Xue Qinghe swallowed the pill.
Moments later, his skin gradually flushed, his cheeks reddened, and his breathing grew rapid.
"Phew~"
So hot.
Xue Qinghe forcibly suppressed the impulse in his heart. A wisp of evil fire kept surging through his body, stirring up childhood memories too painful to revisit.
A moment later.
Xue Qinghe suddenly opened his eyes, a trace of fear surfacing in them.
"Don't! Don't go!"
"Why? Mom, why are you treating me like this? What did I do wrong?"
Xue Qinghe screamed hysterically.
His skin began to redden, and his disguise faded, revealing his true appearance: an incomparably beautiful face and a proud, upright figure.
At that moment.
He was like a helpless little girl.
Sobbing uncontrollably.
"Why? Why doesn't Mom want me?"
Qian Renxue murmured to herself, tears streaming down without end.
She did not know what to do.
As Qian Renxue's will gradually crumbled, the evil fire burned ever more fiercely, as though it would swallow her whole.
"Mom doesn't love me at all..."
"I'm just a child nobody wants."
Qian Renxue murmured to herself, her eyes hollow, as though she had lost her soul.
"Sigh."
"How could there possibly be no one in this world who loves you?"
Ji Hongchen sighed softly.
Qian Renxue suddenly raised her head. She could not make out who stood before her. Her mind was in chaos, her consciousness clouded by the evil fire eating away at her.
"Impossible!"
"Who would love me? No one has ever loved me since I was born!"
Qian Renxue screamed hysterically.
Ji Hongchen fell silent. He walked over to Qian Renxue and reached out to smooth her disheveled golden hair.
"You say no one loves you?"
"What about your grandfather?"
Qian Renxue froze. She shook her head frantically, trying to shake off the evil fire's corrosive influence.
"Grandpa."
"That's right. I still have Grandpa."
A glimmer of clarity flashed through Qian Renxue's eyes, but as the evil fire gnawed at her, her gaze grew hazy again, and increasingly frenzied.
"No!"
Watching Qian Renxue suffer, Ji Hongchen was utterly speechless.
Come on, little angel.
Wasn't everyone in the Angel Clan supposed to have a resilient heart? Why was Qian Renxue so fragile?
He had only intended to grow a little closer to Qian Renxue.
He had never expected Qian Renxue to be completely unable to withstand the pill's effects. If I'd known your resistance was this poor, I would've prepared a children's version for you.
Ji Hongchen watched Qian Renxue try to hurt herself.
He hurriedly hugged her from behind, leaned close to her ear, and whispered, "Xue'er, there are always people in this world who love you. If you die like this, how could you face them?"
That soft call jolted Qian Renxue awake.
She leaned into Ji Hongchen's arms, unable to understand what was happening to her.
All she felt was an overwhelming sense of hurt.
At nine years old, she had already been forced to endure the pain of her mother abandoning her, travel to the Heaven Dou Empire as an undercover agent, and kill several princes to fulfill her mission.
She had only been nine!
Other children her age still lived carefree lives beneath their parents' protective wings.
But her?
No one cared for her.
She was like duckweed in a vast ocean, drifting with the waves, with no one to depend on.
Leaning into Ji Hongchen's arms, Qian Renxue cried again and again, pouring out her grievances and venting all the hurt in her heart.
Ji Hongchen gently stroked her back.
"It's all right. I'm here."
"Even if no one else in the world loves you, I do."
Qian Renxue cried in Ji Hongchen's arms for a while, and her emotions gradually settled. Then drowsiness swept over her, and she fell into a deep sleep.
She was still murmuring in her dreams.
"Hongchen~ Mom~"
"Hongchen~"
Was she taking him for her mother now?
Ji Hongchen smiled helplessly and patted Qian Renxue's back, his heart aching a little for her.
Although Qian Renxue in the original story had possessed a certain amount of "world-shaking wisdom," been rather lovesick, and done plenty of foolish things that harmed Spirit Hall's interests.
