A Date

"Cake?"

"What was that? Some new kind of soul beast? Or some kind of food?"

Although Douluo Continent had basic ingredients like eggs, flour, sugar, and milk, its cooking methods were relatively primitive. Bread was mostly hard, while desserts consisted mainly of various pastries and flaky cakes.

The fluffy, soft, cream-decorated cakes of modern Earth had indeed not appeared here yet. More importantly—no one had invented the miraculous tool known as an oven.

Qian Xunji froze for a moment before finally realizing.

Right, this was Douluo Continent. The technology tree had not been developed yet.

"It's not a soul beast. It's a dessert."

"It's made with eggs, flour, sugar, milk, and so on. It's fluffy and soft, and you can spread sweet cream on top and add fruit. It looks good and tastes good too."

As Bibi Dong listened to his description and imagined it, a look of longing gradually appeared in her eyes. "It sounds... really delicious. Have you eaten one before, Teacher?"

"Uh... I have."

"Once we get back, I'll try making one for you."

"The tools might be a little troublesome, and I might not succeed on the first try, but it shouldn't be a problem."

With the system's reward of God-Level Culinary Arts, making a cake would be effortless.

He just had to figure out how to make a simple oven first.

"Teacher can cook too?" Bibi Dong was even more astonished. Today, her teacher had shocked her again and again.

A powerful Pope, a mysterious inventor, and now he could even make a cake she had never heard of?

Just how many sides of him were there that she did not know about?

"I know a little, I know a little." Qian Xunji feigned modesty, but the upturned corners of his mouth gave away his pride.

Seeing Bibi Dong's small, worshipful and expectant gaze, he felt even more accomplished than when he had successfully made the Soul Tool earlier.

"Okay, thank you, Teacher! You're so nice, Teacher!" Bibi Dong smiled happily.

Looking at her bright smile, Qian Xunji felt warmth fill his heart as well. He quickly finished the remaining food and let out a satisfied burp.

"I'll take a bath first, then get some proper sleep. I've been at this for a whole day and night."

"Oh, okay. Rest well, Teacher." Bibi Dong obediently nodded and began clearing the dishes.

She organized the food box and walked to the door. Her hand rested on the handle, but she stopped again.

With her back to Qian Xunji, she took a deep breath, gathered immense courage, and asked, "Teacher, tomorrow... tomorrow is Yelin City's official Lantern Festival. Do... do you have time?"

Qian Xunji was stretching his stiff neck. Hearing that, he answered without even thinking, "Of course I do. Since we're already here, we definitely have to look around the Lantern Festival."

Bibi Dong immediately turned around, and an even brighter smile bloomed across her face. "Then... can we go together tomorrow?"

"I... Ling Yuan and I, together with Teacher."

"Sure."

"See you tomorrow."

"Mm, see you tomorrow, Teacher!"

Listening to the footsteps outside gradually fade away, Qian Xunji shook his head. "This girl..."

He walked to the window and pulled the curtains open slightly. Looking at the streets of Yelin City outside, where colorful lanterns were already being hung in preparation for tomorrow's grand celebration, the smile on his lips lingered for a long time.

Bath, sleep, and restoring his energy.

Tomorrow, he had promised to accompany his disciple to the Lantern Festival.

The next morning, Qian Xunji opened his eyes from deep meditation. Golden light flowed through his pupils before swiftly receding.

Feeling the vast, solidified Soul Power within him, he moved his wrist in satisfaction.

"Level ninety-two. It's completely stabilized now."

"Based on that unlucky bastard's development in the original story, I'll probably be level ninety-five when I clash with Tang Hao?"

"And Tang Hao at that time will have just broken through level ninety..."

The more he thought about it, the more absurd it seemed. He could not help complaining inwardly, Seriously, sir? I have the Six-Winged Angel martial soul, supposedly invincible in the skies, with god-level quality, and I'm five whole levels above him!

And yet I nearly get hammered into lifelong disability by some newly promoted Titled Douluo, grief-stricken over his wife's corpse and swinging a giant hammer?

That's not how fighting above one's level works! Did the original author have a temp handling power balance?

He rubbed his chin and analyzed the matter with a grave expression. "Looks like suppressing people with levels alone isn't safe enough. I need to improve my quality too."

"Based on that absurd conversion of plot strength... hmm, to be safe, I need to reach level ninety-eight by then no matter what."

"A level ninety-eight Angel Douluo can't possibly get defeated by a level ninety Clear Sky Hammer again, right? That would be far too humiliating for the Angel God."

Just as he was laying out a grand blueprint for his future plan to withstand beatings, there was a knock on the door.

Knock, knock.

"Dong'er?"

After a moment of silence, Falling Devil Douluo's somewhat awkward voice came from outside. "Your Holiness, it is this subordinate, Jiang Mo."

"Oh, come in." Qian Xunji composed himself and returned to the Pope's steady demeanor.

Falling Devil Douluo pushed open the door, holding an ornate invitation decorated with the emblem of the Heaven Dou Royal Family.

He respectfully presented it with both hands. "Your Holiness, an urgent invitation from Heaven Dou City arrived yesterday evening."

"It is a personal letter from Xue Ye, inviting you to attend his birthday celebration banquet at the beginning of next month."

Qian Xunji accepted the invitation and casually flipped it open for a glance. The contents were nothing more than grandiose courtesies—things like "long admiring the Pope's bearing," "discussing the peace of the continent together," and "sincerely inviting you to attend."

He curled his lip, thoroughly uninterested. "What's so worth attending about an emperor's birthday banquet?"

"It's nothing more than a vanity fair where all sides exchange hypocritical pleasantries and probe one another. Boring to the extreme."

"This..." Falling Devil Douluo looked troubled and forced himself to persuade him. "Your Holiness, I'm afraid that would be inappropriate."

"Xue Ye is, after all, the ruler of the Heaven Dou Empire, and this is a formal invitation."

"If the Pope of Spirit Hall flatly refuses and is absent without reason, it may give others something to talk about."

"What could they possibly say?"

Falling Devil Douluo cleared his throat. "For example... that the Pope of Spirit Hall is arrogant and looks down on the Heaven Dou Royal Family. Or that the relationship between Spirit Hall and the Heaven Dou Empire has fractured, and the Pope disdains dining with the emperor."

"Taken further, it might become that Spirit Hall relies on its strength and intends to stand apart from the two great empires, to the point that we cannot even be bothered to keep up appearances..."

"Those nobles and politicians are best at making something out of nothing. One person tells ten, ten tell a hundred, and they can turn white into black."

"Although Spirit Hall does not fear such things, creating unnecessary trouble would still be undesirable."

Qian Xunji felt a headache coming on as he listened.

That was the trouble with being the boss. Not only did he have to manage fighting and cultivation, but he also had to deal with this boring political socializing.

"Tsk, what a pain."

He rubbed his temples, then suddenly had an idea. "Let my father go. Isn't he the Grand Pontiff? His status is high enough, his presence carries enough weight. If he sits there, who would dare say Spirit Hall isn't showing them respect?"