Who Else Could Be the "Crown Prince"?

"Last time, Mom took me on an inspection tour of the south, so I missed your birthday." Bibi Xu looked at her with a smile in his voice.

"A belated birthday gift. I had Spirit Hall's finest craftsmen make it, modeled after your Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul. Consider it... something to remember me by."

He had begun preparing this necklace a month in advance.

He had revised the design seven or eight times. From the style to the size, he had deliberated over every detail again and again. He knew he would be gone for several years, so he had to leave something by her side.

"Do you like it?"

"I do!" Qian Renxue nodded vigorously, and her eyes immediately reddened. "I like it so much."

She tightly clenched the little angel pendant in her palm and pressed it against her chest, feeling both warm and bitter inside.

Ah Xu was too good to her.

She had never told him she was leaving, yet he had prepared a gift for her in advance.

Tears surged up uncontrollably, swirling in her eyes.

She desperately held them back, unwilling to let them fall, but the tip of her nose grew increasingly sore and her vision blurred.

"Why are you crying?" Bibi Xu panicked a little. He reached out, wanting to wipe away her tears, then felt it was inappropriate and stopped his hand in midair. "You don't like it? If you don't, I'll have the craftsmen change it later..."

"That's not it." Qian Renxue shook her head, wiped away her tears, sniffled, and said in a tearful voice, "It's because I like it too much. Ah Xu, you're so good to me."

She truly could not bear to leave.

She could not bear to leave her grandfather, could not bear to leave the Worship Hall, and least of all could she bear to leave him.

The thought of going somewhere completely unfamiliar and not seeing Ah Xu for years made her heart ache as if it were being pricked by needles.

But she could not. Her grandfather had said this was her mission, a trial that every Angel God inheritor had to undergo.

She could not be willful. She could not disappoint her grandfather's expectations, nor could she disgrace the Qian Clan.

Qian Renxue took a deep breath, suppressed her surging emotions, raised her head, and looked seriously at Bibi Xu.

Starlight fell into her golden eyes like shattered light held within them.

"Ah Xu, I'm leaving tomorrow." Her voice was soft, yet clear. "I'm going somewhere very far away. It may... take many years before I can come back."

"I'll miss you."

The five words fell softly, yet they were like pebbles cast into a lake, sending ripples spreading outward.

After saying that, she did not dare look into Bibi Xu's eyes again. She abruptly rose to her feet, turned, and ran.

The hem of her white dress swept through the night like a frightened white bird, quickly disappearing at the end of the mountain path.

She was afraid that if she stayed any longer, she truly would not be able to leave. She was afraid she would cry and say she did not want to go, afraid of ruining the image Ah Xu had of her.

Bibi Xu remained seated where he was, watching the direction in which she had vanished. The faint fragrance of the girl still lingered in his hand.

He sighed softly.

It was just an undercover mission. Did she need to run that fast?

He lowered his head and smiled. Then, his gaze gradually deepened.

In his eyes, Qian Renxue infiltrating Heaven Dou had always been an utterly terrible move.

For the sake of some illusory "peaceful transformation of Heaven Dou," they had wasted more than a decade of the Angel God inheritor's golden years of cultivation.

In the end, not only had they failed to seize control of Heaven Dou, they had also drawn in Tang San, that venomous snake, who uprooted Spirit Hall's entire arrangement in Heaven Dou. The losses far outweighed the gains.

If Qian Renxue had remained in Spirit Hall and focused on undergoing the Angel God Trial, then with her talent, she might have broken through to Titled Douluo before twenty and completed the Divine Trial before twenty-five.

Why should she have had to wait until the end and rely on Qian Daoliu's sacrifice just to barely become a god?

Talented people were the most precious resource. Wasting a top-tier genius like Qian Renxue on lurking in the depths of the palace was simply a colossal waste.

However...

Bibi Xu rubbed his chin, a gleam flashing through his eyes.

This matter might not be an opportunity for him.

