Hu Liena froze for a moment, then smiled, her eyes crinkling.
"What are you thanking me for, little brother? From now on, I'll look out for you in Spirit Hall."
Xie Yue walked at the front of the group, occasionally glancing back at Hu Liena and Lu Mingfei.
Their figures walking side by side were reflected in his dark red eyes. The corner of his mouth twitched.
He seemed about to say something, but in the end, he only turned away and kept walking in silence.
The group traveled through the night toward Spirit Hall.
Behind them, the outline of the Star Dou Great Forest receded until the darkness swallowed it whole.
Lu Mingfei walked between Hu Liena and Na'er.
Hu Liena held one of his hands.
Na'er held the hem of his clothes on the other side.
Lu Mingfei looked up at the endless night ahead. His heart was calm.
A few days later, they arrived at Spirit Hall.
Lu Mingfei spotted the towering complex from afar.
The Papal Palace rose into the clouds.
White stone pillars and golden domes gleamed in the sunlight. The sheer grandeur of it took his breath away.
Spirit Hall's main buildings had been built into the mountainside.
Palaces rose in tiers from the foot of the mountain to its summit, like a vast white city nestled among the peaks.
A bustling town lay at the foot of the mountain.
Shops lined its streets, and crowds came and went. It was livelier than any city on Douluo Continent.
Once the group entered Spirit Hall, Tuo Bajun left Lu Mingfei with Hu Liena and Xie Yue, then hurried off to report back.
Hu Liena took Lu Mingfei's hand and led him through halls and corridors toward the residences behind Spirit Hall.
"His Holiness the Pope