"What did you say?! You said you've fallen in love with Yu Xiaogang?!"
Ding~!
The armrest of the gilded throne shattered in his grip, its fragments clattering across the floor.
Qian Xunji sprang to his feet, his might surging like vast sea raging waves, seemingly ready to tear the dome off the building.
In an instant, the Pope's Hall felt like an ice cavern.
No, it was as though an earthquake had struck the whole of Spirit City. The ground was shaking!
Boom!
Unable to withstand Qian Xunji's pressure, Bibi Dong fell to her knees with a thud. Her knees crushed the jade tiles and sank into them.
Tears rolled down her smooth, jade-like cheeks, a heartrendingly beautiful sight.
But she still insisted on kowtowing. "Xiaogang and I truly love each other, Teacher. Please let us be together."
In the Pope's Hall, Qian Xunji's fury soared to the heavens. Holy flames ten thousand feet high blotted out the sky, and boundless pressure filled the whole of Spirit City.
He glared at Bibi Dong, his eyes brimming with killing intent!
Below the steps, Bibi Dong knelt with her head bowed, the jade tiles beneath her knees cracked all around. Sparkling tears adorned her breathtakingly beautiful face, a sight to stir anyone's pity.
This scene appeared on a sky screen in another spacetime, stirring up a mighty storm!
...Original timeline...
"Qian Xunji!"
In the same Pope's Hall, Bibi Dong sat upright on the throne, veins bulging on the hand that held the Pope's Scepter.
Her breathing grew hurried, her full, upright bosom rising and falling in breathtaking curves.
Her venomous gaze seemed ready to pierce the sky screen and kill the Qian Xunji within it!
The hatred buried deep in her heart was stirred once more, and boundless killing intent spread beyond her control.
In an instant, the entire Pope's Hall became a living purgatory. The two generals Heng and Ha felt a chill run down their spines and hurriedly bowed their heads and bent at the waist, not daring to make a sound.
"Xunji! My son!"
In the Worship Hall, Qian Daoliu's aged eyes grew moist. He turned into a golden radiance ten thousand feet tall and soared into the sky, his long cry shaking the whole of Spirit City.
But it was a sky screen. No matter how hard he tried, he could never reach it.
He had lost his son in his old age. Only he knew the grief and pain of all those years.
In the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace in Heaven Dou City, Qian Renxue tilted her delicate head halfway back, trying not to let her tears fall.
Seeing her father once again, she dared not show her excitement, however great it was, for fear that someone would notice.
At Shrek Academy, Yu Xiaogang stared in infatuation, a lecherous look on his face.
He cried out, "Dong'er... that's my Dong'er.
She's still so beautiful, so pure. That was over twenty years ago."
Only a few people were reminiscing, their hearts stirred by figures from the past.
More people were shocked.
On the sky screen, several large gilded characters swooped and soared, so clear it was as though they had been carved directly into their minds.
Twenty-five years ago!
"Heavens, the scene on this sky screen is actually the Pope's Hall from twenty-five years ago!"
"Unbelievable! This is nothing short of a miracle!"
"Are you all focusing on the wrong thing? Am I the only one looking forward to what happens next, waiting to eat melon?"
"This is so thrilling! His Holiness the Pope, so noble and supreme, actually had a fling with Grandmaster once.
This is even more thrilling than the bizarre stuff!"
"I've seen Yu Xiaogang before. A flat crew cut, a bushy beard, a gray cloth robe, a sloppy mess, and a sour stink all over him.
It's truly unbelievable that His Holiness the Pope actually liked that sort of thing when she was young.
Her tastes really were a bit strong."
"That's not even the point. The point is, Yu Xiaogang's Martial Soul is just a pig, his Innate Soul Power is only half a rank, and his Soul Skill is farting.
That sort of heavy taste really isn't something most people can stomach."
"No wonder the previous Pope was so furious. That might of his nearly made me piss myself even through the sky screen!"
"Wait, that's not right. The current Pope was so rebellious back then, yet she still managed to sit on the papal throne?"
