The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
Dugu Bo came calling.
Ning Fengzhi did not slight him.
Sword Douluo Chen Xin.
Bone Douluo Gu Rong.
Both Titled Douluo were present.
As soon as the three sat down, Ning Fengzhi came straight to the point.
"Your Excellency Dugu, you've come in person today."
"What brings you here?"
Dugu Bo did not beat around the bush.
He turned his palm over.
A stack of documents was tossed straight onto the table.
"Take a look."
Ning Fengzhi picked up the top sheet.
After reading only a few lines.
The smile vanished from his face.
The Hall of Relief.
The Medicine King Holy Church.
And a name.
Ning Qianshan.
The further he read.
The darker Ning Fengzhi's expression grew.
Medicinal herb shipments.
Passage along trade routes.
Cover for personnel.
There were even lists of commoners who had been sold off through various channels over the years.
Every transaction.
Clearly recorded.
Gu Rong stood beside him, his expression equally grim.
Chen Xin did not say a word.
The atmosphere in the hall rapidly chilled.
After a long while.
Ning Fengzhi set down the documents.
"Uncle Gu."
Gu Rong looked at him.
"Please fetch the grand elder."
"All right."
Before long.
Footsteps came from outside.
An old man walked into the hall.
Ning Qianshan.
The grand elder of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
But compared to an ordinary man in his nineties, he looked noticeably younger.
His blood and vitality were abundant.
He had unusually few wrinkles, too.
The moment Ning Qianshan entered, he saw the three Titled Douluo in the hall.
Chen Xin.
Gu Rong.
Dugu Bo.
His steps briefly faltered.
A trace of surprise flashed in his eyes.
But he quickly returned to normal.
"Sect Master."
"Elders."
"Your Excellency Dugu."
Ning Fengzhi did not invite him to sit.
He merely watched him quietly.
"Uncle Qianshan."
"How many years have you served the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?"
Ning Qianshan froze.
He clearly had not expected Ning Fengzhi to ask this so suddenly.
"My entire life."
"I've spent it in the sect."
Ning Fengzhi nodded.
"You're over ninety now."
"By seniority, I should still call you Uncle."
Ning Qianshan frowned slightly.
The unease in his heart grew heavier and heavier.
The next moment.
Ning Fengzhi pushed the documents on the table toward him.
"But why did you have to touch things that must never be touched?"
Ning Qianshan saw the name at the top.
His pupils abruptly contracted.
In that instant.
He understood everything.
The Hall of Relief's affairs.
Had been exposed.
"Sect Master, I-"
"Don't explain yet."
Ning Fengzhi cut him off.
His voice had turned utterly cold.
"His Majesty has now issued orders."
"To conduct a full reckoning of every Hall of Relief in Heaven Dou City."
"And the Medicine King Holy Church behind them."
"Everyone who facilitated their activities."
"Will be brought to account."
Ning Qianshan's expression grew uglier by the moment.
Ning Fengzhi looked at Dugu Bo.
"His Excellency Dugu came to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect today."
"To arrest you."
The hall instantly fell silent.
Only then did Dugu Bo slowly rise.
He looked at Ning Qianshan.
"Ning Qianshan."
"Come with me."
He paused.
His tone was level.
"Don't put Sect Master Ning in a difficult position."
Ning Qianshan was silent for several breaths.
Then he suddenly laughed.
"Haha..."
His laughter grew louder and louder.
Until it was almost deranged.
"I only wanted to stay alive!"
"What did I do wrong?!"
Ning Fengzhi's gaze turned utterly cold.
But Ning Qianshan seemed to have thrown all caution to the wind.
"I've put my life on the line for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect my entire life!"
"Now I only want to live a few more years!"
"Is that wrong?!"
He pointed at the lists on the table, his face full of disdain.
"As for those commoners..."
"They're nothing but worthless lives!"
"To become an extension of my lifespan-"
"Is their honor!"
Bang!
The teacup in Ning Fengzhi's hand instantly shattered.
"Ning Qianshan!"
That cry.
No longer held the slightest deference toward an elder.
But Ning Qianshan acted as though he had not heard.
Instead, his laughter grew even more crazed.
"Sect Master!"
"When you've lived to my age!"
"When you've watched helplessly as you grow older day by day!"
"Then you'll understand-"
Before he could finish.
A sudden transformation occurred.
Crack.
The robe over Ning Qianshan's shoulder abruptly split open.
A dark green branch actually burrowed out of his flesh.
Immediately afterward.
A second.
A third.
Branches grew wildly along his neck and arms.
Pale golden patterns flickered in and out of sight across the bark.
