"What did she do?"
Jiang Li was utterly astonished. He could feel that his breakthrough had come from Qian Renxue's gift.
Though filled with questions, he had no time to think further. He immediately sat cross-legged to meditate, guiding this spiritual power and swiftly making it his own.
He remained seated for two whole days.
When Jiang Li opened his eyes again, his cultivation had reached the Fourth Order, and his Internal Spiritual Power had surged straight from 499 to 832.
Strictly speaking, his current cultivation was around level three of the Fourth Order.
With his talent, even an entire year of normal cultivation would not have increased his Internal Spiritual Power by so much.
"This wasn't a Blood Pact, nor was it a return of power. What exactly did she do?"
Increasingly puzzled, Jiang Li wasted no time putting away the two Skill Books and heading upstairs toward Qian Renxue.
At that moment, Qian Renxue slowly opened her eyes inside her room as well.
She felt a sense of ease from the inside out.
She had just tried meditating and cultivating on this continent, intending only to see whether she could cultivate here. She had never expected that the moment she began meditating, it would feel like sweet rain after a long drought.
The power drifting between heaven and earth on this continent was of a higher quality than the Soul Power on the Douluo Continent. During her meditation, she had unknowingly replaced the power she controlled.
Or rather, she had improved its quality.
Without any deliberate effort, merely absorbing the spiritual power between heaven and earth had achieved the same effect as compressing her Soul Power on the Douluo Continent.
Once the conversion was complete, her cultivation had also risen from level 52 to level 54.
An increase of two whole levels of Soul Power.
Even setting everything else aside, this benefit alone was enough to keep her from seeking a way to dissolve that pact.
Ever since accepting the undercover mission, she had rarely had time to cultivate on her own. Despite her exceptional talent, her Soul Power had still only reached level 52. Now that she had a place where her cultivation speed could more than double, how could it be anything but a pleasant surprise?
Knock, knock, knock...
The knocking brought Qian Renxue out of the joy of her breakthrough.
"How much time has passed?"
Coming to her senses, Qian Renxue hurriedly rose and opened the door, immediately asking Jiang Li how long it had been.
"Two days and two nights!"
Jiang Li told her truthfully.
Once he drew closer, the characteristics of their pact also gave him some understanding of why his own power had increased.
He had simply been carried straight to new heights.
"Ah... it's been that long..."
Upon hearing that two whole days had passed, Qian Renxue's perpetually cold face immediately showed anxiety.
She had been missing for so long. Who knew what chaos might have broken out on the Douluo Continent?
Even if there was a contingency plan for the imperial family, how could Uncle She Long and Uncle Ci Xue, who protected her, stand idly by after she disappeared outright?
"I have to go back. I'll come here again when we both have time."
Qian Renxue immediately moved to leave.
"These are gifts I prepared for you. If you want to come here, just send your thoughts through the Pact Array."
Jiang Li gave her the two Skill Books he had prepared long ago.
"All right!"
Looking at the books Jiang Li handed her, Qian Renxue hesitated for only a moment before placing them in her Storage Soul Tool. After following Jiang Li's instructions, she soon vanished from the spot.
"Just converting her spiritual power gave me such a boost. What if she broke through an entire major realm?"
"If I had her awaken her Internal Spiritual Power, or undergo Sacred Awakening, could I still benefit?"
Looking toward where Qian Renxue had disappeared, Jiang Li fell into thought.
As for reverse summoning and traveling to the Douluo Continent himself, there was no hurry.
Haoyue being able to summon Long Haochen did not mean Qian Renxue could summon him. There was a fundamental difference involved, and with the distance between planes and the uncertain risks, careful consideration would be best.
In any case, riding her coattails straight to the Fourth Order this time could not have been better for him.
Rather than continue meditating, Jiang Li immediately took paper and a pen from his Storage Ring and copied out the Elf Clan's runes he had memorized earlier.
If Qian Renxue could not reverse-summon him to her plane the way Haoyue summoned Long Haochen, then this Summoning Array of the Ancient Elves Clan might become the key to his journey to the Douluo Plane.
