She refused to believe that the fiancé betrothed to her before birth could be such a worthless wretch, but the miraculous laws revealed by the diary left her unable to deceive herself.
She had to go see for herself and verify her suspicions.
Zhu Zhuqing clenched her delicate fists, her mind already made up.
She knew perfectly well that the Star Luo Empire was a long way from the Balak Kingdom. By the time she reached Suotuo City, this reborn God King named Xiong Shaoqing would surely have long since left the Old Oak Tavern.
But that did not matter.
Since Xiong Shaoqing had come to Suotuo City, he probably would not go far for a while.
As long as she had this Diary, she could keep track of his whereabouts at any time.
"Dai Mubai, if you really are as despicable as he says, then I, Zhu Zhuqing, would rather die than wallow in the mire with you."
She quickly rose and, under cover of night, dug several sleek black night outfits out of the depths of her wardrobe and began packing.
Elsewhere, as Xiao Wu read those words, the nerves she had kept taut throughout her journey instantly melted into utter softness.
He... he had lost all his divine power, yet he was still worrying about my safety?
Xiao Wu bit her red lip, a stinging warmth welling in her eyes.
She abruptly looked up, her gaze piercing through the wind and snow. A weathered wooden sign hung at the street corner directly ahead: Old Oak Tavern.
Xiao Wu drew a deep breath, patted her cheeks, and frantically warned herself.
Steady. In this life, we're still strangers right now.
He has no idea I can read his diary. I absolutely mustn't expose the Diary's secret. I'll just pretend to be an ordinary Soul Master meeting him by chance.
Having made up her mind, Xiao Wu pushed open the tavern's creaking wooden door.
As the wind and snow rushed inside, the dim firelight in the tavern flickered.
Seated by the window in a corner, Xiong Shaoqing appeared to be staring blankly out the window, but the corner of his eye caught the figure entering through the door with unerring precision.
One glance was enough to make Xiong Shaoqing's breathing stop for half a second, almost imperceptibly.
The girl who stepped through the door was breathtakingly beautiful.
She wore a fitted little pink vest that outlined her slender waist, narrow enough to encircle with one hand, to perfection.
A long scorpion braid hung past her calves, tracing playful arcs through the air as she walked.
Most eye-catching of all were her impossibly proportioned, straight, slender legs wrapped in white stockings. Paired with the two gently trembling pink rabbit ears atop her head, they blended the girl's innocence with a faint hint of allure in perfect balance.
An animated character model made flesh-the visual impact was nothing short of a higher-dimensional strike.
Good grief, those legs, that face.
That brat Tang San spouted virtue and morality while keeping her by his side as his little sister every day. I'd say he wasn't just lusting after her Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring. He probably wanted her body too.
Xiong Shaoqing marveled inwardly, his heart racing.
But he knew this was the crucial moment to put his acting skills to the test.
He was a melancholy reincarnator who "didn't know anyone was secretly reading his diary."
He had to act like a stranger while radiating fatal attraction.
Xiao Wu swept her gaze around and instantly locked onto the black-clad youth seated by the window in the corner.
The youth wore a thin, old cloak, the contours of his profile as sharp as if carved with blades and axes.
He slowly swallowed a mouthful of bitter liquor, watching the snow drift outside the window, his entire being exuding a world-weariness at odds with his age.
It's him.
That broken quality, as though the whole world had abandoned him yet he still looked down upon it all-he had to be the reborn God King from the diary.
Xiao Wu strode over to Xiong Shaoqing's table on her long legs.
She pretended to look around the fully occupied tavern, then steeled herself and offered a sweet smile she considered utterly flawless:
"Um, big brother, there's no room at the other tables. Could I share this one?"
Xiong Shaoqing slowly turned his head.
The instant he saw Xiao Wu's face clearly, he drew upon all the self-control of two lifetimes to make his pupils contract ever so slightly.
Three parts shock, three parts pain, followed by four parts restraint swiftly forced down.
