Saintess Hall.
An Yi had just arrived with Qian Renxue, who had washed up and changed into clean clothes, when he discovered that an uninvited guest had come inside.
Qian Xunji was standing in the small garden, facing Bibi Dong.
An Yi paused and told Qian Renxue to wait outside. Then he strolled in.
In the small garden.
Bibi Dong seemed unusually calm in the face of Qian Xunji's arrival.
After years of house arrest in the Pope's Palace, she had long since learned to suppress her emotions.
Even though she wanted nothing more than to tear the person before her limb from limb and swallow him whole, she could still maintain an utterly unruffled expression.
Even her eyes were like a pool of stagnant water, incapable of stirring the slightest ripple.
Qian Xunji frowned deeply and asked in a low voice, "What exactly is your relationship with that An Yi? How did you meet?"
Bibi Dong lifted her eyes. "We happened to meet many years ago, on the way to Sea God Island."
"As for our relationship... there isn't much of one."
Qian Xunji clearly didn't believe her. "If there's nothing between you, why does he keep coming over here? The people at Saintess Hall told me he's been coming every night lately."
"What are you doing together?"
Hearing this, Bibi Dong's lips curved in a mocking smile, and she couldn't help laughing. "What does Teacher think we're doing?"
Qian Xunji's expression immediately turned somewhat ugly. He took a deep breath, and his tone softened slightly. "Dong'er, I'm only worried about you. I'm afraid you'll be deceived again by certain people with ill intentions."
Bibi Dong's expression was calm, and her voice held not the slightest fluctuation. "Thank you for your concern, Teacher, but I've learned my lesson. I won't be deceived by anyone again."
"If you have nothing else to say, please leave. I need to cultivate."
Qian Xunji's face stiffened, and he wanted to say more.
Just then, An Yi's voice, tinged with amusement, suddenly drifted over from the garden entrance.
"His Holiness the Pope says he's worried that the Saintess will be deceived by certain people? I wonder who exactly these certain people are?"
An Yi approached at an unhurried pace. "You couldn't be talking about me, could you?"
Qian Xunji whirled around, frowning deeply. "Why are you here again?"
An Yi walked straight over to Bibi Dong and stopped beside her, looking at him. "This is Saintess Hall. Since Her Highness the Saintess hasn't forbidden me from coming, I'm naturally free to come."
"Or is His Holiness the Pope forbidding me from coming?"
An Yi raised a brow, a faint smile on his lips. "If that's the case, I'll have to go up the mountain and ask the Great Enshrined about it."
Qian Xunji's expression grew uglier. He shouted, "An Yi! Stop using my father to pressure me at every turn! I'm the Pope of Spirit Hall, and I make all the decisions concerning the Pope's Palace!"
An Yi stared for a moment, then laughed aloud. "But I'm not a member of the Pope's Palace, or Spirit Hall, or even either of the two great empires."
"Spirit Hall has no authority over me, and neither do the two great empires. Whether I come or go as I please doesn't seem to be any of your business either."
The smile gradually faded from An Yi's face, and his gaze sharpened.
"I call you His Holiness the Pope out of respect for your old man. Otherwise, what the hell are you?"
Qian Xunji's expression froze instantly.
Bibi Dong, standing nearby, was also taken aback. She hadn't expected An Yi to suddenly take such an attitude.
"You..." Qian Xunji's face turned ashen with anger.
An Yi cut him off. "And another thing: Qian Daoliu invited me back to be Qian Renxue's teacher, not to play the dutiful grandson to you."
"You'd better know your place and stop ordering me around."
Qian Xunji was so furious that he laughed, his chest heaving.
"Me? Know my place?"
"An Yi, do you really think that just because my father is backing you, I wouldn't dare-"
"Enough." An Yi cut him off.
"You're not qualified to waste my time, and I can't be bothered wasting words on you either."
"If you want to fight, go ahead."
"But you'd better think carefully about the price before you do."
Qian Xunji's chest heaved as he took a deep breath. "Do you really think I don't dare touch you?!"
An Yi didn't answer. He suddenly stepped forward and raised his right hand.
"Smack-!!!"
A crisp slap suddenly rang through the garden.
