Qian Renxue's Sarcasm (?)

"Hmph, all that useless work. So what if the Spirit Hall Empire burned those corpses to ashes? The truly valuable things are the battle spirits that drank blood on the battlefield. I think they're just a bunch of fools. I, the sect leader..."

Zhong Meng watched as the people of the Spirit Hall Empire cleaned up the battlefield, burning the corpses of both the enemy and himself to ashes, fearing that they would turn these dead bodies into combat power. He sneered with some disdain, but when he turned his head and saw Ye Yuxuan's cold gaze fixed on him, he immediately broke out in a cold sweat, shut his mouth, and knelt down.

"Do you know how much Holy Spirit Crystal energy it takes to revive a level 98 Titled Douluo? What was the task I gave you? Have you forgotten it all?" Ye Yuxuan's tone was icy and emotionless. Just a glance down at Zhong Meng was enough to make the burly man immediately prostrate himself on the ground.

"Master, Master..." At this moment, Zhong Meng was a genuine level 99 Limit Douluo, but now, facing Ye Yuxuan, he was so frightened that he didn't dare to breathe loudly. He could only bury his head and beg for her forgiveness.

"These Holy Puppet are used up, and that's that. As long as there are materials, whether it's resurrection or remanufacturing, the consumption of Holy Spirit Crystal isn't significant. However, I've clearly told you that you only have two tasks: one is to maximize the fighting spirit of those people, making their posthumous battle spirits of higher and purer levels; the other is to absorb as much of the death energy dissipating from the battlefield as possible, so that you can break through to the level of a 99th-level Limit Douluo. But now..."

Seemingly recalling something terrifying, Zhong Meng's voice trembled as he said, "Master, I have completed these two tasks, but I didn't expect that besides Ye Lingling, my nemesis, Qian Renxue, the inheritor of the Angel Martial Soul, would also arrive on the battlefield. Besides life energy, only the power of light is most effective against us. Under the combined attack of so many, I am truly..."

"I beg the leader to consider my years of dedication and selflessness for the Holy Church, and to let my merits and demerits cancel each other out. No, no..."

Ye Yuxuan ignored Zhong Meng, simply opening her palm to reveal a deep red, rhomboid crystal floating within. After staring at it intently for a while, she glanced indifferently at Zhong Meng, who was prostrate on the ground, and left without uttering a word.

"Ugh!!! I'm exhausted! Why am I a fire-attribute Soul Master?! Damn it..."

On the battlefield of Jialing Pass, Huo Wu relentlessly burned the corpses of both enemy and ally fallen soldiers to ashes to prevent the Holy Spirit Cult from using them again. However, her fiery red Wumei eyes kept glancing towards Jialing Pass, unable to conceal her envy and anxiety.

"Shui Bing'er and the others went back, but just because I'm a fire-attribute Soul Master, I have to stay and clean up the battlefield! That's not fair!!!"

Yan, who was standing to the side, was already getting annoyed by Huo Wu's complaints in a short time. "Can you please stop talking? Hurry up and finish burning the food so we can go back and rest. Your noise is making my ears grow hair..."

Inside Jialing Pass, after further discussion, everyone was still unsure of Ye Yuxuan's true intentions and fell silent for a short while. At this moment, Bibi Dong looked at Qian Renxue (?), who was leaning lazily against the wall, and after a moment's hesitation, said, "Aside from the deceased Great Enshrined Qian Daoliu, the only person in the Spirit Hall Empire who personally experienced the chaos of the Holy Spirit Cult is the oldest Golden Crocodile Douluo..."

Although Bibi Dong's words sounded nonsensical, everyone's eyes instantly turned to Qian Renxue (?), who was leaning against the wall as if it were none of her business.

"Hmph... Just say what you want to say, Bibi Dong. You're talking to me, aren't you?" Qian Renxue scoffed, looking at Bibi Dong who seemed to be speaking casually and pretending to be nonchalant. She felt a little disdainful, but also a little pleased. This woman actually has a time when she needs my help.

"If I don't figure out what Ye Yuxuan's purpose is, I'll always feel uneasy, and I won't even know what to do next, fearing that I'll fall into her trap."

Bibi Dong didn't give a direct answer, continuing as if she were discussing something with everyone. However, for Bibi Dong herself, this was already a concession. So, after looking back and forth between the two, Yu Tianshuang realized that the mother and daughter were really awkward. Helpless, he could only say gently, "Alright, Sister Xue, now we need to figure out the purpose of the Holy Spirit Cult's actions. It's pointless for just a few of us to guess. There's no record of the Holy Spirit Cult in the Spirit Hall's past records. I hope Sister Xue will consider the hundreds of thousands of people in the Spirit Hall Empire..."

Before Yu Tianshuang could finish speaking, Qian Renxue (?) interrupted her impatiently, "Yu Tianshuang, what does the Spirit Hall Empire have to do with me? I'm not an empress. Please, when you're asking for help, can you at least be more respectful? Be sincere in your request, and maybe I'll..."

"Bang!"

"No one will beg you. Since you say the Spirit Hall Empire has nothing to do with you, you can leave now. This is where the Spirit Hall Empire's high-ranking officials discuss and make decisions." Upon hearing this, Bibi Dong immediately exploded, slamming her hand on the table to interrupt her.

"Good, very good. Remember what you just said, Bibi Dong. Never come begging me. The Worship Hall was left to me by my grandfather. They won't listen to you. You'd better understand that!"

