Qian Renxue, Dumb as a Rock

"I still haven't explained things properly to Mom." Qian Renxue returned to her bedchamber, sat before the mirror, and listlessly dangled her little legs.

On the way back, she fiercely reflected on herself. How could she have said something like that to her mother? How could she have called her mother scary, a monster?

Mom was clearly... clearly...

Mm, Mom was Mom!

"Ugh, Mom isn't still angry with me, is she?" Qian Renxue recalled the way her mother had flown into a rage before she left, and felt a little uneasy.

She had originally thought that sharing her good news with her mother would make her happy. Who could have expected things to turn out like this?

Should she return to the Papal Hall and properly explain everything to her mother? The thought surfaced in Qian Renxue's mind.

"Dumb as a rock!" A somewhat speechless voice sounded by her ear.

"Who?"

Startled, Qian Renxue immediately jumped up from the dressing table. Her previous sorrow vanished as her big eyes nervously swept the room.

Once she saw that she was alone in the bedchamber, Qian Renxue immediately realized what was happening. She asked in delighted surprise, "Lord Heavenly Dao, is that you?"

"You're not completely hopeless yet!"

In the next instant, Qian Renxue vanished from where she stood.

Depths of Heaven.

When she opened her eyes, Qian Renxue saw Lu Chen looking at her with a faint smile, and her eyes lit up.

"Lord Heavenly Dao, it really is you!"

"If not me, then who?" Lu Chen smiled.

Qian Renxue said excitedly, "Lord Heavenly Dao, you're truly incredible. You actually made three ten-thousand-year soul beasts offer sacrifices. I..."

"Alright, sit down first. We can talk after that."

Seeing Qian Renxue so emotional, her little mouth chattering without pause, Lu Chen lightly waved a hand.

"Huh?"

Only after being interrupted by Lu Chen did Qian Renxue notice her surroundings.

All around her grew exotic flowers and rare plants that never withered through the four seasons, with Vermilion Immortal Peonies scattered among them. At the center of the flower garden, a clear spring gurgled forth, its waters speckled with starlight and obviously far from ordinary!

Around the garden perched all kinds of brilliantly colored birds and immortal cranes, which occasionally let out clear, melodious cries.

What a paradise beyond the mortal world!

Qian Renxue, who had grown up in Spirit Hall, was utterly captivated by the sight!

Just then, a gentle breeze swept through, carrying the fragrance of the entire garden as it brushed against Qian Renxue's little face. She instinctively closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and said in intoxicated delight:

"So comfortable!"

"Not bad, right?" Lu Chen asked with a smile as he watched Qian Renxue's blissful little expression.

To transform this area and make it more pleasing to look at and live in, Lord Heavenly Dao had spent an entire minute on it!

That alone showed how much care he had put into it—and how precious and rare this flower garden was!

"Lord Heavenly Dao, it wasn't like this when I came last time, was it?" Qian Renxue opened her eyes and looked around like a curious child.

When she had come previously, the scenery had also been extraordinarily strange, nothing like the mortal world. But compared with the sight before her now, it had still fallen a little short!

The scenery she had seen last time had been too monotonous. There had been nothing but clouds—clouds of different colors, clouds containing all sorts of auras, but weren't they still just clouds?

How could they compare to this? It was so beautiful now~

All you knew were clouds... Lu Chen gave Qian Renxue a speechless glance. How vulgar! How lacking in common sense! Such utterly mortal aesthetics!

"I spent a little time carefully creating this flower garden. The scenery here was too monotonous before, so I added some decorations to cultivate the spirit."

Lu Chen gave a casual explanation, then said, "Alright, sit down."

Unlike Qian Renxue, he would not go on and on about the flower garden until he completely forgot the important matter at hand!

She had not even finished praising and thanking him, Lord Heavenly Dao, yet she had already forgotten so quickly?

Was her head completely filled with this flower garden now?

Tsk!

"Oh, r-right!"

At Lu Chen's reminder, Qian Renxue finally shifted her gaze away from the scenery and looked at where they were.

The two of them stood inside a jade-green glazed pavilion. At its center was a stone table large enough for two people to drink tea together.

After glancing at the teapot and cups on the stone table, then at Lu Chen's expression, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck Qian Renxue. She abruptly said:

"Lord Heavenly Dao, let me pour you some tea."

"Mm."

Lu Chen nodded slightly, giving the diligently approaching Qian Renxue a mildly surprised look. She was not quite as foolish as he had originally thought.

Qian Renxue picked up the teapot and stepped forward. As she poured tea for Lu Chen, she secretly studied Lord Heavenly Dao from the corner of her eye.

Seeing Lu Chen's flawless features and upright bearing like a green pine, her little heart could not help but skip a beat!

Eh? Why did Lord Heavenly Dao look so handsome?

Strange, she had clearly just been looking at him...

Eh? What had Lord Heavenly Dao looked like just now?

Qian Renxue's mind froze.

Drip.

"You spilled it."

The calm voice rang beside Qian Renxue's ear. It carried no emotion, yet it instantly snapped her back to herself.

"Ah!"

Seeing the tea spilled across the table, Qian Renxue jumped in fright. She hurriedly set down the teapot and looked at Lu Chen with a little fear.

"I'm sorry, Lord Heavenly Dao. I didn't mean to."

"It's fine."

Lu Chen naturally knew that Qian Renxue had not done it intentionally, and he also understood that her earlier daze had been caused by him. So he paid it no mind. With a light wave of his hand, the tea stains spilled across the table vanished.

Qian Renxue's cheeks flushed red. She had never expected that trying to curry favor would end up like this. She was truly too clumsy!

Fortunately, Lord Heavenly Dao was magnanimous and did not mind. Otherwise, she would have been in real trouble!

After setting the teapot down, Qian Renxue hurried back to her little stone stool and lowered her head as though she did not dare face anyone.

"..."

Hadn't he already said it was fine?

Lu Chen lightly shook his head. "Raise your head and drink the tea in your cup first. It was prepared for you."

"Ah?"

Qian Renxue raised her little head and saw that the cup had already been filled with tea. Her already-red cheeks turned even redder!

She had actually made Lord Heavenly Dao pour tea for her personally. That was far too embarrassing!

Still, Qian Renxue obediently followed Lu Chen's words. She lifted the cup and drained all the tea in one gulp!

"Ah! It's so hot!"

The instant the tea entered her stomach, a warm current spread out from her abdomen. It then rushed swiftly toward her mind and spread through her entire body, with waves of heat rising from Qian Renxue.

As she turned into a "steam princess," her Angel Martial Soul and three black soul rings tinged with red appeared, pulsing in a strange rhythm as though they were constantly tempering something.

Lu Chen watched Qian Renxue calmly for a while. Only after confirming that nothing was wrong with her did he look away, toward Spirit Hall in the lower realm.

"Is the Angel God really dead? Such a huge disturbance has happened to the inheritor of the Godhood it personally chose, yet there has been no response at all. Could it really be gone?"

Lu Chen had considered probing the Angel God's inheritance site, but after thinking it over, he decided to let it go.

In any case, Qian Renxue was in his hands. Whether the Angel God was dead or alive did not make much difference.

It was nothing more than a mere First-Level God!

Within the Douluo Realm, he could suppress it with a turn of his hand!