Chapter 39: Months Later
"How many levels of soul power did you advance with the immortal herb?" Percy asked as he walked alongside Zhu Zhuqing through Hraven Dou City. It had already been several days since she took the herb and absorbed its properties. Since she was level 30, she wouldn't have been able to advance, and that was Percy's mistake. That was why he took her to hunt a spirit beast just now.
And even if she couldn't make a level breakthrough, that power would be stored within her body. Therefore, she should have increased several levels by now.
"I'm level 37 master. Together with the energy of the immortal herb and the power of the spirit ring, I've gone up seven levels in total."
"That's good," Percy nodded. "Immortal herbs are rare things that won't harm a spiritual master's foundation. In fact, it's the opposite, each immortal herb will strengthen the foundation and give an increase in soul power or spiritual power."
The two continued to talk about training and how to best carry it out. When, after an hour of walking through the city, they arrived at Percy's shop, the two entered and were greeted by the guards inside and the rest of the employees.
"Come, follow me," Percy said and walked forward. Zhu Zhuqing just nodded and followed her master as they climbed the stairs of the now large shop. The third floor was where the most powerful and useful things were, of course, they were also the most expensive.
Ever since Zhu Zhuqing became his disciple, she had thought of something that would keep her safe in tougher fights, so she decided to do something special. When they reached the third floor, Percy opened a door that was guarded by two men who seemed to be Soul Saints over level 71.
Zhu Zhuqing was a little surprised by this. She was much more curious to see what opened behind the door. But what she saw was just a hallway with a door at the end. When they reached the end and Percy opened the door, he let Zhu Zhuqing enter first and smiled at the slightly surprised expression.
The room wasn't too big, but the walls seemed to be made of stones of a bluish-gray color. The floor and ceiling were similar, giving off a slightly drab and cold, but really sturdy atmosphere.
In the center was a table with various instruments arranged. On each side of the room were some mannequins that had armor parts such as shoulder pads, legs, breastplates, belts, and much more. Each armor looked finely made. Some were blue, other parts looked abysmal black, and others white.
Percy walked over to the table and picked up a belt before waving his hand, tacitly signaling his disciple to come closer.
"This is a special belt that is needed in order to create battle armor," Percy said with a bit of seriousness.
"Look carefully," Percy put on his belt and as his soul power and spiritual power fluctuated, the God-slaying Saber appeared, but also a beautiful and terrifying armor. On Percy's head, a crown that looked like it was made of red crystal appeared shining. The shoulder pads looked like a mix of sharp crystal bones. The chest was hard and black and red in color. And the legs, feet, arms, and hands followed the same kind of appearance.
Now Percy looked like a king full of power and killing intent.
Zhu Zhuqing gulped slightly as she felt her master's killing intent and the power he was exuding.
"Battle armor is somewhat special, Zhuqing. It's very different from a spiritual tool, because it requires the person wearing it to be part of the creation. It requires the refining of thousands of metals/alloys and the blood of the wearer. The minimum requirement to wear battle armor is five spiritual rings."
Percy took off his battle armor.
"Battle armors are divided into several categories: one word, two words, three words, and four words. These words will also be the name of the battle armor."
Zhu Zhuqing nodded in understanding.
"Master, what is the name of your battle armor?"
Percy looked at Zhuqing's face for a moment, noticing her curiosity.
"The first word on my battle armor is 'melody'; the second word is 'vengeful'. The third and fourth are 'annihilator' and 'gods' respectively."
"The full name would be: Vengeful God-Annihilating Melody."
"The reason I'm showing you this, is because I'll teach you how to create your own battle armor. Therefore, I'll teach you what you need until you reach the level of a five-ringed spirit king."
Zhu Zhuqing smiled in delight and nodded. Of course, she also knew that her master would be harsh in teaching. These past few days, she already realized what Percy was like. And while he was strict and a bit cold, he always rewarded effort and dedication. Zhuqing knew that as long as she put in the effort, Percy would be the best teacher she could ask for.
"Then let's begin," Percy showed a slightly devious smile as he pulled out a stack of books from his bracelet. Zhu Zhuqing paled slightly as she watched the stack of thick books create a clattering sound as they fell onto the table.
"You'll first learn the theory behind everything."
