Seven days later.
Spirit City had finally recovered from the chaos of that night.
The rubble in the plaza had been cleared away, the shattered stone pillars replaced, and even the bloodstains on the steps before the Pope Palace had been scrubbed three times over. Not a trace remained.
The street vendors were calling out their wares again. The teahouses had reopened.
The clang of hammers rang from the smithies from morning till night.
Talk of "Tang San's nighttime raid" had died down considerably.
It wasn't that no one talked about it anymore. They'd simply grown tired of it. They'd already wrung every last drop of juice from the story.
A new topic had taken its place.
Four days ago, the fourth Celestial Master Betrothal Gift had arrived.
This time, there had been no clash of blades to set the scene.
Golden light had descended at the entrance to the Cultivation Room in the Pope Palace's rear courtyard, then quietly drifted into Hu Liena's hands.
The Star River Map.
An ancient scroll painting. Once unfurled, its starry river flowed, the courses of the Twenty-Eight Mansions and the Big Dipper clearly visible.
The radiance of the celestial bodies spilled from the painting, illuminating half the rear courtyard.
The Sanskrit chant rang out just once—
"Fourth Celestial Master Betrothal Gift—the Star River Map! Draw upon the power of the stars to temper the body, strengthen the essence of the Martial Soul, and aid the evolution of the bloodline!"
The people of Spirit City had learned the drill.
When the golden light appeared, those who should kneel knelt, and those who wanted to watch crowded around.
A storyteller in the south of the city had already started compiling the Record of Celestial Master Betrothal Gifts, planning to publish a collection once he had enough for eighteen gifts.
That made four.
The Primordial Spirit Bead, the Fate-Suppressing Cauldron, the Severing Thought Sword, and the Star River Map.
The effects of these four treasures combined were terrifying to the point of being downright unreasonable.
The Cultivation Room in the Pope Palace's rear courtyard.
Hu Liena sat cross-legged on a cushion.
The Star River Map floated three feet above her head, the scroll unfurling of its own accord. The light of the Twenty-Eight Mansions fell around her, cloaking her in a layer of silvery starlight.
The Fate-Suppressing Cauldron stood to her right, its three legs planted on the ground. The Image of Mountains and Rivers turned slowly on its belly, and the cauldron brimmed with the weighty power of fortune, pouring into her meridians.
The Severing Thought Sword had transformed into a silvery-white Sword Mark on her wrist. Its Daoist resonance seeped into her Divine Soul, screening out every stray thought.
The power of the Primordial Spirit Bead had long since merged with the depths of her bloodline.
The ancient bloodline of the Green Hill Heavenly Fox intertwined with the pure spiritual power of the Nine-Heart Begonia, building a cultivation circuit within her body far beyond that of an ordinary person.
Five snow-white fox tails unfurled behind her, their tips shimmering with silver light.
Her fifth tail had taken shape only three days ago. Others needed decades, even a century, to go from four tails to five. She had done it in three days.
Soul Power surged through her meridians at an abnormal speed.
Level eighty-seven.
She was only two levels away from the peak of Soul Douluo.
Ye Lingling stood at the entrance to the Cultivation Room, holding a bowl of ginseng soup.
She peeked inside. Seeing Hu Liena surrounded by flowing starlight, she quietly set the bowl by the threshold and tiptoed away.
She knew better than to disturb her. She'd spent five years keeping watch at Taixu Temple and understood that better than anyone.
The next morning, at dawn.
An unusual restlessness pulled Hu Liena from her cultivation.
It wasn't something outside. It was the Fox Seal between her brows.
The Nine-Tailed Fox Seal suddenly burned hot, its pulse quickening to an extreme. A searing sensation spread from between her brows, across her forehead and temples, all the way to her ears.
She knew the feeling too well.
Before every betrothal gift arrived, the Fox Seal reacted like this. It hadn't failed once in the first four times.
Hu Liena's eyes snapped open.
She shoved open the door to the Cultivation Room. The cold morning wind swept in, carrying spiritual energy so dense it was almost tangible—more than ten times its usual concentration.
She looked up.
The sky had changed.
Golden clouds surged over the eastern horizon, tumbling up from below the earth, one mass after another, layer upon layer, at an unbelievable speed.
They weren't drifting. Some force was shoving them over from an impossibly distant place.
In an instant, golden clouds covered the sky above all of Spirit City.
Shadows flitted through the depths of the churning clouds.
Cranes, deer, tortoises, dragons—the outlines of auspicious beasts appeared and vanished among the clouds. Each time one passed, the spiritual energy between heaven and earth grew abruptly denser.
