"Bullshit!"
"Tang San! Have you no shame?!"
"We saw it with our own eyes! That beast Ma Hongjun attacked first!"
"Sect Master of the Tang Sect? More like its dog master! A nest of snakes and rats, not a decent one among you!"
The crowd's furious roars rose one after another.
Even the Soul Masters who had worshipped Tang San earlier now cast looks of contempt and disgust at him.
The truth no longer mattered.
People believed only what they had seen with their own eyes.
They had seen Ma Hongjun's despicable shamelessness, Tang Hao's wretched flight, and Tang San exhausting his last tricks like a donkey at its wits' end.
The Tang Sect was finished.
At least in Heaven Dou City, in the hearts of everyone who had witnessed today's events, the words "Tang Sect" had become synonymous with "despicable" and "shameless."
Listening to the curses ringing in his ears, Tang San felt the world spin around him.
Everything he had so meticulously plotted, the reputation he had painstakingly cultivated, crumbled to dust in that instant, leaving nothing behind.
Just then.
On the imperial viewing platform, a figure slowly rose.
It was "Xue Qinghe."
Her expression was still as deep water, and a complicated glimmer flashed through her eyes, too fleeting for anyone to notice.
She walked to the front of the platform and swept her gaze over the crowd. The authority of the imperial family gradually silenced the noisy square.
"What happened today is a disgrace to Heaven Dou."
"Xue Qinghe's" voice carried just the right measure of grief and anger.
"City Lord Ning Lin suffered a baseless accusation and nearly fell victim to villains. This was a failure of the imperial family's oversight."
"On behalf of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family, I hereby apologize to City Lord Ning Lin."
As she spoke, she actually bowed deeply in Ning Lin's direction.
The entire crowd erupted.
The crown prince himself had offered such a profound bow to a subject!
"I hereby declare!"
"Xue Qinghe" straightened, her voice suddenly rising.
"Ning Lin is innocent! He shall be reinstated and remain our Heaven Dou City Lord!"
"Furthermore, in recognition of his steadfast resolve and great service to the realm, he shall be granted the title of 'Marquis Who Guards the Nation,' with a fief of three thousand households! By imperial decree!"
Every word rang with conviction, leaving not a crack for anyone to exploit.
She had appeased Ning Lin, salvaged the imperial family's dignity, and shifted all the blame onto the Tang Sect.
Xue Qinghe—or rather, Qian Renxue—truly possessed masterful political skill.
However.
Someone refused to buy any of it.
"Heh."
A soft laugh drifted down from high above.
The enormous true forms of the twin Martial Souls had already vanished unnoticed.
Bibi Dong had returned to her original appearance. Clad in her magnificent papal robes, she slowly floated down from the sky, regal and resplendent.
Without so much as a glance at "Xue Qinghe," she said disdainfully:
"Marquis Who Guards the Nation? As if a title from the Heaven Dou Empire were worthy of my man."
She made no attempt to conceal the contempt in her words.
"Xue Qinghe's" expression stiffened slightly, but quickly returned to normal. Only a shadow flickered deep within her eyes.
Bibi Dong paid no further attention to anyone else.
Step by step, she walked up to Ning Lin.
Everyone in the square held their breath.
They waited expectantly.
They anticipated an earth-shaking declaration of love, or a lingering, passionate embrace and kiss.
Yet none of it happened.
The two simply gazed at each other in silence.
Ning Lin's eyes were calm as still water.
Bibi Dong's, however, held joy, lingering fear, reproach, and a trace of... panic.
Under the gaze of Ning Lin's clear eyes, this empress who had just dealt death without hesitation and regarded Titled Douluo as worthless weeds was the first to look away.
She lowered her eyes slightly, and a faint blush rose across her breathtakingly beautiful cheeks.
The sight left everyone's jaws on the floor.
Was this still the supremely domineering Martial Soul Pope?
She was clearly nothing more than... a young girl tasting love for the first time.
Seeing her like this stirred a surge of emotion in Ning Lin's heart.
He had a thousand things he wanted to say to her.
He wanted to ask whether she had been well all these years.
He wanted to tell her how much he had missed her.
But when the words reached his lips, he did not know where to begin.
Just then, a powerful wave of dizziness suddenly flooded his mind like a rising tide.
Everything before his eyes began to blur and double.
For three days and three nights in the dungeon, he had neither drunk a drop of water nor eaten a grain of rice.
Afterward, he had forcibly unleashed two great Heavenly Flames to fight Ma Hongjun's phoenix Martial Soul.
His body had long since become a spent arrow at the end of its flight.
Until now, sheer willpower alone had kept him standing.
Now that the danger had passed and his mind relaxed, the accumulated weakness erupted beyond his ability to suppress it.
Ning Lin's knees buckled, and his body pitched forward uncontrollably.
"Lin!"
Bibi Dong's expression changed drastically. The panic of that instant swept away all thought of shyness.
She darted forward and reached out with both arms, catching Ning Lin securely in her embrace.
That soft, warm touch was Ning Lin's final memory before he lost consciousness.
"Quick! Summon an imperial physician!"
Seeing this, Prince Xue Xing hurriedly shouted.
"There is no need."
Bibi Dong raised her head, the authority of the Pope returning to her voice.
"I will personally nurse him back to health."
With that, she carefully lifted Ning Lin into her arms, her movements as gentle as though she were cradling a priceless treasure.
Holding him, she turned and, beneath the eyes of the gathered multitude, walked step by step toward the City Lord's Residence.
No one dared stop her.
The bedroom in the City Lord's Residence.
The familiar scent of agarwood lingered at his nose.
Ning Lin's eyelids trembled slightly before slowly opening.
What greeted him was not a ceiling of carved beams and painted rafters, but a breathtakingly beautiful face filled with concern and joy.
Bibi Dong sat beside his bed, watching him without blinking.
The authority and dominance she displayed outside were gone from her eyes, leaving only boundless tenderness and joy.
"You're awake."
Her voice was so gentle, as though she feared disturbing something.
"Mm."
Ning Lin answered and tried to sit up.
"Don't move."
Bibi Dong hurriedly pressed him back down.
"Your body is severely depleted. You need to rest."
Ning Lin looked at her, at the bloodshot eyes and the exhaustion she could not conceal, and his heart ached.
He knew that she probably had not closed her eyes for even a moment since he had gotten into trouble.
In that instant, a thousand words seemed pale and powerless.
He reached out and gently caressed her cheek.
She reached out as well and clasped his hand.
Their eyes met.
Almost simultaneously.
They both leaned toward each other.
Ning Lin sat up and pulled her into his arms.
Bibi Dong slipped her arms around his neck.
No further words were needed.
Their lips pressed tightly together.
It was a deep, passionate kiss.
Years of pent-up longing, worry, and the wild joy of reunion burst forth in that instant.
It was as though each wanted to meld the other into their very flesh and bones.
The temperature in the room rose rapidly.
The atmosphere grew intimate and charged with desire.
Just then—
"Bang!"
Someone brutally slammed the bedroom door open from outside.
Before you continue