*Note: Thanks for your patient! As I promised I'm back, sorry to keep you waiting!
...
"Ahem! It's nothing, really. You two just carry on."
Gu Rong cleared his throat awkwardly and shuffled over to stand behind Ning Fengzhi. Inside, the Bone Douluo was sweating buckets. Even after twenty years, Fu Ye was still just as monstrous and unpredictable as ever!
"Old fox, is there anything else?" Fu Ye asked, glancing at the sect leader. "If not, I'm taking her back to Tianshui Academy."
Nice and easy, Ning Fengzhi flashed a bitter smile. As the leader of the wealthiest clan on the continent, the only two forces capable of making him yield without a fight were the Spirit Hall and the terrifying young man standing right in front of him.
He was well aware that Fu Ye possessed unfathomable secrets. However, as a seasoned old fox—or rather, a brilliant strategist—he knew better than to pry into someone else's private affairs. Where Fu Ye had gone or what he had been doing for the last two decades was none of his business, and he intended to keep it that way.
"No, nothing else," Ning Fengzhi replied smoothly. "My primary goal was simply to let this mother and daughter have a moment to catch up. Secondly, I just wanted to ask how Rongrong is doing under your care."
Fu Ye nodded, acknowledging the father's concern. However, he decided to keep the fact that his daughter had already become his woman a secret for just a little while longer.
"She is doing well," Fu Ye said. "Rongrong has been working incredibly hard ever since she joined Tianshui. She gets along perfectly with the other girls, and her progress is stellar."
Because Ning Rongrong had explicitly mentioned wanting to surprise her father herself, Fu Ye deliberately left out the detail that she had already reached Level 48 and that her Martial Soul had successfully evolved into the legendary Nine-Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.
"That's good to hear. Truly excellent," Ning Fengzhi sighed, a heavy weight finally lifting from his chest. With a Limit Douluo like Fu Ye acting as her teacher, Rongrong's safety and future development were completely guaranteed.
To be completely honest, he had initially worried that her spoiled, "little witch" personality would cause a massive scene, resulting in her being expelled and coming home crying to complain. It seemed Fu Ye truly had a way with stubborn girls.
"I happen to have a little toy here. Take it back and look it over," Fu Ye said, slipping his hand into his coat and pulling out a dense parchment manual. "As for whether you want to manufacture it or share it with others, that's entirely up to your discretion."
A wicked grin played on his lips. In the original timeline, Tang San and Tang Chuan would eventually use their connections to pitch their hidden weapons to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan for an astronomical profit. But right now, neither of those two had the necessary networking to even catch Ning Fengzhi's eye.
Fu Ye, on the other hand, was holding a complete, meticulously detailed layout of the Tang Sect's mechanical hidden weapons. Everything from the Silent Sleeve Dart, the Godly Zhuge Crossbow, to the Flying God Claw was cleanly documented. And neatly tucked into the final pages was the ultimate mass-destruction schematic: the blueprint for Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus.
To someone with Fu Ye's reality-bending power, these trinkets were completely useless. But to a support-oriented faction like the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, this manual was an absolute, priceless treasure.
The manual contained over a dozen distinct mechanical weapons, capped off by the Tang Lotus—which, for all intents and purposes, was a high-explosive shrapnel grenade. It was more than enough to give the clan's fragile auxiliary disciples lethal self-defense capabilities in the outside world.
Thinking about it, the power scaling in the first era of the Douluo Continent was rather absurd. During this period, a single high-explosive mechanical lotus could directly obliterate a Level 95 Super Douluo if caught off guard. Yet, fast forward to the era of the Legend of the Dragon King, and Super Douluos were suddenly capable of face-tanking Tier 8 Fixed-Station Soul Guidance Artillery shells.
The math simply didn't add up. High-Explosive Grenade > Tier 8 Divine Artillery? Truly ridiculous.
Then again, it made sense considering his cheat system had explicitly stated that the different eras of Douluo were actually distinct parallel universes. Their power scales couldn't be accurately cross-referenced, making any direct comparison utterly meaningless.
Still, a stray thought crossed his mind: How am I supposed to travel to the secondary universe?
Looking through his cheat menu, there wasn't a clear "Dimension Travel" tab available. Was he required to push his soul power all the way to the God King boundary first? Or did he simply need to let the current timeline play out naturally to its conclusion before the next universe unlocked? He didn't know.
