Qian Daoliu!

"You! I'll never forgive you!"

Qian Renxue covered her swollen, reddened cheek, tears mingled with hurt sliding down her face.

She turned and stumbled out of the Pope Hall, her platinum-colored skirt trailing disorderly marks across the ground, like an injured swan.

Watching her resolute retreating figure, Bibi Dong suddenly swayed. She instinctively raised her hand and called urgently:

"Xiao Xue!"

But Qian Renxue had already disappeared through the hall doors, leaving only an empty corridor. The only answer was the sound of footsteps fading into the distance.

Bibi Dong's outstretched hand froze in midair, her fingertips trembling slightly before she slowly lowered it.

The Soul Power around her fell into disorder amid her violent emotional turmoil, and her face grew frighteningly pale.

"Teacher!" Hu Liena hurried forward and carefully supported her arm, her little face full of worry.

"Are you all right?"

Su Yu also stepped forward. Looking at Bibi Dong's distraught appearance, he felt a jumble of conflicting emotions.

Bibi Dong took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the pain and remorse churning in her heart. She stroked Hu Liena's head, her voice slightly hoarse:

"Nana, it wasn't your fault. It was mine... I failed to control my emotions."

She paused, gazed outside the hall with a complicated look, and gently instructed them:

"Promise me that if you meet her again, you'll try not to clash with her, all right?"

Though Hu Liena did not understand the tangled circumstances, she still nodded firmly at the sight of Bibi Dong's exhausted expression:

"Yes, we'll listen to you, Teacher."

Su Yu nodded as well. "Teacher, don't worry. We will."

Bibi Dong forced a smile and patted their shoulders, but said nothing more.

She turned and slowly walked toward the Pope Hall, her retreating figure looking especially lonely against the empty square.

Watching her leave, Hu Liena tugged at Su Yu's sleeve and whispered:

"Brother Su Yu, Teacher seems so sad..."

Su Yu murmured a soft acknowledgment. There were things he knew, but could not say.

He could see clearly that beneath Qian Renxue's piercing words lay a longing for a mother's love.

The heartache and remorse in Bibi Dong's eyes after that slap had not been false, either.

This mother and daughter were like two hedgehogs raising their sharp spines at each other.

Though they both held the other in their hearts and worried about each other, they always insisted on pushing each other away with the most hurtful words.

Trading cruel words became the norm, and the gulf between them deepened, their relationship sinking step by step to the freezing point.

In the end, Bibi Dong died protecting Qian Renxue, while Qian Renxue lost all her family and lived alone in the world.

Mother and daughter tormented each other for half their lives, only willing to let go of the barriers in their hearts at the very end.

Su Yu sighed quietly, raising his eyes toward the silent Bibi Dong in the distance, then glancing in the direction Qian Renxue had fled.

He felt that the knot between this mother and daughter was so heavy that even he, an onlooker, felt a weight pressing on his heart.

"Brother Su Yu, what's wrong?" Noticing something unusual about him, Hu Liena asked softly.

"Nothing." Su Yu shook his head, suppressing his thoughts. "We... should head back first."

Seeing that Su Yu did not want to talk, Hu Liena did not press him, merely following obediently behind him.

Meanwhile, Qian Renxue covered her face, tears falling uncontrollably as she ran all the way back to the Worship Hall, crying.

The attendants along the way looked puzzled at the sight of her, but none dared approach to ask.

Inside the Worship Hall-

A holy radiance filled every corner, and the faint fragrance of burning incense drifted through the air.

Qian Daoliu had just finished today's worship of the Angel God. Turning around, he saw his granddaughter coming through the doorway, sobbing with her face covered.

"Xiao Xue!" Qian Daoliu's brow tightened, and he hurried over to meet her.

"Grandpa..."

Qian Renxue's voice was thick with sobs. At the sight of Qian Daoliu, she could no longer hold back her accumulated hurt, and her tears fell even harder.

"Xiao Xue'er, what's wrong? Has someone bullied you again? Come, come here to Grandpa."

"Grandpa, I... I'm a little tired. I want to go back to my room first."

Qian Renxue avoided his gaze, her voice muffled. All she wanted was somewhere to hide.

Seeing her like this, Qian Daoliu already knew that Qian Renxue had gone to see Bibi Dong again.

He walked to Qian Renxue's side and gently drew her hand away. When he saw the distinct handprint, anger rose in his heart.

"She hit you!"

"No! Grandpa, this was! I accidentally did this myself!"

Watching Qian Renxue lie for Bibi Dong, a complicated emotion instantly flashed through the eyes of this Limit Douluo who had lived nearly a hundred years.

There was heartache, helplessness, and a trace of understanding, as though he had long expected this.

Bibi Dong... in the end, it was our Qian Family that wronged her.

That worthless son of his had committed such a beastly act back then.

There had clearly been countless ways to make Bibi Dong stay, yet his son had actually violated her by force.

And Xiao Xue'er was also the product of that sordid incident.

He had always known how deeply Bibi Dong resented the Qian Family.

So deeply that even her own daughter was regarded as a mark of shame, making it difficult for her to treat the girl with genuine affection.

Had he not been trying to compensate Bibi Dong all these years?

He had given her the position of Pope of Spirit Hall, making her its actual ruler;

His son, who had committed that grave wrong, had ultimately died at her hands as well, giving her a measure of redress.

Now, he no longer cared about Spirit Hall's rise or fall, nor the Qian Family's honor or disgrace.

If Bibi Dong truly wanted to destroy it all, perhaps... he would merely keep one eye open and the other shut.

His only wish now was to protect Xiao Xue'er and help her inherit the Angel Godhood, so she could truly escape all these entanglements and live with purity and strength.

Qian Daoliu reached out and gently stroked Qian Renxue's head, his voice gentler than ever before:

"Xiao Xue'er, don't cry. Don't blame your mother. She... she suffers too. She has her own painful reasons."

Qian Renxue suddenly raised her head, her eyes swimming with tears. "Painful reasons? What painful reasons does she have! She's just someone without a heart!"

"She's my mother, but she's never cared about me. Today! She even hit me, she..."

The rest caught in her throat. Unable to say it, she could only shake her head, feeling wronged.

"Grandpa, she doesn't like me at all!"

Qian Daoliu fell silent, a trace of pain flashing through his aged eyes.

There were things he could not tell his young granddaughter.

Those ugly matters were too heavy. These grudges and grievances should end with the older generation.

He did not want Xiao Xue to know about these things. This was not pain she should have to bear!

Qian Daoliu bent slightly and gently gathered Qian Renxue into his arms, patting her back as he said quietly:

"Xue'er, she doesn't like you, but what about you? Do you like her?"

Qian Renxue lowered her head slightly and muttered softly, "She's so awful. I don't like her at all!"