Bibi Dong's gaze shifted away from the pool of blood spreading between the floor tiles.
She looked toward the corner.
Su Chen was curled up there, his brand-new coarse-cloth undershirt torn wide open.
It was the very shirt she had personally helped him fasten not long ago. Now it hung half open, ripped to shreds.
The gash on his cheekbone had already clotted, a jagged red line against his pallid skin.
Green system text appeared automatically in her mind.
[Lord of Creation's vital signs are stable. Failure penalty not triggered.]
Bibi Dong's rigid back finally relaxed by half an inch.
But the Evil Fire in her chest didn't die down. If anything, it burned even hotter.
She stared at the torn collar, her nails digging hard into her palm, nearly drawing blood.
She had closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, suppressing a thousand tangled thoughts, as she fastened that shirt for him one button at a time.
Now some three-ringed ant had torn it.
"Clang! Clang!"
Outside in the corridor, the rapid clatter of heavy armor drew nearer, like a charge across a battlefield.
The next second, Angela burst into view in red, followed by two squads of bloodthirsty Temple Knights—sixteen in all, every one a Soul King!
They charged into the Library Pavilion.
Then came to a collective screeching halt.
Every gaze locked onto the human-shaped crater in the floor.
The short, fat youth lay like a rag doll, smashed into the granite tiles. Twisted bones even pierced through his steward's uniform, and blood from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth pooled beneath him.
"Thud!!"
Sixteen pairs of knees struck the ground, in perfect unison like a single muffled thunderclap.
Every Temple Knight pressed their forehead to the floor. Cold sweat instantly soaked the linings of their armor.
No one dared lift their head. They didn't even breathe.
Angela knelt at the very front, both hands on the floor, her fingertips deathly pale.
She saw the splintered bones jutting from his sleeve. Her stomach lurched, but she forced the nausea back down.
Just then, the lackey sprawled in a puddle of urine seemed to seize his last lifeline. He struggled wildly to raise his head.
When he saw the Temple Knights, it was as if he'd seen his own father!
"His Holiness the Pope!"
The lackey slammed his forehead against the ground over and over, as if it cost him nothing, until his flesh was mangled. His words poured out like beans from a tipped sack.
"It was that good-for-nothing! He stole something! We were only cleaning house for Spirit Hall. We never meant to offend you!"
He shakily pointed one hand toward Su Chen in the corner, his voice shrill enough to crack.
"It was him! That bastard doesn't even have a Soul Ring. What right does he have to wear new clothes? I suspected he'd stolen something, so I—"
He didn't get to finish.
Bibi Dong couldn't even be bothered to raise her eyelids.
Her heel came down.
Precise, graceful, and deadly.
"Crack!"
The sharp snap of breaking bone exploded through the dead-silent Library Pavilion!
The lackey's scream had barely reached his throat when a surge of purplish-black Soul Power clamped around his neck like an iron vice, forcing every sound back down.
His eyes bulged, his face turned liver-colored, and his mouth gaped into an "O," but not a sound escaped.
The terror of suffocation knocked him unconscious on the spot.
The kneeling Temple Knights all sucked in a sharp breath.
Sixteen heads bowed even lower.
Bibi Dong withdrew her foot. A little blood stained her heel, but she didn't even glance at it.
Her icy gaze swept across the kneeling figures. Her voice was not loud, yet Soul Power carried it, making everyone's eardrums ring.
"Su Chen has a special constitution. His existence is tied to Spirit Hall's plans for the next century."
The entire room fell silent.
"From this day on, anyone who dares touch a single hair on his head—"
She paused, then uttered the final four words.
"Will be executed!"
Angela's body shuddered. Her mind completely crashed.
A mere janitor... had become Spirit Hall's "plans for the next century"?
What kind of joke was this?
In the corner, Su Chen keenly caught the subtle shift in the air.
Everyone's breathing had gone ragged.
He knew it was his turn to act.
Su Chen's shoulders jerked. His knees buckled, and he hit the ground with a thud, his forehead sinking into the standing water. His voice trembled as if he might stop breathing at any moment.
