Secret Chamber Douluo Qian Xunji

"It seems Qian Yiyi and Qian Hongliu were sent away early this morning," Lei Zhenyun said. "They said the two were being posted elsewhere for training."

"All right, I understand. Don't pry into this, don't ask questions, and don't spread it around," Huang Batian said flatly. "The relatives of those six families ended up like this because they were implicated. You could say they had it coming."

"Big brother, you sound like you've figured something out. Can you tell us?" Lei Zhenyuan asked, his voice full of curiosity.

"Stop. I said this ends here. Don't pry, don't ask, and don't spread it around." Huang Batian glanced at the people nearby who were straining to listen, his expression stern. "Don't let another family's disaster become your own."

"I understand." Lei Zhenyuan looked around and promptly fell silent.

"Isn't it getting late? Why are there so many people in the dining hall today..." Huang Tieyi yawned as he walked in, looking languid. He went straight to the serving area, loaded a cart with food, then pushed it over and sat at Huang Batian and Lei Zhenyun's table.

"Grandpa, you saw the plans, right?" Huang Tieyi took a sip of preserved egg and lean pork congee, his voice aggrieved. "Grandpa, the Body Academy is your project. Don't come to me about it again. It takes too much brainpower—more tiring than fighting."

"I understand. I'll try not to bother you about it again," Huang Batian said with a nod.

"Grandpa, what do you mean, 'try'? Don't come to me about anything to do with the Body Academy." Huang Tieyi's expression turned serious. "His Holiness the Pope said that the open land fifteen li northwest of Spirit City would be the Body Academy's teaching grounds. I've drawn the plans and found the site. Don't come to me about it again."

"A Yi, you weren't in Spirit City last night. Do you know..." Lei Zhenyun caught something useful in Huang Tieyi's words and immediately asked, "Do you know what happened to His Holiness the Pope..."

"Grandpa Yun, some things aren't for an old man like you to go poking into. Knowing them won't do you any good in the years ahead, so don't ask." Huang Tieyi spoke with a solemn expression.

"All right, I understand. I won't ask." Lei Zhenyun looked thoroughly aggrieved.

"Grandpa Yun, there are too many ears and loose tongues here. If you want to know, I'll tell you in private." Seeing that Lei Zhenyun was upset, Huang Tieyi leaned close and whispered in his ear.

"That's more like it..." Lei Zhenyuan nodded with satisfaction and smiled. "By the way, A Yi, what happened to your clothes? You look pretty disheveled!"

"Nothing much. Some crazy old woman came looking for trouble first thing this morning. It took a little effort, but I sent her off to reunite with her family," Huang Tieyi said with a smile.

"Who?" Huang Batian's gaze sharpened in an instant.

"Grandpa, don't worry about my affairs. Her family's already been dealt with. None of them slipped through the net," Huang Tieyi said calmly.

"Good. I have things to do." Huang Batian understood the message in Huang Tieyi's eyes, rose, and left the dining hall.

After Huang Batian left, Lei Zhenyuan desperately wanted to ask exactly what had happened. Instead, he sat quietly and watched Huang Tieyi eat.

Huang Tieyi had an astonishing appetite: three steamers of soup dumplings, five Red Bean Buns, three bowls of different kinds of congee, two jin of fried dough sticks...

Lei Zhenyuan watched Huang Tieyi eat as though it were nothing and could not help rubbing his eyes. He had never seen anyone who could eat so much.

"Grandpa Yun, I give up." Huang Tieyi stared speechlessly at Lei Zhenyun, who had followed him from the dining hall all the way back to his dormitory like a shadow.

"You brat, will you just tell me what actually happened?" Lei Zhenyun frowned. "I hate it when people talk in riddles. Can't you lay it all out clearly in one go?"

"Grandpa Yun, if I say it aloud, everyone on the Elder Council will know..." Huang Tieyi helplessly picked up a pen and wrote down a brief account. "Destroy this as soon as you've read it. Something this big could get me in trouble, and I don't want to die."

Lei Zhenyun took the paper. The moment he read it, he shattered it with his Soul Power, his face turning pale. "That really is something big. We truly can't go asking about it or spreading it around. A Yi, do you think it's too late for me to forget what I saw?"

"Grandpa Yun, it's too late. I told you not to pry, but you insisted. Now you know the truth and want to forget it? You must be joking. Keep your mouth shut and don't provoke His Holiness the Pope, or you'll die a miserable death," Huang Tieyi said with a cold laugh.

The basement beneath Qian Xunji's bedchamber.

Qian Xunji strolled down the central aisle. On either side stood iron cages half a meter square and two meters tall, each holding a woman. They were relatives of the six families' Titled Douluo who had tried to assassinate him. Every one of them resembled the Angel God from a certain angle.

Ever since the Angel God's consciousness had seized his body and forcibly suppressed his soul, Qian Xunji had developed a twisted fixation on her. The women in the cages offered him a way to satisfy his desire for revenge.

Qian Xunji pulled the third woman on the left out of her cage and pinned her to the floor. He tilted her face upward until, from that angle, she looked very much like the Angel God.

At the sight of her profile, his warped desire for revenge erupted. He cursed the Angel God without stopping.

The women in the cages knew what their families' Titled Douluo had done. They felt ashamed and terrified to have fallen into His Holiness the Pope's hands for punishment in private. One was even excited, hoping to seize the chance to rise in status. But when they saw Qian Xunji brutalize a woman before their eyes and heard what he said, fear filled them all.

They feared not their fate, but Qian Xunji's perverse, frenzied behavior. They knew full well that the Qian Family of Spirit Hall belonged to the Angel Clan and worshipped the Angel God. Qian Xunji was blaspheming her. Had His Holiness the Pope gone mad? Would Spirit Hall be dragged down with him?

Qian Xunji gave free rein to his emotions. By the time the twisted feelings he had suppressed were spent and he calmed down, the woman he had brutalized was no longer breathing.

With a calm expression, Qian Xunji used his ninth Soul Skill, blasting the body to ash with lightning. The women in the cages trembled in terror.

"Don't be afraid. You'll all have the honor of receiving my favor..." Qian Xunji stopped halfway through his sentence.