Bibi Dong: Qian Renxue, I Don't Care! A Frozen Infant!

Shui Bing'er felt a bit embarrassed by her question and hurriedly explained:

"Senior, my Martial Soul is the Ice Phoenix, and the soul beasts of the Far North are the most compatible with my Martial Soul's attributes."

As she spoke, she seemed to want to prove something; with a flick of her mind, four soul rings rose abruptly.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple.

The optimal soul ring configuration.

She extended her slender, delicate hand, and her fourth soul ring shone brilliantly.

"Fourth Soul Skill, Sky-Filling Ice and Snow!"

In an instant, an extreme cold current spread out from her as the center. The snowflakes falling from the sky seemed to be endowed with life, becoming denser, each one transforming into a sharp ice blade that whistled as it swept toward an iceberg in the distance.

"Crack! Crack!"

"I have gained a great deal from this trip to the Far North."

Shui Bing'er retracted her Martial Soul, her face carrying a trace of joy and confidence.

"I have obtained the fourth soul ring most suited to me."

She paused.

"And..."

A blush quietly crept onto Shui Bing'er's cheeks as she stole a glance at Lan, who stood calmly by her side.

She whispered in a voice only she could hear, reciting in her heart:

And I met you, this boy who is like a shark.

The group tidied up briefly and then delayed no longer.

Chatting and laughing, they headed toward Heaven Dou Imperial City.

Meanwhile.

Martial Soul City.

Inside the grand and solemn Worship Hall, it was so quiet that one could hear the sound of dust settling.

A figure walked in slowly.

Her golden hair cascaded like a waterfall, refracting a divine halo in the beams of light filtering through the colorful stained-glass windows of the dome.

At eighteen, Qian Renxue possessed a tall figure and a stunningly beautiful face, with skin as white as snow, giving her an innate sense of nobility and aloofness, as if she were an angel who did not belong to the mortal world.

In the deepest part of the hall, beneath a massive, pure white Angel God Statue, stood an old man.

Qian Daoliu.

He was meticulously wiping the base of the statue with a piece of white silk, his expression pious and focused, as if performing some sacred ritual.

Hearing the footsteps, he did not turn around.

"Xue'er."

The old man's voice was calm and melodious, echoing through the empty hall.

"Have you always been puzzled as to why, for so many years, I have never truly prepared you to inherit the Angel God position?"

Qian Renxue stopped and bowed slightly.

"Yes, Grandfather."

Her voice was cold and clear.

"Xue'er is indeed confused."

Qian Renxue looked up at the massive Angel God Statue, a flash of bewilderment crossing her eyes.

"Of the Qian family, only Xue'er remains as a successor."

"Could it be that... there is someone else among the descendants of the angels?"

Qian Daoliu stopped his movements but remained with his back to her.

He sighed softly.

"When you were six years old, the inheritor of the Angel God position had already appeared."

"I originally thought that with your innate Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul, that person should have been you."

Qian Daoliu shook his head slightly as he said this, his tone carrying a trace of indescribable complexity.

"But, it was not."

Qian Renxue's beautiful face shifted slightly.

Those pale purple eyes contracted sharply.

"There is someone else?"

"Indeed."

Qian Daoliu finally turned around slowly, his gaze as deep as the sea, as if he could see through everything in the world.

"From that year on, I mobilized all the power of the Martial Soul Hall to thoroughly investigate this matter across the entire continent."

"However, twelve whole years have passed."

He looked at his granddaughter and said, word by word.

"Not a single clue."

"Twelve years..."

Qian Renxue muttered to herself.

"Not even a trace of a clue?"

How vast was the influence of the Martial Soul Hall? It reached almost every corner of the entire Douluo Continent.

The spirit master manuals in its possession recorded detailed information on the martial souls, Innate Soul Power, and more for the vast majority of spirit masters on the continent.

Under such a dragnet-like search, how could they fail to find a single person?

Just as Qian Renxue's mind was reeling from the shock.

