The night was deep, yet the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's residence outside Heaven Dou City was still brightly lit.
As the richest sect on the continent, every brick and tile, every pillar in its corridors, displayed wealth enough to make one's jaw drop. Yet Ning Zhen, seated in the Sect Master's study, had no mind to admire the room's rare treasures.
Ever since the Spirit Hall's Pope Token announcing the Seven Great Sects Re-election Tournament had spread across the land, Ning Zhen had felt as if weeds were growing in his heart. His thoughts were a tangled mess.
"Reshuffling the board... That madman Qian Xunji is going to uproot the entire order of the continent!" Ning Zhen rubbed his throbbing temples, his brow furrowed beneath the eerie glow of a giant luminous pearl.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect might be rich, but an auxiliary sect's fatal weakness was its lack of top-tier combat strength. Its proudest assets, aside from its wealth, were its one and only Sect Protecting Douluo—Yuan Lie, a ninety-first-level Douluo. But Yuan Lie was old, his vitality in decline. If he had to fight to the death on the Re-election Assembly's Arena against those ravenous Power Attack System sects, the odds would be grim.
"Sect Master Ning, sighing in the dead of night—has some trouble been weighing on you?"
Just as Ning Zhen was sinking into despair, an abrupt voice rang out in the study without warning, calm and composed, as if its owner had everything under control.
"Who?"
The hairs on Ning Zhen's body stood on end. He sprang from the wide rosewood chair, Soul Power surging through him in an instant.
The shadows in the corner of the study rippled like water. Qian Xunji stepped out, dressed in a dark robe without a