Shaded paths of the Heaven Dou Junior Soul Master Academy.
Meng Chen was dragged all the way by Ning Rongrong, walking through nearly half of the campus.
Making sure those annoying followers were not behind them, the little demoness stopped, panting heavily.
After letting go of Meng Chen's arm, she leaned her whole body limply against a large maple tree.
Those previously spirited, bright eyes were now veiled in a layer of agitation.
"Hey, Miss Ning, that's about enough, isn't it?"
Meng Chen rubbed his hand, looking at her somewhat helplessly.
Yet this time, Ning Rongrong did not fly into a furious and desperate refutation as she usually did.
Instead, she buried her head in her chest, her hands clutching tightly at her yellow skirt hem, her nostrils twitching slightly as if she had suffered a great grievance, and even her eye rims turned red.
Meng Chen froze.
Back at the Crown Prince's Residence, even when the little girl was driven to jumping up and down by him, she still maintained a haughty demeanor. Why was she suddenly crying now?
Meng Chen asked tentatively, "Are-are you alright?"
"Meng Chen... do you think this lady is very annoying?"
Ning Rongrong sniffed, raising her head. Her usually dainty and pretty face was now written full of insecurity.
"Gu Yuena came this morning, and you kept looking at her during class. Now two more women have appeared."
"If one day you really get seduced away by them, I-where else can I go to touch such soft rabbit ears!"
Meng Chen had initially been touched by her self-blaming words just before, but upon hearing the final sentence, the corners of his mouth couldn't help twitching.
So you felt aggrieved for half a day, and the root of your sense of crisis was entirely in my ears, huh?!
"Alright, alright, stop crying."
Meng Chen sighed. Although this girl was willful, she was ultimately a spoiled child.
Meng Chen reached out to pat her tufts of messy hair, softening his tone. "What stealing or not stealing? I'm a living person, not cargo, and I'm not that close with Gu Yuena. Dugu Yan is just someone I met once at the apothecary. Aren't you tired, being suspicious all day long?"
"R-really?"
Ning Rongrong raised her head through a mist of tears, sobbing and sniffing her nose.
"You're not lying to me? You won't run off with them just because they look pretty?"
"If I'm lying I'm a puppy, okay?"
Meng Chen rolled his eyes in exasperation.
Ning Rongrong broke into laughter through her tears, swiftly wiping the tear drops from her face. That pitiful appearance from a moment ago vanished instantly as she threw her arms around Meng Chen's neck, her hands landing on those furry rabbit ears and kneading them fiercely twice.
"Heehee! I knew Meng Chen is the best!"
"You're not allowed to go back on your word, pinky swear for a hundred years and never change!"
Feeling the tingling sensation coming from the tips of his ears, Meng Chen stiffened all over, closing his eyes in a life-is-meaningless despair.
Fine, he had fallen for it again.
The little demoness's tears were the world's most unreliable hidden weapon!
After the frolicking, the two walked side by side toward the classroom.
Meanwhile.
Thousands of miles away, in Spirit City, the holy land in the hearts of the continent's soul masters.
Atop the magnificent and towering Papal Hall, dark purple velvet curtains hung low.
Upon the wide Pope's Throne.
Bibi Dong lay casually on a chair draped with white fox fur.
A close-fitting dark purple silk long dress outlined the graceful and undulating curves of a breathtaking arc, her snow-white and slender calves crossed over one another, exuding a lazy sense of beauty.
Yet that cold and peerlessly beautiful face was shrouded in a layer of frost at this moment.
Deep within her spirit sea, the tyrannical divine sense of the Rakshasa God ached faintly once more.
Whenever this time arrived, Bibi Dong's mind would invariably conjure up that little fellow bearing a pair of rabbit ears.
Thinking of how Qian Daoliu had relied on his strength as a Limit Douluo to forcefully intervene back then.
And the fact that Qian Renxue had snatched the person away and brought him back to Heaven Dou City, a deep knot of pent-up melancholy flashed through Bibi Dong's phoenix eyes.
