Once Heaven's Favored Daughter, Now a Rakshasa Servant: Candidates for the Seven Sword Attendants

Bibi Dong froze at those words. "What do you mean?" she asked, confused.

The Rakshasa God did not answer. She slowly rose from her throne and descended the steps, one long, slender leg after the other.

She glanced around the empty temple, then toward the endless darkness beyond it.

Bibi Dong had lost the right to inherit her Divine Position, but the Rakshasa God still needed to pass it on soon.

The situation in the Divine Realm was growing more complicated. She could not keep all her attention on the lower realm, and she was running out of time.

Now that this successor had failed, she had to find another suitable one immediately.

But raising a successor took immense effort. Unlike other gods, she still had no High Priest to guide a successor through the trials before the final test. Perhaps today, she had found someone suitable.

At that thought, the Rakshasa God's lips curved slightly. She turned to Bibi Dong inside the sphere of light and spoke plainly.

"I won't revive you. You've proven you aren't qualified to inherit my Rakshasa Divine Position, and I won't gamble my position on you a second time."

"But you can stay."

"Stay?" Bibi Dong asked.

"Yes. Stay in this temple. From today onward, you are no longer my successor. You are the High Priest of my Rakshasa Temple."

"I will release my power and seek a new successor. Once I find someone suitable, you will help him complete my Divine Trial."

"During that time, I can grant you a measure of authority and power. You may return to the world as High Priest—or remain at the successor's side."

Bibi Dong jerked her head up, scarcely able to believe what she had heard.

The Rakshasa God smiled at her reaction, as though she had expected it.

"But be warned: everything you do from now on must serve the goal of helping the successor complete the Divine Trial."

"You may draw on that power only when the successor is in danger. During this period, you must also cultivate according to the special method I give you and meet my requirements."

"Once the successor passes the final trial, I promise to grant you enough power to pursue your unfinished wishes—and attempt your revenge."

"The price is this: whether you win or lose, you must sacrifice all your power, including your soul, to my Rakshasa Scythe and become its nourishment. What do you say?"

The Rakshasa God pointed a finger. A strange contract entered the sphere of light and appeared before Bibi Dong.

The contract laid out in detail the obligations and price Bibi Dong would bear if she signed it, as well as what she would receive in the end.

Bibi Dong stared hard at the Rakshasa God, then at the contract before her.

What a Rakshasa God. Even with only a remnant of my soul left, she still intends to wring everything she can out of me.

Bibi Dong had once undergone the trial for the Rakshasa Divine Position. She understood Rakshasa Divine Power well and could withstand it.

If she cultivated a method designed for sacrifice before offering herself to the Rakshasa Scythe, she would nourish its Weapon Soul far more effectively.

Under any other circumstances, she would never have signed such a contract. But she was already dead. With a chance at revenge before her, she could not let it slip away, whatever the cost.

Under the Rakshasa God's knowing gaze, Bibi Dong's soul gradually merged with the contract.

From that moment on, she had fallen from a prospective holder of the Divine Position to the Rakshasa God's servant.

Meanwhile, in the Heaven Dou Palace.

Xue Qinghe's chambers.

After a full day of maintaining her disguise, Qian Renxue collapsed onto the bed.

Over the past few days, Xue Ye had begun letting her handle minor affairs of state to build her abilities. It had left her exhausted.

She did not even want to cultivate. All she wanted was a good night's sleep.

Before she rested, though, there was one thing she needed to understand.

At court that day, Xue Ye had announced that a new Pope would be installed at Spirit Hall. She was to lead the Heaven Dou Delegation to the ceremony.

Qian Renxue was baffled. Wasn't that woman Spirit Hall's Pope?

Why had she been replaced?

Qian Renxue still had no idea the woman was dead. She did not even know what had happened at Spirit Hall.

All she had seen in the day's official documents was the new Pope's name: Qian Juechen.

She had never once heard that name growing up. As far as she knew, there was no such person in Spirit Hall's Qian family.

To her, he seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. He even claimed to be her father's eldest son.

If so, he might truly be her older brother. Otherwise, her grandfather and mother would never have handed him the Pope's Position. But if he really was her brother, why had she never heard a word about him all these years?

Qian Renxue could make no sense of it. Snake Lance Douluo, one of the two Titled Douluo assigned to protect her, had already returned from Spirit Hall with a confidential letter from Qian Daoliu.

"Young Mistress, a confidential letter from the Grand Priest."

Pufferfish Douluo kept watch on the roof while Snake Lance Douluo entered the room and handed the letter he had carried all this way to the Heaven Dou Prince—Spirit Hall's young mistress.

Qian Renxue sprang up from the bed. Curious, she quickly took her grandfather's letter from Snake Lance.

She tore open the envelope and began to read.

In the letter, Qian Daoliu explained Qian Juechen's identity and the change of Pope in detail.

So Qian Juechen really was her older brother—her father Qian Xunji's eldest son.

For certain reasons, he had spent years roaming the continent. He had returned only recently and taken over the Pope's Position from her mother.

As for her mother, her grandfather wrote that the woman had gone somewhere secret to cultivate something and would not return for some time. That was why she had handed over the position.

If that was true, everything made sense.

But what caught Qian Renxue's attention most was the latter half of her grandfather's letter.

Her brother would make major moves over the next few years, and neither empire nor the great powers would remain at peace. Her grandfather therefore hoped she would return to Spirit Hall soon and focus on cultivating. Then he could arrange for her to inherit a god's power.

She had spent years undercover in the Heaven Dou Empire to prove herself to that woman. She had taken enormous risks and worked so hard, and her efforts were finally beginning to bear fruit.

If she went back now, wouldn't all that effort have been for nothing?

Wouldn't taking control of a great empire without shedding a drop of blood be an enormous boon to Spirit Hall?

Qian Renxue sat up, instinctively ready to write her grandfather a reply. Then she remembered the task Xue Ye had assigned her that morning: she was to leave with the Heaven Dou Delegation for Spirit City first thing tomorrow.

There was no need to go to all that trouble, then. She could speak to her grandfather face-to-face—and see what this brother of hers was like.

Author's note: [Old wine in a new bottle. This story has a harem.]

[The Seven Sword Attendants corresponding to the Seven Elemental Swords will appear soon. All seven are women and part of the romantic cast. The Ice and Snow Empresses have been chosen as the Water Sword Duo Attendants. The sword attendants for fire, wind, earth, light, darkness, and space have yet to be decided. Suggestions are welcome.]

[They don't need to match their elements perfectly. If they fit the story reasonably well, that's enough to give me something to work with.]