Ning Fengzhi's Scheme

Balak Kingdom.

This country lay south of the Heaven Dou Empire and bordered Fasinuo Province. Though it was called a kingdom, its territory was actually only three-quarters the size of Fasinuo Province.

There were two most important cities within the kingdom. One was Barak City, the capital where the royal family resided. The other was Suotuo City, located at the heart of the Lima Plain, the most fertile region in Balak Kingdom, and known as Balak's granary.

Suotuo City was a major city, as could be seen from the fact that its Spirit Hall was configured as a third-tier Martial Soul Main Hall.

At this moment, outside Suotuo City's eastern gate.

The city gates stood wide open, with pedestrians entering from time to time.

A young man dressed in white blended inconspicuously among the crowd as he entered the city.

After passing fully through the gate, he surveyed the city and sighed unconsciously. "Finally, Suotuo City..." He then added inwardly, a famous Douluo tourist spot—practically every transmigrator comes here.

That person was naturally Ye Cheng.

As for why he had come here, aside from wanting to see the original characters and personally witness—or even participate in—some of the plot, the most important reason was to repay a favor.

To repay Sword Douluo—or rather, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Back at the inn, Sword Douluo had come to visit him.

Since the two could be said to have become acquainted through a fight, their subsequent conversation had gone fairly well. During it, Sword Douluo deliberately or otherwise probed Ye Cheng's opinion of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, hinting that as long as he acknowledged his ancestry and returned to the sect, he could immediately become its master.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, one of the Upper Three Sects, would be under his control from then on! The temptation was undeniably immense.

Yet faced with an offer that ordinary people would find impossible to refuse, Ye Cheng remained unmoved. He merely brushed it aside with a few casual words.

Sword Douluo was somewhat disappointed, but he did not continue probing. Instead, he brought up another matter: the Wang Family of Tyrant Dragon City, who had abandoned their city and fled, were now imprisoned in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's dungeon.

The entire Wang Family—one hundred and sixty-three people in total—had all been captured without exception.

When Ye Cheng heard this news, he inwardly thought, Just as expected. As long as he possessed sufficient strength and was worth recruiting, people would naturally be willing to capture his enemies to forge a good relationship with him. He would not need to chase those enemies across the continent himself.

After learning that the Wang Family had been captured and imprisoned.

Ye Cheng did not appear particularly excited. He merely said calmly, "In that case, I'll have to trouble you, Senior, to 'deal with' them for me. Consider this a favor I owe your sect. So long as it is within my capabilities, if you have any request, I will not refuse!"

Those words showed that he had remembered this favor.

A favor from a Limit Douluo, one of the strongest beings alive, was simply beyond measure in value!

If any other sect or faction had received such a favor, they would likely have been overjoyed. But to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, this favor seemed somewhat... too distant.

After all, who was Ye Cheng?

He was the son of Ning Fengzhi, the current sect master, and he possessed the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul that the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had long dreamed of!

With such a background, he was naturally one of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. He should have become part of the sect and led it toward greater prosperity. Yet now they had to rely on a favor to draw him in. It was simply...

Thus, when Sword Douluo heard Ye Cheng say, "If you have any request, I will not refuse," he nearly wanted to use that favor to demand that Ye Cheng join the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Fortunately, reason told him that would not work. Even if luck truly favored them and they barely managed to make Ye Cheng join the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect through that favor, it would only make their relationship more distant. After all, this so-called "favor" was not actually that significant.

To Ye Cheng, the Wang Family were merely lambs awaiting slaughter, not enemies he could not defeat. Their escape would at most have caused some inconvenience and required more effort to track them down.

One could imagine how great such a "favor" really was.

Ye Cheng's words, "If you have any request, I will not refuse," sounded nice enough, but believing they could use that favor to make him risk his life was utterly impossible. That was pure wishful thinking.

Naturally, Sword Douluo would not ask him to join the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Instead, he recalled Ning Fengzhi's instructions before his departure, and an idea immediately came to him.

He decided to take a different approach.

Since they could not make Ye Cheng return directly to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, they might as well take things slowly and build a good relationship first.

After all, in Sword Douluo's eyes and those of the others, the biggest reason Ye Cheng refused to join the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was that when White Cloud City had been destroyed and his mother tragically died, Ning Fengzhi, his father, had done "nothing at all."

Anyone in such circumstances would harbor resentment. They would have even less favorable feelings toward the sect represented by their father.

Therefore, if they wanted Ye Cheng to change his opinion and willingly join the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, they first had to change his impression of the sect.

As for how to change that impression, Ning Fengzhi had long prepared a plan. He would have Ye Cheng interact with his youngest daughter, Ning Rongrong—Ye Cheng's younger half-sister on his father's side.

Ning Fengzhi had thoroughly analyzed Ye Cheng's mentality. He believed that Ye Cheng, who had wandered the continent alone and without support since the age of six, surely craved familial affection deep down!

The best candidate should have been Ning Fengzhi himself, his father. But unfortunately, his "failure to save them" back then had utterly ruined his image. In the child's eyes, this father of his was probably a heartless, cold-blooded scumbag.

And because of that, Ye Cheng surely had no favorable impression of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect either.

But if they used Ning Rongrong, his younger sister, the situation would likely be different. After all, few people would feel any dislike toward such an adorable girl, would they?

And with the added advantage of her being his sister... Ning Fengzhi believed that if the two spent some time together, Ye Cheng would surely fall under Ning Rongrong's charm and become completely obsessed with his little sister.

At that time, because of Ning Rongrong, Ye Cheng's opinion of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect would definitely improve greatly. And his feelings toward Ning Fengzhi, his father... perhaps, maybe, possibly, would not be quite so hostile either?

That was everything Ning Fengzhi had thoroughly analyzed and instructed Sword Douluo about before he set out. Thus, when Ye Cheng made his promise, Sword Douo went along with the flow and stated that there was indeed something he needed Ye Cheng's help with.

He hoped Ye Cheng could accompany and protect the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's little princess—his younger half-sister on his father's side, Ning Rongrong—for a period of time.

Hearing such an outrageous request, Ye Cheng was initially somewhat surprised. But after thinking it over carefully, he more or less understood their purpose. He laughed inwardly. With Ning Rongrong's spoiled and willful personality, you expect her to build a good relationship with someone? It'd already be impressive if she didn't make an enemy. You people really have no clue at all.

Though he found their plan amusing, Ye Cheng did not refuse. For one thing, it allowed him to repay the favor. For another, he had been wanting to meet the original protagonist group anyway.

After all, having come to Douluo Continent, it would be too much of a pity not to meddle in the plot a little, torment that scumbag Tang San, and save some of the adorable girls.

And so, Ye Cheng came to Suotuo City.