Over the next few days, Yu Xiaogang remained in Spirit City, spending his time with Bibi Dong.
During the day, while Bibi Dong handled religious affairs, he read and drank tea in a side hall of the Pope's Palace, occasionally leafing through Spirit Hall's treasured texts. In the evenings, they ate together, took walks, and chatted, as though they wanted to make up for all the twenty-odd years they had spent apart.
The chill that had lingered around Bibi Dong's eyes and brows for years noticeably faded over those days. Even the maids of the Pope's Palace whispered that Her Holiness seemed to be in an especially good mood lately.
After dinner one evening, they sat shoulder to shoulder on a stone bench in the rear garden of the Pope's Palace. Moonlight spilled over them, and their surroundings were so quiet that only the chirping of insects could be heard.
After a moment of silence, Bibi Dong suddenly spoke. "Yu Xiaogang, there's something... I want to tell you."
"Hmm?"
"I... have a daughter."
Yu Xiaogang turned to look at her, showing no surprise, and simply waited quietly for her to continue.
Bibi Dong lowered her gaze, her voice softening. "Her name is Qian Renxue. She's Qian Xunji's daughter. Xue Qinghe, the crown prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, is her in disguise. All these years, I've had her working undercover within the Heaven Dou Imperial Family."
Having said this, she held her breath and waited for Yu Xiaogang's reaction.
This matter had weighed on her heart for far too long, a scar she had never dared touch. Now that she had spoken of it herself, a thin sheen of sweat had formed on her palms.
She feared Yu Xiaogang would be upset. After all, this was a daughter she had borne with another man...
But she also knew she could not keep it from Yu Xiaogang forever. Rather than letting him discover it himself later, she might as well tell him herself.
Unexpectedly, Yu Xiaogang showed none of the surprise or displeasure she had imagined. He merely smiled gently.
"So Dong'er is already a mother."
Yu Xiaogang reached out and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"What's her name? When will you bring her to meet me?"
Bibi Dong raised her head and stared at him blankly. "Yu Xiaogang, you... don't mind?"
"Mind what?"
Yu Xiaogang looked down at her.
"She's your daughter, so she's my daughter. What would I have to mind?"
Bibi Dong stared at him for a long time, her eyes reddening again.
She pressed her lips together, struggling to suppress the emotions welling up inside her, before explaining in detail how Qian Renxue had gone undercover in Heaven Dou.
After hearing her out, Yu Xiaogang fell silent for a moment, then gently took her hand.
"Dong'er, the child is innocent. You're her mother. Haven't you noticed? She's probably doing all this for you, to earn your approval."
Bibi Dong looked pained, her fingers tightening slightly. "I know... but whenever I saw her before, I would remember what happened back then..."
"That's all in the past."
Yu Xiaogang slipped an arm around her waist and drew her closer.
"Let it go. I don't mind, and Qian Xunji is already dead."
"Qian Renxue is innocent. I don't want you and your daughter to keep going on like this. You love her in your heart too, don't you?"
Bibi Dong did not deny it.
However much she tried to hide it, Qian Renxue was still her daughter, her own flesh and blood.
How could a mother not love her own daughter?
She simply could not accept the past, could not bear to see that face that bore some resemblance to Qian Xunji's.
But now... with Yu Xiaogang beside her, she seemed to have found the courage to face it all.
"I'll contact her."
Bibi Dong rested against Yu Xiaogang's shoulder, her voice growing soft. "You're right. She's innocent."
Yu Xiaogang smiled faintly, lowered his head, and lightly brushed his lips against her forehead. "You're still the Dong'er I know, as gentle as ever."
His words left Bibi Dong a little embarrassed. She raised a hand and lightly patted his chest, chiding, "You certainly know what to say."
Yu Xiaogang smiled and took that hand, then abruptly changed the subject. "By the way, Dong'er, could we discuss something?"
"What is it?"
Yu Xiaogang leaned toward her ear and spoke softly.
Bibi Dong fell silent for a moment, as though making a difficult decision.
She bit her lower lip, then finally stood up, took two steps back, and bowed slightly before Yu Xiaogang, performing the formal salute of a disciple accepting a teacher.
"Your disciple Bibi Dong pays her respects, Teacher."
Yu Xiaogang hurriedly reached out as if to help her up. "All right, all right. Thank you, Dong'er~"
Bibi Dong straightened, her face slightly flushed and her gaze drifting elsewhere, while she muttered inwardly.
What sort of peculiar taste is this, Yu Xiaogang? Could he be into romances between teachers and students?
She suddenly remembered hearing that a few of the young girls he had taken as disciples were quite pretty, and her heart tightened. Surely he wasn't...
If anyone outside learned that the pope of Spirit Hall had performed a disciple's salute before a man, their jaws would probably drop.
Yu Xiaogang, however, did not notice the twists and turns of her thoughts. He was secretly rejoicing.
Sure enough, when a disciple accepted him as their teacher, the rewards were almost always what that disciple needed most at that moment. He had only intended to give it a try, but he had not expected the system to actually provide it.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host on taking Bibi Dong as a disciple.] [Bibi Dong's potential: god-level. Meets the system's criteria for accepting disciples.] [Congratulations to the host on obtaining one Apprentice-Taking Gift Pack. Automatically opened!] [Congratulations to the host on obtaining: Martial Soul Bloodline Evolution Liquid ×1, Mind-Calming Necklace ×1, adaptive evolvable soul ring ×1.] [Ding! Detected that the host's disciple Bibi Dong has begun a god trial!] [Special reward: First-Level God-Divine Position of the God of Silent Death ×1! Your own divinity increased by ten percent!]
"They actually rewarded me with a deity's position?"
He gathered his thoughts and looked at the somewhat awkward Bibi Dong before him, smiling gently. "Dong'er, come here. I have a few gifts for you."
Bibi Dong's thoughts were drawn back, and she obediently sat beside him again.
Yu Xiaogang first took a silvery-white necklace from inside his clothes. Its pendant was a teardrop-shaped pale blue gemstone that glowed softly in the moonlight.
"Here, let me put it on you."
Bibi Dong froze briefly, but obligingly turned to the side.
Yu Xiaogang walked behind her, gently brushed her long hair aside with his fingers, and placed the necklace around her neck. The clasp snapped shut with a click.
Bibi Dong's face reddened further. She was about to say something when she suddenly sensed something was different.
A cool, crisp sensation seeped from the pale blue gemstone, spreading up the side of her neck to the top of her head and straight into her Sea of Consciousness.
The violent thoughts that had churned through her mind for years, the distracting thoughts that constantly gnawed at her mind because of the Rakshasa God Trial, seemed to have been paused at that very moment.
The world was quieter and clearer than ever before.
"You felt it, didn't you?"
Yu Xiaogang sat beside her again and, looking at her slightly widened eyes, explained with a smile.
"This is called the Mind-Calming Necklace. It calms the mind and protects the soul. Do you like it?"
Bibi Dong leaned gently into his embrace, burying her face in the crook of his shoulder.
"Thank you, Yu Xiaogang."
"Do you really need to thank me?"
Yu Xiaogang smiled and gently pinched Bibi Dong's cheek.
"I have another gift here, but I can't just take it out casually."