A bird in a cage

"Then what do you suggest?" Gu Rong was rather frustrated. He was clearly acting for the sect's good, so why wouldn't Ning Fengzhi let him?

"Uncle Gu." Ning Fengzhi rubbed his brow. "Don't spend all day thinking about fighting and killing. Lin Changgeng bears us no hostility at present. I think befriending him is the best course for now, not making an enemy of him. Dugu Bo's cultivation has improved, so his understanding of poison must have deepened as well. If we make enemies of them and Dugu Bo releases poison in our sect just once, we'll be finished. You and Uncle Jian might be fine, but what about the disciples?"

"Exactly, you old bag of bones. Stop thinking about getting rid of this person or that person all day. If you really can't help yourself, I'll spar with you," Sword Douluo said.

Bone Douluo realized he had a point. He and Chen Xin could disregard the poison, but the sect's disciples couldn't. Still, why did that leave him feeling so disgruntled?

"What, Coward? You think I'm afraid of you? Let's spar, then!" Bone Douluo snapped.

Seeing the two start arguing, Ning Fengzhi rubbed his brow and said, "Uncle Jian, Uncle Gu, stop arguing."

Ning Fengzhi felt helpless. These two uncles were always bickering, and it was giving him a headache.

"Hmph. I'll let it go for Fengzhi's sake, not because I'm afraid of a coward like you!" Bone Douluo said, taking the offered way down.

"Tch. If you're scared, you're scared." Chen Xin rolled his eyes. As if he didn't know Gu Rong! They had been close buddies for years, and their sparring matches usually ended with Gu Rong getting beaten up.

"All right, Uncle Jian, enough wisecracks." Ning Fengzhi waved a hand. "Have someone send this intelligence to Qinghe. I want to see how he responds."

The Crown Prince's Eastern Palace.

"Oh? Intelligence from Ning Fengzhi?" Xue Qinghe-or rather, Qian Renxue-asked with interest as she looked at the documents on the desk.

"Yes, young mistress. I've read the material. There's very little of it, and it's quite strange. I don't know what Ning Fengzhi intends," a tall, thin elderly man said.

"Oh?" Qian Renxue perked up. "Then let me see just how strange it is."

With that, Qian Renxue picked up the intelligence and began reading. She frowned before she had read more than a few lines.

"Uncle She, are you certain this intelligence is genuine?" Qian Renxue looked up at the elderly man.

"It is. I even had the martial soul awakening certificate retrieved. There isn't the slightest discrepancy." The elderly man was named She Long. His martial soul was a snake lance, and his title was Snake Lance Douluo.

"Interesting." Qian Renxue smiled. She had never encountered anything so strange. First, he had been utterly unknown, then soared into the heavens after his martial soul awakening. He was also accompanied by a mysterious woman whose cultivation was unknown, and Dugu Bo's sudden transformation was connected to the two of them by countless tangled threads.

But Qian Renxue didn't think the intelligence was false. After all, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's businesses spanned half the continent, and its intelligence network was no less extensive than Spirit Hall's. If neither the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect nor Spirit Hall could uncover their background, that certainly gave her something to ponder.

"Does that woman know?" Qian Renxue asked.

"Well..." Snake Lance considered it. "Most likely not."

Nearly everyone in Spirit Hall's upper ranks knew about what had happened between Yu Xiaogang and Bibi Dong back then, and he was no exception. Now that Yu Xiaogang was in Nuoding City, even if Bibi Dong knew about Lin Changgeng's talent, she would suppress the news, leave him for Yu Xiaogang to teach, and then claim ignorance.

"She doesn't know?" Qian Renxue grew thoughtful. She didn't believe Bibi Dong could be unaware, but why hadn't she acted? With Bibi Dong's capabilities, taking away Lin Changgeng, who had only just awakened his martial soul, shouldn't be difficult. Could there be something in Nuoding City that Bibi Dong feared?

