"Get moving!"
"Yes!"
Bibi Dong's expression turned cold. Chrysanthemum Ghost Douluo nodded hastily in fright, then rushed into the shattered Saintess Hall as though fleeing.
"Xiao Chen? Xiao Chen, are you all right?"
Chrysanthemum Douluo entered the bedchamber in a panic. They passed through the shattered doors and saw Luo Chen resting safely in bed, and immediately felt relieved.
As for Luo Chen, despite his calm expression, he had actually been using Na'er's perception to watch the clash between Bibi Dong and Qian Daoliu all along.
"Why does your Martial Soul possess an ultimate attribute?"
In the sky, Qian Daoliu had not stopped Chrysanthemum Ghost Douluo from going to protect Luo Chen.
He, too, had noticed that Bibi Dong had broken through to rank 97 in one leap, yet her foundation was solid, without the slightest instability in her presence.
The changes involved were undoubtedly Luo Chen's doing.
But Qian Daoliu could not understand how a six-year-old child holding a golden disc had strengthened Bibi Dong to this degree in an instant.
Just what sort of Martial Soul was that?
His keen intuition told Qian Daoliu that Luo Chen's power exceeded his imagination.
"I have no obligation to tell you!"
Noticing Qian Daoliu's gaze involuntarily drifting toward the Saintess Hall, Bibi Dong immediately flew into a rage.
She brandished the Soul-Devouring Demon Scythe in her hand. The black-purple Soul Power representing ultimate poison churned around her, her presence rising another notch compared to a second before.
There was no doubt that if Qian Daoliu showed any sign of attacking Luo Chen, Bibi Dong would break with him and fight him to the death.
"Are you sure you want to fight me?"
Sensing Bibi Dong's resolve, Qian Daoliu snorted in displeasure.
The tall, handsome, imposing former Supreme Pontiff of two generations past stood with his hands behind his back, summoning his Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul behind him.
"Look, is that an angel?"
"A Six-Winged Angel!"
"The Angel God has manifested!"
The residents of Spirit City noticed the scene in the sky. They knelt and kowtowed, reciting the Angel God's name as they began praying silently.
"Hmph!"
Bibi Dong saw their reaction, her face filled with disdain. "Do you think I don't know what you're thinking? Keep dreaming. I will never hand Xiao Chen over to someone like you."
"Bibi Dong, you've gone too far!"
Qian Daoliu said indignantly, "I, Qian Daoliu, have lived my entire life openly and honorably! How could I stoop to laying hands on a child?"
Qian Daoliu spoke those words with righteous conviction.
And in truth, he had indeed lived up to them.
Even back when he had been the Adjudication Elder, holding an entire era beneath his might, Qian Daoliu had always charged straight in with his sword rather than striking underhandedly from the shadows.
Even killing had to be done openly and honestly.
Qian Daoliu admitted that he very much wanted to obtain Luo Chen.
To achieve that goal, he would invite him, tempt him with benefits, and persuade him, but he would never use force to drag Luo Chen back.
Unless Luo Chen willingly agreed to come with him, Qian Daoliu would not touch him.
Because rather than bodily submission, Qian Daoliu wanted Luo Chen's allegiance.
"Openly and honorably?"
Bibi Dong looked as though she had heard the funniest joke in the world. "That beast Qian Xunji did something like that, and you expect me to believe you knew nothing?"
"..."
Well now, Qian Daoliu had been stabbed in the back by his own son.
On this matter alone, Qian Daoliu truly had nothing to say.
"Hahahaha."
Seeing Qian Daoliu left speechless, Bibi Dong felt utterly delighted. "Your Qian Family is just like the Angel God you worship. You're all such hypocrites!"
"Bibi Dong!!"
A wrong was a wrong, but Qian Daoliu could never tolerate Bibi Dong blaspheming his divine ancestor. He barked, "This farce ends here. Come back with me now! Don't force this old man to strike-"
Boom!!
But before Qian Daoliu could finish, the Divine Slaughter's Domain had already enveloped him.
"So you mean..."
Bibi Dong loathed that lofty attitude of his. "You can defeat me whenever you please?"
Qian Daoliu did not answer directly, but his attitude said everything.
Below Peerless Douluo, all were ants.
Back then, Sword Douluo's father, Chen Jianjun, whose Soul Power had reached rank 98, had come to challenge Qian Daoliu, whose Soul Power was rank 99.
Even though he had cultivated his Seven Kill Sword Martial Soul to the pinnacle and could unleash several "kill" characters simultaneously, Qian Daoliu had still crushed him with ease.
If even rank 98 had fared like that, what could a mere rank-97 Bibi Dong do?
"You have no idea what being a Peerless Douluo means."
Qian Daoliu formed a golden longsword from Soul Power and casually swung a streak of sword Qi toward Bibi Dong.
It was clearly the most ordinary of sword strikes, yet it carried an oppressive force that seemed impossible to match.