Meanwhile, on the Douluo Continent, Qian Renxue's disappearance into thin air had immediately set storm clouds churning across the continent.
The two Titled Douluo, Snake Lance and Pufferfish, had watched Qian Renxue vanish right before their eyes. No matter how they searched, they could find no trace of her.
Only after turning the entire Heaven Dou Empire's Imperial City upside down without finding a single trace did the two realize that this matter was beyond what they could shoulder.
They immediately returned to Spirit City and reported the matter to the Worship Hall.
The Second Worship, Golden Crocodile Douluo, left the Worship Hall for the first time in decades, yet his painstaking search also proved fruitless.
When word returned to the Worship Hall, Qian Daoliu could no longer remain calm either. Soon afterward, all seven enshrined of the Worship Hall mobilized together.
Even the attack on the Clear Sky Sect back then had not warranted such a turnout.
At this moment, the so-called undercover mission no longer mattered at all.
If they found Qian Renxue, everything could be discussed. But if, as they feared, something had happened to her, even someone with moral standards as high as Qian Daoliu's would descend into an utter killing frenzy.
Inside the Papal Hall, Bibi Dong also received the news.
At first, she thought little of it. She would have loved some unforeseen incident to crop up and cause trouble for those old men in the Worship Hall.
Still, she sent people to investigate, at least to establish what those old men were doing.
When she learned that it concerned Qian Renxue, that she had disappeared completely, and that even Qian Daoliu could not find her, Bibi Dong could no longer remain calm.
How could Qian Renxue disappear into thin air?
How could she possibly disappear into thin air?
How could she be allowed to disappear into thin air?
She hated Qian Xunji, hated Qian Daoliu, and even hated Qian Renxue and the entire Angel Lineage. Yet behind that hatred lay a feeling she refused to acknowledge.
Why had she favored Hu Liena so much over the years? Partly because she felt she saw her former self in Hu Liena, and partly because of an emotional attachment she herself refused to admit.
Rather than saying she favored Hu Liena, it would be more accurate to say she had made up for the affection she owed Qian Renxue through Hu Liena.
Qian Renxue's disappearance into thin air had nonetheless inadvertently unsettled her.
Although she looked down on that old man Qian Daoliu, she had to admit that both his cultivation and his abilities stood among the finest in the world. If even he could not find Qian Renxue, then it was quite possible that Qian Renxue had ceased to exist altogether.
Bibi Dong's heart was in turmoil.
As her thoughts flew in all directions, she came to her senses to find herself already in the skies above the Heaven Dou Empire's Imperial City.
Realizing her loss of composure, Bibi Dong suppressed the inexplicable hatred surging in her heart and made to leave, yet her feet would not budge an inch.
I'm already here!
Holding to that thought, Bibi Dong concealed herself and descended upon Qian Renxue's dwelling, the Crown Prince's Residence of Xue Qinghe, crown prince of the Heaven Dou Empire.
"Qian Daoliu, she's been missing for two days, and you still haven't found her. Is this all you're capable of?"
Bibi Dong spoke mockingly, her expression cold, though a trace of worry lay hidden deep in her eyes.
"Bibi Dong, if you want to die, I'll gladly oblige!"
In the past, Qian Daoliu would never have bothered with such verbal provocations from Bibi Dong, having long since learned to ignore them.
Now, however, he revealed pure killing intent.
Xue'er was dead. He no longer had the heart to distinguish right from wrong. Whoever provoked Qian Daoliu at this moment would die.
As Qian Daoliu's words fell, Golden Crocodile Douluo's eyes instantly became slit pupils, and he immediately completed his Martial Soul Possession.
"If you're so capable, bring her back!"
Bibi Dong remained merciless with her words, but she took a step back and immediately activated her spiritual power, searching for lingering traces of Qian Renxue's aura.
Just then, a brilliant light flashed, and Qian Renxue appeared out of thin air before them.
"Grandpa, Grandpa Golden Crocodile, Grandpa Azure Luan... why are you all here?"
Having just returned to the Douluo Continent, Qian Renxue froze briefly at the sight of everyone before her, then realized what had happened.
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