Three Questions for Qian Daoliu!

Golden Crocodile Douluo frowned. He studied Qian Juechen for a long moment before finally speaking.

"Little Chen, what are you doing? Your grandfather has waited for you all these years. While you were gone, he..."

Golden Crocodile was only halfway through when Qian Daoliu abruptly raised a hand, cutting him off.

Golden Crocodile could only close his mouth.

The other priests in the hall did not dare speak either. The atmosphere turned tense.

Qian Daoliu showed no anger from beginning to end. He simply looked at the grandson who had grown up in his absence.

He gazed at that face, so like Qian Xunji's in his youth. Only after a long while did he speak.

"Little Chen, you seem to hold a grudge against me." Qian Daoliu sounded troubled, but more than that, confused. He could not understand what Qian Juechen resented him for. If anyone had the right to demand answers, surely it was he: why had his grandson not even returned to see his father buried?

This was exactly what Qian Juechen had been waiting for. At last, the emotions he had kept buried all these years had a way out.

"A grudge? Perhaps." Qian Juechen nodded faintly. If it were only a grudge, things would be simple. What he felt was closer to anger, along with questions he had never been able to make sense of.

Qian Juechen's voice rang through the Worship Hall.

"I have a few questions for the Grand Priest. Understand that I ask them not as an individual, but as the son of Spirit Hall's former Pope. Will the Grand Priest hear me out? Will he answer me?"

Qian Daoliu nodded as though nothing were amiss. "Of course. If you were asking as an individual, someone of your standing would not have that right."

"But as the son of Spirit Hall's former Pope, you do. I and the other priests are willing to listen. Go ahead."

By asking as the former Pope's son rather than as an individual, the boy showed that he still felt he belonged to Spirit Hall. Perhaps his questions were not simply aimed at Qian Daoliu, but concerned the changes Spirit Hall had undergone.

There was one question Qian Daoliu could guess without much thought.

The boy had never let go of what happened back then.

Sure enough, Qian Juechen's first question concerned Bibi Dong and the Pope's Position.

"Then I'll begin with my first question. When my Martial Soul awakened at six, I did not inherit the Qian family's Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul. The former Pope and the Grand Priest therefore decided I was unfit to succeed as Pope of Spirit Hall, and stripped me of my right to inherit the position."

Qian Juechen swept his gaze over the priests. "You all know this happened. I accepted it, too. I was young, and I believed it was an inviolable rule of the Qian family. I believed that for twenty whole years."

"But can the Grand Priest or any of you tell me why Bibi Dong, who did not inherit the Angel Spirit either, can succeed my father twenty years later and sit securely on the Papal Throne?"

"What? His own flesh-and-blood son couldn't do it, but an outsider can sit securely on the Papal Throne he left behind, with the Grand Priest's support?"

The Worship Hall fell silent. The seven priests wore different expressions, each seemingly considering how to answer.

Qian Juechen watched Qian Daoliu and waited. This first question was only an opening, a way to lead them where he wanted to go.

He knew the answer would be easy enough: it was for Qian Renxue, or for Spirit Hall's stability. But that was precisely what he wanted them to say.

He wanted Qian Daoliu or one of the priests to bring up Qian Renxue and her talent. Then he could challenge the absurd decision to send her to the Heaven Dou Empire to steal a kingdom.

After that, he would ask what had truly caused his father's death. Whether they answered or not, he would tell them the truth in the end. He wanted to ask these people—especially his dear grandfather—how they could be so forgiving toward the person who had killed his son.

Qian Daoliu met Qian Juechen's gaze without a change in expression and calmly explained his reasoning. "You have not returned to Spirit Hall in years, so there are things you do not know. A few years after you left, your father had a daughter. Her name is Qian Renxue. She inherited the Qian family's Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul, and her Innate Soul Power reached an extraordinary level of twenty."

"Such talent is unprecedented, not only across the continent, but throughout Spirit Hall's history."

"She was the true reason I made that decision."

Qian Daoliu looked at Qian Juechen and explained solemnly, "You must know by now that your father died suddenly after an accident. Spirit Hall was left without a leader, and we had no word from you."

"Xue'er was still too young to become Pope. To keep Spirit Hall stable and let her grow up healthy and happy, I decided to support Bibi Dong, who was then the Holy Maiden, as Pope for the time being."

"First, as Holy Maiden, she had a legitimate claim to the position. It was an explanation we could give the world."

"Second, she was Xue'er's mother. Putting her in that position would do the most to reassure Xue'er. Those were all my reasons and considerations at the time. Can you accept that explanation?"

Qian Daoliu watched Qian Juechen, seeming to hope for a favorable response.

But Qian Juechen did not show the displeasure Qian Daoliu had expected. Instead, he nodded in apparent agreement.

"Perfectly reasonable. If things were as the Grand Priest says, then appointing Holy Maiden Bibi Dong as Pope for the time being, for Spirit Hall's stability and my sister's sake, makes sense."

Qian Daoliu's expression softened slightly. He seemed pleased that Qian Juechen was being so reasonable.

Yet just as he was about to speak again, Qian Juechen changed tack.

"However, there are a few things about this that I cannot make sense of."

Qian Daoliu's face grew serious again. He had known it would not be so simple.

Qian Juechen paid no attention to the change in his expression. He continued, "The Grand Priest just told me I have a sister named Qian Renxue. She awakened the Qian family's Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul, and her Innate Soul Power reached an astonishing level of twenty."

"Honestly, I'm glad to have a sister. But I'd like to ask the Grand Priest where she is now. Her own elder brother has come home, yet she hasn't come out to meet him. Is she shy?"

Those few words sent another shift through the Worship Hall's atmosphere—and through Qian Daoliu's expression.