The Main Plot Was About to Begin; Qian Xunji Was in Peril

Night had fallen.

Qian Anci sat alone in his study, the moonlight outside the window cold and clear.

He had not lit a lamp.

His eyes in the darkness were deeper than the night itself.

The news Qian Renxue had revealed today had come sooner than he had expected.

Qian Xunji had already set out with a team, bound for Tang Hao and the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor who had taken human form.

"What are you thinking about?"

Castorice's voice rang out in his Sea of Consciousness, carrying a hint of curiosity.

"I'm calculating the timing."

Qian Anci closed his eyes and let his mind sink into the gray-white Underworld Wasteland.

The girl with pale violet hair sat leaning against the Bone Dragon's head, the Underworld Flowers on her skirt appearing and disappearing in the gray mist.

She lowered her eyes to look at him.

"Given Qian Xunji's temperament, he won't bring many people. He's far too arrogant."

Qian Anci sat down on the wasteland, his voice as calm as if he were stating an established fact.

"A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast about to give birth, and a Soul Douluo who hasn't yet broken through to Level 90. He'll probably only bring a few trusted aides."

"And Tang Hao is only an eighty-ninth-level Soul Douluo. But after Ah Yin sacrifices herself, Tang Hao will gain the combined boosts of a Soul Bone and a Soul Ring, on top of Ring Detonation..."

"Qian Xunji's defeat is all but certain."

Castorice spoke softly.

"More or less. At the very least, he'll be gravely injured."

Qian Anci nodded.

The gray mist over the wasteland churned for a moment.

Castorice leaped down from the Bone Dragon's head. Her bare feet touched the cracked earth, and she walked over to him.

"You don't intend to save him."

It was not a question.

Qian Anci lifted his eyes and met hers.

"Why would I save him?"

His voice was quiet, yet it carried a coldness that seemed to seep out from his very bones.

"As long as Qian Xunji is alive, power in Spirit Hall will remain concentrated in his hands. Grandfather is old, the Worship Hall keeps out of worldly affairs, and though I, the Saint Son, may look impressive, I'm just a fledgling beneath Grandfather's wings."

He paused.

"Qian Xunji's death wouldn't be a bad thing for Spirit Hall."

"At least, not for me."

"Bibi Dong will succeed him as Pope," Castorice reminded him. "You should remember that she already carries the aura of the Rakshasa God. Letting her take the throne would be like handing Spirit Hall over to the Rakshasa God."

"But if Qian Xunji doesn't die, she'll be in greater danger."

Qian Anci rose and paced across the wasteland. In the distance, Pollux's enormous body lay still, ghostly blue flames flickering slowly in its eye sockets.

"From the day Qian Renxue was born, that woman was shackled to her hatred. Every day Qian Xunji lives, her hatred ferments. The Rakshasa God is using that hatred to corrode her soul. If Qian Xunji never dies, the plot will be thrown badly off course, and I'll lose my advantage of knowing what's to come."

He stopped.

"So I can't just refuse to save him. I have to make sure he dies just as he did in the original story."

Castorice fell silent for a moment.

"Have you considered what might happen if Bibi Dong turns completely to the Rakshasa God?"

"I have." Qian Anci turned around, gray-white mist churning at his feet. "But that woman isn't stupid."

"She won't do something as foolish as cutting off her own arms."

He paused.

"Besides, as long as Grandfather is alive and the Worship Hall remains, she'll have to show some restraint.

She can be Pope, but Spirit Hall is more than its Pope.

The Elder Hall, the Worship Hall, and the bishops in the branch halls won't all turn against us just because she gives the word."

"You intend to fight her for power?"

"Not fight."

The corners of Qian Anci's mouth lifted slightly.

"I'll wait.

I'll wait until she takes that seat and realizes the Pope's authority isn't as great as she imagined. Until she realizes her orders can't even leave Pope's Palace..."

"At that point, she'll either work with me or be reduced to a figurehead."

"Are you sure you can manage that?"

"I am."

Qian Anci's voice was firm.

"Because I have you behind me! As long as you're here, it's only a matter of time before I grow stronger."

Castorice watched him quietly, her expression unchanged.

"Anci, you've changed."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No."

She spoke softly, brushing the loose hair from his forehead with her fingers.

"Sometimes, I just miss the child who used to listen to me sing on the wasteland."

Qian Anci was silent for a moment.

"That child is still here." His voice was a little softer than before. "He's just learned to hide his tenderness."

Castorice smiled faintly and said nothing more.

After a long while,

he withdrew from his Sea of Consciousness and pushed open the study door.

"Ya Yi."

A slender figure dropped soundlessly from the darkness and knelt on one knee.

"Your subordinate is here."

"I have a few things for you to do."

Qian Anci stood with his hands behind his back, the moonlight making his plain white robe gleam like snow.

"First, keep watch on Pope's Palace. I want to be the first to know when Qian Xunji returns."

"Second, have your people spread out across the border regions of the Heaven Dou Empire. They don't need to get close to the battlefield. Just keep watch from the outskirts.

If anything unusual happens, report it at once."

Ya Yi was silent for a moment, then bowed his head. "Understood."

He did not ask why.

Just as he had that day in the cave, when he had seen the Bone Dragon blot out the sky and chosen to kneel with his eyes lowered, saying, "I didn't see anything."

Qian Anci watched him disappear into the night, then turned toward Pope's Palace.

That magnificent Sacred Hall looked solemn and holy beneath the moonlight.

But he knew that before long, a bloody upheaval would erupt within its walls, one powerful enough to shatter Spirit Hall to its foundations.

And his role was not to stop it.

It was to take the broken pillar into his own hands before anyone else could react.

"The sky is about to change."

He spoke softly.

"Anci?"

A voice suddenly came from behind a corridor pillar.

Qian Anci turned his head and saw Qian Renxue leaning at the corner of the corridor, her golden hair loose over her shoulders. She was clearly still awake.

"Why aren't you resting, Sister?"

"I couldn't sleep." Qian Renxue came to stand beside him, looking toward Pope's Palace with him. "Father's been away for several days, and there hasn't been a word."

Her voice was soft, but beneath it lay a trace of worry she could barely hide.

"His Holiness is a Titled Douluo, and several elders went with him. Nothing will happen to him," Qian Anci reassured her.

Qian Renxue did not respond.

She was silent for a long time, then suddenly spoke.

"Anci."

"Hmm?"

"If one day... Father were gone, what would happen to Spirit Hall?"

Qian Anci's heart jolted, but his expression remained unchanged.

"Why are you asking that all of a sudden?"

"It's nothing." Qian Renxue turned away and looked toward the distant bell tower. "I just suddenly feel that Spirit City seems solid, but in truth, everything is being held up by Grandfather and Father. If they were gone...I don't know what I'd do."

Qian Anci fell silent for a moment.

"I'll be here."

His voice was calm, but carried a certainty Qian Renxue had never heard from him before.

"No matter what happens, I'll be here in Spirit Hall. With you, Sister."

Qian Renxue turned her head to look at him, her golden eyes shimmering with some complicated emotion in the moonlight.

After a long while, she gave a soft snort and turned away.

"Who said I wanted you to keep me company?"