Bibi Dong understood at once.
Without asking any more questions, she immediately stood up, took Yu Xiaogang's hand, and led him through a side corridor of the Pope's Palace to an inconspicuous room at the back.
She pushed open the door, revealing a simply and tastefully furnished bedroom. This was her most private space in Spirit Hall, where even the maids were normally forbidden to enter.
Still feeling it was not secure enough, Bibi Dong raised her hand and released her soul power. A dark purple halo enveloped the entire bedroom, sealing it off from the outside world.
Yu Xiaogang looked around and nodded, then asked the system inwardly, System, what would happen if I took out the divine position?
[Nothing unusual would happen.]
What if I directly fused the divine position into Bibi Dong?
[Divine position fusion would begin, with no divine trials required. Any existing divine trials would be expelled from her body.]
So that's how it works.
After the system's explanation, Yu Xiaogang quickly understood.
The so-called divine trials were actually only a means of inheriting part of a divine position's power. Only after completing every divine trial could one fully inherit the divine position.
What the system had rewarded him with, however, was a complete divine position. Once it entered the body, there would be no need for divine trials. One only needed to gradually fuse with its power to become a deity!
In fact, the divine trials were a process of increasing one's affinity with the divine position and one's divinity. Only when both reached extremely high levels could one fuse with the divine position.
With the divine position awarded by the system, however, affinity and divinity would naturally rise gradually after direct fusion, until one ultimately gained complete control over its power.
After confirming this, Yu Xiaogang no longer hesitated. He raised his hand and curled his fingers around empty air before him.
A purple-gray halo immediately gathered in his palm. Countless strange, arcane inscriptions whirled and fluttered within it, intertwining into an indescribable sphere of runic light. A starlike luster flowed across its surface, and it carried a peculiar aura in which annihilation and eternity coexisted.
Bibi Dong looked at it curiously and tilted her head. "What is this?"
Yu Xiaogang smiled faintly without answering and gently pushed the sphere of light straight into Bibi Dong's body.
Bibi Dong did not dodge. Yu Xiaogang would never harm her.
The next instant, her body abruptly stiffened.
A purple mark automatically appeared between her brows. It was the Rakshasa God's inheritance mark, radiating a cold, sinister aura.
Yet just a breath later, a strange purple-gray power surged from deep within her body, rushing straight toward that mark.
The Rakshasa God's mark shattered inch by inch. The purple light on its surface steadily dimmed and cracked, until it finally broke apart completely with a crack, dissolving into motes of light that scattered through the air.
A brand-new mark swiftly took its place between Bibi Dong's brows-a gray runic mark shaped like an inverted bell.
Silent death, stillness, finality-the aura contained within this mark was utterly different from the Rakshasa God's brutality and bloodlust.
Bibi Dong closed her eyes slightly, feeling the new power surging within her.
"Divine power..."
She opened her eyes. "This is... a divine position!"
Yu Xiaogang smiled and nodded. "That's right."
Bibi Dong's voice grew urgent. "Yu Xiaogang, I already have a godhood inheritance! You should have kept this divine position for yourself!"
She soon sensed what made this divine position different.
The God of Silent Death's divine position was actually complete. There was no need for divine trials; she only had to keep it within her body and slowly increase her affinity and degree of fusion with it to smoothly become a god!
This was a nearly guaranteed path to godhood, something countless Soul Masters would not dare imagine even in their dreams.
"Yu Xiaogang, you..."
Yu Xiaogang raised his hand and patted her head. "All right, I know what I'm doing. I'll be relying on you to protect me for a while, Dong'er."
Bibi Dong looked at him, her eyes reddening a little again.
She suppressed the emotions welling up inside her and nodded earnestly. "All right. From now on, if anyone dares hurt you, I'll kill him!"
Yu Xiaogang smiled and shook his head. "Haha, there's no need for that."
"Yu Xiaogang, thank you."
"Do you really need to thank me?"
"If you really want to thank me, having a baby for me someday would be nice."
His words made Bibi Dong's face flush instantly. She raised her hand and swatted his chest, though the touch was as light as a brushing feather. "You... what nonsense are you talking about!"
Yu Xiaogang smiled and caught her hand, lowering his head to lean close to her ear. "I'm serious."
Bibi Dong reddened all the way to her ears. She turned her head away rather than look at him and muttered, "Who said I'd have your..."
"All right, there's no rush. We have plenty of days ahead."
After staying at Spirit Hall for another two days, Yu Xiaogang prepared to leave.
Outside the Pope's Palace, the first faint light of morning shone.
Bibi Dong personally escorted him to the palace entrance, followed by a squad of guards standing solemnly with their heads lowered.
"Dong'er, I'm off."
Bibi Dong nodded without saying anything more to ask him to stay.
Though reluctant to part with him, she knew Yu Xiaogang had his own affairs to attend to. She would not stop him from doing anything he wanted to do.
All the surrounding guards dropped to one knee, not daring to raise their heads.
I saw nothing, I saw nothing. Her Holiness actually escorted a man out of the palace herself today. Who would dare spare such a thing even another glance?
Yu Xiaogang smiled, turned, and walked toward the city gates.
Bibi Dong stood at the palace entrance and watched him leave. Only when his retreating figure had gone farther and farther away and disappeared completely at the end of the street did she withdraw her gaze and turn back into the Pope's Palace.
She sat back down on the papal throne, her expression instantly regaining its usual majesty. The scepter in her hand lightly touched the floor with a crisp tap.
Two figures instantly appeared in the hall and bowed. "Greetings, Your Holiness."
"Go."
Bibi Dong's tone was cold.
"Protect Yu Xiaogang. If he suffers even the slightest harm, there will be no need for you to exist anymore."
Cold sweat immediately seeped from Chrysanthemum Douluo's and Ghost Douluo's foreheads.
At that moment, they felt as though a mountain were pressing down on their backs. Her Holiness's aura seemed to have grown stronger again. That sensation faintly carried the oppressive weight of facing the Great Enshrined, Qian Daoliu, himself.
"Yes."
The two hurriedly accepted the order and withdrew, not daring to linger at all.
Not long after they left, an aged voice suddenly rang out in the great hall. "Bibi Dong, you've overstepped your bounds."
Bibi Dong looked coldly to one side.
An old man in white slowly emerged from the side corridor. With his aged face and white hair cascading like a waterfall, he looked just like an ordinary elderly man. Anyone who knew his identity, however, would not think so.
"Qian Daoliu..."
Bibi Dong sneered. "What, does being the Great Enshrined of the Worship Hall give you authority over me, the Pope?"
"You are Ji'er's wife..."
Boom!!
A terrifying aura instantly erupted from Bibi Dong.
Nine soul rings immediately appeared around her.
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, red!
Light flowed from the final blood-red soul ring within the hall, carrying a suffocating pressure.
"Don't mention that name in front of me!"
Qian Daoliu frowned slightly.
He keenly sensed something amiss. Compared with before, Bibi Dong's aura seemed to have undergone another indescribable change, faintly carrying a trace of power that did not belong to the mortal world.
It was only because he had spent so many years bathed in the angel's holy light that he could detect this slight change.
"You... actually reached this point without a word."