The three fell silent again.
The same question filled their minds.
What kind of force could raise such a monster?
The Heaven Dou Empire's imperial family? Unlikely. Spirit Hall? They had never heard of anyone like him. The Clear Sky Sect had long since gone into seclusion. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan was even less likely; their path did not align with this at all.
They could not make sense of it.
Ning Fengzhi was the first to emerge from his thoughts.
"Is there more?"
The young Soul Master looked up.
"Yes."
His voice began to tremble again.
"After the young miss was won over by those displayed soul skills, she agreed to continue being that person's disciple. Then, that person helped the young miss deduce a method for evolving the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda into the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda."
Three gazes focused on him once more.
The young Soul Master's throat tightened.
"That person's conclusion was to find an Immortal Herb."
He forced the name from his mouth.
"Aromatic Silk Beauty."
He paused.
"He said that consuming it could directly improve one's aptitude and evolve the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda into the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda."
He had finished.
This time, the silence that descended upon the hall lasted longer than any before it.
Ten seconds. Twenty seconds.
No one spoke.
Ning Fengzhi slowly raised a hand.
"You may leave."
The young Soul Master felt as if he had been granted amnesty. He bowed and withdrew from the hall. The heavy doors closed behind him with a dull thud.
Only three people remained in the hall.
"Aromatic Silk Beauty." Ning Fengzhi repeated the four words. "Have either of you heard of it?"
Gu Rong shook his head.
Chen Xin shook his head as well.
"Absurd." Gu Rong was the first to state his position. He folded his two long, skeletal arms, his gaunt face filled with disdain. "What Immortal Herb can evolve a Martial Soul? Someone is trying to set us up. I've lived for over ninety years. Forget seeing such a thing—I've never even heard of it."
"Neither have I." Chen Xin rarely agreed with Gu Rong, but this time he did. His silver hair swayed faintly, his tone certain. "No text has ever recorded an external object being able to fundamentally transform a Martial Soul. If such a thing existed, it would have spread throughout the continent long ago."
Ning Fengzhi did not respond immediately.
His fingers tapped the armrest three times, slowly.
"Aromatic Silk Beauty." He repeated it. "Those four words don't sound like a name someone made up on the spot."
Gu Rong frowned. "You believe it?"
"I didn't say I believe it." Ning Fengzhi narrowed his eyes slightly, a glint flashing through them in the candlelight. "I said it doesn't sound fabricated. When ordinary people make up lies, they either speak vaguely and avoid giving a specific name, or use some known treasure to bluff others. He gave a name no one had ever heard of, one that was extremely specific."
He tilted his head.
"Scammers usually don't do that, because specific things are the easiest to verify."
Chen Xin's eyes narrowed slightly.
Ning Fengzhi continued, "I'll search through the ancient texts later. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's library contains quite a few surviving fragments from ancient times. Perhaps we can find some clues."
Then his tone shifted.
"But that is not the most pressing matter."
His gaze swept over Chen Xin and Gu Rong.
"The most urgent issue is how to deal with Rongrong's newly acquired master."
Gu Rong snorted coldly. "What is there to deal with? Go seize him directly and ask which force sent him. If he refuses to talk, beat him until he does."
"You old bones are too rash," Chen Xin said mildly.
"Who are you calling rash?" Gu Rong glared at him.
Chen Xin ignored him and looked at Ning Fengzhi. "What do you mean, Fengzhi?"
Ning Fengzhi's fingers stopped.
"That young man's origins are unknown, but his abilities have already been proven to be formidable. He approached Rongrong of his own accord, and his intentions are unclear."
His voice lowered.
"But one thing is certain. No matter where he came from, Rongrong now has a master-disciple relationship with him. If some great force truly stands behind him, acting rashly may alert them instead."
"So we just watch?" Gu Rong's voice rose again.
"Of course not." Ning Fengzhi tapped the armrest one final time. "We need to move quickly. Before he has time to react, we must meet him face-to-face and uncover his background."
He turned to Gu Rong.
"Uncle Bone, you go."
A cryptic smile appeared on Gu Rong's withered face.
"Leave for Suotuo City tonight." Ning Fengzhi's voice carried no emotion. "Meet that young man in person. Probe if you can; see through him if you can. If you discover any demons and monsters behind him, eliminate them directly."
He paused.
"Rongrong's safety comes first."
Gu Rong stretched. His two-and-a-half-meter frame unfurled, his joints cracking in a rapid series of pops.
"You should've said so earlier."
He tilted his head and rolled his neck, a nearly bloodthirsty excitement appearing on his gaunt face.
"Just so happens, this old man's hands have been itching for a while."
"Don't hurt Rongrong," Chen Xin added with his eyes closed.
"Obviously." Gu Rong rolled his eyes at him and turned toward the hall doors.
That impossibly skeletal body took its first step.
His foot had yet to land.
"Uncle Bone." Ning Fengzhi's voice came from behind him.
Gu Rong paused briefly. He turned his head, revealing only half of his gaunt profile.
Ning Fengzhi stood before the sect master's seat. Candlelight shone from behind him, leaving his face at the boundary between warm light and shadow. His eyes were so calm that their depths could not be seen.
"What if that young man was telling the truth?"
Gu Rong froze for a moment.
"Then we need to get to the bottom of him even more."
He grinned. That smile would likely frighten any young person into fainting on the spot.
"Someone who can turn the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda into the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda is either our friend."
He pushed open the hall doors.
The night wind rushed into the hall, making the curtains whip and flap.
Gu Rong's two-and-a-half-meter figure stood in the doorway with his back to the candlelight. His voice scattered slightly in the wind.
"Or he shouldn't be allowed to live."
