Her aura became incredibly restrained, yet it gave off an unfathomable feeling. A faint golden halo surrounded her, a trace of Divine Power.
Qian Daoliu's expression changed drastically, and he exclaimed, " Xue'er! Why are you out?! Your assessment..."
Qian Renxue's gaze passed over Qian Daoliu and landed directly on Xuan Ming. Her golden eyes held complex and unfathomable emotions, including longing, struggle, and a hint of barely perceptible grievance, but more than anything, a calm that seemed to indicate she had made a certain decision.
She gently raised her hand, stopping Qian Daoliu from saying anything more, her voice ethereal and calm. "Grandpa, it's alright."
She looked at Xuan Ming and answered his question directly:
The Fifth Trial has just been completed.
As soon as she finished speaking, a vast and sacred aura surged from Qian Renxue's body, and eight Soul Ring, one purple, one black, one black, one black, one black, one red, slowly rose up.
A flicker of emotion finally appeared in Xuan Ming calm eyes. "Congratulations."
Level 84!
In less than three years, it leveled up by nearly twenty!
"Thanks to you." Qian Renxue said calmly.
"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be able to achieve this speed."
In order to surpass Xuan Ming, to defeat him, and to subdue him, she has been cultivating almost like a madwoman for the past two years!
She wanted to become a god, and faster, before that woman!
Take full control of the decision-making process!
Chapter 303 Reunion
"How are you?"
Seeing Xuan Ming's increasingly indifferent expression, Qian Renxue couldn't help but ask.
"I heard you went to the Slaughter City?"
Xuan Ming paused, then slowly opened a white barrier in his palm.
Qian Daoliu's expression changed slightly.
Is it even stronger than Bibi Dong and that kid Tang Hao's Divine Slaughter's Domain?
Just how many people did this kid kill?
"One-third." Xuan Ming gently clenched his fist, and the Divine Slaughter's Domain quietly disappeared.
"..."
The hall fell silent.
Qian Renxue was stunned, and Qian Daoliu also showed an incredulous look.
one third?!
One-third of the population of Slaughter City?
The Slaughter City exists with the support of the Spirit Hall; that place is practically a small kingdom!
Over thousands of years of evolution, apart from the inability to engage in agricultural production, the Slaughter City has everything, and even has a normal population of at least several hundred thousand!
Add to that the population continuously added by the Spirit Hall and the natural influx of people... one-third?
"Is it that exaggerated?" Xuan Ming lowered his head, looking at his fair hands that were now covered in blood.
"I also think it's exaggerated."
"They kill at least a hundred people every day; killing a person is easier than crushing an ant..."
"God of Slaughter..."
"..."
Xuan Ming withdrew his gaze, and a faint, indescribable weariness seemed to flash through the depths of his calm and unwavering eyes, but it vanished in an instant, so quickly as to seem like an illusion.
But Qian Renxue noticed it.
A third of the population... hundreds of lives lost every day... easier than crushing an ant...
These words echoed in her mind, sending a chill down her spine.
Xuan Ming has never been one to disregard Life, at least not before!
But now...
Not long after, Xuan Ming left, and the hall returned to silence.
Only Qian Renxue and her grandson Qian Daoliu remained, along with the silent Six-Winged Angel statue overlooking them.
Qian Renxue remained standing in the same spot, gazing in the direction where Xuan Ming had disappeared. Her golden eyes churned violently with emotions, and the mask of calm she had been forcibly maintaining finally cracked, revealing a complex and unreadable light—a sense of loss, resentment, a stinging pain of being ignored, and an even heavier, almost suffocating pressure.
He learned about her progress.
His reaction, however, was so indifferent, even... carrying an invisible, chilling indifference.
"You... don't hate him?" Qian Daoliu broke the silence.
"Why should I hate him?" Qian Renxue retorted.
Qian Daoliu was slightly taken aback, "You..."
