The words fell.
Bibi Dong's pupils abruptly contracted.
Qian Xunji...
When Qian Chenming spoke the name of the man she had personally sent to hell, it sounded light and casual, as though he were recounting some inconsequential old affair.
She opened her mouth, but something seemed to lodge in her throat.
Every scene from that secret chamber all those years ago surged through her mind.
That desperate howl, that shriveled corpse, the life force she had drawn from his body with her own hands... she had thought no second person in this world should know about it.
Was he bluffing?
Bibi Dong stared fixedly at Qian Chenming's face, still trying to find some flaw in those eyes as still as ancient wells.
But Qian Chenming simply stood there calmly, as though his remark had been nothing more than a pebble tossed out to test the depth of the water.
The hall was so quiet that breathing could be heard.
Bibi Dong suppressed the shock in her heart and turned her head slightly without betraying anything, briefly casting her gaze toward Chrysanthemum Douluo.
Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan understood at once. He took half a step forward and cupped his hands.
"Your Holiness, you must be joking. His Holiness Qian Xunji was... gravely wounded by that villain Tang Hao, and died of his injuries after returning to the hall. Everyone in Spirit Hall knows this, and there are records to verify it."
After speaking, doubts inevitably arose in Chrysanthemum Douluo's heart as well.
Why suddenly bring up this old affair?
Qian Chenming did not look at Chrysanthemum Douluo. He continued staring at Bibi Dong and said slowly, "Bibi Dong, weren't you questioning my identity as pope?"
The instant his words fell, the temperature in the hall seemed to plunge several degrees.
Bibi Dong did not answer. Only the light in her beautiful eyes darkened, little by little.
Qian Chenming was in no hurry either. He simply stood there quietly.
Then he moved.
Boom!
Six blazing white wings abruptly unfurled behind him. Every feather seemed forged from pure light, its edges traced with golden patterns, shimmering with radiant colors that nearly illuminated the entire hall as brightly as day.
That light was pure, sacred, and vast.
It was more solid and more magnificent than Qian Daoliu's six wings, as though this alone were the true Angel Divine Light.
Everyone in the hall blanched at once.
"This..." Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan's lips trembled, his eyes fixed on those six wings. His voice seemed squeezed from his throat. "Such purity... this aura... it really is the old pope!"
Ghost Douluo Gui Mei also slowly emerged from the shadows, his shock plain to see.
Had the legendary old pope truly returned to life?
At that moment, Golden Crocodile Douluo strode forward, Soul Power surging around him as golden scale armor flickered in and out of sight. His voice rumbled like muffled thunder.
"When Xunji returned after facing Tang Hao, his injuries were indeed severe, but with Spirit Hall's resources to nurse him back to health, how could he have suddenly dropped dead afterward?"
He paused, his gaze sharp as a blade as it pierced straight toward Bibi Dong.
The atmosphere in the hall abruptly became one of drawn swords and taut bows.
The other consecrators also pressed forward, Soul Power secretly stirring as their gazes moved between Bibi Dong and Qian Chenming, filled with surprise, doubt, and scrutiny.
They had only known that they were accompanying the old pope, Qian Chenming, as he emerged from seclusion today to reclaim control of Spirit Hall. They had never expected it to involve the cause of the former pope Qian Xunji's death.
As for the old pope Qian Chenming's words...
Even if they did not believe them entirely, they believed eighty or ninety percent.
Perhaps there truly had been more to what happened back then.
At that moment...
Bibi Dong's hands trembled slightly inside her sleeves.
She could feel every gaze in the hall falling on her, like countless needles piercing her skin.
She could not admit it, nor could she deny it too deliberately.
She knew the keen noses of these old foxes all too well. If she exposed even the slightest flaw, they would tear away every layer of her disguise.
She drew a deep breath, once again assumed the pope's majesty, and gave a cold laugh.
That laugh was icy enough to lower the temperature of the vast Pope's Palace by several degrees.
"If you wish to condemn someone, you'll never lack a pretext."
"Do not forget that Qian Xunji was my husband. A wife murdering her husband? Don't you find that laughable?"
"Whether it's laughable or not, Bibi Dong, you know better than anyone."
As Qian Chenming answered Bibi Dong, he slowly raised his right hand, spreading his fingers with his palm facing the sky.
The hall suddenly fell silent, and even the sound of breathing became clearly audible.
"It doesn't matter if you won't speak."
His voice was terrifyingly calm. "I possess a divine skill that I have never revealed before the world since mastering it. Today, you shall experience it for yourself."
Before his words had finished, every wing behind Qian Chenming spread wide, and his figure shot skyward, piercing through the roof and soaring straight into the clouds.
Boom!
The next moment, an enormous Angel Phantom abruptly appeared above the entire Pope's Palace.
The phantom stood a full hundred zhang tall, its six wings hanging across the heavens as sacred light flowed around it, almost enveloping all of Spirit Hall.
Outside the hall, countless people looked up, prostrated themselves on the ground, and trembled all over.
Inside the Pope's Palace, every consecrator took a step back at the same time.
The Angel Phantom slowly lowered its head and opened its eyes. Two beams of pure white light swept over everyone in the hall.
In that instant, the most secret corners of everyone's hearts seemed to be turned open by an invisible hand, laid bare beneath the light.
"Divine Envoy Domain." Qian Chenming's voice was level, yet carried unquestionable authority.
"Within this domain, all falsehood has nowhere to hide. Whatever you think, whatever you have done in the past, this divine light will reveal it all. You cannot hide it, Bibi Dong."
Inside the hall...
Bibi Dong's pupils contracted sharply.
She felt an extraordinarily overbearing will force its way into her sea of consciousness, like an icy hand stirring through the depths of her memories, little by little.
She abruptly clenched her teeth, Soul Power pouring out wildly as she tried to resist that force, only to discover that her Titled Douluo Soul Power was like a clay ox entering the sea, unable to shake that light in the slightest.
At the same time...
The Rakshasa Dark Power within her heart also began to be illuminated, with nothing left concealed.
This was the angels' innate suppression of darkness.
An extremely faint cracking sound rang out.
Bibi Dong's body jolted violently. All color instantly drained from her face, and she staggered back two steps, barely steadying herself by grasping the armrest of the papal throne.
For the first time, genuine terror appeared in her beautiful eyes.
Qian Chenming's divine light had already broken open a fissure within her. Like an invisible blade, it was prying open the darkest corner deep within her memories, little by little.
"No... don't!" Bibi Dong finally cried out, her voice trembling.
Qian Chenming did not stop.
The divine light pressed down once more. The Angel Phantom slowly folded its wings, gathering all the sacred light into a single beam that shone straight at the point between Bibi Dong's brows.
Bibi Dong closed her eyes in pain, both hands gripping the armrests tightly.
Everyone in the hall held their breath.
"Your Holiness!"
Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo wanted to step forward to help, but neither of them could move in the slightest.
Golden Crocodile Douluo stared fixedly at Bibi Dong's face, his gaze dark. "With Xunji's constitution, his sudden death struck us as suspicious even then. We simply had no evidence. Today, we shall see what the truth really is!"
Before you continue