The shadows of the woods fell over Ning Chengye, as gloomy as his mood.
But no matter how dark the woods were, at least sunlight could still filter through the dense canopy and fall on the dead leaves and branches scattered across the gray ground. He didn't even have that last bit of sunlight.
Ning Chengye didn't ask, "What if I refuse?" He knew the answer without having to think about it.
Nor did he say things like, "I'm from the Heaven Dou Empire," or, "Why should I submit to you?" Those weren't even worth calling questions.
He had no patriotic feelings. All he wanted was to make the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect prosper, to fulfill his duty, and to be able to face his ancestors with a clear conscience when he died.
When he saw the Seven-Colored Exquisite Stamen today, his heart had burned with excitement. He had seen the hope of his sect's revival.
But in the blink of an eye, that burning hope had been plunged into an abyss, with no room to struggle.
Was he really supposed to hand over the family legacy his ancestors had built over ten thousand years?
No one could accept such an outcome willingly. Yet whenever he wanted to step forward and declare that he would rather die than surrender, he would see the Snow Empress and fall silent again.
Even with only the Snow Empress here, there was no guarantee any of them would make it home alive today.
But if he simply submitted, how could he face his ancestors? How could he answer to everyone in the sect?
Thinking of his ancestors, he suddenly remembered one of them from ten thousand years ago: the woman who had evolved the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda into the Nine Treasure