The doors closed behind him.
Only Ning Fengzhi and Chen Xin remained in the hall.
Chen Xin kept his eyes closed, a faint curve at the corner of his lips.
"Fengzhi."
"Yes?"
"Do you believe the matter of that Immortal Herb?"
Ning Fengzhi did not answer. He returned to the sect master's seat and sat down, leaning back into it. His hands folded before him, his fingers slowly tapping the armrests.
The candlelight fell across his face, making the deep-set thoughts in his eyes all the clearer.
"Uncle Sword, let me ask you something."
Chen Xin raised an eyelid.
"If it were you, and you wanted to trick a twelve-year-old girl into taking you as her master, what method would you use?"
Chen Xin said nothing.
"Showing her a few flashy soul skills would be enough," Ning Fengzhi answered himself. "I know Rongrong's temperament best. As long as something is novel enough and powerful enough, she'll take the bait. There would be no need to bring up turning Seven Treasures into Nine Treasures."
Ning Fengzhi paused, his gaze sharpening.
"That young man had already won Rongrong over through his display of soul skills. Yet afterward, he still took the initiative to help Rongrong deduce a method for evolving the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda."
Ning Fengzhi tapped the armrest with his index finger.
"An unnecessary move. Unless he truly knew."
Chen Xin's silver brows twitched.
"He may have been trying to bait you."
"That is possible." Ning Fengzhi admitted it readily. "But if he was truly trying to bait me, then what he offered could not be fake. Bait that is too false will not catch fish."
The hall fell silent again.
The candle flames flickered twice.
Chen Xin suddenly laughed softly.
It was a brief laugh, like the sound of thin ice cracking.
"Interesting."
He stood. His snow-white robes fell straight, and his silver hair swayed gently.
"Whether it is true or false, once that old bag of bones makes the trip, we'll have an answer tomorrow."
He walked toward the hall doors. As he passed Ning Fengzhi's side, he paused briefly.
"Don't worry. Rongrong will be fine."
Ning Fengzhi looked up at Chen Xin's profile. Candlelight left that baby-smooth face half-lit and half-shadowed.
"Uncle Sword."
Chen Xin tilted his head.
"What if Uncle Bone finds that young man is not an enemy?"
Chen Xin did not turn around.
"Then we'll see whether he is worthy of being Rongrong's master."
His figure disappeared beyond the hall doors.
Ning Fengzhi was left alone in the great hall.
He leaned against the back of his chair, his gaze passing through the empty hall and landing on the painting hanging on the opposite wall. It depicted a seven-tiered glazed tile pagoda, radiant and glittering, but its summit was blank.
That painting had hung there for a thousand years.
Every generation of sect masters had looked at it and thought of the same thing.
Ning Fengzhi tapped the armrest one final time.
"Aromatic Silk Beauty."
He spoke the four words for the third time, so softly that only he could hear them.
Then he rose and headed toward the library behind the sect master's hall.
His footsteps echoed through the empty hall for a long time before fading away.
Meanwhile, a thousand miles away in Suotuo City.
Inside the bedroom of a large three-courtyard residence.
Yang Xing turned over amid sixteen maids. The golden credit card beneath his pillow jabbed the back of his head.
Half-asleep, he pulled the card out and moved it elsewhere, mumbling something incoherent.
Then he continued sleeping.
Completely unaware that, at this very moment, a withered, skeletal figure standing two and a half meters tall was racing through the night toward Suotuo City at the speed of a Title Douluo.
When Ning Rongrong arrived at Shrek Academy, the registration line was already extremely long.
She truly had not expected this so-called academy to be nothing more than a village. A battered wooden fence enclosed several crooked wooden houses. If not for the old man sitting at a table by the entrance, she would have thought she had come to the wrong place.
However, Ning Rongrong did not remain disdainful for long.
During the journey after leaving Yang Xing's shabby house, she had spent the entire way using Wind Empress Qimen to explore altering the friction beneath her feet and the air resistance around her. It was as though she were gliding across the ground on an invisible track, nearly twice as fast as an ordinary carriage.
Though she was still clumsy with it and the consumption was considerable, the feeling of controlling the changes of all things was simply exhilarating.
While standing in line, Ning Rongrong watched a boy's father demand his money back because the ten Gold Soul Coin registration fee was too expensive. Then a tall blond young man with evil eyes released three Soul Rings and frightened the man into fleeing in terror.
She curled her lips.
Such a shabby academy, yet it still gouges people for money.
But what happened next did pique her interest. The old man handling registration was actually a Soul Emperor above level sixty, and the admission requirements he announced were absurdly harsh: under thirteen years old, with Soul Power above level twenty-one.
They only accepted monsters, not ordinary people.
Ning Rongrong's eyes lit up.
Interesting.
When it was her turn, the old man squeezed her hand and let out a soft sound of surprise the instant he sensed the fluctuation of her Soul Power. She then released the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, and two hundred-year Soul Rings rose around her. A rare expression of surprise appeared on the old man's face.
"May I ask if I have passed the preliminary test?"
Ning Rongrong smiled gently and appropriately.
The perfect refined-lady persona, actively maintained.
Everything afterward went smoothly. The blond youth named Dai Mubai led her into the academy. Along the way, she encountered three other examinees who had likewise passed the second and third tests without taking them.
A black-haired boy named Tang San, with the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, level twenty-nine.
A girl named Xiao Wu, with a rabbit Martial Soul, also level twenty-nine.
And Zhu Zhuqing, a young woman who radiated an icy aura all over, with the Hell Spirit Cat Martial Soul, level twenty-seven.
Four monsters gathered at the fourth test.
"Teacher Zhao, I've brought people for the fourth test."
Before you continue