The gates of Spirit Hall creaked open under a heavy, dying sun.
An army, once proud and untouchable, stumbled through the archways like a broken tide —
robes torn, spirit rings dim, bodies trembling under invisible burdens.
The air reeked of blood and humiliation.
The survivors dared not meet each other's eyes.
---
At the heart of this broken procession lay Qian Xunji, the once-mighty Pope.
His white-gold robes were shredded.
Deep wounds slashed across his chest and back, spirit energy leaking from every pore.
His face was pallid, cracked with pain and silent fury.
Victory had been stolen from him.
And Spirit Hall... would never be the same.
---
✨ The Secret Chamber: Betrayal Unfolds
In Spirit Hall's deepest sanctuary, Qian Xunji lay slumped in his secret chamber.
Two silent guards flanked him — until the door opened without warning.
Bibi Dong stepped inside.
Her violet robes whispered across the stone floor.
Her expression was calm, but her golden-purple eyes shimmered with something darker than hatred.
The guards barely turned before collapsing lifelessly — thin purple threads snapping back into Bibi Dong's hand.
Qian Xunji's eyes widened.
---
"You..." he rasped.
Bibi Dong smiled — a cold, terrible smile.
"Teacher," she said sweetly, her voice laced with venom.
"You taught me many things. Let me show you what I learned."
---
Bibi Dong: "You were my teacher. My guide. You tore my trust to pieces."
Qian Xunji: "Everything I did was for Spirit Hall! For you!"
Bibi Dong: "Forcing a child into me? Shattering my love? That was for Spirit Hall too?"
Qian Xunji: "Your love for Yu Xiaogang made you weak! I made you strong!"
Bibi Dong's spirit energy flared, crackling the very air.
"You made me a shell! You turned my body into a prison!"
Her voice trembled with rage.
"And now you will die in it."
Qian Xunji coughed blood, desperation clawing into his voice:
"Bibi Dong... listen... only Spirit Hall can rule this world... you... need me..."
Bibi Dong's hand, glowing with purple-black light, plunged directly into his heart.
"No."
Her voice was calm, final.
"I only need myself."
---
With a final gasp, Qian Xunji's body collapsed lifeless onto the cold floor.
The Pope was dead.
Killed not by an enemy — but by the poisoned seeds he himself had planted.
---
✨ The Rise of the New Pope
Bibi Dong walked from the secret chamber, bathed not in blood, but in glory.
Spirit Hall's surviving Elders assembled before her, their faces pale, fearful.
Bibi Dong stood at the center of the Grand Hall, draped now in the Pope's sacred purple mantle.
She lifted the golden Pope's Staff high.
"Qian Xunji fell during battle at Star Dou Forest," she announced calmly.
"Cut down by Tang Hao's savagery."
None dared to contradict.
Too many had seen their forces shattered.
Too many were desperate for leadership.
---
The Papal Coronation proceeded grandly:
Golden soul lights rained down from Spirit Hall's sacred statue.
The elders bowed solemnly, one after another, pledging loyalty.
From that day forward —
Bibi Dong became Pope of Spirit Hall.
Her reign... had begun.
---
✨ Command of Blood: The Assault Order
Three days later.
In her first decree as Pope, Bibi Dong unleashed Spirit Hall's fury.
"The Clear Sky School must fall," she commanded.
Qian Daoliu, from the Elder Hall, silently agreed — dispatching two Golden Priests to aid the strike.
It was not merely revenge.
It was a purge.
---
⚔️ The Tragedy at Clear Sky Sect
Far away, within the towering peaks of the Clear Sky Mountain Range,
the Clear Sky School gathered its forces.
They knew an attack would come.
But nothing could have prepared them for the storm that descended.
---
Before Spirit Hall even arrived —
tragedy struck.
Tang Zhen, Tang Hao's father, the Clear Sky Sect's venerable patriarch,
collapsed.
---
While leading the desperate retreat of sect disciples after Tang Hao's defection,
Tang Zhen had forced himself to hold off multiple ambushes alone.
The injuries festered.
The stress broke him.
---
In a private hall of the Clear Sky Ancestors, Tang Zhen lay surrounded by trembling elders.
Tang Hao was absent —
having fled into Star Dou Forest with Ah Yin, under dire pursuit.
Tang Zhen gripped Tang Xiao's hand tightly, his voice barely a whisper:
"Protect... the hammer... protect our bloodline..."
Tang Xiao's tears streamed down silently.
"Father, don't speak —"
"Live," Tang Zhen said.
"Live... even if you must crawl through the mud."
His eyes closed.
And the mountain wept.
---
✨ A New Leader Rises in Sorrow
Amidst grief and panic,
the Clear Sky Sect's elders made a decision.
With Tang Hao a fugitive...
only Tang Xiao could bear the hammer's legacy.
In the shattered halls, Tang Xiao was appointed Acting Sect Leader.
His oath was heavy.
His heart heavier still.
---
⚡ Spirit Hall's Wrath Descends
When Spirit Hall's forces arrived —
led by Bibi Dong herself, golden Priests flanking her sides —
they found the Clear Sky Sect wounded, grieving... and vulnerable.
The battle that followed was not fair.
It was a massacre.
---
The mountains cracked under Spirit energy bombardments.
The proud ancestral stones that bore the Hammer's mark shattered into dust.
Elder after elder fell.
Disciples died protecting the last vestiges of their sacred grounds.
Tang Xiao, wielding a mighty Clear Sky Hammer bathed in sorrow, fought like a madman.
But even he could only delay, not defeat, the onslaught.
---
The proud Clear Sky Sect...
the hammer that once ruled the world...
was crushed into hiding.
Their banners were burned.
Their ancestral halls torn apart.
---
Spirit Hall stood victorious atop the ashes of history.
---
🌑 To be continued...