Spirit Hall, Library Pavilion.
The wind pouring through the broken window was as cold as a knife.
Su Chen leaned back in a bamboo recliner, lazily drawing the thin blanket tighter over his knees.
In his mind, golden words flashed three times across the pale blue Light Screen: [Subject 002 is about to awaken. Location locked: Heaven Dou Imperial City]. Then they vanished.
He looked away.
Better to do nothing than to make a move.
The board was already set. All he had to do was sit back and wait for the fish to bite.
Su Chen closed his eyes, waiting for the storm to break thousands of miles away.
Heaven Dou Imperial City, Crown Prince's Eastern Palace, underground chamber.
Solid obsidian sealed this place off from the outside world.
At the center of the chamber, "Xue Qinghe" sat cross-legged, her brows knotted and cold sweat pouring from her temples as if it were free.
A few days ago, the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul buried deep in her bloodline had suddenly stirred without warning.
The sensation was like a summons from the very source of her bloodline, drawing her with an irresistible pull.
For the past few days, the feeling had tormented her repeatedly, making the holy Soul Power in her meridians turn like rusted gears and sending her cultivation efficiency plummeting to rock bottom.
"Xue Qinghe"—or rather, Qian Renxue—quickly formed hand seals.
She gathered all her Soul Power and forcibly circulated it through her entire body, trying to crush that damned restlessness by the most brutal means possible!
At that very moment, far away in Spirit Hall, Su Chen had just completed a bond task, and the World Tree's Sea of Divine Consciousness had expanded in full.
A faint but domineering ripple of primordial power, one that stood above the rules themselves, ignored the thousands of miles between them and struck the point of resonance in the Angel Bloodline with pinpoint accuracy!
Suppress it?
Suppress nothing!
The Soul Power Qian Renxue had forced down was like a barrel of gunpowder tossed onto a spark. It detonated with a roar!
The golden holy Soul Power broke free like a wild horse, surging through her meridians in a frenzied reverse flow!
"Boom!"
Qian Renxue let out a pained grunt. The disguise of "Xue Qinghe" was blasted from the inside out by the rampaging Soul Power, shattering to pieces on the spot!
Her golden hair spilled down like a waterfall, and her flawless, breathtaking face was exposed in the dim chamber.
The flesh on her back split open, and six immaculate wings burst from her body without being summoned!
Blinding golden light exploded through the chamber!
A terrifying holy aura whipped up an energy storm that swept in every direction.
The soundproofing barriers and arrays that had been painstakingly maintained on the walls for a full ten years did not last half a second before exploding into fragments!
Outside the chamber.
In the shadow of the corridor, the two Douluo, Pufferfish and Snake Lance, went deathly pale.
The two Titled Douluo could not even react before the holy storm slammed into them. They staggered back several steps in a sorry state, their backs crashing hard against the stone wall as the tiles beneath their feet cracked.
They exchanged a glance, faces full of shock, and stared at the reinforced steel door shaking violently.
The young mistress had been undercover for ten years without a single leak. How could she have caused such a commotion?!
They gathered their Soul Power, ready to break down the door and rush in to save her.
But the moment they took half a step, the Angel God's might spilling through the crack beneath the door doubled!
The two Titled Douluo's knees buckled. The protective Soul Power around them twisted wildly under the pressure, and they were forcibly pinned in place, unable to move!
Inside the chamber, rubble flew everywhere.
Qian Renxue knelt on the floor, both hands clamped over her temples, feeling as if her skull were about to split apart.
The six wings behind her lashed about wildly out of control, sweeping everything around her into dust.
Her Sea of Divine Consciousness was on the verge of bursting, and her meridians were breaking apart inch by inch.
Just as the pain was about to swallow her consciousness, a cold, utterly emotionless mechanical voice forcibly cut into her mind.
[Ding! Host 002 meets the requirements. God-Level More Children More Blessings System officially bound!]
The instant the voice sounded, a mighty force that did not belong to this world descended from the heavens!