"Uh…"
Just like that, as Percy taught everything he had learned inside the temple of nothingness, the days passed quickly. And before he could notice, more than nine months had passed.
Within those months, several important things happened. One of them was the spirit master competition where several powers appeared. The spirit hall, the elemental academies, the elephant sect, and even the blue electric tyrant dragon clan participated. Liu Erlong's academy decided to participate with the monster class and they achieved victory, obtaining three rather useful spirit bones.
Zhu Zhuqing had also reached level 44 and the rest of her friends followed closely behind her, reaching the rank of spirit ancestor. At the same time as this was happening, a huge piece of news was made public.
Tan Hao, the douluo of the vast sky, had passed away.
No one knew how they found out about this, but in no time the news flew everywhere, even reaching the Star Luo Empire. But along with that, the reason for his death was known.
A fight to the death left him so injured that he couldn't even recover. The enemy was Perseus, the owner of the most important shop in the Heaven Dou Empire!
Percy didn't care too much about the news, nor was he even afraid of the possible repercussions from the Clear Sky Clan. They expelled Tang Hao years ago for the battle he had with the previous Pope, Qian Xunji. But the clan head was still Tang Xiao, Tang Hao's younger brother, so many speculated of a possible revenge from him.
What Percy cared about most right now was something else.
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In the spirit hall, within the pope's hall, Bibi Dong sat on her throne while holding her scepter with a bit of force. Chrysanthemum Douluo, Yue Guan and Ghost Douluo, Gui Mei listened attentively on either side of Bibi Dong. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment, noticing His Majesty's annoyance.
And it was not to be expected. The two titled douluo had been helping and protecting Bibi Dong for many years now. They knew things that others didn't, and one of them was Bibi Dong's love for a certain man.
And right now, a spy was telling that very woman how the man she was in love with just became a father.
"Get out," Bibi Dong said coldly to the man kneeling in front of her.
The man began to sweat before leaving as quickly as he could.
The scepter in Bibi Dong's left hand began to rattle slightly as she exerted force against the ground.
Ka~ Ka~
Cracks opened up on the clean and bright ground as an aura of death spread within the throne room. Yue Guan and Gui Mei trembled slightly before nodding to each other.
"Your majesty, you don't have to worry so much."
"Right, ghost is right. Didn't you say it yourself months ago? Liu Erlong agreed to let her man have more women… He still has a chance."
"Eh!" Bibi Dong looked at them as the coldness of the hall increased. The two titled douluo gulped hard at the look. While they were at level 95, Bibi Dong was at a completely different level. She was already at level 98, just one level away from the full limit of a mortal. Below those levels, no matter how hard the two of them tried, there was no way to defeat Bibi Dong.
Let alone when she was a wielder of twin martial spirits. The Death Spider Emperor and the Soul-Eating Spider Emperor were not ordinary martial spirits. Her first martial spirit even had two extremely terrifying abilities called: Spider Emperor Clone, which allowed her to form a clone that not only had the first seven martial spirit abilities, but also a hundred percent of her strength. And the second terrifying ability was: Unknown Immortal Body, which gave her an undying body that even if she ended up shattered, crushed, and destroyed, she could still reform.
In a way, she was immortal.
Bibi Dong, of course, knew what her two most loyal people were talking about. When Liu Erlong came out of the lake where several of her trials happened, she understood why Bibi Dong helped her. As well as the reason why she met Percy without the former knowing.
Percy did not have amnesia, and his memories were not sealed either. At least not the ones that referred to Bibi Dong. It was just that the meeting had not happened yet for him. She also knew that betrayal was something he abhorred, so he would never think of betraying her if she could win his heart.
But then again, Liu Erlong understood that the future might be uncertain.
Reluctantly, she agreed to let Bibi Dong pursue and try to win Percy's heart when all the events finally came together. But still, Bibi Dong felt jealous that Liu Erlong was always together with Percy. And now they had a child as well.
Even if she knew that she had a good chance with Percy, she couldn't help but feel jealous.
Suddenly, the huge doors of the hall opened, revealing a beautiful young girl with blonde hair. Her white and gold colored dress seemed to accentuate her fair skin tone and purple eyes. She had a slightly excited smile as she looked at Bibi Dong.
