"I don't need it!!"
Bibi Dong's voice was icy to the extreme. It was the prelude to her reason snapping.
"You don't need it?"
Nan Feng let out a cold laugh. "Don't pretend. I've entered your Sea of Consciousness and seen your memory fragments. If you truly hated her to the bone, if you wanted her dead so badly, then why didn't you do it?"
"With your strength, killing a defenseless little girl wouldn't even take a hand. Releasing a little killing intent would be enough."
"You kept her by your side and watched her. You wanted to kill her, yet couldn't bring yourself to do it. Since that's the case, why not let me help you make use of her value?"
"Besides, if you really want revenge on Qian Xunji, we can just swallow this little girl whole right now. Qian Xunji and Qian Daoliu would go mad on the spot. That would be the most devastating revenge of all. Do you dare?"
"I told you to shut up!!!"
Struck where it hurt, Bibi Dong completely lost control.
It was the most secret wound buried deep in her heart, the one she least wanted to face. Now, this foreign soul had ripped it open, leaving it raw and bleeding.
"Give me back... my body!"
Buzz—!!!
Outside, "Bibi Dong," who had been crouching in front of Qian Renxue with a warm smile, suddenly erupted with a terrifying, dark-green aura.
It was the power of the Soul-Eater Spider Emperor!
Bibi Dong had stopped caring about the consequences. She was going to forcibly seize control of her body, no matter the cost!
"Holy crap! Have you lost your mind?!"
Nan Feng was horrified.
He hadn't expected her reaction to be this extreme. He was in control right now. If he suddenly got kicked offline, the two utterly different powers would collide inside her body, and someone could die!
"Don't do this! Switching Martial Souls now could kill us!" Nan Feng clung desperately to control, trying to suppress her with the power of the Death Spider Emperor. "I'm doing this for your own good!"
"Get out!!!"
Bibi Dong couldn't hear another word. The Soul Power of the Soul-Eater Spider Emperor, cold and overbearing, was like a rabid beast, rampaging through her meridians as it tried to force Nan Feng's soul out.
On one side was the Death Spider Emperor (Nan Feng); on the other was the Soul-Eater Spider Emperor (Bibi Dong).
The two top Spider Emperor Martial Souls collided without restraint inside this delicate human body!
Pfft—!
In the real world.
Qian Renxue had yet to recover from the shock of her mother suddenly becoming so gentle when she saw "her mother's" face turn deathly pale. Her features twisted in pain.
The next moment, a terrifying wave of air exploded from her body, flipping Qian Renxue, who had been caught completely off guard, onto the ground.
"M-Mom?"
Ignoring the pain, Qian Renxue scrambled to her feet in terror.
Bibi Dong's body convulsed violently. A thread of bright-red blood spilled from the corner of her mouth. Her eyes rolled back, and then she fell straight backward, unconscious.
"Mom!!!"
The child's anguished cry instantly shattered the quiet of Saintess Hall.
Qian Renxue stumbled over and threw herself onto Bibi Dong. Looking at her face, pale as paper, she burst into tears.
"Someone! Help!!"
"Mom collapsed!!"
Deep in the Sea of Consciousness.
Amidst the chaos.
Nan Feng rubbed his consciousness, which had nearly been shaken apart, and looked at Bibi Dong nearby, just as battered and unconscious. He couldn't help cursing.
"Damn it, that woman's a lunatic..."
"Well, that's that. She's gone and crashed herself."
"But..."
"Though it was a bit brutal, the results seem even better than I expected?"
"Little Qian Renxue was crying so hard while trying to save her mother, who'd suddenly fallen ill. If this scene reaches Qian Daoliu's ears..."
"This self-sacrificing act gets full marks."
At the same time, an ice-blue streak of light shot out from the shadows like a startled swan and landed beside Qian Renxue.
The newcomer had the appearance of a young boy, but a head of snow-white hair. An eyepatch covered his left eye, and he held a divine bow radiating a freezing aura. He was the Spirit Hall's fifth enshrined elder, the ninety-sixth-level Peak Douluo, Guangling Douluo.
He had been ordered to protect Qian Renxue from the shadows. The incident had happened too suddenly, and the aura coming from Bibi Dong was so strange that he hadn't dared show himself at once.
Guangling first checked Qian Renxue from head to toe. Only after confirming that the little ancestor had merely been knocked over by the wave of air and scraped herself a little, without any internal injuries, did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Fifth Grandpa, I'm fine... Hurry! Hurry and check on Mom!"
Qian Renxue didn't even wipe away her tears. She clutched Guangling's sleeve and pointed at Bibi Dong, who lay on the ground, crying so hard her face was streaked with tears. "Mom suddenly fainted, and she threw up so much blood!"
"All right, all right. Don't panic. I'll check her now."
Guangling reassured her, then flashed over to Bibi Dong and placed two fingers on her wrist.
But the moment he did, the young-looking face, which had been fairly relaxed, froze.
"W-what kind of ghost is this?!"
The instant his Soul Power entered Bibi Dong's body, two completely different yet equally overbearing forces nearly knocked his fingers away!
One was purple-black Soul Power brimming with the aura of death. The other was dark-green Soul Power, filled with devouring and evil.
The two forces were fighting madly through Bibi Dong's meridians, as if they meant to tear her body apart and turn it into a battlefield!
