Douluo Continent, Spirit City.
As the core city of Spirit Hall, it was shrouded year-round in an air of majesty. Soul Masters came and went along its streets, Soul Power fluctuations rising and falling, everywhere displaying the foundations of the continent's foremost power.
At the very center of Spirit City's sacred district stood the Angel Family's residence. Its core holy site, passed down through the family for ten thousand years, was the Angel God's Holy Palace, towering beneath the clouds.
The entire hall had been built from rare white jade, its domed ceiling inlaid with gilded patterns. When sunlight fell upon it, divine light shimmered and auspicious clouds gathered.
Inside the hall stood a statue of the Angel God, over a hundred zhang tall. Its six wings were spread wide, its face compassionate yet majestic, and pure Angel Divine Power constantly swirled around it, inspiring awe in all who beheld it.
"Cast down into the world, adrift like dust in the mortal realm; the Angel Bloodline astonishes all.
"Once I break free of the mystery within the womb, I'll know that I'm a transmigrator.
"Six wings span the sky, cleaving heaven and earth; I'll make mountains and seas bow before me.
"I care not for the causes and effects of this fleeting life; I'll ascend to godhood and set the world in order."
Beneath the sacred, solemn statue stood a young man in his twenties, his hands clasped behind his back.
His short golden hair was wild and untamed, and a faint golden mark shimmered on his forehead. His white-and-gold clothes set off his upright, pine-like figure, making him seem like an angelic descendant born from divine light.
Yet in his golden eyes, which should have been clear and keen, fury and killing intent surged, impossible to conceal.
"The Angel Family's sharpest blade against the outside world?"
"The next Grand Worship of the Angel God?"
"Heh!"
"Qian Daoliu—you sure know how to make a promise sound grand and round..."
The young man's name was Qian Wuyou.
Wuyou, the "carefree" kind of Wuyou.
He was a transmigrator.
At six, he had awakened the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul and received the Angel God's blessing. His Innate Soul Power had reached level eighteen, making him, after Qian Renxue, the most brilliant prodigy the Angel Clan had seen in nearly ten thousand years.
Qian Daoliu had regarded him as the clan's future pillar. He had enjoyed the clan's finest cultivation resources, spent years being continuously cleansed by Angel Divine Power before the Angel God's statue, occupied the clan's best cultivation sanctuaries and Simulation environments, and inherited the Angel Clan's most complete divine knowledge.
He also possessed a set of astonishing Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones. His future had been laid out clearly, and Level 99 Peerless Douluo Qian Daoliu had personally guided him, passing on everything he knew.
Even Qian Daoliu had once called him the Angel Family's "Future Wing."
Meaning: the next Grand Worship of the Angel God.
Grand Worship of the Angel God?
Heh!
Everyone knew what that really meant.
Though he stood at the peak of the Soul Master World as a Level 99 Peerless Douluo, once Qian Renxue began the Angel God Trial, he would become the offering for the Angel God's Ninth Trial, so that Qian Renxue could become the next Angel God.
And if he refused to offer himself up?
Did he really think Qian Daoliu was dead?
Did he really think the other Worshippers were just there for show?
If he didn't obediently sacrifice himself, those old fossils in the Worship Hall had plenty of ways to make him.
"Qian Daoliu, a weak-willed old shut-in in the Worship Hall who only cares about passing down the Angel Godhood..."
"And Qian Renxue, who let the whole Pacific Ocean loose when facing Little Scumbag, even though he was only a Titled Douluo..."
"And then there's Bibi Dong, a fool blinded by love, who could even forget her enemies and kept suppressing the Angel Family..."
"No wonder, in the original story, this enormous Spirit Hall and the Angel Family, with its inheritance stretching back ten thousand years, were destroyed by that Little Scumbag Tang San, until their clan was wiped out and their people died..."
"To have these three crouching dragons and hidden phoenixes in our own camp at the same time—what a tremendous irony for Spirit Hall and the Angel Family..."
Qian Wuyou looked at the towering statue of the Angel God. Sorrow, helplessness, and heaviness surged through his golden eyes, along with a trace of acceptance about the future.
Before he had unraveled the mystery within the womb, he had naively believed Qian Daoliu was a good clan leader and elder, someone worth following and serving.
He had been grateful for Qian Daoliu's wholehearted support. He had wanted nothing more than to lead the Angel Family to even greater heights and let the Angel God's glory once again envelop the entire Douluo Continent.
It wasn't until he unraveled the mystery within the womb that he understood: Qian Daoliu's careful cultivation of him, and the astonishing set of Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones he possessed, were all part of one hell of a scheme.
He had wondered why the leader of the Radical Faction—someone so at odds with Qian Daoliu and his indecisive Conservative Faction, who indulged Bibi Dong as she threw Spirit Hall into chaos and constantly suppressed the Angel Family—had been treated so well.
Why had that old fossil Qian Daoliu lavished so much care on him and indulged him at every turn, for no apparent reason?
It turned out that from beginning to end, he had only ever been a chess piece.
A sacrificial pawn meant to pave the way for Qian Renxue, burning himself up in the end to fulfill someone else's ambitions.
He was never the true support who would oppose Bibi Dong and their outside enemies, leading the Angel Family to glory.
"Qian Daoliu, since you were the one who schemed against me first, don't blame me for being ruthless."
"I can understand that you want Qian Renxue to become a god!"
"But I'm still young. I don't want to offer myself up for nothing."
"Now that I've obtained the chance to become a god, why shouldn't I become one myself?"
Qian Wuyou murmured softly, his golden eyes filled with complicated emotions.
He raised a hand and touched the mark on his forehead.
He had obtained it as a fortuitous encounter after braving countless dangers in the Angel God's secret realm.
The moment he received the Grand Worship of the Angel God Trial, the mystery within the womb had suddenly unraveled, and he had awakened the memories of his past life.
By then, he had already become a Titled Douluo.
To defy fate and break free of the Angel God Trial binding him, he had seized his chance. Using the Trial as an opening, he forcibly devoured the Douluo Plane's core, ultimately escaping the constraints of the Grand Worship of the Angel God Trial.
The Plane Core was the source and heart of a world. It held dominion over the laws of the world and commanded the fate of all living beings. Anyone below the divine level who touched it would die.
As a transmigrator, his soul was already exceptionally powerful. With the Angel God Trial's help, he had managed to devour and refine the Plane Core without incident.
From that moment on, he, Qian Wuyou, was no longer the Grand Worship fated to be sacrificed for Qian Renxue. He was the Douluo Plane's master, a future Deity.
As for Qian Daoliu, he could just obediently be the sacrifice instead!
"Phew!"
"Looks like I need to make other plans now!"
Qian Wuyou took a deep breath, reining in all his surging killing intent.
He absolutely couldn't stay in Spirit City any longer.
With Qian Daoliu, Qian Renxue, and Bibi Dong—all three crouching dragons and hidden phoenixes—around, the Angel Family and Spirit Hall were fated to meet the same end as in the original story. He couldn't just sit around and wait to die.
"It's getting late..."
"I should head home and see how things are going!"
Qian Wuyou suppressed his turbulent emotions, turned, and walked away from the solemn, icy Angel God's Holy Palace.
As he stepped through the palace gates, sunlight spilled across the entire Angel Family residence.
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