"Teacher!!"
Hu Liena could hardly believe her eyes. The teacher who had always treated her with gentleness and warmth now revealed such cold indifference.
Her beautiful eyes reddened with disbelief. That alluring face of hers trembled, and her voice choked.
"Yue Guan, take her back."
Even in her anger, Bibi Dong's heart remained ice-cold. Holding the Pope's Scepter in her hand, she issued her command with frigid indifference.
Hearing the order, Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan entered with a deferential bow
"Your Highness, please follow me. Do not make me fail in my duty."
Seeing her teacher so unyielding, Hu Liena was consumed by pain and disappointment. She said nothing more, only followed Yue Guan out of the Pope's Palace, heading back toward her residence to reflect.
But as they descended the hill behind the Pope's Palace, passing through the luxurious residential district at the foot, Yue Guan suddenly spoke while walking.
"Your Highness… surely you are wondering. Why did Her Holiness the Pope show such fury?"
A faintly sinister smile curved across Yue Guan's refined, androgynous face.
Hu Liena froze, staring at him in shock. She didn't understand why Yue Guan, who had always been a silent, loyal subordinate by her teacher's side, would suddenly speak like this—especially when she had just angered Bibi Dong.
In her eyes, Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan and Ghost Douluo Gui Mei had always been Bibi Dong's most trusted and reliable aides. Loyal, silent, never questioning.
So why now?
"Elder Yue, do you have something to tell me?" Hu Liena finally asked cautiously.
Yue Guan's delicate features curled into a mysterious smile.
"It's quite simple, actually. I just don't want Your Highness to feel hurt or disheartened by Her Holiness's anger. In my view, your choice was not wrong.
"As for why the Pope reacted so violently… well, that is something many of the old generation here in Spirit City already know. But no one dares speak of it. It has been buried in silence."
Hu Liena blinked, stunned. "Teacher… has a secret I don't know?"
Yue Guan chuckled darkly, eyes flashing with disdain.
"Our Pope's secret is… quite explosive."
"When Her Holiness was around twenty, she met a man named Yu Xiaogang from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. He came to Spirit City and joined Spirit Hall. At that time, she was still just the Saintess."
"And why did Yu Xiaogang join Spirit Hall? The reason was simple. His Martial Soul, the Luo San Pao, was a degraded mutation of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. He wanted to find a way to evolve it."
"But unfortunately, with his status at the time, he couldn't access the precious Spirit Master records in our Spirit Hall."
"Therefore, he set his sights on the Pope, who was then the Saintess. He hoped to use the Saintess to gain access to the precious records collected in our Spirit Hall and find a way to evolve his Martial Soul."
Yue Guan sneered. "But Yu Xiaogang was nothing but trash. Plain-faced, pitifully weak, his Spirit Abilities amounted to little more than farts. Apart from his silver tongue, he had no redeeming qualities!"
"And yet… our Pope fell for him."
"She even used her authority as the Saintess of Spirit Hall to endorse the so-called Grandmaster's Theories: the 'Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls' and the 'Spirit Ring Absorption Limit Theory.' Because of her, Spirit Hall's reputation suffered immense damage."
Yue Guan glanced at Hu Liena. "Your Highness, have you ever heard of Yu Xiaogang's theories?"
Hu Liena shook her head blankly. "I don't think I have."
"Then allow me to enlighten you," Yue Guan said mockingly.
"The so-called 'Ten Core Competencies' were things like: Martial Soul quality and innate Spirit Power are proportional; there are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Spirit Masters; Martial Souls are divided into Beast Souls and Tool Souls…"
Hu Liena's eyes widened, and she couldn't hold back anymore.
"Elder Yue, you're telling me these are theories? Aren't these just… common sense?
"And—'there are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Spirit Masters'? That sounds fine, but Yu Xiaogang himself is the best counterexample. He's already over fifty and still only at the twenty-ninth rank of Spirit Master! He slapped himself in the face with his own theory!"
"Exactly." Yue Guan spread his hands helplessly.
"Even you can see it. Yu Xiaogang's so-called theories were plagiarized from Spirit Hall's own classics, stolen and repackaged as his own. But Her Holiness never realized it.
"When the previous Pope discovered their affair and ordered her to break it off, she refused. She even argued, praising Yu Xiaogang endlessly, saying she wanted to be with him. If the Pope didn't agree, she threatened to elope with him."
Yue Guan's tone was bitter. "But she was the Saintess of Spirit Hall!"
Hu Liena stood frozen, her mind reeling.
The image of her teacher—noble, mysterious, powerful, and iron-willed—shattered into pieces before her eyes.
Earlier that day, when she told her teacher she was willing to marry Ye Yu on behalf of Spirit Hall and for her sake, she had felt a little guilty about her own private feelings.
But now…
Compared to what Bibi Dong had done for Yu Xiaogang, her own actions were far more selfless!
Ye Yu was unimaginably powerful, a rising godlike figure. Aligning with him was both personal and political.
But Yu Xiaogang? He was from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan—an enemy of Spirit Hall! He was a useless plagiarist with no real talent!
And yet her teacher had once wanted to elope with such trash?
The more she thought about it, the more Hu Liena's heart burned with anger and indignation.
Why?!
Teacher, what you did was far worse than what I proposed!
So why do you get to scold me?et to scold me?