"Qiankun Asking Love Valley? Something connected to gods?"
Qian Renxue asked in surprise, while inwardly thinking that there was actually a place in this world where divine inheritances remained.
"Yes, a place said to be impossible to enter or leave. The last people to go in were a group from Shrek Academy ten thousand years ago." Yin Hongye smiled faintly and said to Mu Hongchen, "By the way, Hong Chen, where's that history book you swiped when we went to the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Sect?"
Mu Hongchen thought for a moment, then dug out the history book that had been propping up a table leg from among his piles of soul-tool research materials.
He casually grabbed the book and tossed it toward Qian Renxue.
Beyond the Heavenly Screen, Ning Fengzhi watched the two show absolutely no reverence for his sect, and his face burned with humiliation.
These people truly did not take his sect seriously at all.
In truth, anyone with Three-Word Battle Armor could go up and stomp on them a few times. Of course, ordinary Three-Word Battle Armor masters still had some shame.
Unfortunately, the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Sect had run into people who had no shame at all.
He suppressed the fury in his heart and looked at the report. Everything was actually normal...
Yet he still felt uneasy.
It couldn't be the other possibility he had considered, could it...
Ning Fengzhi's expression grew colder and colder, hoping to learn something from today's discussion about the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Sect.
"Fengzhi, what should we do now?" Sword Douluo asked.
"Wait for now." Ning Fengzhi raised a hand, stopping Sword Douluo from killing Oscar. "Let's finish watching first."
Qian Renxue opened the aged history book. Her gaze fell upon the first page, and she unconsciously read it aloud.
"After the victory in the Battle of Jialing Pass, Sea God Tang San, for the sake of peace across the continent, collected all hidden weapons throughout the continent into the Tang Sect. This included... the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect."
She paused and turned to the second page.
"Ning Rongrong obtained the inheritance of the Nine-Colored Goddess and successfully ascended to godhood. From then on, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was renamed the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Sect."
Beyond the Heavenly Screen, the disciples of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect instantly erupted into an uproar upon hearing this.
"Miss Rongrong became a god!"
"The Nine-Colored Goddess! Our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect has a deity too!"
The surviving disciples of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Sect, who had endured disaster, were filled with excitement and pride. Some had already begun imagining the sect's future.
Only Ning Fengzhi remained seated in the seat of honor, his expression utterly unmoved.
It was not that he was not proud of his daughter becoming a god. Of course he was proud. That was his daughter, the Rongrong he had raised like a treasure in his palm since childhood.
Yet his fingers unconsciously clenched around the armrest.
He had bought those hidden weapons with real money. The Godly Zhuge Crossbow, Sleeve Arrow, Shadow-Projecting Sand—he had paid the Tang Sect's stated price for every one of them, without shorting them a single coin. He had even supplied all the materials.
The Battle of Jialing Pass had been won, and then the Tang Sect turned around and collected all hidden weapons across the continent, including those his Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had purchased.
What was this supposed to mean? Once the war was over, allies became outsiders?
The smile on Ning Fengzhi's face froze perfectly in place.
Was it really for the peace of the continent?!
Qian Renxue continued reading. "After Ning Rongrong inherited the Divine Position of the Nine-Colored Goddess, she ascended to the God Realm with Sea God Tang San in the same year. Three years after Tang San's ascension, the Tang Sect resumed its hidden-weapon trade, selling hidden weapons to sects across the continent at prices thirty percent higher than before the war."
After she finished reading that passage, the room fell silent for several seconds.
Yin Hongye leaned against the window and let out a soft click of his tongue.
"Why are you looking at that? Shouldn't you be reading information about Qiankun Asking Love Valley?"
"There's no rush. The more we know, the better."
Beyond the Heavenly Screen, Ning Fengzhi sat motionlessly in the seat of honor.
His expression was inscrutable, caught somewhere between a smile and not one.
"Fengzhi, are you all right?"
"Uncle Sword, I'm fine."
