"That little girl Zhuqing, you really have her wrapped around your finger."
In the Pope's Hall, Bibi Dong lounged leisurely in her high-backed chair, her captivating peach blossom eyes sweeping over Su Cheng, her voice a mix of mockery and sigh.
These enchanting eyes could make an ordinary woman's face stunning, enhancing their beauty severalfold.
Moreover, Bibi Dong had long held a high position, exuding an extraordinary aura. This added an almost bewitching charm that seemed to see through people, sometimes making her hard to look at directly.
Su Cheng averted his gaze, fingers brushing the teacup before him.
"Weren't we talking about Elder Chrysanthemum? Why bring this up suddenly?"
It had been over two months since Ah Yin left.
Initially, Zhu Zhuqing was furious, not willing to say a word to him.
But after Su Cheng's "confession," he explained Ah Yin's special circumstances and the benefits she could bring to Zhu Zhuqing's future cultivation.
He used both emotional appeal and logical reasoning, painting a grand picture of soul masters and soul beasts building a harmonious society, promoting the stable development of Douluo Continent. Eventually, the soft-hearted girl gave in to him.
In the past month, they were almost inseparable.
"As for Elder Chrysanthemum, you know what to do. Since you said we'll see results in another month or two, I trust you. I just wanted to remind you because I'm short of hands now."
As she spoke, Bibi Dong adjusted her posture slightly, lowering her crossed legs and leaning forward, her fingers interlaced with elbows resting on the table's edge.
This series of movements accentuated the soft curves of her chest.
She looked at Su Cheng with interest, "Alright, serious talk. When do you plan to come clean with Xiaoxue?"
"Isn't this my personal matter? How is this serious talk?"
"Of course, it's serious." Bibi Dong chuckled softly. "If you keep delaying, it will affect your cultivation."
"You noticed?"
Su Cheng looked at her with surprise, not expecting her to pick up on this.
Bibi Dong was right.
To others, Su Cheng's cultivation seemed to progress rapidly, his efficiency far surpassing others, nearing Soul Douluo. It was as if the difficulty of accumulating soul power didn't exist for him.
But for him, this accumulation of soul power levels was almost meaningless.
Even becoming a Soul Douluo or a Title Douluo, aside from gaining two more soul rings and some soul power, had negligible benefits to his strength.
So, Su Cheng was never in a hurry to advance his cultivation.
He had accumulated enough knowledge, which was the foundation for enhancing his strength.
Knowledge is power, a universal truth.
Thus, he spread innate skills without fear of teaching others everything he knew and starving himself.
Because techniques were just techniques, not his true trump card.
These techniques didn't appear by chance but were painstakingly developed by him.
He was confident in continuously innovating, improving, and finding better and stronger paths in the future.
But as Bibi Dong mentioned, his progress had recently hit a bottleneck.
For him, insights in swordsmanship provided far more power than energy accumulation.
And his swordsmanship focused on the heart. With an unstable mind, progress was naturally difficult.
Additionally, another way to improve was gaining more origin power to extend the second stage of the Eternal True Body.
However, this method was more passive, not something he could achieve through hard work.
From his interaction with Ah Yin months ago, he realized this form was unhealthy, more like a burst of enhancement.
If he couldn't make it a norm, it was ultimately a rootless existence.
"I can see it clearly." Bibi Dong gazed at Su Cheng, her delicate eyebrows slightly furrowed, showing a hint of concern.
"In the past, your strength always advanced in leaps. Through unique insights and self-created soul skills, you enhanced your combat power to an incomprehensible level, as if level restrictions didn't exist for you.
"But look at you now, your sword is dull, your will is worn down, and you seem to be just going through the motions. Is this really weighing on your mind?"
"Going through the motions, you're exaggerating..." Su Cheng smacked his lips.
After a moment of contemplation, he added, "I'll resolve this matter within the year."
Hearing this, Bibi Dong's eyes flickered before she lowered her eyelids to hide her emotions.
She didn't believe Su Cheng could achieve this in such a short time.
She had already figured it out.
Su Cheng had no confidence in handling Qian Renxue and was still hoping things would naturally resolve.
To take a step back, given Su Cheng's trust in her, if he had any ideas, he would likely share them, allowing her to find ways to delay further.
Once the powder keg exploded, Su Cheng wouldn't be able to control the situation.
All she wanted was chaos. Only in chaos did she have a chance. Continuing like this, she had no hope.
Whether Su Cheng became stronger, fought gods, or unified the continent, that was all his vision. Bibi Dong didn't care; she only cared about him.
Su Cheng gave her a "dream," a perfect life once out of reach, and planted a lotus pond deep in her soul.
To her, the once unattainable was now within reach, depending on whether she could grasp it.
How could she possibly give it up?
Fifty years!
The foolish and naive first twenty years and the nightmare-ridden last thirty years—this was the most real opportunity she had ever had!
So Bibi Dong was never in a hurry; she didn't dare to be.
However, she never expected the change to come so quickly and suddenly.
It began in an unpredictable way, then surged like an avalanche.
While Su Cheng and Bibi Dong were conversing in the Pope's Hall, in the Douluo Hall, Qian Renxue's cultivation had also reached a critical point.
The white glow in her hands had completely dissolved.
Replaced by a faint white halo flowing through her body, pure and flawless, yet ethereal and distant, awe-inspiring.
Her expression became increasingly indifferent, with the sun's reflection in her eyes.
Her pupils were no longer one gold and one black but had completely transformed into two bright white spheres, like two small suns shining brightly.
Though she still maintained a relaxed, casual sitting posture, her aura was entirely different from before.
Even leaning against the ground, she seemed to be sitting high above, looking down on everyone.
Qian Daoliu, silently observing from a corner of the hall, frowned, feeling uneasy.
