Chapter 157 Xue Ye's Handwritten Notes: Qian Renxue's Fatherly Love?
A Prototype of Godhood, Qian Lin Could Become a God at Any Time?!
After dealing with the purge in the court, "Xue Qinghe" slowly rose and walked towards the depths of the palace.
Xue Ye's former bedchamber.
Pushing open the heavy nanmu wood door, a strong smell of medicine mixed with deathly aura rushed out.
Looking at the large dragon bed, "Xue Qinghe" curled her lips into a sarcastic sneer.
That old thing who had lingered here for so long had finally died from her slow-acting poison.
"Although the overall situation is settled, to prevent this old fellow from leaving any tricks before his death, we still need to check."
Qian Renxue was meticulous; she didn't completely believe that Xue Ye had died without realizing it.
She slowly walked to the bedside, her gaze sweeping over the bedside table and hidden compartments, finally landing on the bright yellow soft pillow.
That was what Emperor Xue Ye had been using as a pillow before his death.
"Xue Qinghe" reached out and yanked the pillow away.
There were no peerless hidden weapons, nor any imperial seal.
Lying there quietly was only a letter.
The envelope was unsigned and unsealed, looking ordinary, like a common family letter.
But Qian Renxue's pupils contracted slightly.
She recognized the handwriting; it was Emperor Xue Ye's own.
And judging from the trembling of the pen, it was clearly a final message written in a state of extreme weakness.
"Heh, his dying words?"
Xue Qinghe chuckled, a hint of disdain and curiosity in her eyes, and picked up the letter.
"Let me see, old man, who are you trying to entrust your affairs to before you die? That good-for-nothing Xue Beng? Or… me, your 'good son'?"
She lightly flicked the letter with her slender fingers, unfolding it.
However, when her gaze fell on the first line, the mocking smile on her lips instantly froze.
The letter read:
"My son Qinghe, this letter is as if we are face to face. By the time you read this letter, your father will likely be no longer alive. And you, I suppose, will already be sitting on the throne you've always dreamed of…"
This seemingly normal opening sent a chill down Qian Renxue's spine.
The following content was not encouragement for the heir, but a sentence that shook her to her core:
"…But a question has always troubled me for ten years."
"In which year did my Qinghe die at your hands?"
Qian Renxue stared at the powerful yet powerless handwriting on the letter.
A rare ripple appeared in her usually icy golden eyes.
Qian Renxue remained silent, standing still, letting the complex emotions spread through her.
After a long while, Qian Renxue slowly walked to the desk beside the bed and ground some ink again in the long-dried inkstone.
Extending her slender fingers, she picked up the purple-tipped imperial brush that Emperor Xue Ye had cherished most in his lifetime.
The brush tip, saturated with thick ink, hovered over the blank space of the letter.
Qian Renxue's hand was steady, without a tremor, yet her writing was slow, as if each word weighed a ton.
Below the sentence, "In which year did my Qinghe die at your hands?", she wrote a brief but cruel date:
"Autumn, 2631 of the Tian Dou Calendar."
That was the year the real Xue Qinghe turned twelve, and also the year her infiltration plan, Qian Renxue, officially began.
Having written this line, Qian Renxue put down the brush, her gaze returning to the letter, her eyes becoming somewhat unfocused.
For the past twenty years, she had devoted herself to perfectly portraying Xue Qinghe, studying day and night, even afraid to talk in her sleep.
She had called Xue Ye "Father" for twenty years.
During her formative years, her biological father, Qian Xunji, had died young, and her mother, Bibi Dong, viewed her as an enemy and an illegitimate child.
Ironically, it was this Xue Ye Emperor, whom she saw as prey destined to die at her hands, who gave her a "fatherly love" she had never experienced.
He taught her the ways of the emperor, cared about her cultivation progress, and stayed by her side through the night when she was "sick"...
Although all of this was for the deceased "Xue Qinghe," it was she, Qian Renxue, who bore all this care.
"Humans are not plants or trees, how can they be without feelings..."
Qian Renxue murmured to herself, a self-deprecating bitter smile playing on her lips.
To say she had no feelings for Xue Ye would be self-deception. In this cold palace, this was perhaps the only warmth she felt.
But that was all.
She was the young master of the Spirit Hall, the inheritor of the Angel God's legacy, bearing on her shoulders the expectations of her grandfather and the ambition to unify the continent.
