The Elder Hall.
The Elder Hall stood at the very summit of Spirit Hall's Sacred Mountain, with the imposing air of one who stood atop the highest peak and looked down on all others. It was much smaller than the Pope's Hall, with no lavish decorations inside. The entire structure was built from plain, timeworn stone.
In the center of the Elder Hall stood a statue of a six-winged angel. Ten meters tall and gleaming gold from head to toe, it had three pairs of enormous wings spread behind its back and held a massive golden greatsword aloft, pointing straight into the heavens.
Faint golden flames swirled around the golden greatsword.
Outside the Pope's Hall stood a similar statue of a six-winged angel, but compared with this one, that statue seemed to be missing something.
It was probably the power that embodied light and flame.
Reaching the Elder Hall required climbing thousands of steps up Spirit Hall's Sacred Mountain. The closer Bibi Dong drew to the hall, the stronger the revulsion in her heart became.
As the Rakshasa God's inheritor, it was perfectly natural for Bibi Dong to feel disgust toward the Angel God. The Rakshasa God and the Angel God were opposing deities. The Angel God represented light and aspired to eradicate all suffering in the mortal world.
The Rakshasa God, on the other hand, brought suffering into the world. Her inheritor therefore had to be someone who had lost all humanity, or even someone who hated the Angel Clan. Qian Xunji's atrocities against Bibi Dong had driven her to sever all ties with the Angel Clan, which was precisely what the Rakshasa God wanted and needed.
The Rakshasa hated the angel. It was only after devouring Qian Xunji that Bibi Dong finally gained the means to enter the Rakshasa Secret Realm and began the Rakshasa God's godhood inheritance.
The Rakshasa God's existence was not without reason. Where there was light in the world, there would inevitably be darkness; where there was justice, there would be evil.
Recalling the purpose of her visit, Bibi Dong struggled to suppress her revulsion. With the Golden Scepter in hand, she slowly walked toward the Elder Hall.
At that moment, two people stood beneath the enormous Angel God Statue in the center of the Elder Hall.
One appeared to be only in his thirties or forties. He was very handsome, with a faint smile on his face. Tall but not particularly muscular, he wore his long golden hair loose behind his head, neatly groomed.
Simply standing there, he inspired an urge to bow down in worship.
He was Qian Daoliu, Spirit Hall's Arbitration Elder and the guardian of the Angel God. Known as Invincible in the Sky, he and Tang Chen, the First Sect Master of the Clear Sky Sect, were hailed as the Twin Peaks of the Soul Master World. He was also one of the only three Peerless Douluos still living.
Beside Qian Daoliu stood an elderly man with white hair and a white beard, dressed in gold robes embroidered with silver. He was Golden Crocodile Douluo, the Second Worship of Spirit Hall's Elder Hall. His soul power had reached level 98, and his martial soul was the Golden Crocodile King.
"Great Enshrined, hasn't this woman always hated this place? What does she want, coming here now?" Golden Crocodile Douluo had also sensed Bibi Dong's arrival. He looked at Qian Daoliu, who stood before the Angel God Statue, and asked in confusion.
"I don't know either," Qian Daoliu replied mildly.
"Back then, you overruled every objection to recommend her as Spirit Hall's pope. Yet now, that ungrateful woman has been secretly building her own faction, hoping to bypass the Elder Hall and seize complete control of Spirit Hall. Only she and Chrysanthemum Douluo have come this time. Should we take the opportunity to capture her and force her to surrender her authority?" Golden Crocodile Douluo reminded him gravely.
At those words, Qian Daoliu's gaze hardened slightly. He replied calmly, "I was the one who placed her on the papal throne. If I forcibly dragged her down now, wouldn't I be slapping my own face? She has the talent to reach another realm. I believe Spirit Hall can go further under her leadership."
"Besides, Xiao Xue has yet to fully mature. No one is better suited to serve as pope for now. In the end, all her efforts will merely sew Xiao Xue's wedding gown."
The moment Bibi Dong reached the entrance to the Elder Hall, she felt a suffocating pressure of soul power surge toward her and Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan.
That pressure was forceful and ferocious. It seemed to come from Golden Crocodile Douluo.
"Is that old bastard Golden Crocodile trying to intimidate me?" Bibi Dong murmured, her gaze sharpening as she tightened her grip on the Golden Scepter.
The closer they came to the Elder Hall, the stronger the soul power pressure grew. Eventually, Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan could barely take another step.
"Yue Guan, wait for me at the entrance. You don't need to come inside," Bibi Dong said lightly, glancing at Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan, whose forehead was drenched in sweat.
"Yes, Your Holiness." Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan nodded, as though a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders, and retreated a few steps away from the Elder Hall. Then he added, "Your Holiness, there's one more thing I don't understand. Why is Tang Hao's other son's martial soul neither the Clear Sky Hammer nor Blue Silver Grass, but a strange flame instead?"
Bibi Dong explained, "I can't make sense of that either. Perhaps Tang Hao picked up that child somewhere. In any case, Tang San, who may possess twin martial souls, is the greatest future threat to our Spirit Hall. A fire-attribute soul master with innate full soul power is hardly cause for concern."
With that, Bibi Dong headed straight into the Elder Hall.
Watching Bibi Dong walk slowly toward the Elder Hall with such calm composure, Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan wondered to himself whether His Holiness the Pope had already reached the Great Enshrined's realm.
