Spirit City,
Several suicide operatives from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, carrying Thunder Hand Cannons, traveled through the starry night and reached the outskirts of Spirit City.
"Stay sharp, all of you. First, we'll head to the secret chamber our sect keeps in Spirit City. Tomorrow, we prepare to act!"
The burly operative leading them spoke in a low voice.
"Yes!"
The operatives nodded in unison.
They would become the fuse that ignited conflict between the Sun Moon Sect and Spirit Hall, offering their own bodies as kindling for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's rise.
Although they were destined never to see that day, they believed Ning Fengzhi would surely bring it about.
Just then,
Ye Yulin descended from the sky with a chuckle.
"What are you preparing to do? Surely you aren't planning to attack the students of Spirit Academy?"
Ye Yulin landed, one hand held behind his back.
"What?! Who are you?!"
The operatives were shocked. Where had this old man come from? How had he suddenly appeared before them?
"I am Ye Yulin, titled Starry Sky, an elder of the Sun Moon Sect. You little flies dare speak of shaking our Sun Moon Sect?!"
"What?! A Titled Douluo?!"
Despair mingled with the operatives' shock.
"How could this happen? How were our movements exposed?"
Ye Yulin scoffed. "Take a guess."
Some operatives were bewildered, but most immediately drew their Thunder Hand Cannons, aimed at Ye Yulin, and fired together!
Bang! Bang! Bang!...
The hand cannons, each capable of killing a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast with one shot, all targeted Ye Yulin. Yet he merely smiled and extended one hand. Two rings flew out and rose into the air.
The Thunder Hand Cannons' combined bombardment was stopped outright by the soul power shielding Ye Yulin's body.
The operatives paled in panic. Exchanging a glance, they immediately scattered in every direction!
Ye Yulin gave a cold laugh.
In the sky, the two rings expanded into a pair of hoops, one gold and one silver, and began spinning rapidly around each other.
As they spun,
The two hoops formed a pair of golden eyes, as though the eyes of the sky had opened!
Sun Moon Divine Needle!
Ye Yulin's personal Soul Tool! It possessed ultra-long-range strike capabilities, massed fire, and even spiritual attacks!
"Running? I'll give you a 2,999-meter head start."
Ye Yulin laughed heartily, and the eyes in the sky above him immediately unleashed a dense barrage of energy beams!
"Aah!"
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's operatives had barely gotten anywhere before their bodies were pierced, one after another.
However, Ye Yulin did not kill them all. The Sun Moon Divine Needle launched a spiritual attack, leaving two alive.
The two operatives had intended to bite through the poison capsules hidden in their rear molars, but the Sun Moon Divine Needle's attack came too quickly. It pierced their cerebellums directly, stripping them of all movement below their heads!
Ye Yulin raised his hand, and several soldiers from the Sun Moon Empire appeared behind him.
"Haul them back. Send one to the Heaven Dou Empire for Li Chen and the others to use as a witness. Keep the other in Spirit City in case Bibi Dong turns hostile."
"Yes!"
The soldiers nodded and immediately got to work.
Ye Yulin put away the hoops and flew back to Spirit City.
Heaven Dou City,
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Castle.
Qian Renxue stood outside the castle gates with her troops, a wicked smile on her handsome face.
Inside the castle,
Ning Fengzhi examined the handwritten decree. Once he confirmed that it was genuinely written by Xue Ye, his brows knitted tightly.
"Fengzhi, why... why would Xue Ye suddenly summon us to the palace in the middle of the night? What could this be about?"
Bone Douluo Gu Rong asked in confusion.
Ning Fengzhi shook his head. "I don't know. The decree doesn't say. Let's go to the palace and see."
"Fengzhi, do you think our plan might have been exposed?"
Gu Rong cautiously transmitted his voice.
"Impossible!" Ning Fengzhi immediately denied it. "The plan won't be put into action until tomorrow. How could it have been exposed? Let's follow Xue Qinghe back and take a look. It must be something else!"
