The quiet top floor of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
"Fengzhi, you're… rushing things too much!"
Chen Xin stood alone by the window, gazing into the distance. Breaking the long silence, his voice was heavy as he frowned at Ning Fengzhi.
"With today's events in the palace, you've completely trampled over Xue Ye's bottom line. From now on, the Heaven Dou Empire will no longer rely on the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and they'll only be more guarded."
Ning Fengzhi rubbed his brow, looking up at Chen Xin's worried gaze, a bitter smile at his lips.
"Uncle Sword, you don't understand. Over the years, the Body Sect has suddenly risen, overwhelming the entire soul master world, and with the Body Sect rejecting Emperor Dai Liang in Star Luo, Emperor Xue Ye's attitude has become even more ambiguous."
"If the upper three sects don't unite soon, in the future we'll only fight separately and be defeated one by one.
There isn't much time to calmly fall back."
"Unite?"
Chen Xin shook his head at this, as if hearing a joke.
"At that time, the three sects barely gathered together by relying on Tang Chen's absolute strength, which kept everyone in check."
"But now? Among the three upper sects, who can stand up directly to the likes of Golden Crocodile or Wisdom Brain Douluo? There's also monsters like Qian Daoliu and Chu Shanhe."
"As a deterrent, we lack top-tier power. So-called alliances are just dishes of sand."
At this, Chen Xin stepped forward, looking Ning Fengzhi squarely in the eyes.
"What we need to do now is draw back our forces, temporarily avoid the edge, and stabilize both the Heaven Dou Empire and the Body Sect. Even if we have to give up some industries, as long as the sect's foundation can be preserved, it's all worthwhile."
"So what if Qian Renxue is a genius? There are no undying gods in this world. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect might never get another chance for revival."
"Forcibly pushing this unstable alliance now will only put the entire sect in danger."
Ning Fengzhi fell silent. Chen Xin's words were calm and objective—each sentence was reasonable. These were the words of a man who had sought to rule a country. Temporarily avoiding the cliff and biding one's strength was a king's way of self-preservation in troubled times.
After a long time, Ning Fengzhi finally spoke, his voice laced with deep worry.
"I understand all of this, Uncle Sword. But the matter of Ye Hui has already made things between us and the Ye family irreconcilable. There's no room for peace."
"Now, with Ye Lingling and Chen Yi together, you and I both know: If Chen Yi truly seizes power in the future, given the Body Sect's style of correcting flaws and Chen Yi's strong personality, how will he deal with us?"
Ning Fengzhi's gaze looked incredibly lonely in the light.
"If at that time we don't have allies with the strength to fight back, I fear the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect… if our inheritance is truly broken, there will be no Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda spirit for future generations!"
This was Ning Fengzhi's greatest fear.
Personal life and death, sect honor and disgrace—these came second. If the bloodline disappeared and the martial soul inheritance was cut off, he would be the eternal sinner of the sect.
"Even so, we cannot cooperate."
Chen Xin's voice suddenly rose, standing up excitedly and staring at Ning Fengzhi with burning eyes.
"The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan is content with past glory, riven with internal conflict, and useless as an ally. They might even drag us down after years of so-called cooperation."
"The Clear Sky Sect is even more unreliable. Those proud and egotistical people watch everything from above. When Spirit Hall was strong, they closed their mountains and went into hiding, abandoning and ignoring everyone else.
Arrogant when the winds favor them, they hide when things turn bad. How can such irresponsible allies be trusted at the moment of life and death?"
"Fengzhi, you're colluding with tigers and gambling the fate of the entire sect on two unreliable allies!"
"Old Sword, I think you underestimate us too much!"
At that moment, Gu Rong the Bone Douluo strode in, standing beside Ning Fengzhi, glaring at Chen Xin.
"With the support of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, your Sword and my Bone, no matter how strong the opponent, we can achieve the ultimate in offense and defense, can't we?"
"If it really comes to that, a broken sword and broken bones—at worst, it's just the thousand-year heritage of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Have you ever been afraid? Or… are you scared?"
