"Mm... let me think."
Nan Feng sat up and pretended to count on his fingers. "From when you were little and Qian Xunji took you in as his disciple, raising you like a child bride, to when you grew up and met that... good-for-nothing named Yu Xiaogang."
At the sound of that name, Bibi Dong stiffened. Pain and hatred flashed through her eyes.
"Oh, right. You two carried on right under Spirit City's nose for five or six years, then went to Sea God Island together and survived what you called a brush with death. Your feelings grew even stronger..."
"Enough!"
Bibi Dong cut him off sharply, her voice cold as ice. "Nan Feng, some things are better left unsaid once you see through them. Otherwise..."
"Otherwise what? You'll kill me?"
Nan Feng wasn't the least bit afraid. If anything, he got even more worked up. "I've always wondered, Bibi Dong—was your head full of mush back then?"
"Qian Xunji was the Pope, the overlord of Spirit City. You and Yu Xiaogang carried on a relationship right under his nose, and you actually thought he didn't know? Or... did you think he approved?"
Bibi Dong didn't answer. She only gripped the sheets beneath her so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
Nan Feng continued, "Deep down, you must have suspected it. Qian Xunji controlled Spirit City. You were his personal disciple, and Yu Xiaogang was the son of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's leader."
"There's no way Qian Xunji didn't know the two of you were spending time together. And with so many spies around the Holy Maiden, claiming he didn't know would've been fooling yourself."
"But you thought that since Qian Xunji knew and never said anything, he must have given his tacit approval."
"So after you returned in defeat from Sea God Island, broke through to Soul Saint, and obtained your Seventh Soul Ring, you wanted to tell Qian Xunji the good news—and get him to approve your relationship while you were at it."
"You just didn't expect him not only to refuse, but to tear into you and heap scorn on Yu Xiaogang, too."
"You were stunned."
"After all, Qian Xunji had never scolded you before. All your life, you'd been the Pope's finest disciple, Spirit Hall's pride—the one who surpassed those so-called Clear Sky Twin Stars."
"Besides, you and Yu Xiaogang were in the throes of young love. After surviving the battle on Sea God Island by the skin of your teeth, your feelings had only grown stronger."
"When Qian Xunji tore into Yu Xiaogang, especially when he mocked him as a good-for-nothing who'd never break through Level 30 in his entire life, you lost your head."
"In a fit of anger, you threatened to leave Spirit Hall rather than give up Yu Xiaogang."
"You thought Qian Xunji doted on you. You believed that if he saw how determined you were, he'd agree, no matter how little he thought of Yu Xiaogang. After all, Yu Xiaogang had been part of Spirit Hall for years and was known as the Grandmaster of theory."
"But you didn't expect Qian Xunji to drug you unconscious that very night."
"Shut up."
Bibi Dong's voice was quiet, but it carried a chill that seemed to seep into the bones. "Nan Feng, I'm warning you. Don't test my limits."
That was the deepest, most painful, most filthy scar of her life.
Even after she'd had her revenge, even after Qian Xunji was dead, the moment she thought of the despair and humiliation of that night, she still felt a suffocating pain.
But Nan Feng, inside the Sea of Consciousness, didn't stop.
"Your limits?"
Nan Feng scoffed. "Bibi Dong, what you call your limits is nothing but a fig leaf you use to hide from reality."
"Are you telling me to shut up because I hit a sore spot, or because... you're too afraid to face the foolish girl you were?"
"Think about it."
Nan Feng's voice turned stern and cutting. "You were a Twin Martial Souls genius, the Holy Maiden whom Spirit Hall had spared no expense to cultivate. From childhood, you received the finest elite education on the entire continent."
"Did you really not understand a ruler's need for control? Did you really not know what kind of person Qian Xunji was?"
"Why did he dote on you?"
"Because you were cute? Because you were pretty? Or because he truly raised you as his daughter?"
"Wake up!"
Nan Feng mercilessly tore her illusions apart. "It was because you obeyed! Because you were the perfect creation in his hands! You stroked his vain pride and made him feel good about himself!"