But as the old saying goes, the boat straightens itself once it reaches the pier. The absence of the option now didn't mean it wouldn't appear later. Since the system had already confirmed that this specific world lacked the Ten Great Savage Beasts and the Silver Dragon King, it was a mathematical certainty that a path to the other universes existed. He simply hadn't met the prerequisite conditions to unlock it yet.
Shaking his head, he cleared his mind. The best approach was to live comfortably in the present; as for the distant future, he would leave that to fate.
Turning his gaze back toward the cat girl, who was still clinging tightly to her tearful mother, Fu Ye threw her a sharp, uncompromising look that signaled it was time to move.
"Mom... I'm sorry, but I have to go now," the girl whispered, gently prying her mother's hands away.
Jing'er was painfully aware that she lacked the strength to defy the masked man. Her mother was standing right here; if she threw a tantrum or refused to comply, her mother would undoubtedly be dragged into the crossfire.
"No! I just found you! I won't let them take you again—"
The elderly woman wept, desperate to hold onto her child. But Jing'er knew they had no choice. If she didn't return to that man's side immediately, the consequences would be catastrophic for her family.
Meanwhile, Ning Fengzhi was completely deaf to the emotional drama unfolding beside him. His entire consciousness had been completely sucked into the intricate diagrams of the hidden weapon manual.
Smack!
Fu Ye delivered a crisp, resounding slap right to the back of the sect leader's head.
"Huh?! What? What happened?!"
Ning Fengzhi snapped out of his trance, looking up in utter bewilderment. But the moment his eyes locked onto Fu Ye, the irritation vanished, replaced by an intense, burning fanaticism.
"Brilliant! This is absolute genius! Your Eminence Fu Ye... are you truly giving this entire blueprint to me?!"
Ning Fengzhi's voice trembled with unfiltered excitement, his usual eloquent speech stuttering over his words. He was a man of impeccably high standards, yet the mechanical weapons detailed in this booklet were clearly lethal enough to assassinate unsuspecting Soul King experts!
And that final, incredibly complex masterpiece at the back? If engineered correctly, it possessed the theoretical output to threaten a Title Douluo!
His breathing grew heavy and ragged, and he instinctively began using honorifics, completely humbled by the gift. Fu Ye merely sighed at the old fox's reaction, gesturing pointedly toward the weeping cat girl. The silent message was clear: I'm leaving. Wrap things up with your people.
"Phew..." Ning Fengzhi took a deep, stabilizing breath, forcing his racing heart to calm down. "Words cannot express my gratitude, Your Eminence. If you ever require anything in the future, simply speak the word. As long as the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan possesses it, it is yours."
Gu Rong, standing by as a silent observer, scratched his head in confusion. He couldn't comprehend why his intellectually brilliant sect leader was losing his mind over a bunch of cluttered drawings and scribbles. He didn't get it, but he chose to keep his mouth shut. Asking would only make him look stupid.
On the other side, the cat girl and her mother froze as they caught the specific title Ning Fengzhi had used to address the youth.
Your Eminence!A Title Douluo!
Jing'er's heart sank into her stomach. Her master wasn't just a wealthy noble; he was a living god of war.
"Alright, little cat girl. Let's head out," Fu Ye called out smoothly, turning his back and walking down the street.
By the time they returned to the lush grounds of Tianshui Academy later that afternoon, the sun was casting a warm, golden hue over the campus.
The first person to spot Fu Ye's return was little Xue Ke. Because she wasn't a combat disciple and didn't participate in the grueling afternoon sparring matches, she was currently occupying a peaceful spot beneath a large shade tree, gracefully practicing yoga.
It wasn't that Fu Ye banned her from training; rather, the princess genuinely preferred acting as a dedicated logistics and support companion. After consuming the immortal herb Fu Ye had gifted her, her innate talent had skyrocketed, putting her on par with the core Tianshui members anyway.
"Brother Fu Ye!"
Though the little princess stood at a petite 1.45 meters, she moved like a streak of lightning. Within a couple of blinks, she had crossed the lawn and thrown herself forward like a playful cub, launching directly into Fu Ye's waiting arms.
Standing a step behind him, the little cat girl stared at the scene in absolute, wide-eyed shock.
Huh? Wait... what kind of place is this? Jing'er thought, her brain completely short-circuiting.
The dark, twisted fantasies she had been torturing herself with all afternoon—visions of cold iron cages, blood-stained dungeons, heavy chains, and a sadistic master using her as a disposable tool for his depraved desires—crumbled into dust. Instead, she was looking at a breathtakingly beautiful academy garden, a serene atmosphere, and a literal princess-turned-maid giggling happily while being cuddled by the very same "monster" who had spanked her three minutes straight.