Movements on the Background.

Two months after the battle with Spirit Hall. Spirit Hall HQ.

It was rare for her to have visitors in private chambers. Normally, there were only two reasons for such an occasion. First is a woman who will bring fresh flowers near her bed. Second is the report of her subordinates that needs to be secretive.

Sadly, today was the latter.

Still, a gorgeous woman didn't mind. All is better than getting those lustful gazes during public occasions. She hated sex and felt dull about it spending so much time remaining a single widow. Especially after how she came into marriage life. The way no woman will want, let alone her husband is already dead. And the woman thanked the heavens and her own poison for that occasion.

She sat on the couch and looked through the stack of documents her underling brought a quarter of an hour ago.

"Remarkable stupidity and sluggishness." - she finally said with so much force in the voice, that the man across barely held blood in his mouth from oozing out. - "This went quite well." - she pushed one stitched stack of reports to the side. It slid down the table under the force and fell to the ground. The man was wise enough not to catch it.

If a woman in front of him wanted it to stay still, it would.

"I can tolerate this, albeit you should punish the ones involved." - she threw another one, and it landed accurately on the previous one. - "But this..." - her gorgeous face was still like a frozen mask. - "... this clearly needs some explanation."

Her slender hand gently tapped on the table and the entire room was plunged into suffocating pressure of tremendous magnitude. The man was a renowned spirit douluo, but he couldn't take it at all and was slammed into the floor.

He felt pressed down with the weight of a mountain.

"I'm curious." - she finally said in an even tone. - "Why this particular report reached me only now?"

She removed the pressure.

"You, actually, need not answer. I know who took it over. Was it that old dog who intercepted the report? Don't forget who is the current Supreme Pontiff and where your affiliation should be placed."

"Y-Your Eminence..." - said the man hoarsely.

Bibi Dong frowned slightly and sighed.

"Sit and talk." - she commanded. - "I want to know every single detail. Why did they attack the boy instead of approaching him carefully? Why force the hand so much? You can't possibly think flexibility is weakness, right?"

"Yes, Your Eminence." - the man found a comfortable position on the chair and sighed. If they forced him to choose who he dreaded the most in Spirit Hall it wouldn't be the seemingly cold and ruthless woman in front of him. No. It will be her father-in-law, Qian Daoliu, who from the first glance was harmless, kind, and understanding.

From the first glance, he surely was.

The man shook his head and concentrated on the task at hand.

"It all started about a year ago. Back then our third squad was sent to an orphanage to retrieve several promising talents. Something went wrong and a fight broke out. The old caretaker of the orphanage was a high leveled Tilted Douluo. She escaped, but later we could track her down and interrogate through torture and soul search method." - the man coughed slightly. He was injured, after all.

Bibi Dong frowned, and after a brief moment threw a pill at him.

"Swallow it, circulate your energy. I can give you ten minutes." - she said coldly and looked to the side in thought.

"Thank you."

She remembered that case. The old woman they caught was a humanized spirit beast. She was courageous and strong, yet Spirit Hall wasn't the power one top-ranked expert can defy. Eventually, the woman was killed, but before that, some fragmented memories were extracted from her soul.

Bibi Dong traced her temple with a finger, recalling them.

The first one was rather nonessential. It was about a boy amidst the snow. Nothing special. He fought to survive and prevailed in doing so. If anything, Bibi Dong felt slight admiration in front of his perseverance. She hated weakness and knew that only with power one can lead a good life in this continent.

The second shard of memories was about an average girl in the orphanage. It was completely unremarkable.

The third was when the boy took her, but most of the vital information from the talk between the old woman and the boy was deliberately shattered by the woman. Actually, that fact alone pointed out the significance of missing information.

So, where do the dots connect in the end?

"Thank you for your patience and grace, Your Eminence." - a man recuperated fully and gratefully bowed. In response, he received an apathetic nod. - "So, let me continue. After the interrogation, the results were sent to Your Eminence and Supreme Pontiff. Your Eminence showed no reaction, while the Supreme Elder gave and order to find them. Later, about two and a half months ago, a report about a very talented pair came from Suotuo City. They participated in arena fights."

"I remember that report." - she said as she was always interested in talented people. - "And also I remember giving a strict order to not use a forceful approach."

"Your Eminence, that is where things got strange." - the man intoned.

"Strange? How strange can a direct order be?" - her tone went forceful again and pressure slightly raised. But this time she just did it to show her displeasure. Despite her attitude and outer indifference, Bibi Dong cared about her subordinates deeply. Otherwise, how can there be so many loyal followers of hers in Spirit Hall?

"Your order never reached Saintess and Supreme Elder involved himself in it."

"Be specific from here on."

"Yes, Your Eminence." - he said. - "Supreme Elder indirectly showed information about the duo to you daugh... I beg your forgiveness, Your Eminence. He showed Saintess information in a form of several reports from my Intelligence Division. He knew that Saintess needs loyal supporters in her newly appointed task and also knew she will choose to go persuade the duo. But her plan was to stop caravan midway and join their entourage under disguise to later get close to the target. If needed she was ready to use some force, but that was it."

"So, how did it go to such a mess? Who involved Beast Taming Sect and why a trace of Zealots under the direct command of the Supreme Elder was there?"

"That... we are yet to investigate it, but apparently it was someone with a high position doing his own biding." - carefully answered the man.

Bibi Dong wasn't an idiot. She clearly understood that the Supreme Elder needed something from the duo. Whether it was from a boy or a girl matters little. What pissed her off was something she will never admit to herself. She was angry that the old coot involved her daughter in their mess.

For some time Bibi Dong felt suffocated with a strange feeling she can't control.

Loneliness.

And in such times she tended to remember her daughter. She was innocent and Bibi Dong knew full well, but only half a year ago she started to let it go and now something changed inside her. She wanted to be closer to her.

"So, you are saying that Saintess... that Renxue was unaware?" - asked Bibi Dong and the man experienced a shock.

'Her Eminence... she just... called Saintess by her name?"

"Y-Yes... Your Eminence. She didn't know. Even most of her entourage were under Supreme Elder orders."

"I understand." - she sighed. - "You can go."

"As you wish, Your Eminence."

"Oh, one more thing, Intelligence Hall Master Xia, arrange for me a secure way to send a letter."

"Who will be a receiver? I can directly train a pair of spirit beasts to be exclusive for Your Eminence and that person."

"Sain..." - she stopped, sighed, and corrected herself with a very rare trace of emotion in a usually indifferent voice. - "Renxue, my daughter."