"Just like he said, he never wronged me." Qian Renxue turned around to face the Angel God Statue.
"From the very first day we met, I've been causing him trouble and constantly tormenting him, but he's always put up with me. Even though he has the ability to fight back, he never thought of hurting me."
Sometimes I wonder, if I hadn't insisted on taking him away from the Pope's Palace, would our relationship be better?
" Xiao Xue..." Qian Daoliu hesitated, wanting to say something but stopping himself.
"Grandpa, you always say you're doing this for my own good, that I'll understand someday, but you've never considered whether I want this or not." Qian Renxue turned around.
"If you hadn't interfered back then, if that incident in Sunset Forest hadn't happened, he and I wouldn't have completely fallen out, Grandpa Golden Crocodile wouldn't have tried to seize power, there wouldn't have been any subsequent trouble, and the Spirit City incident wouldn't have occurred."
"I want to hate him, but I can't find any reason to hate him. I don't know how to hate him."
"Haven't he been accommodating enough to me? Hasn't he helped me and been tolerant enough?"
Qian Renxue's voice echoed in the empty hall, trembling slightly. It wasn't out of fear, but rather because some long-suppressed emotion had finally found an outlet.
Her golden eyes stared directly at Qian Daoliu, no longer filled with the complex and incomprehensible gaze she held when facing Xuan Ming, but with an unmistakable question and... a trace of sorrow.
"You always say it's for my own good, that you plan everything out for me, and remove all so-called obstacles."
Her voice gradually rose, filled with suppressed excitement, "But did you ever ask me? Did you ever ask me what I truly wanted?"
"Yes! Xuan Ming is special, he's dangerous, he might threaten my position, threaten the inheritance of the Angel Clan! But so what?!" Qian Renxue suddenly raised her hand, pointing in the direction Xuan Ming had left.
"He has never hurt me intentionally! Not even once! On the contrary, it was me! It was me who repeatedly pressured him, tested him, and even... tried to control him!"
"In Sunset Forest, if it weren't for you, things would never have gotten to that point! He wouldn't have completely broken ties with me, and he wouldn't have been forced to reveal that trump card that was enough to threaten Titled Douluo! Grandpa Golden Crocodile wouldn't have... wouldn't have ended up like that!" Her voice choked with emotion, and her eyes welled up with tears, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall.
"What was the root cause of that farce in Spirit City? If you hadn't pressed him so relentlessly, if he hadn't been driven to the brink, would he have chosen to retaliate in that way?"
"Grandpa, tell me, how should I hate him?" Qian Renxue's voice was filled with helplessness.
"Do I hate him for not being obedient enough? Do I hate him for not obediently becoming a pawn on my chessboard? Or do I hate him... for leaving room for maneuver after my repeated outrageous behavior, for not truly severing ties with me?"
She took a deep breath, trying to calm her turbulent emotions, but her shoulders were still trembling slightly.
"Did you see how he looked just now? A third of the population of the Slaughter City... He spoke so calmly... But I know that's not what he wanted." Qian Renxue's voice lowered, filled with deep self-reproach.
"It was me, it was us, who drove him step by step into this state. We drove him into a... killing machine that even he himself feels like a stranger."
"And now, you ask me if I hate him?" She looked up, tears finally welling in her eyes. "I can't hate him. I just feel... pathetic."
"It's pathetic for all of us."
Qian Daoliu listened in silence, a clear shock and... a trace of bewilderment appearing on his face for the first time.
He dedicated his life to protecting the Angel Inheritance, believing that everything he did was for Xue'er and for the future of the Spirit Hall.
He eliminated threats, paved the way, and never doubted his decisions.
But at this moment, listening to his granddaughter's tearful questioning, and seeing the pain in her eyes that was not directed at Xuan Ming, but at them, the people who were "doing it for her own good," Qian Daoliu Daoliu's rock-solid belief cracked for the first time.
Could it be... that he was really wrong?
