The Ice Empress and the Snow Empress exchanged a glance.
"You certainly have people's hearts figured out."
The Ice Empress snorted.
"But what if Nan Shuishui is stubborn enough to die rather than yield?"
"That's why she needs us even more."
Zhang Lan stood, walked to the window, and pushed it open a crack.
Outside, the sky had gone completely dark. Flames could faintly be seen soaring into the sky over the northern district, accompanied by cries of battle.
"The Heavenly Dragon Sect has made another move."
Zhang Lan narrowed his eyes.
"They're even more impatient than we expected."
He turned to look at the Ice Empress and the Snow Empress.
"I'm going to the Earth Dragon Sect tonight."
"Lady Snow Empress, come with me for now."
"Sister Ice Empress, cover us."
The Ice Empress stretched, her long emerald hair gleaming faintly in the moonlight.
"All right. We're here already, anyway."
"But Little Lan, you'd better make it quick."
"I don't have much patience."
The Snow Empress said nothing, merely inclining her head.
Her white figure silently melted into the darkness outside the window, like a snowflake drifting to the earth without leaving a trace.
"You don't need to call me 'Lady.'"
"Just call me Sister Xue'er, the way you do Bing'er."
"All right, Sister Xue'er."
Dragon City's night wind carried the northern chill down his collar, while the distant flames in the northern district flickered in his eyes.
He tightened his grip on the Star of Eden, tapped the staff's tip lightly against the ground, and swept into the night like a shadow, speeding toward the Earth Dragon Sect.
Behind him, the Ice Empress and the Snow Empress followed silently on either side, inseparable as his own shadow.
The streets of the northern district were far more dilapidated than those in the south. The houses were low, the alleys narrow, and blackened scorch marks stained the walls-the traces left by clashes of soul power. Occasionally, a Soul Master on night patrol swept across the rooftops. Zhang Lan lowered himself a breath beforehand and slipped along the foot of the wall, leaving them entirely unaware.
The farther north he went, the stronger the fluctuations of soul power in the air became.
A faint rouge-colored glow hovered deep within the alleys, marking the perimeter set up by the Earth Dragon Sect's disciples.
Zhang Lan slowed, motioned for the two women behind him to conceal their auras, then strode openly onto the main street leading to the Earth Dragon Sect's gates.
The sect gates stood in the deepest part of the northern district, built against the mountainside.
Two vermilion-painted doors stood tightly shut, each carved with a coiling dragon. Their bodies were rouge-colored and their eyes gleamed, clearly forming some kind of defensive soul-guidance array.
Four disciples stood on the stone steps before the gates with their martial souls ready, two men and two women. All were young, and their faces bore exhaustion they could not hide.
Soul power radiated faintly around them, with rouge-colored, dragon-shaped currents winding at their sides. It was a sign that they were keeping their martial souls partially released at all times, allowing them to react immediately while conserving soul power.
"Who goes there?"
The male disciple at their head spoke first, stepping forward as rouge-colored soul power surged between his palms and condensed into the translucent phantom of a dragon claw.
Zhang Lan stopped below the stone steps and cupped his hands.
"Please inform Sect Master Nan that I heard the Earth Dragon Sect was in trouble and came to help."
"Came to help?"
The disciple frowned and looked Zhang Lan up and down. A boy of seven or eight, arriving alone at the Earth Dragon Sect's gates late at night and saying something like that-he looked suspicious no matter how one considered it.
But the two women beside him... The male disciple's gaze passed over Zhang Lan and landed on the Ice Empress and the Snow Empress, and his heart gave an inexplicable jolt.
The woman with long emerald hair stood in the shadows, her crystalline yellow eyes idly surveying their surroundings as though examining something amusing.
The other woman, dressed in white, seemed to have merged entirely with the night. Unless he deliberately looked for her, he would almost overlook her presence.
"Wait a moment."
Not daring to decide on his own, the male disciple turned, knocked on the gate, and exchanged a few quiet words with someone inside.
Before long, the gate opened a crack from within. A middle-aged woman strode out, swept a sharp gaze over Zhang Lan and his companions, then stepped aside to let them through.
"The sect master invites you in. Follow me."
