Ning Rongrong ignored Di Tian's lament and withdrew the suspended Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.
"There were many opportunistic elements in Lan Fozi becoming a god."
"Is... is there really no other way?" Bi Ji's voice trembled slightly. Just watching the projection made her feel terrified in body and mind. If she herself had been within the range of that thunder tribulation, she probably would have perished into nothing in no time.
Ning Rongrong shook her head. "The key is the reshaping of the soul and body. Otherwise, it's impossible to bypass the rules the Dragon God set for soul beasts. Lan Fozi is no longer part of the Deep Sea Demonic Whale clan."
"Plus her foundation—the combination of herself, the Demon Empress, and the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King. Without that, condensing a first-level god position would be impossible."
"I owed the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King a favor before, which led to his and the Demon Empress's fall." Ning Rongrong paused slightly in her voice. "To put it this way, helping Lan Fozi become a god was also very dangerous for me."
"Fortunately, it was only a thunder tribulation with the power of a first-level god. If it had been a God King..."
Ning Rongrong did not continue, but everyone present was an old hand—how could they not understand what came next?
"Rongrong, that was too dangerous."
It took a long while for Ning Fengzhi and the other two to recover from the shocking scene. Ning Fengzhi couldn't help but sound a little reproachful.
"If something happened to you, what would we do?"
"Repaying a favor isn't done like this."
"Sorry, Father." Ning Rongrong did not argue and directly admitted her fault.
"Forget it. As long as you know it yourself. And although we can't help you much, you still have to pay attention to your safety!" Ning Fengzhi sighed.
Although they had heard that a terrifying thunderstorm had occurred in the Demonic Whale Sea Area, suspected to be a soul beast undergoing tribulation.
But this already involved the power of a first-level god.
The current Limit Douluo level could no longer satisfy Ning Rongrong—she was advancing toward divine-level power?
Thinking back to how Ning Rongrong, when she was only at the Soul Ancestor or Soul King level, had already started provoking Title Douluo and even Limit Douluo.
Ning Fengzhi couldn't help but feel a headache.
Especially since his side couldn't help at all.
...
In the few days after Ning Rongrong finished projecting the scene, Di Tian and the other soul beasts never mentioned becoming gods again.
There was no reason, nor did they have the right, to ask Ning Rongrong to take such a risk. Moreover, it wasn't even guaranteed to succeed.
Instead, during these days, Di Tian asked Ning Rongrong what to do about Gu Yuena.
Ning Rongrong was equally helpless.
Di Tian could not find the coordinates of the Dragon Valley—only Gu Yuena herself knew them.
Without coordinates, Ning Rongrong had no way to enter. Even if she did enter, she might not be a match for Gu Yuena after she absorbed the Dragon God's dragon soul.
So for these past few days, Ning Rongrong had been quietly cultivating, seeing if she could break through to the four ultimate realms.
Actually, there was one way to break through in a short time.
But that would be playing with her life!
No need to risk her life over nothing.
However, during the time Ning Rongrong was cultivating, a not-so-major incident occurred.
Both at the God Origin realm, Chen Xin and Qian Daoliu arranged a duel.
As for who won or lost, Ning Rongrong did not know and did not bother to sense it. As long as they didn't beat each other senseless, she didn't care!
When he came back afterward, Elder Sword looked refreshed and invigorated, his mouth almost stretched to his ears—like someone who had just come out of a brothel after drinking flower wine.
The outcome was self-evident.
However, from Ning Rongrong's inference, it was probably a narrow victory by half a move or so.
It could be considered resolving a knot in his heart, which also served as an improvement in his state of mind for breaking through to the divine realm.
After the duel ended, Qian Daoliu came to the Star Dou Great Forest for treatment and then returned to the Fasnuo Province.
It was said that the Star Luo Empire had launched an attack on the Heaven Dou Empire.
The Haotian Sect, Sea God Island, and even the Spirit Hall's martial soul fusion skill Netherworld White Tiger from the former Star Luo Emperor had all appeared.
Fearing that Golden Crocodile could not hold the situation, he hurriedly returned.
Ning Rongrong and Qian Renxue did not go back and remained in the Star Dou Great Forest.
Ning Rongrong was there to break through to the Extreme of Qi. As for what Qian Renxue was doing, that was unclear.
"Still just a little short."
Ning Rongrong finished cultivating, stood up, and let out a soft sigh.
If she could break through to the four ultimate realms, she should be able to locate the Dragon Valley.
To be honest, Ning Rongrong was quite worried about Gu Yuena's situation—and about the Divine Realm as well...
Suddenly, Ning Rongrong's delicate brows furrowed slightly.