The fleeting microexpression vanished so quickly it almost seemed imaginary.
Then Xiong Shaoqing quickly regained his composure and offered a polite smile, warm yet distant. "Of course. Sit down."
He pushed the plate of braised beef toward Xiao Wu. "It's snowing heavily outside. Have something to warm your stomach."
Watching the man before her disguise himself so perfectly sent towering waves surging through Xiao Wu's heart.
His eyes wavered the instant he saw me.
He recognized me, but to avoid changing cause and effect, to protect me, he actually forced down all his feelings and pretended not to know me.
As Xiao Wu's imagination reached this point, her eyes began to sting uncontrollably.
She sat down, picked up a piece of beef with her chopsticks, and lowered her head, her voice muffled. "Thank you, big brother. You... you're a good person."
[Ding! Detected that Xiao Wu has developed elaborate assumptions and deep sympathy toward the host. The information-gap-induced overestimation effect is outstanding. Feedback: Soul Power improvement progress +25%!] [Ding! Detected a surge in Xiao Wu's affection. Feedback: Spiritual Power purity +10%!]
Listening to the system's delightful notifications in his head, Xiong Shaoqing raised his rough cup and took a sip, perfectly hiding his wildly rising grin as he tilted his head back.
This silly girl has practically maxed out her ability to win herself over.
That plate of braised beef was worth every penny.
The two shared a table, each harboring their own thoughts.
Xiao Wu felt she was carefully guarding a world-shaking secret:
I know how deeply you loved me in your previous life.
Meanwhile, Xiong Shaoqing was laughing wildly inside:
You think you're on the first level, but I'm up in the atmosphere.
Chapter 6: Bibi Dong Moves at the First Word
In the corner of the Old Oak Tavern, firelight and shadow danced across their faces.
Xiong Shaoqing's well-defined fingers held the rough earthenware cup, his gaze resting casually on the drifting snow outside, as though the person opposite him were merely an insignificant passerby.
But that was only the surface.
The abacus in his head had long since been worked until it smoked.
The filter of this girl's imagination must be eight hundred meters thick by now.
He could not show even the slightest familiarity. The more distant and polite he was, the more she would believe he was holding himself back.
Xiong Shaoqing withdrew his gaze and glanced at the tip of Xiao Wu's nose, slightly reddened by the cold. His tone was calm, carrying the casual inquiry of an elder:
"With the world the way it is, and this heavy wind and snow, why is a teenage girl like you wandering around Suotuo City alone? Did you get separated from your family?"
Xiao Wu's chopsticks, holding a piece of beef, stopped abruptly.
She lifted her eyes and stared fixedly at Xiong Shaoqing's utterly unruffled face.
He's probing me.
Xiao Wu's heart pounded, her mind racing. He clearly knows me, yet he's deliberately pretending not to, asking whether I got separated from my family.
If I tell him the truth, he'll definitely force me back to Nuoding Academy to avoid changing cause and effect.
No. I absolutely can't let him know I've seen through his disguise, much less let him drive me away.
Xiao Wu drew a deep breath, swallowed the beef in her mouth, and spun a story along the lines of his question. Her eyes reddened at just the right moment, her voice aggrieved:
"I... I don't have any family left. The older brother who took me in before seemed kind to me, but he was actually a demon who wanted to kill me. I barely managed to escape, and now I have nowhere to go."
The story was half true and half false, and Xiao Wu told it with heartfelt sincerity. Especially when she mentioned Tang San, the genuine disgust in her eyes was impossible to hide.
Xiong Shaoqing's hand paused in midair with his cup for half a second.
Beautiful. This rabbit has finally wised up completely. She's even torn down Tang San's big-brother persona.
He was practically blooming with joy inside, but outwardly his brows merely creased slightly. Like an ordinary traveler hearing of a human tragedy, he showed just the right touch of sympathy.
