The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's trump card
Spirit Hall, the Pope's Palace.
Bibi Dong had just finished the business at hand when hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.
"Urgent report!"
A deacon rushed inside and said, "His Holiness the Pope, Elder Ju has sent an urgent report! Two Three-Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts have appeared at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and the sect is in imminent danger!"
The words caused an uproar throughout the hall.
"What? Two three-hundred-thousand-year beasts?"
"Are Three-Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts cabbages? How did two more appear right after the first?"
Knock, knock.
Bibi Dong tapped her staff, signaling for silence.
"Where did those two Soul Beasts come from?"
The deacon said, "Your Holiness, one is the lava Soul Beast that appeared in the Star Dou Forest. The other has only just appeared. Its methods are extraordinarily bizarre. It sealed off the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect with tremendous power, and now no one can enter or leave. The two Soul Beasts are rampaging through the sect. Oh, and... Ghost Elder said the two Soul Beasts seem to have designs on the sect's forbidden grounds."
"Oh?"
Bibi Dong was slightly surprised.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had Sword Douluo standing guard, yet it had been sealed off.
She had witnessed Golza's strength. From the sound of it, was this newly appeared Soul Beast even stronger than Golza?
More importantly, the two Soul Beasts were acting in concert.
Their target was the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's forbidden grounds. What was there that they wanted?
"Form the array. Project it."
At Bibi Dong's command, the four Titled Douluo in the hall quickly sprang into action.
Snake Lance Douluo took the east, Porcupinefish Douluo the west, Demon Bear Douluo the south, and Ghost Leopard Douluo the north.
The four combined their strength, injecting four streams of Soul Power into a soul tool.
Azure starlight shone in the hall, and everyone looked up at the scene within it.
The scene showed the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect as it was now.
Two enormous shadows moved through the scene, one black and one red. Buildings collapsed and rivers shattered wherever they passed...
Everyone drew a sharp breath.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect ranked among the Upper Three Sects. It was unquestionably a major sect, with a legacy spanning thousands of years.
They had never seen the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect in such a sorry state.
The destructive power of the two Soul Beasts was terrifying. Just watching the projection made their scalps tingle.
"How did the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect provoke them?"
"How terrifying. I'm afraid the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect won't survive today."
"What exactly do those two Soul Beasts want? They're going to such lengths..."
Voices rose all over the hall in discussion.
Bibi Dong's brows knitted tightly, her gaze like a torch.
She was studying the routes the two Soul Beasts were taking.
From the very beginning, their target had been clear: the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's forbidden grounds. They had never changed direction!
In other words, the two Soul Beasts must have come for the forbidden grounds from the start.
And they were taking similar routes without fighting each other. What did that mean?
It meant they knew each other! They were working together!
She recalled the scene when Golza first appeared. Although Golza had wreaked havoc then, he had disappeared after devouring the lava crystal.
Could it be that Golza's target had been the lava crystal from the very beginning?
And now, the two Soul Beasts' targets once again aligned...
Could it be...
A chilling thought surfaced in Bibi Dong's mind.
Someone was directing the two Soul Beasts!
Someone behind the scenes was ordering them to do this! It had to be!
That person wanted something in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's forbidden grounds.
And it had to be something extraordinarily precious.
No amount of money could persuade the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect to trade it.
The only way to get it was to seize it by force!
And there was only one thing that fit those conditions.
The Earth Vein!
It was the foundation of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Unless the sect was destroyed, its members would never allow anyone else to lay a finger on it.
Was someone after the Earth Vein?
Qian Lingye suddenly appeared in Bibi Dong's mind.
For no other reason than that he had asked about it just yesterday.
But after the thought crossed her mind, Bibi Dong dismissed Qian Lingye.
He was just a child. Clearly, he had nothing to do with these matters.
Whoever was after the Earth Vein had to be a powerhouse at the Titled Douluo level or above.
Only a powerhouse of that caliber was qualified to absorb the Earth Vein's power.
Could it be Yu Yuanzhen? Or perhaps...
Bibi Dong gazed at the projection, lost in thought.
Meanwhile, at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
When Ning Fengzhi finally saw the two monsters' ultimate target clearly, a bone-deep despair welled up in his heart.
With the Earth Vein, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect possessed an inexhaustible supply of the origin of heaven and earth. Its disciples achieved twice the result with half the effort in their cultivation, and the sect's fortune flowed on without end, securing its place among the Upper Three Sects.
