As the sacred land of the spirit masters, Spirit City wasn't entirely sealed off from the outside world. Every year, there was a period during which it opened its gates to spirit masters from across the continent.
However, ordinary spirit masters who wished to enter or leave had to undergo strict scrutiny, explain their purpose for visiting, and were not allowed to linger in the city for too long.
Su Cheng and Su Yue had just passed the gatekeeper's inspection and entered the city.
Though both had extraordinary talent, their apparent cultivation level was limited, posing no threat to Spirit Hall City, so they didn't attract much attention.
Walking silently along the streets, the young man and woman maintained a quiet demeanor, with a clear goal in mind: heading straight towards the direction of the Pope's Mountain deep within Spirit Hall City.
Su Cheng was deep in thought, contemplating what he had just learned from Su Yue about the origins and mission of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, the Emperor Auspicious Beast, and its critical importance to the soul beast clan.
Ten thousand years ago, on Douluo Star, two humans, empowered by the forces of destiny, ascended to become the Angel God and Sea God, breaking through the plane's limitations. They also left behind two vital inheritances on this planet.
These two divine seats were remarkable even within the God Realm, standing just below the God King level.
Since then, the rampant presence of evil spirit masters had disappeared from the continent, and the endless sea had been calm. Humanity had thus been granted a long period of recovery.
Then, five thousand years ago, the force of destiny shifted again, leading to the birth of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, the Emperor Auspicious Beast, in the Star Dou Forest. During this period, the top-tier power of the soul beasts grew rapidly, significantly balancing the power between humans and soul beasts. Simultaneously, no new gods had emerged among humans since.
According to Su Yue, the secret of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's power of destiny lay within the third eye on its forehead.
However, the power of "destiny" was profoundly mysterious and not a part of the Dragon God's authority. What she knew was limited. Furthermore, the power of destiny on the Three-Eyed Golden Lion was only relevant to the small plane of Douluo Star. Any being at or above the god level would be unaffected by it.
Thus, Su Cheng planned to investigate the true nature of this auspicious beast once his strength reached the threshold of god-level.
His body was maturing, and with it, his strength was increasing rapidly. Roughly estimating, he thought he could regain god-level power within three to five years.
Next to Su Cheng, Su Yue, who was half a head taller than him, also walked in silence beside him.
However, unlike Su Cheng, who was calmly planning his next steps, the girl's heart was in turmoil.
Thoughts raced through her mind like overgrown weeds—worries, confusion, frustration, bitterness—all swirling around like she was truly becoming more human.
Su Yue felt something was wrong with her.
Unknowingly, she had begun relying too much on the man beside her.
Why was that?
Was it the insecurity caused by losing her power and starting over in a human form?
Was it the enormous pressure from the gods of the God Realm?
Or was it something about this man's unique identity—the hidden Dragon God bloodline and Dragon God power within him?
It couldn't be just from the habits they had built over the past few years, could it?
She couldn't figure it out herself.
This had never happened before.
But then again, there had never been a situation like this before.
Who could stand on equal footing with her, let alone teach her anything?
Who would dare?
In terms of strength, even severely injured, the Silver Dragon King was still unrivaled on Douluo Star.
In terms of experience, she had inherited part of the previous Dragon God's legacy and could effortlessly control various elements.
In terms of seniority, she was the ancestor of countless soul beasts and martial souls on this continent, almost like their forebear.
Even Di Tian, the former leader of the Black Dragon Clan and incredibly powerful, was completely under her command in terms of status...
At this moment, Su Yue suddenly felt a pang of regret.
She regretted choosing the path of taking human form and starting over. She regretted spending the past few years by this person's side.
She felt she was no longer the person she used to be...
Carrying their individual thoughts, the two didn't linger long in the outer city and soon arrived at the plaza in front of the Pope's Hall on Pope Mountain.
"Halt."
The leader of the palace guards, clad in silver armor, blocked their path. Behind him, a hundred palace guards simultaneously raised their knight swords.
"This is a restricted area. Unauthorized individuals are not allowed to approach."
