Cause

"What exactly is going on? Why does Xue'er have Snow Empress's Alien Energy inside her?"

Ao Zhan was filled with questions. Seeing his reaction, Qian Renxue tilted her head. "Brother Zhan, what's wrong?"

Ao Zhan came back to his senses. "Nothing, Xue'er. Let go of me first."

Only then did Qian Renxue realize that she was still hugging Ao Zhan.

A blush spread across her delicate little face, and she hurriedly released him.

Ao Zhan did not pay much attention to it. His top priority now was to figure out where the Snow Empress Alien Energy inside Qian Renxue had come from.

At that moment, Qian Daoliu said kindly, "Xiao Zhan, Xue'er, go play first. Your grandfathers and I will discuss your soul ring configurations."

"Yes, Grandpa Qian."

"Okay, Grandpa."

Ao Zhan and Qian Renxue left hand in hand, and the kindly expression on Qian Daoliu's face gradually faded.

"What do you think of Xiao Zhan and Xue'er's talents?"

His voice was calm and casual, as though he were discussing what to eat today.

"Need you even ask? They're obviously as good as could be!"

The Six Great Elders and Qian Xunji did not understand why Qian Daoliu was asking this.

"Yes, they are indeed exceptional. But that is precisely why we cannot let our guard down."

The others' expressions instantly turned grave. They were not fools; with Qian Daoliu having said this much, they naturally understood the implication.

"Father, do you mean you're worried someone might make a move against Xiao Zhan and Xue'er?" Qian Xunji asked.

Qian Daoliu nodded slightly. "That's right. Xiao Zhan and Xue'er are too gifted. A tree that stands above the forest is sure to be toppled by the wind. Xiao Zhan's martial soul awakening caused such a huge commotion today. They will surely do everything they can to investigate it, then wait for an opportunity."

Qian Daoliu was not worrying without cause.

Although Spirit City was the headquarters of Spirit Hall, it was still a city.

People came and went every day, so naturally, spies from every major faction were among them.

They had known this all along. In fact, they themselves had planted quite a few spies in the territories of other factions.

This was an unspoken rule mutually understood by all major powers.

"Hmph! If they dare come here looking for death, I'll cripple every one of their claws!" Golden Crocodile snorted.

As the powerful Second Worship of Spirit Hall and a formidable Rank 98 existence, Golden Crocodile had always been proud.

If those people truly dared to throw away their lives, then he, Golden Crocodile, would let them witness his methods!

"Second Brother, it is easy to dodge an open spear but hard to guard against an arrow from the dark."

After glancing at Golden Crocodile, Qian Daoliu said earnestly, "Those people are indeed no match for us, but we still cannot be careless. As long as they succeed even once, then even if we wipe out their entire families afterward, it will already be too late for regret."

Golden Crocodile's old face stiffened. Blinking at Qian Daoliu, he asked, "Then what should we do, Big Brother?"

Qian Daoliu was actually quite helpless about this. He had always believed in the spirit of chivalry.

He could not simply believe that someone posed a threat to him, then march to their doorstep and wipe out their entire family, could he?

It had to be said that in the world of Douluo Continent, someone like Qian Daoliu was practically an oddity.

Back then, he had revered the spirit of chivalry too much, which was why he had confronted Tang Chen head-on.

Tang Chen was a power-attack-type Clear Sky Hammer martial soul master who had created supreme techniques such as the Clear Sky Nine Techniques, Great Sumeru Hammer, and Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer.

Yet Qian Daoliu's martial soul was the Six-Winged Angel.

Trying to compete head-on in strength against someone like that was undoubtedly using his own weakness to attack the other's strength. How could he possibly not lose?

If Qian Daoliu had used hit-and-run tactics against Tang Chen back then, fully leveraging his powerful mobility and continuously launching ranged attacks at Tang Chen, how could Tang Chen have possibly won in the end?

Anyone with a functioning brain would have made that choice, but because of his chivalric spirit, Qian Daoliu had chosen to clash with his opponent head-on.

