Ning Fengzhi, Ambitious but Lacking Substance

"Big Brother, with the exception of a few special ones (Octagonal Ice Grass, Blazing Apricot), once a person consumes an immortal herb, they can never consume another for the rest of their life. My apologies."

Qian Xunji's gaze dimmed, and he let out a long sigh.

Returning to his seat, he scanned the room and spotted Ning Fengzhi standing there empty-handed. His eyes rolled, and he asked:

"Little Sister, why didn't you prepare an immortal herb for the Young Sect Master of the Seven Treasures Glazed Sect as well?"

Qian Xunqian answered in a clear, resonant voice:

"Big Brother, although the Young Sect Master has a marriage contract with Her Highness the Saintess, he is not yet one of our Spirit Hall. The Seven Treasures Glazed Sect has not explicitly stated their intention to join us either. Considering the interests of Spirit Hall, I chose not to select one for him."

"Nonsense! The Young Sect Master is a distinguished guest of our Spirit Hall; is this how you treat our guests? Furthermore, the marriage contract between the Young Sect Master and Dong'er is already set in stone—he is practically one of our own! To act in such a manner, would you not chill the hearts of all those in the world who look toward Spirit Hall?"

Qian Xunji was furious and lectured her.

Qian Xunqian replied with a submissive, deferential air:

"Big Brother is right to reprimand me; I was narrow-minded. I shall return to the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well immediately to select a suitable immortal herb for the Young Sect Master!"

Qian Xunji thought to himself that his cousin was quite sensible, leaving this favor for him to bestow.

In truth, Qian Xunqian was partly doing her cousin a favor, but on the other hand, she was somewhat reluctant to give Ning Fengzhi an immortal herb.

There was no other reason: Ning Fengzhi's desire for the Seven Treasures Glazed Sect to remain independent was far too strong.

In the original story, he was the one constantly calling for the Upper Three Sects to stand together, and by becoming Xue Qinghe's teacher and establishing ties with the Heaven Dou Empire, he could be called the greatest strategist on the Douluo Continent.

By maintaining these multi-faceted relationships, he caused Spirit Hall to hesitate for a long time, preventing them from taking action against the Seven Treasures Glazed Sect and allowing his sect to survive independently for many years.

It could be said that before Ning Fengzhi came into contact with Tang San, he was arguably the wisest man on the Douluo Continent.

As for after he met Tang San, his intelligence instantly dropped to the level of Er Ming, and he even bestowed the surname "Tang."

Coupled with their interactions over these years, Ning Fengzhi always maintained a sense of distance toward Bibi Dong and the Spirit Hall behind her.

If you thought he was loyal to Spirit Hall, he would secretly adopt orphans from time to time and send them back to the Seven Treasures Glazed Sect.

If you said he wanted independence, he would frequently converse with Pope Qian Xunji, expressing his intention to bring the Seven Treasures Glazed Sect into Spirit Hall once he became the Sect Master.

Qian Xunqian did not believe that after helping him evolve his martial soul with the Silk Velvet Tulip, he would truly lead the Seven Treasures Glazed Sect to join Spirit Hall.

Ning Fengzhi was the type of highly ambitious politician whose strength was simply insufficient to support his ambitions.

However, Qian Xunqian just felt that giving Ning Fengzhi an immortal herb was an eyesore and felt uncomfortable about it. In her eyes, a mere Nine Treasures Glazed Pagoda was nothing to be concerned about!

If he were to become a complete enemy, it would be nothing more than a minor inconvenience; she would simply capture him, lock him in a secret chamber, and turn him into a stud for the Nine Treasures Glazed Pagoda martial soul.

After packing her things and moving to the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, Qian Xunqian plucked the Silk Velvet Tulip. She left the accompanying Chrysanthemum Douluo behind and took the yet-to-be-titled Dugu Bo to Spirit Hall to receive his title.

