A Young Man at the Foot of Angel Sacred Mountain Who Looked Just Like the Late Pope!

Several days later, in Spirit City, at Angel Sacred Mountain.

This was the heart of Spirit City and Spirit Hall alike, its most sacred place.

The towering Holy Mountain pierced the city like a sword thrust into the clouds. At its summit stood two extraordinary palaces: Douluo Hall, which honored every Titled Douluo on Douluo Continent, and Worship Hall, home to Spirit Hall's true elite, the seven priests.

To most soul masters, this was forbidden ground, a place they could only gaze upon from afar.

Yet at the foot of Angel Sacred Mountain stood a young man in white robes with golden hair, quietly taking in everything before him.

His handsome face held a certain heroic vigor. Simply standing there, he gave off an inexplicable sense of pressure.

The young man was Qian Juechen, who had left Spirit Hall nearly twenty years ago. He had only arrived in Spirit City that morning.

After entering the city, Qian Juechen had not rushed to see anyone. Instead, he had wandered its streets, observing how Spirit City had changed and learning what had happened in Spirit Hall over the years.

But when he discovered what had truly happened, the anger in his heart was hard to contain, even though he had prepared himself for it.

Despite his warnings, everything had followed the original course of events.

His father, Qian Xunji, was indeed dead. According to the account Spirit Hall gave the outside world, Tang Hao of the Clear Sky Sect had killed him. Tang Hao still bore the blame.

But Qian Juechen knew his father's real killer was someone else. Just as before, that person had not only escaped punishment but had even displaced the Qian family, taken his father's Pope's Position, and become the supreme Pope of Spirit Hall.

He had come back to set all of this right. Restoring what had been thrown into disorder was his purpose.

[Many readers have asked why he did not warn them earlier. In fact, he did warn them. Why did it do no good? Simple: he had no say. His mother had died giving birth to him, he had not awakened the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul, and his ties to the Wind Sword Sect ran too deep. It was difficult for him to be chosen for special training.

After all, no one knew whether any son Qian Juechen might have would awaken the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul.

What if the child awakened the Wind Sword Sect's martial soul instead? Whose Spirit Hall would it be then?

What would become of the Angel God's legacy? If it was to be preserved, who would serve her? Someone who had awakened a sword martial soul? Or would a collateral branch of the Qian family replace the main line years later?

In a great family, the distinction between the legitimate line and the collateral branches was a matter of the highest importance.

Naturally, then, they did not make the protagonist their first choice for special training. They chose to wait and see whether Qian Xunji would have more children.]

[Besides, he had been too young for his words to carry weight. To put it bluntly, he was only a little kid of a few years old. He had spent only a few years with Qian Xunji. Bibi Dong, on the other hand, had been raised by Qian Xunji himself. Before the incident, they had been together day and night, almost like father and daughter. Who was closer to him?]

[Most importantly, the protagonist had never been close to this so-called father of his. It was the classic strained father-son relationship, and with an adult soul, he had found it even harder to grow close. Doing his best to warn him was already more than he owed him.

And with a Divine Trial to complete, he naturally had to attend to his own strength first.

He had no way of knowing whether his warning had changed anything. By coming back to avenge his father and fulfill his filial duty, protect his younger sister, and preserve his ancestors' legacy, he could face his conscience without regret.]

[The above is a little patch to make the background easier to understand and the story easier to get into.]

Before any of that, though, he needed to see someone. He wanted to ask his grandfather, Qian Daoliu—the man called invincible in the sky, Spirit Hall's pillar of strength and its Grand Priest—what exactly he had been doing for the past twenty years.

Angel Sacred Mountain held an exceptionally special position at the heart of Spirit Hall. Naturally, the stranger who had appeared at its foot drew the attention of many high-ranking soul masters.

Most did not recognize him. Qian Juechen had been gone from Spirit Hall for nearly twenty years, and many of its soul masters had never even heard of this legendary eldest son.

Just then, a group approached from the distance. At its head were the two Titled Douluos known as the Pope's most loyal lieutenants: Yue Guan and Gui Mei.

Behind them walked Spirit Hall's three most outstanding young talents, newly selected for the distinction: Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan.

They were on their way to Death Valley, which Spirit Hall controlled, for training. Yue Guan and Gui Mei would serve as examiners and protectors.

Yue Guan had been discussing the details of the assessment with Gui Mei.

