Small Accomplishment

The discussion hall fell silent for a moment.

Then Ning Fengzhi was the first to laugh.

Bone Douluo followed with a booming laugh, his voice like a great bell, making even the teacups hum.

Sword Douluo did not laugh as loudly. He reached out and patted Ning Rongrong's little head.

"Fine, we'll listen to Rongrong. If he can do it, then he'll be qualified to be your little brother."

Ning Rongrong proudly puffed out her chest. Tear tracks and pastry crumbs still clung to her face, making her look both spirited and comical.

After the laughter died down, Ning Fengzhi rose and walked over to Ning Rongrong. He bent down, lifted her from Sword Douluo's lap, and raised her high into the air.

Ning Rongrong giggled as she was lifted, her little feet kicking wildly in the air.

"There's no rush for any of that."

Ning Fengzhi's voice carried a father's gentleness and heartfelt anticipation.

"What matters most right now is Rongrong's martial soul awakening."

Bone Douluo and Sword Douluo both stopped smiling, their expressions turning solemn.

For a Soul Master, a martial soul awakening was the first major turning point in life.

For the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, the martial soul awakening of the sect master's daughter was an even greater matter, one that affected the entire sect.

The Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda was the strongest support-type martial soul on the Douluo Continent, without equal.

Yet its inheritance was unstable. Even if both parents possessed direct Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda bloodlines, their descendants might not necessarily awaken the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda.

Throughout the continent's history, countless direct descendants of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had awakened ordinary tool martial souls, forever losing their chance to enter the sect's core.

Whether Ning Rongrong could awaken the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda concerned the future structure of the entire sect.

"When has the date been set?"

Bone Douluo asked.

"The seventh day of next month. It happens to be the day after Rongrong turns six."

Ning Fengzhi set Ning Rongrong down and patted her little shoulder.

"Rongrong."

"No matter what martial soul you awaken, Daddy will be proud of you. Do you understand?"

Ning Rongrong nodded as if she half understood. Then, as though remembering something, she tugged on Ning Fengzhi's sleeve and asked with sparkling eyes.

"Daddy, if Rongrong awakens a really, really powerful martial soul, can that big brother become Rongrong's little brother?"

Ning Fengzhi froze for a moment, then laughed.

"You're already thinking about taking in little brothers?"

"Of course!"

Ning Rongrong puffed out her chest righteously.

"Grandpa Sword said his disciple would be my little brother. Then Rongrong has to be strong enough to keep her little brother in line!"

Bone Douluo laughed so hard he bent forward and backward, while Sword Douluo could not help shaking his head with a smile.

"Alright, alright, Rongrong is right."

Ning Fengzhi rubbed his daughter's hair. His gaze drifted through the discussion hall window and settled upon the layered pavilions and halls of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

His eyes were distant and calm.

Whether it was his daughter, who was about to awaken her martial soul, or that child silently enduring beatings in Heaven Dou City to temper his body, they both represented the same thing.

The future.

The future of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. The future of the Douluo Continent.

And those futures were beginning to break through the soil, little by little.

Heaven Dou City, villa.

The night had grown deep.

When Qingluo entered Li Hanche's bedroom carrying a small porcelain jar,

he was sitting cross-legged on the bed, his eyes slightly closed. A faint layer of icy-blue light flowed across the surface of his body.

The Soul Power of the Frost Heaven Record circulated slowly through his meridians. With every completed cycle, the temperature in the room dropped slightly.

"Young master, the medicinal paste is ready."

Qingluo spoke softly.

Li Hanche opened his eyes, and an icy-blue glimmer flashed through his pupils before vanishing.

He accepted the porcelain jar. A cool yet pungent medicinal scent rushed into his nose.

This was the Body-Tempering Paste prepared according to the system's rewarded formula. Its main ingredients were Iceheart Grass and Crimson Sun Flower, one cold and one hot, balancing each other out. Supplemented by more than ten other medicinal herbs, it was specially made for cultivation with the Nine-Turn Tyrant Body Art.

He removed his shirt, revealing an upper body covered in blue-purple bruises.

The injuries left by today's daytime combat training were more severe than those of the past few days.

At his request, Qingluo and Baiwei had stopped holding back. Two Soul Masters in their twenties giving their all—even with some restraint—could still inflict horrifying injuries on a six-year-old child.

His chest, back, shoulders, and arms had barely a patch of uninjured skin. Blue, purple, and red bruises overlapped one another, like a piece of raw iron repeatedly hammered.

Qingluo's eyes reddened as she looked at his wounds.

Li Hanche did not look at her.

He scooped out a lump of Body-Tempering Paste with his fingers and spread it evenly over the bruises on his chest.

The instant the paste touched his skin, a searing burn exploded across it, followed immediately by a bone-chilling cold. Amid the alternating heat and cold, he could clearly feel the medicinal power seeping through his skin, into his muscles, into his meridians, and finally gathering deep within his bones.

He gritted his teeth without making a sound.

After applying it to his chest, he applied it to his back. For the places he could not reach, he had Qingluo help him.

Qingluo's movements were gentle, but the irritation caused by the paste itself could not be avoided.

Li Hanche's back trembled faintly beneath her fingertips. It was his muscles' instinctive response to pain, yet his breathing remained steady and his gaze clear.

Once it had all been applied, he sat cross-legged again and closed his eyes.

The Nine-Turn Tyrant Body Art began operating at full force.

Guided by the cultivation art, the medicinal power of the Body-Tempering Paste transformed into countless tiny streams of heat, burrowing through every bruise and every injury along his meridians.

Those streams were like countless tiny, scorching hands moving through his muscle fibers, reconnecting torn fibers, compressing loosened tissue, and reinforcing fragile structures.

This process was even harder to endure than the beating itself.

A beating brought only a moment of acute pain. Once it was over, it was over.

But the restoration process of the Body-Tempering Paste combined with the Tyrant Body Art was a constant, drawn-out soreness and stabbing pain that was everywhere at once.

It felt as though every muscle in his body was being pierced by needles, scorched by fire, and frozen in ice, over and over without end.

Sweat beaded on his forehead, slid down his cheeks, and dripped onto his bandage-wrapped knees.

Yet he never made a sound.

The benefits of the Mind-Clarity and Nature-Seeing Art were fully revealed at times like this.

This spiritual cultivation art could not lessen the pain, but it allowed part of his consciousness to detach from it, examining the changes in his body from an observer's perspective.

Pain was still pain, but it was no longer the entirety of his perception.

He could "see" his muscle fibers becoming denser and tougher under the combined effects of the medicinal power and the cultivation art.

He could "see" the bronze sheen beneath the surface of his skin slowly yet unmistakably spreading from his back across his entire body.

It was the sign that the first turn of the Nine-Turn Tyrant Body Art, Copper Skin, was gradually taking shape.

When every inch of his skin was covered by that bronze sheen, the first turn would be considered complete.

At that point, ordinary blades and swords would struggle to harm him. Any Soul Master wanting to break through his physical defenses would first have to consider whether their attacks were sharp enough.

Still far from it.