"Qian Daoliu, what exactly are you trying to do?"
Bibi Dong gritted her teeth and spoke one word at a time.
She thought Qian Daoliu was up to some kind of mischief.
Lin Huai spoke up in time:
"This has nothing to do with my teacher. Just answer me."
Bibi Dong saw that this damned brat actually still dared to smile at her.
So infuriated she almost laughed, she said coldly:
"Tell me what's wrong with Xiao Gang's theories. If you can't convince me, even if you're Qian Daoliu's disciple, I'll kill you!"
Lin Huai sighed inwardly. He'd already said it just now, and she still wanted him to explain it in detail.
What a brainless madwoman.
But that saying was true: "Hysterical means you've lost it; picking silk from the fields means a delicious treat!" (A double entendre. Did everyone get it?)
"His theories begin with two core claims. First, there are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters. Second, Innate Soul Power is directly proportional to the strength of a Martial Soul."
"The clearest evidence for the first claim is Xiao Gang himself. With a pig Martial Soul and only half a level of Innate Soul Power, he still hasn't broken through to Soul Grandmaster. Does the Pope think he's useless, or that the theory is wrong?" (See the author's note.)
Lin Huai stopped speaking, inviting Bibi Dong to refute him.
"Bullshit!"
"What Xiao Gang meant was that even if your Martial Soul is poor, you can still break through your talent bottleneck as long as you're willing to work hard at cultivation."
"Fine, let's say he never studied proper language and expressed himself poorly.
"Let's look at his second core claim."
Bibi Dong quickly replied:
"What's wrong with the second one?"
"It's a conclusion everyone recognizes."
You brat, now you're done for, aren't you? Just wait and see what I do to you!
Noticing the smug look in Bibi Dong's eyes, Lin Huai taunted her:
"I take back what I said earlier about your memory."
"Please, Pope, pick up a pen and write down what I say. I'm afraid you'll forget and come back to blame me."
"On the first floor of the library, bookcase number twenty-one, third shelf from the bottom, there's a rubbing of an ancient book from a thousand years ago. In it, Master Tang formally proposed that the higher one's Innate Soul Power, the stronger one's Martial Soul. On the third floor, bookcase number three, sixth shelf, there's an autobiography by a Soul Ancestor named Taifei. Its opening line is, 'Sure enough, the higher one's Innate Soul Power, the stronger one's Martial Soul!' That Soul Ancestor lived more than two thousand years ago."
Ignoring Bibi Dong's increasingly dark expression,
Lin Huai continued.
"So does the Pope think Yu Gang lived for several thousand years, or that he traveled back to a thousand years ago, spread his theory, and then returned?"
"You went from being a Saintess to becoming the Pope, and yet you're this stupid? Or are you lowering yourself to please that scumbag?"
Bibi Dong's face darkened until it seemed ready to drip.
There was a hint of madness in her voice.
"Xiao Gang wasn't like that!"
"At least he told the common people the upper limits for absorbing Soul Rings, so they could try to absorb Soul Rings with higher age limits!"
Lin Huai pondered.
She hadn't refuted me, so it seemed Bibi Dong still knew Yu Gang's theories were flawed. But Rakshasa's divine will was affecting her thoughts.
Seeing that Lin Huai didn't speak, Bibi Dong continued to fire on all cylinders.
"How could a brat like you understand Xiao Gang? He made it possible for common Soul Masters to learn knowledge that the great powers had kept under lock and key!"
Oh, so you're enjoying this now?
"Then abdicate."
"It's not as if you're the only one who can be Pope. Someone else can do it, too."
Bibi Dong slapped the table and stood up, her expression manic.
"Why should I? You're the one with a guilty conscience! Qian Daoliu, look at your 'good disciple'!"
"I told you not to drag my teacher into this. Look, you can't even agree with what you just said yourself."
"By the same logic, why did the knowledge of the Spirit Hall have to be spread by him? Have all our scholars died?"
Lin Huai watched Bibi Dong's shoulders tremble, making her two melons rise and fall with them.
So fierce. So fierce.
"And don't the colors of your Soul Rings prove that his theory is incomplete?"
"The guidelines compiled by the library clearly state that you should absorb Soul Rings according to your own limits."
"He can't even copy things properly!"
Lin Huai took out Yu Gang's book and tossed it onto the ground.
"Do I need to explain the origins and problems of every one of the other theories to the Pope?"
"His father was barely decent. If that old dragon from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon clan had died,"
"other forces would've killed him long ago!"
Bibi Dong slowly slumped into the Pope's chair.
"Speak. What do you want?"
Lin Huai smiled.
"I just want the Pope to see Yu Gang for who he really is, and stop deceiving herself."
"I once read in a book that when you desperately want something but can never get it, you'll unconsciously keep idealizing it, until you want it even more."
"Maybe that thing is actually just trash!"
Seeing that Bibi Dong still hadn't reacted much, Lin Huai salted the wound again.
"You should know that barely a year after he left you, he got together with his own cousin. They almost even held a wedding."
"As for his 'noble principles,' find a Soul Master with ordinary talent and an ordinary Martial Soul who works very hard. Have him become Yu Gang's disciple and see if he'll accept him."
Bibi Dong sat upright, her voice heavy.
"I'll look into it myself. If there's nothing else, you can leave."
Lin Huai instead walked closer to Bibi Dong, stopping only when he reached the desk before her.
She furrowed her lovely brows. "What are you doing?"
"The next part of this conversation is better had up close."
Bibi Dong knitted her brows even tighter. She hadn't expected this kid to have such terrifying talent, or to have awakened an Innate Domain.
Without summoning Malenia, Lin Huai directly released the Scarlet Rot Domain.
The entire Pope Palace instantly became a blood-red shrine, with iridescent phantom butterflies fluttering through the air.
Bibi Dong and Qian Daoliu's gazes sharpened. This strange domain could actually affect them?
"I'll tell you a story."
"Decades ago, a girl of extraordinary talent appeared in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. She might even have broken the Seven Treasure curse. The sect carefully nurtured her, and she grew into an adult."
"But one day, she suddenly said she wanted to elope with a man from another force."
He looked at Bibi Dong's beautiful face, its expression shifting between light and shadow.
"Does this sound familiar? Don't be in a hurry. She was much more miserable than you."
"The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect directly pressured the force that man belonged to until it disbanded, while the gifted girl was imprisoned."
"Then they treated her like a baby-making machine, making her give birth to child after child. And those children even had different fathers."
Bibi Dong immediately used Martial Soul Possession and charged at Lin Huai.
Qian Daoliu struck as well, using his ninth Soul Skill to pin Bibi Dong down so she couldn't move.
"You old bastard, let me go if you've got the guts!
"I'll make this brat wish he were dead!"
Lin Huai reached out and stroked Bibi Dong's pretty, soft cheek.
"Even with your spider-like appearance, you're still quite beautiful. You've got a peculiar charm."
Qian Daoliu's expression turned strange. Why did this kid seem like a bad person?
He suddenly realized that his earlier plan to set Lin Huai up with his granddaughter was starting to waver.
Before you continue