At first, some people were simply eating melon and watching the show, but they soon grew puzzled.
"The sect's Holy Maiden fell in love with a disciple of a hostile faction and secretly pledged herself to him for life.
How... how is that any different from betrayal?
After committing a crime like that, how could they still let him sit on the throne in the Pope's Hall?"
Most Soul Masters on the Douluo Continent looked favorably upon Spirit Hall. It was a sacred land, after all.
For that very reason, many people were baffled. They set aside what they were doing, wanting to see how Qian Xunji dealt with Bibi Dong.
But others felt their hearts pound and a chill creep up the backs of their necks.
Was this the kind of thing they were allowed to know?
At Shrek Academy, tears streamed down Grandmaster's face.
"Dong'er, my Dong'er.
So you never betrayed our love.
It's all Qian Xunji's fault. He must have stopped you."
Yu Xiaogang clutched his nipples, grief piercing his heart.
But everyone at Shrek was dumbstruck. Their eyes nearly popped out, and their mouths hung wide open.
Grandmaster? Pope Bibi Dong?
Holy shit!
Had the world really gone this mad?
Grandmaster, he... what did he have going for him?
Was it reaching fifty while still at rank 29? Or was it being so sloppy that he wore the same black robe for a whole year without changing it?
Sure enough, Tang San was the quickest to react. Recovering from his shock, he said, "Even Spirit Hall's Holy Maiden was won over by Teacher's wisdom.
As expected of Teacher."
"I-is that so? Ha, hahaha."
The corners of Dai Mubai's mouth twitched despite himself, and he gave an awkward chuckle.
"Boss Dai, what do you mean by that?
Isn't Teacher's wisdom obvious enough?"
Tang San was Grandmaster's dog. Whoever Grandmaster pointed at, he bit.
"So, Holy Maiden Bibi Dong ultimately failed to persuade the previous Pope to let you be together.
Is that why you two never ended up together, Xiaogang?"
Flender patted Yu Xiaogang on the shoulder. He felt a little sympathy, but why did he want to laugh?
Hold it in. I have to hold it in!
"If it were me, I wouldn't have agreed either."
Zhao Wuji was a simple-minded brute who spoke without thinking. When he noticed Tang San's icy gaze, he immediately covered his mouth.
"Teacher Zhao, you're wrong. Qian Xunji refused because he had no eye for talent and failed to recognize Teacher's great ability.
Otherwise, with Teacher on its side, Spirit Hall would have had the world."
Tang San snorted coldly, looking at Qian Xunji on the sky screen with a little more disdain. "With a pope like that, Spirit Hall is bound to go downhill."
"Ah, right, right, right. Xiao San's right. The Pope was blind."
Zhao Wuji chuckled, then turned around and forced down the corners of his mouth.
"My Dong'er, so you faced such enormous pressure back then."
Yu Xiaogang was still crying, his eyes red as he watched the sky screen.
...Sky screen timeline...
The killing intent around Qian Xunji grew ever stronger!
He had been reincarnated as Qian Xunji from the womb. With his foreknowledge, he had become a Titled Douluo at nineteen and a Peerless Douluo at thirty. He had happened upon an Evil Soul Master slaughtering a village and killed him in passing, saving Bibi Dong as though it had been fated.
But it was also then that he activated the God Cultivation System.
As long as he raised one God King and five First-Level Gods within a hundred years, he would obtain the Creation God Position.
With Bibi Dong's talent, it would not be difficult for her to become a God King with a little nurturing.
Qian Xunji had brought her back to Spirit Hall when she was three. Now she was twenty and already a rank 78 Soul Saint!
The Bibi Dong of today was far stronger than the one in the original work.
But despite every precaution and countless warnings, he had ultimately failed to stop this ungrateful wretch from debasing herself!
Rivers and mountains were easy to change, but one's nature was hard to alter.
Fine, fine, fine!
Since you, Bibi Dong, know no shame, disregard kindness, and are neither loyal nor filial...
Then I... will show you no mercy either!
Qian Xunji raised his hand, and golden chains of energy instantly pierced through Bibi Dong's body...