The Plan Was Good, but There Was a Small Mishap

"Teacher." Xue Qinghe nodded and thought for a moment. "I once read in a book that certain special domains can simulate creation."

"Those constructs that resembled the Gale Wolf King may have been related to a domain."

"The information Spirit Hall gave me also mentioned that she could control multiple summons."

"I had the same thought. I imagine Uncle Bone did as well." Ning Fengzhi had not expected his disciple to be so learned. Though his soul power was not high, his understanding of Soul Masters was far beyond the ordinary.

After some idle conversation and silence, Xue Qinghe asked, "Teacher, could you lend me the summon cards in your possession for a few days? I'm rather curious. Don't worry, it's only curiosity."

Ning Fengzhi gave Xue Qinghe a deep look but did not refuse outright. "After a while. I plan to have Uncle Bone and Uncle Sword study them first."

"When the time comes, one card will go to Rongrong, and the other to you. How does that sound?"

"Thank you, Teacher." Xue Qinghe's tone carried excitement.

Before long, Xue Qinghe parted ways with Ning Fengzhi and Bone Douluo.

Only after Xue Qinghe had left did Bone Douluo ask what he could not say in front of outsiders. "Fengzhi, the way you handled Huyan Zhen isn't like you at all!"

"Besides, if we could bring that little girl called Wendy back to the sect, we might learn why she can absorb a ten-thousand-year soul ring."

As Huyan Zhen had said, it was impossible for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect not to care about a first soul ring that was ten thousand years old.

"Uncle Bone, do you truly think we could catch her?" Ning Fengzhi said after a moment of silence.

"It isn't that I doubt Uncle Bone's abilities. That girl is simply too unfathomable."

Possibly constructs that were not even her true body, summons casually called forth, and the two cards in her hand.

Perhaps she had made them herself. Of course, perhaps some great power stood behind her.

But either way, Bone Douluo would most likely be unable to capture her. He might not even be able to find where her true body was.

If they failed, having such an enemy lodged in their throats would be a disaster for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

"Ah..." Hearing Ning Fengzhi's words, Bone Douluo sighed as well.

"Fengzhi, tell me what you think. Offending Huyan Zhen just to side with her doesn't fit your usual logic."

"Uncle Bone, do you know why I inferred that Huyan Zhen might act against Miss Wendy, yet still didn't have you step in to stop him?" Ning Fengzhi paused.

Bone Douluo rolled his eyes. "Stop keeping us in suspense. Spit it out."

"I was scared out of my wits."

Bone Douluo: "?"

Seeing that Bone Douluo practically had a question mark carved onto his head, Ning Fengzhi took a deep breath and explained the specifics.

Yet the more Bone Douluo heard, the more animated his expression became. Even his pupils widened.

"You... you're telling the truth?" Bone Douluo's burly body trembled slightly. "She wasn't tricking you, was she?"

"Whether she was or not, I want to verify it first." Ning Fengzhi sighed. "She could not only detect our hidden traces, but also transmit her voice to me from a great distance. That alone is already absurd."

"On top of that, she evaded an attack from a Soul Douluo. A heaven-blessed prodigy like that should not be offended lightly unless absolutely necessary."

"I don't believe it." Bone Douluo took several deep breaths and said in a low voice, "A one-hundred-thousand-year transformed soul beast is incredibly precious. If she had such a treasure, why would she tell us?"

"There could be some sort of trap. Besides, the information she revealed might not even be true."

Bone Douluo recovered his rationality from the shock. He could not think of any reason why the other party would give up a transformed one-hundred-thousand-year soul beast.

She had stepped forward to support Ning Fengzhi for the sake of a mere purple-gold soul coin card?

No matter how he thought about it, that was a ridiculous loss.

Was a one-hundred-thousand-year soul ring not tempting enough, or was a one-hundred-thousand-year soul bone too cumbersome to carry?