But once the Earth Vein was taken, its origin would scatter, and a thousand years of accumulated strength would vanish in a single day. The great Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect would be utterly reduced to a second-rate sect, cast down from its pedestal with no chance of ever rising again!
This was a calamity that would destroy the sect, a dead end that would sever its roots and cut off its veins!
"Go! All of you, attack!"
Ning Fengzhi's eyes were bloodshot, his usual refinement nowhere to be seen.
He had led the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect for many years, preserving its peace and weathering its disputes, but never had he felt the danger of its destruction as he did today.
"Activate everything! All the sect-protecting arrays and the treasures that guard the sect-activate every last one!!"
As Ning Fengzhi roared the order at the top of his lungs, every array in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect unleashed its full power.
Hum, hum, hum, hum-!!
Golden light shot through the sky above the entire Seven Treasure Mountain Range, and ten thousand rays of glazed light shone forth!
Countless ancient runes emerged from underground and crossed over one another, forming layer upon layer of glazed barriers.
A gentle, sacred radiance blanketed the surrounding land, dissipating the lava's heat and repelling the attacking tentacles, bringing Golza and Gagi to a halt.
Every ancient defensive treasure sealed away in the sect's vaults and passed down through the generations was activated. Resplendent light filled the sky, the treasures' might rippled outward, and barrier after barrier piled up into walls of bronze and iron, blocking the way to the forbidden grounds.
At that moment, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had played every trump card it had.
It poured out the strength accumulated over a thousand years and the foundation built over ten thousand, using the might of the entire sect to defend its last foundation to the death!
"Did... did they stop them?"
Yu Xiaogang and the others had hidden behind a distant mountain peak.
Seeing Golza stop, Yu Xiaogang spoke up excitedly.
Flender frowned. "Not necessarily. Don't forget, neither of those Soul Beasts has played its trump card yet!"
Just as Flender had expected, when everyone thought the arrays had stopped the two beasts, an immensely powerful burst of heat suddenly erupted from Golza's body!
His skin glowed like red-hot steel as lava rays sprayed out continuously, more than twice as frequently and with more than twice the power!
Ning Fengzhi ground his back teeth. "It's the Lava Crystal Core."
Under the bombardment of Golza's lava rays, the mountain-guarding array's light dimmed rapidly. Its spiritual glow broke apart, flickering on and off...
Just as the barrier around the forbidden grounds was about to shatter-
Boom!!!
Above the forbidden grounds, the glazed light filling the sky suddenly converged on a single point!
The long river of fortune, which had long since run dry and dimmed, suddenly erupted with a dazzling radiance ten thousand feet high!
A figure slowly stepped out of a rift in the void: aged and imposing, bearing the vicissitudes of a hundred years and the boundless Dao resonance of the auxiliary path.
He wore a simple Daoist robe, and his beard and hair were white. His face was aged, but he was hale and vigorous. His presence was otherworldly and transcendent. Though he had not released the slightest trace of offensive Soul Power, he made every powerhouse present tremble and feel reverence.
Most striking of all, seven immensely solid phantoms of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda surrounded him. His Soul Power was gentle yet vast as the sea, and his every movement stirred the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth throughout the mountain range!
He was like a sovereign of heaven and earth.
Ning Fengzhi froze, then cried out in uncontrollable excitement:
"Old ancestor!"
The old man raised his head and smiled faintly.
He was none other than the previous sect master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, whom the world believed had exhausted his lifespan and passed away a hundred years ago-
Ning Xuanyuan!
Level ninety-five.
The only top-tier auxiliary-type Titled Douluo alive in the world!
He had remained hidden for a hundred years, cultivating in seclusion in the sect's forbidden grounds, divining the secrets of heaven and stabilizing the Earth Vein.
Today, with the sect's destruction imminent, he had finally made an exception, ending his seclusion and returning to the world!
High in the sky, everyone watching the battle erupted.
"Ning Xuanyuan?! That legendary Dao Venerable of the auxiliary path is still alive?!"
"He hasn't appeared for a hundred years, and everyone thought he had long since fallen. Who would have thought he'd been cultivating in seclusion all this time!"
"A level ninety-five auxiliary Titled Douluo! The one and only pinnacle of the auxiliary path on the continent! The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was hiding such a terrifying trump card!"
Utter shock swept through the crowd, followed by hope rekindling in everyone's eyes!
With Ning Xuanyuan here, today's desperate situation might not be beyond saving!