Made Public

"Ah!!!"

Ning Fengzhi's cry of pain echoed over the entire Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect for a long while.

Countless disciples in the square broke out in cold sweats at the sight.

Cutting off hands at the drop of a hat... Was opposing someone this ruthless really the right choice?

Unfortunately, matters had already reached a critical point, and they no longer had any choice.

"Qin Jianjiu!!!"

Ning Fengzhi swiftly used Soul Power to stop the bleeding from his wound and raised his head to look at Qin Shiyuan.

His pale face was filled with disbelief and utter grief and indignation.

"My hand! My hand!!!"

Ning Fengzhi completely broke down. If Chen Xin had left him one hand earlier, he might not have been so desperate.

But now that both his hands had been severed, how was a soul master without hands any different from a cripple?

Fortunately, Ning Fengzhi was still a support-type soul master. He could normally summon his martial soul with his mind and still use soul skills.

However, he certainly would not be as nimble as before.

"Gu Rong! Go! Get up there and kill him for me!"

"I... understand."

Gu Rong hesitated for a moment, first looking at his mutilated palm.

Then he looked at the lone figure of Qin Shiyuan in midair. At last, a vicious glint rose in his eyes.

His martial soul instantly manifested. With a Bone Dragon suspended behind him, he stepped through the air and arrived before Qin Shiyuan.

"Tower Master Qin, you blew off one of my hands that day. I must demand an explanation from you for this!"

"I know I can't stop the three Titled Douluo of Star-Plucking Tower. If they had all come, perhaps the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect would have had no chance of survival today."

"But you are alone now. Unless you can unleash that sword strike from that day again... No, you don't even have that chance anymore."

"Without that strike, I, a rank ninety-five Titled Douluo, should not find it difficult to kill you, should I?"

After carefully probing behind Qin Shiyuan once more and confirming that there was indeed no one else, Gu Rong's tone abruptly became much harsher despite his confusion over why Qin Shiyuan had come alone to face a Soul Douluo.

"Today, if you sever one hand to compensate me, I will not pursue our grudges from that day."

"I know that with Chen Xin gone, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's fortunes are exhausted. Even if Star-Plucking Tower does not come today, Spirit Hall will likely come knocking someday."

"I know I lack the ability to hold off wave after wave of enemies, so... I will help you persuade Ning Fengzhi to surrender and submit to Star-Plucking Tower."

"That way, you can take over the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect without spending a single soldier or blade. What do you say?"

Gu Rong's words immediately drew an amused smile beneath Qin Shiyuan's mask.

"Oh? The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect has not even fallen yet, but the mighty Bone Douluo is already looking for his next master?"

"Didn't Bone Douluo say atop the mountains that day that Sect Master Ning had shown you kindness, and that you would never betray the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?"

At that, Gu Rong snorted coldly and said with clear displeasure, "What do you know? I am doing this precisely for the future of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect."

"Wasn't this forced on me by all of you? If you had not come, why would I resort to such a desperate measure? Wait..."

As though he had suddenly thought of something, Gu Rong asked uncertainly, "How do you know in such detail what I said atop the mountains that day?"

"Chen Xin? Didn't you leave him waiting outside the gates for two hours? With his temper, how could he possibly tell you such things?"

"Gu Rong, after working together for so many years, is my temper truly that bad in your eyes?"

The moment Gu Rong finished speaking, an ethereal voice abruptly resounded through the sky.

Gu Rong had heard that voice for decades, yet hearing it again now, he inexplicably felt a sense of wariness and fear rise within him.

Before he could react, another white figure appeared beside Qin Shiyuan as though teleporting.

The two white figures merely stood quietly in the air, yet they gave the people below an endless sense of oppression.

"Chen Xin! Why are you here?! Didn't Star-Plucking Tower reject you?!"

"Bone Douluo, do not speak nonsense. When did Qin ever reject Sword Douluo?"

Qin Shiyuan smiled faintly, though his ordinary tone carried an unusual implication.

"Sword Douluo is now the fourth Titled Douluo of my Star-Plucking Tower and also serves as its Fourth Elder."

"Come to think of it, I must thank you and Sect Master Ning for this. Otherwise, how could Star-Plucking Tower have had the opportunity to rise to another level?"

"You!"

The moment Chen Xin appeared, Gu Rong lost all of his earlier momentum.

Still clinging to a shred of hope, he gritted his teeth and said unwillingly, "Impossible! I clearly did not sense the aura of a Titled Douluo just now. How could you appear out of nowhere?!"

"Heh."

Perhaps because the burdens in his heart had gradually dispersed, Chen Xin rarely smiled. Even his words were no longer as cold as before.

"Couldn't sense me? Gu Rong, you are simply too weak!"

As he spoke, an incomparably massive wave of Soul Power abruptly erupted from Chen Xin's body.

The terrifying soul pressure instantly made countless people begin to tremble uncontrollably.

"Rank ninety-seven?! How is that possible?! How could you still break through?!"

Gu Rong's body instantly stiffened, while countless beads of cold sweat emerged across his forehead.

He had remained composed when facing Qin Shiyuan alone, and even when Chen Xin first appeared, he had still retained a trace of hope.

But at this moment, that final shred of hope had been scared away completely. Nothing remained on his face but terror!

He knew that against rank ninety-seven Chen Xin, his only fate would be to be chopped into eight pieces by the Seven Kill Sword!

"Chen Xin, we..."

Gu Rong had just wanted to appeal to their old friendship again, but Chen Xin gave him no chance at all and directly assumed a battle stance.

"There is no need to say anything. The Tower Lord gave me a new life. I absolutely cannot tolerate anyone showing disrespect to him!"

"Since you want my Tower Lord's hand, I will take your life first."

As his words fell, the Seven Kill Sword swept out, and countless strands of Sword Qi several times sharper than before shot straight toward Gu Rong.

"Not good!"

Gu Rong's pupils abruptly contracted as he immediately used every method at his disposal to defend himself.

The battle had only just begun, yet he had already felt the threat of death!

On the ground, seeing Chen Xin make his move, Ning Fengzhi—already overcome by grief and rage—instantly flew into a fury and began cursing without restraint.

Spittle flew everywhere, and his disheveled hair hung over his shoulders. At that moment, Ning Fengzhi looked like a complete madman, but he no longer cared.

"Chen Xin! My Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect supported you for so many years, yet you turned around and became a traitor, leaving us no way out at all!"

"You ungrateful wretch! Do you even deserve to be called human?!"

"Heh! Ning Fengzhi, how do you still have the nerve to say such things?"

Before Chen Xin could speak, Qin Shiyuan, his face covered in frost, spoke first.

"A way out? When you poisoned the wine that day, did you ever consider leaving Sword Douluo a way out?"

"Oh, right. Perhaps the disciples of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect still do not know what their sect master has done?"

"Since you yourself are too ashamed to say it, how about I say it for you... shall I?"