If he stayed in Spirit Hall, resources might be plentiful, but eyes watched him everywhere.

Qian Daoliu's people, the Elder Council's people, and spies from every major faction—everything he did was restricted.

There were many arrangements he could not conveniently make and many plans he could not put into action.

But if he went to Heaven Dou in Qian Renxue's place, things would be different.

The Heaven Dou Empire's royal family might appear glorious, but in truth, it would place no restraints on him.

Using Xue Qinghe's identity, he could secretly develop his own forces and place his own pieces on the board.

He could contact Tang San early, make arrangements around Shrek in advance, and even gradually seize the power of the Heaven Dou Empire for himself.

Besides... the identity of the crown prince.

Mandated by Heaven, may he live long and prosper.

Holding the authority of an entire nation and experiencing what it felt like to be the supreme ruler of all under Heaven—just thinking about it seemed rather interesting.

Although he was now Spirit Hall's Holy Son, practically Spirit Hall's "crown prince," it was ultimately different from being the true heir to an empire.

"Since Xiao Xue doesn't want to go, I'll go in her place." Bibi Xu muttered under his breath, a teasing smile curling at the corner of his lips.

No sooner said than done.

He stood up, patted the grass clippings off his clothes, turned, and headed toward the Pope's Palace.

As for the reason... he thought about it as he walked. Something about it being for Spirit Hall's great cause, something about Qian Renxue being more suited to remain in the hall and cultivate through the Divine Trial, something about him being more mature and better suited for infiltration...

After thinking for so long, even he found it fake.

What kind of person was Bibi Dong? She was a shrewd old fox who had lived a lifetime. Those high-sounding excuses might fool others, but fool her? No chance.

Forget it. He would stop thinking about it.

Bibi Xu simply decided to go all in.

He would state it outright first. If she refused, he would throw a tantrum.

After all, he was still a nine-year-old child. Throwing tantrums and acting shamelessly was only natural.

Why reason with his own mother? Between mother and son, soft persistence was always more useful than reason.

He had long figured it out: Bibi Dong was decisive and ruthless toward outsiders, cold as ice, but with him, she had always responded to softness rather than force.

As long as he acted cute, played the rascal, and threw a fit, no matter how serious the matter was, she would eventually compromise.

The Pope's Palace study was still lit deep into the night.

Candlelight flickered, casting the woman's figure against the wall, slender and upright.

Bibi Dong wore a dark purple casual robe, her long hair loosely pinned behind her head. Holding a vermilion imperial brush, she was reviewing memorials piled as high as mountains.

Three years after ascending the Pope's throne, she was no longer the Saintess who had needed to watch Qian Daoliu's expression. Now, authority rested in her hands, and her imposing presence grew stronger by the day.

Over the past three years, Spirit Hall had flourished under her rule.

She had reformed the soul master rank subsidy system, allowing low-ranking soul masters to receive steady stipends.

She had built Spirit Hall branch halls and primary Soul Master Academies throughout the land, awakening Martial Souls for commoner children free of charge.

She had harshly cracked down on groups that poached soul beasts and illegally trafficked Soul Bones, regulated the order of soul beast hunting grounds... after this series of policies, Spirit Hall's prestige among lower-ranking soul masters and commoners had reached its peak.

No one knew that quite a few of the ideas behind these policies had come from Bibi Xu.

Tiered subsidies, compulsory education, market regulation—these were all concepts he had brought over from his previous life. With slight adjustments, they suited the environment of Douluo Continent.

Bibi Dong had been intelligent to begin with and understood at the slightest prompt. After some refinement, she had implemented them, with astonishingly good results.

"Your Majesty, His Highness the Holy Son requests an audience," the guard outside reported quietly.

Bibi Dong's brush paused. She raised her head, a hint of gentleness flashing through her eyes. "Let him in."

It was so late. Why was this child still awake?

The door was pushed open, and Bibi Xu stepped inside.