Someone from the Worship Hall

"Xue'er, big sister, did I do something to offend you?"

"I think we could clear up this misunderstanding."

As he took a seat beside Qian Renxue in the Soul Fighting Arena, Luo Chen gave a wry smile.

He felt he ought to set Qian Renxue straight. They might look alike, but he really wasn't her younger brother.

He had absolutely nothing to do with Bibi Dong...

But Qian Renxue seemed not to notice Luo Chen's eagerness to explain. She simply sat beside him, watching the duel between two Soul Grandmasters without even turning her head.

As they watched, she continued asking him questions about his background.

Where he came from, why he had come to Nuoding City, whether he had parents, where he had grown up, and so on.

Since anyone could easily find out the answers to these questions, Luo Chen knew there was no point in lying, so he answered Qian Renxue honestly.

In fact, he felt she probably already knew all this. She was just making conversation with him.

Even after the match ended and he walked out of the Great Soul Arena with Qian Renxue, she kept chatting with him on and off.

She really did seem to have come just to talk. She wasn't trying to take him anywhere or force him into anything.

Luo Chen was a little confused, but the truth was that after they had walked together for a while, Qian Renxue simply left.

The only thing that surprised Luo Chen about their meeting was that Qian Renxue gave him something before she left.

"This must be something from the Worship Hall."

Watching Qian Renxue walk away, Luo Chen lowered his head and opened his palm. In it lay a palm-sized golden token belonging to Spirit Hall.

But this token wasn't like the Elder Token Yu Xiaogang had received. The one in Luo Chen's hand seemed to be of a higher rank.

That was because the front and back of the token bore not the Martial Souls representing the Seven Great Sects, but the Six-Winged Angel, the symbol of Spirit Hall's orthodox lineage. It was exactly like his Second Martial Soul.

After hesitating briefly, Luo Chen put it away.

Perhaps he really would need it someday.

Though he had no idea whether the people under Bibi Dong would even recognize this Angel token...

Meanwhile, after leaving Luo Chen, Qian Renxue immediately summoned Snake Lance Douluo and had him take her to Heaven Dou City at full speed.

Their meeting had been a spur-of-the-moment decision on her part, and she hadn't come with any particular purpose in mind.

After all, she had already reported Luo Chen's information and the details of the investigation to her grandfather, Qian Daoliu. Her sudden visit to see Luo Chen had been driven simply by a desire to meet the child who might be her younger brother, and to give him her token as a precaution. If Luo Chen really was related to her by blood and some fool tried to attack him, the token would at least make them think twice.

The younger generation might not know what the token meant, but anyone with some seniority or strength would surely understand the significance of one bearing the Six-Winged Angel seal.

--

After parting with Qian Renxue, Luo Chen didn't stay much longer at the Soul Fighting Arena. He returned to the house he had rented that evening and began cultivating in seclusion.

And so a week passed.

Aside from mealtimes, Luo Chen hardly left his room during that period, spending day and night in meditation.

Thanks to his diligent cultivation, not only had his Soul Power reached the peak of level 27, but he had also further improved his degree of fusion with the Eight Spider Lances.

But just as Luo Chen was preparing to continue meditating and break through to level 30, becoming a Soul Elder, he ran into someone he very much didn't want to see.

One evening, after dinner, Luo Chen was taking a stroll on his way home when a man blocked his path in a narrow alley.

The newcomer was a burly man nearly two meters tall, a middle-aged figure who seemed to radiate strength.

When the man saw Luo Chen, he clasped his hands in greeting before Luo Chen could even ask a question.

"May I ask if you are Young Master Luo Chen?"

Luo Chen: "?"

Luo Chen was so bewildered that he wondered whether his cultivation had gone awry and he was hallucinating.

He raised a fingertip and pointed at his own nose.

"Me? Young Master?"

"I am Luo Chen, but who are you? Have we met before?"

Luo Chen looked the burly man up and down, but couldn't recall who he was.

Although he couldn't identify the man, he could feel the formidable aura radiating from him.

At first, Luo Chen had thought he'd been unlucky enough to run into a robber, but the moment he heard the man call him "Young Master," he dismissed the idea.

Then he thought of a place he very much didn't want to mention.

"You're from Spirit Hall?"

Luo Chen asked quietly, staring straight at the burly man, afraid he might miss the slightest clue.

The man didn't try to hide it. He nodded frankly, then bowed to Luo Chen again.

"Xiongyue Douluo pays his respects to Young Master."

At the same time, he thought that the young mistress must have already told Young Master Luo Chen quite a lot.

Luo Chen fell silent again.

He thought he understood why the man had called him "Young Master." It was no different from calling Qian Renxue "Miss."

Had Spirit Hall somehow added him to the list of their own people?

At first, he had imagined that if Spirit Hall learned of his existence, he would be done for.

But now, because of a tiny misunderstanding, things seemed to be moving in a direction he had never imagined...

Luo Chen shook his head lightly, clearing away those baseless thoughts, then looked at Xiongyue Douluo.

Regardless, since a Titled Douluo had come today, he probably couldn't avoid this.

"Let me ask you something. Which side of Spirit Hall are you on?"

Bibi Dong's, or Qian Daoliu's?

That was what Luo Chen was most curious about right now.

Xiongyue Douluo immediately understood what he meant. Although he didn't know how Luo Chen could have learned that Spirit Hall had two factions when the investigation showed he had never had any contact with them, he was now almost certain Luo Chen was Spirit Hall's young master. As his subordinate, he should answer whatever he was asked.

That would be best for everyone.

"Reporting to Young Master, I serve the Second Worship and belong to the Worship Hall."

Luo Chen understood and nodded lightly.

That made sense. If Bibi Dong were involved, she would have sent the Heng and Ha Generals to deal with him.

"Does the Pope know about this?"

"The Great Worship has ordered that no one is to reveal your information to Her Holiness the Pope."