Bibi Dong's presence was locked onto.
Like a cage woven from spiritual power, it trapped her firmly in place, leaving her at another's mercy.
"Peerless..."
Yet to Qian Daoliu's surprise, Bibi Dong neither dodged nor evaded the Peerless Douluo's sword strike.
"Heh..."
The breathtakingly beautiful Supreme Pontiff chuckled. Slowly, she raised her hand, gathering a strange black-purple storm in her palm that churned like ink.
Whoosh!
The golden sword Qi touched the black-purple storm and was instantly shattered, leaving only specks of golden light.
"What?!"
Originally, Qian Daoliu had not taken Bibi Dong seriously.
The gap between them was so vast that she could not possibly be his match.
But now, seeing the black-purple Soul Power Bibi Dong had released, Qian Daoliu felt a chill shoot up his back to the crown of his head. Alarm bells rang in his heart. I absolutely cannot let that thing touch me directly!
"Do you know what the pinnacle of poison means?"
Bibi Dong was thoroughly satisfied with Qian Daoliu's reaction. She relished the feeling. "The so-called pinnacle of poison exists to take life in the shortest possible time."
Once the Death Spider Emperor broke through to the ultimate level, the Death Spider Emperor Poison it produced had truly become a force of certain death capable of destroying everything.
"The opposite of life-certain death!"
"My poison can now destroy even your Soul Power, Qian Daoliu."
With that, as though returning his courtesy, Bibi Dong sent a black blade-shaped streak of Soul Power toward Qian Daoliu.
Whoosh!
The golden longsword swung, and Qian Daoliu effortlessly scattered Bibi Dong's counterattack.
But the next instant, a crisp crack rang out.
"What?"
Under Qian Daoliu's incredulous gaze, black-purple cracks spread like blood vessels in every direction across the golden light sword he had formed from Soul Power.
In moments, the Soul Power of the golden light sword could no longer hold together, and could only shatter and wither unwillingly.
"Remarkable."
Qian Daoliu did not know whether he was praising Bibi Dong or Luo Chen, who had bestowed her ultimate attributes.
Perhaps both.
"Not just corporeal life," Qian Daoliu praised. "It can even break down lifeless energy like Soul Power."
"Ultimate poison-what an overbearing ultimate attribute!"
Qian Daoliu had an intuition that anything struck by Bibi Dong's Death Spider Emperor Poison, whether tangible or intangible, living or nonliving, would meet an end of certain death.
If only death itself were an attribute.
Among ultimate attributes, there was no such thing as ultimate death, either.
Otherwise, Bibi Dong's Death Spider Emperor Martial Soul would truly have had a strong chance of giving rise to a force of certain death.
Of course, even so, ultimate poison remained the ultimate attribute closest to death that the Soul Masters of this world could wield.
"Only the ultimate can rival the ultimate!"
Qian Daoliu had no desire whatsoever to test Bibi Dong's ultimate poison. Even he found it somewhat troublesome.
Boom!
The Six-Winged Angel behind the Great Enshrined released an intense sacred presence, accompanied by golden flames that seemed intent on purifying everything.
Ultimate sacredness and ultimate fire-these were what made the God-Bestowed Martial Soul, the Six-Winged Angel, so terrifying.
Qian Daoliu was telling Bibi Dong that everything she possessed, he possessed as well.
The gap between them would not shrink merely because of this breakthrough of hers.
"Your poison is indeed formidable."
The gap between Qian Daoliu and Bibi Dong was visible to the naked eye.
In an instant, Qian Daoliu's Angel Domain overlaid the Divine Slaughter's Domain.
The Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul's unique, powerful ability to purify Soul Power forcibly suppressed even Bibi Dong's ultimate poison along with it.
Ultimate attributes counteracted one another, but none was absolutely stronger or weaker.
Qian Daoliu could suppress ultimate poison with ultimate sacredness simply because he was stronger!
"What a pity. As you are now, you're still no match for me."
Qian Daoliu once again stood with his hands behind his back. "But in another ten or twenty years at most, this old man will no longer be certain of defeating you."
Those words sounded like praise for Bibi Dong, but in truth, he was still hinting at her. Enough of this farce. Stop this at once. How long do you intend to let them laugh at us?
Yet this time, Bibi Dong did not argue.
The breathtakingly beautiful Supreme Pontiff merely watched him quietly, a cold, deeply mocking smile curling her lips.
"What's going on?"
Very soon, Qian Daoliu noticed something amiss.
"Why is my Soul Power..."
Under Qian Daoliu's shocked gaze, a black field faintly surged around Bibi Dong. It was precisely the ultimate attribute awakened by the beautiful Supreme Pontiff's second Martial Soul, the Soul-Devouring Spider Emperor.
Ultimate darkness possessed the terrifying ability to devour everything.
