After absorbing the Soul Bone, Huo Yuhao returned to the Elder Hall as though nothing had happened.
Seven days after the hunt, Qian Xunji succumbed to his grievous injuries and died.
Bibi Dong, the Saintess of Spirit Hall, temporarily took charge of all its affairs. She began leading Spirit Hall in hunting down Tang Hao and ruthlessly suppressing the Clear Sky Sect.
Bibi Dong, a Soul Douluo, led all of Spirit Hall's Titled Douluos and Soul Douluo-level experts in an assault on the Clear Sky Sect. The two sides fought fiercely for days. The Clear Sky Sect suffered devastating losses and fled for their lives, disappearing without a trace.
Thus, the Clear Sky Sect, the foremost of the Upper Three Sects, met its end.
A month later, with the support of all Spirit Hall's elders, Bibi Dong became its new leader.
The inauguration ceremony for Spirit Hall's leader.
All of Spirit City celebrated that day. Special envoys from both great empires also came to offer their congratulations, showing just how immense Spirit Hall's prestige was across the continent!
Yet that day was both lively and desolate.
At every previous inauguration, the Elder Hall had sent people to offer congratulations, and the Great Enshrined, Qian Daoliu, usually attended in person. But at Bibi Dong's inauguration, not only was Qian Daoliu absent, the entire Elder Hall had not sent even a single elder to go through the motions with her.
Seated high upon the Pope's Throne, Bibi Dong's expression turned extremely ugly. Qian Daoliu had clearly told her that as long as she properly raised those two who should never have existed, he would support her becoming Pope. Yet he had actually gone back on his word.
Moreover, neither of the children she had raised for nine years had sincerely come to congratulate her. It truly chilled her heart.
Bibi Dong swore that she would grow stronger, stronger still-strong enough to escape Qian Daoliu's restraints, strong enough to control the entire Elder Hall.
At that moment, a trace of coldness entered Bibi Dong's eyes.
With things as they were, the Heaven Dou Invasion Plan could proceed smoothly.
As for which of the two siblings to send, Bibi Dong had long since made up her mind. The elder brother resembled neither parent, but Qian Renxue looked as though she had been cast from the same mold as her. Every time she saw Qian Renxue's face, she remembered her wretched ordeal in the Secret Chamber.
Having Qian Renxue around was like a bone lodged in her throat, leaving her uncomfortable and ill at ease every day. Bibi Dong swore she would send Qian Renxue away with a perfectly legitimate reason, one that neither Spirit Hall nor the Elder Hall could refuse.
The Elder Hall, Saint Son Hall!
After patiently listening to his subordinate's report, Huo Yuhao fell into contemplation.
Everyone knew Bibi Dong was announcing her ascension today, yet the entire Elder Hall had remained utterly unmoved. Bibi Dong still had not noticed anything amiss. She really was stupid.
However much of a disappointment Qian Xunji had been, he was still Qian Daoliu's only son. How long had it been since his death? Yet Bibi Dong had already ascended to her position with such fanfare. She could not keep her composure at all.
Besides, Bibi Dong had made it far too obvious. She had absorbed all of Qian Xunji's power, leaving his corpse shriveled and dry. Anyone who was not blind could tell that he had met an unnatural death!
If Qian Daoliu had not felt guilty toward Bibi Dong, and if she had not been the birth mother of his two gifted grandchildren, he would have slaughtered her long ago.
"Brother, today is Mother's inauguration ceremony. Is it really all right for us not to go?"
Qian Renxue emerged from a side hall and walked straight to Huo Yuhao. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she spoke with hesitation written across her face.
She felt that leaving her mother there alone was a little too humiliating, too lonely.
"Xiao Xue, put away that pitiful compassion of yours. What Mother needs isn't our encouragement. It's for us to disappear."
"Grandfather told us long ago how we came into this world. Mother hates us, especially you. Whenever she sees your face, she feels ill at ease."
"Our family will never be able to get along in this lifetime. The two of us are destined to have only Grandfather, destined to depend on each other to survive."
"So, Xiao Xue, no matter what Bibi Dong asks you to do, whether she coaxes you or badgers you, you must not agree. Whatever she asks, go straight to Grandfather, or come to me."
The siblings were already nine years old. In other words, according to the original story, this year his younger sister, Qian Renxue, would disguise herself as a maid to approach Xue Qinghe, imitate all his habits, and then take his place.
In the end, she would spend more than twenty years living as neither man nor woman.
Unless something unexpected happened, it should happen soon.
But he needed to grow stronger now and could not stay by Qian Renxue's side at every moment. All he could do was repeatedly stress that she must not waste so many years of her youth simply because Bibi Dong tossed her a scrap of counterfeit maternal love.
In his view, the Heaven Dou Infiltration Plan was nothing but a joke. Whether Qian Renxue infiltrated them or not made little difference.
Even if she became the emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire, she could not single-handedly make all its nobles surrender.
After all, this was a society where the empire ruled while the kingdoms governed themselves. Even if the Heaven Dou Empire unilaterally announced its surrender, the Grand Duchies and Great Kingdoms beneath it would all resist.
Besides, her plan had failed because of Tang San.
In the end, force would still be needed to resolve the problem.
He truly could not understand why they needed some infiltration plan. With Spirit Hall's tremendous strength, they could simply destroy an entire nation.
Moreover, the Star Luo Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire were not particularly stable at present. It was only Spirit Hall's mediation between them that maintained their lasting peace. If that balance were upset, if Spirit Hall announced that it would help the Heaven Dou Empire destroy the Star Luo Empire-
The Star Luo Empire would surely fall.
Although he did not understand politics very well, Shrek Academy served precisely that role in his world.
Without Shrek Academy standing between the three great empires, the Douluo Continent would probably have long been plagued by troubles within and threats without: warring empires at home and powerful enemies invading from abroad.
Originally, after hunting for a Soul Ring in the Star Dou Great Forest, he had wanted to visit Shrek Academy to see whether he could enroll. After all, it was the continent's foremost academy.
But now that he had the system, Shrek Academy was absolutely off-limits. After all, it was a den of thieves now.
Having read the original story, he knew that Tang San had already become a god, and was even a Dual God Bearer. Huo Yuhao could not imagine how powerful Tang San would be in the Divine Realm ten thousand years later.
Although the system had already concealed him from Tang San, he was still killing him in a parallel space. Besides, the system had said that every time he killed Tang San, Tang San would lose health.
In other words, perhaps he would sense something!
So he absolutely had to avoid Shrek Academy.
After giving his instructions, Huo Yuhao sank into contemplation, failing to notice the complicated expression on his younger sister Qian Renxue's face.
She did not know how her brother had learned that their mother wanted something from her, but all she could do was apologize to him in her heart. In all the years since her mother had given birth to her, this was the only time she had ever smiled at her. She had decided to help her mother.
Besides, she was only going to be a spy. It was no big deal. When she missed her brother, couldn't she simply sneak out to see him?
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