The Pope's Palace towered high above Spirit City.
On the open balcony overlooking the sprawling streets, smoke rose from suburban chimneys, curling lazily into the sky. From up here, the bustling city seemed almost insignificant, like countless ants crawling beneath the sky.
It was here that Bibi Dong stood, hands clasped behind her, her expression unreadable. She did not look at Liu Erlong at first. Only when the wind carried the faint scent of cooking fires did her lips part faintly.
"How is he doing?"
Her words were soft, but her tone held a weight that pressed like a mountain.
Liu Erlong followed her gaze outward. "He?"
Bibi Dong's eyes shifted, sharp as blades. "Don't tell me you want to play coy here. No need for disguises—it's just us."
The words cut cleanly through the air.
Liu Erlong raised a brow calmly. "Disguise? I've nothing to hide. But do you mean Xiaobei… or Yu Xiaogang?"
She spoke the man's name as though it were nothing more than dust on the wind—lightly, indifferently. No tremor, no pain, no sweetness. Nothing.
That alone startled Bibi Dong.
She searched Liu Erlong's eyes. "I heard once that you and he were inseparable lovers, forced apart by cruel circumstance. That you wept for him, lived half your life in melancholy after…"
Liu Erlong cut her off firmly. "Stories only. The past is past. I regard it now as nothing but floating clouds. Not worth mentioning."
The words were blunt, but they were true.
Bibi Dong chuckled faintly. "So straightforward."
Liu Erlong tilted her head faintly. "If the Pope truly cared, you could go to Notting City. Seek him out at Notting College. With your power, it would be effortless."
Bibi Dong shook her head slowly, the candlelight flickering in her eyes. "No. I once thought it was regret—that youthful passion left unfinished. But now?"
Her lips curled in faint ridicule. "Now I see clearly how childish, how ignorant we were back then. No true feelings. No true importance. It was nothing but smoke."
"And what remains?" Liu Erlong asked steadily.
Bibi Dong's smile hardened. "Curiosity. Nothing more. I want only to know… whether his so-called oath ever came true."
Liu Erlong frowned slightly. "Oath?"
"The oath," Bibi Dong answered, her voice low, dipped in cold memory, "to conquer the so-called 'curse' of a wasted martial spirit… to prove his theory to the entire world. To show all that even trash could rise."
For a moment, her eyes misted—not with tenderness, but with the recollection of a lanky young man in scholarly robes. He had once stood before her in this very hall, hands gesturing passionately as he babbled about the future of martial soul theory. About his "Ten Core Principles for the Future of Spirit Masters."
Liu Erlong's expression did not change. "Then I can answer you now. His wish has failed."
Her voice was flat, merciless. "Decades have passed. At best, his soul power hovers around Soul Elder… perhaps Soul King by some miracle. Even so—you know this yourself better than I."
Her gaze firmed. "You don't need me to tell you that, Pope."
Both women fell silent for a long moment as the wind carried the sounds of bustling Spirit City upward.
Bibi Dong finally smiled coldly. "Yes… you're right. If he had succeeded, he would have returned to Heaven Dou already. He loves nothing more than showing off. That he remains hidden means he has failed completely."
Her tone dropped like a blade. "At his age, with nothing achieved… even the gods would not spare a glance at him."
The words were merciless.
For Yu Xiaogang, there was no salvation.
But there was still Subei.
Bibi Dong's eyes lit briefly, but when they turned back to Liu Erlong, they carried venom. "Strange. With such an unfeeling history, I thought President Liu cared for nothing. Yet you…"
Her voice deepened. "…you still cannot leave him."
Liu Erlong finally reacted—her eyes sharpened, her stance firm, her presence no less fierce than the Pope's.
"You mean to imply I change when the wind changes? That I am fickle? That I abandon one man only to cling to another?"
"You said it, not I," Bibi Dong replied smoothly, though the faintest curl of her lip betrayed her intent.
Within her heart, Liu Erlong recognized it instantly: the words were poisoned, meant to sting, meant to carve at her heart.
So she laughed coldly. "And what of you? If you are so faithful—why don't you go fetch Yu Xiaogang right now? Why don't you cradle your old lover back into your proud arms, hmm?"
The Pope's expression faltered for a moment. A storm crackled across her face. "Does he deserve it?"
"Then tell me," Liu Erlong pressed, merciless as flame, "did you ever truly love him?"
The air shook.
BOOM.
Bibi Dong's soul power exploded outward violently, rushing like a tidal wave against Liu Erlong's chest. The terrifying majesty of her aura pressed down like mountains, grinding the air until Liu Erlong's knees almost buckled. Her body flared with fiery martial spirit energy just to keep breathing, sweat forming across her temples.
Liu Erlong's lips twitched in mockery. "What's wrong? Angry now? Will you strike me here?"
A dangerous smile cut across Bibi Dong's lips. She lowered the Pope's scepter slowly, but her eyes gleamed with the cruelty of command.
"No. I won't kill you. Instead, I'll give you two choices."
Her words rolled like thunder.
"One: Leave Spirit Hall. Go back to Yu Xiaogang. Live out your life peacefully, forever away from my disciple. Fly with him in obscurity."
"Two: You may take treasures. Gold, soul bones, priceless artifacts—all from the Pope's Palace. Take them as payment… and leave Subei forever. Never appear before him again."
"You may take both choices at once… or one. But you cannot refuse to choose at all."
Her tone was flat, but the arrogance in it weighed down on the world itself.
Leave my disciple. Name your price. Whatever it is… I can pay it.
Liu Erlong sneered, her amber eyes flashing. She laughed—a crisp, fearless laugh that echoed across the balcony.
"Hah! Is the great Pope now reduced to buying people off?"
She stepped forward, close enough that their breaths nearly touched. Her voice was ice, but her fire spirit blazed behind it.
"Listen well. Yu Xiaogang? If you want him, then take him. I don't care. But if you want me to give up Xiaobei, you might as well kill me here. Because unless I'm dead, I will never abandon him."
The Pope's eyes narrowed.
"You wouldn't dare," Liu Erlong pressed. "You cannot. Because you know if you hurt me—Subei will hate you forever. And you, Pope Bibi Dong, cannot afford that. Not now. Not ever."
Her voice rang proud, unyielding as the roar of her fire dragon. "Xiaobei will choose for himself. Whether he stays in Spirit Hall or at Lanba Academy, whether he comes close to me or to you—that will depend on his heart, on who he loves more. Not on your command, not on your threats."
"I am his godmother. And I will never, never, let him go."
The flames in her eyes blazed as she turned her back decisively, striding toward the stairs.
Bibi Dong's hand tightened on her scepter until her knuckles whitened. Fury and helplessness churned within her.
Yes. Liu Erlong had cut straight to the wound in her heart.
She wanted to claim Subei. To control him, to keep him close, to never again lose someone to another woman. Yet she could not kill Liu Erlong. Could not touch her.
Because if she harmed the godmother—her precious disciple would despise her.
The thought burned.
When had she, Bibi Dong, ever been forced to such humiliation?
Her chest tightened with old fear. Once before, she had lost her lover to that very woman's hands. Preconceived, unguarded, too late. And now once again—she felt that fear creeping back.
Yes, she was the Pope. Yes, she was strong enough to make the world tremble.
But when it came to this boy… in her heart, she still felt that same insecure inferiority.
A woman who could rule empires… trembling before the possibility of losing love.
Closing her eyes, Bibi Dong let the bitter wind whip her robes as she whispered to herself.
"There is nothing in this world that cannot be bought… only prices not high enough."
But what if—to Liu Erlong—Subei was worth more than the entire Spirit Hall?
Then what would she do?