The area outside the Library Pavilion.
Crimson Fire Dragon Soul Power roiled like boiling magma, surging wildly.
The Seven-Ring Soul Sage's unrestrained, violent pressure made the air shriek as if it were being scorched.
A dozen Judgment Knights were swept off formation by the scorching, fearless heat wave and staggered backward in disarray.
"Beep!"
Shrill alarm whistles sounded one after another, tearing wildly through Spirit City's night.
A figure dropped from the sky and crashed down with a thunderous boom!
"Boom!"
The flagstones shattered into pieces.
Cardinal Angela blocked Liu Erlong's path. With a clang, she drew her heavy sword, its tip aimed straight at Liu Erlong's throat.
"Breaking into a first-level restricted area is punishable by death!" Angela shouted furiously, her Soul Power surging.
Liu Erlong didn't so much as glance at the keen sword tip. She flipped her left hand, sending the Ceremony Invitation bearing the Pope's seal spinning into the air.
Then, with a forceful tug of her right hand, she pulled the Dark Gold Storage Ring from her thumb and hurled it straight at Angela's face as carelessly as if she were throwing away trash.
"Liu Erlong of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, bringing half the clan's resources to negotiate a partnership."
Liu Erlong's voice was cold and hard, without a word wasted. "Take me to see the Pope!"
Angela reflexively reached out and caught the ring, then swept it with her spiritual power.
Just one glance.
Angela's pupils contracted sharply, and the wrist holding her sword trembled despite herself.
The space inside the ring was absurdly vast! Hundreds upon hundreds of Top-grade Spirit Grass were piled up like weeds, and dozens of Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones radiating terrifying fluctuations lay scattered among them.
Was this what negotiating a partnership looked like?
She'd just emptied half the coffers of an Upper Three Sects clan and slapped them right in Spirit Hall's face!
This was far beyond what a mere Cardinal like her could handle!
Angela took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the storm raging in her heart.
She abruptly raised a hand and barked, "Everyone, lower your halberds!"
The Judgment Knights exchanged uncertain looks. Though they didn't understand, they quickly lowered their weapons and stepped aside.
Angela turned to Liu Erlong. Her eyes now held a trace of extreme gravity and scrutiny. She gestured with one hand. "Elder Liu, the Pope Palace awaits."
Her stance had shifted from taking Liu Erlong into custody to escorting her with a mixture of invitation and wariness.
At the same time, inside the Library Pavilion.
The stiffness had completely left Su Chen's face.
He lounged in a bamboo chair, tapping the armrest with his fingers in a steady rhythm.
Everything happening outside was visible on the Light Screen before him.
On the map of Spirit City, three very different points of light were putting on quite a show.
One was the Mother Tyrant Dragon, who cared for nothing but pursuing her ambitions.
One was the Mad Pope, so fiercely possessive that anyone who touched what she claimed would die.
And the last was the White-cut-black Young Master, who wanted nothing more than to stir up trouble and was ready to fan the flames at any moment.
Su Chen adjusted the cushion and settled into a more comfortable position.
Tsk, with these three together, it was bound to be a Royal Flush.
The main hall of the Pope Palace.
The doors were shut, and the air was as cold as a blade. Bibi Dong sat on the throne, Rakshasa Death Qi slowly swirling within an inch of her body, cold and bone-chilling.
The heavy hall doors swung open.
Liu Erlong strode inside. Facing the terrifying pressure of the Ninety-ninth Level Limit Douluo seated above her, she stood ramrod straight, not even bothering to bend her back.
She walked straight to the White Jade Pillar ten steps before the throne and raised her right hand.
"Smack!"
She slammed the Storage Ring onto the jade pedestal, and it struck with a crisp snap.
"Yu Xiaogang is a useless piece of trash, and the Blue Lightning Clan isn't worth staying for either!" Liu Erlong lifted her chin, staring straight into Bibi Dong's lifeless eyes. She cut straight to the point. "I'm offering half a treasury as my calling card. I want to discuss a deep partnership with Spirit Hall!"
Bibi Dong's eyelids lifted slightly. A thread of spiritual power as keen as a blade stabbed into the Storage Ring.
At either side of the hall, Angela and the other elite knights nearly stopped breathing. Cold sweat had already soaked their backs.
The instant she sensed what lay inside the ring, even Bibi Dong's eyes betrayed a nearly imperceptible flicker.
She despised the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and looked down even more on that spineless weakling, Yu Xiaogang.
But she was the Pope now.
Spirit Hall's interests came above all else.
This enormous stockpile of strategic resources could immediately outfit three heavy-armor knight regiments. It lay right before her, tangible and real. No matter how much she loathed Liu Erlong's origins, she couldn't find a single reason to refuse.
Bibi Dong withdrew her spiritual power and leaned forward slightly. Her voice sounded as if it were wrapped in shards of ice. "Spirit Hall doesn't keep idlers. You're offering resources of this caliber. What are your terms?"
Liu Erlong fearlessly met her bone-chilling gaze, her red lips curling into a wild smile.
"I, Liu Erlong, respect strength above all."
She spoke aloud, each word clear as day. "I hear Spirit Hall has recently appointed a Holy Son, a peerless talent. I demand to tour Spirit Hall's core facilities, especially the Library Pavilion, and see where this new Holy Son is being trained!"
"Library Pavilion." "Holy Son."
The instant those words fell, it was as if all the air had been sucked out of the hall.
Bibi Dong's pupils contracted into the most dangerous pinpricks!
"Boom!"
Without warning, Rakshasa Death Qi exploded! A terrifying wave of Limit Douluo pressure surged down from the throne and slammed into Liu Erlong, forcing her back half a step!
