Mother and Daughter Face Off (Part One)

Qian Renxue's face darkened, her chest rising and falling unevenly.

I can't lose my composure.

Qian Renxue pressed down her anger once more, breathed out slowly, and forced a smile onto her face.

"Sister, please tell me. What should I do?"

Having gained the upper hand over Qian Renxue again, Bibi Dong felt at ease. The corners of her lips lifted into a smile.

"Haven't I already told you? Stay away from that fool. That's your best choice."

Bibi Dong rose and walked toward Qian Renxue one step at a time, leaning on her scepter. Her long, pale legs appeared and disappeared beneath her ceremonial robes.

Once a Soul Master advanced to Titled Douluo, their lifespan would exceed three hundred years. Every subsequent increase of one level in Soul Power would add another hundred years.

Bibi Dong had long since become a Titled Douluo. She was thirty-nine that year and took excellent care of herself. Time could not dim her beauty; she was a woman of peerless grace.

Across the entire continent, few could surpass Bibi Dong in figure or looks.

Bibi Dong stopped before Qian Renxue. Looking down at her with disdain, she said mockingly,

"A Soul Master with Innate Full Soul Power falling in love with a good-for-nothing who couldn't advance beyond Soul Grandmaster by fifty? The very idea is beyond reason.

"That kind of fool is beyond saving. Wasting even a little more effort on him is an insult to your own dignity.

"And you made friends with a fool like that. Qian Renxue, your judgment is getting worse and worse."

Looking at the beautiful face so close to hers, Qian Renxue did not get angry. Instead, she burst into delighted laughter. Her body felt lighter, her whole being refreshed.

"Sister, are you serious?" Qian Renxue asked with a teasing smile.

Well said!

Beautifully said!

You don't understand it, I don't understand it, and even my dear grandson can't understand it.

I doubt anyone could.

Bibi Dong's brows drew together.

Contrary to what she had expected, Qian Renxue had not flown into a rage. She even seemed rather pleased.

It made no sense.

Bibi Dong nodded and said coolly, "Of course. I've never seen anyone so foolish and useless."

That was what Bibi Dong truly thought.

Bibi Dong had known all along that Qian Renxue was innocent. She simply could not get past the barrier in her own heart, so she had treated Qian Renxue coldly all these years.

She wanted to make peace with Qian Renxue, too, but she could not.

When Qian Renxue had humbled herself to ask for advice, Bibi Dong had already turned the problem over in her mind a thousand times.

Staying away from the fool was the best choice.

She had come down from the Throne to watch Qian Renxue embarrass herself up close. But Qian Renxue had not reacted as expected, and Bibi Dong lost the urge to mock her. She turned back toward the Throne.

"Hahahahaha!"

After hearing Bibi Dong admit it herself, Qian Renxue laughed even louder.

For more than ten years, every meeting with Bibi Dong had left her furious. Never had she felt as happy as she did today.

"Sister, you're right. That kind of fool is beyond saving."

More puzzled than ever, Bibi Dong stopped and turned to look at Qian Renxue.

The smile on Qian Renxue's face was genuine and sincere. Bibi Dong felt both glad and miserable, her feelings tangled beyond measure.

She was glad because Qian Renxue had taken her advice to heart and let the matter go.

She was miserable for the same reason. Qian Renxue probably would not lower her head and yield to her again.

But Bibi Dong did not know that, under Qian Zong's guidance, Qian Renxue was no longer the rash young woman she had once been.

Qian Renxue knew everything about Bibi Dong, including her temperament.

She would not lose to Bibi Dong again.

Qian Renxue gave Bibi Dong no time to react. Raising her brows and squaring her shoulders, she called out,

"And what about you, Your Holiness? Do you think you're any different from that fool?"

Bibi Dong understood. Qian Renxue had not come to make peace. She had come looking for a fight.

Her earlier happiness vanished like smoke, leaving only the anger of having been played for a fool.

"Insolence!" Bibi Dong slammed her scepter down, Soul Power surging around her. "Qian Renxue, I am the Pope of Spirit Hall! Where did you find the nerve to provoke me?"

Anyone else who dared insult the Pope to her face would have ended up dead or injured.

But this was Qian Renxue, and Bibi Dong could do little about her.

Qian Renxue showed no fear. She took two steps forward, pointed at Bibi Dong, and said each word distinctly:

"Your Holiness, don't you think what happened to my friend is exactly the same as what happened between you and Yu Xiaogang?"

Yu Xiaogang's departing figure surfaced in Bibi Dong's mind. Her gaze went unfocused for an instant, and even the Soul Power around her wavered.

Where is my Xiaogang now?

"Yu Xiaogang is a scoundrel through and through, a good-for-nothing. I never imagined you'd fall for trash like him.

"Sister, your judgment really is getting worse and worse!"

The moment she heard Yu Xiaogang insulted, Bibi Dong snapped back to herself. Her eyes sharpened on Qian Renxue, and her Soul Power bore down on her as she shouted,

"Qian Renxue, don't you dare insult Xiaogang!

"What do you know? Xiaogang wrote the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul, which shaped the entire Soul Master World. He led an era!"

Staring at the furious Bibi Dong, Qian Renxue tasted for the first time the pleasure of overwhelming someone with sheer intellect.

Her expression remained unchanged. She did not summon her Soul Power to defend herself.

Bibi Dong did not hurt her, either. Her Soul Power quietly dispersed just before it reached Qian Renxue.

Realizing she had lost her composure, Bibi Dong gave a soft snort. She strode back to the Throne and sat down.

"Qian Renxue, if you have no business here, get out. The Papal Hall is no place for you to run wild."

Her words bristled with hostility. Bibi Dong had no wish to keep arguing with Qian Renxue about this.

Amid her anger, a name she had been watching closely surfaced in her mind once more.

She knew Qian Renxue. Qian Renxue would never provoke her without reason. The only possibility was that someone else had put her up to it.

And it was not hard to guess who.

"Qian Zong, you've got some nerve. I haven't come after you yet, and you've already sent Qian Renxue to scheme against me." Bibi Dong lowered her head slightly, her eyes full of vicious intent. "You deserve to die."

Bibi Dong might tolerate Qian Renxue, but that did not mean she would spare Qian Zong.

Besides, she had long been dissatisfied with Qian Zong. He was merely a young hall master who had never even shown his face, yet time and again he had wielded the Pope's authority to issue all manner of policies.

In Qian Zong's eyes, she was no Pope at all.

That boy could not be allowed to live.

My dear grandson was right. This woman has lost her mind. The moment Yu Xiaogang's name comes up, she loses control. I absolutely cannot go soft on her.

Bibi Dong did not want to discuss him, but Qian Renxue was determined to.

"Xiaogang... heh, heh, heh...

"Sister, you do call him so affectionately!"

The thought of Bibi Dong caring so deeply for a worthless man who had deceived her left Qian Renxue's heart sour, and her voice grew colder.

"From beginning to end, you were nothing but his pawn, his plaything.

"That Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul you keep praising? He merely copied it from Spirit Hall's records.

"A thief, yet shameless enough to call himself Grandmaster."