Spirit Pagoda Master's Office.
A series of crackling crashes rang out like a discordant orchestra as objects shattered on the floor.
The nearby Spirit Pagoda members were so frightened that they all fell silent, lowering their heads as they detoured around the door.
They were terrified of being caught in the Tower Master's rage.
Only a thin figure did not deliberately avoid the disturbance within and appeared at the doorway.
Listening to the successive sounds of shattering coming from the Tower Master's office, the old man frowned slightly.
He stepped forward and lightly knocked on the door with his knuckles.
Qiangu Dongfeng's furious voice rang out from inside.
"Didn't I say I wasn't seeing anyone right now?!"
"Qiangu Dongfeng."
The old man merely called out softly, yet it made Qiangu Dongfeng, whose face was filled with fury, choke up.
The next moment.
The door slowly opened.
Qiangu Dongfeng walked out.
He forcibly suppressed the anger on his face and put on a strained smile.
"Father, why are you here?"
The old man who had arrived was none other than—
The previous Tower Master of the Spirit Pagoda.
The former patriarch of the Qiangu Family, and the strongest expert in the Qiangu Family today: Qiangu Dieting, a quasi-god-level Limit Douluo.
Qiangu Dieting glanced at his son without saying anything, then slowly walked into the office.
Qiangu Dongfeng moved aside. Only after his father had entered did he close the office door again.
"Tell me. What happened?"
"You're already this old, yet you can't even control your own emotions?"
After sitting down, Qiangu Dieting glanced at the precious porcelain scattered across the floor and asked coldly.
Before this father of his, Qiangu Dongfeng rarely put on the airs of the Spirit Pagoda's Tower Master.
He shook his head somewhat awkwardly.
"It's nothing, Father..."
Being suppressed by Leng Hanyuan until he had lost all will to fight and fled in disgrace was simply too humiliating for him to tell his father.
But Qiangu Dieting knew his son all too well.
For him to react like this, he must have suffered a serious setback.
Besides, it was not as though Qiangu Dieting had no intelligence channels of his own.
Although Qiangu Dieting had stepped down as the Spirit Pagoda's Tower Master and handed most of his authority to Qiangu Dongfeng.
He still retained some forces of his own.
Before coming here, he had already learned a vague outline of what had happened.
"Was it because of that young man who suddenly appeared at Leng Yaozhu's side?"
Qiangu Dieting gave him a faint glance and immediately revealed the cause.
Seeing that his father already roughly understood, Qiangu Dongfeng lowered his head and stopped trying to deny it.
"Tell me. What exactly happened?"
"What happened after you went to see that young man who suddenly appeared beside Leng Yaozhu?"
Qiangu Dieting asked quietly.
"It was like this..."
Since things had come to this, Qiangu Dongfeng had no intention of hiding it from his father any longer.
He recounted everything that had happened between himself and Leng Hanyuan.
As well as what he had felt during their fleeting clash, explaining it all clearly to his father.
After hearing Qiangu Dongfeng's account, Qiangu Dieting's expression grew several degrees more solemn.
"You're saying that the young man who appeared beside Leng Yaozhu may very well possess quasi-god-level cultivation?"
A sharp glint flashed through Qiangu Dieting's eyes.
A quasi-god.
That alone was enough to make Qiangu Dieting take the matter seriously.
There were not many Limit Douluos on the continent, but neither were they exceedingly rare.
But quasi-god-level Limit Douluos were another matter entirely.
A quasi-god was a top-tier combatant capable of overturning the entire situation.
Why did the Qiangu Family possess such unmatched influence within the Spirit Pagoda?
Aside from Qiangu Dongfeng's own management, it relied to a great extent on Qiangu Dieting, a quasi-god.
As long as Qiangu Dieting remained, the Qiangu Family's influence within the Spirit Pagoda and throughout the entire Federation would never be low.
Yet now, Qiangu Dongfeng suspected that the Phoenix Family had gained a quasi-god as well.
This could very well affect the Qiangu Family's position within the Spirit Pagoda.
How could Qiangu Dieting possibly remain calm?
Although he had stepped down from the position of the Qiangu Family's patriarch, he had never truly set the family aside in his heart.
"It's highly likely."
Qiangu Dongfeng gave a bitter laugh.
The details of their clash resurfaced in his mind.
"That kind of fear that arose from the depths of my heart just from his aura alone was absolutely not something a demigod could achieve..."
His heart sank.
Qiangu Dieting knew that the handsome young man of unknown identity who had suddenly appeared beside Leng Yaozhu was most likely truly a quasi-god.
Although this son of his sometimes disappointed him.
His demigod cultivation was still there.
The only one capable of earning such an evaluation from him was a quasi-god.
He took a deep breath.
Qiangu Dieting suddenly felt a headache coming on.
Where had the Phoenix Family found such a mysterious quasi-god?
Why had the Qiangu Family received no information about him before this?
"Father, what should we do?"
Temporarily breaking free from the shadow Leng Hanyuan had cast over him, Qiangu Dongfeng realized there was a more important issue at hand.
Compared to his personal feelings, Qiangu Dongfeng, a ruthless schemer, cared more about the interests of the entire family.
After all, he was someone who could collude with the Holy Spirit Cult and wipe out Shrek Academy for the Qiangu Family's glory.
Silence.
Qiangu Dieting pondered for a long time before slowly speaking.
"Send people to investigate everything related to Leng Hanyuan."
"I refuse to believe that someone can simply appear out of thin air in this world!"
His voice paused before he continued.
"For the time being, do not provoke the Phoenix Family or Leng Hanyuan."
"You are all members of the Spirit Pagoda. Outside, many forces such as the Federal Council and the Tang Sect are watching you like tigers eyeing their prey."
"If you fight until both sides are crippled, it will benefit no one and only make those people happy."
"Suppress whatever petty feelings you have. The bigger picture comes first. Do you understand?"
Qiangu Dieting warned sternly.
"I understand, Father." Qiangu Dongfeng nodded.
He had always put interests above all else.
In the face of overwhelming benefits, his pride was not all that important.
As long as the Qiangu Family could rise to greater heights, he could endure all of this!
"Good."
Qiangu Dieting nodded slightly.
"Find an opportunity to apologize and make amends during this period."
"Since Leng Yaozhu said Leng Hanyuan is one of the Phoenix Family's upper ranks, he is most likely a member of the Phoenix Family."
"After all, both the Qiangu Family and the Phoenix Family belong to the Spirit Pagoda faction."
"Gaining another quasi-god may not be entirely a bad thing."
"If we can turn hostility into friendship and make this quasi-god our ally."
"If used properly, he may be able to break the Spirit Pagoda's current deadlock and raise our status another level."
Qiangu Dieting's gaze was deep and distant.
As for the face Qiangu Dongfeng had lost before Leng Hanyuan, did that matter?
There were no eternal enemies in this world, only eternal interests.
Where there was profit to be made, there were friends.
Before you continue