The power was brutally domineering. In an instant, it quelled the Angel Martial Soul's rampage, sealed the Soul Power raging within her, and forcibly stuffed the golden light filling the chamber back into her body.
The agony vanished abruptly.
Qian Renxue gasped for breath, her entire body soaked in cold sweat.
Before she could recover from the exhaustion of surviving a catastrophe, the system's mighty power tore open her Sea of Divine Consciousness and brutally poured a glimpse of her future fate into it!
Smoke, flames of war, city walls crumbling.
Qian Renxue saw the Spirit Hall Empire's towering edifice topple amid the flames as countless soldiers were slaughtered.
She saw the sky split in two. She saw her godhood blasted apart in midair by a colossal dark-red sword that reached from heaven to earth!
Golden divine blood splashed across the firmament like ink!
Then came the deadliest scene, crashing into her eyes.
At the final moment, as the Asura's colossal sword came down, her mother, Bibi Dong—the cold, ruthless woman who stood high above others and regarded her as a disgrace—actually threw herself in front of her without hesitation!
Blood burst into the air.
Bibi Dong's body was cleaved in two by that sword...
At the end of the vision, Bibi Dong lay in a pool of blood, her breaths faint. Her cold, imperious eyes held nothing but despair and reluctance.
Trembling, she reached out a bloodied hand toward Qian Renxue and soundlessly mouthed two words.
"Xue'er."
The vision came to an abrupt end.
Qian Renxue sat stunned amid the ruins, her breath caught and her eyes wide, her pupils contracting violently from sheer shock.
A tear fell onto the back of her hand.
Then came a second, a third...
Twenty years of confusion, resentment, and hostility were blasted to pieces by the sight of her mother reaching out to her in despair at the very end.
That vicious woman... would take a sword for her before she died? Would call her by name?
[The sole variable capable of changing fate has been locked: Lord of Creation, Su Chen.]
The cold mechanical voice interrupted her emotional collapse.
A blood-red Light Screen forcibly appeared before her eyes.
[Novice task issued: Within one month, go to the Spirit Hall Library Pavilion and comb Su Chen's hair ten times.] [Failure penalty: permanently lose eligibility for the Angel God Trial and have your soul torn apart until death!]
She was supposed to comb the hair of a menial worker in the Library Pavilion? Ten times, no less?!
And if she refused, she would die?
Qian Renxue stared fixedly at the words "Spirit Hall," "Library Pavilion," and "Su Chen," her pupils shrinking to pinpricks.
Spirit Hall was that woman's territory, and the Library Pavilion was a run-down place even dogs wouldn't visit.
Some nameless nobody at the bottom of the ladder had been called "Lord of Creation" by this busted system?
And its punishment could directly revoke her eligibility for the god trial, bypassing her grandfather, Qian Daoliu, and even the Angel God?!
This completely overturned everything she had believed for twenty years.
At the same time, in the Spirit Hall Library Pavilion.
Su Chen opened his eyes from the bamboo recliner.
With a soft ding, the Eye of Omniscience brought up a brand-new Light Screen.
[Subject 002 Profile: Qian Renxue (Activated)]
Su Chen looked at the name and lightly tapped the armrest with his finger.
The fish had taken the bait.
Heaven Dou Imperial City, underground chamber.
Qian Renxue raised her sleeve and fiercely wiped the tear tracks from her face, her expression hardening like iron once more.
She folded away her battered six wings, rose from the rubble, and straightened her disheveled hair.
Her gaze pierced the shattered ceiling. She looked toward the imperial palace, then turned and took a fresh set of disguise clothes from an intact storage cabinet.
Qian Renxue hooked her fingers around the edge of her mask and drew a deep breath.
Her voice had returned to that of the gentle, refined Crown Prince "Xue Qinghe," but in her heart, a firm, unshakable itinerary was already set.
The year-end sacrificial rites were approaching.
She would use them as an excuse to return to Spirit City early.
She would go to that ramshackle Library Pavilion and meet the man named Su Chen.
Before you continue