"Hmm? This isn't going the way it should. Did the one in the secret chamber get switched?"
[Yu Xiaogang panicked and spread rumors around town that you were already lovers.]
[Qian Xunji got the news and came to see you in person. You denied it.]
[Afterward, Yu Xiaogang was driven out of Spirit Hall.]
"Interesting. The plot changed."
[You focused on your disciple. He seemed very knowledgeable; both his Martial Soul and his understanding of Martial Souls surpassed those of every man you had ever met.]
[In the days that followed, you did nothing but cultivate and discuss Martial Soul Theory with your disciple.]
[In the blink of an eye, you were thirty-three. You noticed that your disciple looked at you differently, but you pretended not to know and carried on as usual.]
[Your clothing style changed, becoming bolder. When you were alone with your disciple, you always made strange movements, and you greatly enjoyed his reactions.]
[One day, you noticed your disciple growing close to a woman with the Blazing Spirit Kite Martial Soul.]
[You were inexplicably furious. You lashed him viciously with your stockings and stepped on him. You seemed to lose your mind, venting your anger like a madwoman.]
[Afterward, you regretted it. Seeing the skin torn and bleeding across your disciple's body, you apologized to him. But you saw a trace of fear in his eyes. At that moment, a thought surfaced in your mind...]
[Lock him up.]
[You held back and ultimately didn't do it. You and your disciple made up afterward. He seemed to have realized something, too, and began testing you, subtly and not so subtly. You half-resisted and half-gave in, while still acting like his teacher on the surface.]
[One day, while you were taking a nap, your disciple suddenly came over. He touched you, and you pretended...]
[Your disciple suddenly lifted your leg.]
[He was in the wrong, and so were you, but you kept pretending to be asleep.]
[You thought that this way, you could still be teacher and disciple, and you wouldn't lose face as his teacher.]
[But whether by day or by night, whenever your disciple saw you resting with your eyes closed, he went at it hard.]
[You were angry, but you enjoyed it immensely.]
[Your state of mind underwent some unusual changes.]
[You secretly prepared some stockings and slipped them on without anyone noticing.]
[Seeing how happy your disciple was made you so happy that you cried, and the tears kept coming.]
[Your relationship was forbidden in Spirit Hall, especially by the Angel Family, which cared so much about its reputation. You were terrified that Qian Xunji might find out.]
[A year passed in the blink of an eye. That year, you secretly tried everything your disciple liked.]
[Black and white, silk, candles...]
[You even secretly altered a pope's clothes into women's clothing.]
[That year, you broke through to Titled Douluo. To celebrate, your disciple played the part of a disobedient student during your coronation ceremony, where Qian Xunji couldn't see.]
[You were forced to open your eyes and look at him. Seeing the pride in your disciple's eyes made you furious and indignant, yet there was nothing you could do.]
[You knew that the moment you opened your eyes, your relationship with your disciple had changed.]
[Sure enough, from then on, your disciple grew bolder.]
[Before, he only did it when you pretended to be asleep. Now, he did it at any time.]
[You acted furious, but you loved it inside. You even wanted him to be bolder still, bold enough to outdo his teacher.]
[Time passed under these delicate circumstances. Qian Xunji suddenly died, bludgeoned to death by Tang Hao of the Clear Sky Sect. When the news reached the Worship Hall, its members were enraged. The seven Worshippers personally pursued Tang Hao.]
[Tang Hao fell.]
"Damn, Qian Daoliu is that powerful?"
[The Angel Inheritance was cut off. The Grand Pontiff personally led the troops and destroyed the Clear Sky Sect.]
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now that's a true Peerless Douluo. No one could withstand the fury of a level-ninety-nine powerhouse."
[You were entrusted with the crisis and became Spirit Hall's first female pope. With the Angel Family line ended, the Grand Pontiff became obsessed with producing an heir of the Qian Family. He shut himself away and stopped asking about Spirit Hall's affairs.]
[You let yourself go completely. With no one to restrain you, you made your relationship with your disciple public. From then on, every corner of Spirit Hall witnessed your escapades.]
[Later, you took another disciple, a young woman whom you adored and were willing to cultivate. You made her the Saintess, hoping she would protect Spirit Hall forever.]
[At thirty-six, you became a Peerless Douluo and stood at the summit of the continent. You had thought no one could rival you and that Spirit Hall would prosper forever. But a genius appeared out of nowhere. He easily defeated the Saintess and won the Soul Master Tournament, though you paid him no mind.]
"He's still alive? He's a tough one to kill."
[Time passed. When you were fifty-three, the genius obtained a legendary divine artifact and invoked revenge for his parents as justification for sentencing you to death.]
[Spirit Hall's Titled Douluo fell one after another, killed by his hand.]
"So it's the gourd kids delivering themselves to the grandfather, huh?"
[You were level ninety-nine, but even when you personally joined the fight, you were no match for him. His divine artifact was beyond your understanding.]
"This sucks. Where are the Immortal Herbs? Where are the opportunities? The Asura Inheritance, the Sea God Inheritance—how did he get them all?"
[During the battle, your disciple took a blow for you and died in your arms.]
"That's a knife to the heart."
"Run!"
[You went mad.]
[You mobilized all of Spirit Hall's forces and spent a year preparing. When you were fifty-four, you launched an all-out war.]
[But the genius kept stirring up public opinion, turning the entire continent against you. He called you the evil Spirit Hall.]
[The Grand Pontiff was pinned to a city wall by a fork-shaped divine artifact. Even as he died, he was still thinking of the Angel Inheritance...]
[Spirit Hall eventually met its end.]
[You died before your disciple's grave, but you died smiling...]
[Dream of Millet!]
"Ah!"
Bibi Dong jolted awake, her delicate cheeks drenched in sweat.
She sat up abruptly, gasping for breath.
"Xiao Chen!"
Bibi Dong pressed a hand to her chest, feeling awful.
It felt as though something were twisting around her heart.
"Teacher, you're awake?"
"How did it feel?"
Hearing the familiar voice, Bibi Dong abruptly raised her head. She looked at the little fellow before her, stunned for a moment.
"Xiao Chen, you..."
"Teacher?"
Su Chen waved his hand before Bibi Dong's eyes.
"Are you all right, Teacher?"
Bibi Dong came back to her senses and hurriedly shook her head, forcing a smile. "Your Soul Skill really is unusual. I'm a little tired, so go back and get some rest."
"Teacher, you still haven't told me how it felt. Is this Soul Skill powerful or not?"
Su Chen asked, quite curious. He had actually experienced it himself.
It had felt completely immersive. Not only had Bibi Dong become one of the characters in the dream; so had he.
But the story in the dream seemed to have been predetermined. He couldn't change anything and could only follow it along.
Even searching for Immortal Herbs had been impossible.
"This..."
"It didn't feel like much."
"Just an ordinary dream."
Bibi Dong's gaze wandered.
After Su Chen left,
she held her head as tears silently slid down her face.
She couldn't tell. She couldn't tell whether it had been reality or a dream.
She only knew that her heart hurt a little now.