"Trash! A bunch of trash!"
At that moment, in the shadows beneath the grand hall, a strong ripple resembling flowing water appeared in space.
Immediately following, two black figures appeared silently, dropping to one knee.
"May Your Holiness the Pope put aside your wrath!"
The black-clad scout at the very front tremblingly offered up a recording crystal engraved with intricate patterns with both hands.
"Your subordinates traveled day and night, and the Heaven Dou Spirit Hall has also tracked down information regarding that youth!"
"Read."
Bibi Dong raised her eyelids slightly, uttering a single word indifferently.
"Yes!"
The black-clad scout opened the scroll in his hand, methodically reporting the situation.
"Three days ago, Xue Qinghe delivered the child to the Heaven Dou Junior Soul Master Academy."
"Before enrollment, this child had secretly visited the Benevolent Heart Apothecary in Heaven Dou City multiple times to purchase a large quantity of body-tempering elixirs!"
"Oh? Body-tempering?"
Bibi Dong's slender jade fingers lightly tapped the throne's armrest, interest welling up in her phoenix eyes.
"A rabbit martial soul, yet he actually wants to undergo body refining? What did he buy?"
"Reporting to Your Holiness, according to the medicinal formula passed down by the apothecary's internal covert agents, the child specifically requested thousand-year sea dragon marrow!"
Upon hearing of the sea dragon marrow, Bibi Dong's delicate brows arched slightly. "Thousand-year sea dragon marrow? That little fellow has quite an appetite."
"Your Holiness is piercingly observant!"
The black-clad scout immediately flattered her, then quickly changed his tune:
"But coincidentally, the Deep-Sea Caravan that delivered the sea dragon marrow for the Benevolent Heart Apothecary encountered a sea soul beast riot on their return trip. The caravan was completely wiped out, and the sea dragon marrow was also entirely destroyed. Currently, a second portion of thousand-year-grade sea dragon marrow cannot be found anywhere within the entire Heaven Dou Empire!"
The grand hall plunged into a brief silence.
Bibi Dong propped her chin with one hand, those purple eyes reflecting the flickering palace candlelight.
A moment later, an arrogant, cold laugh drifted slowly from the red lips of the continent's supreme ruler.
"Qian Renxue, is this what you meant when you said you could give him everything?"
Bibi Dong let out a cold snort, the disdain in her eyes defying description. "Thinking that she could rest easy just by snatching a person back to Heaven Dou City. As the dignified crown prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, she can't even gather body-tempering elixirs in her own territory. Utterly incompetent!"
The mere thought of Qian Renxue holding Meng Chen in her arms with a expression guarded like a thief-
Bibi Dong's heart found an outlet for the breath she had bottled up for so long.
"Ghost Elder."
Within the spacious grand hall, Bibi Dong's cold and majestic voice suddenly rang out.
"Present!"
From the shadows of the grand hall, a withered, gaunt figure surrounded by gloomy ghost qi walked out from the darkness.
Ghost Douluo Gui Mei!
Bibi Dong stood up from the throne, looking down from on high at the figure below.
"Take my token and open the Pope's Private Vault."
"In the third grid on the eastern side of the private vault, there is sealed a piece of thirty-thousand-year sea dragon marrow stripped from a ten-thousand-year sea dragon beast hunted by the Spirit Hall during its deep-sea expedition in earlier years."
Gui Mei's eyelids twitched.
He had just overheard the conversation between those individuals, so hearing this instruction now naturally made him understand what she wanted to do.
Yet he dared not show the slightest hesitation, immediately bowing in response.
"Understood!"
"After taking it out, make a personal trip to Heaven Dou City."
"Remember, avoid all intelligence networks laid out by Qian Daoliu in Heaven Dou City, and above all, do not alert Xue Qinghe."
"Find a suitable opportunity to personally deliver the sea dragon marrow into that little rabbit's hands."
"As Your Holiness commands!"
Ghost Douluo's figure flickered, transforming into a shadowy specter that vanished within the grand hall.
Before you continue