Bestowal Ceremony

As for any irreconcilable conflicts or contradictions between Spirit Hall and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, there simply were none to be found.

It was purely because Ning Rongrong had joined Shrek that, from Tang San's perspective, the two sides could not be reconciled.

But if one claimed that Spirit Hall and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had a fundamental conflict of interests, that was not necessarily true at all.

After all, as an auxiliary sect, its stance naturally tended toward neutrality.

In theory, as long as Spirit Hall offered the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect sufficient benefits, it was entirely possible for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect to side with Spirit Hall—

but Spirit Hall could not do that.

Because in the original story, Bibi Dong's purpose in launching the Soul Hunting Operation had, from the very beginning, been to destroy Spirit Hall.

Naturally, she could not possibly bring such a powerful ally as the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect over to Spirit Hall's side.

Thus, in the original story, Spirit Hall might have made considerable efforts to win over the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, but Bibi Dong had rejected every condition proposed by the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

As a result, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect could not obtain enormous benefits suited to its own needs from Spirit Hall. After weighing the pros and cons, it joined the protagonist's side at the cost of near annihilation.

So the question was—

why did Bibi Dong now want Lin Bei to form a Marriage Alliance with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?

This fundamentally did not align with her goal of destroying Spirit Hall.

After all, if the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect truly joined Spirit Hall's side, Spirit Hall would win over the majority of the soul masters in the soul master world. Don't underestimate the connections of the number one auxiliary martial soul—one could say that the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was the organization with the strongest network on Douluo Continent. Then, as long as the purpose and slogan of the unification war sounded lofty enough—

for example: to ensure that war would never again occur in this world, we must establish a unified nation where everyone could live happily.

That slogan alone could win over most commoners at the bottom.

Rather than shouting things like in the original story, "Ah, I want to rule the world," or "I want to become the master of the world," and pushing everyone to the opposite side.

Just hearing it was enough to disgust people. If they did not fight you, who else would they fight?

"So what exactly is Bibi Dong thinking..."

Lin Bei pondered for a long time, yet still could not understand the logic behind Bibi Dong sending him to form a Marriage Alliance.

With her extreme original mindset of destroying Spirit Hall and destroying the world, she should not have wanted to win over the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Wait...

Lin Bei suddenly thought of a crucial figure within Spirit Hall—

Qiandao Liu.

That old man was a level ninety-nine Peerless Douluo!

Moreover, he had been Spirit Hall's former former Pope. After retiring, he had become the Hall Master of the Elders Hall and the Grand Elder of Spirit Hall.

And judging from the identities of Spirit Hall's Popes over the years, aside from Bibi Dong being an exception, the position of Pope had often been held by members of the Qian Family.

Spirit Hall could be said to be the Qian Family's clan organization.

Qiandao Liu could not possibly allow Bibi Dong to destroy Spirit Hall.

He had certainly noticed just how extreme Bibi Dong's Soul Hunting plan was. It was practically setting itself against the entire soul master world. One wrong step, and Spirit Hall might head toward destruction—

how could he permit such a thing to happen?

In the original story...

Lin Bei carefully recalled the plot concerning Qiandao Liu in the original story.

It was said that Qiandao Liu was a man who clearly distinguished right from wrong and knew that Bibi Dong had killed his son.

Because Qian Jixun's methods had been too despicable, Qiandao Liu had not taken his anger out on Bibi Dong. Instead, he had even supported her in becoming the Pope of Spirit Hall—

solely because he believed Bibi Dong could lead Spirit Hall to greater heights.

However, he had been overly confident in himself—or rather, in Qian Renxue.

When Bibi Dong had already led Spirit Hall to the edge of destruction, he still made no major moves. He merely remained by Qian Renxue's side and used himself as a bridge to help Qian Renxue become a god—

perhaps he believed that as long as Qian Renxue became the Angel God, she could turn the tide, save Spirit Hall, and lead it to another peak.

"So, in the original story, Qiandao Liu had noticed Bibi Dong's intentions. Perhaps he had even said that Spirit Hall could not become everyone's enemy... But at that time, no one could offer Spirit Hall another path.

So Qiandao Liu could only place all his hopes on his granddaughter."

Lin Bei muttered to himself.

But now, he had appeared.

His appearance gave Spirit Hall another possibility.

Bibi Dong could not defy Qiandao Liu now. At the very least, she did not want to completely tear off all pretenses with Qiandao Liu just yet—

so she could only heed Qiandao Liu's suggestion and do her utmost to win over the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

And the condition for her concession was to make him her disciple, so that she could better control the situation?

"Tsk..."

Having more or less untangled the twists and turns behind it all, Lin Bei shook his head in admiration. Neither Bibi Dong nor Qiandao Liu was someone to be taken lightly.

He just wondered what choice the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect would make this time.

With Tang San not yet grown and his reputation still unestablished, they could not possibly refuse Spirit Hall's final olive branch, could they?

If Ning Fengzhi was truly determined to side with the Heaven Dou Empire and reject Spirit Hall's olive branch, then Lin Bei figured that, for the sake of his grand ambition to unify everything, an axe might very well fall upon their heads in the future!

Hmph, he was no saint.

To become an Eternal Emperor, one could not afford to be soft-hearted.

The next day, before dawn had even broken, Lin Bei was awakened by A Fu and a large group of maidservants. By the time he had changed, washed up, and finished grooming himself, more than two hours had passed.

As the eastern sky gradually brightened.

A Fu had already led people in laying a crimson carpet before the residence gates.

The carpet stretched all the way to the foot of the hill beneath Papal Hall.

On either side of the red carpet stood ordinary soul masters from Spirit City who had come to watch the spectacle.

As for the six great sects and the imperial nobles, they had designated places before Papal Hall from which to witness the ceremony.

When the first ray of sunlight fell upon the earth.

Lin Bei, dressed in a golden robe trimmed with silver patterns, his hair meticulously combed and his whole bearing holy and otherworldly, finally stepped out of the residence.

He walked along the red carpet, his expression solemn.

The soul masters surrounding the carpet all watched the youth who was about to become Spirit Hall's Holy Son.

Everyone secretly sighed in their hearts—

What a godlike youth. No wonder His Holiness the Pope wished to confer upon him the title of Holy Son!

Not long after, Lin Bei arrived at the foot of the hill's steps.

Spirit Hall soldiers stood along both sides of the long staircase. Each wore silver armor and held a long horn in hand.

The moment they saw Lin Bei arrive, the soldiers immediately raised their horns. As Lin Bei stepped onto the first stair, the soldiers stationed there promptly sounded their horns.

Woooo—!

The deep, prolonged horn call carried far into the distance, reaching the square before Papal Hall.

After that, every time Lin Bei climbed another ten steps, the soldiers sounded their horns once more.

When the horns had sounded ten times, the disciples of the various sects and the noble imperial families, who had long been waiting eagerly, finally saw Lin Bei ascending the stairs.

Seeing Lin Bei in his ceremonial attire, everyone could not help showing admiration, their hearts filled with emotion—

What an otherworldly youth!

What a wise and valiant Holy Son!