At that evening's banquet, Lu Yi met Ning Tian's mother, whom he had missed on his last visit. She was the current sect master's wife.
Madam Ning was just as striking. Ning Tian had clearly inherited her golden hair from her.
But she was somewhat different from what Lu Yi had imagined. Compared with Sect Master Ning, Madam Ning was far more free-spirited, nothing like his idea of a great clan's matriarch. That was because she was a Battle Soul Master herself.
She had not reached Titled Douluo, only Soul Saint. But she was still young, barely forty, and reaching Soul Douluo should not be difficult for her.
As Lu Yi understood it, the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect had always followed a tradition: direct descendants who inherited the sect's Martial Soul had to find a Battle Soul Master talented and powerful enough to be their partner and protector.
In truth, though, the rule had been established mainly with the future of its female disciples in mind.
After all, because of innate physical differences, male disciples—especially the gifted ones—could take multiple wives to carry on the family line. The requirements for their partners' talent had to be relaxed considerably.
Powerful people usually had trouble having children, and the offspring of more gifted partners generally could not awaken the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul. Ten thousand years had borne that out.
Thus, Ning Zheng, the former sect master's youngest son, was one of only two people to awaken the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul, and his talent far surpassed his elder brother's.
As for protectors, they were almost always senior powerhouses of the sect.
Elder Wu, the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect's current chief elder, had been a close friend of Ning Zheng's father, the previous sect