Just as he couldn't understand his son Qian Xunji's choices, he may never have truly understood what his granddaughter Qian Renxue wanted.
A long silence fell over the main hall, broken only by the faint crackling of the ever-burning lamps and Qian Renxue's suppressed, soft sobs...
Deep within the Sunset Forest, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
After learning about Qian Renxue's progress, Xuan Ming left Spirit City and headed this way.
Although he didn't react much at the time, Qian Renxue's progress was indeed beyond his expectations. In less than three years, she completed the five trials of the Angel. Although the God's Trial become more and more difficult as they progress, at Qian Renxue's pace, it probably won't take more than a few years.
In that case, just to be on the safe side, he had to get Gu Yuena and the others to a safe place.
"I'm back!"
The tranquility of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was broken by a clear, surprised scream. Little Ah Yin suddenly materialized into a phantom image, its bright blue eyes gazing up at the valley above.
Gu Yuena, Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, Xiao Wu... Everyone's eyes were involuntarily drawn to the figure slowly descending from above.
Xuan Ming's figure passed through the swirling mist and landed steadily in the center of the valley, beside the familiar spring.
I haven't seen him for almost three years.
Time seemed to stretch out here, only to suddenly tighten at the moment of reunion.
Ning Rongrong was no longer the spoiled girl she once was. She had grown taller and more shapely, and her beauty had blossomed, adding a touch of nobility and radiance to her appearance. However, deep within her bright eyes, a subtle composure had settled.
Zhu Zhuqing's changes were even more noticeable. Her former coldness and arrogance seemed to have become much more restrained. Her figure became increasingly tall and voluptuous, her cat-like pupils were sharp yet calm, and her aura was condensed yet dangerous, like a sharp blade sheathed.
Xiao Wu... she still seemed to be the same lively person, with her long scorpion braid hanging down her back, but deep in her ruby-like eyes, there was less carefree innocence and more resilience and a faint sadness after years of experience.
She looked at Xuan Ming, her lips moved slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but then swallowed it back.
They've all grown up.
They were no longer the boys and girls who needed his constant care and even his intervention.
Time has etched the marks of growth onto them, and has also subtly changed the distance between them and... their states of mind.
The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became somewhat stagnant and strange.
The joy of reunion seemed to be blocked by an invisible barrier.
After Little Ah Yin's cheers subsided, a brief, unsettling silence fell over the valley.
All eyes were focused on Xuan Ming, filled with scrutiny, inquiry, and a hint of barely concealed... unfamiliarity.
He still had that handsome appearance, as if time hadn't left many marks on him.
But those eyes...
Ning Rongrong was the first to notice the difference.
Those icy blue eyes, which were often calm but occasionally revealed helplessness, gentleness, or even a hint of innocence, were now like two bottomless abysses, so calm it was chilling.
It was a gaze that was almost indifferent, devoid of all emotion, as if nothing in the world could stir the slightest ripple within it.
It carries a cold, deathly stillness forged in blood and fire, and also a sense of... detachment as if standing at a great height looking down upon all living beings.
This was not the Xuan Ming they remembered, a powerful figure who still possessed warmth.
Gu Yuena's silver-purple eyes gazed silently at Xuan Ming; her senses were the most acute and complex.
She could clearly sense that Xuan Ming before her had undergone some kind of earth-shattering change deep within his soul, a kind of almost essential... cooling and settling.
Chapter 304 The Trouble with the Blood Spear
Finally, it was Little Ah Yin who broke the silence. Seemingly oblivious to the awkward atmosphere, she ran cheerfully to Xuan Ming's side, tilting her head back. "You're finally back! I thought you were out there looking for some girl again and weren't planning on coming back!"
Xuan Ming lowered his head, his gaze falling on Little Ah Yin. His Ice Seal eyes seemed to melt for a moment as he raised his hand and naturally ruffled her hair.
"I said I would come back."