Chaotic and holy auras appeared in opposition, echoing through the core area of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Qian Renxue had broken through.
Sensing the quasi-god-level soul power fluctuations, Ning Rongrong immediately locked onto Qian Renxue.
Especially the Angelic Holy Sword in Qian Renxue's hand—power of faith from all directions was converging toward the position of the holy sword.
Ning Rongrong looked up at Qian Renxue, who was sitting cross-legged in midair.
"Using faith to temper soul power—an interesting idea."
Black and white wings spread behind Qian Renxue. The phantom of the six-winged angel martial soul carried both holy and chaotic auras.
A moment later, the chaos gradually became pure, transforming into an extreme darkness attribute.
Ning Rongrong simply watched without intervening.
Not long after, Ning Fengzhi, Sword Douluo, and Bone Douluo arrived beside Ning Rongrong.
"Rongrong, what's going on with Qian Renxue?"
Breaking through to Limit Douluo was normal— it would be strange if Qian Renxue couldn't break through with her talent.
"Daddy, do you know about the Seven Virtues and the Seven Deadly Sins?" Ning Rongrong said casually.
"Uh... what are those?" Ning Fengzhi blinked.
"Simply put, they represent good and evil—the most primitive desires of humanity."
"People's faith in the Angel God can be kind, or it can be evil."
"I don't understand."
Ning Fengzhi blinked again, then looked toward his two elders.
Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo both shook their heads in unison.
"Just keep watching and you'll understand. Qian Renxue wants to integrate all of her own faith." Ning Rongrong said calmly. "Interesting. She possesses fragments of the Angel God, and in her childhood in the Heaven Dou Empire, she experienced or witnessed the evil side of human nature."
Qian Renxue, who had just reached quasi-god cultivation, saw her aura climb once more.
The six-winged angel martial soul's black-and-white divided wings became even clearer.
It seemed to possess holy mercy while also holding dominion over evil thoughts.
At the same time.
The soul rings originally surrounding the martial soul—
Two black, six red, and one gold—began to change.
The first and second soul rings' black deepened. Gradually, strands of red covered the black. A few seconds later, the two black soul rings turned blood-red.
"The soul rings changed!" Ning Fengzhi said in disbelief.
Although Qian Renxue's soul rings were different from back during the competition, which had surprised Ning Fengzhi, he could accept it if it was due to the divine trial.
But now, it seemed she was directly changing her soul rings without undergoing a divine trial.
Moreover...
Qian Renxue's six-winged angel soul ring colors.
Red, red, red, red, red, red, red, red, gold.
Almost exactly the same as Tang San's Blue Silver Emperor martial soul soul rings before he became a god.
Eight red and one gold.
Ning Fengzhi and the others clicked their tongues in astonishment. Even the ferocious beasts watching from the side were stunned.
Good grief—straight-up good grief.
Had the standard for becoming a god become this high?
Tang San, Qian Renxue, Ning Rongrong—all starting with hundred-thousand-year soul rings.
After an unknown amount of time, the soul power aura around Qian Renxue began to dissipate. She slowly descended to the ground.
"Level 99 quasi-god rank, God Origin realm."
Qian Renxue exhaled a breath of turbid air and slowly opened her golden eyes.
"Congratulations, Qian Renxue. You're only half a step away from becoming a god." Ning Rongrong said in praise. "It's not impossible for you to become a god right now."
"I'm still missing something. Even if I became a god now, it would probably only be a first-level god." Qian Renxue had anticipated this, but her tone still carried a trace of regret.
"You want to advance to God King?"
"Yes. Ning Rongrong, you know better than I do what conditions are required."
"With your circumstances, to achieve God King..." Ning Rongrong paused slightly before continuing, "You would need the faith of the entire human race on the Douluo Continent—including the Star Luo Empire—and even other things besides."
"Yes. I have part of the Angel God's memories. I stopped myself from directly inheriting the Angel God position and instead bestowed its special dependents upon Grandfather. But condensing a God King position will be very difficult for me."
"It's no use looking at me." Ning Rongrong spread her hands. "I can't go crazy with you and draw down a thunder tribulation to charge you up. If that fails, we're both done for."
Just as Ning Rongrong finished speaking.
High in the sky, a pitch-black void hundreds of meters wide suddenly tore open.
"Aaahhhhh!"
A disheveled girl fell straight down from the sky and smashed into the ground, creating a human-shaped crater—complete with twin tails.
From the deep indentation that couldn't even be pried out, a head poked out. The girl shouted loudly:
"Something... something huge happened to the main body!"
"Inside the Dragon Valley, Gu Yuena and the Asura God started fighting!"
(End of chapter)