Nan Feng: Bullying Me Comes With a Price

"Creeeak--"

A faint sound of a door being pushed open echoed outside the silent bedchamber, followed by a series of deliberately muffled footsteps. Like a guilty kitten, the intruder inched toward the main entrance, one hesitant step at a time.

Bibi Dong's senses were incredibly sharp; even without looking, she knew exactly who it was.

In this Martial Soul City, who else but Qian Renxue would dare to sneak into the Saintess Hall at this hour without announcing herself?

She's here again.

Bibi Dong sighed and rubbed her temples, feeling utterly exhausted in both body and spirit.

Too much had happened today: first the passionate speech at the succession ceremony, then the chaos stirred up by the Elder Hall, and finally the stinging rebuke from Nan Feng, who had torn open her wounds. She just wanted to be left alone; she had no energy to deal with Qian Renxue.

"Nan Feng."

Bibi Dong called out within her Sea of Consciousness, "You go."

"Go to hell!"

Nan Feng rolled over, turning his back to her, his voice filled with resistance. "If you want to go, go yourself. This Emperor is currently too drained to move a muscle."

"You..."

Bibi Dong choked, feeling a surge of irritation. "What kind of madness is this? Didn't you act the part perfectly before? Now that she's here, can't you just go and coax her away?"

"Big sister, have you developed amnesia?" Nan Feng snapped. "Who forced my avatar to self-destruct? It was that old pervert Qian Daoliu!"

"Even though the Soul Blood Pact improved the quality of my avatar, the price for this thing is steep! That was equivalent to carving off a piece of my own soul and blowing it up! My head is still buzzing!"

"Besides, this high-quality Spider Emperor Avatar now has a one-month cooldown!"

"A whole month! I can't manifest that physical avatar at all during this time!"

"Then use my body," Bibi Dong said as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "You've used it plenty of times before."

"I refuse."

"Why?" Bibi Dong frowned. "Don't you like her? You used to watch the stars with her, tell her stories, and coddle her even more than a real mother would. Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Huh?"

Nan Feng acted as if he had heard the most ridiculous joke in the world. He sat up abruptly, staring at Bibi Dong with an expression that suggested he was looking at a fool.

"Like her? Bibi Dong, did my scolding just short-circuit your brain?"

"I was acting! Do you understand what acting is?!"

"If it weren't for binding her to our sinking ship as a protective charm, and if it weren't for making Qian Daoliu hesitate to move against us, do you think I'd be bored enough to play house with a nine-year-old brat?"

"I am the dignified Death Spider Emperor, a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast overlord. Do I look like I have the heart to be a nanny for a human cub?"

Bibi Dong froze.

She had always believed that while Nan Feng was sharp-tongued and ruthless, he held at least some genuine affection for Qian Renxue. After all, the way he had protected and doted on her had been far too realistic.

But now it seemed... this guy had been calculating from the very beginning.

Even that child was nothing more than a chip in his hand.

"And, the most important point."

"That old thing Qian Daoliu used his divine power to humiliate me just a moment ago, forcing me to detonate my avatar and damaging my soul."

"And you expect me to turn around, smiling, and control your body to coax his granddaughter? To perform a scene of 'motherly love and filial piety' for him?"

"Do I look that pathetic to you?"

"Get slapped in the face one second, and wag my tail the next?"

Nan Feng snorted coldly, lay back down on the bed, and crossed his legs.

"Dream on!"

"I want that old man to know that bullying me comes with a price!"

"He forced that 'good mother' to her death, so he must bear the consequences!"

"Even if those consequences mean his granddaughter is heartbroken, left in despair, or that he has to watch her cry while being utterly powerless... that is what he brought upon himself!"

"That is the price."

"So..."

Nan Feng turned his back to Bibi Dong again. "Handle that little burden outside yourself."

"Either put on a cold face and drive her away so she goes back to cry to Qian Daoliu and makes that old man ache with regret."

"Or go be that 'good mother' yourself. Either way, I'm done serving."

"Don't expect that 'amnesiac' persona to come online for the next month."

"This Emperor is on strike!"

Worship Hall.

Qian Daoliu sat cross-legged beneath the statue, his eyes slightly closed.

Suddenly.

"Wuu wuu wuu..."

A series of stumbling footsteps, accompanied by uncontrollable sobbing, shattered the deathly silence of the Worship Hall.

Qian Daoliu snapped his eyes open, his figure flickering as he instantly appeared at the entrance of the great hall.

"Xue'er?!"

He saw that tiny figure stumbling up the steps, her face covered in tear tracks, her eyes swollen and red from crying. Her long golden hair was disheveled and plastered to her face from running, making her look utterly wretched.

"Xue'er, what happened?!"

