"Recently, how have things been going with Tang Chuan?"
Bibi Dong sat in Hu Liena's room, lightly sipping her tea as she asked casually.
After arranging the tea set, Hu Liena fell silent for a moment.
Then she spoke hesitantly.
"At first, I thought he was the type of wealthy young master who was arrogant, conceited, and overbearing."
"But after getting to know him lately..."
"I realized he seems very different from what I imagined."
Hu Liena began listing examples one by one, such as how Tang Chuan treated her differently from how he treated Lan Yin and Xiao Wu.
For example, he never spoke properly, and sweet talk poured from his mouth nonstop.
For example, he acted extremely flamboyantly and never considered other people's feelings.
For example, he was incredibly warm and could call every person he encountered in Spirit Hall by name...
Bibi Dong simply watched Hu Liena with a complicated expression as her little mouth rattled on for more than ten minutes...
As for how things were currently progressing between Hu Liena and Tang Chuan...
Bibi Dong had people secretly monitoring them.
Therefore, she knew their relationship perfectly well.
That was why she found it somewhat unexpected.
Hu Liena had always been an exceedingly proud child with an exceptionally strong sense of caution.
In all her years since joining Spirit Hall...
Aside from Xie Yue and Yan, those family members and friends she had grown up with...
Hu Liena's interactions with others had mostly remained superficial. She had never been able to completely open her heart.
Yet she had only known Tang Chuan for a few days.
And he had forcibly chiseled a hole into the heart she had guarded so tightly.
Even if that hole was still very small.
If this continued over time...
Hu Liena would inevitably fall for him.
"Could it be that Nana really is a love-struck fool, just like Tang Chuan said?"
Bibi Dong had only heard this new term over the past two days from Tang Chuan's conversations with Xiao Wu and the others.
It referred to someone who disregarded everything for the sake of love.
Of course, it was still a little early to use it to describe Hu Liena.
Hmm?
A love-struck fool?
Quite a few of Spirit Hall's consecrated elders pondered the term carefully.
Then they suddenly seemed to think of something.
Their peripheral vision instinctively drifted toward Bibi Dong, the Pope seated in the main position.
They all remembered that long ago...
Before Bibi Dong became Pope, she seemed to have defied the previous Pope for the sake of some useless man from a sect. She had even said something about eloping with him.
Thinking about it that way...
The term love-struck fool suited the Pope perfectly.
With so many people secretly looking at her...
Even Bibi Dong's normally tranquil, beautiful face twitched faintly.
Clearly, she had remembered those events from the past as well.
But in the end, she merely took a deep breath.
And suppressed the displeasure in her heart.
"Not fighting anymore, not fighting anymore."
"Brother Tang Chuan, your soul skill is too shameless. I can't beat you at all."
After being thoroughly roughed up by Tang Chuan, Xiao Wu dragged her exhausted body over and lay down beside him.
Over the past few months, with the help of the Blue Silver Spirit-Gathering Array and Whale Rubber...
Xiao Wu's strength had improved at an astonishing rate.
Her speed was so great that even ordinary agility-type Soul Grandmasters found it difficult to deal with her.
Her explosive power even surpassed that of top-tier beast martial souls at the same level.
For a roadside Soul Beast like the Soft Bone Rabbit, which could not even be considered a high-grade martial soul, this was something she would never have dared imagine.
"By the way, Xiao Wu, before this, I noticed that every time you encountered Bibi Dong, you seemed very afraid of her."
"You would often hide behind Lan Yin and me."
"Is Her Holiness the Pope really that terrifying to you?"
Tang Chuan lay on the grass with his eyes closed as he spoke slowly.
Upon hearing his question...
Xiao Wu fell silent for a moment.
Then she turned to look at Tang Chuan.
Her little lips pouted slightly.
"Brother Tang Chuan, I can tell you everything about my past, but you have to promise that you absolutely won't tell anyone else."
"I'm your reserve Spirit Ring. In the future, I'll only belong to you."
"You can't betray me and sell me to someone else."
Although Xiao Wu did not have much experience living in human society...
She could still sense...
That Tang Chuan was vastly different from those evil-hearted humans.
That was why she was willing to place this trust in Tang Chuan.
Thus...
Xiao Wu briefly explained how, when she was young, her mother had sent her away before drawing Spirit Hall's experts off alone and fleeing deep into the forest.
Then, not long afterward, a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring had appeared in the sky.
Combined with Pope Bibi Dong's current exalted status...
As long as Xiao Wu could confirm whether Bibi Dong possessed a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring...
She would be able to determine whether Bibi Dong had killed her mother.
After hearing this, Tang Chuan merely fell silent for a moment.
Then he sat up from the grass.
"Xiao Wu, your mother's death may indeed be connected to Spirit Hall."
"However, the person who killed her was most likely not Bibi Dong."
Xiao Wu froze on the spot upon hearing that.
Her eyes gradually reddened as she trembled and asked, "Wh... why are you so certain?"
"Because Bibi Dong has two Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings. One came from the Death Spider Emperor, and its soul skill grants an Undying Body. The other came from the Purple-Winged Spider Emperor, and its soul skill is Martial Soul Avatar, along with an External Soul Bone."
(Bibi Dong's second martial soul should originally have had six black rings and one red ring. Later, the author changed it for a period to five black rings and two red rings—the Death Spider Emperor, Xiao Wu's mother, and the Purple-Winged Spider Emperor. Combined with Xiao Wu saying in the side story that her mother died at the hands of a ferocious beast, this confirms that the Purple-Winged Spider Emperor was the seventh Spirit Ring of Bibi Dong's second martial soul.)
"How could that be?" Xiao Wu was lost in confusion for an instant.
She had trained so diligently all this time precisely to avenge her mother. That was why she had pushed herself so desperately.
But if Bibi Dong was not the enemy who had killed her mother, then who was?
"As for what exactly happened, wait a few years until you return to the Star Dou Great Forest and ask those two little brothers of yours. They should give you the answer."
"But there is something I need to remind you of. The Sky Azure Bull Python and Titan Giant Ape are now Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, and their strength is extraordinary."
"Yet despite being so powerful, they have never been able to avenge your mother."
"That means your enemy is someone even stronger than them..."
As Tang Chuan spoke, he suddenly stopped.
His gaze turned toward the palace in the distance.
Bibi Dong, dressed in a magnificent palace gown and holding the White Radiant Stone Scepter...
Was slowly walking toward the two of them.
Clearly...
There was no longer any hope for Hu Liena, that foolish disciple.
If she were allowed to keep trying to win Tang Chuan over...
She might end up giving herself away in the process.
Left with no other choice...
Pope Bibi Dong chose to act personally, intending to find a way to draw Tang Chuan from the neutral camp into her fold.
Before you continue