Seeing that the intruders were two young people, both looking striking and not lacking in strength, the guards of Spirit Hall spoke neither harshly nor sternly.
However, they certainly wouldn't allow the pair to continue further.
"Sir, my sister and I are common-born spirit masters, with clear backgrounds. We've long been in awe of Spirit Hall. Over the years, we've worked hard in our cultivation and have achieved some success, so we wish to join Spirit Hall and serve under Her Holiness the Pope."
As he spoke, Su Cheng gave a glance to Su Yue. The next moment, the two simultaneously revealed their martial souls and spirit rings.
Su Yue's martial soul was, of course, still her beautiful and powerful silver dragon.
Around the silver dragon, multicolored auras shimmered—these were the elemental forces in nature, gathering and harmonizing of their own accord to create the spectacle.
Even more astonishing, however, were the spirit rings under her feet. Aside from her first spirit ring, which was a purple, thousand-year ring, the rest were all jet-black, ten-thousand-year spirit rings!
This was only because she had rushed to break through previously, without paying too much attention to her spirit rings. Otherwise, she could've easily adjusted things so that even her first ring would be at the ten-thousand-year level.
Next to her, Su Cheng's martial soul also appeared—a giant dragon, similar to Su Yue's.
The difference was that his martial soul wasn't a silver dragon, but a black dragon, much like Di Tian's true form.
Since they were joining Spirit Hall under the guise of siblings, it made sense for their martial souls to align, making their story more credible.
It would be troublesome to fabricate a completely new dragon martial soul from scratch, so he simply modeled it after Di Tian's form.
After all, no one here knew who Di Tian was.
Five spirit rings revolved around Su Cheng's feet, revealing his power at the Spirit King level. However, his spirit ring configuration was much more ordinary: two yellow, two purple, and one black, a very standard combination.
Looking at the two youths, with their powerful dragon-type beast martial souls and outstanding spirit ring configurations, along with their clearly young appearances, even the well-seasoned guards of Spirit Hall were momentarily stunned.
But amid their amazement, they also felt something was off.
If these two youths were really commoners, then they must have had their martial souls awakened by a member of Spirit Hall. With such talent, why weren't they recruited by a local Spirit Hall branch at the time?
And besides the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, were there still descendants of pure-blooded dragon beast martial souls left among the common people?
And what about the girl? Her spirit ring configuration was downright outrageous. How had she achieved that?
Even though they were deeply puzzled, it wasn't the right time to ask questions.
No matter how talented someone might be, they couldn't meet the Pope so easily.
The head guard looked at Su Cheng and said directly, "Young man, you have great talent. There's no problem with joining the Spirit Hall, but not here.
"You can first join the local branch of the Spirit Hall. In fact, many of the sub-branches and subsidiary halls across different regions have their own recommendation quotas. When the time comes, if you wish to come to the headquarters, the head of your local Spirit Hall can report and apply on your behalf.
"If you meet the standards, you'll naturally be accepted into Spirit City. With the talent you've shown, there shouldn't be any issues. However, your current approach is against the rules.
"If all else fails, I can try to introduce you to one of the elders on duty at the Spirit Hall, but whether they are willing to see you is not something I can guarantee."
Although he refused Su Cheng's request, his tone was very polite and he even offered to introduce them to an elder.
In the Spirit Hall, there are many spirit masters who come from common backgrounds, and the institution has always been very tolerant of talented spirit masters.
Especially given that the extraordinary talent displayed by Su Cheng and Su Yue was rare to see. Su Yue's unique spirit ring configuration was even more astonishing.
Hearing this, Su Yue quietly withdrew her spirit, without saying a word.
She knew Su Cheng must have a plan.
Over the years, no matter what he did, he always seemed to handle everything with ease. This small obstacle in front of them wouldn't trouble him.
Su Yue was right. Su Cheng was well aware of all the rules within Spirit City.
What the guard said was all true.
Unless you were an orphan of a member who made significant contributions to the Spirit Hall or a descendant of the core upper echelon, you'd have to start at the grassroots level if you wanted to enter the headquarters.