After speaking, Qian Renxue left directly. Everyone looked at the awkward mother and daughter, feeling somewhat helpless. "On the one hand, we should closely monitor the movements in the direction of the Heaven Dou Empire. Once we discover that the Holy Spirit Cult has begun to use the Heaven Dou Empire's million-strong army as fuel, we should immediately launch an attack to stop them. On the other hand, we can only take it one step at a time. Fortunately, the thousand-mile -Ice Seal terrain created by the Tianshuang is like an insurmountable barrier for ordinary people, so we don't need to worry about the defensive pressure."

The discussions yielded no results, and they couldn't figure out what the Holy Spirit Cult was trying to do, Bibi Dong waved her hand wearily, then nodded to Zhu Zhuqing, and the group left one after another.

Meanwhile, on Sea God Island, the stunningly beautiful Bo Saixi sat on the steps leading to the Sea God Hall, a massive, blood-red sword—completely different from her own aura—resting on her lap. Her eyes, seemingly containing a thousand stars, held endless sorrow. "Tang Chen, I never imagined that you, the one with the best chance of becoming a god among the three of us, would end up like this... Now that Qian Daoliu sacrificed himself, I'm the only one left. But my time is running out. How long until I too, burdened by the responsibilities that come with this identity, follow in Qian Daoliu's footsteps..."

In truth, she could already foresee the outcome of that battle. Yu Tianshuang... this young man was truly unparalleled in her life. On the high seas, she could be considered the number one person below the gods. But if she hadn't mentioned the relationship between the Great Enshrined and the God Trial, perhaps she would already be free by now...

Now all she can do is sit here and reminisce, slowly waiting for Tang San to come and help her complete the God Trial. Ha, waiting to die... Perhaps Qian Daoliu's sacrifice was voluntary, but what about her? She simply couldn't convince herself that it was voluntary as well. She couldn't do it. But what's the point of her living now? Perhaps her fate was already sealed the day she accepted the Sea God 'Great Enshrined.

It's unclear why Yu Tianshuang left without a second thought after hearing this news. Perhaps... his friend is also Great Enshrined of some deity? Does he then possess the ability to help his friend break free from this prison of fate?

Reason told her it was impossible; as the representative of the gods on earth, Bo Saixi knew better than anyone the vast difference between gods and humans. But reason also told her that perhaps that brilliant young man could do it...

The thought stirred within Bo Saixi. Once it took hold, she could no longer suppress it. After hesitating for a long while, she finally rose, sheathed the blood-red greatsword, and looked once more at the last letter Tang Chen had left her. Her eyes were filled with resolve. "Lord Sea God... please forgive me this time. As the High Priestess of Sea God Island, I have never made a mistake over the years, not even back then... I never left Sea God Island... But please forgive me for being willful one last time in my final moments. Knowing this answer will make me die without regrets..."

Bo Saixi clasped his hands together, knelt reverently on one knee, muttered to himself, then turned and took a deep look at the Sea God's Temple that he had guarded for many years, his eyes filled with determination, before transforming into a streak of light and disappearing into the horizon.

Zhu Zhuqing, now a shadowy figure, blended seamlessly into her surroundings. A week had passed, and every day she had been monitoring the Holy Spirit Cult's every move with the scouts of the Spirit Hall Empire. However, apart from the Holy Spirit Cult's mindless Titled Douluo occasionally wandering the battlefield, there had been absolutely no activity from the Heaven Dou Empire, which puzzled her greatly.

"How is Zhuqing? Has anything unusual happened?"

"Brother Tianshuang... coming here so openly will alert the enemy..."

Zhu Zhuqing was speechless. The first principle of a scout's job is to remain hidden. She looked at Yu Tianshuang, dressed in white, who had come to the battlefield and was completely out of place with the surrounding environment. She couldn't help but feel speechless and complained helplessly.

Yu Tianshuang waved her hand, indicating that she didn't care, and then asked in confusion, "I'm also puzzled. Look at those ghostly things, they don't take me seriously at all, they wander around the battlefield like ghosts. What do you think they're doing? All the corpses Huo Wu been burned clean by Huowu and the others. There's absolutely nothing on this battlefield that I can think of that they could use, so why do they keep coming here every day..."

Hearing Yu Tianshuang's question, Zhu Zhuqing shook her head in confusion, "I don't know either... The Holy Spirit Cult is strange in everything they do. Maybe we don't understand, but they must have their reasons for doing this. It's just that the more we can't figure it out, the more unsettling it becomes..."

After continuing to monitor Zhu Zhuqing for a while, Yu Tianshuang really couldn't understand what the Holy Spirit Cult was doing. Her patience wore thin, and she had no choice but to say goodbye to the earnest-looking Zhu Zhuqing. "Alright... you continue, I'll go back now. Thanks for your hard work, Zhuqing..."

"I don't know what Sister Dong and Senior Sister are thinking. According to me, we should either just charge over there and see how any tricks and schemes are useless in the face of absolute strength, or we should swallow our pride and ask Qian Renxue... Sigh, really..." On the way back, Yu Tianshuang was also a little annoyed. A whole week had passed and there was no movement at all, which made Yu Tianshuang, whose patience was gradually running out, very frustrated.

"Oh my, Sister Dong... She's more than twenty years older than you, and you call her 'sister'? Ugh, that's disgusting..."

Yu Tianshuang, who was about to return to her room, turned around speechlessly upon hearing this and looked at the stunningly beautiful Qian Renxue. At this moment, Qian Renxue had her arms crossed, and her expression, combined with her sarcastic words, gave her a uniquely Charm demeanor.