He Wouldn't Take Back the Betrothal Gifts Even If She Refused to Marry Him? Hu Liena Fell for Him on the Spot

Chen Guangyi and the other two exchanged glances.

The female Soul Master called A-Yue clutched her shoulder. Blood still seeped from her wound, yet at the mention of it, she looked even more nervous than she had about being hurt.

"You... want to see Her Highness the Holy Maiden?"

Ye Lingling nodded without explaining further.

"All right. I'll take you to her."

Chen Guangyi brushed the dust off himself and limped ahead.

Spirit City, East Gate.

Chen Guangyi pulled out his patrol token. The gate captain inspected it twice, then looked Ye Lingling over several times.

She wore a faded blue cloth dress, its hem stained with mud. The edges of her shoes were frayed, and the red mark on her forehead had yet to fade completely.

Standing among a line of imposing Spirit Hall guards in iron armor, she looked completely out of place.

The gate captain rested a hand on the Hidden Weapon pouch at his waist, hesitating to let them through.

Chen Guangyi leaned in and whispered a few words in his ear.

The captain's expression changed.

He let them pass.

No one stopped them again along the way.

From the East Gate to Pope Palace, they crossed three courtyards, two covered passageways, and an inner courtyard.

Spirit Hall Soul Masters along the way saw Chen Guangyi leading an unfamiliar young woman toward Pope Palace. They cast curious glances their way, but no one came forward to question them.

Because Chen Guangyi was walking too fast.

A veteran patrolman who had just recovered from a leg injury strode forward as if marching to his death.

Most of the stone steps before Pope Palace had been repaired, but a closer look revealed the cracks left by the battle three days ago.

In places, the stone tiles in the plaza were a couple of shades newer than those around them. They had been replaced.

Ye Lingling stepped onto the stairs, her shoe grinding over a shallow crack.

She didn't know what had happened here, but a faint trace of iron lingered in the air.

The palace doors opened.

Chen Guangyi led her inside, then stopped at the threshold and dropped to one knee.

"Your subordinate, Chen Guangyi, has urgent business to report to Her Holiness the Pope!"

The palace was deep.

Forty paces separated the doors from the seat of honor. Twelve sandalwood pillars lined either side, each wrapped with a gilded dragon.

Candlesticks hung high above them. Their glass shades filtered the candlelight into a dusky gold that fell across the tiled floor, the pillars, and the raised dais at the far end.

Bibi Dong sat on the Pope's throne.

Her dark purple robes embroidered with gold weighed down her whole bearing.

Her right hand rested on the armrest. The black patterns still lingering between her fingers flickered in the lamplight.

She was reading a document.

At the report, she didn't even raise her eyes.

"Speak."

Chen Guangyi pressed his forehead to the tiles, his voice steady and restrained.

"While I was out on patrol, I was ambushed by Heaven Dou's fleeing troops. I was saved by a senior. This person... claims to be acting on the orders of the Celestial Master of Taixu Temple and wishes to meet Her Highness the Holy Maiden."

The hand turning the page stopped.

Bibi Dong's fingers rested on the edge of the document, unmoving.

One breath, then two.

She closed the document.

"Let her in."

Ye Lingling entered the palace. She crossed the forty paces at an unhurried pace.

She made no effort to conceal the aura of a Level 90 Titled Douluo, but neither did she flaunt it. It simply radiated around her, following wherever she went.

The elite Spirit Hall guards standing watch on either side shifted aside in unison.

It wasn't deference. It was instinct.

The sheer depth of her Soul Power made their backs tense.

Ye Lingling stopped in the middle of the hall.

Bibi Dong looked down at her from the throne.

The dark golden candlelight fell across Ye Lingling's face, revealing a young, somewhat innocent-looking girl.

Eighteen or nineteen, with fair skin and features that weren't stunning but were easy on the eyes. Her almond-shaped eyes were clear and bright, without a trace of impurity.

There was something peculiar about her bearing.

She wore a faded cloth dress, her shoe edges frayed, and even had a red mark on her forehead from bumping it. Yet she stood there, neither servile nor arrogant.

The aura of a Level 90 Soul Master rested steadily around her. She wasn't the least bit ill at ease.

Bibi Dong lifted her right hand from the armrest, her fingers curling slightly.

"You're from Taixu Temple?"

Ye Lingling bowed. She bent at the waist to just the right degree—not obsequious, but not disrespectful, either.

