Qian Renxue gritted her teeth and clutched the edge of the bathtub with both hands. Her knuckles turned white, then blue, then red.
"No, what's a little pain?"
"Endure it."
"I can get through this!"
"I absolutely can't waste this precious opportunity!"
Everything that had happened during the years she'd lost her Soul Power flashed through her mind like scenes from a lantern show.
From a beloved daughter of heaven, adored by all,
to being gradually surrounded by countless doubtful stares,
even the last shred of family affection she had left had ultimately turned cold and heartless.
She didn't want to go through that again.
She had to become strong.
Strong enough that no one could ever take what belonged to her again.
The cold looks and indifference she'd endured over the years had made her see one thing clearly.
Power and status were nothing but floating clouds.
Only strength of her own could give her a foothold in the world.
Qian Renxue trembled all over, drenched in sweat.
Behind her, three pairs of wings slowly unfolded.
The phantom of the Six-Winged Angel emerged from her body, then enveloped her completely.
Her Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul looked no different from how it had a few years ago,
but its spiritual radiance was clearly weaker.
Yet at that moment,
as the spirit liquid in the bathtub continued pouring into her,
that radiance was gradually returning, growing brighter and ever more dazzling.
At the same time, countless light-attribute elements gathered from the bathroom and beyond the room like fireflies, twinkling as they flowed into the Angel Martial Soul.
Behind the Six-Winged Angel, two spheres of light slowly began to form.
It was as if something was being born within them.
But just then—
Qian Renxue couldn't hold on any longer!
The blue-gold spirit liquid in the bathtub had also grown thin and almost transparent. Its medicinal power was about to run out!
She, too, sensed what was happening.
The feeling of being just one step away, yet unable to take it, filled her with both despair and unwillingness to give up.
But her body had stopped obeying her.
A rumble sounded in her mind, as if something had collapsed and shattered...
Her vision went black.
She fainted outright, going limp as she slumped over the edge of the bathtub.
"Ah, this girl... honestly..."
A helpless sigh rang out, and Ling Xiao drifted into the bathroom.
Looking at Qian Renxue, who had lost consciousness, he shook his head.
"If you hadn't dawdled and wasted so much of the medicinal power, you might have succeeded in one go!"
Then he reached out and straightened Qian Renxue, who was slumped over the edge of the bathtub.
He had to admit,
the name Xue—Snow—was very fitting...
Even this simple movement made the white light flash so brightly that Ling Xiao's eyes nearly went blurry.
Ling Xiao hurriedly recited the Diamond Sutra and the Heart-Cleansing Mantra in his mind... only then did he steady himself!
Then he sat cross-legged behind her and pressed both hands against her smooth back.
An extremely pure energy immediately surged into Qian Renxue's body,
beginning to soothe the damage caused by her Martial Soul's failed breakthrough.
Next, his powerful soul force spread out like an invisible net.
It caught the energy that was about to disperse, thread by thread, and drew it together.
Without holding anything back, he poured it into the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul.
In an instant,
the Angel Martial Soul blazed with divine light!
The pure white radiance ignored every obstacle, piercing through the bathroom, through the walls, through the roof, and soaring into the sky.
Like a small sun that had suddenly risen, it illuminated all of Spirit City!
"Good heavens! What's happening?"
"Is this... the Angel God manifesting?"
"This power... the old injuries I suffered years ago—they're healed!"
Within Spirit City,
every Soul Master saw it atop Martial Soul Mountain:
the Angel God Statue, formed from countless converging light elements,
towering as high as the Pope Palace, its entire form shimmering with myriad rays of holy light.
Countless people bathed in that sacred, warm power.
Old ailments and injuries quietly healed,
and even their souls felt as if they'd been cleansed, leaving them lighter than before.
The many elders of Spirit Hall were also startled by this earth-shaking commotion and rushed out of the hall.
They stared at the Angel God Statue, dumbfounded.
What they sensed was far deeper and clearer than what ordinary Soul Masters felt.
The faint pressure rising from the depths of their souls made their Martial Souls tremble.
They couldn't help wanting to fall to their knees and worship.
It was a level of suppression that came from deep within the soul!