That was a height he could never attain, even if he spent his entire life striving for it.
Once she had fully entered the Elder Hall, Bibi Dong raised her head to look at the six-winged Angel God Statue imbued with the Angel God's divine power, and at the golden-haired elder standing beneath it. The negative emotions she had buried deep in her heart for years immediately surged forth, refusing to subside for a long time.
Qian Daoliu, one day, I will utterly destroy the foundations of your Angel Clan, Bibi Dong thought coldly.
Whether it was the influence of the Rakshasa Divine Sense or the sudden recollection of all the atrocities Qian Xunji had committed against her, she felt as though she wanted to tear everything before her into pieces.
Especially that statue of the six-winged angel.
Upon seeing Bibi Dong arrive, Qian Daoliu took one light step forward. In the blink of an eye, he was already standing before her.
"Bibi Dong, since becoming Spirit Hall's pope, you haven't set foot in the Elder Hall under my authority. You don't seem to like this place. What... brings you to me today?" Qian Daoliu gave Bibi Dong a mild glance and asked softly.
"Do you still remember the children Tang Hao took with him when he fled after gravely injuring your son?" Bibi Dong asked composedly.
Qian Daoliu paused for a moment, seemingly recalling something, then frowned. "When I pursued him back then, he did indeed have two infants in his arms. Those infants should have been his children with that soul beast."
"What? Is that why you've come?" Qian Daoliu asked in puzzlement.
"Take a look at this first." With a gentle wave of Bibi Dong's delicate hand, a gold-edged piece of cloth fell into Qian Daoliu's hands. Written on it was the information Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan had gathered about Tang Hao and his sons.
Qian Daoliu gently unfolded the cloth and lowered his gaze to it.
At first, his expression did not change. But when he reached Bibi Dong's final deductions, a slight ripple stirred in his eyes, which had been as still as an ancient well.
"Heh. Surnamed Tang, with Blue Silver Grass as his martial soul, yet possessing innate full soul power. He arrived in Holy Soul Village six years ago, and his father is a blacksmith also named Tang Hao. Isn't that far too much of a coincidence?" Qian Daoliu couldn't help laughing.
"But why is the other child's martial soul a flame?"
Bibi Dong smiled faintly at his words and said with certainty, "This Blue Silver Grass soul master, Tang San, should be the son of Clear Sky Douluo Tang Hao. According to my deductions, there's an extremely high chance that Tang San possesses twin martial souls. If someone with a blood-deep feud against Spirit Hall is allowed to grow up bearing that hatred, he will inevitably find a way to overthrow Spirit Hall completely."
"As for the other child, perhaps Tang Hao picked him up while fleeing."
"Oh? You came to me just to tell me this?" Qian Daoliu turned around calmly and raised his head to look at the six-winged Angel God Statue before him. Taking the opportunity, he asked Bibi Dong, "Shouldn't someone like that be dealt with by your people in the Pope's Hall? Why have you come to me?"
"Heh." Bibi Dong laughed aloud and reminded him with considerable sarcasm, "Great Enshrined, there doesn't seem to be any direct enmity between Tang Hao and me. He is the murderer who gravely injured your son and caused his death. As for the information about them, I've already told"
With that, Bibi Dong turned and walked toward the exit of the Elder Hall.
Qian Daoliu, you old bastard, you really are a cunning old fox. But... heh, Bibi Dong thought to herself.
Just as Bibi Dong reached the entrance to the Elder Hall, Qian Daoliu suddenly spoke, his voice turning cold. "Bibi Dong, you're quite right. There is indeed no direct enmity between you and Tang Hao. Perhaps, in a certain sense, you ought to thank him."
At those words, Bibi Dong's steps faltered slightly. She snorted coldly, apparently catching the implication in Qian Daoliu's words, then sharply flicked her sleeve and left the Elder Hall without looking back.
Qian Daoliu had long known that Bibi Dong had killed his son, Qian Xunji. The only reason he had not openly broken with her was that she was Qian Renxue's mother.
It was also because Bibi Dong's talent could lead Spirit Hall further.
Put bluntly, Bibi Dong was useful.
To Qian Daoliu, even knowing that Tang San truly possessed twin martial souls would not concern him much at present. After all, the current Tang San was nothing more than an ant on the ground to him.
Bibi Dong, however, was a very real threat.
As the Angel God's Divine Servant, Qian Daoliu had long sensed the evil aura of the Rakshasa God emanating from Bibi Dong. He had also guessed that she was the inheritor of some evil deity.
Qian Renxue had yet to fully mature, and Qian Daoliu did not know whether she would successfully inherit the Angel God's divine seat after completing the Angel God's divine trials.
For now, he only wanted Bibi Dong to continue serving as his tool and remain Spirit Hall's pope. Once Qian Renxue successfully inherited the Angel God's divine seat, he would help her reclaim control of Spirit Hall.
The two truly each harbored schemes of their own!
"Bibi Dong, you want to kill with a borrowed blade. How could I let you have your way? If I can allow one genius with twin martial souls to grow, why couldn't I allow a second?"
"But you, with that plan you've been brewing for years, even going so far as to send Xiao Xue into the Heaven Dou Empire as an undercover agent... will Tang San's existence cause it all to be swept away down the river in the end?" Once Bibi Dong had gone far away, Qian Daoliu gazed meaningfully at the six-winged angel statue before him and spoke softly.
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