A web of cracks instantly spread across the surface of the White Jade Pillar.
Bibi Dong sprang to her feet, killing intent boiling in her phoenix eyes.
Her fiercely possessive instincts had been completely set off by those few words!
"Cooperation between our clans is negotiable." Bibi Dong looked down at Liu Erlong, her tone dead and domineering to the extreme. "But the Library Pavilion is an absolute restricted area of Spirit Hall. Anyone who dares pry into the Holy Son's affairs... will be killed without mercy!"
She whipped her sleeve, and Death Qi exploded in midair.
"Choose another condition, or take your rubbish and get out of Spirit City!"
Liu Erlong's brows knitted, and her temper flared too.
Did she think Liu Erlong cared about the Pope's authority? Crimson Fire Dragon Soul Power instantly boiled over her body.
She'd come all this way after emptying her clan's coffers just to release her Martial Soul at the Library Pavilion. And now she was being told to choose another condition? Dream on!
Just as Liu Erlong was about to start fighting—
"Creak."
Someone pushed open the heavy side door of the Pope Palace from outside.
Qian Renxue entered at an unhurried pace, dressed in white-and-gold robes.
She'd just been fretting over that damn system mission. After hearing the commotion in the main hall, she seized the perfect excuse to come over and escape her predicament.
Qian Renxue's cool gaze swept over the tense hall, pausing for a moment on Liu Erlong before finally settling precisely on the Dark Gold Storage Ring.
She turned to face Bibi Dong on the dais, the corner of her mouth curling into a cold smile that showed she was all too happy to watch the chaos unfold.
"Mother, why get so worked up?"
Qian Renxue's voice rang through the hall, and she wore the magnanimous air of someone filled with compassion for all. "Elder Liu brought half her clan's wealth to pledge her loyalty. This is an excellent opportunity to strengthen Spirit Hall."
"If we refuse even her request to see the training grounds, won't people laugh at us for being too small-minded to accept others?"
She paused, a trace of an extremely well-hidden scheme flashing through her eyes.
"In my view, there's no harm in letting Elder Liu take a look."
The instant her words fell, the temperature in the hall plummeted to freezing.
Bibi Dong glared at Qian Renxue below the steps, her nails nearly digging into her palms.
She knew all too well what this hypocritical daughter of hers was up to!
This wasn't about the clan's resources at all. Qian Renxue was using Liu Erlong to kill two birds with one stone!
She wanted to use Liu Erlong, an uncontrollable powder keg, to tear open the Library Pavilion's defenses and drive a wedge into the circle of absolute protection Bibi Dong had built around Su Chen!
Rakshasa Death Qi and the Angel Divine Power Qian Renxue secretly roused within herself clashed invisibly in midair.
Fierce possessiveness collided with twisted hostility.
Angela and the others below were crushed until their legs went weak. They could barely breathe, and none dared raise their heads.
At the heart of the storm, Liu Erlong keenly sensed the nauseating scheming and hostility between mother and daughter.
But she didn't care in the least.
Who wanted to seize power, and who wanted to guard what was theirs—it had nothing to do with her.
She only wanted to get closer to her target, complete that damned mission, and claim the reward that belonged to her.
Liu Erlong folded her arms, putting on the carefree air of someone who feared neither boiling water nor death.
She looked at Bibi Dong on the throne and sneered, fanning the flames. "The young master is right. I brought the goods, and I've shown my sincerity."
"If the dignified Pope doesn't even have the nerve to let someone take a look from outside, then I, Liu Erlong, will leave right now!"
She reached out as if to take the ring.
"I might as well have fed these resources to a dog!"
Those words were like a fuse, instantly igniting a powder keg.
On one side was the damning accusation Qian Renxue had placed on her. On the other was an enormous hoard of strategic resources that she absolutely couldn't afford to refuse.
Bibi Dong's chest heaved violently.
If she publicly turned away this vast fortune today over an unproven suspicion of "prying," Qian Renxue would be able to take the matter to those old fossils in the Worship Hall tomorrow and make a great fuss!
Pros and cons raced through Bibi Dong's mind amid her towering fury.
Biting down hard, she stared at Liu Erlong and forced out each word as if through clenched teeth.
"Angela!"
Angela shuddered all over and immediately cupped her fists. "Yes!"
Bibi Dong set an absolute boundary, one word at a time:
"Take her there!"
"She may remain only in the outer area, three hundred paces from the Library Pavilion, for no longer than half an incense stick! If she takes even one step into the restricted formation, kill her on the spot. No need to report back!"
The desperate tug-of-war between the three sides had, at that moment, been forced right up against a suffocating breaking point.
With this order of compromise, the currents swirling beneath the hall's surface temporarily subsided.
Qian Renxue lowered her eyes. A flash of satisfaction glinted at the corner of her mouth before vanishing.
It was done. She'd torn a gap in the Library Pavilion's iron defenses.
Bibi Dong sat on the throne, Rakshasa Death Qi behind her clawing at the air like a demon.
Violence, ready to erupt at any moment, churned in her eyes. All her spiritual power was already locked onto the Library Pavilion.
If Liu Erlong made even the slightest suspicious move, Bibi Dong would personally blast her to smithereens!
While Liu Erlong put on a show of dissatisfaction, letting out a heavy snort, she was already overjoyed inside.
Three hundred paces?
She'd frantically called up the system panel in her mind just moments ago. That distance perfectly covered the mission's detection range! She didn't need to go inside at all!
Target achieved!
Liu Erlong turned around without hesitation.
Under Angela's extremely wary watch and escort, she strode out of the Pope Palace and headed straight for the area outside the Library Pavilion in the northeastern corner of Spirit City.
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