The pure white, magnificent Angel God Statue before her lit up with a faint, imperceptible golden glow without any warning.

The light flashed and vanished, so quickly it felt like a hallucination.

But Qian Renxue felt it clearly.

Deep within her bloodline came an inexplicable palpitation and heat, as if something in a distant place was resonating with her.

That so-called heir to the Angel God position...

Could it be related to her?

This thought flashed through her mind, throwing her heart into even greater turmoil.

She withdrew her gaze, bowed once more to Qian Daoliu's back, and then turned to leave the Worship Hall, which made her feel incomparably stifled, in silence.

After leaving the Worship Hall, Qian Renxue headed straight for the Pope Palace.

Unlike the solemn and archaic Worship Hall, the Pope Palace appeared more majestic and opulent.

Beneath the high dome, Bibi Dong was leaning against her Pope Throne.

She wore a luxurious robe inlaid with gold patterns, a Purple Gold Crown upon her head, and held a scepter symbolizing supreme power. A hint of laziness and fatigue rested on her stunningly beautiful face; she propped her chin with one hand, her purple eyes half-closed, lost in thought.

Seeing Qian Renxue walk in, Bibi Dong did not even lift her eyes.

"Those good-for-nothing sons of the Heaven Dou Emperor are basically all dead."

"Only you, the fake crown prince, are still alive."

Her voice was flat, yet permeated with authority.

"You have already aroused the suspicion of that old fellow, Xue Ye."

Qian Renxue's footsteps stopped in the center of the great hall.

Since she was nine years old, she had been lurking alone within the royal family of the Heaven Dou Empire.

Nine whole years.

If not for the Title Douluo her grandfather had secretly arranged to protect her, she would have long since died under those open spears and hidden arrows.

"Bibi Dong."

Qian Renxue raised her eyes.

"Are you wishing that I would also die in the Heaven Dou royal family?"

"That way, no one would ever be able to threaten your position as Pope again."

She turned her head slightly, seemingly unwilling to look at the face of the woman on the throne. After struggling for a long time, she squeezed two words through her teeth.

"Is that it? My... sis, ter."

"Sister?"

Bibi Dong repeated the word. Her previously lazy expression vanished instantly, and she slowly sat upright, a clear chill emerging in those beautiful purple eyes.

Qian Renxue acted as if she did not see the change in her, continuing on her own.

"In this world, I have only one relative."

"And that is Grandfather."

As soon as the words fell.

Bibi Dong stood up abruptly.

The scepter in her hand struck the polished floor heavily!

"Thud!"

A muffled sound echoed.

A visible shockwave of purple soul power erupted from the point where the scepter struck, instantly rippling outward!

Qian Renxue had no time to react; she felt an irresistible force slam into her chest, and a muffled groan escaped her lips.

A thin trail of blood slowly trickled from the corner of her mouth.

In the next instant, Bibi Dong's figure appeared before her like a phantom.

A hand, white as jade yet cold as ice, clamped precisely around her slender throat.

"Whether you hate me or not, I couldn't care less."

Bibi Dong looked down at her, her eyes complex, filled with both disgust and a trace of pity that no one could understand.

"However, do not forget your mission."

As the sensation of suffocation set in, Qian Renxue's face flushed a deep red; she struggled, forcing out a few words with great difficulty.

"You... are not worthy..."

Bibi Dong's gaze turned abruptly frigid.

She released her grip.

Qian Renxue stumbled back a few steps, coughing violently. She wiped the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand and, without sparing Bibi Dong another glance, turned and walked away quickly.

The vast hall returned to silence.

It was as if all her strength had been drained; Bibi Dong's body went limp, and she collapsed back onto the cold throne.

She stared blankly in the direction Qian Renxue had departed, yet against her will, another face surfaced in her mind.

The infant she had abandoned with her own hands in the freezing snow eighteen years ago.

It is better that she is dead.

She closed her eyes and murmured to herself.

That way, no one else would have to live as painfully as she did.