Bibi Dong's lips curled slightly, and a playful smile appeared.
"Would a friend give you a treasure as precious as a Gnosis?"
"Would a friend openly tease Spirit Hall on the Sky Curtain for your sake?"
"Would a friend make you, the usually haughty young mistress of the Angel Clan, act like a lovestruck girl?"
With every question Bibi Dong asked, Qian Renxue's face grew redder.
By the end, she was red as a ripe apple and wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
"I..."
Qian Renxue stammered for a long while, then glared at Bibi Dong in embarrassed irritation.
"None of your business!"
Her tone was sharp, but the icy aloofness that used to keep everyone at arm's length was gone.
Bibi Dong sighed softly and picked up her teacup again.
"I'm not trying to meddle."
"I just wanted to say..."
Bibi Dong gazed out the window at the golden light gradually fading from the sky, her eyes growing profound.
"If it's him..."
"I have no objections."
Qian Renxue froze.
She stared blankly at Bibi Dong.
At that moment,
she sensed something long absent in this woman: a trace of a mother's warmth.
It was faint, but real.
"Why?"
Qian Renxue couldn't help asking.
"Didn't you... always want to destroy the Angel Clan?"
Bibi Dong lowered her eyes to the tea leaves drifting in her cup.
"Because he's strong enough."
"Strong enough to ignore the rules, strong enough to defy fate."
"And besides..."
Bibi Dong looked up at Qian Renxue's flushed cheeks, a flicker of uncertainty passing through her eyes.
"Besides, he cares about you."
"That matters more than anything."
Qian Renxue fell silent.
She lowered her head, her fingers unconsciously rubbing the rim of her teacup.
Involuntarily, the image of that green-clad figure came to mind.
The boy who was always grinning, who loved drinking and playing the lyre, who never seemed serious, yet always stepped in front of her at the critical moment.
"We... haven't made anything clear yet."
Qian Renxue's voice was softer than a mosquito's buzz.
"That man does nothing but drink all day."
"Who knows what he's thinking?"
Watching her daughter look so uncertain, Bibi Dong felt the ice around her heart soften a little.
"Then go ask him."
"You're Qian Renxue, a descendant of the Angel Clan."
"Are you really going to wait for someone to hand you their feelings?"
Qian Renxue raised her head, golden eyes blazing with renewed light.
"Hmph."
"Who said I was going to wait?"
"Can the person I've set my sights on really get away?"
She gently set her teacup down on the rosewood table. It made the faintest clink.
Qian Renxue stood.
Her signature golden hair shimmered in the sunlight. The blush on her cheeks had faded, replaced by an expression of unwavering determination.
Now that she understood her own heart, there was no need to hide it anymore.
She was Qian Renxue.
The young mistress of the Angel Clan.
And the "Wind God's Kin" chosen by that drunken poet.
Whether she wanted an answer or wanted that person,
she would go and claim it herself.
"I'm going to Godwind City."
Qian Renxue looked at Bibi Dong. Her voice was steady; she wasn't asking permission, but stating a fact.
"Now."
Bibi Dong didn't look up. She continued watching the tea leaves drifting in her cup.
"Go ahead."
"Take Snake Lance and Pufferfish with you."
"That man may be in Godwind City, where no one would dare lay a finger on you, but the young mistress of Spirit Hall can't afford to lose face on the road."
Qian Renxue gave a slight nod.
She turned toward the door, her steps light yet firm.
At the threshold, she paused, but didn't look back.
"The tea was good."
With that,
her golden figure disappeared beyond the door.
Bibi Dong raised her head and watched the empty doorway, the smile on her lips gradually widening.
"That child..."
"She's braver than I was back then."
Outside Pope Palace,
two dark figures appeared soundlessly behind Qian Renxue.
They were Snake Lance Douluo and Porcupinefish Douluo.
The two Titled Douluo who had always guarded Qian Renxue looked at their young mistress and sensed something about her had changed.
Their young mistress had once been noble, but always wore a mask called "Xue Qinghe," making her impossible to read.
But now,
she was sharp as a drawn holy sword.
"Where are we headed, young mistress?"
Snake Lance Douluo asked with a bow.
"Godwind City."
Qian Renxue gazed into the distance. The person she longed for was somewhere that way.
"Shall we prepare the fastest carriage?"
Porcupinefish Douluo asked tentatively.
"No."
Qian Renxue shook her head.
She held out her hand. In her palm, green wind elements danced merrily.
It was the power Venti had given her.
"We'll fly there."
"I want to see him as soon as possible."
"And I want to ask him face-to-face: with power great enough to reach the heavens and shake the earth, with strength enough to subdue an entire era, why does he still pretend to be a loafer all day?"
"Does he really think that, in his eyes, the strife and power struggles of this world are nothing but fleeting clouds?"
"Or..."
Qian Renxue silently added to herself.
Or are you really willing to stay in this mortal world only to protect someone?
The answer to that question
mattered greatly to her.
Just as Qian Renxue was about to spread her Angel Wings and fly straight to Godwind City,
Rumble—!
That familiar tremor sounded once more from above.
The sky, which had only just calmed, churned with golden clouds like boiling water.
An aura more violent and domineering than before poured down from the Sky Curtain.
If the previous aura had been vast and mysterious,
then this one
was pure savagery!
It was the roar of an ancient, primordial beast, steeped in the stench of blood and the urge to tear everything apart.
Qian Renxue stopped and looked up at the sky.
"Eleventh place..."
"Is another one about to appear?"
The two Titled Douluo, Snake Lance and Porcupinefish, had gone pale.
They felt a shudder deep in their souls.
It was the instinctive suppression a predator at the top of the food chain exerted over those beneath it.
"What terrifying killing intent."
Snake Lance Douluo gripped his spear, his palm slick with sweat.
"This is definitely not an aura a human Soul Master could possess."
"Could it be..."
Golden light gathered.
Amid the attention of countless onlookers, enormous golden characters slowly appeared.
Each stroke looked as if it had been forged from blood, emanating a suffocating, murderous aura.
[Strength Ranking · No. 11] [Name: Xiong Jun] [Species: Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear] [Affiliation: Star Dou Forest · Core Zone · Ten Great Fierce Beasts]
Deep in the core zone of Star Dou Forest,
a deafening roar suddenly erupted from the forest's silent depths.
Roar—!!!
Within a hundred miles, every Soul Beast flattened itself against the ground, trembling.
Countless towering ancient trees snapped apart in the roar, reduced to flying splinters.
A giant bear more than fifty meters tall reared up on its hind legs.
Its entire body was covered in dark golden fur. Every strand stood on end like a steel needle, gleaming with a cold metallic sheen.
Its enormous paws each bore five claws several meters long, like the scythes of the Grim Reaper.