The battle cries shook the air outside the Clear Sky Sect's mountain gate, and the light from colliding Soul Skills illuminated half the sky.
Deep within Spirit Hall, in the quiet courtyard behind Pope Palace that had been prepared for honored guests, the scene was entirely different.
Sunlight streamed through the carved window lattice, casting dappled shadows across the polished floor.
A faint fragrance of incense lingered in the air. The place was so peaceful, it seemed cut off from the rest of the world.
Ye Qing looked somewhat helplessly at the little blonde girl sitting across from him. She propped her chin on one hand and blinked at him with a pair of beautiful purple eyes that glittered like a reflection of the starry sky, her expression utterly innocent.
Ever since Qian Daoliu had "forced" her to come keep him company, the girl had seemed to stick to him like glue.
She wanted to eat with him, sit beside him while he read, and watch him train. Her excuse was always the same: Grandpa told me to keep you company.
"Listen, Xiao Xue..."
Ye Qing put down the book about the continent's geography and rubbed his aching temples. Somewhat exasperated, he said, "If you've got nothing to do, can't you go train on your own? Or find some other kids your age to play with? Why do you keep coming to me?"
He really was starting to feel overwhelmed.
It wasn't that he disliked Qian Renxue. Quite the opposite.
The girl was as cute as a porcelain doll, and so far, she didn't seem spoiled. Instead, she had the innocent air of someone who had been protected too well and was a little lonely.
The problem was that mentally, he was no longer a real child, and he had far too much on his mind to sort through and plan.
He simply didn't have much energy to play house with a little girl who really was a child.
After all, according to the original timeline, in at most thirty years, Spirit Hall—an institution that had stood on Douluo Continent for ten thousand years, backed by a god—would be destroyed.
He didn't feel particularly fond of Spirit Hall, but he didn't want to see it fall at Tang San's hands, either.
If the people of later generations had been better off after Spirit Hall's destruction, he wouldn't have minded so much.
But without Spirit Hall, the common people didn't see their lives improve. Things only got worse. They even had to pay Soul Masters to awaken their Martial Souls.
This situation continued for more than ten thousand years. So the best choice was to let Spirit Hall survive and successfully unify Douluo Continent.
That way, it could bring Sun Moon Continent under Douluo Continent's rule several thousand years later, while also reducing the number of wars and Evil Soul Masters.
Put simply, if Spirit Hall had still existed ten thousand years later, the Holy Spirit Cult wouldn't have become the strongest power on Douluo Continent. Spirit Hall would have stamped it out from the very beginning.
As the inheritors of the Angel God, no one understood how to deal with Evil Soul Masters better than they did.
After all, the Angel God of ten thousand years ago had become a god by earning the power of faith through killing Evil Soul Masters.
At his words, Qian Renxue's pure smile faltered slightly on her pretty, porcelain-doll face.
Then a faint, almost imperceptible look of disappointment and hurt quickly clouded her amethyst eyes.
She lowered the hand propping up her chin and leaned forward a little. Her voice was soft and small, carrying the helpless appeal of a child that was hard to refuse.
"But... Grandpa said I should keep you company."
She paused, her long golden lashes lowered and casting a small shadow over her fair eyelids. When she spoke again, her voice was even softer.
"And... they... won't play with me."
The "they" she meant were clearly the other children in Spirit Hall.
Perhaps they didn't have the status to approach her. Perhaps they were intimidated by her position as the Pope's daughter and the Grand Pontiff's granddaughter. Or perhaps an invisible barrier had formed around her because of her exceptional talent and Martial Soul.
She lifted her small face and looked at Ye Qing timidly, her eyes full of cautious hope and a hint of dependence that was hard to notice.
"You're the only one... willing to keep me company."
"I..."
Ye Qing opened his mouth. The words, I don't want to play with you either, nearly slipped out, but when he saw the clear loneliness and hope in Qian Renxue's eyes, he swallowed them back.
He looked at her, and a complicated, indescribable feeling suddenly rose in his heart.
That was right. In the fate that awaited her, how pitiful this little girl with golden hair and violet eyes, as exquisitely beautiful as an angel, truly was.
Her father, Qian Xunji, would soon fall at Tang Hao's hands.
Her mother, Bibi Dong, regarded her as the product of a disgrace and had never shown her the slightest warmth—only coldness and revulsion.
Worst of all, at such a young age, she would be forced to leave the familiar warmth of Spirit City and infiltrate the treacherous, danger-filled imperial palace of the Heaven Dou Empire. She would have to hide her identity, play another role, and carry out the nearly impossible Nation-Stealing Plan.
And she would be gone for a full twenty years!
The best years of her life would be buried beneath disguises, schemes, and loneliness.
And what would happen in the end?
The plan would fail, and her identity would be exposed.
Her own grandfather, Qian Daoliu, would sacrifice himself without hesitation to help her become a god.
Yet even then, she would still be unable to escape the tragic end: her divine seat shattered, the Spirit Hall Empire destroyed, and she herself dying of old age in the mortal world.
She was only six. She should have been carefree and cherished, yet she was already beginning to feel the loneliness that came with being a prodigy and an heir, along with the coldness of her own family.
At the thought, the impatience and irritation in Ye Qing's heart quietly faded, replaced by a faint sense of pity and a sigh.
He gave her the gentlest, most harmless smile he could manage and said softly,
"All right, then."
He reached out and gently ruffled Qian Renxue's soft golden hair. It felt lovely to the touch.
"From now on, you can come find me whenever you want. But sometimes I'll have to train or think, so I won't be able to play with you all the time."
He knew that once the matter with the Clear Sky Sect was settled and he had retrieved Ah Yin, he would leave Spirit Hall and head for Heaven Dou City.
After that, he and Qian Renxue would have very few chances to see each other, and they might even end up on opposite ends of the world.
Since that was the case, giving her a little companionship when she came to him during what could still be called a carefree childhood didn't seem like too much.
Sure enough, when she heard what was almost a promise, Qian Renxue's beautiful purple eyes lit up at once, as if stars had blossomed within them.
The hint of hurt vanished from her little face, replaced by a dazzling, unalloyed smile. She nodded hard.
"Mm! Thank you, Big Brother Ye Qing!"
She called him "Big Brother" in a clear, natural voice, with a child's affectionate familiarity.
Hearing it, Ye Qing felt his heart stir slightly, too.
However, Qian Renxue's happy smile had barely had time to appear before a sudden voice rang out from beyond the courtyard. It was unfamiliar, yet exceptionally melodious, and it froze her smile in place.
"God Child, may I... come in?"