Qian Renxue didn't know, but Bibi Dong's abilities had strengthened Spirit Hall's influence considerably over the past six years. By all rights, she shouldn't make such an elementary mistake.

"Forget it." Qian Renxue sighed and looked up at Snake Lance Douluo. "Uncle She, what do you think I should do?"

Although Qian Renxue was Spirit Hall's young mistress, she was still too young. She often needed Snake Lance Douluo's guidance, which was also why Qian Daoliu had sent people with her to the Heaven Dou Empire.

"My advice is to inform the Great Enshrined and let him decide." Snake Lance Douluo stroked his chin. He felt that acting rashly now would be unwise. They still didn't know Wang Qiu'er's cultivation or how Dugu Bo's strength had changed. If they made a reckless move, all these years would have been wasted.

"Tell Grandfather?" Qian Renxue considered it and found the idea acceptable. For now, she was more interested in winning over Wang Qiu'er and Lin Changgeng than taking action against them. Here in Heaven Dou, she was a lone tree struggling to hold up the sky. Winning them over could make the plan proceed more smoothly.

If possible, she wanted to recruit Lin Changgeng herself. She wouldn't leave someone like him to another faction. If she failed to win him over, she would have Qian Daoliu and the others clean up the mess.

"Sorry for the trouble, Uncle She." Having made up her mind, Qian Renxue wrote a letter and handed it to Snake Lance Douluo, tucking the intelligence into the envelope as well.

"It's no trouble." Snake Lance Douluo took the envelope, then left the Eastern Palace.

"Ah..." Watching Snake Lance Douluo's retreating figure, Qian Renxue sighed, then turned and entered the secret chamber.

Once inside the secret chamber, Qian Renxue revealed her true appearance.

Qian Renxue was extraordinarily beautiful. Her male appearance gave way to that of a young woman who looked eighteen or nineteen, with skin fairer than snow, a straight nose, slightly slender phoenix eyes, and a breathtaking face touched with imposing majesty.

She wore a long golden court gown. It was a single-piece dress that seemed woven from gold thread, with few decorative patterns and a simple, elegant design. Its standing golden collar sheltered her long, snow-white neck. Her long golden hair fell casually down her back without having been carefully arranged, forming a stark contrast with her immaculate court attire.

With the previous Pope, Qian Xunji, as her father and the current Pope, Bibi Dong, as her mother, Qian Renxue could be said to have inherited her parents' genes exceedingly well.

Qian Renxue stared at herself in the mirror for a while before saying, "So I've already grown this much."

She had been only nine when Qian Xunji died. Bibi Dong had sent her to the Heaven Dou Empire to carry out the infiltration mission that Qian Xunji had kept putting off.

Because she had yearned for a mother's love since childhood, she had accepted without a second thought when Bibi Dong told her about the mission.

Now she had spent six years in the Heaven Dou Empire. What should have been the most carefree years of her life had been wasted on undercover work.

For a young girl, those enchanting years of youthful bloom had been spent showing herself to others only in a man's guise.

How could her heart not yearn for a different life?

Now she felt like a bird in a cage, with no idea when she could finally break free.

After six years in the Heaven Dou Empire, Qian Renxue couldn't help finding her old desire to win laughable. She was clearly a prodigious genius with innate rank-twenty soul power, yet she had come to this unfamiliar place for the sake of familial affection and a pitiful contest of winning and losing. Six years had passed, and not only had her cultivation advanced slowly, she also had to tread carefully to avoid giving herself away. If she hadn't chosen to come to the Heaven Dou Empire back then, could she have stood in the sunlight and shown others her true face? Could she have made many friends, too?

But in the end, she pushed those thoughts down. Since she had chosen this path, she had to walk it to the end, however absurd it was.

"So be it." Qian Renxue shook her head and said, "I hope you can give me a pleasant surprise."

Then Qian Renxue took on Xue Qinghe's appearance again.