"Sect Master Ning, you know our Heaven Dou Empire has no inherited soul bones. How about letting me have this torso bone?"
Emperor Xue Ye rested his right hand on Ning Fengzhi's shoulder, looking as though they were the best of brothers.
Ning Fengzhi brushed Emperor Xue Ye's arm aside, unmoved.
"Emperor Xue Ye, Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo both sorely need soul bones. In light of all the years our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect has worked so diligently for the Heaven Dou Empire, how about letting our sect have the skull bone and torso bone?"
True to his deeply calculating nature, Ning Fengzhi brought the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect into it the moment he opened his mouth.
A sect could do without relying on an empire, but an empire could not do without relying on sects.
Emperor Xue Ye was momentarily at a loss for words. He neither wanted to sour relations with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect nor could bear to part with those two soul bones.
"How about this? Why not let your daughter Ning Rongrong marry my son Xue Qinghe?"
Hearing that Xue Ye actually had designs on his daughter, Ning Fengzhi immediately bristled.
"Give it some serious thought, Sect Master Ning. Qinghe is my only son now. Although I've recovered my health, the throne will still pass to Xue Qinghe in a few years..."
Ning Fengzhi waved his hand, signaling Emperor Xue Ye to say no more.
How could an old fox like him possibly marry his daughter, the future heir to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, to someone from the Heaven Dou Imperial Family?
Wouldn't that bind the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect irrevocably to the Heaven Dou Empire?
What if Ning Rongrong turned out to be an ungrateful wolf and ignored the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect? That was not even the worst possibility. The worst would be if Ning Rongrong used the sect's resources to sew a wedding dress for the Heaven Dou Imperial Family. Then their Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect would have reached the end of its road.
However reluctant Emperor Xue Ye was, there was nothing he could do.
"Then I can only bear the pain of parting with my treasures and let Sect Master Ning have the skull bone and torso bone."
After all, the soul bones would only make the empire look better in his hands. Their swan martial soul had little combat power.
But in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's hands, they would effectively strengthen the empire's two greatest fighting forces.
Su Ling watched the two of them, rather speechless.
Where are your manners? Do you even see me, the main character, here? I haven't said anything, so how have you already divided up the soul bones yourselves?
Noticing the change in Su Ling's expression, the two finally remembered that the soul bones still belonged to Su Ling. They had not paid yet.
"Hee-hee."
Emperor Xue Ye did his best to squeeze out what he considered a very kindly smile.
But he was an iron-blooded emperor who had competed with eight other princes for succession as a child and waged war in all directions as an adult. How could he manage a kindly smile?
To Su Ling and Ning Fengzhi, it looked no different from a grotesque grimace. Snow Ji, who had been looking around and slacking off, noticed the sudden silence and turned toward them.
"Huh? You dare bare your teeth!"
Snow Ji sent Emperor Xue Ye flying with a kick. He rolled across the ground several times before stopping.
But Emperor Xue Ye said nothing. He sprang to his feet with a kip-up, then eagerly trotted back over.
Although he had no idea why he had been kicked, he did not dare ask.
"This left arm bone is roughly over twenty thousand years old. Our Heaven Dou Empire offers five million gold soul coins and a Storage Soul Tool!"
"Deal!"
Su Ling did not have a Storage Soul Tool yet, which did make roaming the world somewhat inconvenient.
"As for this right leg bone!"
Emperor Xue Ye paused. Just as Su Ling thought he was about to bring out the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud-
"I offer one Xue Ke!"
At Emperor Xue Ye's words, both Su Ling and Ning Fengzhi looked utterly dumbfounded.
Ning Fengzhi in particular wore the expression of someone whose daughter had found a support-type Soul Master to marry.
That's far too underhanded! This is supposed to be fair competition. How can you play your own daughter as a card?
"Uh..."
Su Ling really found it hard to object to that. After all, a twenty-thousand-year soul bone meant little to him, and obtaining the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud now would be useless.
But Xue Ke held considerable weight in Emperor Xue Ye's heart. In most cases, only one prince would survive, so he had not invested too much affection in any of them.
A princess was different, however. Moreover, the Heaven Dou Empire had only one princess, which had led him to pour a great deal of his fatherly love into Xue Ke.
"And as long as you're willing, once Qinghe succeeds to the throne, you'll be the Peerless Prince!"
Emperor Xue Ye had calculated this beautifully. Recruiting Su Ling was equivalent to recruiting Snow Ji. Then the Heaven Dou Empire would no longer need to rely on other sects.
Moreover, regardless of Xue Ke's place in Su Ling's heart, as long as they left offspring, those children would certainly become top-tier powerhouses. At worst, he could pass the throne to Xue Ke's descendants.
Although the inherited martial soul would change, that would also resolve the imperial family's weak combat power, a problem that had persisted for a thousand years.
Even he had long since grown sick of his own swan martial soul. If it had any use, it was only for putting on appearances.
Things like, "My martial soul is prettier than yours!" In actual combat, its power was roughly equivalent to nothing.
"Emperor Xue Ye, isn't that a little underhanded?"
He too wanted to recruit a genius like Su Ling, especially since he also had a Titled Douluo of at least level 96 by his side.
As for why he thought Snow Ji was level 96, it was because he had seen Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo fight, and neither could compare to Snow Ji.
As for anyone stronger, such as level 98 or level 99, he had never even seen one, much less dared to imagine it.
"Ah, you're mistaken, Sect Master Ning. Young friend Su Ling is such a youthful hero. Naturally, if you want to win him over, you must be willing to cut off some flesh."
"Take them, take them."
Su Ling could not be bothered to waste more words with Xue Ye. In any case, Xue Qinghe was Qian Renxue in disguise, and although Emperor Xue Ye had recovered his health, he was already old and faded.
Setting aside whether he could still have more children, even if he did, they would most likely be the sort born knowing how to dance the money-grabbing dance.
By latching onto Xue Ke, he might even be able to pocket the Heaven Dou Empire along the way.
"Look at how filial my fine son-in-law is."
Emperor Xue Ye beamed with delight and cheerfully put the two soul bones into his Space Soul Tool.
He planned to secretly give them to Xue Qinghe to absorb later. He himself had no need for them. He was nearly at the age to enjoy his remaining years, and in another decade or so, it would be time to pass on the throne.
"I imagine that to a young hero like yourself, gold soul coins are merely a number."
The price of the two soul bones Emperor Xue Ye wanted had already been settled. Next came Ning Fengzhi's turn.
"That's right. The same goes for these two soul bones. To me, they're no different from gold soul coins."
In Su Ling's recollection, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect really did not have anything good. Otherwise, Sword Douluo would not have lacked even a single soul bone. They were a classic case of being so poor that all they had left was money.
Su Ling's words left Ning Fengzhi rather embarrassed. Why did it sound as though he wanted them for free?
"This is a no-limit Black Card specially issued by our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect!"
Ning Fengzhi took out an obsidian card and handed it to Su Ling.
Before you continue