Bibi Dong's figure flashed like a wraith, appearing before him in an instant.
A slender, fair hand clamped around his throat.
"Why?"
At last, she asked the question she had buried deep in her heart for nearly ten years.
Her voice trembled, not with excitement, but with the hatred that had sunk into her very bones.
"I loved Xiao Gang so much... I only wanted to be with him... Why did you do that to me?!"
Qian Xunji struggled to breathe. Feeling the killing intent radiating from that hand, he actually laughed.
His laughter was hoarse, like the wheeze of a broken bellows.
"Why?"
"Bibi Dong, you're the Saintess of Spirit Hall, the next Pope I devoted my heart and soul to raising!"
"But what about you? For the sake of a Yu Xiaogang, a good-for-nothing from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Sect, Spirit Hall's sworn enemy, you were going to betray Spirit Hall and throw yourself into the arms of the enemy!"
There wasn't the slightest trace of regret in his eyes, only a twisted fervor.
"Spirit Hall will never tolerate traitors!"
"If I could go back in time... I'd still make the same choice! I only regret one thing! I regret that I wasn't strong enough!"
"Ahhh—!"
Bibi Dong let out a shrill scream, and madness completely overwhelmed her reason.
A hideous black shadow abruptly appeared behind her.
It was her Second Martial Soul—the Soul-Devouring Spider Emperor!
Eight purplish-black spider legs, sharp as spears, pierced Qian Xunji's limbs in an instant.
"Even if I condemned you to eternal damnation, it still wouldn't ease the hatred in my heart!"
Bibi Dong's face twisted with unbearable pain and hatred.
Green light streamed along the spider legs, pouring out of Qian Xunji's body without end. It was his Soul Power, his life force.
"Let me tell you something else."
Her voice turned vicious, like a curse from the depths of the Abyss.
"You actually have another son."
Qian Xunji shuddered all over, his blurred gaze fixed on her.
Bibi Dong leaned close to his ear and spoke slowly, one word at a time, in a voice only the two of them could hear:
"But as soon as he was born, I personally... threw him into the Far North."
"By my reckoning, he should've frozen into an ice sculpture and been eaten by a Soul Beast long ago."
"..."
Qian Xunji's body began to tremble violently, not from the loss of his life force, but from an indescribable despair and anguish.
A son...
His only son... was dead?
"Why... why?!"
He used the last of his strength to roar.
"He was your son too...!"
Bibi Dong smiled, laughing until tears streamed down her face.
"I was your disciple, your adopted daughter... and you raped me."
She stared into his eyes as their light slowly faded and said softly:
"He was your son, and I killed him. What did I do wrong?"
The light in Qian Xunji's eyes faded completely.
His hair visibly turned gray, and his skin sagged. In an instant, he had become a decrepit old man on the brink of death.
"History... always... repeats... its ugliest side..."
He murmured, filled with endless bitterness and pain. His head tilted to one side, and he fell utterly silent.
Thump.
Bibi Dong released him, letting his body slide to the floor.
She slowly turned and walked out of the secret chamber that had buried all her nightmares.
The vast Pope Palace was empty, save for her.
She walked up to the Pope Throne, the symbol of the continent's highest authority, and slowly sat down.
The golden seat was ice-cold.
Bibi Dong buried her face in her palms. Her thin shoulders began to shake violently, uncontrollably.
Her muffled, anguished sobs echoed for a long time through the grand, deserted hall.
Nine years later.
The Far North, the Core Circle.
Fine snowflakes drifted over an open-air hot spring that never froze.
They melted quietly as soon as they fell into the rising steam, bringing not a trace of chill to this warm place.
At the center of the hot spring, a figure sat cross-legged.
His eyes were closed. Striking silver hair spilled over his shoulders, with a few locks hanging down his chest and dipping into the water.
The young man had handsome features, a high nose, and thin lips. Even sitting still, he exuded a wild air that warned others to keep their distance.
It was Lan.
At that moment, he was doing two things at once. The Soul Power within him circulated steadily, maintaining the hot spring's warmth within three feet of him and keeping the bitter cold outside at bay.
At the same time, another, purer stream of Soul Power cautiously reached above the water's surface.
Splash.
An invisible force lifted a stream of water, sending it swirling through the air.
The instant it touched the frigid air, it quickly froze. In the blink of an eye, it became a lifelike ice shark, no bigger than a palm.
The ice shark swam through the air for a moment, then silently fell back into the water and melted away.
Another stream of water rose right after it.
This had been his daily practice for years.
Precise control over Soul Power had become second nature to him.
A jade-green figure quietly appeared at the edge of the hot spring.
She was barefoot, standing on the snow, yet showed no sign of feeling cold.
Her figure was graceful, her beauty touched with a hint of allure. She was the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, Ice Empress.
"Well, look at that. Our little Lan's all grown up. Now he sneaks off to practice by himself?"
Ice Empress's voice held a teasing lilt.
Lan opened his eyes. They were an unusual, pure white, like snow and ice. He had no pupils, yet his gaze seemed able to see through everything.
He looked at Ice Empress, his expression calm, his reply brief.
"Aunt Bing, I'm an adult."
The implication was clear: stop calling me little Lan.
"An adult?"
At his words, Ice Empress didn't hold back. Instead, she giggled, laughing so hard her whole body swayed.
She stepped into the hot spring. Ripples spread across the water, and in an instant she was right in front of Lan.
The warm water rose to her thighs, accentuating their long, straight lines.
"You little rascal. Your Aunt Xue and I raised you from when you were this tiny. Is there a part of you I haven't seen?"
Ice Empress reached out a slender finger and gently tapped Lan on the nose.
"And now you're telling me you're an adult?"
A rare trace of helplessness appeared on Lan's face.
He was just about to say something when Ice Empress suddenly leaned in.
A warm, soft touch brushed his cheek, then vanished.
Lan froze completely.
He felt a surge of heat rush uncontrollably from his dantian to the top of his head, and the Soul Power circulating steadily within him suddenly erupted out of control.
Crack—crack!
A piercing freezing sound rang out!
Centered on Lan, the entire open-air hot spring, along with the billowing steam, froze into solid ice in less than a breath.
Lan remained seated cross-legged, frozen fast inside the ice.
His upper body was bare, his strong chest and sharply defined abs visible beneath the crystal-clear ice, radiating powerful beauty.
Only his head was left exposed.
His white eyes were now filled with shock and embarrassment.
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