Early morning.
"Boom!"
The heavy brass doors of the main hall of Pope Palace were blasted open by an utterly domineering surge of Light Soul Power.
Blinding morning light, mixed with the oppressive feeling of a storm about to break, poured madly into the hall.
Draped in a brilliant golden robe, Qian Daoliu strode across the threshold with the bearing of a dragon.
Behind him, Second Worship Golden Crocodile Douluo and two other Great Worships stood in a line, bristling with killing intent.
Pei Yuan followed close behind, his steps carrying the arrogance of a petty man who had gotten his way.
The Worship Hall had sent out every last one of its people!
The pressure in the hall plunged.
Pei Yuan stepped forward and planted his feet. He abruptly raised both hands, unfurling a dark golden scroll—the highest-level impeachment order, stamped with the Worship Hall's crest!
"Su Chen, a menial worker in the Library Pavilion, has concealed the truth about his Martial Soul!"
Pei Yuan's voice carried Soul Power, making the entire hall reverberate. "This man bears a strange leaf-shaped pattern on the back of his hand and possesses a rare treasure powerful enough to overturn Spirit Hall! I humbly beseech Your Holiness the Pope to hand this heretic over to the Worship Hall immediately for a rigorous interrogation!"
Every word struck at the heart. Just like that, the enormous charge of "overturning Spirit Hall" was clamped firmly onto Su Chen.
Qian Daoliu stood with his hands behind his back, without even lifting an eyelid.
Yet the invisible pressure belonging to a Ninety-ninth Level Limit Douluo had already spread through every corner of the hall like quicksilver pouring across the ground.
The Red Cardinals, including Angela, lining either side below the dais, had gone weak in the knees and could barely stand.
Cold sweat slid from their temples and hit the floor tiles. Even breathing felt like being cut by knives.
At the same time, on the third floor of the Library Pavilion.
Su Chen was reclining comfortably in a repaired bamboo chair, a light blanket draped over him.
His eyes were half closed as the Light Screen of the Eye of Omniscience glowed faintly in his mind.
The tense standoff in Pope Palace was being "livestreamed" inside his head in flawless, all-angle 4K Blu-ray quality.
Even the cold calculation lurking in Qian Daoliu's eyes was crystal clear.
"Well, I'll be. That old geezer's a real master at pinning a charge on someone." Su Chen clicked his tongue inwardly, shifted into an even more comfortable position, and kept watching the show.
Inside Pope Palace.
Qian Daoliu finally deigned to raise his eyelids and looked down at Bibi Dong on the throne.
"Bibi Dong, this menial worker concerns the century-old foundations of Spirit Hall."
His voice was low, his tone commanding and leaving no room for refusal. "As Pope, if you insist on shielding him, you will be placing your personal feelings above the interests of Spirit Hall as a whole. The Worship Hall has the right to intervene directly."
The greater good, the foundations, the interests of the whole.
Three mountains came crashing down, closing in step by step. They meant to nail Bibi Dong to the pillar of shame as a "foolish ruler."
However, Bibi Dong sat upon the throne, her back perfectly straight.
Looking at Qian Daoliu and Pei Yuan putting on their little double act below, she slowly curled her lips into a bone-chilling sneer.
She couldn't be bothered to waste a single word.
She raised her right index finger slightly, and a streak of purplish-black light flashed at its tip.
"Psh!"
Space let out a faint crack.
The golden impeachment order stamped with the Worship Hall's seal, along with half of Pei Yuan's sleeve, was instantly shredded into a rain of dust by the violent, peerless Rakshasa Death Qi!
Golden fragments fluttered down, covering the jade steps.
Pei Yuan staggered back three steps, clutching the bloodied cut on his wrist. His face had gone white.
"Hss!"
A chorus of sharp intakes of breath rang through the hall.
Golden Crocodile Douluo and the other two Great Worships stared in shock, their hearts pounding.
Angela and the others were so terrified they forgot how to breathe.
She was insane!
Was Her Holiness... on a killing spree?!
That was an impeachment order the Great Worship had tacitly approved!
And she had shredded it right in front of everyone!
This wasn't just a slap in the face. It was an open declaration of a fight to the death against the entire Worship Hall!
"Outrageous!" Qian Daoliu's expression instantly turned as dark as water.
He gave a cold snort, and dazzling golden light suddenly burst from his eyes!
The enormous phantom of the Six-Winged Angel soared into the sky behind him. Its Limit Douluo pressure—bright, sacred, and overwhelmingly domineering—became an invisible mountain, crashing down toward the throne!
The air compressed with a shrill whine, and the towering stone pillars in the hall began to creak under the strain.
Bibi Dong watched coldly as the sacred golden light bore down on her.
She braced both hands on the throne's armrests and slowly rose to her feet.
In an instant, an even more domineering, profound, and frenzied wave of purplish-black Rakshasa Death Qi exploded around her!
Accompanied by a tearing sound that made one's scalp crawl!
Eight enormous, dark-purple, hundred-thousand-year External Soul Bone Demon Spider Legs burst through the back of her Pope's robes and shot into the sky!
The razor-sharp Spider Spears glimmered with a ghostly blue poison, pointing at the ceiling like an array of scythes wielded by the Grim Reaper!
"Boom!"
Two forces of ultimate power collided in midair.
The terrifying pressure of the Soul Bones intertwined with Rakshasa's malevolent aura, becoming a black wall that devoured light and forcibly held back Qian Daoliu's sacred soul pressure!
No! It didn't merely hold it back!
Under the corrosion of the purplish-black miasma, the golden light was actually forced back a full three feet!
Golden Crocodile Douluo's expression changed completely.