This girl was Qian Renxue.
"I heard the news," she commented, hoping to see Bibi Dong's displeasure. With the people standing behind her, of course she knew about Bibi Dong's love. It wasn't surprising really, especially since her grandfather was Qian Daoliu, the number one of the elder hall.
"Looks like you don't stand a chance."
Bibi Dong snorted through her nose, glaring angrily at the young lady in front of her.
"Why are you here? You should be in the Heaven Dou Empire pretending to be the prince."
"I had to go out for my sixth spirit ring," she shrugged.
Bibi Dong frowned, knowing the reason for the girl's mockery. She thought she was her mother, and that she hated her. Qian Renxue had suffered from assassination attempts, and she thought that all of them were the work of Bibi Dong. Well, the latter hasn't done anything to refute such accusations either.
But seeing Qian Renxue's mocking expressions, she might as well tell her the truth right now. That crossed Bibi Dong's mind.
"Do you know who your mother is, girl?"
The question made Qian Renxue frown immediately, "Shut up… you think you are my mother now, but you have never proven it. Bibi Dong, I will never acknowledge you as my mother."
"You misunderstand me, little girl," Bibi Dong smiled, returning the mocking expression, "I have never said that I was your mother, because I have never been one."
"Qian Daoliu might have thought that, perhaps he already knows, perhaps he doesn't."
"What?" Qian Renxue looked at the woman in front of her in confusion. Her body had frozen for a moment before her soul power began to manifest into a holy, golden aura around her body.
"Your father, Qian Xuanji was my master. But that trash tried to rape me so that I would never leave the spirit hall. Of course, he failed miserably. At that time, he had lost to Tang Hao that year, and his madness and arrogance caused a servant girl to be raped by him."
"In his weakest moment, I wanted to kill him," Bibi Dong paused for a moment.
"Shut up… you're lying…" Qian Renxue was trembling as she clenched her hands into fists.
"But to my surprise…" Bibi Dong smiled slightly as she continued, "That very servant girl killed him. When I came to his room to kill him for what he had tried to do to me, I could see that woman had stabbed a dagger into his heart."
"You're lying!" Qian Renxue screamed as two pairs of angelic wings sprouted from her back and the figure of a praying woman appeared on her back.
"You're lying, Bibi Dong! You're just saying this nonsense because you want to hurt me!"
"Lie? Am I really lying?" Bibi Dong snorted.
"Little girl, I have no reason to hurt you. You're not my daughter. If you were, you'd be dead already. You'd be the reason a man had defiled my body, I would treat you with disgust," Bibi Dong didn't deny the things she would do in a what-if scenario.
"Those murder attempts you suffered weren't from me, but from someone else."
Qian Renxue's teeth gritted loudly as she glared at Bibi Dong with spite.
"If so… who?" she asked angrily. "Who was it?!"
"At this point, you should know, right?" Bibi Dong sighed a little. "Don't you remember the look on that woman's face when she served you? The fear she seemed to have after every attempt to have you killed… Obviously, you had the culprit right in front of your eyes but you didn't notice it."
Qian Renxue looked up at the ceiling as her eyes widened more and more as the seconds passed. She remembered the servant who had been helping her until she became old enough for the plan against the Heaven Dou Empire.
"She… impossible… no… no…"
Qian Renxue closed her eyes as tears fell from her eyes. She had…
"You had your mother right in front of your eyes since you were little, but you didn't realize it. And about that, she was the culprit of every murder attempt. Xiao Lian might be weak compared to the current you, but when you were little, she had enough power to try and kill you or recruit the necessary help."
"Where… is she?" Qian Renxue asked, marking her words as she gritted her teeth.
"I don't know," Bibi Dong shrugged. "When Qian Daoliu realized that she was the culprit of the murder attempts, he took her away. Maybe he already knows that you're not my daughter, maybe not. But until that moment, your grandfather didn't know the truth."
Bibi Dong watched as Qian Renxue flapped her wings behind her and flew out the door before flying through a window in the hallway outside.
Yue Guan and Gui Mei just stood there like statues at today's revelations.
One scared by how scary women could be, and the other a little amused by the gossip, but keeping those feelings in his heart.
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