Plan

On the main throne.

Bibi Dong fell silent.

For the first time, a subtle change flickered across her stunning, icy face.

She slowly lowered the two-meter-long Pope Scepter in her hand, the base tapping against the white jade floor with a dull, soft thud.

The habitual languor and indifference in her deep brown eyes quietly receded.

In their place was something faint, yet bone-chillingly cold.

"To actually drive a child to death."

She spoke, her voice light, devoid of any discernible emotion.

Yet, that airy tone was wrapped in a frigid sharpness that made even Yue Guan and Gui Mei instinctively shiver.

"Those fellows from the Upper Three Sects..."

Bibi Dong did not finish her sentence.

She lowered her eyes slightly, her long, slender lashes casting a small shadow across her lids.

She had seen enough of the deceit and treachery on this continent, enough of the strong crushing and disregarding the weak. Was she not, herself, at the very pinnacle of this law of the jungle?

She was not the type to feel compassion for a child she did not know.

Her heart had long since been tempered harder than cold iron through long years and endless schemes.

Yet, for some reason.

When she heard the words "seven years old," "cutting flesh to return to father," "scraping bones to return to mother," and "slitting throat with a sword" spill one after another from Yue Guan's lips—

A tiny, subtle ripple quietly spread across the lake of her heart, which sat perched at the summit of power.

It was not pity.

It was something closer to... disdainful contempt.

Contempt for the Upper Three Sects.

The vast Upper Three Sects, touted as the continent's premier behemoths. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had strutted about for years under the banner of the "World's Number One Beast Martial Soul." The Seven Treasures Glazed Sect was run airtight by that old fox, Ning Fengzhi.

And the result?

Two behemoths joining hands, for the sake of their own shameful reputations and interests, had actually forced a seven-year-old child to his death.

A child with more backbone than any of them.

"Ridiculous."

Bibi Dong spat out the word softly.

"A group of so-called experts who have lived for decades or centuries, yet they don't even measure up to the spine of a seven-year-old child."

Yue Guan and Gui Mei stood with heads bowed, not daring to interject.

They could sense that the Pope's mood was not particularly good at this moment.

The faint stirring in her heart lasted only a moment.

After that.

Bibi Dong's gaze flickered for an instant.

Beneath the languor and indifference on that beautiful face, a trace of the shrewdness belonging to a master strategist emerged.

"However..."

She spoke suddenly, her voice unhurried, as if casually mentioning a trivial matter.

"Perhaps this will be a good opportunity."

Yue Guan was slightly startled, then immediately looked up, a sharp light flashing in his alluring eyes.

He had followed Bibi Dong for many years and knew this Pope too well. Whenever she used that nonchalant tone to say the words "good opportunity"—it inevitably meant she had already completed a full set of deductions within that mind, which was more precise than any other.

"Does the Pope mean..."

Bibi Dong did not answer immediately.

Her long, slender fingers tapped lightly against the shaft of the scepter, the rhythm steady, each strike landing on the exact same spot.

"The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan bullies others with their power, driving a seven-year-old child to death. The Seven Treasures Glazed Sect's branch family sells their child for glory, discarding their own flesh and blood like worn-out shoes."

She spoke slowly, her tone as flat as stagnant water.

"When these two matters are put together, in the eyes of the common people, what will they be?"

Yue Guan's pupils constricted slightly.

He understood.

Public sentiment.

This was an excellent opportunity to weaken the two major powers from the perspective of the hearts of the people.

The power struggle between the Upper Three Sects and Spirit Hall has never been limited to mere soul power levels or troop counts. Public sentiment and the direction of public opinion—these seemingly intangible things often become the final straw that breaks the camel's back at critical moments.

The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan is arrogant and domineering, already held in contempt by the world. While the Seven Treasures Glazed Sect enjoys a slightly better reputation, once the news spreads of their collateral branch selling their own children for glory, that carefully maintained veneer of decency will be torn to shreds.

As for Spirit Hall—it needs to do nothing at all.

It is enough to simply let everyone know about this matter.

The common people will naturally make their own judgments.

Public sentiment will naturally lean toward one side.

Bibi Dong raised her eyes and looked at Yue Guan.

"Yue Guan."

"This subordinate is here." Yue Guan bowed slightly.

"Put some effort into this." Bibi Dong's voice remained unhurried, as if she were assigning a task as ordinary as could be.

"Use Spirit Hall's intelligence network to properly publicize this matter."

She paused.

"The story of that child cutting flesh to repay his father and stripping bones to repay his mother, the atrocities of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's direct descendants killing in the streets, and the ugly spectacle of the Seven Treasures Glazed Sect abandoning their kin to save themselves—"

"One by one, item by item."

"Tell it exactly as it happened. There is no need to embellish, no need to fabricate."

The corners of her lips curled upward, a cold and composed smile.

"The truth itself is already enough."

"Make this matter—ideally, reach the point where it is known to every household and every person."

Yue Guan understood perfectly, cupping his hands and bowing deeply.

"As you command!"

Bibi Dong nodded slightly, resting her scepter back on the armrest and resuming her lazy, seated posture.

"In that case." She raised a hand, her tone indifferent. "If there is nothing else, you may withdraw."

Yue Guan and Gui Mei bowed in unison.

"Yes."

Two figures exited the great hall in silence. The heavy hall doors slowly closed behind them, sealing off all sounds from the outside world.

The great hall returned to silence.

Bibi Dong sat on the main throne, one hand supporting her chin, her dark brown eyes gazing into the empty hall, seemingly lost in thought, or perhaps thinking of nothing at all.

The eternal lamps in the hall burned quietly, their flames flickering slightly in the stagnant air, casting shifting light and shadow across her stunning face.

A moment later.

Bibi Dong's brows suddenly furrowed slightly.

It seemed she had thought of something.

The thought she had previously set aside as an insignificant trifle, not worth her attention, was suddenly and inexplicably reconnected by something she could not quite put her finger on.

Qian Jun, Jiang Mo.

Returning from the Far North.

Carrying in their arms—a child of unknown origin.

Seven Treasures Glazed Sect collateral branch.

Seven years old.

Committed suicide by sword.

Died in public.

Two pieces of information that were originally unrelated, like two undercurrents, quietly converged within Bibi Dong's far-superior intellect.

She slowly raised her eyes.

Her slender fingers stopped their unconscious tapping, resting motionless on the shaft of her scepter.

A seven-year-old child, committing suicide by sword at the West Market of Heaven Dou City, dying in public.

And at this very moment—the two titled elders, Qian Jun and Jiang Mo, returned from the Far North.

Passing through Heaven Dou City.

In their arms... was an extra child of unknown origin.