That day, Zhu Yan had spent several days holed up in the library. When she finally came out for some fresh air, she happened upon Qian Xunji and Snow Empress taking a stroll.
Snow Empress's gaze first settled on Qian Xunji, then naturally shifted to the little girl following behind him—a six-year-old, doll-like beauty with adorable features.
Snow Empress stopped in her tracks.
She lowered the storybook in her hand, her ice-blue eyes narrowing slightly as she glanced back and forth between Qian Xunji and Zhu Yan twice. Her brilliant mind instantly connected the rumors she had heard in the Star Luo Empire—that the Pope had abducted an empress and taken away her six-year-old younger sister—with the little girl before her.
"An old ox eating young grass? No... He doesn't even spare the seeds?"
A dangerous glint—the look one gave a pervert—flared in Snow Empress's beautiful eyes.
"Whoosh—!"
Without the slightest warning, without even stirring the air, a tiny ice-blue blade of sword energy shot silently from Snow Empress's fingertip!
As a level-ninety-five Peak Douluo, Qian Xunji instinctively sensed the danger. But just as he was about to use Teleportation, he realized the sword energy wasn't lethal. It barely had any power at all.
"Rrrip!"
A faint sound of tearing cloth rang out.
Qian Xunji felt an icy gust rush against his lower half!
He stiffly lowered his head and saw that the hem of his luxurious Papal Robe had been neatly sliced open. The sword energy had dissipated exactly one inch above his groin!
If it had gone even a little lower, Spirit Hall's plan for a plump grandson would have been ruined for good. Qian Xunji might as well have gone straight to the palace and become its chief eunuch!
"Hiss—"
Qian Xunji sucked in a sharp breath, cold sweat breaking out across his forehead. This was a warning—an utterly vicious and shameless one!
Six-year-old Zhu Yan, standing behind Qian Xunji, was completely dumbfounded. She stared with wide obsidian eyes at the peerless beauty, cold as frost, then at her teacher, who was gasping in shock. Her little head was filled with enormous disbelief.
Back in the Star Luo Empire, even if the emperor had been threatened like that by a woman pointing a sword at his lower half, she would have been executed along with her entire clan. So why was her teacher acting like this?
Of course, Zhu Yan didn't know that Qian Xunji felt guilty. Back in the secret chamber, he had gotten carried away in the heat of the moment. Now Snow Empress had really left her home and livelihood to come to Spirit Hall, and he valued that all the more.
He had painted her a rosy picture, sure—but that future was still far off. By then, he would have had his way with her, and maybe they'd even have several children.
Snow Empress shot Qian Xunji a cold glance and let out an extremely disdainful, deeply meaningful snort.
"Hmph. Filthy!"
With those two words, Snow Empress turned elegantly and swept away, leaving only the faint, lingering fragrance of ice and snow in the air.
Qian Xunji stood there in the wind, utterly dumbfounded. Holding the ripped hem of his robe shut, he turned to look at Zhu Yan, who was still staring blankly, and grew furious.
"What are you looking at? Never seen a married couple spar before?"
Qian Xunji glared at his little disciple, jabbed her forehead hard with a finger, and said with pained indignation, "You, you... I nearly sacrificed the happiness of the rest of my life for you! If you ever dare to be an ungrateful wretch who betrays her teacher, I'll be the first to purge the sect and wipe you out!"
With that, Qian Xunji yanked off his ruined outer robe and hurried after Snow Empress.
"Snow Empress, listen to me! She really is my newly accepted direct disciple! Our relationship is pure and proper! How did those melodramatic storybooks twist your thinking so badly...?"
Watching her teacher's disheveled figure chase after his wife, six-year-old Zhu Yan silently added a rule to her little mental notebook: At Spirit Hall, you can offend anyone you like, but never offend the pretty white-haired wife next door.
The days of bickering and bustle always flew by.
In the blink of an eye, a month slipped away amid Qian Xunji's "painful but blissful" life of coaxing his wife.
Snow Empress had fully adapted to life in Spirit Hall. Every now and then, after Qian Xunji finished his official business, the two would drink tea and spar together atop the dome of Pope Hall. Their feelings slowly warmed. Though Qian Daoliu beamed every time he saw them together, Qian Xunji knew all too well that he couldn't keep living such a carefree life without restraint.
In his study,
Qian Xunji looked at the Subversion Point balance on his system panel, its rate of growth having slowed, and furrowed his brow.
"The profits from General Theory of Martial Souls have started to level off. I've nearly squeezed the commoners dry. If I want to save up enough Subversion Points for the future, I'll have to go after those fat sheep."
Qian Xunji tapped his fingers lightly on the desk, a tangled map of the mainland's various powers appearing in his mind.
The Clear Sky Sect had suffered a heavy blow. The Star Luo Empire was playing dead. The Seven Treasures Sect and Blue Lightning Sect had backed down and paid protection fees. The Upper Three Sects and the Two Great Empires were all cowering like turtles in their shells. No matter how Spirit Hall stirred up trouble outside, they refused to show themselves.
"If you want to hide in your shells and quietly build up your strength, then I'll smash those shells to pieces!"
A ruthless glint flashed in Qian Xunji's eyes.
"Guards!"
At his command, several red-robed cardinals hurried in and dropped to one knee.
Qian Xunji rose to his feet.
"By my order, issue the Pope Token and proclaim this to the world!"
Qian Xunji's voice was low, yet dangerously rousing.
"The Upper Three Sects are old and decrepit, occupying their positions without serving their purpose. The Lower Four Sects cling to outmoded ways and are unfit for the task! The rankings of the so-called Seven Great Sects should have been reshuffled long ago!"
"One month from now, Spirit Hall will host the Seven Great Sects Re-election Tournament in Spirit City!"
"Whether you belong to a renowned sect, a reclusive clan, or a humble but powerful faction, if you have the strength, you may come to Spirit City and test yourselves against one another! Spirit Hall will hold fair and impartial arena battles to establish the positions of the Upper Three Sects and Lower Four Sects anew! The victors will be remembered for generations and celebrated throughout the land!"
The red-robed cardinals listened, their blood boiling. They were so excited their hands trembled. Reshuffle the Seven Great Sects? This meant uprooting the entire existing balance of power on the mainland!
"Go. Spread this news to every corner of the Douluo Continent as quickly as possible. I want every freak and monster hiding in the mountains or lurking beneath the waters to come crawling out!"
As the Pope's decree raced out to the mainland's branch halls with all haste, the entire Douluo Continent was struck as if a meteor had crashed into the depths of the sea.
The world erupted!
Commoner Soul Masters fell into a frenzy, and the heads of countless second- and third-rate sects, long suppressed, emerged from seclusion with bloodshot eyes. Meanwhile, the old sects that had thought themselves safe and secure were left with a thorn in their sides!
The Douluo Continent had been at peace for a month, but Qian Xunji's decree unleashed a storm of upheaval that would shake it to its foundations!
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