At her core, she was simply starved of love.
She had left Spirit Hall at nine to go undercover in the Heaven Dou Empire.
Her heart had probably long since been riddled with wounds.
Even the faintest warmth might move this girl, strong on the outside but fragile within, for a long time.
"Sigh. Sleep, then. Get some sleep."
He sighed softly.
Ji Hongchen carried Qian Renxue to a clean spot, dried the water off her body, and changed her into her clothes.
After all, Qian Renxue was wearing men's underwear, and those two big headlights were far too dazzling.
An hour or two passed.
Only then did Qian Renxue wake groggily.
She abruptly pushed herself upright.
Recalling the absurd things she had just done, she blushed scarlet and wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Aaaah!
How mortifying.
She had actually fallen asleep in Ji Hongchen's arms and even called him Mom a few times.
How embarrassing.
Coming to her senses, she hurriedly checked her body.
Discovering that Ji Hongchen had not done anything to her, she felt a flicker of relief.
"Thank you, Hongchen."
I wonder whether he meant it when he said he loved me.
Qian Renxue felt a little shy.
This was the first time anyone had cared for her like this. The feeling was strange and wonderful, giving her an unprecedented sense of safety and filling her heart with warmth.
Only after quite some time.
Did Qian Renxue emerge from the joy of falling in love.
"My soul power has broken through to level seventy!"
Qian Renxue checked her soul power, delight spreading across her face.
Now she could start considering the divine examination.
"Right, I should head back, too. Otherwise, Snake Lance and the others will get anxious."
Qian Renxue stood up.
She disguised herself as Xue Qinghe again, then turned and left.
Just after leaving the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Qian Renxue spotted Snake Lance and Porcupinefish Douluo patrolling nearby.
The two had rushed to the Sunset Forest without stopping.
But they had been unable to find any trace of Qian Renxue and were running around in anxious circles.
"Young Master, thank goodness you're all right!"
Snake Lance Douluo breathed a sigh of relief.
If anything had happened to the Young Master, the Great Enshrined would have flayed him alive!
Qian Renxue smiled faintly.
"I'm fine. I just encountered a few opportunities."
More than those opportunities, she knew what mattered most to her.
Ji Hongchen, hmm.
He wouldn't escape her grasp.
"By the way, I've reached level seventy. I can hunt for my seventh soul ring now."
Snake Lance Douluo's eyes lit up. "Congratulations, Young Master. Incidentally, the Great Enshrined said you would need to return once you reached level seventy."
"No!"
Qian Renxue shook her head, her tone firm.
"We're at a crucial stage in seizing power over the Heaven Dou Empire. I can't go back. Give me a few more years, and I'll return then."
Qian Renxue spoke in a tone that brooked no argument.
She intended to drag things out and build a good relationship with Ji Hongchen.
One of Douluo's three fundamental lines of code-romance-had kicked into gear!
"Well..."
Snake Lance hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Should we inform the Great Enshrined, then, so he knows about this in advance?"
Qian Renxue shook her head.
"No need. I'm going to give Grandpa a surprise."
"None of you are allowed to tell Grandpa about this!"
Hearing Qian Renxue's threatening words, the two elders, Snake Lance and Pufferfish, naturally dared not disobey.
After all, Qian Renxue was the Young Master.
She was Spirit Hall's heir. If they disobeyed Qian Renxue's orders now, they would certainly have a bitter reckoning waiting for them when she inherited the position of Supreme Pontiff.
Qian Renxue nodded in satisfaction. With the knot in her heart untangled, her mood had improved considerably. "Once we get back, I'll find a way to get a few thousand-year soul bones from the Heaven Dou Treasury as rewards for you."
They weren't her things anyway, so she might as well use them to win people over. Then she would bring down that heartless woman Bibi Dong and make Ji Hongchen the Supreme Pontiff!
Before you continue