"Two kinds of Soul Power? Twin Martial Souls?!"
Guangling sucked in a sharp breath. What made his scalp tingle even more was that the strength of these two forces was in no way inferior to his own!
"Ninety-sixth level?!"
Guangling stared wide-eyed at Bibi Dong on the ground as if he'd seen a ghost. "This woman... she's already reached the same level as me?!"
What kind of joke was this? How many years had he cultivated? How old was Bibi Dong?
A ninety-sixth-level Soul Master, not even thirty years old?!
"Fifth Grandpa, what's wrong with Mom?" Qian Renxue asked through her tears.
"This is serious... Two incredibly powerful streams of Soul Power are clashing inside her. I've never seen anything like it."
Guangling furrowed his brow. This advanced case involving Twin Martial Souls backfiring was clearly beyond his area of expertise. "We need to call Big Brother. He's probably the only one who can make sense of this strange situation."
"Quick! Call Grandpa!" Qian Renxue cried.
Guangling didn't waste another word. He drew the Light Feather Divine Bow to its full extent. An ice-blue arrow, with no physical form, shot into the sky and burst above the Pope Palace into a dazzling ice flower.
Whoosh—! Whoosh—!
A few breaths later, two terrifying auras swept over from the direction of the Pope Palace and descended into the garden of Saintess Hall.
As the golden light faded, Qian Daoliu and Golden Crocodile Douluo appeared, their expressions grave.
"What happened?"
The moment Qian Daoliu landed, his eyes locked onto the unconscious Bibi Dong and the weeping Qian Renxue. His brow furrowed.
"Big Brother, look at this woman." Guangling pointed at Bibi Dong, his voice urgent. "She seemed to have lost her memory. She didn't even recognize Xiao Xue, and acted like a completely different person—especially gentle. Then, before we'd even said a few words, she suddenly erupted and passed out."
"Lost her memory?" Qian Daoliu was taken aback.
Golden Crocodile Douluo, however, was focused entirely on the fluctuations of Soul Power coming from Bibi Dong.
"This aura..."
Golden Crocodile Douluo strode forward and held his withered hand above Bibi Dong, sensing her for a moment. Then the old man's wrinkled face took on the look of someone who'd seen a ghost.
"Ninety-sixth level... How is that possible?!"
"How old is she? Not even thirty, right?!"
Golden Crocodile Douluo turned to Qian Daoliu, his voice warbling. "Big Brother, Tang Chen and you were nowhere near this strong at her age, were you?"
Qian Daoliu said nothing, but the shock in his eyes was no less than Golden Crocodile's.
He hurried forward and pressed a hand to Bibi Dong's forehead, slowly pouring in the vast Angel Soul Power as he tried to calm the violent aura within her.
"Hmph..."
As Qian Daoliu's Soul Power entered her, the two Spider Emperor Soul Powers fighting inside Bibi Dong seemed to sense an outside enemy. They briefly stopped attacking each other and joined forces in resistance.
"How is she, Big Brother?" Golden Crocodile asked.
"It's a mess. A complete mess."
Qian Daoliu said gravely, "She has Twin Martial Souls. Xunji told me this secret years ago. But Twin Martial Souls are taboo in the Soul Master World. Once someone adds Soul Rings to their Second Martial Soul, the Soul Power can easily clash, causing their body to explode."
"Some opportunity must have come her way this past year. She forcibly added several high-year Soul Rings to her Second Martial Soul, pushing her Soul Power all the way to the ninety-sixth level."
"Her power rose too quickly, her foundation is unstable, and on top of that, there's the backlash from her Twin Martial Souls..."
Qian Daoliu looked at Bibi Dong. A trace of regret crossed his eyes, mixed with a strange sense of relief.
"She's gone berserk."
"The Soul Power backlash has thrown her mind into chaos and damaged her memories."
"Grandpa..."
At that moment, Qian Renxue approached with red-rimmed eyes and cautiously tugged on Qian Daoliu's sleeve. "Mom... she asked me who I was just now. Does she really not remember Xue'er?"
Looking at the expectant expression in his granddaughter's eyes, Qian Daoliu felt his heart stir.
She didn't remember?
If it was true... then it was a blessing from heaven for Spirit Hall!
The hatred between Bibi Dong and Qian Xunji was a thorn in Qian Daoliu's heart.
Over the years, although Bibi Dong had always seemed indifferent, as if she had completely abandoned the past, he had always worried that she would take revenge once her strength grew, even jeopardizing Spirit Hall's stability.
But if she had lost her memory...
A Bibi Dong with terrifying ninety-sixth-level strength, the talent of Twin Martial Souls, and no memory of her hatred—like a blank sheet of paper?
Wouldn't she be Spirit Hall's perfect weapon, and Xue'er's perfect mother?
At the thought, Qian Daoliu's tightly furrowed brow gradually relaxed. He crouched down, gently patted Qian Renxue's head, and spoke with unusual gentleness:
"Don't be afraid, Xue'er."
"Your mother trained too hard and hurt her brain, so she's temporarily forgotten a few things."
"Grandpa may not know how to resolve the conflict between Twin Martial Souls, but I can suppress this injury and keep your mother alive."
"As for her memory loss..."
"This may... be a good thing."