The Pope Personally Plans a Marriage!

Qian Yaoting landed on the ground as well.

His fifth soul skill had been interrupted. Though he had successfully blasted Li Long away, that strike had also knocked him out of his golden streak form.

Holding his sword in one hand, he knelt on one knee in the courtyard. Several hairline cracks had appeared on the blade. A large portion of his robe's hem had been shredded away by the shockwave, and half of his left cuff was torn.

He lowered his head and stared at the cracks on the blade in silence for a long time.

The backlash from having his soul skill interrupted made his chest churn.

Meanwhile, every strand of sword aura from his fourth soul skill had been swept away by the shockwave created by that strike. Not a single one hit its target.

The counterattack formed by stacking three soul rings had been powerful enough to shatter the Holy Light Storm and interrupt Angel's Descent.

He raised his head and looked across the courtyard. Li Long was bracing himself against the wall as he slowly got to his feet. His legs trembled, but his back remained straight.

The two looked at each other across the wreckage-filled courtyard. Neither spoke.

One thought churned through Qian Yaoting's mind: What if Li Long's Soul Power had been full?

With sufficient Soul Power, the full-force strike formed by stacking three soul skills would only have been even stronger.

If that strike had been unleashed at full strength, his Angel's Descent might not simply have been interrupted.

His sword might have shattered, and he himself might have been blasted away.

A Soul Emperor without a sixth soul ring had actually felt danger when facing the full-force attack of a three-ring Soul Elder.

"A Soul Elder can injure a Soul Emperor. They might even be able to kill one."

Qian Yaoting spoke those words softly.

The moment he said them, even he fell silent.

He would never have believed such words a day ago. No matter how weak a Soul Emperor might be, they should not have been seriously wounded by a Soul Elder.

Yet today, a ten-and-a-half-year-old Soul Elder had shattered his fourth soul skill, interrupted his fifth, and left his chest stifled from the Soul Power backlash even now.

His entire worldview had been rearranged.

Qian Yaoting recalled his longsword, and the golden light slowly faded from its blade.

He straightened up and looked toward Li Long. Without saying anything more, he simply nodded.

Then he turned around and walked toward the courtyard gate, stepping over the rubble and cracks scattered across the ground.

This time, his pace was much slower than when he had arrived, and his figure cast a long shadow in the morning light.

Li Long remained where he was, braced against the wall. After watching that figure disappear, he finally let out the breath he had been holding. His knees gave way, and he sank to the ground.

The Iron Rod lay beside his hand. Blood still seeped from the web between his thumb and forefinger. He looked down at his trembling hands, and the corner of his mouth curved upward.

He had forced a Soul Emperor to use his fifth soul skill—and had even interrupted it.

Though he had exhausted himself as well, the outcome of this fight was better than he had expected.

And he had not missed Qian Yaoting's final words.

"A Soul Elder can injure a Soul Emperor. They might even be able to kill one."

His senior brother was having his understanding reshaped by him.

Meanwhile.

Behind a half-open window at the end of the corridor, Qian Shengyuan withdrew his gaze.

From where he stood, he had a full view of the East Courtyard. From the moment Qian Yaoting took to the air and drew his sword to the instant Li Long's final strike shattered the fifth soul skill, every detail had fallen clearly into his eyes.

Broken stones littered the courtyard. The walls were cracked, and radial fractures spread across the ground.

Those traces remained, but Qian Shengyuan's attention had long since moved away from them.

He was watching the figure slowly rise while leaning on the Iron Rod.

Ten and a half years old.

A three-ring Soul Elder.

He had interrupted the fifth soul skill of a level-sixty Soul Emperor.

Qian Shengyuan stood behind the window in silence for a long time.

The pressure of the Six-Winged Angel martial soul was perfectly restrained, and his face showed no unnecessary expression. Yet the fingers resting on the windowsill tightened slightly.

As the leader of Spirit Hall, he had seen far too many geniuses.

The inheritors of the Qian Clan's bloodline through the generations, the finest young talents Spirit Hall had gathered from every region, and those youths with Innate Soul Power above level nine who had been cultivated as seeds since childhood.

The growth records of these people formed a long list in his memory, yet not a single one matched the words: ten and a half years old, three rings, interrupted a Soul Emperor's fifth soul skill.

He let out a soft breath and turned away from the window.

His footsteps rang evenly against the stone slabs of the corridor as he headed toward his study. His pace was neither fast nor slow, but the string in his mind remained taut.

"If three rings can reach this level, what about four rings? Five rings?"

"With four rings, my son will most likely no longer be his match."

"Of course, that is only a possibility. Although the Six-Winged Angel martial soul has yet to complete its evolution, after obtaining its sixth soul ring, it is still no ordinary martial soul. It belongs to the divine-grade martial soul lineage."

"But the same cannot be said for other Soul Emperors."

He slowly turned the thought over in his mind.

Li Long's current rate of growth had already surpassed the usual path dictated by the limits of Innate Soul Power. His resources could keep up, his physical body could keep up, and his fighting will had been honed sharper and sharper through repeated real combat.

If such a person were merely the Holy Son, Qian Shengyuan still felt that it was not secure enough.

A Holy Son could step down, be transferred, or leave the hall. But what if he became the Qian Clan's son-in-law?

Once that thought surfaced, it could no longer be suppressed.

Qian Shengyuan entered his study and sat before the long desk, tapping the armrest twice with his fingers.

He quickly ran through the Qian Clan's unmarried women of suitable age.

The Angel martial soul bloodline was inherited within the Qian Clan, and every generation had quite a few young women with decent talent.

He needed to find someone suitable—someone with respectable Soul Power, reliable character, and most importantly, someone who could get along with Li Long.

He did not want to force a marriage upon them. Such an arrangement could easily breed resentment in the future.

It would be best to arrange for them to meet first and see whether they took a liking to each other.

"Which of the young girls would be suitable..."

Qian Shengyuan silently counted through them.

There were several promising candidates among the Qian Clan's branch families. One was twelve this year, a three-ring Soul Elder. Her martial soul also belonged to the Angel lineage, though its purity was somewhat lower. She was quiet and steady by nature.

Another was eleven this year and had just broken through to three rings. She was more lively, but her talent was indeed exceptional.

He considered them both and remembered their names.

What mattered most was still Li Long's own opinion.

There was no point in forcing such matters on him. But with Li Long's disposition, there were not many people in Spirit Hall who could truly stand shoulder to shoulder with him.

A wife who also possessed an Angel martial soul and had likewise grown up within Spirit Hall's system would be more than just a marriage partner to Li Long. She would be a companion who could walk forward with him.

Leaning back in his chair, Qian Shengyuan looked toward the East Courtyard outside the window. A nearly imperceptible curve appeared at the corner of his lips.

He suddenly felt that he should arrange for those two girls to meet Li Long as soon as possible.

When it came to young men and women, earlier contact was better than later.

Besides, Li Long was qualified now.

There was no need to wait until he reached four rings.

He picked up the pen on the desk and wrote several lines on a blank sheet of stationery. After setting down the pen, he folded it and placed it at the corner of the desk.

It bore two names, the addresses of two branch halls, and a small line of text: "Arrange for exchange matters within the hall. The timing may be decided at your discretion, provided it does not interfere with cultivation."

After finishing this, Qian Shengyuan leaned back in his chair and looked at the sun gradually rising outside the window.

What Li Long had done today had confirmed his decision.

The youth who had emerged from Notting City had already surpassed what the position of Holy Son could contain. He needed to be bound more closely to the Qian Clan.

And marriage was a stronger bond than that between master and disciple.