Ning Fengzhi adjusted his monocle, a cold sneer continuously tugging at his lips.
Before Tang San ascended, he had claimed he was confiscating every hidden weapon for the peace of the continent. But the moment the hero ascended, the Tang Sect began selling hidden weapons again. And they had raised the price by thirty percent.
Ning Fengzhi lifted his teacup, but his grip was so tight that his knuckles turned white.
He felt like a joke.
And in the eyes of the continent's other factions, he truly was a joke. A fool who had been harvested twice by his so-called ally and still smiled along with it.
Ning Fengzhi's dissatisfaction with Tang San was no longer merely a little.
He felt that he had backed the wrong horse and misjudged the man.
On the other side of Heaven Dou City, Tang San's expression remained unchanged, and his tone carried an unquestionable calmness.
"I gathered the hidden weapons of the world for the peace of the continent. If those things remained in circulation, they would only cause more slaughter."
"As for what the Tang Sect did afterward, they must have failed to heed my divine decree. I entrusted the matter to the wrong people. That was my oversight."
He spoke openly, as though none of it had anything to do with him.
In Spirit City, Bibi Dong sat high above as she listened to those words, a faint curve appearing at the corner of her lips.
That was right. She was mocking Ning Fengzhi. He had made the wrong choice, and this was the price he deserved.
Qian Daoliu stood within the Worship Hall with his hands behind his back. His expression was far more complicated, eventually turning into an ambiguous low snort.
He said nothing, but that snort alone contained countless unspoken words.
Yue Guan and Gui Mei stood at Bibi Dong's side. The two exchanged glances, and their mouths twitched at the same time.
They had received professional training. Under normal circumstances, they would not laugh—unless they truly could not hold it in.
Within the Heavenly Screen, Qian Renxue quickly flipped through the history book, her gaze narrowing slightly.
At last, she found the history from ten thousand years ago.
She finally understood what Qiankun Asking Love Valley was.
Several lines were clearly written in the book—
The foremost of the three great treasure basins of the mortal world: Qiankun Asking Love Valley. Legend said that the Love God had been betrayed by her lover, perished in grief, and fallen into the mortal world, transforming into this valley. Within the valley, heaven and earth were inverted, and the Sun Moon became a lake.
The Love God hated those who betrayed love to the bone. Should a faithless person fall into the Sun-Moon Lake, they would provoke her wrath and trigger the Heaven-Earth Trial of Love.
Only those who truly loved each other could walk out of this place alive and perhaps even obtain fortuitous opportunities. All who lied and deceived would face severe punishment.
After Qian Renxue finished reading, she raised her head, one brow lifting slightly.
"This place is the legendary inheritance ground of the Love God?"
Mu Hongchen leaned against the sofa's armrest. "Tch, that's hard to say."
"Only a group from Shrek Academy ten thousand years ago ever came out of that place. It really is strange." Yin Hongye had never entered it, but he felt that if he did, it would be about the same as Xuan Zi going in.
Qian Renxue was stunned for a moment, then read another line aloud. "The Sun Moon becomes a lake, heaven and earth question love; brave true hearts, and ultimate love is invincible."
"Speak the truth and act with sincere feelings, and only then can one pass."
Mu Hongchen gave a disdainful smile upon hearing about the test. "This Love God really knew how to play. What if someone doesn't have a lover?"
"No one they love?" Yin Hongye sneered. "Then they probably aren't qualified to take the test."
Qian Renxue's gaze shifted to the next page, and her expression changed slightly.
Beyond the Heavenly Screen, in the deepest part of the Star Dou Forest.
Di Tian stood beside the Lake of Life, his golden eyes fixed on the sky. He had no interest in the tangled loves and hatreds of humans, but since it was a place left behind by the Love God, he still needed to learn about it.
He did not yet know that his current calm would soon shatter into pieces. Nor did he know that the Emperor Beast he cherished as his very life would sacrifice herself for a human in that ridiculous valley.
Before you continue