If the ultimate sacredness attribute could purify a Soul Master's Soul Power, then Bibi Dong's ultimate darkness could not only devour an enemy's Soul Skills and Soul Power-even matter and spiritual power could not escape it.
"Old fossil, you really are strong."
Bibi Dong knew perfectly well that she was no match for Qian Daoliu.
But Qian Daoliu could do nothing to her, either.
Ultimate poison gave Bibi Dong unparalleled destructive power, while ultimate darkness granted her astonishing defensive power, allowing her to devour others' Soul Skills and convert them into pure Soul Power.
On top of that was the undying body granted by the Death Spider Emperor's ninth Natal Soul Ring.
Even against Qian Daoliu, Bibi Dong was confident she could drag the battle on until heaven and earth grew old.
"Sigh..."
Clearly, Qian Daoliu had realized this as well.
He had been overconfident.
Bibi Dong did not need to wait another ten years. She could already fight him now.
"You're only twenty-nine, aren't you?"
Qian Daoliu suddenly felt an urge to strangle his own son.
Huh?
You said Qian Xunji was already dead?
Qian Daoliu: Oh, never mind, then.
"With talent like yours, if Ji'er hadn't been so foolish..."
"Enough!"
Bibi Dong's eyes turned crimson. The Divine Slaughter's Domain erupted again, only to be easily neutralized by Qian Daoliu's Angel Domain, failing to raise even the slightest ripple.
Their underlying capabilities were essentially equal.
A God-Bestowed Martial Soul was undeniably powerful, but two ultimate Martial Souls combined were certainly no worse than the Six-Winged Angel.
What Bibi Dong truly lacked was Soul Power cultivation.
The gap between rank 97 and rank 99 was simply too vast.
"Don't mention that beast to me!!"
Scenes from the past surfaced in her mind, nightmares Bibi Dong did not wish to recall again.
"I will never let Xiao Chen suffer the same pain I did!"
At that thought, Bibi Dong's gaze grew ever sharper as she looked at Qian Daoliu. "Since ultimate attributes cannot make you bow..."
"Then is this power worthy of making you fear?"
With that, Bibi Dong released the Soul-Devouring Demon Scythe in her hand, allowing it to turn back into the enormous Soul-Devouring Spider Emperor.
The Death Spider Emperor Martial Soul that had been attached to her body also detached at the same moment.
"Hmm?"
The next instant, under Qian Daoliu's astonished gaze, Bibi Dong's two Martial Souls actually began fusing with each other.
"This!!"
Qian Daoliu cried out in horror, "How can something like this be possible?!"
There was no helping it. The scene before him truly exceeded his understanding. "Twin Martial Souls can actually perform self-fusion?"
"Open your eyes wide and watch carefully!"
Bibi Dong completely absorbed the mingled jet-black and black-purple Soul Power, and a blissful smile appeared on the stunning Supreme Pontiff's face. "This is the gift that child gave me!"
"Not good!"
Qian Daoliu realized something was wrong and immediately tried to stop it.
Yet though the process of Martial Soul fusion and absorption seemed complicated, it was actually as fast as lightning, completed in an instant.
Darkness swallowed everything, and the deep purple light was like an endless chasm that had torn through the abyss.
"God-level!"
Qian Daoliu could no longer maintain his composure. He was utterly rattled, his eyes filled with disbelief. "Impossible! How could you possibly break through to this level in a single instant!"
"Nothing is impossible."
A scythe as black as ink sliced through heaven and earth, revealing Bibi Dong's current true appearance.
Her long, silvery-white hair drifted in the earth-shaking Soul Power. An elegant, thin, close-fitting gown outlined her graceful figure. Her face was breathtakingly beautiful, but her gaze was utterly cold. She looked at Qian Daoliu as though she were looking at a lifeless corpse.
"So this is the realm of a Peerless Douluo?"
Bibi Dong savored the seemingly endless power constantly surging from within her. "I never imagined the gap between rank 99 and rank 97 would be this enormous."
"No wonder you thought nothing of me."
Her Soul Power had now undoubtedly reached rank 99.
Not only that, a purer, more powerful energy than Soul Power was emerging from within her.
With the fusion of the two Spider Emperors, Bibi Dong's Martial Soul underwent a complete transformation.
And this was precisely the qualitative leap brought about by the fifth-tier Ascension Ritual that Luo Chen had activated for Bibi Dong using 72% Ascended Power.
Although, because the Ascended Power was below 100%, the Sun Disc could not evolve either of Bibi Dong's two Martial Souls to the god level.
Yet Bibi Dong proved worthy of being the most talented person in Douluo 1.
With insufficient Ascended Power, Bibi Dong had forcibly earned the recognition of The Star Forger's will through sheer willpower, revealing to her true "Ascension"-the Stairway to Godhood!
When her two Martial Souls underwent Martial Soul Self-Fusion, what Bibi Dong gained was not a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, but an entirely new God-Level Martial Soul.
(End of chapter)