Bibi Dong Kneels

The moment those words fell, they swept through Bibi Dong's mind like a bolt from the blue, shattering every thought and scheme she had held within it.

Her mind completely exploded.

No. Everything was wrong.

"Who... exactly are you?"

Bibi Dong's nails nearly dug into her flesh. She raised her head and stared fixedly at Ning Yao, speaking word by word, yet unable to conceal the tremor deep in her voice.

There was shock in her eyes, but even more than that, fear.

It was as though she had been completely seen through. Before Ning Yao, everything about her was transparent.

All these years, she had believed that the Rakshasa God was her greatest, deepest secret. In this world, perhaps only Qian Daoliu had guessed a few clues.

Yet just now, the man before her—the man she could not see through at all—had exposed that secret with such ease.

Bibi Dong was feeling many things now, emotions tangled beyond measure. Yet there was one emotion that simply could not rise within her.

Hostility toward Ning Yao.

For the first time in all these years, she understood what despair was.

She knew nothing about him, yet before Ning Yao, she felt utterly naked.

But even though her thoughts had long since become a chaotic mess, Bibi Dong continued to stare at Ning Yao.

She wanted an answer.

Yet Ning Yao had remained calm from beginning to end as he looked at Bibi Dong.

He even leisurely sipped the fine tea Bibi Dong had prepared earlier.

Bibi Dong did not dare urge him on. She could only watch Ning Yao nervously, afraid that he might suddenly do something.

Only when Ning Yao gently set down his teacup...

Did he look at Bibi Dong once more.

"Who I am is not important. I am merely a traveler. You need not concern yourself with who I am."

With a soft sigh, Ning Yao shook his head somewhat helplessly.

When it came to Bibi Dong, it seemed he really had to apply some real pressure to make her behave completely.

"As for this matter, you need not worry either."

"Take what I said today as a warning. As long as you continue to serve steadily as your Pope and stop looking for trouble with me, I will not make things difficult for you either."

As soon as he finished speaking, Bibi Dong, who had been tense at the side, visibly relaxed somewhat.

But as she looked at Ning Yao, Bibi Dong hesitated, then swallowed.

"Senior... are you a god?"

Gathering her courage, she stared at Ning Yao and asked.

From the moment Ning Yao had precisely exposed her secret, Bibi Dong had no longer regarded him as human.

A suspicion had already taken root in her heart then, and Ning Yao's words had just confirmed it.

No matter how she looked at it, he seemed like a divine being who had descended into the mortal world to experience its affairs.

No wonder the Worship Hall had given Ning Yao money before. No wonder Ning Yao's identity was a blank, as though he had appeared out of thin air.

It turned out there had been signs all along.

Ning Yao's identity was too strange—so strange that she had actually suspected him from the very beginning.

But even with her suspicions, she had never imagined Ning Yao was that kind of being.

It could only be said that her horizons had been too narrow.

Yet while Bibi Dong was wildly letting her imagination run away with her, Ning Yao shook his head right in front of her.

Bibi Dong: "?"

"If you mean those hypocritical false gods in the heavens, then I am indeed not one of them."

Ning Yao gave a soft laugh. As he spoke, his gaze flicked toward the sky.

He had always disdained the so-called God Realm of this Douluo world.

That was because some of the people there behaved so atrociously that even back when he had been just a young man on Blue Star, they had thoroughly disgusted him.

In his mind, the only ones worthy of the title "god" were the Aeons from Honkai: Star Rail.

That bunch of weak and disgusting creatures could at most be considered false gods, occupying this tiny patch of land and lording over it as kings.

But Bibi Dong, who knew nothing of any of this, froze after hearing Ning Yao's answer.

She stared blankly at Ning Yao.

"False... gods?"

For a moment, she was lost, unsure which side she should believe.

The Rakshasa God's temptations echoed in her ears at every moment, but faced with Ning Yao's words, she wanted to refute him yet did not know what to say.

Had she been wrong all these years?

Was the god she believed in not a true god?

She did not want to admit it, but Ning Yao before her was clearly far stronger than she was. He could see through everything about her with a single glance.

Did such an existence have any need to deceive her?

Seeing Bibi Dong caught in a whirlwind of thoughts, Ning Yao suddenly had a rather bad idea.

"Bibi Dong."

Ning Yao spoke quietly and looked toward Bibi Dong.

"Senior, I'm here."

Bibi Dong froze for a moment, but still hurriedly answered.

She raised her head and looked at Ning Yao in confusion, unsure what world-shattering thing this senior was about to say next.

"Do you wish to believe in a true god?"

As he spoke, Ning Yao rose to his feet.

Behind him, a phantom image flickered in and out of view.

No one outside could observe it. Only Bibi Dong, sitting rigidly before Ning Yao, felt as though she had entered an entirely new world.

Everything around her had changed. Every sensation was different. The aura of life made her relax involuntarily.

But what shocked her most was the towering tree standing before her, stretching all the way to the heavens.

A hundred zhang, a thousand zhang, ten thousand zhang...

Until its end could no longer be seen.

Bibi Dong swallowed instinctively.

Seeing that he had achieved the desired effect, Ning Yao nodded in satisfaction and withdrew the phantom image before Bibi Dong, returning her to this world and to the tea table.

"Senior, that was..."

Bibi Dong had yet to recover from her shock.

That sacred, inviolable feeling was beyond comparison—even the Angel God, the holiest deity in the God Realm in her memories, could not compare to it.

It was simply too shocking.

Yet Ning Yao merely smiled and shook his head.

What he had shown Bibi Dong just now was naturally his true body, his true self: an Ambrosial Arbor.

"That is my world."

"As long as you abandon those false gods and believe in a true god, then so long as you travel farther down the right path, you too can achieve it."

Ning Yao spoke word by word. Every word that drifted into Bibi Dong's ears was like an overwhelming temptation.

Bibi Dong's mouth felt dry. She looked at Ning Yao, her gaze trembling uncontrollably.

She was tempted.

In that feeling just now, she had been so incomparably insignificant.

Though there was no real way to compare them, that sight had been far more powerful than the Rakshasa God she had believed in before. The difference was not merely worlds apart.

She did not want to give up this opportunity—the chance to become a true powerhouse.

Her fists clenched ever tighter as Bibi Dong slowly rose to her feet.

She looked at Ning Yao and drew a deep breath.

Under Ning Yao's gaze, she slowly lowered the head she had always held high before the outside world and dropped to one knee.

"Senior, I... am willing!"