Qian Daoliu's heart tightened. He hurriedly crouched down, wanting to embrace the granddaughter who was the apple of his eye.

"Why are you crying like this? Did you fall? Or..."

"Go away!!"

Qian Renxue violently shoved Qian Daoliu's hands away, even retreating two steps, staring at him with eyes filled with disappointment, anger, and grievance.

"Grandpa is a big liar! A big bad guy!!"

This shout, carrying a heart-wrenching sob, left Qian Daoliu completely stunned.

"Xue'er... how did Grandpa lie to you?" Qian Daoliu was at a loss.

"You promised me! You said you wouldn't hurt that mother! You said you would help her heal!"

Qian Renxue cried as she shouted, her small body trembling violently from the intense emotional turmoil:

"But... but Mother said it was you who forced that gentle mother to her death! You forced her to self-destruct!!"

Qian Daoliu's expression stiffened. He opened his mouth, wanting to explain that it was just an accident, that the avatar had detonated itself.

But Qian Renxue wouldn't listen at all.

"I went to the bedchamber just now to find Mother... I wanted her to call that gentle mother out to keep me company..."

Qian Renxue sobbed, her tears falling like beads from a broken string, "But... but Mother chased me out!"

"She was so fierce... she was really so fierce..."

"She said: 'Stop bothering me! Your good mother has already been forced to death by your good grandpa!'"

"She said: 'One second he was hypocritically saying he would protect us, the next he used divine power to force her to self-destruct!'"

"She said: 'That gentle mother is severely injured now, her soul is shattered, and she can't come out at all! Even if she could, she wouldn't want to see you! Because seeing you reminds her of your hypocritical grandpa!'"

"Wuu wuu wuu..."

"Xue'er, it's not like that..." Qian Daoliu tried to defend himself, "Grandpa only wanted to check on her at the time..."

"I won't listen! I won't listen!"

Qian Renxue covered her ears, crying in despair and helplessness, collapsing onto the cold floor.

"Daddy is gone... Daddy was beaten to death by bad people..."

"Now that good mother is gone too... Grandpa made her disappear..."

"The real Mother doesn't want me either... she thinks I'm annoying... she told me to get lost..."

Qian Renxue looked up, her large golden eyes, once full of spirit, now filled with a heartbreaking emptiness:

"Grandpa... am I not a good girl?"

"Is it because I'm unwanted?"

"Daddy doesn't want Xue'er, Mother hates Xue'er... and now even the only one who would hold Xue'er and tell her stories doesn't want Xue'er anymore..."

"Nobody wants Xue'er... wuu wuu wuu..."

These final words completely shattered Qian Daoliu's psychological defenses.

Looking at the little granddaughter curled into a ball, crying that she was "unwanted," this man who had lived over a hundred years and stood at the pinnacle of the continent felt as if his heart had been ruthlessly gripped, hurting so much he couldn't breathe.

While he felt grief over Qian Xunji's death, it was mostly anger and regret.

But Qian Renxue's tears were his true Achilles' heel, a pain that carved into his heart and gnawed at his bones.

"No... that's not it..."

Ignoring being pushed away by his granddaughter, Qian Daoliu pulled the small body tightly into his arms, his own eye sockets turning red.

"Xue'er is not unwanted... Xue'er is Grandpa's precious treasure... Grandpa wants you, Grandpa will always want you..."

"Liar! You're all liars!"

Qian Renxue struggled desperately in his arms, her small fists raining down on Qian Daoliu's chest, "Give that mother back to me! I want that mother! I want to hear stories! I want to eat Mung Bean Cake!"

"You owe me! Wuu wuu wuu..."

Even though Qian Daoliu possessed heaven-defying demigod power, and even though he could mobilize the Angel God's power to suppress everything.

At this moment, facing his granddaughter's tears and that demand to "give me back a mother," he felt an unprecedented sense of powerlessness.

Compensate? How could he compensate?

That avatar had already detonated!

Furthermore, Bibi Dong had made it very clear that it was a soul injury; it wouldn't be able to emerge for a long time!

Because of his previous coercion, that avatar's personality now harbored resentment toward both him and Xue'er!

"Damn it..."

A deep sense of regret surged within Qian Daoliu's heart.

He regretted it.

Had he known that the avatar was so unyielding, had he known that the avatar held such a significant place in Xue'er's heart, why had he been so foolish as to probe it back then?!

Now look at the mess.

Bibi Dong's main body was estranged from him, that avatar's personality had gone on strike, and Xue'er hated him for being a liar.

He had truly lost everything!

"Don't cry, Xue'er... Grandfather will find a way... Grandfather will definitely find a way..."

While clumsily patting Qian Renxue's back, Qian Daoliu felt a bitter taste in his heart.

What way could he possibly find?

Could he really go and beg Bibi Dong again?