"What?!"
Golden Crocodile Douluo's expression changed drastically. Before he could react, the pressure had already made the nearby Red Cardinals' legs buckle, sending them to their knees!
On the plaza, the nearly ten thousand Soul Masters felt as if an invisible hand had clamped tightly around their throats. They struggled to breathe, their hearts pounding wildly. The whispers that had filled the air vanished in an instant, replaced by a terrified silence.
Then—
Under the horrified gazes of everyone present, Soul Rings slowly rose from beneath Bibi Dong's feet, pulsing with a light that made their hearts tremble.
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black...
Eight Soul Rings!
"Eight rings?! A Soul Douluo?! She's so young, and yet..."
A gasp burst from the crowd, but it was cut short once more.
Because a ninth Soul Ring was rising!
It was a vivid, dripping red, as if it had been soaked in the blood of countless living beings—
A crimson radiance filled the sky!
The eerie, blood-red light instantly illuminated the entire darkened sky. The supreme pressure of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast ran rampant through the depths of every soul, without restraint!
"A... a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring?!"
"A Titled Douluo?! How is that possible?!"
"She... she's not even thirty!"
The crowd erupted!
Everyone's eyes widened as they stared at that red Soul Ring.
A Titled Douluo who wasn't even thirty!
And her ninth Soul Ring was the legendary Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring!
With talent and strength like that, even former Pope Qian Xunji couldn't compare—let alone Tang Hao, the Clear Sky Douluo, whose name resounded throughout the world!
Doubt? Contempt? Scrutiny?
Before that dazzling crimson light, they all crumbled into the most primal fear and awe!
On the high platform.
Bibi Dong stood there. Though she was cursing Nan Feng to high heaven in her heart, she had to maintain her air of authority on the outside.
Now that she had revealed her power, she could only grit her teeth and keep up the act.
The light from the blood-red Soul Ring had yet to fade completely, and its suffocating pressure still weighed on everyone's hearts.
That's enough.
The intimidation has served its purpose. Now I only need to complete the coronation as planned, then slowly build up my strength...
Bibi Dong reined in her aura slightly and swept her long sleeves aside, preparing to turn and take her seat on the Papal throne, bringing this makeshift coronation ceremony to an end.
However—
"Is that it?"
Nan Feng's voice rang out again in the Sea of Consciousness, full of exasperation. "You've built the atmosphere up to this point, and you actually want to sit down and rest?"
"Bibi Dong! Have you still not figured out the situation?!"
"The people below are scared of your Soul Rings, sure, but what they feel most is fear, not submission! If you want them to give their lives for you, scaring them isn't enough. You need to fire them up! You need to get inside their heads!"
"You need to stir their emotions! Set their fury ablaze!"
Bibi Dong furrowed her brows and replied coldly in her heart, "Shut up! There's such a thing as going too far! If I act too aggressively, the major powers will band together against us ahead of time! Spirit Hall needs to recover and build its strength gradually!"
"Recover, my ass! Build strength gradually, my foot!"
Nan Feng scoffed. "That's a weakling's way of thinking! A true ruler never needs to care what other people think!"
"So what if they're wary? So what if they target us? They're a bunch of useless chickens and dogs. Why not just crush them?!"
"You're the Pope! The ruler of this continent! You should present yourself as a god, untouchable and impossible to gaze upon! Make them tremble at the sound of your name and drop to their knees at the sight of your shadow!"
"Waiting for the right moment? What are you, a spider hiding in a cave?"
"If you don't dare say it, then I will!"
"You dare—!" Bibi Dong roared, trying to seize control.
But this was the plaza of the Pope Palace, where countless eyes were upon her.
If she fought the other soul inside her for control of her body now, even a moment's stiffness, a twitch, or a slip in her expression would turn the new Pope into a laughingstock across the continent.
She couldn't risk it.
And Nan Feng knew exactly that she couldn't risk it, so he seized control without the slightest restraint!
Buzz—!
For the briefest moment, "Bibi Dong," who had been about to sit down, halted abruptly, then straightened up again.
In that instant, her entire bearing changed.
If Bibi Dong had just been a repressed iceberg, cold and brooding, now she was a raging inferno—bold, domineering, and arrogant, looking down upon all living beings as if they were ants!
