The Pope Palace Awakening, Bibi Dong's Shock

In the early morning, Spirit City was still shrouded in a thin layer of mist.

Inside the Pope Palace, the hexagram awakening array had already been set up.

Golden array patterns spread across the floor, while six awakening stones floated at the six points of the formation, their faint glow flickering unsteadily.

At the center of the array stood a boy of around six years old.

Though still small in stature, he stood remarkably steady. His black hair fell over his shoulders, his features were delicate, and his temperament was far too calm for a child his age.

Especially that face—if anyone familiar with the previous Pope, Qian Xunji, saw him, they would likely be struck speechless.

He looked too much like him. Even that innate sense of nobility faintly carried the mark of the Qian Family bloodline.

His name was Qian Renyuan.

The Holy Son of Spirit Hall.

At the same time, he was also the son of the current Pope, Bibi Dong.

Yet within the Pope Palace, no one had ever dared mention that identity lightly.

On either side of the great hall, the Soul Masters standing in attendance all lowered their heads, even keeping their breathing as quiet as possible.

Chrysanthemum Douluo, Yue Guan, stood before the awakening array. Today, he would personally preside over Qian Renyuan's martial soul awakening.

Given his status, awakening a child's martial soul should have been an utterly simple matter. Yet when he saw Qian Renyuan's face, which so closely resembled Qian Xunji's, a ripple still stirred in his heart.

Not far behind Yue Guan, Ghost Douluo, Gui Mei, stood in the shadows.

His black robes moved without wind, and his entire body seemed like a shadow merged with the darkness, silent to an almost eerie degree.

At the highest point of the hall, Bibi Dong sat upon the Pope's throne.

She wore purple-and-gold papal robes and held a scepter in her hand. Her stunning face was cold as frost. When her pale purple eyes looked down and settled upon Qian Renyuan, a trace of dark malice silently flashed through their depths.

That face was like a thorn. At the slightest touch, it could draw out the past she least wanted to remember from the depths of her soul.

Qian Xunji.

To Bibi Dong, that name would forever carry a festering pain.

Her fingers tightened slightly around the scepter.

At that very moment, a strand of dark purple aura, invisible to the naked eye, quietly surged within the depths of her brow.

The Evil Thought of the Rakshasa God.

Cold, twisted, and filled with madness that was difficult to suppress.

It was like a hand hidden deep in her soul, lightly stirring the emotions in Bibi Dong's heart.

Kill him.

He carried that man's blood.

His existence itself was a continuation of that humiliation.

As long as he was destroyed, the past would no longer surface again and again.

A faint, sinister voice echoed in Bibi Dong's heart.

Her gaze grew several degrees colder.

Qian Renyuan seemed to sense something. He raised his head and looked toward the platform.

Mother and son met each other's eyes in midair.

One sat high upon the Pope's throne, her gaze ice-cold.

The other stood within the array, his expression calm.

That brief exchange made the atmosphere within the hall even more oppressive.

Chrysanthemum Douluo sensed that something was wrong. A trace of cold sweat appeared at his temple, and he hurriedly spoke to break the silence.

"Holy Son, relax your mind."

His voice still carried its usual feminine softness, but it was more solemn than before.

"Place your hands before your chest and feel the power of the awakening array."

Qian Renyuan nodded and slowly closed his eyes.

Yue Guan raised a hand and waved it.

The six awakening stones lit up at the same time.

Buzzz—

A deep hum echoed through the Pope Palace.

Golden rays shot out from the awakening stones, intertwining within the hexagram beneath Qian Renyuan's feet before turning into a pillar of light that enveloped him.

At first, everything remained stable.

The golden light was gentle, and the Soul Power fluctuations remained within the normal range.

Yue Guan let out a slight breath of relief.

But just as that thought surfaced, the change came.

Boom!

The entire Pope Palace suddenly shook!