Zhang Lan nodded and stepped over the threshold. As he passed the four disciples, he noticed that the youngest girl's fingers were trembling slightly. She clutched the hem of her clothes, her knuckles white.
She had not attacked, but the composure she struggled to maintain made Zhang Lan give her another look.
Inside, the Earth Dragon Sect showed even more signs of exhaustion than it had outside. Disciples sat meditating through the night on the training grounds to recover their soul power, every face pale.
Makeshift straw beds lined the foot of the walls, with injured disciples lying on them while several older female disciples changed their dressings one by one.
The smell of herbs mingled with blood in the air. It was not overpowering, but it was enough to tell Zhang Lan that the Earth Dragon Sect had shed plenty of blood these past few days.
The middle-aged woman remained silent throughout, leading the three of them through two courtyards before finally stopping in front of an austere meeting hall.
The doors were half closed, with warm yellow lamplight spilling through the gap.
"The sect master is waiting for you inside."
Having spoken, the middle-aged woman stepped aside, showing no intention of entering.
Zhang Lan pushed the door open and went in.
The meeting hall was small and simply furnished. Directly opposite the entrance was a wall of portraits depicting both men and women. Names and years were inscribed beneath each portrait; these were the Earth Dragon Sect's successive sect masters.
Three sticks of incense burned on the long altar before the portraits, their smoke curling upward.
Nan Shuishui stood before the altar.
Her back was to the door. She was tall and slender, wearing a water-blue dress that fell to her ankles. A plain wooden hairpin held up her long hair, with a few loose strands falling beside her neck.
Her hands were clasped behind her back, and rouge-colored points of soul power slowly flickered at her fingertips, gathering and scattering like fireflies.
The points of light had not condensed into any shape, but Zhang Lan could sense that this was a combat stance from which she could manifest her martial soul at any moment.
"Sect Master Nan, I'll dispense with the pleasantries."
"The Heavenly Dragon Sect has two Douluos, while the Earth Dragon Sect has only you, a Soul Douluo."
"In a head-on fight, you won't survive their next attack."
"I have a way to help you break out of this deadlock, but I need something in return."
The corners of Nan Shuishui's mouth shifted into something that was not quite a smile.
"A child like you can help me break this deadlock?"
Behind Zhang Lan, the Ice Empress gave a soft snort.
The sound was quiet, but a wave of pressure at the Titled Douluo level flashed through the hall like a surging tide. All three incense sticks on the long altar went out at once, the portraits trembled slightly, and cups rattled against the tabletop.
Nan Shuishui's expression changed sharply. She retreated half a step as rouge-colored soul power erupted around her, forming half the body of a spectral dragon behind her. Its head hung low, watching the Ice Empress warily.
"Don't be nervous."
Zhang Lan raised a hand and pressed it against the Ice Empress's arm. Her pressure ebbed like a retreating tide, so quickly that everything that had just happened might have been an illusion.
"I told you, I'm here to discuss cooperation."
Nan Shuishui steadied herself, and the spectral dragon slowly dispersed. She stared at the Ice Empress for several breaths before looking back at Zhang Lan, her gaze even more searching than before.
A boy who looked seven years old, accompanied by an expert who was at least a Titled Douluo.
And the woman in white had neither acted nor spoken from beginning to end. She merely stood there, like a snowflake that might fall at any moment.
"Greetings, Your Eminences. Nan Shuishui of the Earth Dragon Sect pays her respects to you all."
"It is an immense honor for the Earth Dragon Sect that Your Eminences would come to help."
Nan Shuishui hastily straightened and cupped her hands in salute to the Ice Empress and the Snow Empress.
"As long as the Earth Dragon Sect can survive this crisis, we will honor you as our supreme elders."
"We can even offer the Earth Dragon Sect to you with both hands."
After this disaster had befallen the Earth Dragon Sect, Nan Shuishui knew she was powerless.
She had once believed that, as long as she worked hard to develop it, the Earth Dragon Sect could secure a foothold on the Douluo Continent.
Reality had proven her far too naive.
A sect without a Titled Douluo could not even secure a foothold on the continent.
If they could serve under those two Titled Douluos, the Earth Dragon Sect could use this chance to turn its fortunes around.
It could become one of the foremost sects on the continent.
Before you continue