"I am Ye Lingling, Your Holiness. I've come on the orders of the Celestial Master of Taixu Temple to deliver a message to the Holy Maiden, Hu Liena."

The Celestial Master.

The four words fell quietly in the hall, yet echoed in Bibi Dong's mind.

Bibi Dong rose from the throne.

The movement made every Spirit Hall Soul Master in the hall tense at once. Her Holiness never stood to receive guests. Today, she had made an exception.

She tilted her head toward the maid beside her.

"Go fetch Her Highness the Holy Maiden."

The maid all but ran out.

While they waited, Bibi Dong sat back down on the throne.

She didn't continue scrutinizing Ye Lingling. Instead, she picked up the teacup beside the armrest, lifted the lid, and blew across the surface.

"Are you the only one from Taixu Temple?"

Ye Lingling nodded.

"The Celestial Master has been in seclusion for a hundred years. I, Lingling, am the only one serving at the temple."

One person.

A hundred years in seclusion, a temple, and a single attendant.

Bibi Dong's teacup stopped at her lips.

Steam rose from the tea, veiling half her face.

A master who could make someone guard an Empty Mountain alone for five years was either supremely benevolent or terrifying beyond measure.

Or both.

Footsteps came from outside the hall.

Light and quick, with a hint of haste.

The doors opened.

Hu Liena walked in.

She had changed into a new outfit—a light purple, narrow-sleeved dress, cinched at the waist with a silver-patterned sash.

The wound on her left shoulder had mostly healed. Half the scab on her cheek had fallen away, revealing tender new skin beneath.

Her six fox tails were half-raised behind her, their tips swaying gently with each step.

As soon as she entered, her gaze swept across the hall. Bibi Dong sat in the main seat, drinking tea.

An unfamiliar girl stood in the middle of the hall.

A cloth dress, cloth shoes, a red mark on her forehead.

She looked about Hu Liena's age, perhaps even a little younger.

But—

Hu Liena's steps slowed by half.

Soul Power.

The aura radiating from the girl was no less substantial than her own.

Level 90. A Titled Douluo.

A little girl in a faded cloth dress with a mark on her forehead was a Titled Douluo.

Hu Liena stopped twenty paces away.

She looked at Bibi Dong.

Bibi Dong used the lid to stir the tea leaves and tipped her chin slightly toward Ye Lingling.

"She's from Taixu Temple. She's here for you."

Hu Liena turned to look at Ye Lingling.

Ye Lingling met her gaze.

"Your Highness the Holy Maiden."

Ye Lingling's voice was steady.

After three days on the road, a battle, and the faint ache in her chest just then, her voice was still remarkably steady.

"The Celestial Master asked me to tell you—"

The hall fell quiet.

Even Bibi Dong's hand, stirring the tea leaves, came to a stop.

"The eighteen betrothal gifts were gathered by heaven and earth themselves. They are what you deserve."

Hu Liena's breath caught.

Ye Lingling continued.

Every word was exactly as the Celestial Master had said to her in the Stone Chamber—not a single one different.

"Even if you're unwilling to marry him someday—"

The air in the hall froze.

Bibi Dong's hand, holding her teacup, hung suspended in midair.

"He will never take back so much as a single one of these betrothal gifts."

The last word fell.

Ye Lingling straightened.

Hu Liena stood twenty paces away, utterly motionless.

He wouldn't take them back.

Whether she married him or not, he wouldn't take them back.

The Primordial Spirit Bead, the Fate-Suppressing Cauldron, the Severing Thought Sword—and fifteen more.

All of them. He wouldn't take any back.

Hu Liena's fox ears drooped.

Not from nervousness or fear, but because they were too hot to hold upright.

A blush burned from the tips of her ears to their roots, then spread down her neck.

Her lips pressed together, forming the faintest curve.

She couldn't help it.

She wasn't smiling on purpose. The corners of her mouth had curled up by themselves.

That man she'd never met had sent those words to her from thousands of miles away.

No demands, no conditions, no threat of "you have to marry me, or else."

He was simply saying—these things are yours, whether you marry me or not.

Hu Liena walked over and stopped in front of Ye Lingling.

They stood very close now.

Close enough for Ye Lingling to smell the faint fragrance of soothing incense on Hu Liena, along with a cool trace left by the Severing Thought Sword.

Hu Liena looked at her.

Candlelight glimmered in her foxlike eyes.

"He—Shen Yichen, what kind of person is he, exactly?"