The golden light within the array instantly surged, its blinding radiance nearly swallowing the entire hall. The six awakening stones trembled violently, and fine cracks actually appeared across their surfaces.

"What?!"

Yue Guan's expression changed drastically, and he instinctively took half a step back.

Gui Mei's figure, hidden in the black mist, also swayed slightly. His hoarse voice emerged from the shadows.

"This Soul Power fluctuation... something is wrong."

It was far more than simply wrong.

This had completely exceeded the scope of a normal martial soul awakening.

Whether it was the most outstanding geniuses in Spirit Hall's history or the awakening of the Qian Family's inherited Six-Winged Angel martial soul, neither should have triggered such a terrifying phenomenon.

The Soul Masters along both sides of the hall could not open their eyes against the piercing golden light and retreated one after another.

Some could not even withstand the invisible Soul Power pressure and dropped to one knee on the spot.

Upon the platform, Bibi Dong's eyes narrowed.

The killing intent that had been stirred by the Rakshasa Evil Intent actually paused for an instant before this sudden surge of Soul Power.

She slowly straightened in her seat, her eyes fixed upon the center of the array.

Within the golden light, Qian Renyuan still had his eyes closed.

But behind him, space began to twist.

A point of pure white radiance appeared.

Then the white light spread, gradually forming the outline of wings.

One wing.

Two wings.

Four wings.

Six wings!

When the sixth wing unfolded, Yue Guan's pupils suddenly constricted.

"Six-Winged Angel?!"

The moment his words fell, new wings slowly unfurled behind that phantom.

Eight wings.

Ten wings.

Twelve wings!

At that moment, the entire Pope Palace fell silent.

A massive angelic phantom slowly rose behind Qian Renyuan.

It possessed twelve wings.

Every feather was white as if condensed from holy light, yet black and purple-gold patterns intertwined along the edges of the wings. Its face was indistinct, yet it carried a majesty too overwhelming to look upon directly. The halo behind it slowly turned, and an aura of destruction that made hearts tremble spread outward with the light.

Holiness and destruction had fused together strangely upon that phantom.

The enormous Angel statue behind the Pope's throne also seemed to have received some kind of summons, releasing a faint golden glow.

Yue Guan's eyes widened, and his lips trembled slightly.

"Twelve-winged... Angel?"

He had never heard of such a martial soul.

But as a Titled Douluo, Yue Guan knew very well that what stood before him could not possibly be explained by an ordinary mutation.

An ordinary mutated martial soul could never possess such pressure.

For the first time, Gui Mei's voice carried obvious shock.

"Yue Guan, this may have already surpassed a mortal-grade martial soul."

Yue Guan's throat bobbed.

Of course he understood what Gui Mei meant.

It was simply that he did not dare casually speak the words "god-grade martial soul."

Once those words were spoken, the entire structure of Spirit Hall would change.

On the platform, Bibi Dong's pupils also contracted violently.

The instant the Twelve-Winged Angel appeared, the Rakshasa Evil Intent entwined around her heart let out a sharp shriek, as though it had encountered something exceedingly dangerous.

Bibi Dong's mind shook, and she awakened from that brief loss of control.

The way she looked at Qian Renyuan was filled with shock she could not conceal.

Could the Qian Family bloodline actually produce such a monster?

Her thoughts churned. Though the hatred remained, and the shadows left by the past were still rooted in her heart.

The child before her was not Qian Xunji in the end.

He was her son, and at the same time, a monster whose talent was terrifying enough to change the entire continent's landscape.

Should she kill him, or keep him?

Bibi Dong's fingers tightened around the scepter bit by bit.

At the center of the array, Qian Renyuan slowly opened his eyes.

In that instant, purple-gold light flashed through the depths of his pupils.

The Twelve-Winged Destruction Angel behind him lowered its head. Its massive phantom seemed to be looking down upon all living things, yet it also seemed to be responding to his will.

A moment later, the phantom transformed into countless points of light and all of them entered Qian Renyuan's body.

