Chapter 16: Chapter 15: Spirit Hall Library
Qian Renxue quietly lowered her head, hiding the turbulence in her eyes.
She hadn't expected it.
The weight of this body's emotions surged with a force that caught her completely off guard, loneliness, longing, the raw ache of unfulfilled affection. Even with the memories of her supposed previous life, her adult self from a modern world, rational and detached ,these feelings came unbidden, uncontrollable.
Just one look at Bibi Dong.
Why?
Why did she care? Why did she feel anything at all?
She was supposed to be beyond this.
But it seemed no amount of adult wisdom or reincarnated insight could fully sever her from the instincts of the little girl she now inhabited.
Still… she recovered quickly.
The moment passed. Her eyes cleared.
She raised her head just in time to see Qian Xunji open his mouth, as if to address her ,only to pivot toward Bibi Dong and begin speaking to her instead.
As if Qian Renxue wasn't even there.
A sharp bitterness curled in her chest.
That man.
The so-called Pope of Spirit Hall.
Qian Xunji.
In her past life, she might have looked at him and thought: cold and ruthless, decisive in war, A human scum who forced himself on his disciple.
Now?
All she saw was a pathetic shadow playing at dominance, ignoring the daughter born of his violence, all to fawn over the woman he violated.
Seriously, what the hell?
Her eyes narrowed, disgust seeping through her expression before she wiped it clean.
'So this is the logic of Douluo Continent..'.
One of them thought that raping someone would eventually make them fall in love,like coercion was a valid strategy for affection. And when that didn't work, he kept her prisoner.
And the other? She thought that burning down an entire organisation, one that had both innocents and guilty in the name of revenge.
'Are all you people insane?'
Qian Renxue turned away sharply. She wanted nothing to do with these twisted, half-baked "protagonists" this world seemed to produce.
Even in her past life, she'd seen these tropes—men who gained power through brute force and women whose arcs were fueled by pain and retribution. But at least those were fiction.
Here? They were her reality.
Her family.
Her blood.
A sneer tugged at her lips.
'Will I also become like this? A creature of vengeance? Of blind obsession?'
'The owner of this body also had blind obsession on...Tang San....in the original story. But it won't happen now.'
She clenched her small fists, the bones inside taut and cold.
She would walk her own path, one carved not by the rotten dogma of this world, but with clarity, with resolve, and with a mind that refused to break.
'The gods that exist here, they were not worthy of worship.'
She turned and walked forward, her voice firm as she addressed Qian Xunji.
"I request access to the Spirit Hall Library. Second level."
He didn't even look at her when he waved a hand, summoning a jade token from a side attendant and tossing it carelessly in her direction.
Qian Renxue caught it mid-air without flinching.
She turned crisply on her heel, not sparing either adult another glance, and walked out of the Pope's Palace with quiet, restrained steps.
Behind her, the so-called Pope and the future Pope remained,one hollow, the other broken.
'Heh.'
A short chuckle echoed in her heart.
'Pope Qian Xunji and future pope Bibi Dong… what a joke.'
At first, she had hesitated. She wondered how she should feel about these so-called "parents" of her new life.
'Should she act affectionate? Curious?'
But now she knew.
She didn't need to feel anything. Their characters were clear.
Qian Xunji—narcissistic, obsessive, unable to handle rejection without violence.
Bibi Dong—brilliant but traumatized, her hatred burning with a blinding rage that clouded judgment.
To Qian Renxue, they were both fools—powerful in name, but blind to the currents of true authority.
'Let them think they're mighty. Let them believe they rule Spirit Hall.'
They were monarchs on a stage, puppets under divine spotlight.
'Real power never stands in the light.'
It creeps in the shadows, rewrites fate from behind curtains, and paints entire histories while others dance as characters in its script.
Qian Renxue smiled at that thought.
A soft, innocent curve of her lips.
If someone had seen her just then, they might've thought she was simply a well-bred noble girl, adorable, charming, and polite.
But they wouldn't know.
That same smile, in the years to come, would make devils weep, while Kings would kneel and gods would tremble.
Because beneath that smile… was resolve.
And a being… a monster who has potential to be more terrifying than gods.
As her thoughts swirled with cold clarity, her feet led her to her destination.
The Spirit Hall Library.
She came to a halt and looked up.
It stood tall and grand an imposing edifice of soul-forged marble, its white-gold facade veined with threads of luminous silver that pulsed faintly like breathing light. Seven tiers rose in concentric symmetry, each level carved with murals of martial saints and celestial battles, as if the entire building was a tribute to the divine authority Spirit Hall claimed.
Two massive doors stood at the entrance, made of precious wood .
The surrounding courtyard was silent and clean.
Token in hand, she ascended the steps and entered the Spirit hall Library.
'Let's see if there is interesting knowledge here that might help me in my path.'