Sentimentality was a great taboo for emperors, and a stumbling block on the path to godhood.
Qian Renxue took a deep breath, the trace of tenderness and sorrow in her eyes quickly fading, replaced by unwavering resolve and coldness.
She extended her right hand, her thumb and forefinger gently pinching a corner of the letter.
"Buzz—"
A surge of powerful soul energy coursed through her body, and a pure, golden-red flame shot from her fingertip.
It was the sacred fire of the angels, possessing the power to purify all filth and obsession in the world.
The flame instantly engulfed the letter, without black smoke or a burnt smell.
The letter, carrying a father's last doubts and an undercover agent's last tenderness, rapidly decomposed and dissolved in the sacred flame.
In the blink of an eye, it vanished completely into the air, leaving not a trace of ash.
It was as if the letter had never existed.
It was as if the twenty-year-long "father-son" bond had come to a complete end with the disappearance of this letter.
Qian Renxue turned away, no longer glancing at the empty dragon bed.
She slowly walked to the huge French windows of her bedchamber and stood with her hands behind her back.
Outside the window, the night was deep, and the lights of Tiandou City flickered in the cold wind, like countless prying eyes.
Qian Renxue looked at the empire that was about to belong entirely to her and remained silent for a long time.
From this day forward, there would be no more Xue Qinghe in the world.
Only Qian Renxue.
At the same time.
In a secluded pavilion in the Crown Prince's palace, three people stood quietly, silently watching everything.
Qian Lin watched Qian Renxue's lonely yet resolute back.
Watching Qian Renxue burn the letter with her own hands, a rare complex emotion appeared in Qian Lin's weathered eyes.
"This child..."
Qian Lin sighed silently in his heart, a strange resonance rising in his heart.
His situation was remarkably similar to Qian Renxue's.
Qian Renxue lost her father at the age of nine and grew up alone amidst her mother's hatred and her grandfather's strict upbringing, in a world of cold power struggles.
Qian Lin, however, was even more tragic.
From the moment he was born, he had never seen his father.
He slept in darkness for twenty thousand years.
Only upon awakening to the vast changes of time did he learn this cruel truth.
His father, that brilliant and talented ancestor, had actually died from the despicable betrayal of his close friend Poseidon!
A gap of twenty thousand years, a shared lack of paternal love, a shared burden of the family's heavy destiny and the flames of revenge.
At this moment, this ancestor who had lived for twenty thousand years saw a trace of shared suffering in his descendant, a descendant separated by countless generations, and his heart was filled with incredibly complex emotions.
After a long silence, Qian Lin slowly withdrew his gaze, turned around, and looked at Qian Daoliu and Jin E, who stood respectfully behind him.
Qian Daoliu, looking at his granddaughter's sensible yet ruthless demeanor, felt both relief and an undisguised heartache in his eyes.
"Daoliu, Jin E," Qian Lin's deep and authoritative voice broke the silence of the room.
"Ancestor, what are your orders?"
The two bowed immediately, their expressions solemn.
Qian Lin's eyes sharpened, his tone carrying an unwavering resolve, even a chilling warning:
"Regarding Xiao Xue's background... especially that shameful past between Qian Xunji and Bibi Dong, it must remain buried deep within her." He paused, his gaze piercing Qian Daoliu's eyes:
"No matter the cost, we must keep this from her at all costs."
"She must never know the sin and madness that led to her birth."
"The angel in her heart is sacred, and her father should be great. If she knows the truth, knows why Bibi Dong hates her so much, this child's Dao heart... will crumble."
Qian Daoliu and Golden Crocodile Douluo exchanged a glance, a resolute glint in their eyes, then bowed deeply to Qian Lin, speaking in unison:
"We will heed the teachings of our ancestor! This matter concerns Xiaoxue's entire life; we will not utter a single word, even if it means our deaths!"
Qian Daoliu's expression darkened. As Qian Renxue's grandfather, he knew better than anyone the devastating impact that secret would have on his granddaughter.
Over the years, he had carefully protected Qian Xunji's image in Qian Renxue's heart, fearing that the cruel truth would ruin the child.
However, even after straightening up, the Golden Crocodile Douluo's brow remained furrowed, his eyes flashing with a fierce light.
After a moment's hesitation, Golden Crocodile Douluo stepped forward and lowered his voice, saying, "Ancestor, we understand your concerns. But... that woman, Bibi Dong, she remains a huge hidden danger."