Controlling Bibi Dong's body, Nan Feng stood at the edge of the high platform and looked down at the crowd. He didn't glance at the still-trembling Cardinals, but turned his gaze toward the distant horizon.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongues?"
Nan Feng's voice wasn't loud, but it carried with strange force, echoing in everyone's ears. "Weren't you all so talkative just now? Weren't you questioning my age and my qualifications?"
"Why have you all lowered your heads now?"
The plaza fell silent. No one dared answer.
"Raise your heads!"
Nan Feng's sharp shout made many people shudder and instinctively look up.
"I know what you're thinking."
Nan Feng's eyes swept across the crowd like lightning. "You're afraid, ashamed, and angry."
"The Pope of Spirit Hall, the supreme leader of the Soul Master World, was gravely wounded by Tang Hao, who had only just become a Titled Douluo, and ultimately died of his injuries."
"For Spirit Hall, that's a disgrace! Isn't it?!"
Many in the crowd began to breathe harder, humiliation burning in their eyes.
It was true. For days, wherever they went, they heard people praising the Clear Sky Sect and mocking Spirit Hall. They'd been swallowing their anger!
But in the next moment, Nan Feng abruptly changed tack and said something that left everyone dumbstruck:
"But I'm telling you—"
"That was a disgrace."
"But it wasn't because the Clear Sky Sect was so powerful. It was because—our former Pope was utterly incompetent!"
The words sent a shock through the entire plaza.
Golden Crocodile Douluo, standing nearby, widened his eyes. He could hardly believe what he'd heard.
What had she said?!
She was calling Qian Xunji incompetent?!
In full view of the public, a new Pope who was about to be crowned was openly insulting the former Pope, whose body wasn't even cold yet?!
"What? Think I'm wrong?"
Nan Feng gave a cold laugh, his contempt plain in his voice. "The dignified Pope went to pick a fight and kill Tang Hao, who'd only just reached Level 90, bringing two Titled Douluo elders and countless Spirit Hall experts with him."
"And what happened?"
"He made the other man famous by letting him step on his head, then came crawling back like a stray dog and died miserably in bed!"
"He picked the fight and still couldn't win!!"
"If that's not incompetence, what is?! If that's not being a useless piece of trash, what is?!"
"Qian Xunji has brought shame upon eighteen generations of Spirit Hall's ancestors!!"
The crowd erupted in an uproar!
She was mad! The new Pope had gone mad!
But... for some reason, after hearing those outrageous, blasphemous words, much of the resentment in their hearts had strangely dissipated. In its place was a fervent adoration of their new Pope!
That was right!
Spirit Hall wasn't the problem. The former Pope was!
What did Qian Xunji being useless have to do with them?!
"The Clear Sky Sect? Tang Hao? The Clear Sky Douluo?" Nan Feng gave a cold laugh.
"People out there are saying Tang Hao is the greatest genius in the world, and the Clear Sky Sect is about to rise to glory again?"
"How laughable! How absurd!"
Nan Feng suddenly spread his arms. Behind him, the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring blazed with a surge of crimson light, making him look like a devil god descended upon the world:
"If that useless Qian Xunji threw away our dignity and couldn't reclaim it—"
"Then I, personally, will take it back!"
"Carry out my decree!"
"Effective immediately, any member of Spirit Hall who encounters a disciple of the Clear Sky Sect is to kill them without mercy!!"
"I will use the blood of the entire Clear Sky Sect to wash away this disgrace!"
"Let the whole world know—"
"Spirit Hall's authority must not be challenged!"
"The Pope's authority—even more so!"
"A blood debt can only be repaid in blood!!"
"Blood for blood!!"
As the final roar rang out, the entire plaza erupted!
It wasn't fear, but fervor!
The nearly ten thousand Soul Masters had been utterly ignited by the rousing, domineering speech! Their faces flushed red as they waved their arms and shouted themselves hoarse, their fervor practically spilling from their eyes!
Soul Masters had always revered the strong. Compared with a meek, restrained leader, this domineering, even somewhat mad tyrant was far more capable of stirring their blood and inspiring their loyalty!
Who cared about the former Pope? A dead fool wasn't worth respecting. The only one worth following was the ruler before them, the one who could lead them to crush everything in their path!
"Kill! Kill! Kill!!!"
"Blood for blood!!!"
"Long live Spirit Hall!!!"
"Long live His Holiness the Pope!!!"