Qian Renxue's Fantasy

Qian Renxue's expression shifted slightly. Looking at the dark golden glow spilling from the inn window, she recalled Pufferfish's earlier description and finally became certain that the person before her was anything but ordinary.

Gritting her teeth, she raised a hand to stop Snake Lance, who still wanted to argue.

"Stand down."

Though her voice was cold, it could not conceal the faint unease within it.

With a creak, the carved wooden door slowly opened.

Qian Renxue entered the room alone. Her moon-white robe trailed across the floor, and beneath sleeves embroidered with gold thread, her fingers tightened slightly.

The room was filled with a faint scent of Dragon Breath and blood. In the candlelight, Shen Lian lounged in a grand chair, the Dragon-Slaying Blade laid across his knees as dark light flowed over it.

"Restore your original appearance, then we'll talk."

Shen Lian raised his eyes, his gaze as sharp as a hawk's, piercing straight through her disguise.

Qian Renxue's heart jolted. He had seen through her disguise at a glance!

After a moment's hesitation, golden light rose around her. Xue Qinghe's gentle face gradually faded away, replaced by a peerlessly beautiful visage. Golden hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall, and her brows and eyes carried the unique holiness and pride of the Angel Martial Soul. Subtle patterns flowed across her pure white dress like stars scattered across the night.

Shen Lian's pupils contracted slightly. He had to admit that Qian Renxue's beauty was striking, like a celestial maiden descended from a divine altar.

But soon, he recalled how, in the original story, she had waited for her enemy Tang San to become a god. A trace of mockery rose in his heart.

"As expected of the bearer of the Angel Martial Soul—and the inheritor of the Angel God."

Shen Lian rose with a soft laugh and slowly circled Qian Renxue. Then he thought to himself:

What a pity. No matter how beautiful the shell, it can't hide the essence of a lovesick fool.

Waiting for your enemy to become a god? To me, that is stupidity beyond measure.

The candlelight in the room flickered, stretching and twisting their shadows across the walls.

Qian Renxue's entire body tightened beneath Shen Lian's unabashed stare. Her pearly teeth instinctively bit her lower lip, while the fingers hidden beneath her holy white dress curled into fists.

"Speak. What did you call me here for?"

Qian Renxue tried her best to keep her voice steady, but a barely perceptible tremor still slipped through.

Shen Lian leaned sideways against the grand chair, his long fingers rhythmically tapping the armrest with crisp clicks.

At her words, he raised a brow and chuckled, his eyes full of mockery.

"Didn't you send people to follow me? And now you're asking what I want?"

Shen Lian deliberately dragged out the last word, his tone brimming with ridicule, as though he were watching an absurd farce.

Qian Renxue's chest heaved violently, her golden hair swaying lightly with the movement. The phantom of the Angel Martial Soul flickered behind her.

She forcibly suppressed the anger in her heart. When she spoke again, her voice was as cold as frost.

"Say it plainly. What did you bring me here for?"

As her words fell, her gaze suddenly fixed on Shen Lian's brow. There, the faintly emerging Purple Flame Mark resembled her Angel Brand.

Her pupils abruptly shrank, and certainty rose in her heart.

This is the mark of a Divine Seat inheritor!

Shen Lian seemed to notice her discovery. A meaningful smile curled across his lips as he suddenly rose and approached her.

Qian Renxue instinctively retreated half a step, her back pressing against the icy wall, yet she still forced herself to meet his gaze.

"Then I'll be direct."

Shen Lian lowered his voice as dark golden Soul Power circulated around him, then continued speaking to Qian Renxue.

"I want the deployment maps and garrison locations of every army in the Heaven Dou Empire. I also want to know what high-level combatants the Heaven Dou Empire has."

His words struck Qian Renxue like a heavy hammer, leaving her mind blank.

She stared at him in disbelief. Why would an inheritor of a Divine Seat want such things?

Then Qian Renxue asked:

"What do you need that for?"

She had never imagined that he would covet the Heaven Dou Empire's military secrets. What kind of ambition lay hidden behind this?