Unsurprisingly, just like in the original story, Dugu Bo was titled the Poison Douluo. The difference was that Dugu Bo had now transformed into an elder of Spirit Hall. She truly wondered how Tang San would survive once he transmigrated here...

And our future Seven Treasures Glazed Sect Master finally had a piece of fan fiction to help him evolve into the Nine Treasures Glazed Pagoda!

For these past few days, Ning Fengzhi could not stop smiling, showing off his Nine Treasures Glazed Pagoda to everyone he met.

His level of joy was comparable to that of Tang San when he resurrected Xiao Wu.

Speaking of Xiao Wu, one must mention Qian Xunqian's recent soul beast experiments.

Originally, her idea was to excise the cerebral cortex of soul beasts, as this was their higher-order neural center. Once removed, the soul beast would have no intelligence for the rest of its life, acting only on instinct to eat, defecate, and grow meat.

However, this method required too much precision; if she cut too much, the Soft Bone Rabbit would kick the bucket instantly, and if she cut too little, once it reached the ten-thousand-year level, it was highly likely to develop sentience and attack humans.

Thus, she thought of poisoning, using neurotoxins to atrophy the brains of young soul beasts, keeping their intelligence permanently at the ten-year level. For male soul beasts, she would also castrate them, much like modern pig farming, with the goal of making their temperaments sufficiently docile.

After cutting 126 to death, poisoning 578 to death, and lobotomizing 237 Soft Bone Rabbits, Qian Xunqian successfully formulated the optimal concentration of mental reagent for ten-year Soft Bone Rabbits.

The material used was a plant called the Dementia Mushroom, which she ground up and dissolved in water to create mental reagents of varying concentrations.

The Soft Bone Rabbit was still too trash-tier; at most, it could only be raised for food.

Since she wanted to cultivate high-quality soul ring soul beasts, she would have to capture some stronger, rarer breeds.

"Sigh, the power of one or two people is ultimately too weak. This project of soul beast cultivation must be integrated into large-scale social production to function."

"We need more agricultural talent! Planting the raw materials for soul beast feed requires people, synthesizing the feed requires building factories and hiring workers, planting the raw materials for the soul beast mental reagents requires people, and the feeding and breeding of soul beasts require even more people! Not only that, but transporting the raised soul beasts to where soul rings are needed also requires people!"

In an instant, Qian Xunqian's infrastructure-building bloodline from her past life was awakened!

"The first step to changing the Douluo Continent shall be opening the first agricultural college on the Douluo Continent!"

Qian Xunqian perked up, only to deflate two minutes later.

"I am a scientist; I only have soul beast cultivation technology in my head, and this technology was developed in a laboratory. As for how to actually run it in a breeding farm, I have no experience!"

"It seems I must go to the countryside and see the fields for myself!"

At the first light of dawn, Qian Xunqian snuck into the Saintess Hall and dragged out Bibi Dong, who was still dreaming of becoming a Limit Douluo with a full set of hundred-thousand-year soul rings.

Later historical records stated: Xunqian was so excited she couldn't sleep for half the night, so she went to the Saintess Hall to find Bibi Dong. Sister Bi was also awake, so they traveled together to the Title Village.

It must be said that the world of the Douluo Continent had quite a few bugs. Even though the architecture looked like Western European medieval style and should have been a feudal era, it had electricity—would you believe it?

However, the gap between the countryside and the city was like heaven and earth; the city was filled with neon lights and luxury, while the countryside remained stuck in the stage of burning wood for light.

Title Village was named as such because it had once been titled—bah! It had produced a Titled Douluo. Over the years, it could steadily produce three or four spirit masters, which was far better than Holy Soul Village.

Qian Xunqian believed that once the Innate Spirit Power Cultivation Device was officially available to the entire population, the living conditions here would improve significantly!

The village was close to the Star Dou Forest. A quarter of the villagers were hunters, and apart from a few blacksmiths and carpenters, they basically made their living by farming.