Chapter 10: Welcome Back, Qian Renxue
"Xue'er… you must live well." Her hand trembled as it brushed against her own cheek, before falling powerlessly to her side.
Heaven, it seemed, had played a cruel joke on her. Her entire life had been lived in ignorance, and only at her mother's dying breath did she learn the truth. But by then, it was far too late for redemption.
Her divine seat shattered, and her mother perished by his sword. The walls crumbled, the air filled with smoke and ash as the armies of the two great empires stormed the halls of Spirit Hall, plundering at will. She watched as Spirit Hall's thousand-year legacy was reduced to ruins.
Helplessness and regret—words could not capture the agony in her heart.
After burying her mother and the martyrs of that war, she hid in the shadows. From afar, she watched her enemies bask in their triumph. What pained her most was not their laughter upon the ruins of Spirit Empire, but—
In a small village, a timid child asked, "Grandpa, have the bad people gone away?"
The old man patted his head softly. "Don't be afraid, child. Those evil invaders from Spirit Empire will never come back."
"They were defeated by the great Sea God."
Grandpa… are these the people I once swore to protect?
Her mother had condemned Spirit Hall, pushing it into infamy. Qian Renxue had tried to save it, to bring peace through her own rule, yet she had failed to spread the light of the angels to this land. In the end, Tang San, the Sea God, became the faith of the world.
Their era was gone. The legends of the Shrek Seven Devils became immortal tales. People adored the so-called golden age of the Sea God, watching his ascension with reverence—never realizing they were gazing upon the rise of a devil.
The old order had collapsed, yet the new one never took form. Tang San used his divine might to rule over the continent during his lifetime, but the moment he departed, darkness began to fester once more.
The Spirit Hall's rule had ended, yet the awakening of martial souls continued. Every region's policy varied—lords permitted only their own subjects to awaken, and countless talents were lost to neglect. In some lands, villagers were never even granted the chance—living and dying ordinary, their potential buried forever. Those few who did awaken found themselves enslaved as pawns for noble wars.
And those "free soul masters" who once despised allegiance to Spirit Hall—were they truly free?
Without Spirit Hall's order, Tang San's so-called peace collapsed upon his ascension. Nations returned to endless war. Yet even after millennia, Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires maintained an uneasy balance, locked in ceaseless stalemate.
She had watched it all unfold—the Tang Sect selling hidden weapons, Shrek Academy exporting "heroes," and the Clear Sky Sect covertly manipulating the continent's balance. For thousands of years, the political landscape never changed: Heaven Dou and Star Luo, locked in cold rivalry, until Heaven Dou split into two smaller nations and the continent drowned in chaos once again.
And she—
Her life had long ended, but the shattered divine seed that bound her soul refused to die. Lost to the River of Time, she remained conscious, condemned to witness the future unfold.
The first Evil Soul Master uprising—she saw it all. From the shadows, they emerged, leaving entire cities in ashes, mountains of corpses in their wake. Each powerful Evil Soul Master built their strength upon countless victims.
Only then did humanity begin to yearn for the angels again.
Yes, their lineage possessed a natural suppression against evil souls. A single Angel martial soul Titled Douluo was pure destruction to them. The moment an angel reached that realm, any Evil Soul Master faced annihilation.
In the age of Spirit Hall, every Pope was an Angel martial soul bearer, and some even reached the limit of divinity. Evil Soul Masters dared not even exist.
But after that war, her bloodline had faded into obscurity. Occasional angelic soul masters did appear, only to be hunted and slaughtered mercilessly. The Evil Soul Masters were cunning, ensuring no angel survived long enough to attain Titled Douluo.
So their darkness endured for millennia—until Shrek Academy, cloaked in divine righteousness, intervened.
They used the Sea God's Light to suppress the evil, bathing the survivors in divine radiance. The common people wept with gratitude, praising the "mercy" of the Sea God.
But the Evil Soul Masters kept returning—like waves against the shore, again and again, for tens of thousands of years.
Six thousand years later, she witnessed a new continent drift across the ocean. They came bearing ambition, technology, and war. Their soul tools gave them the advantage at first, but Shrek Academy's influence halted their conquest. Their inventions, however, sowed the seeds of Tang Sect's eventual decay.
Four thousand years after that, Tang Sect withered—until another "genius" rose, a man hauntingly similar to Tang San himself, pushing the sect to a new but fleeting peak.
Then the Sun Moon Empire launched its final unification war—only to be thwarted at the brink of victory by Tang San himself, now a god for millennia. The young prodigy of that age reached godhood too—but he was merely Tang San's obedient puppet.
More eons passed. The continent finally unified under one banner—but space itself began to fracture. Creatures from foreign realms invaded. Heroes rose to defend the rifts, fighting valiantly to protect their world.
It should have been a glorious saga of sacrifice and courage—but she, knowing the truth, could not feel hope.
She knew that Tang San's father had become the will of the plane, that his mother had usurped the core of Life itself. They had the power to stop the invasion—but they did nothing. They watched as countless lives burned.
Her consciousness eroded in the currents of time, her soul beginning to dissolve.
She remembered that long-ago scene at the village gate—
"Grandpa, have the bad people gone away?"
"Don't be afraid, child. Those evil invaders will never return."
Lambs and wolves joining forces to drive off a tiger—what irony.
At long last, she felt her soul reaching its final end. Her awareness faded into nothing.
"Mother," she whispered, "I'm coming to find you."
…
Qian Renxue slowly opened her eyes. Confusion flickered as she took in her surroundings—a grand, radiant temple suffused with immortal divine energy.
She felt… whole. No longer adrift like a wandering soul, but alive again, with flesh and power.
Reflexively, she summoned her martial soul.
The Fallen Angel.
Six black rings, three red—just as before. The backlash from her shattered divinity was gone, though her godhood had also been stripped away. Now, she stood at the power of a Level 99 Limit Douluo, a quasi-god once more.
"Welcome back, Qian Renxue."
(END CHAPTER)
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