Mother and Daughter's First Probe

Inside the Library Pavilion, the night air was like water.

Su Chen leaned back against his bamboo chair, feeling at ease.

He had just smoothed out the violent soul power from his breakthrough to a level 50 Soul King. On the screen of the Eye of Omniscience, the blood-red dot representing Qian Renxue was barreling toward the core of the inner city with the force of a thunderbolt.

At this speed, she's in a rush to reincarnate, Su Chen chuckled to himself.

Without a moment's hesitation, he shifted his thoughts, and the branches and leaves of the World Tree within his Sea of Divine Consciousness retracted their divine light.

That vast, god-like aura of life was instantly locked deep within the depths of his consciousness, not allowing a single ripple to leak out.

In the span of a single breath, his shoulders hunched, his breathing grew shallow, and his complexion returned to that sickly, sun-deprived pallor.

That hunched-over, frail, and pathetic posture of a low-level servant was perfectly back online.

Su Chen closed his eyes, waiting quietly for the storm to arrive.

Inside the inner city of Martial Soul City.

Dressed in her standard platinum attire as the Young Mistress, Qian Renxue moved with sharp, aggressive strides. Ignoring the ghost-like shock on the faces of the patrolling knights, she marched straight up the long, towering white jade stairs of the Pope Palace.

Deep within the Pope Palace.

Bibi Dong had just "fled" back from the Library Pavilion, her chest still heaving violently.

The scorching heartbeat and uncontrollable emotions she felt while embracing Su Chen were still rampaging through her limbs and bones, leaving an unnatural flush on her face.

Suddenly, a sacred Angelic aura—one she instinctively loathed yet found etched into her very soul—brutally smashed through the barrier of the Pope Palace!

The panic in Bibi Dong's eyes instantly froze.

The next second, all her weakness and loss of composure were completely frozen over by a layer of extreme cold.

Qian Renxue? She had actually returned at a time like this!

"BOOM!"

The brass doors of the main hall of the Pope Palace were violently pushed open by an overbearing force of light-attribute soul power.

Qian Renxue strode in without even lifting her eyelids, using her soul power to blast back the attendants who attempted to block her path.

"Get out."

Her cold, clear voice echoed through the vast hall. In the blink of an eye, only this pair of mother and daughter, who shared a name but were divided in spirit, remained in the grand chamber.

There were no unnecessary pleasantries, no hypocritical salutations.

Qian Renxue lifted her chin, staring directly at Bibi Dong on the throne, her tone as stiff as if she were reading an official document: "The Young Mistress has returned to the city to report for duty. According to the laws of Martial Soul Hall, I have the authority to inspect all facilities within the palace."

"This includes the Library Pavilion, which was recently sealed off as a level-one restricted area. I am taking over it now to personally investigate the anomalies within."

Straight to the point, her blade aimed directly at Su Chen!

Bibi Dong sat high upon her throne, her gaze as cold and sharp as a knife, as if the woman who had fled the Library Pavilion in such a disheveled state just moments ago was not her at all.

"Presumptuous."

Bibi Dong's voice was not loud, yet it carried the crushing majesty of a Pope.

She rejected Qian Renxue's demand without a shred of mercy: "The Library Pavilion is a level-one restricted area protected by a direct decree from This Seat, concerning the century-old foundation of Martial Soul Hall."

"Let alone you, even if Qian Daoliu were to come in person, he would not be able to step a single foot through that door."

The temperature in the hall plummeted.

A sacred and majestic Six-Winged Angel soul power collided fiercely with a cold and violent Rakshasa death aura in the air!

The space emitted a teeth-grinding "crackling" sound as they stood toe-to-toe, neither side willing to yield.

Outside the tightly shut palace doors.

Angela and a group of red-clad personal guards stood watch firmly at the base of the stairs.

They could clearly sense the instantly stagnant air pressure inside the hall, as well as the top-tier soul power fluctuations that threatened to spiral out of control at any moment.

A chill ran down everyone's spines, and cold sweat streamed down the edges of their helmets.

No one had expected that after lurking in Heaven Dou for so many years, Qian Renxue would dare to touch the Pope's most sensitive and lethal reverse scale the moment she returned to the city, without even catching her breath!

A sense of terror spread silently among the guards; everyone was sweating bullets, terrified that these two ancestors would tear the palace apart in a cataclysmic battle.

Facing Bibi Dong's hardness and murderous intent, Qian Renxue did not retreat; instead, she let out a cold laugh.

She slowly approached the throne, her high-heeled military boots clicking crisply against the jade floor tiles.

"A century-old foundation?" A thick trace of mockery flashed in Qian Renxue's eyes as she ruthlessly slammed down the trump card she had risked everything to uncover via the Dark Web.

"How is it that I heard that for the sake of this so-called 'century-old foundation,' Your Holiness the Pope did not hesitate to personally wash her hands and make soup late at night, even cutting her own noble hand due to a lack of skill with the knife?"

Qian Renxue paused, her eyes locked onto the contours of Bibi Dong's face, not missing a single micro-expression of vulnerability.