"Afraid? The Seven Swords never feared battle or death."
Chen Xin's voice unconsciously dropped, full of deep fatigue.
"I just don't want to see the sect's thousand-year foundation fall into a situation of no return due to one wrong choice.
That's all… that's all.
Things have come to this—there's no point in saying more."
After he finished, Chen Xin leaned heavily into his chair, closed his eyes, and stopped speaking. For a moment, it seemed as if he had aged a decade.
The quiet room fell silent again, Gu Rong's boldness and Chen Xin's heavy-hearted worry forming an invisible hand that tugged at Ning Fengzhi's heart.
Sword Douluo or Bone Douluo—he couldn't tell. But in Ning Fengzhi's heart, there was already a deeper layer of desire hiding.
He looked down at his own hands. The world's number one auxiliary martial soul, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, had always been trapped before the threshold of Rank 79 due to its martial soul limitation.
In terms of talent, he was no worse than Ye Cien. In terms of resources, as sect master, he had countless treasures at his disposal.
But now, seeing the other party and wanting to bow before the Undying Douluo, how could he not covet it?
The Body Sect's second awakening secret art was the only hope to break the Pagoda's limitations.
If he could obtain this secret art and have the Pagoda undergo a second awakening, perhaps he could break the chains and become the unprecedented Eight Treasure, even Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda spirit master, leading the sect to new heights.
This was the root reason he had no hesitation in turning against Xue Ye and seeking the tiger's hide—a reason he could not tell anyone.
But he believed Tang Xiao and Yu Yuanzhen had similar ambitions.
Tang Xiao wanted to restore the Clear Sky Sect's glory, and Yu Yuanzhen sought to advance the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and avenge his father, who was killed by the Golden Crocodile Douluo.
This so-called "joint self-defense" was just a pretense. The true reason was that three careerists, each with their own ambitions, were temporarily united by shared greed and fear.
The current power of the Body Sect was already astonishing. Once Chen Yi fully matured, the gulf between the two sides would become an abyss, and things would only get more unpredictable.
So now—this was the last, best chance.
Ning Fengzhi slowly raised his head, his gaze hardening once more.
He had to walk this path.
...
Slaughter City, the Hell Slaughter Arena
Jubilant cheers and shouts surged like tangible soundwaves, nearly bursting people's eardrums.
Within the ring, Chen Yi's figure streaked through the bloody air.
His opponent was a Soul Douluo, martial soul a rare Venomous Dragon Dagger, body unstable, capable of short-range teleportation in the shadows. His twin black daggers were laced with deadly poison. He'd racked up 47 consecutive victories and was fairly well-known in the city.
But now, there was only terror in the killer's eyes.
Chen Yi didn't use thunder or lightning, only his terrifying physical strength, combined with clean, ruthless killing techniques.
Every movement produced afterimages, every part of his body became a deadly weapon.
"Bang!"
Chen Yi's fist struck under his opponent's ribs. The sound of bones shattering was clear. The assassin screamed, flying out and spewing blood.
Before he could land, Chen Yi's ghostly figure was already in his trajectory. One hand cradled the man's head, the other gripped his shoulder.
"No—!"
The scream cut off abruptly.
Chen Yi's muscles tensed. A purple-gold glow flowed under his skin. The next instant, an explosive force erupted!
"Rip—!!!"
The sickening sound of flesh tearing drowned out the crowd's noise.
Before countless maddened eyes, the Soul Douluo's body was torn clean in two, blood pouring like a waterfall, organs scattering everywhere.
Chen Yi tossed the halves of the corpse lightly to either side of the ring, each slapping against the black stone walls and leaving a dazzling bloodstain.
As the crowd saw Chen Yi repeat this scene, for a moment the whole Hell Slaughter Arena fell silent.
Then, even crazier, more hysterical cheers erupted.
"Thunder Demon!!"
"Thunder Demon! Thunder Demon! Thunder Demon!!"
Countless arms waved in the stands, bloodshot eyes fixed on the bloody figure in the ring, always indifferent.
…