The Soul Power pressure blanketing the hall dissipated along with it.

Yet everyone remained frozen where they stood.

No one dared to speak first.

Only after several breaths did Yue Guan barely recover his senses.

The way he looked at Qian Renyuan had completely changed.

Before, his respect came from Qian Renyuan's status as the Holy Son.

But now, there was an instinctive awe in his heart.

"Holy Son..."

Suppressing the shock surging within him, Yue Guan took out a Soul Power testing crystal.

This crystal was completely transparent and as large as a human head. It was a high-grade crystal specially used by Spirit Hall to measure Innate Soul Power, capable of withstanding Soul Power impacts below level twenty.

"Please place your hand on it."

Qian Renyuan remained calm, as if the person who had just triggered such a phenomenon had not been him.

He raised his right hand and lightly pressed it against the Soul Power testing crystal.

In an instant, the crystal lit up.

Purple-gold light instantly filled the entire crystal. Thunder seemed to race within it as powerful Soul Power fluctuations crazily battered the crystal walls.

Yue Guan's expression changed again.

"Innate Full Soul Power!"

Before he could finish speaking, the light inside the crystal continued to rise.

Crack.

A fissure appeared across the crystal's surface.

Then came a second, a third, and a fourth...

Yue Guan's eyes suddenly widened.

"This is bad!"

Bang!

The Soul Power testing crystal exploded on the spot!

Countless glittering fragments scattered in all directions, but when they came within three inches of Qian Renyuan's body, an invisible force shattered them into dust.

The Pope Palace fell into dead silence once more.

That high-grade Soul Power testing crystal could withstand Soul Power impacts below level twenty.

Yet it had exploded directly in Qian Renyuan's hand.

Everyone in the hall understood what that meant.

Innate level-twenty Full Soul Power.

Perhaps even higher.

Someone sucked in a cold breath.

The sound was especially clear in the silent hall.

Yue Guan did not blame him, because even he himself could hardly maintain the composure expected of a Titled Douluo at this moment.

Six years old.

A Twelve-Winged Destruction Angel martial soul.

Innate level-twenty Full Soul Power.

Such talent could no longer be described as mere genius.

This was a prodigy enough to shake the entire continent.

Gui Mei slowly raised his head and looked toward Bibi Dong on the platform.

Bibi Dong silently watched Qian Renyuan.

Deep within her cold eyes, ripples she could not suppress emerged.

The Rakshasa Evil Intent still churned in the depths of her soul, trying to stir up her hatred and killing intent.

But this time, Bibi Dong did not allow it to control her.

As she looked at the young yet calm figure in the center of the formation, a thought suddenly arose in her heart.

This child might become the sharpest sword in her hand—or perhaps, one day in the future, grow to a point even she could not control.

Yue Guan finally came back to his senses.

He straightened his robes, his expression more solemn than ever, and almost instinctively moved to drop to one knee.

"Congratulations, Your Holiness. Congratulations, Your Highness the Holy Son. Such talent is something Spirit Hall has not seen in ten thousand years—"

Before he could finish, another change erupted!

Qian Renyuan's left hand, hanging at his side, suddenly trembled slightly.

A streak of utter blackness seeped out from the depths of his palm.

That darkness was so profound it made hearts tremble, as though it could devour light itself.

The aura of the Destruction Angel, which had just dissipated, was actually suppressed the instant this darkness appeared.

The smile on Yue Guan's face froze.

The black mist around Gui Mei churned violently.

On the platform, Bibi Dong abruptly rose to her feet.

The Pope Scepter slammed heavily against the ground, letting out a crisp boom.

She stared fixedly at Qian Renyuan's left hand. She could clearly sense that the pressure brewing in his palm was more domineering and more ancient than the Twelve-Winged Destruction Angel.

Darkness spread outward like a tide.

The light within the Pope Palace began to go out inch by inch.