Of course, if someone had exceptional talent, they could be recommended by a subordinate institution to Spirit City, to enroll in the Spirit Hall Academy.
But the process could not be disrupted; you couldn't just come running to recommend yourself.
This system of the Spirit Hall was fair and not overly bureaucratic.
After all, no rules mean no order. As an enormous organization that spanned the entire continent, if everything were too informal, it would create chaos as people rushed to imitate.
Even though Su Cheng and Su Yue were immensely talented, under normal circumstances, they might have faced consequences for overstepping.
Yet Su Cheng still chose to act in this way.
Though Su Yue had withdrawn her spirit, his spirit was still displayed.
While his spirit bore the appearance of the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King Di Tian, its aura was entirely different from the real Di Tian.
Di Tian controlled the power of darkness, radiating a powerful and overbearing aura. In contrast, the black dragon spirit behind Su Cheng emitted an intense aura of malevolence, evil, and chaos. This wasn't the power of darkness—it was the power of evil.
The reason Su Cheng chose to create a black dragon spirit in this form was quite simple—
Boom!
At that moment, the doors of the Pope's Hall opened with a thunderous sound as they swung to the sides.
In the next instant, a woman in luxurious papal robes, holding a long staff and possessing an exquisitely flawless appearance, appeared at the entrance of the Pope's Hall.
Against the backdrop of the golden walls, she looked like a goddess descending to the world, inviolable in her divine majesty.
"Greetings, Your Holiness the Pope!"
The guards in the hall, upon seeing Bibi Dong appear, immediately knelt on one knee and respectfully called out her title.
"Rise."
Bibi Dong's voice was calm, but her beautiful eyes were fixed on Su Cheng.
More precisely, her gaze was locked on the evil black dragon spirit behind him.
This was Su Cheng's goal—to lure Bibi Dong out.
The aura of the black dragon spirit behind him was constructed almost entirely based on the core of Rakshasa's power, layered with the templates of the Death Spider Emperor and the Soul-Devouring Spider Emperor.
He knew Bibi Dong far too well.
Before entering this simulation, Su Cheng had spent an entire year cultivating with Bibi Dong through soul dual cultivation.
This method of soul fusion was even more intimate than a physical relationship, to the point that they knew each other thoroughly.
Moreover, even without considering this, the mutual understanding they gained from the simulated trial of destroying the Sea God's inheritance was enough to help him achieve his goal.
Although Su Cheng's true strength was entirely different from Rakshasa's divine power, lacking its intense corrosiveness and polluting nature, he could easily mimic its surface appearance.
Currently, his strength had surpassed that of ordinary Limit Douluos, and he was just one step away from reaching the god level. From the moment he entered the city, he had already sensed that Bibi Dong was in the Pope's Hall.
He came to this square, displayed his spirit in front of the guards, not truly to show off his talent so he could meet Bibi Dong.
His real objective was to let Bibi Dong sense the unique aura of his spirit, which was extremely similar to Rakshasa's divine power.
Whether Bibi Dong would recognize, be curious about, or despise this aura, she would undoubtedly come out to see for herself.
Once they met, he would have more room to maneuver.
"Junior Su Cheng greets Your Holiness."
Su Cheng glanced at the guards, then slightly bowed to Bibi Dong to show his respect.
Su Yue, seeing this, lightly frowned but did not imitate his action. She continued to stand in silence.
Unlike Su Cheng, she couldn't tolerate this kind of gesture and didn't like that he did it either.
"Su Cheng?" Bibi Dong silently scrutinized the two young people in front of her, unconcerned about Su Yue's rudeness, as various thoughts flashed through her mind.
After a brief silence, she turned back toward the Pope's Hall and said calmly, "I've heard your request. Come with me."
"Yes."
Su Cheng immediately responded, then turned to Su Yue and said, "Let's go."
"…"
Su Yue first gave him a cold glare before walking forward without saying a word, leaving Su Cheng somewhat puzzled.
What's her problem now? What did I do wrong?