She Still Wanted to Play All Night

Bibi Dong came to her senses and hefted her vase body, her stubby legs pattering as she ran into the courtyard.

After just two steps, she laughed.

The sight of a vase running away was far too comical. Its round belly swayed from side to side, and the short legs beneath its base clattered against the flagstones.

She found a flower stand with three vases already on it. She jumped up, squeezed into the middle, and stayed perfectly still.

Qin Chuan entered.

Carrying the Spray Soul Tool, he made a circuit of the courtyard. He glanced at the flower stand as he passed.

Four vases.

He fired a burst at the flower stand.

Ratatatat.

The first shattered-a duplicate. The second shattered. At the third, white light flashed.

Bibi Dong returned to human form, standing on the flower stand, her long pinkish-purple hair spilling down, her purple-gold eyes glaring at Qin Chuan.

"How did you find me in the very first round!"

Qin Chuan pointed at the flower stand. "The other three vases were white. You were purple."

Bibi Dong looked down at the color of the vase she had just been.

Purple.

She had forgotten that her Martial Soul was purple-toned, so the vase she transformed into was purple too. With one purple vase wedged between three white ones, who else would he look for?

"Again!" Bibi Dong said.

In the second round, she wised up. She turned into a gray flagstone laid on the courtyard floor.

But Qin Chuan still found her. Her flagstone was a size larger than those beside it, and its shape was somewhat different too.

In the third round, she turned into a piece of firewood and hid in the woodpile in the kitchen.

Qin Chuan searched for three minutes without finding her.

Bibi Dong stifled her laughter in the woodpile.

In the end, Qin Chuan fired a burst at the woodpile, blasting half the firewood away before he finally found her.

"Hahahaha!" When Bibi Dong transformed back out of the woodpile, she rocked back and forth with laughter.

Her laughter was unrestrained, nothing like the cold, imposing Pope she usually was in Spirit Hall.

Watching her laugh, Qin Chuan thought, Sure enough, this game works even better for her than Otherworld Survival. The core of Happy Cultivation is emotional engagement. The happier she is, the better it works.

The two took turns hiding and seeking, round after round.

The more Bibi Dong played, the more hooked she became.

She began studying how to hide without being found. What color objects suited which locations, how to arrange duplicates to confuse the eyes and ears, where the rooms' blind spots were, and how to use the shadows the lights could not reach.

She was so absorbed in playing that she completely forgot the time.

One hour, two hours, five hours.

Qin Chuan checked the time. He was starting to struggle to keep going.

"Sis Dongdong, I'm exhausted. Let's stop here for today."

Bibi Dong was crouching behind an artificial rockery, transformed into a stone toad sculpture. Hearing Qin Chuan, she froze for a moment.

"How many hours has it been?"

"Five hours."

Bibi Dong transformed back behind the rockery and stood up. A smile still lingered on her face, and her breathing was a little quick, but she was in incredibly good spirits.

"I can keep going."

Qin Chuan shook his head. "I can't. I'm really tired."

Bibi Dong looked at him, the corner of her mouth twitching, but ultimately did not insist.

The Game Domain was dispelled.

The two returned to that ordinary room.

Bibi Dong stood in the middle of the room and closed her eyes, sensing the changes within her body.

Her Soul Power had increased again.

Not by much-about 0.1%.

Normally, a 0.1% increase in Soul Power would require at least a month of meditation. But now, she had accumulated it simply by playing hide-and-seek for five hours.

Bibi Dong quickly did the calculations in her head.

If I play five hours every day and gain 0.1% each time... that makes 36% in a year... calculating from the total Soul Power needed to go from level 98 to level 99, I could reach level 99 in about three years.

A Level 99 Limit Douluo.

No need for a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring. No need to hunt top-tier Soul Beasts. No need to venture into the depths of Star Dou Great Forest. All she needed was to play Object Hide-and-Seek with Qin Chuan in this room.

This was insane.

Bibi Dong drew a deep breath, then let it out. Light flickered in her eyes.

"Qin Chuan."

"Hmm?"

"This Game Hall is the most important thing on the entire continent."

Qin Chuan smiled. "You flatter me, Sis Dongdong."

"I'm not flattering you." Bibi Dong looked at him. "I'm stating a fact."

She went over tonight's experiences in her mind from beginning to end.

Clearing Haunted Dormitory had taken her straight to level 98. Five hours of Object Hide-and-Seek had increased her Soul Power by 0.1%. Together, those two things were already worth more than any cultivation resources she could think of.

And only Qin Chuan could provide all of this.

Bibi Dong walked to the doorway and paused.

She looked back at the room's stone walls and floor.

A few hours ago, this had been a quaint, old-fashioned courtyard. The flower stand, rockery, kitchen, and woodpile had all been utterly lifelike. Now that the domain was dispelled, it had turned back into a bare stone room.

"Brother Chuan."

"Hmm?"

"I'll come play with you again tomorrow night."

Qin Chuan glanced at her and understood.

Bibi Dong was now like someone who had discovered a gold mine.

She had cultivated for more than half her life and had never encountered such an easy, efficient way to improve. Anyone would get hooked.

"No problem," Qin Chuan said. "But Sis Dongdong, you're the Pope. You have plenty to handle during the day. Play all you like, but don't wear yourself out."

Bibi Dong shot him a glance. "Are you worrying about my health?"

"I'm worried Yue Guan and Gui Mei have been waiting too long outside."

The corner of Bibi Dong's mouth twitched.

The two came down from the second floor and walked into the first-floor hall.

Qin Chuan opened the door.

Yue Guan and Gui Mei were still standing outside.

As soon as Yue Guan saw Bibi Dong come out, his eyes swept over her, examining her expression.

Her Holiness was smiling, and it was not a polite smile. She was genuinely smiling.

Yue Guan had spent decades in Spirit Hall, and he could count on one hand the number of times he had seen Bibi Dong smile like this.

"Your Holiness, shall we leave?" Yue Guan asked.

Bibi Dong nodded, her tone cool. "You two go back first. Qin Chuan and I still have some things to discuss."

Yue Guan opened his mouth, wanting to say something, then swallowed it back.

He had served Bibi Dong for so many years that he knew when to ask questions and when not to.

"Yes, Your Holiness."

Yue Guan and Gui Mei exchanged a glance, then vanished into the night with a flicker of their figures.

The two Titled Douluo left swiftly and cleanly, without even stirring the wind.

Bibi Dong stood at the entrance of the Game Hall and looked up at the moon.

The moonlight was lovely, its silvery-white glow spilling across the ground.

"Wait here a moment."

With that, she turned and walked back into the Game Hall.

Qin Chuan stood in the doorway, watching her retreating figure.

About half a minute later, Bibi Dong came out again.

She had taken a wide-brimmed hat from her Storage Soul Tool and pulled its brim low, hiding most of her face. A thin gauze veil was tied beneath the brim, covering the lower half of her face as well.

Her long pinkish-purple hair was all tucked into the hat, with only a few stray strands slipping out along the brim.

She had not changed out of her Pope Robe, but with the hat and veil on, that lofty, oppressive air immediately faded.

She looked like an ordinary noblewoman out for a nighttime stroll who did not want to be recognized.

Qin Chuan looked her over.

"Sis Dongdong, you look pretty cute dressed like that."