"I see." Xiong Shaoqing drained the bitter liquor in his cup and set it down, his tone still restrained. "Suotuo City is a jumble of fish and dragons. It isn't somewhere you should stay. Once you've finished eating, take some travel money and go to a more remote town. Hide your name and live anonymously."
As he spoke, he actually took several silver coins from inside his clothes and placed them on the table before Xiao Wu.
Push her away, push her away without hesitation-that was Xiong Shaoqing's ultimate killing move.
Looking at the silver coins on the table, Xiao Wu instantly felt tears swimming in her eyes. Only by biting her lower lip hard did she keep herself from sobbing aloud.
Just then, "Xiong Shaoqing's Diary [Xiao Wu's Copy]" shuddered violently within her sea of consciousness, and fresh ink slowly appeared in the void:
[This girl... she's sitting right in front of me, looking at me with those helpless eyes.]
[Does she know that seeing how much she's suffered because of that beast Tang San makes me want to rush back to Nuoding City right now and tear that hypocrite into ten thousand pieces?]
[But I can't. My current divine power simply can't protect her. Getting too close will only draw Spirit Hall's attention to her. Her true form is a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. Once she's exposed, she'll undoubtedly die.]
[I can only harden my heart and drive her away. As long as she lives, even if she hates me as a coldhearted stranger, even if we never meet again in this life, that will be enough.]
Spirit Hall.
Dressed in a brilliant golden gown, Bibi Dong sat upright on her throne, coldly watching the newly appeared diary entries in her sea of consciousness.
"This girl... sitting in front of me? A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?"
Bibi Dong's previously indifferent eyes instantly narrowed, and an irrepressible greed erupted from their depths.
She shot to her feet, powerful fluctuations of Soul Power making the gauze curtains throughout the hall snap and flutter.
Suotuo City, the Old Oak Tavern...
There was actually a wild hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast wandering out there, one that had already assumed human form.
Bibi Dong's breathing quickened.
Both of her twin martial souls had now been cultivated to extremely high levels, but her second martial soul, the Soul-Devouring Spider Emperor, still needed several top-tier Soul Rings to reach completion.
A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast that had assumed human form to cultivate anew meant not only an ideal sacrifice guaranteed to produce a red Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, but also a priceless Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone.
Across the entire Douluo Continent, no Titled Douluo could resist such temptation, much less someone as ambitious as her.
If everything written in this diary was true, then this rabbit was nothing short of a heaven-sent opportunity.
Bibi Dong tightened her grip on the Pope's Scepter, her knuckles whitening.
But soon, a trace of cold reason replaced the frenzy in her eyes.
The origins of this diary were far too strange. That Xiong Shaoqing, who claimed to be a reborn God King, even knew the secret of her Rakshasa God Trial.
No one else in Spirit Hall could be allowed to learn of this, especially that undying old fossil Qian Daoliu in the Worship Hall.
If Qian Daoliu learned of this Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, or even of the diary itself, complications would inevitably sprout like branches.
I must make this trip personally.
Bibi Dong lowered her eyelids slightly, swiftly weighing her plans.
As the Pope, if she took a large force to the Balak Kingdom, she would present too conspicuous a target and inevitably alert the various powers.
More importantly, she harbored complicated feelings toward the Xiong Shaoqing in the diary who had died fighting for her in his previous life. Whether it was wariness, curiosity, or something else, even she could not say.
This Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast will be mine.
As for Xiong Shaoqing...
An arrogant curve lifted Bibi Dong's lips. I'll see for myself just what sort of game this God King stripped of divine power is playing.
"Attend me," Bibi Dong ordered coldly.
"Your Holiness." The red-robed bishop waiting outside the hall immediately dropped to one knee.
"I will enter seclusion to contemplate the Rakshasa Secret Art. No one may disturb me during this time. All daily affairs of the Papal Palace will temporarily be handled by Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo. Anyone who disobeys will be killed without mercy."
"As you command."
Before you continue