The people of Spirit City rushed from their homes and craned their necks to stare at the sky.
"It's happening again?!"
"That makes five! The Celestial Master has sent another betrothal gift!"
"Quick! Get to the Pope Palace and claim a spot! Last time, those who were late couldn't even squeeze into a corner!"
The streets erupted into chaos.
The crowds surged toward the Pope Palace.
Bibi Dong was already standing at the top of the steps before the palace.
Nine Soul Rings turned slowly around her.
Her dark purple ceremonial robes gleamed coldly beneath the golden clouds.
She raised her head and watched the churning golden sky for five breaths.
Hu Liena ran over from the rear courtyard, her steps hurried, five fox tails streaming behind her in a sweep of white.
She stopped beside Bibi Dong and caught her breath.
Bibi Dong didn't turn her head.
"The fifth gift... is finally coming."
Her voice wasn't loud, but each word landed with weight.
Hu Liena stood beside her. Her heart raced uncontrollably, pounding against her chest again and again until her ears rang.
The fifth gift.
The first four had propelled her from level sixty-nine, a Soul Saint, to level eighty-seven, a Soul Douluo. Her Martial Soul had evolved from a Demon Fox into a five-tailed Green Hill Heavenly Fox.
What could the fifth gift be?
She didn't dare imagine it, yet couldn't help herself.
The man she had never met had chosen each gift with almost cruel precision, delivering them just when she needed them most.
What would he send this time?
Fox ears sprang up from her hair.
Their tips flushed pink—not from embarrassment, but because her heart was beating too fast and the blood was rushing to her head.
Ye Lingling ran out of a side hall and stopped beside Hu Liena, twisting her hands together without realizing it.
"Celestial Master..."
Hu Liena tilted her head to look at her.
Ye Lingling pressed her lips together, leaving the rest unsaid.
But excitement radiated from her. She looked forward to the Celestial Master's gifts more than anyone.
Ten thousand miles away.
Sea God Island.
The stone gate to the Sea God Hall's Ninth Trial was shut tight, golden light seeping through its cracks in thin strands.
In the corridor outside, Yu Xiaogang dozed against a pillar.
He'd been keeping watch here for seven days straight, surviving on scraps of sleep.
A sudden pressure jolted him awake.
Something was happening in the sky.
There wasn't a cloud over Sea God Island, but the concentration of spiritual energy was rising sharply. It wasn't energy from the island. It was a wave of power transmitted from somewhere far away.
The stone gate clicked.
A crack appeared.
Tang San's hand reached through, all five fingers gripping the edge of the door.
His golden Sea God Divine Armor was covered in fine cracks, and blood stained his fingertips.
He squeezed sideways through the gate, his whole body trembling from the waist down. He had forcibly interrupted the Ninth Trial halfway through.
The price was two more cracks in his Divine Soul.
But he didn't have time to care.
The source of that wave was in the direction of the continent—in the direction of Spirit City.
Tang San ground his back teeth together.
"It's happening again..."
The three words scraped out of his throat, so hoarse his voice had changed.
His fist clenched tight, nails digging into his flesh. Blood dripped between his fingers and struck the stone steps.
"How many treasures does that Celestial Master have?"
Farther away.
The Divine Realm. Asura God Hall.
The nine-tiered Asura Treasure Pagoda, crimson as blood, floated in the center of the void, its markings of slaughter slowly turning across its surface.
Asura God sat upon the throne at the pagoda's summit.
His gaze pierced the Plane Barrier and fell upon the golden clouds roiling over Douluo Continent.
After a long moment,
he gave a cold snort.
"They're nothing but mortal treasures."
The Asura Blade lay across his knees, and the crimson markings along its blade flashed once.
"Even if there are more, they can't save her life."
He spoke so softly that even the Divine Official standing beside him failed to hear.
But the killing intent on the Asura Blade suddenly thickened threefold, piercing through the plane and leaving an invisible crack high above Douluo Continent.
Spirit City.
The golden clouds grew thicker and thicker.
The light between heaven and earth began to change—not growing brighter, but warmer.
A warmth that seeped out from between one's bones, driving away every shadow.
The plaza was packed shoulder to shoulder, yet not a sound rose from the crowd.
Everyone stared up at the sky, holding their breath.
Then the vast Sanskrit chant, spanning endless time and space, rang through heaven and earth for the fifth time.
Hu Liena's five fingers curled unconsciously, her fingertips touching the Sword Mark on the inside of her wrist.
Its icy touch made her heart beat even faster.
Deep within the clouds,
golden light erupted.
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