Douluo Continent: My Martial Soul is the Black Dragon, I am the Lord of the Gods

……

In six years, Wuhun City has changed a lot.

The streets were cleaner and more orderly, and the patrolling Soul Master teams were disciplined, but the whole city was filled with an indescribable sense of oppression. The past fervor and clamor were gone, replaced by a sense of caution and...lifelessness.
She did not land immediately, but transformed into a golden streak of light, leaving Wuhun City and beginning to fly over the land known as the "Wuhun Empire".

She flew over the fertile plains that once belonged to the Kingdom of Barak, over the border passes where fierce battles had once taken place but which were now silent, and over some towns of considerable size.

Over the course of several days, she came to see an empire that felt completely foreign to her.

The law was extremely harsh.

Soul Masters oppressing commoners? At best, their cultivation will be crippled; at worst, they will be executed.

Did nobles seize wealth through trickery and force? Many were subjected to confiscation of property and extermination of their entire clans.

The various branches of the Spirit Hall are now more like law enforcement agencies, with their power strictly limited, and they can no longer act arrogantly as they did in the past.

She saw that farming soul tools from the Sun and Moon Continent, powered by soul power, had been introduced into the farmland, and their efficiency far exceeded that of human labor.

I saw some workshops attempting to produce complex civilian soul guides.

I also saw on the faces of ordinary people at the bottom of society that, in addition to the poverty that still exists, there seemed to be a hint of... a sense of awe for "order" that had never been seen before, and a faint expectation for "fairness".

But this so-called "fairness" comes at the cost of sacrificing the privileges of the entire Soul Master class.

All of this was completely different from the Spirit Empire she knew.

Bibi Dong, that woman, she actually chose such a... "self-destructive" path?

As the ruler, instead of protecting the interests of the Soul Master class who supported her, she used iron-fisted methods to strip them of their privileges and bind them to harsh laws.

If the original Spirit Empire at least had a powerful, war-hungry legion of spirit masters as its foundation, then the current Spirit Empire's spirit masters are now demoralized and devoid of fighting spirit. Even if they fight to the death, they gain little tangible benefit and are instead subject to even stricter constraints.

The current Martial Soul Empire is like a giant forcibly bound with iron chains. It appears orderly on the outside, but is filled with cracks and discontent on the inside. It relies entirely on Bibi Dong's unparalleled martial prowess and Xuan Ming's irresistible, godlike aura to barely maintain the facade of a "nation".

Qian Renxue couldn't understand it.

In her mind, Bibi Dong was an ambitious woman who would stop at nothing to achieve her goals. How could she do something so self-destructive? Building an empire entirely dependent on personal force and riddled with internal conflicts was simply not a sustainable solution.

Is it because of Xuanming?

Because Xuanming disliked the old empire filled with violence and plunder, Bibi Dong spared no effort to change it.

Qian Renxue refused to believe it. She couldn't believe that the cold, stubborn woman who saw power as everything would go to such lengths for a man, even willing to build her rule on such a fragile sandcastle.

But the facts before her left her no room for rebuttal.

However, it was precisely this "change" that she witnessed firsthand that made her even more suspicious of Gu Yuena's words.

If Xuanming was truly determined to exterminate humanity, why would he do these things?

Why did he still help Bibi Dong stabilize the empire? Why did he personally destroy the war spirit of the two empires and maintain a superficial peace? Why did he bring back soul tool technology from the Sun Moon Continent that could improve productivity and people's livelihoods?
Aren't these actions contradictory to his insane plan to "destroy humanity"?

This is completely inconsistent with the behavior logic of a "destroyer".

She preferred to believe that Xuanming was still the complex and contradictory man she remembered—he abhorred pointless killing, resented the oppression brought by privilege, and perhaps harbored paranoia and a destructive urge deep within him, but he also had a bottom line of not wanting to see life devastated. He might be ruthless and act obsessively, but his goal was perhaps never destruction, but rather... to "correct" this world he disapproved of in a way that he approved of.

Gu Yuena's words might just be alarmist talk, a tactic to force her to compromise?
Filled with doubts and complicated thoughts, after traveling for nearly half a month, Qian Renxue finally returned to Wuhun City.

This time, she did not hesitate and went straight to the Papal Palace, which symbolized the highest power of the Martial Soul Empire.

She was going to see Xuanming.

She wanted to ask him herself and hear his answer directly.

She needed to find out whether what Gu Yuena said was true or not.

……

Inside the Papal Palace, the flickering candlelight cast long shadows of the two figures on the polished floor.

Several exquisite dishes were laid out on the table, but Xuanming's eating was more like a ritual, a brief retrospective of his past mortal life.

Bibi Dong sat opposite him, not wearing the papal robes that symbolized power and majesty, but a simple purple casual dress, her long hair cascading lazily. She was naturally placing a piece of finely sliced ​​fish into Xuanming's bowl, her movements practiced, her eyes filled with a gentle focus that Qian Renxue had never seen before.

The scene at this moment was just like an ordinary couple's dinner, peaceful and harmonious.

This scene stung Qian Renxue's eyes.

She stood at the palace gate, her golden palace dress shimmering in the candlelight, but her expression was frozen, her golden eyes fixed on the two people at the dining table, especially Bibi Dong, who felt completely unfamiliar to her.

Xuanming seemed oblivious to her arrival, continuing to eat slowly and methodically with his head down, without pausing his movements at all.

Bibi Dong looked up at Qian Renxue at the door. A complex emotion flashed in her purple-gold eyes, but she quickly regained her composure. She put down her chopsticks, gently wiped her mouth with a napkin, and remained elegant and composed.

Qian Renxue's gaze swept back and forth between Xuanming and Bibi Dong, her heart felt as if it were being tightly gripped by an invisible hand, making it difficult to breathe.

She had never seen Bibi Dong like this before!
From childhood to adulthood, in her memory, Bibi Dong was always that high and mighty, cold and dignified pope, a tool who would sacrifice everything for power and even use her own daughter.

She had never seen such a... such a "wife's" expression on Bibi Dong's face before!

Gentle, serene, and even carrying a subtle hint of dependence and contentment.

This realization, like the sharpest icicle, pierced through Qian Renxue's defenses, bringing with it an indescribable sense of absurdity and overwhelming anger!
Bibi Dong…her mother…if she was Xuanming’s “wife”…

Then what is she, Qian Renxue?!

Was she an unwanted offspring from outside their "family"? Or... a ridiculous, unacknowledged... bastard?!

"I don't admit it!" Qian Renxue practically spat out these words through gritted teeth, her voice trembling slightly with extreme anger. Her golden eyes burned with intense flames as she stared intently at the calm Bibi Dong.

Bibi Dong met her gaze without speaking, only slightly furrowing her brows.

Xuanming finally put down his chopsticks, picked up a napkin to wipe his mouth, his movements still unhurried. Only then did he slowly raise his head, his icy blue eyes calmly looking at Qian Renxue, who stood at the door, radiating anger.

"Have you eaten?" (End of Chapter)