Chen Xin's gaze sharpened.
"What is this?"
Ning Qianshan himself was stunned.
The next moment.
More branches pierced out of his back.
"No..."
"What's happening?!"
Dugu Bo's expression instantly darkened.
"What a nuisance."
Ning Fengzhi immediately looked at him.
Dugu Bo said gravely:
"Sect Master Ning."
"Everyone in the sect who has taken the Hall of Relief's pills over a long period."
"Isolate them all."
"A small dose might not cause any problems."
He looked at Ning Qianshan, who had already begun to mutate.
"But this old bastard took too much."
By now, Ning Qianshan had fallen to his knees.
Something seemed to be writhing beneath his skin.
Branches kept growing outward.
"Save me..."
"Your Eminence Dugu!"
"Save me!"
Instead, Dugu Bo released his Soul Power, pinning him down firmly.
"I can't deal with this sort of thing."
"He must be taken away immediately."
"And handed over to someone who can actually deal with him."
Ning Fengzhi was just about to speak.
Just then-
BOOM!!!
A terrifying blast suddenly erupted in the distance.
The whole of Seven Treasure City seemed to shake.
Everyone in the hall turned at once.
The direction the sound had come from-
Heaven Dou City.
Dugu Bo's pupils contracted slightly.
Chen Xin and Gu Rong also rose at the same time.
From such a distance.
Yet the sound of the explosion had still reached them.
In Heaven Dou City...
Something had happened.
Ning Fengzhi abruptly stood.
"Uncle Jian."
"Go to Heaven Dou City with His Eminence Dugu."
Chen Xin nodded.
Ning Fengzhi then looked at Gu Rong.
"Uncle Gu, stay here."
"Immediately identify everyone in the sect who has taken pills from the Hall of Relief."
"Isolate them first."
"Don't miss a single one."
"All right."
Gu Rong's expression was grave.
Finally, Ning Fengzhi looked at Dugu Bo.
"Your Eminence Dugu."
"Ning Qianshan's actions were an oversight on the part of our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect."
"I will give His Majesty an accounting."
Dugu Bo nodded.
"Deal with what's in front of us first."
With that said.
He grabbed Ning Qianshan, who was pinned down by Soul Power.
Sword intent surged from Chen Xin.
The next instant.
Two streaks of light shot into the sky.
Heading straight for Heaven Dou City.
And behind them.
In the direction of that earth-shaking blast, the fluctuations of Soul Power had yet to subside.
Clearly-
The real big fish in Heaven Dou City.
Had finally surfaced.
Heaven Dou City.
The rumbling had barely faded.
Every Soul Master in the city felt that suffocating pressure.
Guang Ling, Qian Jun, Jiang Mo, Snake Lance, and Pufferfish were no longer concealing themselves.
Five Titled Douluo stood in midair.
Nine Soul Rings unfurled around each of them.
Their terrifying Soul Power almost seemed to weigh down half the sky.
And opposite them-
A giant deer stood amid the ruins.
It was several stories tall.
All four hooves planted on the ground.
Its branching antlers spread toward the sky like ancient trees.
Golden-green markings extended from its antlers across its entire body.
With every breath it took, swathes of plants sprouted from the gaps between the shattered bricks and stones around it.
The Ebon Deer of Abundance.
And atop the Ebon Deer's head.
Stood another person.
He looked middle-aged.
His figure was tall and thin.
Nine Soul Rings encircled him.
Two yellow, two purple, and five black.
Rank ninety-one.
A Titled Douluo.
An elder of the Medicine King Holy Church-
Yao Kurong.
His title: Demonic Vine.
His Martial Soul-Life-Devouring Demonic Vine.
An extremely bizarre Plant-type Martial Soul.
It could absorb vitality to strengthen itself, and could also drive its vines into flesh and blood to forcibly stimulate physical recovery.
At that moment.
Dark-green vines were slowly growing from Mu Yuansheng's shoulders, arms, and back.
As though his Martial Soul had already fused completely with his flesh and blood.
Guang Ling looked at the giant deer below, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.
No matter how he looked at it, this thing did not resemble a normal Soul Beast.
Just then.
A figure came racing over the rooftops in the distance.
It was none other than Lin Yuan.
Guang Ling immediately lowered his head and shouted:
"You brat!"
"What the hell is this deer?!"
Lin Yuan had only just arrived.
He looked up.
And froze on the spot.
Those enormous antlers.
Those golden-green markings.
The plants growing wildly all around it.
And that presence he could not have been more familiar with.
The corner of Lin Yuan's eye twitched violently.
"Holy shit."
"The Ebon Deer of Abundance?!"