Qian Renxue's Bond! The Passing Years!

Ning Lin watched her puff out her cheeks in anger, and a trace of warmth flowed through his heart.

"What about you?" he asked.

"Did today's cultivation still hurt?"

At the mention of this, Qian Renxue's earlier bravado instantly deflated. She hung her little head, looking rather dejected.

"It hurt."

"Father said my Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul has to be cultivated in the most forceful way possible to unleash its greatest power."

"He also said I have to break through before the end of the year."

She counted on her fingers. There were less than three months left.

"I don't think I can do it..."

"You can," Ning Lin said.

"You're the most amazing person I've ever met."

This was not flattery, but fact.

For a six- or seven-year-old child to endure cultivation and mental pressure far beyond what adults faced, yet cry only a few times, was already a miracle.

Qian Renxue raised her head, and a little light rekindled in her golden eyes.

"What about you, then? You have to work hard too!"

"You can't come in last again in the next assessment."

"All right," Ning Lin agreed.

The two sat together on the garden's stone steps, one speaking of impossibly distant cultivation goals, the other struggling through daily assessments that offered no hope.

The setting sun stretched their shadows long, long across the ground.

"Ning Lin," Qian Renxue suddenly said.

"Hmm?"

"Let's grow up quickly, okay?"

"Once we're grown up, no one will dare scold you, and no one will force me to cultivate."

Ning Lin fell silent for a moment, then said, "Okay."

Qian Renxue seemed very satisfied with this answer. She stood, patted the dust from her skirt, and announced in an exceedingly serious tone:

"When we grow up, I'll have Father give the order and make you... be my bride!"

She seemed to feel she had used the wrong word, and added another sentence.

"No, I mean I'll take you as my wife!"

"Then you'll live in my Saintess Hall. Let's see who dares bully you!"

Ning Lin looked up at the golden-haired girl beneath the moonlight, her face plainly declaring, I've got your back, and could not help smiling.

"Okay."

He still said only that one word.

Yet that single word seemed to land in Qian Renxue's heart with the weight of a thousand tons.

She nodded in satisfaction, then turned and ran into the night, her golden hair tracing a dazzling arc through the air.

Ning Lin watched her leave, the smile on his face slowly fading.

Just then, an icy mechanical voice sounded in his mind.

[Ding!]

[Detected: the host's bond with Child of Destiny (Challenger) Qian Renxue has deepened. Childhood node correction progress has increased to 30%...]

[Congratulations, host. You have received a milestone correction reward: Three Thousand Burning Flame (Mutated Version)!]

Ning Lin's mind jolted.

Heavenly Flames?

Before he could think further, a searing power suddenly erupted from within him!

It was a purple-black flame, formless and shapeless, yet seemingly capable of burning souls to ashes.

Ning Lin gave a muffled groan. Every meridian in his body felt as though it had been plunged into molten lava. The agony was a hundred times more terrifying than the three reverse circulation cycles Qian Renxue had described!

He clenched his teeth, making not a sound. His thin, small body curled up in the shadows, trembling violently.

The system's notification sounded again.

[The Three Thousand Burning Flame can absorb the power of the stars to temper the body. It is known as the undying flame.]

[Mutated version trait: can bind to the host's soul, transform into a soul ring, reshape the host's innate constitution, and defy heaven to change his fate.]

[Transform into the first soul ring immediately?]

"Trans... form..."

Ning Lin forced the word through clenched teeth.

He knew this was his only hope.

The instant he spoke, the purple-black flames withdrew completely, surging madly toward the sea of energy in his dantian before finally condensing into a... soul ring that radiated a faint purple glow.

The soul ring itself was white.

Ten years.

Yet Ning Lin could clearly feel that his body had undergone a heaven-and-earth-shaking transformation.

His once badly blocked meridians were now clear and unobstructed. His once feeble soul power now flowed like a gentle stream, endlessly renewing itself.

In an instant, his soul power level soared straight from a pitiful level three to level ten!

He could now obtain his first soul ring.

And this soul ring formed from Heavenly Flames was his best choice.

Time slipped by, and several years passed in the flick of a finger.

The two children of those days had both shed their childishness.

Qian Renxue had grown ever more dazzling, like a blazing sun suspended in the heavens. Her soul power had long since surpassed that of all her peers, and her name as the Saintess resounded throughout the Spirit Hall.

Ning Lin, too, was no longer the menial servant anyone could bully.

Relying on his "passable enough" talent, he had graduated from the Cultivation Institute step by step and become a deacon, handling complicated paperwork in an inconspicuous department of the Spirit Hall.

He concealed himself well. Apart from Qian Renxue, no one knew his true strength.

That garden remained their only secret hideout.

But on this day, when Qian Renxue arrived, her usual smile was gone.

The council chamber of the Papal Hall.

The atmosphere was solemn and austere.

Qian Xunji sat high upon the papal throne, his imposing gaze fixed on his graceful daughter below.

"Xue'er, you have already completed the first three of the Angel Nine Trials. It is time to take the next step."

Qian Renxue listened quietly without a word.

"The Heaven Dou Empire grows stronger by the day, and it has always been wary of our Spirit Hall."

"I need you to take someone's place."

Qian Xunji's voice echoed through the hall.

"The Heaven Dou Crown Prince, Xue Qinghe."

Qian Renxue's pupils abruptly contracted.

Take Xue Qinghe's place?

Wouldn't that mean...

"That's right." Qian Xunji seemed to see through her thoughts.

"From this day onward, you are Xue Qinghe."

"You will live in the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace under his identity and, step by step, bring the entire empire into our hands."

Qian Renxue's face instantly turned pale.

Disguise myself as a man?

And leave Spirit City for faraway Heaven Dou?

How long would I have to be away? A year? Five years? Or ten?

A thought flashed through her mind, making her blurt out:

"Then I... what about Ning Lin?"

At this, Qian Xunji's brows furrowed slightly.

"Ning Lin?"

He had some recollection of the name. It seemed to belong to a low-ranking deacon in the Records Department.

"Is a deacon of mediocre talent worth worrying about when a matter of such importance is at stake?"

There was a trace of displeasure in Qian Xunji's tone.

"He's not!"

Qian Renxue stubbornly raised her head and looked her father straight in the eye.

"Father, I cannot accept this mission."

"I will not leave Spirit City, much less pretend to be a man!"

This was the first time she had defied Qian Xunji's will so explicitly.

The air inside the hall instantly froze.

Qian Xunji studied his daughter's face, written all over with resistance. A trace of disappointment flashed through his eyes, then gave way to an unfathomable darkness.

"Your reason."

That was all he said.