Morning arrived with bright sunlight the next day.
Soft light filtered through the window as Xiao Se blinked his eyes open, finding Bibi Dong already dressed, propped up on the bed, watching him with a faint smile.
"What are you staring at?" he asked.
"You, obviously." She smiled sweetly.
"What's so fascinating about me?"
"I could stare at you my whole life and never get tired of it." She laughed. "Doesn't this make me a cradle-robber, though?"
"Old, young, who cares? If you're the cradle, every man alive would beg to be robbed by you. No, scratch that—only I get to be robbed."
"Such a smooth talker." She pressed a hand to her lips, chuckling. "Get up already, the sun's practically overhead."
"Mm." He nodded and reached for his robes, still tangled among her clothes.
"Aren't you heading to the tournament today?" he asked, almost as an afterthought.
"Just minor matches for now. I'll show up in person for the final three." She reached over and smoothed his hair.
"Ran into Tang Ritian yesterday," he mentioned casually.
"Tang Hao? He's nobody." A note of disdain colored her tone. "We'll handle him directly this time." To the rest of the world, the Haotian Douluo was a figure of terrifying power. To her, he barely registered as an ant underfoot.
"He knows he's no match for you. Unless something changes, he'll use the finals as cover to make a move on the Papal Palace—try to grab Tang San and that old rabbit. Xue'er, Ning Fengzhi, and I will likely be caught in the blast radius. You don't need to intervene. Just take the rabbit for yourself and let everyone think you had someone else do your dirty work. I'll leave a nice surprise for Tang Ritian when the time comes."
"I'll do it your way." Bibi Dong laughed. She had complete faith in Xiao Se's current strength—confident enough that even Qian Daoliu might struggle against him, let alone some so-called Tang Ritian.
Just then, soft footsteps approached outside, followed by a knock. Liu Erlong's familiar voice drifted through the door. "Is Xiao Se in?"
"What's she doing here?" Xiao Se frowned.
Bibi Dong shook her head. The two of them had spent most of the morning simply lounging in bed—it was already fairly late. Liu Erlong should have been watching the matches by now.
"Erlong, need something?" Bibi Dong asked, opening the door.
"Am I… interrupting?" Seeing Bibi Dong answer the door, hair loose and flowing, Liu Erlong's eyes flicked toward Xiao Se in the mirror behind her, a faint sting rising in her nose. She hesitated before speaking.
"Not at all. Come in." Bibi Dong didn't seem bothered in the slightest, waving her inside.
"That's all right." Liu Erlong shook her head, glancing once more at Xiao Se, who stood tying back his hair in front of the mirror. She drew a breath and finally said, "I came to ask if either of you had heard anything about Yu Xiaogang."
As if worried they might misread the question, she added quickly, "Don't get the wrong idea—Yu Xiaogang is my uncle's son, and a friend of my friend Flander. Flander asked me to look into it. Apparently he came to Wuhun City to see you."
Both Xiao Se and Bibi Dong went still for a moment. If Liu Erlong hadn't brought it up, they'd have all but forgotten the man existed.
"Hadn't crossed my mind, honestly. I'll have my people look into it," Bibi Dong said.
"I appreciate it, then. I'll leave you to it." Liu Erlong gave a small nod and turned to go.
"So what actually happened to Yu Xiaogang?" Xiao Se asked, stepping up behind Bibi Dong and wrapping an arm around her waist once the door had shut.
"He…" A faint blush rose on her cheeks as she leaned in close to whisper the story of how Yu Xiaogang had ended up locked away in the Abyss.
"You're a wicked woman." Xiao Se pressed a kiss to her earlobe, laughing softly. "I love it."
For the days that followed, Bibi Dong traded her usual finery for plain clothes and a veil, throwing herself shamelessly into a life with Xiao Se—shopping, watching matches, playing cards, savoring every ordinary pleasure life had to offer.
Xiao Se, for his part, made sure not to neglect anyone—he still made his daily visit to check on the pregnant Medusa.
This continued until the final day arrived: the championship match of the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament.
Because Shrek Academy's overall strength fell well short of what it had been in the original timeline—Tang San's twin martial souls aside, they hadn't stood out much in the preliminaries—Blazing Fire Academy and Divine Wind Academy never ended up merging as they once had. And thanks to some quiet maneuvering by Spirit Hall, Star Luo Royal Academy's team had been kept from crossing paths with Shrek all the way to the end.
As a result, it was Star Luo Royal Academy, Shrek Academy, and Spirit Hall Academy who advanced to the final three.
Under Qian Renxue's watchful, calculating gaze, Xiao Se followed her toward the Papal Palace. Bibi Dong, naturally, would attend in her official capacity as Pope of Spirit Hall.
"Dad, did you and Mom have a good time these past few days?" Qian Renxue's voice, clear and melodic, drifted into his mind as they walked.
"It was nice. Pretty great, actually," Xiao Se replied with a smile. How could it not be, with a woman as elegant and composed as Bibi Dong at his side?
"Isn't Mom's figure amazing?" Qian Renxue pressed on telepathically.
"Uh…" His mouth twitched at that. He was about to steer the conversation elsewhere when a man and woman approached from ahead.
The man had long, flowing blond hair, his features bearing roughly seventy percent resemblance to Dai Mubai before his martial soul mutation—though taller, with a lazy, half-lidded expression that still carried an undercurrent of arrogance.
Beside him walked a tall, slender young woman with a figure even more striking than Zhu Zhuqing's, her skin pale as fine jade, arm looped through his as she smiled. Her resemblance to Zhu Zhuqing went even further than the man's resemblance to Dai Mubai.
None other than Dai Mubai's brother, Davis, and Zhu Zhuqing's sister, Zhu Zhuyun.
Trailing behind them came five more students and a middle-aged instructor.
"You're Xiao Se?" The pair stopped roughly two meters short, nodding briefly to Qian Renxue before turning their full attention on him.
Xiao Se's gaze flicked toward the Shrek Seven Devils standing a short distance off. The smirks on Dai Mubai's and Tang San's faces told him everything he needed to know. Just as he'd expected—these two fools had been set up as pawns, sent in to provoke him, all so that Davis and Zhu Zhuyun would end up on the receiving end of his temper and lose their next match as a result.
"Do you two happen to know why Dai Mubai doesn't dare stand in front of me?" Xiao Se asked, calm and unhurried, ignoring their question entirely.
"…" Davis and Zhu Zhuyun exchanged a bewildered look, caught off guard. Before either could respond, a sharp, searing pain lanced through their necks—as though invisible chains had snapped tight and hauled them straight up into the air.
(End of Chapter)
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