The other factions on the Douluo Continent could never truly accept her. She might have been foolishly in love, but she wasn't brainless; she knew that if she went to them, she'd be throwing herself to the wolves and never come back.
The powerful factions wanted to use her as a breeding tool and would capture her in secret (they hadn't dared before because of Yu Xiaogang's Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan background). The weak factions couldn't protect her.
After going round and round, she returned to Spirit Hall, hoping to rekindle an old romance.
Chapter 15: My Name Is Ning Rongrong. It's Nice to Meet You.
Spirit Hall had a good reputation across the Douluo Continent. It had practically become synonymous with justice and light.
This was especially true of the previous Spirit Hall Pope, Qian Daoliu. He was upright and honorable, dared to take responsibility, and always distinguished right from wrong. Under his leadership, Spirit Hall's rules and regulations had become nearly perfect, and it had become an object of faith for ordinary Soul Masters.
After taking over, Qian Xunji had continued his policies.
Qian Daoliu's character was close to perfect. If Qian Xunji had cast Bibi Dong aside just because she wanted to fall in love, Qian Daoliu wouldn't have stood by and done nothing.
That was the kind of person he was: unbelievably righteous, with none of the attitude that the strong could do whatever they wanted.
Just as in the original story, when Bibi Dong killed Qian Xunji, Qian Daoliu didn't avenge his son. Apart from the need to keep Spirit Hall stable and the fact that she was Qian Renxue's mother, the most important reason was that Qian Xunji had been in the wrong.
Qian Daoliu, who always distinguished right from wrong, found it difficult to harm Bibi Dong, the victim.
As long as Bibi Dong, the Saintess, hadn't done anything to harm Spirit Hall, Qian Daoliu wouldn't have allowed Qian Xunji to kill her just because she'd fallen in love. He would have been more inclined to reason with Bibi Dong and persuade her to change her mind.
But could Qian Xunji put up with that humiliation?
He acted swiftly to get ahead of things. He dug out Bibi Dong's External Soul Bone, settled the accounts, drove her out, and announced the Saintess's death that very night.
Although Qian Daoliu didn't approve of this outcome, he didn't stop it. He just gave his rebellious son a beating afterward.
Of course, Qian Xunji could also have killed Bibi Dong and Yu Xiaogang quickly, before anyone had a chance to react or stop him.
But...
Wouldn't that be letting them off too easily?
Qian Xunji had been especially clear-headed back then, but deep down, he'd felt that dying so easily would be letting them off a little too easily.
As this year's Martial Soul Awakening ceremonies drew to a close,
the clans in various places began to recruit talented children from among the commoners, snatching up Spirit Hall's prospects.
The Heaven Dou Empire and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect also received word of a genius named Li Bai, who had Innate Full Soul Power. As it happened, his Martial Soul was also a sword, named Longyuan!
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's leader, Ning Fengzhi, went out in person and brought back a white-haired boy.
The boy had long, silvery-white hair that flowed freely. A wine gourd hung from his waist, and from a distance, he exuded an air of carefree ease.
When Ning Rongrong heard her father had returned, she hurried over. The little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was spoiled and haughty. She cast a casual glance at the boy beside her father.
But the moment she saw his face clearly, she froze.
The bearing of an immortal, standing aloof from the world, not to be sullied!
One glance, and she was smitten for life!
As the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Ning Rongrong had seen every kind of beauty. Her father, Ning Fengzhi, was a handsome, refined man himself.
The beauties at the Heaven Dou Auction House were even more numerous.
But none of them compared to the person before her.
The boy's features were still youthful, but that did nothing to diminish his beauty. He was more like an immortal child descended to the mortal world, with jade-like skin and bones, silver hair cascading like a waterfall, and an otherworldly air, as light and ethereal as mist.
His figure seemed to fade in and out of sight. His sleeves fluttered in the breeze, yet not a speck of dust clung to them. A cool, distant expression showed between his brows and eyes.
Ning Rongrong stared blankly for a long while. She only came back to herself when Sword Grandpa called her several times.
Ning Fengzhi, who had brought the boy back, had been prepared. The first time he saw the child, Ning Fengzhi understood that with looks like his, he was destined to be extraordinary.
Ning Rongrong's reaction was also within Ning Fengzhi's expectations. In fact, he was happy to see it.
The best way to bind a future super-genius was through marriage.
Ning Fengzhi understood the crisis facing the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect: they had no strong successors.
All the Soul Masters in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect were support-type Soul Masters. They relied on their reputation as support Soul Masters to recruit powerful combat Soul Masters as partners and maintain the sect's strength.
As for top combat power, Titled Douluo, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had two. But both Titled Douluo were old, and neither had any children they could train.
Once the two Titled Douluo died, if the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had failed to raise new Titled Douluo, it could very well fall from the Upper Three Sects and be carved up by others.
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