"You wouldn't dare? Just now, you didn't seem afraid to dare at all."
Bibi Dong sneered and pressed her hand downward.
An immense force abruptly descended, driving Miles's forehead straight into the floor tiles with a thud.
But judging by that sound, Shi Meng reached his own conclusion:
That's a good, solid head. What a waste not to use it for forging iron.
Bibi Dong rose and looked down at Miles as power steadily gathered in her hand.
"Miles, you claim everything you do is for our Spirit Hall, yet from beginning to end, all you've had your eye on is the position of Holy Son!"
Miles lay prostrate on the floor, kowtowing over and over.
"Your Holiness! Spare my life, Your Holiness! Your subordinate knows his mistake now! But my son Raine has a level-nine talent, after all. Even if he can't become the Holy Son, he can still be useful to Spirit Hall!"
Raine was already so terrified that he had curled up behind Miles, both hands clinging desperately to his father's clothes like a monster that had failed to load.
Bibi Dong's gaze swept over Raine before returning to Miles.
"Level nine? What does your level nine amount to before level twenty? Besides, with a temperament like your son's, how could he possibly be entrusted with anything important?!"
"Cardinal Miles shall be stripped of his position as bishop, have his soul power abolished, and be expelled from Spirit Hall immediately!"
"His son Raine shall have his soul power abolished and his eligibility to join the Hall revoked. He shall be expelled along with Miles!"
At Bibi Dong's verdict, Miles collapsed onto the floor.
It's over. It's all over. My whole life just blue-screened.
Raine finally burst into wailing tears, snot and tears smearing his face as he clutched Miles's arm and shook it desperately.
"Father... I don't want to be thrown out... Father, say something..."
But no one dared plead for them.
Chrysanthemum Douluo waved at the two with a beaming smile.
"This way, gentlemen."
"No... my martial soul! My soul power!"
Raine curled up on the floor, sobbing and screaming, his fingers clawing uselessly at the ground.
But Chrysanthemum Douluo's hand would not stop because of his cries.
"Raine!"
Miles's eyes nearly split with fury, but Ghost Douluo had him restrained as well. His turn was coming next.
Father and son both experienced having their accounts deleted.
Watching this unfold, every disciple, steward, and bishop lowered their heads, terrified that their own name would be called next.
The air was so still that even the echoes off the floor tiles were audible.
Now that feels good!
Watching those two strutting clowns, Shi Meng felt as refreshed as if he had gulped down an ice-cold cola in the dog days of summer.
This father and son had been so overconfident that they had run their mouths without knowing which joker outranked the other.
Now look at them. Straight to game over.
"From this day forward, anyone who dares belittle the Holy Son will be making an enemy of me."
"We obey Your Holiness's decree."
Standing beside Bibi Dong, Shi Meng lowered his gaze to their clasped hands.
Her hand was beautiful and warm, yet for his sake, she had casually crippled two soul masters.
She really is a woman who knows both tenderness and iron resolve. Love it, love it.
[Ding, karmic bond deepening~] [Energy +2]
The corners of Shi Meng's mouth rose, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't force them down. Not even an AK could suppress that recoil.
A god-level martial soul, level-twenty innate soul power, the Holy Son's status, the Pope backing me, and a senior sister watching my back...
With a starting setup like this, how could I possibly lose? Not a chance.
"It's decided. Tomorrow, I'll have Bibi Dong take me soul hunting!"
He was intensely curious about what powerful soul skills his martial soul, born from the Authority of Time, would gain once he attached a soul ring.
Ideally, something that clears the screen with one button, sits at tier zero in the current meta, and sends the developers scrambling to nerf it overnight.
The next day, as dawn was just breaking, Master Shi-who was still twelve years shy of turning eighteen this year-climbed out of bed.
In truth, he had barely slept all night.
Just thinking about getting his soul ring today had left him tossing and turning like a pancake: once the front was fried, he flipped to fry the back, and once the back was done, he wanted to sprinkle on some cumin.
He stood at the entrance to the hall with his little hands clasped behind his back, rising onto his toes from time to time to peer inside, looking exactly like someone waiting for a delivery.
He had spent the entire previous night thinking about this soul ring business.
My innate soul power is level twenty. With a foundation like that, my first soul ring has to be at least a thousand years old to be worthy of me.
A hundred-year soul ring? Putting that on me would be no different from eating a Manchu-Han imperial feast with a plastic spoon. And not just any spoon-the kind that costs 9.9 yuan with free shipping on Pinduoduo.
Besides, the Authority of Time is still low on energy. I'll have to get plenty of snuggle time with Bibi Dong on this trip to help it recover.
Battery running low. Pope to the rescue~
"You're up so early?"
Bibi Dong's voice came from behind him.
Shi Meng turned and saw Bibi Dong in casual clothes, her long purple hair loosely pinned behind her head.
Hu Liena followed beside her, rubbing her eyes and yawning.
"Teacher!"
Shi Meng immediately trotted over, grabbed Bibi Dong's hand, and rubbed his little face against her palm.
[Energy +1]
Bibi Dong glanced down at Shi Meng. Though she said nothing, her heart was far from calm.
She felt as though Shi Meng's cuteness was about to pierce clean through her heart.
Who could have imagined that, after being reborn, the person she had loved most in her previous life would be so... delectable?
Watching from beside them, Hu Liena pouted.
Why does Junior Brother only hold Teacher's hand? I want to hold his hand too...
The outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Sitting in the carriage, Shi Meng lifted the curtain to peek outside.
Good grief, these trees are thicker than the apartment buildings back in my old life. The mushrooms look like umbrellas, and the air smells of earth mixed with flowers and grass.
After three years of breathing air-conditioning at his workstation in his previous life, breathing this air felt like giving his lungs a spa treatment.
"Meng."
Bibi Dong's voice came from beside him.
"What kind of soul beast would you like to hunt for your first soul ring?"
Here it comes, here it comes.
Shi Meng lowered the curtain, turned around, and put on an obedient expression.
"Teacher, I want to hunt a thousand-year soul beast."
Hu Liena was drinking water and nearly spat it out.
"A thousand years? Junior Brother, the limit for a first ring is four hundred and twenty-three years! Normally, people can't take on a thousand-year soul beast until their third ring!"
Shi Meng blinked.
"But Senior Sister, my innate soul power is level twenty. I'm different from ordinary soul masters. With my limits, a thousand years should be fine."
As he spoke, he turned toward Bibi Dong.
"Right, Teacher?"
"Yes."
Bibi Dong smiled and softly answered with that single word.
Shi Meng was right.
In her memories, Shi Meng had always been able to create miracles in their previous life.
His first ring in that life had already surpassed the limit.
Even so, it had only been a mere eight hundred years old.
Now that he had been reincarnated, absorbing an even stronger thousand-year first ring might not be particularly difficult.
The carriage continued onward for a little while.
Shi Meng suddenly opened his eyes and looked southeast.
"Teacher, I think I sensed something. There seems to be an ice-type thousand-year soul beast over there."
Bibi Dong raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.
Hu Liena looked astonished as well.
"Junior Brother, you can even sense soul beasts?"
"It might be a trait of my martial soul."
Shi Meng wasn't lying. He had only just discovered that his martial soul was extremely sensitive to pheromones. Perhaps this was an innate ability that came with every Herrscher Authority?
Minimap tracking hack, activate!
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