Golden Crocodile Douluo paused, his tone becoming even colder:
"She is not only the inheritor of the Rakshasa God, but also possesses a twisted mind, and is someone who knows the truth of what happened back then. Moreover, her attitude towards Xiaoxue... you saw it yourself, she wished she could get rid of her as soon as possible. As long as she is alive, this secret could explode like a time bomb at any moment."
At this point, Golden Crocodile Douluo made a throat-slitting gesture, his eyes revealing murderous intent.
"Just in case... should we... take advantage of your return, Ancestor, and eliminate Bibi Dong directly? Only the dead can truly keep secrets. Only by eliminating her can we ensure that Xiaoxue will never know those sordid past events, allowing her to inherit the Angelic Godhood without distraction."
Hearing Jin E's murderous suggestion, Qian Daoliu's body trembled slightly. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately let out a helpless sigh and remained silent.
Reason told him that Jin E was right, but emotionally, she was, after all, his son's widow and his granddaughter's birth mother.
Qian Lin, upon hearing this, slowly turned around, gazing intently at the dark night sky outside the window, and gently shook his head.
"No."
Qian Lin's voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable force:
"Xiao Xue... has already suffered enough."
"She grew up without a father, amidst cold power struggles. Although Bibi Dong was indifferent and even hostile towards her, she was still her only close relative in this world, her nominal mother."
Qian Lin turned to Jin E, a hint of pity in his eyes:
"Blood is thicker than water; this is an unbreakable bond. If we kill Bibi Dong now, Xiao Xue might be temporarily at peace because she doesn't know the truth, but the truth will eventually come out. If one day she finds out we killed her mother, even if it's for her own good, the child will break down."
(Little Qian Renxue (*▽*))
"Then, she will truly be all alone, without any relatives or friends. I don't want to see this child become a cold-blooded machine that only knows killing and power."
At this point, Qian Lin snorted coldly, his tone carrying a hint of disdain and anger towards Qian Xunji:
"As for that bastard Qian Xunji..."
"Hmph, as the Pope, he did such a despicable thing, not only ruining Bibi Dong, but also planting such a huge seed of disaster for the Spirit Hall. A brainless fool, he was ultimately devoured by Bibi Dong, which is entirely his own fault, he deserved it!"
When Qian Daoliu heard his ancestor evaluate his son in this way, his old face turned red, and he lowered his head in shame, but dared not utter a single word of rebuttal.
Qian Lin took a deep breath to calm himself, then continued, "However, death is the end. If that fool has a spirit in heaven, he would surely want his daughter to grow up happily, not live in an abyss of hatred and pain."
"Therefore, Bibi Dong cannot be killed, at least not now."
A glint flashed in Qian Lin's eyes, his tone becoming meaningful:
"After dealing with matters here, I will personally return to the Spirit Hall. I will have a 'good' talk with Bibi Dong face-to-face. I will make her understand what she should and shouldn't do, and remind her to be mindful of her behavior in front of Xiao Xue in the future."
"If she is sensible, I can spare her life for Xiao Xue's sake. If she is obstinate and insists on destroying Xiao Xue..."
Qian Lin didn't finish his sentence, but the terrifying pressure that erupted instantly seemed to solidify the air in the entire pavilion.
Qian Daoliu and Jin E felt their breath catch in their throats, their hearts filled with horror.
That was a divine majesty, surpassing even the Limit Douluo level.
"Ancestor, you actually reached the realm of divinity?"
Qian Lin turned his head, looking west.
His gaze gradually deepened.
"Hmm, judging by the time, twenty thousand years have passed."
"The six-winged Angel of Annihilation statue I placed in the empire has developed cracks. Twenty thousand years of accumulated faith should have already condensed the rudimentary form of a divine core."
"I have to go back."
This was one of the treasures Qian Lin found in the divine ruins on the Angel Continent.
Using this method, the power of faith could be slowly condensed towards the divine core.
However, due to many limitations, it couldn't go too far.
The advantage was that, because this was the power of faith provided by Qian Lin's followers, it was pure and without impurities.
Moreover, it could be easily refined by Qian Lin for his own use.
As long as Qian Lin returned to the Angel Continent, he could refine it, relying on the accumulation of these twenty thousand years, to ignite the divine fire, ascend to the divine kingdom, and achieve the status of the six-winged Angel of Annihilation—God!
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