"Is the Great Enshrined... unleashing some divine Soul Skill?"
Ghost Leopard Douluo's voice trembled slightly. The first person he thought of who could create such a spectacle was Qian Daoliu, who also possessed an Angel Martial Soul.
"No, that's not coming from the Worship Hall!"
Spirit Kite Douluo's small, cherry-red lips could have fit an egg just then. Disbelief filled her beautiful eyes.
"And that's not a Six-Winged Angel... it's a Twelve-Winged Angel!"
"A Twelve-Winged Angel!"
She wondered if her eyes were deceiving her, so she counted again and again.
There was no mistake. It was twelve wings.
But how was that possible?
The ancient texts had never recorded the existence of a Twelve-Winged Angel. Even the Angel God herself had only three pairs of wings.
What on earth was going on?
Inside the Worship Hall,
Qian Daoliu, Golden Crocodile Douluo, and the other enshrined elders also sensed the astonishing commotion at once.
The Angel God Statue inside the Worship Hall radiated a faint golden glow, forming a subtle resonance with the phantom of the Twelve-Winged Angel on Martial Soul Mountain.
"What's going on? Has the Angel God descended? Or is she delivering a divine revelation?"
Golden Crocodile Douluo's first thought was also that the Angel God had manifested.
After all, with such an enormous commotion, aside from Qian Daoliu, a Limit Douluo who also had an Angel Martial Soul,
there wasn't a second person in all of Spirit Hall capable of causing it.
As for the Qian Family, they didn't even have a Titled Douluo these days, so it was even less likely!
"No, it shouldn't be the Angel God..."
A rare tremor entered Qian Daoliu's voice.
"It's the Martial Soul!"
"I sensed a response from the Angel Martial Soul."
He pressed a hand to his chest,
feeling the unprecedented stirring of the Angel Martial Soul within him.
"The Angel Martial Soul?"
"Then what exactly is happening?"
His words only left the enshrined elders more baffled.
Qian Daoliu gazed into the distance. He faintly sensed that the commotion was coming from somewhere between the Pope Palace and Spirit Hall Academy.
And that was the area where his granddaughter, Qian Renxue, lived.
A bold guess took shape in his mind.
"A Twelve-Winged Angel."
"An anomaly never mentioned in the records..."
"Xiao Xue?"
"Could it be Xiao Xue?"
He wasn't sure.
But just thinking it might be true left him so excited that his whole body tightened, his nerves taut with anxious anticipation.
He didn't bother to address the other enshrined elders.
He shot straight toward that location.
At that very moment,
the first person among them to identify the source of the phenomenon wasn't one of the elders, nor was it Qian Daoliu.
It was Bibi Dong!
She was standing in the corridor not far from Qian Renxue's residence.
In her hand was an exquisite gift box containing the purple dress she'd carefully chosen that afternoon.
She'd thought that,
after Qian Renxue had been humiliated by Qian Daoliu that day, she must be in a terrible mood.
So she'd steeled herself,
and, as if possessed, come over to bring her the dress.
Then she felt that aura—
an aura so powerful that it filled her with revulsion and made her tremble, body, Martial Soul, and soul alike,
which had suddenly appeared,
then transformed into the phantom of the Twelve-Winged Angel.
The smile on her face twisted instantly into one of spite and venom.
"A bastard is a bastard. She'll never deserve pity!"
A deep purple Soul Power, wrapped in a gloomy, destructive aura, erupted from her.
The exquisite gift box in her hand didn't last even a breath. The shock of her Soul Power instantly reduced it to ash.
She glared viciously at the loft ahead, suppressing the urge to smash it into ruins with a single palm.
Then she turned and left for the Pope Palace without looking back!
Not even an instant after she'd left,
the image of the Twelve-Winged Angel above Martial Soul Mountain abruptly turned into a golden beam of light and withdrew into the loft behind it.
The phenomenon that had enveloped the whole city vanished in an instant.
And that beam of light, like a lamp suddenly lit in the darkness, showed Qian Daoliu and the others the way.
"Xiao Xue!"
"That's right. It's Xiao Xue's residence!"
Qian Daoliu didn't spare another thought for anything else. He plunged down like a shooting star, with several enshrined elders following close behind.
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