The two Worships behind him had retreated half a step without realizing it, their eyes full of disbelief.
The Great Worship was a Ninety-ninth Level Limit Douluo!
Who could have imagined that Pope Bibi Dong's true combat strength had reached the terrifying point where she could clash head-on with the Great Worship?!
Even veteran Titled Douluos like them felt a chill rise from their very souls at that pure, dead silence and madness!
The eight Demon Spider Legs behind Bibi Dong slowly unfurled.
Purplish-black miasma spread along the ground like a rising tide, sealing every exit from the hall.
The hard stone tiles cracked beneath her feet, one after another.
She looked down at Qian Daoliu's ashen face. There was not a trace of room for negotiation in her eyes—only pure, undisguised slaughter.
"I'll say this one last time."
Her voice rang through the hall, every word dripping with blood.
"Anyone who dares touch someone from the Library Pavilion will leave a few Worships' corpses in Pope Palace today, to consecrate my battle standard."
No empty pleasantries. No pretense of considering the greater good.
Leave, or die.
That was the choice she gave them.
Qian Daoliu's fists clenched tight, veins bulging at his temples.
He stared at the woman before the throne, her killing intent settled, and deep wariness filled his eyes.
This lunatic!
She really dared!
If they went to war, both sides would suffer. Tearing off the mask now would do more harm than good!
After weighing it again and again, Qian Daoliu ground his back teeth and forcibly withdrew the Angel Phantom.
The golden light faded.
He looked coldly at Bibi Dong and forced five words through his teeth: "You'd better watch yourself."
With that, he swept his sleeve sharply, turned, and strode away.
Qian Daoliu led Golden Crocodile Douluo and the others out, their retreat humiliating as they crossed the hall strewn with golden dust.
Every last member of the Worship Hall had withdrawn.
At last, the suffocating pressure in the hall dispersed.
"Thump."
The Red Cardinals of the Pope's faction buckled at the knees and dropped to the ground in unison.
"Your Holiness is mighty!"
Angela pressed her forehead against the cold floor. Her voice trembled, while shock bordering on fervor churned in her heart.
Since Spirit Hall was founded, this was the first time a Pope had driven back the Worship Hall in public through sheer, absolute authority!
Inside the Library Pavilion.
The system interface in Su Chen's mind was instantly flooded with brilliant golden light.
A series of piercing mechanical chimes exploded one after another.
[Ping! Binder No. 001, Bibi Dong, has forcefully repelled a Limit Douluo on behalf of the Lord of Creation. The objective of powerfully protecting the target has been achieved!] [Hundredfold critical return triggered!] [Reward acquired: Source spiritual power has completed a qualitative leap! The Eye of Omniscience's detection accuracy and range have surged exponentially!]
A mighty current of warmth rushed down from the crown of his head and poured into his Sea of Divine Consciousness.
Su Chen even stopped breathing for a moment.
The World Tree in his Sea of Divine Consciousness swayed joyfully, divine light flowing between its branches and leaves.
His eyes snapped open, and a dark golden glow that seemed to see through all things welled up deep in his pupils.
The Eye of Omniscience's detection network silently expanded in that instant. It stretched from the area around the Library Pavilion, across all of Spirit City, into the depths of Pope Palace and even into the underground chambers of the Worship Hall, bringing them all under surveillance!
Every undercurrent in every corner and every hidden ripple of Soul Power was laid bare.
News that the Pope had publicly driven back the Great Worship spread like a storm through Spirit Hall's highest inner circles.
Everyone with a keen nose could smell that Spirit Hall was on the brink of upheaval.
But the Library Pavilion, at the very eye of the storm, was so quiet that not even a breath of wind could slip inside.
Night fell.
Thick clouds smothered the moonlight.
"Creak..."
The newly repaired wooden door of the Library Pavilion was gently pushed open.
Bibi Dong entered with a carved food box in hand.
Not a trace of purplish-black murderous aura remained on her. She had also changed out of her Pope's robes and into a simple moon-white outfit, concealing every last bit of the day's fury and bloodlust.
She walked over to the tea table and set down the food box.
Su Chen rose from the bamboo chair with perfect decorum, putting on an overwhelmed look as he moved forward to take the bowls and chopsticks.
The instant his hand touched the edge of the food box, his gaze paused almost imperceptibly.
It landed precisely on Bibi Dong's left hand.
Her index finger, wrapped in bandages, had fresh medicine on it today.
But that wasn't the main thing.
There were several fine, fresh cuts that had yet to scab over completely on her index finger, middle finger, and the joints on the back of her hand.
Most noticeable was the pad of the finger she used to hold the handle. Her skin, once smooth as jade, now bore a thin callus—the sort that only came from practicing with a blade.
Su Chen saw it all but said nothing.
Well, I'll be!
She'd faced down a Limit Douluo with a domineering presence that very day, and now she was secretly practicing her cooking until her hands were callused?
All for... a meal that wouldn't come out burnt.
Who could withstand that kind of contrast?
Su Chen reached out to take the bowls and chopsticks. His voice was very low, touched by a just-right, almost imperceptible tremor. "Your Holiness... thanks for the effort."
Bibi Dong's fingers abruptly curled inward, then darted into her wide sleeve.
Somewhat awkwardly, she turned her head away, leaving Su Chen with only the graceful profile of her face.
"Just eat."
Her voice was cold and hard, her words rushed, as though she were trying to hide some hard-to-name emotion.
But Su Chen's eyes were sharp. He saw that her fair earlobes had taken on a faint blush in the dim light.
In the corner of the Light Screen.
[Bibi Dong's current favorability: 32→36]
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