"That's none of your concern. Just give it to me."

Shen Lian reached out and pinched her chin, forcing her to look at him. A flash of ruthlessness crossed his eyes as he continued speaking to Qian Renxue.

"I'll give you three days. Three days from now, come here and bring me what I want."

With that, he abruptly released her, turned around, and returned to his seat, adopting an impatient posture of dismissing a guest.

Qian Renxue staggered and caught herself against the edge of the table, her fingertips digging deeply into her palm.

She was filled with anger and unwillingness, but when she remembered Huang Tian's terrifying pressure, she had no choice but to swallow her rage.

Just as she began considering mobilizing the Worship Hall's forces, Shen Lian's cold voice rang out again.

"Oh, right. If you intend to have your Spirit Hall or Worship Hall people deal with me, then you'd better be prepared for every last one of them to die."

The words were like a bucket of cold water poured over her. Qian Renxue did not dare gamble. Especially after confirming that Shen Lian was also a Divine Seat inheritor, a chill ran through her entire body.

She bit her lip hard. As she turned, the hem of her dress brushed the candlestick and nearly knocked it over.

Only after returning to the Crown Prince's Mansion did she realize that her nails had already pierced her palm. Blood dripped from her pristine sleeve, blooming into an eerie flower on the floor.

She merely stared blankly at her hand as Shen Lian's threat echoed endlessly in her mind. For the first time, she felt a trace of fear for the future—yet she had somehow developed an unusual feeling toward Shen Lian.

If Shen Lian had known, he would definitely have said:

"As expected of one of Spirit Hall's three lovesick fools. She even has masochistic tendencies."

Inside the Crown Prince's Mansion study, a palace lamp threaded with gold cast a gentle halo of light, yet it could not conceal the chill radiating from Qian Renxue.

The hand holding her wolf-hair brush trembled slightly, and ink spread across the rice paper into irregular blotches.

Beneath her brush was the Heaven Dou Empire's most confidential military deployment map. Every time she wrote down a camp's location, it felt as though she were carving out a piece of her own heart.

"What exactly does he want?"

Qian Renxue murmured softly, her brush tip pressing heavily against the paper and tearing through it.

She bit her lower lip as Shen Lian's mysterious Purple Flame Mark replayed over and over in her mind.

Suddenly, she thought of an explanation that seemed reasonable even to herself: the Angel God's path to godhood relied on the Power of Faith of believers, gathering it to form a Godhead.

"Could it be...?"

Qian Renxue suddenly raised her head, understanding flashing through her eyes.

"He wants to imitate the Angel God and gather the Power of Faith to strengthen his Divine Seat!"

The thought sent a chill down her spine.

But soon, she straightened her back, a cold smile curling at the corners of her lips.

The Angel Martial Soul model on the desk glimmered faintly under the lamplight, as though it were giving her strength.

"With Spirit Hall's influence, half of Douluo Continent's high-level Soul Masters worship the Angel God."

Her nails dug deeply into her palm as she muttered to herself.

"Shen Lian, you will never be able to shake the Angel God's position!"

The night outside the window deepened, and the distant watch drum echoed through the darkness.

Qian Renxue looked at the completed deployment map in her hands, her gaze gradually turning vicious.

She carefully rolled up the map and placed it inside a gold-trimmed wooden box, as though performing some sort of ritual.

"When I inherit the Angel God Position..."

She whispered to the darkness, "I will repay the humiliation you inflicted on me a thousandfold!"

At that moment, if Shen Lian had been present, he would surely have leaned against the doorframe and laughed mockingly.

He might have waved the Dragon-Slaying Blade in his hand and raised a brow.

"Child, you're thinking too much."

After all, in his plan, the Heaven Dou Empire's military secrets were merely a prerequisite for the Sun-Moon Empire to later annex the two empires of Douluo Continent. They had nothing whatsoever to do with the Power of Faith needed for godhood.

But Qian Renxue had no way of knowing that. She could only nurture the flames of revenge within her own speculation.