But when they saw the crowd ahead and the figure at the foot of the Holy Mountain, both stopped in their tracks.

Yue Guan looked at the young man first. One glance was enough to leave him frozen in shock.

His eyes widened. "Y-Your Holiness?" he murmured without thinking.

When had Qian Xunji come back to life? How could that be possible? The absurd thought flashed through Yue Guan's mind.

It was hard to blame him. The young man looked remarkably like the Qian Xunji he remembered in his youth. The only difference was that the brooding air was gone, replaced by a heroic bearing.

"Old Gui, have I been so busy lately that I've lost my mind? Is something wrong with my eyes?"

"Why do I see the late Pope, dead for years, standing at the foot of Angel God Mountain?" Yue Guan nudged Gui Mei beside him as he spoke.

Gui Mei did not answer at once. He, too, was staring at the figure.

When he had first spotted the young man, he had thought much the same thing as Yue Guan.

But Gui Mei had been Qian Xunji's confidant and most trusted aide for years. He soon noticed something was off.

The resemblance was striking, especially with that golden hair and that face. At a glance, the two seemed identical. On closer inspection, however, the differences were clear.

Most of all, the young man's eyes lacked some of the leering cunning Qian Xunji's had held, just as Yue Guan had sensed.

Gui Mei studied him for a long time. Then a name buried in his memory flashed through his mind.

His expression changed at once. "Yue Guan, do you remember the Pope's son? Our eldest young master?"

"The Pope's son? The eldest young master?" Yue Guan froze, unable to place him for a moment.

Gui Mei shot him a sharp look. "The eldest young master! The one who left Spirit Hall years ago. His mother was the Pope's lawful wife, the woman from the Wind Sword Sect. His name is Qian Juechen."

Yue Guan jolted and looked back toward the young man at the foot of the Holy Mountain. The vague figure in his memory gradually overlapped with the man before him.

"It really is the eldest young master. He's actually come back," Yue Guan murmured, his eyes widening.

He was genuinely astonished. Back then, not long after awakening his martial soul, Qian Juechen had fled Spirit Hall without permission with the help of a Soul Sage. The Pope had been furious and immediately sent people to find him.

But that flight had turned into nearly twenty years without a word. Qian Juechen had not even returned for Qian Xunji's funeral.

Gui Mei paid no attention to Yue Guan's shock. His gaze settled once more on the young man. "Looks like Spirit Hall is about to get lively again."

Yue Guan glanced at Gui Mei. He understood what he meant.

He was beginning to remember what had happened back then. Though Qian Juechen had been exceptionally gifted, the Pope had refused to raise him as heir to the Angel line because he had not awakened the Qian family's inherited Angel Spirit.

As Qian Xunji saw it, the Pope's Position had to pass to someone with the Angel Spirit. He had still been fairly young at the time, and with his lawful wife dead in childbirth, plenty of sects had wanted to arrange a marriage alliance with Spirit Hall's Pope.

But then that incident had happened. It had thrown all his plans into chaos, and Qian Xunji himself had died within Spirit Hall.

Afterward, on the Grand Priest's orders, the Pope's Position had passed to Bibi Dong, who was the Holy Maiden at the time.

Had Qian Juechen stayed away, everything would have gone on as usual. But now that he had returned, there was a problem.

Whatever else might be said, he was Qian Xunji's only son, the Grand Priest's only grandson of the direct line, and Spirit Hall's rightful heir.

The Pope's Position had once been beyond his reach, but now an outsider held it. What would he think when he saw that? The answer hardly needed saying.

Yue Guan could not help glancing toward the distant Papal Palace. "You mean..." he whispered to Gui Mei.

Gui Mei cut him off before he could finish. "It's too early to draw conclusions. No one knows why the eldest young master has returned."

"But the Qian family's eldest son has been away for nearly twenty years. He didn't even come back for the late Pope's funeral."

"Do you really think he's returned out of the blue with no purpose in mind? Whatever he wants, though, it has nothing to do with the two of us this time."

Gui Mei glanced back at the three unsuspecting young people with a faint smile, then exchanged a look with Yue Guan.

This trip to Death Valley to train the young talents would take quite some time.

So in theory, whatever happened in Spirit Hall during their absence would have nothing to do with them.

Of course, that depended on the Papal Palace not suddenly calling them back.