Yu Xiaogang, What Exactly Was This "Love" You Spoke Of?

Just as this suffocating silence and despair filled the air, Bibi Dong, who had been facing away from everyone as if she hated to look at the filth any longer, slowly turned around.

Her face remained flawless, her purple eyes deep and unfathomable, yet no longer purely cold.

Her gaze swept across the room, taking in the expressions of fear, apprehension, and disbelief. Her face showed no anger at being offended, but rather a strange calm, a sense of relief that had settled.

Just when everyone thought that the Thunder Fury was about to descend, Bibi Dong spoke.

Her voice remained clear and authoritative, but it had lost some of its biting coldness and gained a more authoritative, announcement-like quality.

"There is no need for fear, everyone."

A simple sentence, like a spring breeze brushing across an ice surface, carries a magical soothing power, instantly easing the tension in one's nerves.

Countless bewildered and uncertain gazes, tinged with the relief of surviving a catastrophe, cautiously peered through a crack at the noble His Holiness the Pope.

Bibi Dong's gaze didn't linger on anyone; it was as if she were addressing thin air, or perhaps declaring to the past:

"I won't be in any danger."

Her tone was calm, yet it carried an unwavering commitment.

"On the contrary, I would like to ask you all... to bear witness."

Boom!

These words were like a boulder thrown into a frozen lake!

Bear witness?! Bear witness to what?!

After a brief silence, a wave of ecstasy swept through the entire venue! As long as they could survive, they were willing to witness anything!

"His Holiness the Pope wise!"

"Of course! Your Pope Hall, whatever your command, we will obey without hesitation!"

"It is our honor to witness Your Majesty's passing!"

"Yes, yes! If His Pope Hall needs it, we would be more than happy to oblige!"

The echoes of responses, trembling with obsequiousness and eager to pledge loyalty, instantly filled the entire hall.

The nobles wiped away cold sweat, the scholars nodded hurriedly, and the three education commissioners breathed a long sigh of relief, feeling as if they had returned from the brink of death.

The chance to survive is right in front of you!

Yu Xiaogang, who was lying on the ground with the taste of blood still lingering in his mouth, was completely stunned.

Those empty, unfocused eyes suddenly widened, staring at Bibi Dong in disbelief.

She... she doesn't care anymore?

Is she really going to completely deny her past in front of everyone?

To completely settle scores with me?!

A chilling feeling, even more intense than when he was humiliated by Lin Xia and stripped of his token, instantly engulfed him.

That wasn't a fear of death, but an ultimate fear of the complete annihilation of "existence" itself.

Bibi Dong didn't want to kill him, but rather to completely nail him, along with the "mark" he had left in her life, to the pillar of shame in front of everyone, and sweep him into the dustbin of history!

Just as Yu Xiaogang was gripped by this immense panic and was trying to come up with a final explanation, Bibi Dong's gaze finally fell on him again.

That gaze no longer held the pure, indifferent look of someone looking down on trash, which it had when it had just taken back the token.

Rather... disgust.

A raw, undisguised, and instinctive loathing, as if one were seeing something rotten and filthy.

This disgust pierced Yu Xiaogang's soul more than indifference! Indifference is forgetting, disgust is hatred born from remembrance!

It is the ultimate emotion of complete denial!

"Yu Xiaogang..."

Bibi Dong's voice rang out, carrying a profound weariness and a cold sarcasm, as if she were reading a verdict that was decades overdue.

"I didn't mean to be so definitive."

Bibi Dong's tone carried a faint sigh, as if she regretted her "harshness" at that moment.

"After all, we did spend some time together before. Back then, I was still young..."

Bibi Dong's gaze drifted slightly into the distance for a moment, as if reminiscing about a bygone era.

"... filled with the purest and most humble hope for love."

She spoke these words softly, yet they reached everyone's ears clearly, carrying a subtle, almost Frisk girlish sentiment long buried by time.

However, this glimmer of nostalgia was instantly shattered by the cold reality. Bibi Dong's gaze sharpened again, fixing firmly on Yu Xiaogang's pale and terrified face.

"But how did you do it?!"

The questioning was like a thunderclap! Every word carried immense force!

"Using my status as a saintess."

Bibi Dong's voice suddenly rose in pitch, carrying an accusatory tone.

"You're like a rat that's sneaked into a granary, brazenly plagiarizing the precious knowledge that our Spirit Hall has painstakingly collected, organized, and verified! Soul Beast Atlases, Cultivation Insights, Martial Soul Analysis..."

"Those priceless treasures that rightfully belonged to the Spirit Hall were stolen by you, and then, disguised as having been discovered by 'Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang,' they have brazenly become your means of seeking fame and fortune!"

Yu Xiaogang trembled violently, his lips quivering as he tried to explain that he had "borrowed" or "researched" the information, but under Bibi Dong's all-seeing gaze, he couldn't utter a single word.

"That's fine then."

Bibi Dong's tone was icy and sarcastic, as if she were talking about a trivial, dirty little thing.

"You plagiarized, fine, but you had to act all clever! Afraid the Spirit Hall would discover your actions, you went so far as to add unnecessary details to the perfectly correct knowledge you stole!"

Bibi Dong's voice was full of sarcasm.

"To cover up your theft and to make your 'theory' seem different, you arbitrarily added unverified, even completely erroneous, inferences! You falsified key data! And what's even more despicable is—"

Bibi Dong's voice suddenly turned sharp, carrying a real anger:

"You never update!"

"The Spirit Hall's knowledge system is constantly evolving! With the discovery of new Soul Beast and the emergence of new Soul Master, the theories are continuously being improved and revised!"

"And you, clinging to your stolen, distorted, outdated knowledge, regard it as gospel!"

"For decades, they have been spreading outdated and even proven wrong ideas!"

Bibi Dong's gaze swept over the Soul Master present, especially those scholars and young Soul Master from commoner backgrounds, filled with heartache and indignation.

"How many naive young people, blindly trusting your 'authority,' have cultivated and chosen their Soul Ring according to your flawed and outdated theories? And what has been the result? How many have suffered damage to their foundations and ruined their futures? How many have exploded and died, their souls scattered?!"

Bibi Dong's voice struck everyone's heart like a heavy hammer:

"Yu Xiaogang! Your academic stains have long been soaked in the blood of innocent people! Let's leave that aside for now..."

Bibi Dong took a deep breath, as if to suppress her surging emotions. Her gaze refocused on the pale-faced Yu Xiaogang, her disgust intensifying.

"Didn't you just yell at me, asking if I'd forgotten our 'feelings'?"

A chillingly mocking smile curved her lips.

"Alright, then let me ask you too, Yu Xiaogang, what exactly is this so-called 'feeling' you're talking about?"

"Is it you who, upon learning of my dire straits and even the threat to my life, was so terrified by a mere threat or a little pressure from the other party that you abandoned me without hesitation, fleeing the Spirit Hall like a stray dog?!"