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

……

Qian Daoliu could almost foresee that the truth would be like the most vicious curse, completely destroying the beliefs and pride she had always held onto, and might even cause her to... completely collapse.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt a sense of despair, a feeling of being powerless to change anything.

As someone who experienced that tragedy firsthand, and even as a bystander who tacitly approved of Qian Xunji's actions to some extent, what right does he have to comfort or console Qian Renxue?

Whatever he says appears pale and powerless in the face of that bloody truth, and may even have the opposite effect.

He could almost see it: when the truth was fully revealed, Qian Renxue's proud soul would be shattered, the glory of an angel would be extinguished in her eyes, leaving only boundless darkness and pain. It was a sight he absolutely did not want to see.

What should he do? Who can help him? Who can help Xiaoxue?

“Xuanming…”

Yes, perhaps only him. The man who personally plunged Xiaoxue into the abyss, yet seemed to have some complex bond with her.

He must go and talk to Xuanming.

At midnight, deep within the Papal Palace, Xuanming stood silently by the window, gazing at the deep night outside. His aura was restrained, blending seamlessly with the stillness of the night.

A barely perceptible golden streak of light swept across the night sky, landing precisely inside the hall behind him. As the golden light dissipated, it revealed Qian Daoliu's slightly weary and weary figure.

Xuanming didn't turn around, still looking out the window, his voice rang out indifferently, breaking the silence in the hall: "What are you doing here?"

It wasn't a question, but rather a hint of barely perceptible annoyance.

Qian Daoliu stared at Xuan Ming's tall and aloof back, opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know how to speak. The other party's icy aura that kept people at a distance made all the words he had prepared get stuck in his throat.

Xuanming slowly turned around, his icy blue eyes appearing exceptionally deep in the night. He looked at Qian Daoliu, his gaze seemingly able to pierce through people's hearts.

"Is it for Qian Renxue?" Xuan Ming bluntly stated, his tone devoid of any surprise, only displaying a cold indifference that seemed to know everything. "What use do you think it would be to come to me now?"

Qian Daoliu's heart tightened; Xuan Ming had indeed guessed his purpose. He took a deep breath, trying to make his tone sound sincere: "Xuan Ming, I know many things happened in the past... It was the Spirit Hall, the Qian family, that wronged you. But Xiaoxue is innocent! She's in a very bad state right now, and I'm worried... I'm worried she won't be able to bear knowing the truth. You... you and her, after all..."

"After all what?" Xuanming interrupted him. "After all, we knew each other? After all, I was once a pawn under your control? Or after all... I personally beat her half to death in the end?"

Qian Daoliu was speechless, his face turning pale.

Xuanming took a step forward, an invisible pressure spreading out. His voice wasn't loud, but every word was like a knife, cutting into Qian Daoliu's heart:
"Qian Daoliu, you've always been like this. Always standing on high, watching coldly from the sidelines. You watched Qian Xunji commit evil without stopping her, watched Bibi Dong fall into despair without offering a helping hand, and now you want to beg me, an outsider, for help as you watch Qian Renxue walk towards collapse?"

"Your self-proclaimed kindness and steadfastness are nothing but excuses for your cowardice and hypocrisy! What you've never protected is justice or kinship; what you've protected is only the laughable glory of your angelic race and your own pathetic sense of dignity!"

"Standing at the pinnacle of the continent, enjoying the blessings of the gods, your Qian family has long been rotten to the core!"

Xuanming's voice carried a deep disgust, "Now you're panicking? Scared? You've remembered to come looking for me, the variable and troublemaker in your eyes?"

Qian Daoliu remained silent, unable to utter a single word in rebuttal.

Because what Xuanming said was almost entirely bloody truth. What he had always insisted on and protected seemed so pale and laughable in the eyes of the other party, who seemed to see through everything.

Xuanming looked at his distraught appearance, his eyes filled with no pity, only a deeper coldness.

"Go back to your angelic temple." "Qian Renxue's matter is her own tribulation; she must overcome it herself. If she cannot overcome it, then that is her fate."

"As for you... you have no right to beg me, much less the right to plead for her."

Qian Daoliu's figure appeared particularly desolate in the night. In the end, he couldn't say anything. He just looked deeply at Xuan Ming, then silently turned around, transformed into a dim golden light, and disappeared outside the Papal Palace.

The hall returned to silence, with only the cool moonlight filtering through the window lattices.

After a while, another figure quietly entered.

Bibi Dong wore a simple purple dress, shedding the majesty of an empress during the day, with a hint of weariness and worry between her brows.

She walked to Xuanming's side and, together with him, gazed in the direction where Qian Daoliu had disappeared, remaining silent for a moment.

"He told you everything?" Bibi Dong's voice was soft, breaking the silence.

Xuanming did not answer, which was taken as tacit agreement.

Bibi Dong sighed softly, her eyes somewhat unfocused: "I know I have no right to ask anything of you in this matter. That old bastard Qian Daoliu... he has even less right."

She paused, her voice carrying a complex emotion, a mixture of pain and a rare, maternal tenderness: "But... Xuanming, Qian Renxue... she is truly innocent in this whole affair. Her birth was not what she wanted, her father's death, her mother's... hatred—these heavy grievances should not have become the shackles that crushed her."

She raised her head to look at Xuanming's cold, hard profile, her tone almost pleading: "Qian Daoliu doesn't dare tell her the truth, and I... can't bring myself to say it either. Perhaps only you can, at the right time and in your own way, help her accept it and... move on from this."

“Consider it…” Bibi Dong’s voice was even lower, with a slight tremor, “Consider it a small… insignificant compensation from this incompetent mother of mine to her. I hope you can help her get through this difficult time.”

She knew her request was selfish. The relationship between Xuanming and Qian Renxue was already complicated and entangled, and Xuanming had just personally pushed them to the brink of separation. Now, she was asking him to heal Qian Renxue's inner wounds—how difficult, and how ironic.

But she really couldn't think of a better way. Watching Qian Renxue teeter on the edge of hatred and truth, she couldn't remain completely indifferent.

Xuanming remained silent, his icy blue eyes gazing at the darkness outside the window, unfathomable in their depths. The moonlight bathed him in a soft glow, yet it could not dispel the innate loneliness emanating from him.

After a long while, just as Bibi Dong thought he wouldn't respond and her heart sank, Xuan Ming sighed softly.

"I see."

There were no promises, no guarantees, but for Bibi Dong, that was enough.

She knew that since Xuanming had said "I understand," it meant he would take this matter to heart.

As for what he will ultimately do and when he will do it, that is his business.

She breathed a sigh of relief and whispered, "Thank you."

Then, she stopped disturbing him, quietly turned and left the hall, returning the silence to Xuanming.

Inside the hall, Xuanming slowly closed his eyes. Qian Renxue's golden eyes, burning with anger and despair, flashed through his mind, along with her last roar—"Is it only by killing me that you two can finally be reunited as a family!"

He exhaled softly, his breath condensing into white mist in the cool air before slowly dissipating.

Troublesome. (End of Chapter)