"Just passing by?" Qian Renxue's voice turned cold.
"This is a forbidden area of Spirit Hall. Any outsider who trespasses will be killed."
"I didn't trespass. I came to pay my respects."
"Pay your respects?"
"I've long admired His Excellency Qian Xunji, the former pope. I happened to be passing through Spirit City today, so I came specially to pay my respects."
Qian Renxue's eyes narrowed.
"You came to pay your respects wearing a mask?"
"I'm ugly. I was afraid I'd scare people."
"And wearing those ragged clothes?"
"Can't a poor person have faith?"
"You're twelve?"
Ji Ye froze for a moment. "How could you tell?"
Qian Renxue didn't answer.
She raised her hand. Golden light gathered in her palm, and a long sword slowly took shape.
The entire blade was golden, its hilt shaped like an angel spreading its wings. Faint flames of light flowed along the edge.
The Angel Holy Sword.
"A little grave robber." Qian Renxue's tone was calm.
"You've been talking all this time to stall until your accomplices show up?"
Ji Ye glanced at the sword, then at Qian Renxue's face.
A Soul Emperor.
At this point in the original story, Qian Renxue should have just reached the sixth ring, with a level above sixty.
He was a four-ring, level-forty-two Soul Master. He was two major ranks behind her.
"I really am not a grave robber." Ji Ye raised both hands to show he meant no harm.
"If I were a grave robber, I'd have pried open the coffin before you came in. Then you'd have walked in just in time to see me stuffing gold into my pockets. Now that would be grave robbing. I'm completely clean. I haven't taken a thing. At most, I'm guilty of breaking into someone's home."
Qian Renxue's hand paused on the sword.
She probably hadn't expected this masked little thief to come up with such a line of reasoning.
"Breaking into someone's home is also a capital offense."
"Are the rules of Spirit Hall really that strict?"
"This is my home. I make the rules."
Ji Ye fell silent.
There was no arguing with that.
Qian Renxue had no desire to waste any more time.
She raised the Angel Holy Sword and pointed its tip at Ji Ye.
The Soul Power of a Six-Ring Soul Emperor pressed down on him, sending ripples through the air.
Ji Ye's clothes billowed backward in the wind, and his mask fell from his face.
Revealing the astonishingly handsome face of a boy.
His features were sharply defined, his skin very fair, his lines clean.
At twelve, he still had a trace of boyishness that hadn't quite faded.
Qian Renxue stared at his face and froze for a moment.
She had never seen a boy so handsome.
He was the first.
But her surprise lasted only an instant.
The next moment, the tip of the Angel Holy Sword moved forward another two inches, stopping less than a fist's distance from Ji Ye's throat.
"Come with me and accept your punishment, or die here."
Qian Renxue's voice was cold, without a hint of mercy.
Ji Ye lowered his gaze to the golden sword, then looked back up at Qian Renxue.
"Why are you so stubborn? I already told you I was just passing by."
"Stubborn?"
"It means you're single-minded, rigid, and incapable of adapting."
Qian Renxue's eyes narrowed, and golden sparks began gathering at the tip of her sword.
Ji Ye felt the keen, cutting Soul Power.
A Six-Ring Soul Emperor, level sixty-something. If they really fought, then even with his Martial Soul's outrageous abilities, his chances of winning against a level-forty-two four-ring Soul Master would be less than three in ten.
Besides, this was Spirit City, their home ground. He'd beat the young ones, then the old ones would come; he'd beat the old ones, then even older ones would come. In the end, once the level-ninety-nine Qian Daoliu showed up, he wouldn't even have a chance to run.
He'd just gone through all that trouble to escape from Flender, and now the Spirit Hall would be after him?
Ji Ye sighed inwardly.
What a miserable life.
"Fine."
"I'll go with you."
Qian Renxue stared at him for two seconds, seemingly trying to decide whether he was up to something.
"Put your mask back on."
Ji Ye bent down, picked up the iron-gray mask from the ground, and fastened it over his face again.
Qian Renxue turned and walked outside. She didn't put away the Angel Holy Sword, but carried it in her hand, its golden tip pointed down at the ground.
Ji Ye followed three steps behind her.
When they came out of the mausoleum.
A line of white-clad guards stood at the entrance. Seeing Qian Renxue emerge, they all dropped to one knee.
"Greetings, Young Mistress."
Qian Renxue ignored them and walked straight ahead.
Ji Ye followed her out.
The guards looked up and saw a gray-clad boy in a mask following the Young Mistress. All their eyes widened at once.
What was going on?
When had this person gone inside?
They'd been on guard all day and hadn't let even a fly in. How had this person ended up inside?
One guard instinctively put his hand on his sword hilt, but after glancing at Qian Renxue's back, he let go.
Someone the Young Mistress had brought out should be... all right, shouldn't he?
As Qian Renxue passed the guards, she paused and glanced sideways at them.
"Replace the next shift of guards."
"...Yes!"
No one dared ask why.
As Ji Ye passed by, he shrugged at the nearest guard.
"Don't worry. I went in openly through the front door."
The guard's expression grew even worse.
Qian Renxue walked ahead at an unhurried pace.
Ji Ye followed behind her, looking around as he went.
Before long, the two of them entered Spirit Hall.
It was even more magnificent than he had imagined.
Most of the buildings were made of white stone, their walls covered in intricate reliefs. Every few steps stood a huge stone pillar, blue flames of Soul Power burning atop each one.
The patrols they passed all dropped to one knee when they saw Qian Renxue, not daring to lift their heads.
Ji Ye felt a little uneasy.
He just didn't know what that Angel Douluo, Qian Daoliu, was like.
The old man didn't appear much in the original story. As Ji Ye recalled, he was the kind of grandfather who would risk everything for his granddaughter.
As for his strength, he was a level-ninety-nine Peerless Douluo, one of the few Limit Douluo still alive in the world.
Ji Ye turned it over in his mind.
If Qian Daoliu was another unreasonable old lunatic, then he'd take the loss and figure out how to escape again.
Or just croak.
If he was a normal person...
Then staying in Spirit Hall for a while might not be so bad.
It was better than Shrek, anyway.
Qian Renxue suddenly stopped.
Ji Ye nearly walked into her, but managed to stop in time.
"We're here."
Ji Ye looked up.
A massive hall stood before him, three large characters carved into the lintel.
Worship Hall.
The doors stood open, and voices drifted from within.
Qian Renxue stepped inside.
Ji Ye took a deep breath and followed her in.
The Worship Hall had been quite lively.
Mighty Lion Douluo was holding a cup of tea and bragging to Feather Douluo, saying how he'd once taken on three Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts all by himself.
Feather Douluo sat in a chair, cracking melon seeds, with an expression that said, "Keep bragging. I'm listening."
Azure Luan Douluo leaned against a pillar, resting with his eyes closed. The brothers Qian Jun and Jiang Mo were playing chess.
The moment Qian Renxue entered, the atmosphere changed.
"Little niece Xiao Xue!" Mighty Lion Douluo was the first to speak, his voice so loud the entire hall shook.
"Didn't you go to your father's grave today? Back already?"
Qian Renxue nodded slightly.
Before you continue