Spiritual Power

Ning Rongrong stood not far behind Sword Douluo, her small hands clenched tightly around the corners of her clothes.

She was eight now, a little taller than she had been two years ago. Between her brows and eyes, one could already vaguely glimpse the outline of the future greatest beauty of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Her delicate face was filled with anxiety and heartache. A mist of tears gathered in her reddened eyes, and her lips had been bitten white, yet she stubbornly held back the tears from falling.

She stared at Li Hanche.

She watched the veins bulging on his forehead, the thread of dark-red blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, and the fingers gripping his spear trembling from excessive force.

Over the past two years, this bastard had gone from "damn Li Hanche" to "bastard," and from "bastard" to the occasional "hey," only uttered when no one else was paying attention.

Every time he came to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, he made her angry—stealing her delicacies, using the trees in her courtyard as targets for spear practice, and even calling her favorite piece of raw jade "some ugly green rock."

Now, watching him stand there and struggle to hold on, his mouth full of blood, her heart felt as though an invisible hand had gripped it fiercely.

She reached out and grabbed Sword Douluo's sleeve, tugging hard twice.

"Grandpa Sword, that's enough! Li Hanche can't hold on anymore!"

Her voice trembled with a tearful quaver, but even more than that, it carried clumsy, aching urgency.

Sword Douluo Chen Xin did not look at her, nor did he withdraw his pressure.

His gaze remained fixed on Li Hanche, a complicated light flickering in the depths of his eyes.

Then he raised his other hand and increased the pressure by another level.

In that instant, Li Hanche's body jolted violently. He finally could not endure any longer.

One knee slammed into the ground, smashing out a crater.

He lowered his head, opened his mouth, and spat a mouthful of dark-red blood onto the ice before him. The warmth of the blood melted a small depression in the ice, sending up faint wisps of steam.

For a moment, his consciousness blurred. All he could hear was his own ragged breathing and the frantic pounding of his heart inside his chest.

Ning Fengzhi moved.

The Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda appeared in his palm, and seven-colored light poured down from its body onto Li Hanche like a gentle rainbow bridge.

Ning Rongrong released Sword Douluo's sleeve and ran toward the center of the open ground.

She ran to Li Hanche's side and crouched down. Not caring whether the ice chips on the ground would dirty her little dress, she grabbed his arm and draped it over her shoulder.

Li Hanche's breathing gradually steadied. Ning Fengzhi's healing had come in time, and the crushing, suffocating pain in his organs was rapidly fading.

He raised a hand and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of it, then pulled his arm from Ning Rongrong's shoulder. Raising his head, he looked at Sword Douluo Chen Xin, who stood before him with his hands behind his back.

"Teacher, can my second soul ring withstand ten thousand years?"

The scene fell silent for a moment.

Sword Douluo Chen Xin remained silent and did not answer immediately.

Ning Fengzhi withdrew the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda without speaking either.

Bone Douluo's gaze shifted from Li Hanche to Sword Douluo Chen Xin.

There was no precedent on the Douluo Continent. Sword Douluo Chen Xin and Ning Fengzhi had personally witnessed a first soul ring of two thousand one hundred years.

But the gap between ten thousand years and a thousand years was far greater than the gap between a thousand years and a hundred years.

The soul shock of a ten-thousand-year soul beast—at the moment of death, a ten-thousand-year soul beast would leave behind a complete, condensed soul shock carrying all the ferocity and consciousness it had possessed in life.

That was a true soul attack, crashing directly into the sea of consciousness.

If one could not withstand it, the best-case outcome was damage to the sea of consciousness and becoming an idiot; the worst-case outcome was the annihilation of the soul and immediate death.

Just as Sword Douluo Chen Xin was about to speak, Ning Rongrong had already helped Li Hanche to his feet.

He looked down at her. Her eyes were still red, a tear she had failed to hold back clinging to her lashes, while the tip of her nose was flushed.

"Little bro, you're pretty sensible."

Ning Rongrong immediately pinched his arm.

"Hmph."

After pinching him, she did not add, as she used to, "Who's your little bro?" Nor did she chase after him cursing, "Damn Li Hanche." She merely hmphed, then continued supporting his arm.

After two years, she had grown too lazy to correct the way he addressed her.

Sword Douluo Chen Xin's voice rang out, his tone more solemn than when he usually instructed him.

"Hanche, a ten-thousand-year second soul ring—are you certain you want to attempt it? The soul shock of a ten-thousand-year soul beast, with your current spiritual power..."

He paused without finishing his sentence. But the meaning was already clear.

Ning Fengzhi took over, his voice gentle and steady.

"Hanche, don't rush. I'll see if the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect can gather things across the continent that can help with spiritual power. Heavenly treasures, soul bones—so long as they have existed, there should be records of some. Before you are fully prepared, do not break through rashly."

Li Hanche was still bickering with Ning Rongrong.

"Did you hear that, little bro? Uncle Ning is going to help me find good stuff. When my spiritual power soars, don't let me leave you too far behind."

"Who cares! What does it have to do with me whether your spiritual power rises or not?"

"Of course it has to do with you. You're my little bro. If you fall too far behind, I'll lose face."

"Who asked you to worry about my dignity!"

He came back to his senses and turned to Ning Fengzhi and Sword Douluo Chen Xin, the playful grin still not entirely gone from his face.

"Ah, okay, Uncle Ning, Teacher."

At the edge of the clearing, Ning Fengzhi, Chen Xin, and Bone Douluo stood together, watching the two children bicker back and forth.

Ning Rongrong was still supporting his arm. Her mouth fiercely snapped, "Who cares," yet her hand unconsciously tightened a little.

Li Hanche, utterly fearless in the face of death, continued teasing her, showing none of the sorry state of someone who had just spat out a mouthful of blood.

Ning Fengzhi's hand behind his back loosened slightly.

A smile seeped from the corners of Chen Xin's eyes onto his aged yet refined face.

Bone Douluo nudged Sword Douluo's arm with his elbow and murmured something, earning a glare from Sword Douluo.

Watching the scene before them, all three revealed the same sort of smile.

The kind of auntie smile outsiders might not understand, but which they all silently understood.

A power-attack type, an auxiliary type—and a power-attack type capable of challenging opponents more than twenty levels above him, no less. And he was a disciple of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Ning Fengzhi withdrew his gaze and turned to Bone Douluo and Sword Douluo.

"Let's go, back to the council hall. As for heavenly treasures that benefit spiritual power, some may be hidden deep in the library. We'll need to search carefully."

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect moved swiftly.

That very day, Ning Fengzhi dispatched three groups to the headquarters of the continent's three major auction houses to obtain catalogues of rare treasures from the past ten years. At the same time, in his capacity as sect master, he sent letters to several allied powers, asking whether they possessed any rare herbs or exotic treasures beneficial to spiritual power.

Bone Douluo did not remain idle either. He plunged headfirst into the sect's library, taking charge of combing through the handwritten notes and records left behind by generations of predecessors.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had stood for centuries and possessed deep foundations, but finding heavenly treasures specifically suited to spiritual power was not something that could be done overnight.