"Huh?"
Yu Xiaochuan froze.
When I say "huh," it doesn't mean something's wrong with me. It means something's wrong with you.
Why had Bibi Dong thought of making him her child?
Why was she just like Yu Xiaogang?
Right, Yu Xiaogang!
Yu Xiaochuan remembered the Martial Soul Theory Bibi Dong had just discussed with him.
He had made it up back in the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and it had only circulated within the clan.
So Bibi Dong had obtained intelligence from within the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
Then it was perfectly normal for her to know that Yu Xiaogang wanted to take him as his adopted son. He had never expected it to give Bibi Dong the same idea.
"What, do you not want to become my adopted son?"
Bibi Dong did not use her authority as Pope to force this child. She simply looked a little disappointed.
The beauty's knitted brows made anyone who saw her feel their heart ache.
"Your Holiness, I was just too surprised. I'm willing."
Yu Xiaochuan immediately came to his senses and hurriedly agreed.
He had only just joined Spirit Hall, and he could already become the Pope's adopted son. What an incredible stroke of fortune!
He would never have dared dream of such a thing.
Yet it had actually happened. All he could say was that a crazy woman's thinking could not be judged by common sense.
Yu Xiaochuan agreed at once.
This would benefit him.
Never mind how this status would give him access to Spirit Hall's records, greatly helping him with the Blue Silver Emperor Soul Bone and the immortal herbs.
The position in Spirit Hall alone-below one person and above ten thousand-was enough to drive people wild.
Yet all Yu Xiaochuan had to do now was nod.
"Xiaochuan, are you still calling me Your Holiness?"
A hint of a smile entered Bibi Dong's eyes and brows. She looked at Yu Xiaochuan's young face, very pleased.
"M-Mother..."
Yu Xiaochuan's face flushed red. His skin was not yet thick enough for him to casually acknowledge someone as his mother.
That was also why he had been so resistant to Yu Xiaogang's wish to adopt him.
Now, however, he was beneath someone else's eaves and had no choice but to bow his head.
"Good child."
Bibi Dong truly was overflowing with maternal affection. Looking at the child before her, she seemed to see Yu Xiaogang through a haze.
But she would not let this child endure Yu Xiaogang's suffering again. She would nurture him, making him a master of theory and an honorary elder of Spirit Hall.
"Mother, I want to read. I want to read Spirit Hall's books."
Yu Xiaochuan immediately adjusted and made his request.
He had come to Spirit Hall to read. Becoming Bibi Dong's adopted son was an unexpected delight, but he had not forgotten his original purpose.
"All right, Mother will take you."
Bibi Dong took Yu Xiaochuan's hand and led him to Spirit Hall's book collection room.
It held a vast number of books, accumulated by Spirit Hall over countless years.
"Wow, can I read all these books?"
Seeing this library-like book collection room, Yu Xiaochuan immediately let out a cry of astonishment.
He knew how hard books were to come by on the Douluo Continent, yet Spirit Hall had enough to open a library.
Sure enough, he had been right to come to Spirit Hall.
"You can read all these books. Ordinary Spirit Hall deacons and bishops need merit and status to read here, but you are my son, so every book here is open to you."
Bibi Dong spoke with a smile.
Even when Yu Xiaogang had come here to read back then, not every section had been open to him.
She had still needed to use her status as Holy Maiden to borrow books for him.
Now that Yu Xiaochuan had become her son, she naturally would not let him remain bound by those restrictions.
"Thank you, Mother. You're so good to me!"
Yu Xiaochuan had completely adjusted to this form of address, and there was quite a bit of sincerity in it now.
He had also come to appreciate the conveniences of being Bibi Dong's son.
It's just calling someone Mom. It won't cost me a piece of flesh. Besides, this mom is so beautiful, and she's the Pope of Spirit Hall. Calling her that a few times is nothing to be ashamed of.
How many people want to call her Mom but don't even have a way in?
Yu Xiaochuan found books he liked in the collection room, sat down, and began reading.
Beside him, Bibi Dong propped her head on her arm and watched him read with complete concentration, her expression rather dazed, as though she were looking at Yu Xiaogang.
Only after watching for quite a while did Bibi Dong come back to her senses, her eyes filled with complicated feelings.
So alike. Far too alike. Not their looks, but their words and actions-that spirit that can only be understood, never put into words!
Yu Xiaochuan and Yu Xiaogang were simply too alike.
In fact, that really was the case. Yu Xiaochuan and Yu Xiaogang had come to Spirit Hall with the same goal.
They had left their clan and joined Spirit Hall solely to read.
And for Bibi Dong, who knew Yu Xiaogang so well, had Yu Xiaochuan not struck exactly the right note the moment she saw him?
In the days that followed, Yu Xiaochuan read in Spirit Hall's book collection room, while Bibi Dong occasionally came over to gaze at him in a daze for a while and exchange a few words.
For Yu Xiaochuan, days like these were truly blissful.
With Spirit Hall's entire book collection open to him, Yu Xiaochuan was like a mouse that had fallen into a rice vat.
However, after Spirit Hall's Pope Bibi Dong announced that she was taking Yu Xiaochuan as her adopted son, even issuing a papal decree, things changed.
A little blonde girl appeared in Spirit Hall's book collection room. She looked about ten, a little older than Yu Xiaochuan.
This little girl was none other than Qian Renxue.
Publicly, she was Qian Xunji's daughter, but she knew she was not only the daughter of the previous Pope, Qian Xunji, but also the biological daughter of the current Pope, Bibi Dong.
Only a handful of people within Spirit Hall knew this.
One thing had always left Qian Renxue uneasy: her mother had never been close to her and looked at her as though she were a stranger.
No, she simply treated her as a stranger.
And now, her mother had even taken an adopted son, an adopted son named Yu Xiaochuan.
His Martial Soul was the trash Martial Soul Caterpie, with innate level nine Soul Power. Though it was an external beast Martial Soul and somewhat unusual, that was ultimately all there was to it.
She, Qian Renxue, had innate level 20 Soul Power! Her Martial Soul was even a top-tier Martial Soul like the Six-Winged Angel, and she was already a level thirty-four Soul Elder.
Why? Why does Mother like him and not me?!
"Hey, who are you? You've been staring at me for days! If you have something to say, say it. You're making it impossible for me to read."
Yu Xiaochuan finally could not take it anymore.
Who is this girl? There's practically fire blazing in her eyes when she looks at me.
If they had not been in Spirit Hall's book collection room with plenty of people watching, but somewhere deserted instead, he would have suspected this girl might charge straight over and beat him up.
It left Yu Xiaochuan utterly at a loss.
He had not provoked anyone since coming to Spirit Hall.
"My name is Qian Renxue. Yu Xiaochuan, I challenge you!"
Qian Renxue had originally only intended to read in the book collection room.
By imitating Yu Xiaochuan's words and actions, she had hoped to win her mother's affection just as he had.
But after coming to the book collection room, she could not focus on the books at all. All she did was glare fiercely at her "enemy," Yu Xiaochuan.
Now that Yu Xiaochuan had spoken, Qian Renxue had nothing else to say. She straightforwardly issued a challenge, wanting to teach him a lesson.