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

……

Xuanming's voice was flat, devoid of any emotion, as if he were asking a completely unimportant stranger. These three words, in this tense atmosphere, seemed particularly jarring, even carrying an almost cruel indifference.

The anger in Qian Renxue's chest seemed to be doused with a bucket of ice water, instantly freezing and transforming into a deeper, more piercing chill. Looking into Xuan Ming's calm, almost empty eyes, she felt that all her resentment and questions had hit nothing, leaving her powerless and ridiculous.

"Eat...?" Qian Renxue repeated the two words, her voice filled with an incredulous sense of absurdity. "Xuanming, do you think I'm in the mood to discuss this with you right now?"

She took a few steps forward, her high heels clicking crisply and coldly on the polished floor, shattering the suffocating "coziness" of the restaurant.

"Gu Yuena told me you would destroy humanity." Qian Renxue forced herself to calm down, her gaze sharply fixed on Xuanming. "Tell me, is this true? You helped her build this empire, introduced soul tools, maintained peace... If you are ultimately going to destroy all of this with your own hands, then what is the point of everything you are doing now?!"

"Meaning?" Xuan Ming finally put down his napkin, leaned back slightly in his chair, and calmly met Qian Renxue's eyes, which were burning with anger. "Do I need to explain the meaning of what I'm doing to you?"

There was no madness or fanaticism in his eyes, only a deep, unfathomable calm that sent shivers down your spine.

“This empire is her empire.” He tilted his head slightly and gestured to Bibi Dong with his eyes. “While she is still the empress, let it operate according to her wishes, so that she can be a little more at ease, that’s all.”

"Whether it exists or not makes no difference to me. Just like the food on this table, whether I eat it or not makes no difference to me."

The coldness in those words sent a chill down Qian Renxue's spine. She finally realized that Gu Yuena might not have been lying to her.

The man before me thinks in ways that defy common sense. He can help Bibi Dong build, or he can destroy her in an instant, all depending on his "mood," or his so-called "promise" and "choice."

"And what about me?" Qian Renxue's voice trembled with a hint of despair that she herself didn't even realize. She pointed at Bibi Dong, "What about you and her... what are you now? Where do you place me?!"

This is the deepest thorn in her heart, an unhealable wound, the root cause of her feeling betrayed and abandoned by the whole world.

Bibi Dong sighed softly at this moment and finally spoke, her voice carrying a calm that Qian Renxue had never heard before, a calm mixed with weariness and a certain resoluteness: "Qian Renxue, I have said that this is between him and me."

"What happened between us?" Qian Renxue suddenly turned to Bibi Dong, her golden eyes filled with bloodshot veins and hatred. "You are my mother!"

Bibi Dong looked at her, her eyes flashing with a complex expression for a moment, but quickly regained their calm and collected demeanor: "So what?"

She gently picked up her wine glass, took a sip, and said, "I have never acknowledged you as my mother, and you have never considered me that way. So why use that identity to question me now?"

Qian Renxue stood frozen in place, looking at the "couple" in front of her. One was as cold as ice, and the other as calm as water. They were a separate entity, completely isolating her from them.

Anger, resentment, resentment, and a sense of loneliness as if abandoned by the whole world overwhelmed her like a tide.

She looked at Xuanming and asked, word by word, "So, your fourth test, severing ties of affection... how do you plan to sever ties with me?"

Xuanming slowly stood up, his tall figure casting a huge shadow in the candlelight, almost completely enveloping Qian Renxue.

He didn't answer her question. Instead, he took a step forward, closing the distance between them. An invisible, suffocating sense of oppression instantly spread out.

He leaned slightly closer to Qian Renxue's ear and, in a low, dangerous voice that only the two of them could hear, slowly asked:

"How do you want me to end this?"

Xuanming's deep voice echoed in her ears, carrying a cold, almost cruel, playful tone. His breath brushed against Qian Renxue's earlobe, but only made her feel a bone-chilling cold.

Qian Renxue suddenly raised her head, her golden eyes burning with despair and a kind of reckless madness. She stared directly into Xuan Ming's ice-blue pupils, which were inches away from her own, and asked in a sharp voice, "Kill me? Is it only by killing me that you two can be completely reunited as a family, and that I, this eyesore, will be gone?!"

She practically screamed those words, carrying over twenty years of pent-up grievances, anger, and resentment.

Xuanming looked at the shattered light in her eyes, a barely perceptible ripple flashing deep within his icy blue pupils, but it was quickly covered by an even deeper indifference. He straightened up, looking down at her, a cold, almost cruel smile curving his lips.

“I do have that idea.” His voice was eerily calm. “After all, Bibi Dong killed Qian Xunji.”

These words were like a thunderclap from a clear sky, instantly exploding in Qian Renxue's mind!

"...What?" The madness and anger on her face froze instantly, turning into extreme shock and bewilderment.

She subconsciously looked at Bibi Dong sitting there, hoping to see denial, anger, or any expression on her face that could refute her statement.

However, Bibi Dong simply looked back at her calmly, her purple-gold eyes showing no ripples, no denial, no explanation, only a silence that was almost tacit agreement.

it is true……

The truth that she had vaguely suspected deep down, but had never dared to or wanted to confirm... was actually true!

Was her father, Qian Xunji, really killed by Bibi Dong... her mother...?
In an instant, Qian Renxue felt her world completely collapse.

The things that had sustained her all along—her vague longing for her father, the perhaps hidden yearning for maternal love within Bibi Dong's complex and unspeakable hatred, and even her search for the meaning of her own existence—all shattered and became absurd and laughable at this moment.

Seeing her momentarily lost in thought, as if her soul had been ripped away, a fleeting pang of pity flashed in Xuanming's eyes, but it was immediately replaced by a deeper resolve. He knew he had to take drastic measures, he had to push her away completely, to the safe side, to the opposite side of hatred.

"Om-"

With a soft hum, the blood spear, wreathed in crimson aura and murderous intent, appeared out of thin air in Xuan Ming's hand. Without the slightest hesitation, the cold spearhead was already pressed against Qian Renxue's slender and fragile neck. The sharp chill instantly pierced her skin, sending a shiver down her spine.

“And I,” Xuanming’s voice was filled with undisguised sarcasm, as if he were evaluating an insignificant object, “killing you now would be a way to reunite you and your daughter, wouldn’t it?”

Qian Renxue stood there stiffly, the coldness on her neck and the huge emptiness spreading in her heart making it almost impossible for her to breathe.

She looked at Xuanming, at the light she once considered the only thing she wanted to grasp, which was now pushing her into the abyss in the most cruel way.

"You..." She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

“Unfortunately,” Xuanming’s voice was as cold as a knife, carrying a merciless blow, “you are too weak. So weak that… you don’t even have the right to die by my hand.”

"You don't even have the right to stand in front of me and question me."

Before he could finish speaking, Xuanming clenched his left fist and, without warning, slammed it hard into Qian Renxue's flat stomach!

"puff--!"

An indescribable, terrifying force erupted instantly. Qian Renxue didn't even have time to scream before she was sent flying like a kite with a broken string, crashing violently through the restaurant's heavy wooden door and slamming heavily onto the cold stone floor outside, accompanied by flying wood chips! (End of Chapter)