"Y-Your subordinate... thanks His Holiness the Pope... for sparing my life..."
His voice broke into an incoherent mess. Curled into a ball, he looked just like a rat that had crawled back from the gates of hell, scared out of its wits.
He played the part of a good-for-nothing stunned senseless by a pie falling from the sky to perfection.
Bibi Dong didn't look at him.
She turned toward the doorway, her voice cold enough to freeze the air.
"Carry out my Pope's Decree."
"Effective immediately, the Library Pavilion is designated a first-tier restricted area of Spirit Hall."
Angela's head snapped up, her pupils contracting violently.
A first-tier restricted area!
It was on the same level as the Worship Hall and the Pope's Bedchamber!
Including this one, there were only four such places in all of Spirit Hall!
Bibi Dong's voice held not a trace of emotion.
"Anyone other than me who dares set foot inside will be shown no mercy."
"Understood!!"
The sixteen Temple Knights pressed their foreheads to the ground and roared, their voices shaking the heavens.
Meanwhile, Su Chen knelt with his head bowed in the water, and through his disheveled hair, he saw a golden notification appear in his mind.
[Detected: Binder No. 001, Bibi Dong, has resolved the crisis and provided the Lord of Creation with the highest level of protection. Hundredfold critical return triggered!] [Reward obtained: Level 100 Divine Power Crystal Fragment ×1!]
Su Chen's lips curved upward in the reflection on the water. Within 0.3 seconds, he clamped them tightly shut again.
Stay calm. Don't get carried away.
The knights scrambled to their feet, relieved beyond words, then swiftly cleaned away the people and bloodstains on the floor like they were dragging dead dogs.
A cordon was quickly set up a hundred paces outside the Library Pavilion.
A hundred paces away, in the shadow of the Bell Tower.
A pair of cloudy eyes had taken in everything.
The owner was a gaunt man in a servant's uniform, utterly unremarkable. Yet deep in his pupils, a pale golden Soul Ring turned silently.
A spy from the Worship Hall.
He had seen the Pope go completely mad over a good-for-nothing.
A first-tier restricted area? Plans for the next century? Showing up in person?
Her reaction had been too much.
So much that... it seemed as though she were hiding some earth-shattering secret.
The spy pulled a Miniature Soul Guidance Communication Bird from his sleeve. A faint pulse of Soul Power from his fingertip silently etched a secret message into it.
The next second, the bird vanished into the clouds.
Inside the Library Pavilion.
Everything had gone quiet.
After confirming there was no one else around, Bibi Dong slipped her right hand into her sleeve and took out a small, bright-green porcelain bottle.
High-Grade Golden Sore Medicine, a precious remedy issued only to Temple Knight Commanders.
She said nothing, and didn't hand it over.
With a flick of her wrist, she tossed it without even looking. The bottle seemed to have eyes; it struck the standing water half a foot in front of Su Chen with a slap.
Water splashed up, a few drops landing on the back of his hand, cold against his skin.
Once she had done that, Bibi Dong turned and left.
A purplish-black afterimage flashed by, and she was gone from the doorway, leaving only the mournful sound of wind rushing through the hall.
Su Chen sat alone in the empty room.
He picked the little porcelain bottle out of the water. It still carried a trace of a woman's warmth.
Su Chen casually tucked the medicine into his shirt and lazily leaned back in the bamboo recliner. With a thought, he opened the system panel.
[Lord of Creation's Current Assets:] [Supreme Martial Soul · World Tree—Awakened] [Divine External Soul Bone · Wings of Creation—Fused] [Soul Power Level: 30 · Soul Elder] [Level 100 Divine Power Crystal Fragment ×1—Can be used to break through a critical bottleneck]
Su Chen looked at the golden glow on the panel. His heartbeat didn't quicken in the slightest.
"Level 30 Soul Elder... Level 100 Divine Power Crystal Fragment... Tsk, what a massive haul."
He folded his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.
He'd played it safe for sixteen years. He could wait one more afternoon.
Outside the window, the setting sun was just right.
The few tender shoots that had poked up only yesterday had already grown into emerald-green bamboo leaves. They looked lovely in the evening glow.
Before you continue