Highest-Level Lockdown Order! Bibi Dong, Do You Know Your Crime?

At Qian Juechen's command, the Angel Legion sprang into action.

As Spirit Hall's most elite force, the Angel Legion was made up of a vast number of flying soul masters. It moved through Spirit Hall with swift efficiency.

Everyone received its order: officials, disciples, and even the elders of the Elder Hall.

For the time being, Spirit Hall was under lockdown. Anyone who left without permission would be condemned as a traitor.

The order threw all of Spirit Hall into an uproar.

Many elders and senior officials immediately sensed that something was wrong.

What had happened? Why had they suddenly gone into emergency lockdown?

Even the Titled Douluo of the Elder Hall had their movements restricted.

Several hot-tempered elders set off for the Papal Palace at once, intending to ask the Pope what was going on.

But when they learned where the order had come from, they stopped in their tracks.

It had come from the Worship Hall, not the Papal Palace.

Worse, it was a highest-level lockdown order issued by the Worship Hall's most powerful figures.

Once word spread, the senior officials who had been protesting fell quiet.

Everyone knew that although the Pope wielded immense power in Spirit Hall, she was not the one they feared offending most.

The Worship Hall atop the Holy Mountain was Spirit Hall's true authority.

It housed several of Spirit Hall's strongest soul masters of this generation, with the Grand Priest, said to be invincible in the skies, presiding over them.

How could anything that prompted the Worship Hall to declare the highest level of lockdown be a small matter?

No one dared ask further questions.

They all stayed quietly at their posts, though they watched the Papal Palace and the Holy Mountain with growing curiosity.

They thought of the young man who had just climbed to the summit of the Holy Mountain under the Grand Priest's test. Recalling what some veterans had said about him, many began to suspect what was happening.

Something momentous was about to happen in Spirit Hall today.

Meanwhile, a few people in the Papal Palace had slipped through the lockdown. Several Red Cardinals stood before Bibi Dong with grave expressions, reporting everything that had happened outside.

"Your Holiness, for reasons unknown, the Angel Legion has sealed every exit from Spirit Hall. They've even restricted the movements of the Elder Hall's elders."

"According to reliable intelligence, they're acting on orders from the Worship Hall."

By then, the implications were plain.

The Pope, Spirit Hall's highest authority in name, knew nothing about the operation. She had needed her subordinates to come and tell her.

The Worship Hall had bypassed the Papal Palace entirely to issue its highest-level lockdown order.

There could be only two reasons for that.

Either the Worship Hall believed the operation demanded absolute secrecy and did not trust the Papal Palace enough to inform it,

or the operation was aimed at the Papal Palace itself.

Neither possibility boded well for them.

The Red Cardinals in particular had only recently become Bibi Dong's staunch supporters. Now they were frantic with worry.

Bibi Dong remained seated on the Papal Throne throughout their report and said nothing.

But anyone who looked closely could see how tense she was.

She needed no warning from them. She had already considered the possibility.

In fact, her unease was stronger than anyone else's in the room.

The Worship Hall had likely issued the order to help that brat who had just returned seize power from her.

She had known his return at this particular moment had a purpose.

What Bibi Dong had not expected was his impatience. He could not wait even a day or make the slightest preparation before joining forces with the Worship Hall to move against her.

While Bibi Dong and her advisers weighed the possibilities and searched for a way out, the person they feared most had already arrived above the Papal Palace.

Without warning, a terrifying surge of Heavenly Sword Intent slashed down from the sky toward the palace.

Sensing danger, Bibi Dong instinctively activated Martial Soul Possession. A shield of Soul Power instantly enveloped her and the Red Cardinals.

Before anyone could react, the entire Papal Palace shuddered.

They looked up in horror. A fierce sword strike had torn a gash through the palace's immensely sturdy dome.

Rubble and dust rained down. The Red Cardinals' faces changed. Had one of the Worship Hall's powerhouses come to attack them?

But when they saw the intricate elemental forces filling the sky, confusion took hold.

Above the dome, seven distinct elemental forces surged and intertwined, forming a dazzling, dangerous mass of elemental storms that continued to spread.

At the center of the storm stood a young man in white, suspended in midair and watching them coldly.

Behind him, an ancient, mysterious Sword Case slowly opened. Swords they had never seen before shot out one after another, linking end to end in the air to form steps beneath his feet as he approached.

Qian Juechen walked down those Ultimate Elemental Swords, step by step, from the sky into the Papal Palace. The palace that embodied Spirit Hall's supreme authority seemed to mean nothing to him.

More shocking still were the eight astonishing soul rings around him. Four black and four red, all eight pulsed together.

Though they had seen them before, the soul masters present still drew sharp breaths at the sight.

Qian Juechen ignored the small fry. His gaze remained fixed on the Papal Throne high above them.

He looked at the woman seated there. Their eyes met across the air, and though neither spoke, their immense killing intent had already begun to clash.

Before Bibi Dong could say a word, Qian Juechen raised a sword and pointed it at her. "Bibi Dong, do you know your crime?"

His voice was not particularly loud, but amplified by Soul Power, it rolled across all of Spirit Hall like thunder from the heavens.

Countless soul masters watched the Papal Palace. Some of the stronger elders even climbed onto their rooftops to look on from afar.

Every one of them heard him clearly. The young man who had just reached the summit of Angel God Mountain had stormed straight into the Papal Palace and pointed his sword at the current Pope before everyone, demanding to know if she recognized her crime!

This was no mere dispute of the kind they had imagined. The young man was challenging Spirit Hall's entire order of power.

Where had he found the nerve? Had the Worship Hall's leaders given their tacit approval?