Under countless horrified gazes—
Bibi Dong lightly flicked her sleeve.
Bang—!
Bang—!
Heavy thuds echoed in succession.
One corpse after another came crashing down into the open space of the banquet ground.
Those remains—
were covered in hideous wounds.
But most chilling of all was that around the edges of those wounds lingered faint traces of terrifying sword intent.
Sword intents that shimmered like starlight, burned with ice and fire, or carried the weathered corrosion of time and wind.
"Gulp…"
Someone couldn't help swallowing hard.
Countless eyes instantly shifted to the cold-faced youth in white.
The Spirit Master Tournament had just ended!
Who didn't know by now that Li Zhexian was a prodigy in the way of the sword—
a genius who commanded multiple, utterly distinct sword intents?!
And these sword intents…
They clearly belonged to him!
Half a year ago?!
Half a year ago, Li Zhexian already had the strength to slay multiple Spirit Kings above the fiftieth rank?!
It's over! Spirit Hall won't let this slide!
This thought surged in everyone's hearts.
The looks directed at Li Zhexian grew complicated—
Pity, shock, schadenfreude—all mixed together.
The Shrek group froze where they stood.
Yu Xiaogang, Flender, and Liu Erlong watched coldly.
Ning Rongrong's delicate hands clenched tight, anxiety flashing across her pretty face.
Tang San's brow furrowed slightly—then smoothed again into calm.
But Dai Mubai could no longer contain the wild delight spreading across his face.
"Li Zhexian!"
Zhu Zhuqing, Dugu Yan, and Ye Lingling all looked toward Li Zhexian in anxious desperation.
"Your Holiness! This must be… this must be some kind of mistake!"
Bai Baoshan quickly stepped forward, trembling as he pleaded:
"How could Zhexian possibly—"
Boom—!
Before he finished, Chrysanthemum Douluo narrowed his eyes.
A crushing pressure fell like a mountain, slamming Bai Baoshan flat onto the cold stone floor, his cheek grinding against it.
High upon the Pope's throne, Bibi Dong sat expressionless.
"Li Zhexian, this Pope grants you the chance to explain."
"Why…"
"Did you slaughter seventeen of Spirit Hall's deacons?"
"It was your Spirit Hall who sent people to kill me. I merely struck back."
"Oh?"
The crowd of hundreds erupted in uproar,
but Bibi Dong acted as if she heard nothing.
On her face, usually calm and dignified, a faint, almost playful smile slowly surfaced.
That tiny change lent her majestic beauty an eerie, twisted allure.
"Then tell me…"
She leaned forward slightly.
And in the depths of those purple eyes, something silently cracked.
Thin streams of black qi seeped out.
Her outward beauty remained unchanged.
But to Li Zhexian, it was as if he could see the madness boiling beneath her flawless skin.
Bibi Dong…
She seemed to be waiting for him to speak a name.
Waiting for him to say aloud "Qian Renxue."
Waiting for him to declare,
"Because of my closeness to Spirit Hall's Qian Renxue, I brought this calamity upon myself."
So it would be—
In Bibi Dong's twisted perception,
that would count as Li Zhexian betraying Qian Renxue,
exposing her identity.
A mother so desperate…
to see her daughter betrayed by the man she admired.
"You are truly rotten to the core."
Li Zhexian sneered inwardly, just about to speak when—
Step… Step…
Crisp footsteps echoed.
From the winding stone stairway of the mountain path.
Growing closer.
Each step resounded through the deathly silence of the square.
All heads turned instinctively.
Until a breathtaking figure appeared.
A golden-haired maiden, too beautiful for the mortal world.
A faint halo of golden light radiated from her, so holy it made one's breath hitch.
She ignored the countless eyes upon her.
Her gaze went straight to the Pope's throne.
"Why does Spirit Hall want to kill Li Zhexian…"
"It is because of me."
"Because I admire Li Zhexian."
"Because the one I admire shines brighter than all others, and I wish to stand beside him, walking under the light."
"And you…"
"You are jealous. You are mad. You are hysterical."
"So, you want to kill him."
…
The vast square in front of the Pope's Palace—
was silent as a grave.
Countless shocked, bewildered, searching gazes fixed on the golden-haired maiden of peerless beauty.
Step by step—
she walked to Li Zhexian's side.
"Who… who is she?"
"She admires Li Zhexian? And because of that, Spirit Hall attacked him?"
"What is her relation to Her Holiness the Pope?"
A storm of questions exploded in everyone's minds.
The Shrek group had already retreated to the edges.
Ning Rongrong stared at that dreamlike face, her own complexion turning pale.
Zhu Zhuqing bit down on her lip,
and Xiao Wu, holding her arm could clearly feel her body turning icy cold.
Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling's gazes toward Li Zhexian brimmed with both grievance and confusion.
Yu Tianheng, Yu Feng, and the others were equally stunned.
They had lived with Li Zhexian day and night, yet never knew when he had come to know this golden-haired girl.
But this was clearly no time for explanations.
Li Zhexian turned his head slightly toward Qian Renxue, brows deeply furrowed.
"You—"
As if knowing what he meant to say, Qian Renxue softly answered:
"As long as you are safe, nothing else matters to me."
High upon the platform—
the moment Qian Renxue appeared, Bibi Dong's violet eyes turned into bottomless abysses.
Her voice, cold as ice,
swept across the crowd like a winter gale:
"Since there is doubt…"
"Li Zhexian, you will remain in Spirit Hall."
"Only when the truth is uncovered will you be permitted to leave."
"I will take him away!"
Qian Renxue seized Li Zhexian's hand, turning to go.
"Who dares stop me?!"
"If you attempt to leave without permission…"
Waves of invisible black qi seemed to churn around Bibi Dong,
her phoenix eyes filled with killing intent.
"…then it will be taken as fleeing out of guilt."
"Take him down."
At her word,
two ghostlike figures burst forth at her side—
Ghost Douluo and Chrysanthemum Douluo.
Their speed—
as if tearing through space itself.
The oppressive might of two Titled Douluo descended like a tidal wave,
locking squarely upon Li Zhexian,
bearing down with intent to crush him where he stood.
Around them, Spirit Masters screamed in terror, scattering in panic.
Who could have imagined—
that moments ago it had been a victory feast,
and in the blink of an eye, it had become a Shura bloodfield.
The Spirit Master Heaven Dou City shook so hard he nearly collapsed, but still clenched his teeth and, with trembling hands, kept recording—
He had sworn.
This day's events—
must be passed in full to the storyteller.
And then spread across the entire continent.
"Li Zhexian, run!"
Qian Renxue, Zhu Zhuqing, Dugu Yan, Ye Lingling, Huo Wu, Feng Xiaotian—
all rushed forward together,
trying to block between him and the two Titled Douluo.
However, at this moment! An unexpected change suddenly occurred!
Hiss—
Hiss—
From the cracks of the winding stone steps,
countless serpents of jade scales slid forth silently.
They slithered swiftly,
massing in the square's center.
"What?!"
Ghost and Chrysanthemum Douluo faltered for an instant.
In the blink of an eye,
the serpents writhed together,
intertwining into a vast, seething ball.
Then—
a soul-piercing hiss split the air.
The serpent mass exploded outward.
In an instant,
thick green poison mist spread across the square.
And within that toxic haze,
an elder with emerald eyes and a sinister face walked forth slowly.
"Spirit Hall…"
"…has gone too far in bullying others."