"That's why I intend to investigate thoroughly what she said at the auction house about the assassination."

"If there's any intelligence, then next month we'll know whether what she said was true."

"Ah... I just hope you haven't been fooled senseless." Bone Douluo shrugged, lifted Ning Fengzhi with his soul power, and flew toward the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect at top speed.

Meanwhile, in Heaven Dou City.

At an inn several hundred meters away from the auction house, Xu Qianqian had, as usual, booked a guest room with excellent soundproofing.

That was right. From the beginning of the auction to its end, she had remained here without taking a single step outside.

Even her earlier minor clash with Huyan Zhen had only involved a clone.

"Overall, there weren't any problems, but there was still a small mishap."

Xu Qianqian stood by the window, looking through it toward the spherical auction house in the distance.

"That old bastard Huyan Zhen had no martial virtue, attacking out of nowhere and nearly exposing my true identity."

Her identity had not been exposed in the end, but the age of her soul ring had.

A first soul ring that was ten thousand years old would likely stir up another wave of commotion.

Xu Qianqian returned to the sitting room, picked up the teapot, poured herself a cup of tea, and took a light sip. Her tone held a trace of helplessness:

"I've already revealed Xiao Wu's whereabouts to Ning Fengzhi. In a month, we'll see whether he can find intelligence on those people who tried to assassinate me."

Using information on a hundred-thousand-year Soft-Boned Rabbit in exchange for something useful to herself.

Xu Qianqian did not think she was losing out.

"However..." Xu Qianqian set down her teacup and murmured softly, "the fact that they guessed I used a domain is troublesome too."

Xu Qianqian's domain only had a range of one thousand meters, but her perception range reached ten thousand meters.

She could hear every word of the conversation between Ning Fengzhi, Bone Douluo, and Xue Qinghe (Qian Renxue) without missing a single one.

Bone Douluo often sparred with Sword Douluo, who possessed the Seven Kill Domain. Since the two who loved and fought each other were familiar with domains, that was perfectly normal.

As for Qian Renxue, she had been innately level twenty and had awakened with the Angel Domain.

Even though Xu Qianqian had deliberately weakened her domain, it was not impossible for it to be noticed.

"Forget it. Things will work themselves out when the time comes."

Xu Qianqian took out the Stone Amber that her clone had touched and sent back through the domain, as well as the Purple Gold Soul Card that Huyan Zhen had "gladly agreed" to compensate her with.

"1.5 million gold soul coins..."

Such a large sect, yet the sect master's assets were not even seven times mine.

That was a bit too poor!

Xu Qianqian shook her head and put away the unregistered Purple Gold Soul Card.

Then, her gaze fell on the orange-yellow Stone Amber lying quietly on the ground, roughly the size of a basketball.

There was no way she was going to eat it raw. Her teeth were not that formidable.

However, this thing could produce a faint resonance with the Chronicle of Time, so she should be able to absorb it.

"I just don't know whether I can break through to level twenty after absorbing it."

No sooner had the thought occurred to her than Xu Qianqian sat cross-legged beside the Stone Amber, pressing her hand against its basketball-sized cross-section.

Specks of light swiftly gathered, and her martial soul appeared.

Resonate, absorb!

That was what Xu Qianqian intended to do.

Ordinary soul masters needed to absorb soul rings from soul beasts before they could obtain soul rings.

She seemed not to need that.

Of course, she was not certain about that either. But she could directly absorb the world's vital energy, rather than needing to slowly convert it into soul power through meditation like ordinary soul masters before cultivating.

Perhaps it was because their bodies contained the mingled resentment or souls of too many different soul beasts. The exact reason was still unclear.

At that moment, the pages of the Chronicle of Time slowly turned.

Both Xu Qianqian and the Stone Amber before her emitted a pale yellow glow.

The glow on the stone visibly flowed into Xu Qianqian's body.

A quarter-hour, two and a half quarter-hours...