A burning pain spread across Qian Xunji's cheek, his head snapping to one side. He was stunned.
Bibi Dong was stunned too.
The next instant, indescribable fury shot straight to the crown of Qian Xunji's head, and the Soul Power inside him erupted like a volcano.
Amid dazzling golden light, his Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul possessed him. With a furious roar, he hurled a punch wreathed in violent, sacred energy at An Yi.
An Yi stood where he was, neither dodging nor evading, as though he hadn't reacted at all.
Bibi Dong's gaze sharpened, and she cried out in alarm, "An Yi!"
But then a bizarre scene unfolded.
Qian Xunji's powerful punch passed straight through An Yi's body, as though it had struck empty air.
Qian Xunji's pupils contracted sharply.
An afterimage?!
He instinctively assumed it was only an illusion. He pulled back his fist and was about to look for An Yi's real body.
But the next instant, An Yi, who had been like an illusion, slapped him again with the back of his hand!
Smack!!
The blow landed squarely on Qian Xunji's face with terrifying force.
Qian Xunji didn't even have time to react before he was sent flying sideways, crashing hard into the wall at the side of the garden.
Boom!
Rubble flew everywhere, and the wall collapsed.
Bibi Dong stood to the side, staring at An Yi in utter bewilderment.
At that moment, a layer of dark, moonlit radiance streamed around An Yi. His presence, once cool and tranquil as moonlight, now bore a deathly stillness like an abyss.
This was his fifth Soul Skill, gained after his Great Yin Heaven-Devouring Dragon Martial Soul evolved.
Lunar Eclipse Shadow Transformation!
Once activated, his body could turn into an intangible, incorporeal lunar eclipse afterimage for three seconds.
While the skill was active, he was immune to all purely physical attacks, and the damage he took from energy and elemental attacks was reduced by seventy percent.
Furthermore, all energy attacks that struck him would be converted into streams of dark moonlight that coiled around him, causing his next attack to inflict an equal amount of penetrating backlash damage.
An Yi shook out his hand and looked at Qian Xunji amid the rubble. "You really dared to attack?"
The next instant, a dazzling beam of golden light soared from the rubble, and a colossal phantom of a Six-Winged Angel formed in midair. Its six wings unfurled, and its sacred presence surged!
Angel True Body!
Bibi Dong's expression changed drastically, and she warned urgently, "Be careful!"
An Yi held nothing back either. Seven Soul Rings-yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, and red-rose and revolved around him.
The blood-red Seventh Soul Ring in particular began to flash fiercely, and a cold, domineering presence that seemed capable of devouring everything swept out from An Yi.
Just as An Yi was preparing to activate his Martial Soul Avatar and fight Qian Xunji, Qian Renxue, who had been waiting obediently outside, heard the commotion and suddenly ran in.
The sight before her frightened Qian Renxue into shouting, "Dad! What are you doing?!"
Qian Xunji's expression changed in midair, but he had struck in anger, and the enormous sacred sword he had conjured was already cleaving down at An Yi with thunderous might!
Before the sword arrived, its terrifying pressure was already bearing down.
Qian Renxue stood rooted to the spot in fright, forgetting even the instinct to flee.
"Be careful!" Bibi Dong cried out instinctively.
The next moment, An Yi's figure abruptly vanished.
When he reappeared, he was standing in front of Qian Renxue.
His Fourth Soul Ring flashed instantly, and a silver-black, hemispherical energy shield sprang open, enveloping them both.
Boom!!!
The golden sacred sword struck the shield hard. A terrifying shock wave of energy swept through the surroundings, shattering the ground inch by inch as a fierce wind whipped up grass clippings and rubble.
In midair, Qian Xunji saw Qian Renxue below and was startled. He desperately tried to pull back his strength.
But just then, An Yi suddenly withdrew the energy shield himself!
Under Qian Renxue's horrified gaze, the now-unobstructed sacred sword whistled down and struck An Yi squarely as he stood in front of her.
Blood sprayed.
An Yi gave a muffled grunt and fell stiffly in front of Qian Renxue.
Qian Renxue's mind went blank, and she let out a piercing scream:
"Teacher!!!"