"When you were still a well-behaved little girl, of course he indulged you, giving you whatever you wanted. To him, it was like keeping a tame songbird in a cage."
"But what happened later?"
"You defied him for a good-for-nothing who couldn't even break through Level 30. You even threatened him with the treasonous words that you'd leave Spirit Hall."
"To you, it was a stand for love, a declaration made in a fit of childish pique. At worst, you thought you were being spoiled."
"But what did it look like to Qian Xunji?"
"Betrayal!"
"Losing control!"
"To someone as arrogant and controlling as Qian Xunji, what you did was a challenge to his authority, a test of his limits!"
"You never understood the relationship between yourself and Qian Xunji. You mistook him for a father and thought he loved you. You never knew your place. You weren't his child! You didn't even have the sham family ties emperors and crown princes in the two great empires had. You were just a subject with no blood relation to him!"
"To an emperor, subjects could be greedy and suppress their rivals, but they could never be allowed to get out of control!"
"Even the slightest chance of it could bring down a death sentence!"
"And the most laughable part..."
Nan Feng sighed, his voice filled with exasperation at someone who refused to learn. "Even if you truly wanted to leave, couldn't you have slipped away quietly? The world was wide. If you were determined to run, you were already a Soul Saint by then. Who could have stopped you?"
"But no, you had to go right up to him and, like a spoiled little girl, announce: 'I'm leaving! I'm running away with that man! If you don't agree, I really will go!'"
"What else do you call that but having a screw loose?"
"Did you really think he was your father?"
Bibi Dong trembled all over. Her breathing quickened, and her violet eyes brimmed with bloodshot madness.
"Stop... stop..."
"I'm going to say it anyway!"
Nan Feng's voice echoed in her mind like a demon's whisper. "Do you know what Qian Xunji was thinking then?"
"He thought: 'If this blade won't obey me anymore, I'll break it and forge it anew!'"
"'If you want to run, I'll chain you here for good. Even if I have to ruin you, I'll keep you in Spirit Hall and make you bear offspring with the strongest talent!'"
"The so-called secret chamber, the so-called rape—those weren't acts of passion to him. They were the harshest punishment for your disobedience, his final way to bind you to Spirit Hall's war chariot!"
"He wanted to keep you, and he wanted to destroy... the naïve Bibi Dong in your heart."
"And he succeeded."
A hint of mockery crept into Nan Feng's voice. "The naïve Bibi Dong died in that secret chamber. The one who survived was a vengeful woman, filled with hatred and pain, who still couldn't see reality clearly."
"You hated him, hated Spirit Hall, hated the world."
"But had you ever hated the foolish girl you once were?"
"If you'd understood that what Qian Xunji felt for you wasn't love, only an overwhelming need to control you, would you still have declared your intentions like that?"
"Have you ever wondered if things might have turned out differently if you'd been just a little smarter, a little more tactful, a little more aware of human nature and power?"
"If you'd only pretended to obey him, then found a way to act in secret."
"If you hadn't used such an extreme threat against someone in power who was obsessed with control."
"Maybe..."
Nan Feng paused. His voice turned faint and distant.
"Maybe none of this would have happened."
"ENOUGH—!!!"
Bibi Dong shot upright on the couch and let out a hysterical scream.
BOOM—!!!
Her terrifying Soul Power erupted, shattering every exquisite ornament in the bedchamber!
Her purple dress billowed, her hair flew into disarray, and Bibi Dong clutched her head with both hands, her nails digging deep into her scalp as tears silently slid from the corners of her eyes.
"Why did you have to say it... why did you have to say it..."
She knew.
She had always known.
On countless nights when nightmares had jolted her awake, in countless moments when she'd wanted to end it all, she had asked herself: if she hadn't acted so impulsively, if she hadn't been so naïve, would everything have turned out differently?
But she didn't dare admit it.
She didn't dare admit that half the reason for that tragedy had been her own foolishness and ignorance.
She could only pour all her hatred onto Qian Xunji, onto Spirit Hall, even onto the world.
Only then could she find a reason to keep living, an excuse for revenge.
But now, that bastard Nan Feng had forcibly ripped away the fig leaf that hid it all.