It was the same now. Under normal circumstances, if a faction's geniuses might be threatened by other forces, any major power would eliminate the danger before it happened.

That was especially true for an existence like Spirit Hall, the number one power on the continent.

Yet Qian Daoliu only thought about guarding against them and never considered taking the initiative.

However, while Qian Daoliu was someone who revered the spirit of chivalry, that did not mean his son was.

Secret Chamber Douluo Qian Xunji said, "Father, if you believe they are a threat, then let's simply go to their doors and show them the might of Spirit Hall, so those people won't dare harbor such improper thoughts!"

As someone capable of secret-chambering his own disciple, Qian Xunji's way of thinking was completely different from his father's. He believed passive defense was too stifling. It was better to go straight to their doors and flex their strength, preventing such things from happening in the first place.

This made Qian Daoliu glare at him. "How can that be acceptable?! The Qian Clan has always acted openly and honorably. We repay grudges with grudges and wrongs with wrongs. None of those things have happened yet, so how can you think of stirring up trouble?!"

"Do not bring up such thoughts again. Think instead about how to ease the relationship between Xue'er and that woman. As for Xiao Zhan and Xueer's safety, Golden Crocodile, Azure Luan, Guang Ling, Qian Jun, you should put more effort into it from now on."

Well, after hearing Qian Daoliu's words, Qian Xunji knew that his old father would never take the initiative. To stop him from continuing, he had even brought up Bibi Dong.

Golden Crocodile and the others also wore complicated expressions after hearing this, as though they wanted to say something.

They actually agreed strongly with Qian Xunji. Preventing trouble before it happened was the most important thing.

But Qian Daoliu was the High Priest of the Angel God, the First Worship of Spirit Hall, their big brother, and the strongest among them.

Since he had said so, they, as his younger brothers and subordinates, could only comply.

"Yes, Big Brother."

"Go on, go on."

Qian Daoliu waved his hand and headed toward the deepest part of the Worship Hall.

The other elders exchanged glances with Qian Xunji. Seeing the helplessness in one another's eyes, they could not help but sigh.

What they did not know was that Qian Daoliu had not entered the Worship Hall at all. Instead, he had secretly left to protect Ao Zhan and Qian Renxue as well.

Though he had spoken that way, he was actually more nervous than anyone else.

If anything happened to either Ao Zhan or Qian Renxue, Spirit Hall would suffer an immense loss.

After leaving the Worship Hall, Ao Zhan and Qian Renxue walked side by side.

Qian Renxue chirped away like a lark along the way, full of energy.

In contrast, Ao Zhan remained silent the entire time, though he was actually speaking with the system in his mind.

"System, why does Xue'er have Snow Empress's Alien Energy inside her?"

The system was silent for a moment before answering, "Host, it is because we came here."

"You mean the Snow Empress Alien Energy inside Xue'er was brought here by me?" Ao Zhan was somewhat surprised.

"To be precise, I was a major reason for it."

The system explained, "During the final battle, the world consciousness of the Super Beast Armed World personally intervened and enraged me. A world consciousness actually disregarded its status and made a move! How could I tolerate that?!"

"Therefore, I acted and extracted the Alien Energy equivalent to ten Black Holes from each of the Seven Parallel Universes. But because your battle had thrown the entire Fifth Parallel Universe into turmoil, the Alien Energy of the Super Beast Team, Pluto, and Snow Empress was running wild everywhere."

"So when I extracted the Alien Energy, I also collected their Alien Energy."

"Later, when we came here through the wormhole, that Alien Energy also fell into this world. Because Alien Energy is linked to belief, it instinctively seeks out people with similar beliefs."

"That is why Snow Empress's Alien Energy took residence inside this little girl. And when you crossed into this universe, I discovered that the power of this world was too weak to bear your Alien Energy."

"So I stored all of your Alien Energy, along with the Alien Energy I seized from the Super Beast Armed World, inside your Nebula Body, beyond this universe."