"There are even rumors that Your Holiness dismissed all attendants to personally change the clothes and tie the sash for that servant who possesses no soul power... This heart for showing compassion to subordinates is truly enough to make the entire Martial Soul Hall 'moved'."

This sentence was like a thunderbolt, striking precisely at the most fragile and shameful nerve that Bibi Dong least wanted to reveal!

Bibi Dong's pupils instantly shrank to the size of needle points!

Those extremely private, downright humiliating details she had been forced by the system to complete were actually being exposed to her face by Qian Renxue, word for word!

The hands hidden within her wide sleeves clenched tightly, her sharp nails once again piercing the scabs that had just formed on her palms, drawing blood.

"Hum!"

A wisp of completely uncontrollable, purple-black Rakshasa death energy spread wildly from beneath her feet like a venomous snake, instantly corroding a large expanse of the jade floor tiles.

The personal guards outside the door, sensing this terrifying aura from the Pope—a mix of extreme shame and world-destroying violence—felt their legs go weak, and they all collapsed to their knees with a series of thuds.

The crowd was struck with a horror so profound it made their scalps tingle.

What kind of terrifying magic did that menial servant in the Library Pavilion possess to make the Pope, who was always so stoic and inscrutable, lose control to this extent?!

Qian Renxue keenly captured the momentary stiffness in Bibi Dong and the panic that flashed through the depths of her eyes.

The intelligence was true!

That cold-blooded, heartless Pope was actually fawning over a bottom-tier piece of trash!

Qian Renxue lunged forward, her momentum climbing to its peak as she unleashed the fatal blow she had been brewing for so long:

"For Mother to be so concerned about a piece of trash who doesn't even have a soul ring, going so far as to lower yourself and even completely tear your face off with the Worship Hall..."

Qian Renxue lowered her voice, her tone laced with three parts disbelief and seven parts sharp mockery:

"Could it be... that you have taken a fancy to him?"

"You seek death!"

This sentence was like a blade quenched in lethal poison, stabbing fiercely into her heart and shredding all her pretenses to pieces!

The killing intent in Bibi Dong's Sea of Divine Consciousness instantly skyrocketed to 95%!

The phantom of a purple-black Demon Spider flickered behind her, nearly running wild, wanting to execute this daughter who dared to expose her secrets on the spot!

But at the final moment, in order to cover up the humiliation brought by the More Children More Blessings System tasks, as well as the strange, deep-seated feelings for Su Chen that she dared not even admit to herself, she bit her teeth shut.

She forced herself, in a state of extreme disarray, to press that world-destroying pressure back into her body.

Meanwhile, inside the Library Pavilion.

Su Chen lay comfortably on a bamboo chair, watching the two lines of extreme emotion panels frantically jumping on the Eye of Omniscience screen.

[Bibi Dong: Shame level off the charts/Killing intent 95%/Panic being masked]

[Qian Renxue: Probing successful/Worldview continuously shattering/Closing in step by step]

A playful arc, seeing through everything, curled at the corners of Su Chen's mouth.

"Tsk, that's right. Fight. The harder you fight, the better; otherwise, how will it show just how precious a 'frail and helpless' variable like me really is?"

Inside the Pope Palace, Qian Renxue knew when to stop.

She knew exactly where Bibi Dong's bottom line was; if she pushed her too far and forced her to act, then her own system task [Ten Combing Sessions for Su Chen] would be completely ruined.

She quickly reined in her edge, shifted the topic, and played a trump card that could not be easily refused:

"It was merely a joke, why must Your Holiness be so angry?"

Qian Renxue's expression returned to its business-like coldness: "I am not here to seize your power, but I must go in."

"The year-end sacrifice is approaching. According to the ancestral rules of Martial Soul Hall, one must enter the Library Pavilion to verify the old records of past ceremonies. This reason is legitimate enough, isn't it?"

Bibi Dong took a deep breath, the violent heaving of her chest gradually calming.

She weighed the situation rapidly in her heart.

Qian Renxue's words held the moral high ground, and since she had already returned to the city, if she were to refuse with brute force again, she would surely provide an excuse for the Worship Hall to launch a fiercer and more justified counterattack.

The situation would only worsen if that happened.

But as for Su Chen, she could never let Qian Renxue approach him alone!

"Fine." Bibi Dong's voice was cold enough to freeze, and she set an absolute condition, enunciating each word clearly: "This Seat grants the Young Master permission to check the files, but the Library Pavilion is of great importance; I must personally accompany you the entire time."

"Agreed." Qian Renxue accepted without a moment's hesitation.

Her goal was simply to see Su Chen and complete the task; she didn't care in the slightest whether Bibi Dong was by her side or not.

In the vast, empty hall, the mother and daughter reached a strange and subtle compromise.

Bibi Dong did it to guard her own unspeakable feelings and the secret of the system, while Qian Renxue did it for the death-countdown task hanging over her head.

Each carrying a system task countdown regarding the same man, the two pulled themselves out of the deadlocked confrontation.

They turned.

One in black, one in white, the two peerless figures holding the highest power in Martial Soul Hall walked side-by-side off the throne, moving slowly in the deathly silence toward the direction of the Library Pavilion.