Gu Rong nodded. That was true. Their operatives had secretly planned to begin the attack tomorrow. How could Xue Ye possibly have discovered it?
Ning Fengzhi and Gu Rong left the castle and returned to Heaven Dou City with Xue Qinghe.
And, as ill luck would have it,
Only after Ning Fengzhi and Gu Rong had left,
Did a trusted subordinate of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect stationed in Heaven Dou City come rushing over.
"Sect Master! Sect Master, I have urgent news to report! The Sun Moon Sect's warehouse was burned down, and all of Heaven Dou City is saying we did it!"
The subordinate returned to the castle, only to discover that Ning Fengzhi and Gu Rong had already been taken away by Xue Qinghe.
"This is bad! The Sect Master is in danger! We must hurry and rescue him!"
The subordinate understood at once. They had come in such a rush to take their sect master away in the middle of the night-how could this be a mere summons?
They were clearly preparing to move against the Sect Master!
The subordinate immediately gathered the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's forces and rushed toward Heaven Dou City like wind and fire.
Heaven Dou City,
The great hall of the Imperial Palace.
When Ning Fengzhi and Gu Rong arrived, Xue Ye went straight to the point. "Sect Master Ning, were you responsible for the burning of the Sun Moon Sect's warehouse?!"
"What? Your Majesty, what do you mean?"
Sect Master Ning frowned, his gaze sweeping toward Li Chen at the side.
The moment he entered the hall, he had wondered why this young fellow from the Sun Moon Sect was here as well.
Now that Xue Ye had asked this question, Ning Fengzhi was even more baffled.
What was this about the Sun Moon Sect's warehouse being burned down?
He had never given such an order. He had sent his operatives to deal with the people in Spirit City!
"You're lying!"
Li Chen stepped forward and pointed at Ning Fengzhi. "Tonight, thirty thousand Soul Guidance Milk Bottles were destroyed in the fire at our Sun Moon Sect's warehouse. In all of Heaven Dou City, who besides the Bone Douluo standing beside you could have broken through our defenses and succeeded?!"
"Besides, the appearance of the Soul Guidance Milk Bottles threatened your Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's standing!"
Bone Douluo opened his mouth in bewilderment and pointed at himself. "Huh? I did it? When did I burn down your warehouse? How come I don't know about it?"
Ning Fengzhi's expression turned utterly grim.
"What fine acting!"
Li Chen sneered. "Bone Douluo truly is a veteran performer!"
Bone Douluo's mouth twitched, and veins bulged on his forehead.
"Brat, don't spit blood and slander me in the middle of the night. I, Bone Douluo, would never stoop to playing dirty behind someone's back!"
Xue Ye scrutinized Bone Douluo, but could find no flaw in his expression.
At that moment, Li Chen changed tack. "Fine. Then tell me, Bone Douluo, where were you this evening?!"
"I..."
Bone Douluo thought back, then suddenly hesitated.
That evening, he had been conspiring with Ning Fengzhi to send suicide operatives to launch a surprise attack on Spirit City.
Ning Fengzhi spoke up. "This evening, Uncle Gu was playing chess with me at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Castle. Li Chen, I understand your Sun Moon Sect's anguish, but this truly was not our sect's doing."
Ning Fengzhi turned to Xue Ye. "Your Majesty, I also recommend a thorough investigation into the burning of the Sun Moon Sect's warehouse. Why don't we go there now and see exactly what happened?"
Xue Ye began to hesitate.
Judging by Ning Fengzhi's and Bone Douluo's reactions, they truly did not seem to have done it.
Just then,
Outside the great hall,
Huo Yuhao walked in carrying a man.
Elder Ye in Spirit City had sent someone racing back with a Flying Soul Tool, delivering one of the suicide operatives directly to them.
"Ning Fengzhi, you want evidence? I have it right here!"
Huo Yuhao entered the hall and flung the completely paralyzed man in his hand onto the floor.
The instant Ning Fengzhi and Gu Rong recognized the man's face, their pupils contracted.
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