For the past three months of Qian Renxue's seclusion, he had stayed here.
As the guardian of Douluo Hall, it was already against the rules to let Qian Renxue cultivate here without accepting the god test, and he had to supervise her.
Because of this, he witnessed all her changes during this time.
This transformation wasn't in her aura but in her temperament.
Over time, he felt his granddaughter was becoming less and less human.
The former Qian Renxue, although arrogant and dismissive of others, was never this indifferent and distant.
It was as if she were the blue sky and white sun, viewing everything in the world as fleeting.
Rather than calling it "divine will," it would be more accurate to call it "heaven's will."
At the same time, what Qian Renxue saw was a different scene.
Her perspective seemed to continuously pull away until it reached an infinite height.
The vast Spirit Hall City quickly shrank, the endless Spirit Mountain Range appeared as mere long, narrow fences...
Then came the expansive two great empires, the boundless Star Dou Forest...
Soon, the entire continent in her eyes was reduced to a mere insignificant piece of land.
A similar scene had occurred before.
That night, Su Cheng had taken her beyond the clouds, overlooking the earth from the night sky.
In that warm embrace, the entire continent bathed in starlight could be seen at a glance.
Seeming to recall something, the sun in her eyes flickered slightly, a trace of struggle passing through her gaze.
However, starlight eventually dims.
When the sun appears, the stars are destined to retreat.
Moreover, the perspective at that time was far from as high as it was now.
Her attention was quickly diverted.
The universe shone brightly, and all things were illuminated.
Compared to the vastness of heaven and earth, the entire continent was just a corner.
Where the sunlight touched, no shadow could hide. It was as if she could see through all the mysteries of the mortal world.
Mountains, forests, seas...
Powerful energy surged within her.
If Qian Renxue looked inside herself at this moment, she would see that her meridians were glowing, and what flowed within was no longer transparent soul power but dazzling beams of light.
Countless beams of light converged into a blazing white stream, circulating through her meridians, containing extremely terrifying and powerful energy.
Yet, none of this energy overflowed; it was condensed to the extreme tranquility.
Once her Eight Extraordinary Meridians were filled, the energy began to expand outward from the main meridians, quickly filling countless smaller meridians.
Her soul power cultivation began to increase rapidly, soon surpassing the Soul Douluo level, with no signs of stopping.
During this process, her expression became increasingly indifferent...
"What is that place...?"
Her expression suddenly froze. The huge mountain range spanning the continent was now just a thick line about an inch long in her eyes.
Above the mountains, that noble hexagonal city was merely a small dot.
But she could see everything within it clearly.
She could feel that a very important person was there, in that city.
That person was even more important than her own life.
Without that person, the future would be meaningless.
"I want to see..."
With this thought, the previously indifferent and emotionless mind showed a slight ripple, and the perspective descended again.
Then, in just over a month, many scenes that had occurred in Spirit Hall City under the sun quickly reappeared before her eyes...
On the broad streets of Spirit Hall City, a man and a woman walked side by side, constantly entering and exiting the surrounding shops.
The woman affectionately held the man's arm, her well-developed chest rubbing against his arm without any apparent care.
Occasionally, the man said something that displeased the woman, leading to playful teasing until a smile reappeared on her cool face...
In the Spirit Hall Academy, a man and a woman walked side by side.
The breeze blew, causing the woman's dark red hair to flutter, entwining around the man's arm.
Not far behind them, a girl with fiery red hair looked at the young man beside her, her lips moving.
She seemed to be saying, "Elder Su and Zhuqing are going on a date again" or something like that...
Of course, the most common scene when they were together was combat practice.
But could that even be called a fight?
Qian Renxue wasn't sure about Zhu Zhuqing's level, but she was very aware of Su Cheng's strength.
Rather than calling it a fight, it was more like flirting!
What was this?
A Lover's Sword? A Passionate Palm?
Sure enough, not long after the fight ended, the woman threw herself into the man's arms, and they tightly embraced, their lips meeting.
Initially, the woman would struggle symbolically, but soon she would go limp, her face flushed, eyes misty, looking incredibly alluring...
Sadness, pain... but mostly, uncontrollable anger!
A rage like thunder exploded in her heart.
For humans, anger might not be the most enduring emotion, but it is definitely the most explosive.
It can easily shatter one's reason and lead them into a world of extreme emotions.
The lofty perspective quickly pulled back.
What solar power, what supremacy over all beings, what selflessness...
Those were all illusions!
At this moment, Qian Renxue only wanted to kill someone!
The resonance with the sun was instantly severed, and the two suns condensed in her eyes shattered at the same time.
Not only that, the originally peaceful beams of soul power in her meridians began to riot.
Qian Daoliu, standing in the distance, was shocked to see that Qian Renxue seemed to have turned into a dazzling white light.
But upon closer inspection, he realized that only her wings, hair, and eyes were truly made of light.
The light was so intense that those with lower cultivation could not discern her specific features, only vaguely seeing a humanoid form in the light!
Only Qian Daoliu, with his profound cultivation, could see the details.
"Zhu! Zhu! Qing!"
In the next moment, the blazing white pillar of light vanished in an instant.
As for the gate of the Douluo Palace, symbolizing supreme glory, it was silently pierced through, leaving a huge hole.
In the entire hall, only Qian Daoliu was left, standing in shock beneath the statue.
"Xiaoxue... what just happened?"
He glanced at the broken palace gate not far ahead, a sense of guilt surging in his heart.
Since the founding of Spirit Hall over ten thousand years ago, the Douluo Palace had never been damaged.
Yet, he also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Compared to such material things as the Douluo Palace, Qian Renxue's return to "normal" was most important.
Although, now she didn't seem particularly normal either.
"Forget it, let that kid Su Cheng worry about it..."