Chapter 8: A Gift from the Great Elder
The Pope's Palace.
Bibi Dong was in a terrible mood—and her temper was worse.
Just that morning, she'd already punished several people for reasons that would have baffled anyone else.
One person had stepped into the Pope's Palace with their right foot first.
Another had breathed too heavily while speaking to her.
Yet another had dared to turn their back and walk out… showing their buttocks.
Buttocks!
Buttocks!
Buttocks!
Seeing them had triggered memories of the absurd events that took place the day before—memories that filled Bibi Dong with both regret and rage.
Why had she done such humiliating things?
Sitting on someone else's warmed seat?
Drinking from someone else's cup?
Just thinking about it made her stomach churn with sickness and fury.
And when someone came to report that Great Elder Qin Chuan had truly left Spirit Hall, her fury reached a new height.
"Arrest that cardinal who turned his butt to me when he left," she snapped. "Thirty strokes of the cane."
Amid inhuman screams outside the palace, another trembling attendant approached.
"Your Holiness… soldiers from Wuhun City request an audience. They're outside the palace gate."
"Soldiers?" Bibi Dong frowned and waved irritably. "No. Since when can ordinary soldiers request to see me?"
"But… they're carrying someone. They said the Great Elder sent them."
Her expression changed at once.
"Let them in."
Moments later, four soldiers from Wuhun City entered, carefully carrying a stretcher into the Pope's Palace. Their faces were pale with fear. As they had entered, they too had seen the tortured cardinal still writhing in pain in the square.
They placed the stretcher gently on the marble floor and dropped to their knees.
"Paying respects to Your Holiness!"
Bibi Dong descended from her throne and stepped forward.
"Who is it on the stretcher?" she asked coldly.
"Yu… Yu Xiaogang," one soldier stammered, trembling.
"Yu Xiaogang?" Bibi Dong's face darkened. She rushed forward to see the man lying unconscious before her.
Yu Xiaogang was battered beyond recognition. His face was crusted with dried blood, and both his legs were grotesquely twisted—clearly broken.
Someone had crippled him.
Bibi Dong inhaled deeply. Her suppressed fury ignited again.
"Who did this?!"
"Do you not realize he is an honorary elder of Spirit Hall?! Who would dare?!"
Her voice dropped to a low, dangerous growl.
"I ask again: Who?"
The four soldiers trembled uncontrollably, their foreheads nearly touching the ground.
"You worthless trash!" she snapped. "The Pope supports you all, and this is how you repay me? An elder has been beaten to a cripple, and you do nothing but carry him back like porters!"
"Tell me!" she roared. "Who was it?!"
The soldiers were about to collapse under pressure.
"It… it was… the Great Elder… who did it…" one finally stammered.
Boom—
The rage froze in Bibi Dong's chest.
She stood there, stunned.
For several seconds, the only sound in the hall was the distant wind.
"…The Great Elder?" she repeated slowly, staring at the broken figure of Yu Xiaogang.
Her fury drained in an instant, like a storm blown away by an unexpected breeze.
"…He asked you to bring him back to me?" she asked.
"Yes," the soldier said cautiously. "He said… he asked us to give him to Your Holiness."
Bibi Dong said nothing. She just stared, silently, tears sliding down her face.
She didn't know why she was crying.
It wasn't for Yu Xiaogang. Of that she was sure.
Qin Chuan?
…No, that didn't seem right either.
She just felt… hollow. As if something had shattered inside her. As if she would collapse any second.
"You may leave," she said hoarsely.
The four soldiers looked as if they had been granted a royal pardon and quickly turned to go.
But just before exiting the hall, one of them paused.
His companions tugged at him, desperate to avoid provoking the Pope any further.
But he stood still, visibly struggling with himself.
"Is there something else?" Bibi Dong's voice echoed from behind.
The man turned slowly, exhaling deeply.
"Your Holiness… the Great Elder had one more message."
Her eyes lit up—but immediately dimmed again as she seemed to anticipate what was coming.
"What did he say?"
The soldier raised his head and looked directly into her eyes.
"The Great Elder said… this is his gift to Your Holiness. And he wants to know—are you satisfied?"
Bibi Dong's body trembled.
"…Anything else?" she whispered.
"He also said… he broke the legs of your old lover, Pope Bibi Dong, so he can never leave you again."
The hall fell silent.
"Do you… feel happy?" the soldier asked, relaying the message.
"…Do you feel that your ex is very thoughtful?"
"GET OUT!"
Bibi Dong's scream rang through the Pope's Palace like thunder.
"Get out! Or I'll kill you myself!"
Her voice cracked with rage, humiliation, and something much deeper.
Only after the hall had emptied did Bibi Dong collapse onto the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Why… why do you treat me like this…?"
Two Days Later – The Nameless Mountains
Perched atop a lonely peak, Qin Chuan watched a convoy wind its way through the foot of the mountains below.
After the surprise attack a few days earlier, the Heaven Dou Empire's guards had tightened up. Security was clearly heightened.
But Qin Chuan's mind was elsewhere.
He had been thinking.
The Heaven Dou Empire's participating team… was led by Xue Qinghe.
Or more accurately—Qian Renxue, the girl he hadn't seen in over a decade.
"It's time I saw her again," he murmured.
Just thinking about her made his heart stir with warmth and longing.
"I wonder what my little glutinous rice dumpling looks like now."
A smile crept onto his face.
Images from his past life surfaced in his mind—faint, familiar, and sweet.
He jumped off the cliff, and as he descended, divine light burst from his back. A pair of transparent, ethereal wings unfolded, catching him like the hands of a god.
"Enemy attack!"
The instant he descended into view, chaos erupted in the camp below.
Soldiers shouted. Alarms rang.
Powerful auras exploded in all directions.
Several people leaped skyward, racing toward him in synchronized defense.
"A Titled Douluo!"
"Is he from Spirit Hall again?"
"How despicable!"
"There's only one of him! We're not afraid!"
"He won't escape this time!"
The team was clearly on edge, but seeing that Qin Chuan was alone, they quickly regained confidence.
"Third brother, be careful! Could he be after you again?"
From a window of a covered carriage, a delicate, anxious face appeared.
"Xiao Wu, don't worry," Tang San replied with a reassuring smile, riding calmly on horseback.
"All the old monsters are with us. He failed last time, and today won't be any different."
"I know, third brother…" Xiao Wu bit her lip, still concerned.
"But the Spirit Hall people are sly. Since they lost before, they might use some other trick this time…"