A black-and-white Taiji diagram rose beneath Ning Rongrong's feet.
The Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda gently floated around her, emitting a hazy aura.
If one looked closely, they would notice that of Ning Rongrong's originally dark-brown pupils, one had turned gold while the other had become an icy blue-white, resembling beautiful contact lenses engraved with clock faces.
At this moment, the hour and minute hands on those clock pupils were spinning rapidly.
And they were spinning counterclockwise.
Before anyone could understand what was happening, the two people who had looked deathly pale and on the verge of collapse suddenly regained color in their faces at a visible speed, and their auras returned to normal.
Once their auras had stabilized, Ning Rongrong sent two more balls of zhenqi flying toward them.
They entered directly through their backs.
This time was different from before.
The next second, the older Ling Tian spat out a mouthful of blood. From the distinctive stench and the filth in his mouth, it was clear he had vomited up his own internal organs.
The pupils of the surrounding enshrined elders contracted as they swallowed hard.
Yet before they could even discuss it,
they saw that the organs Ling Tian had just vomited disappeared, and even the blood that had splattered on the ground vanished with them.
The hall became deathly silent; only the faint sound of a clock ticking could be heard.
Ling Tian, who should have been beyond saving, once again regained a healthy complexion.
Including Ye Renxin, all five enshrined elders felt a chill run down their spines.
Some also noticed the abnormality in Ning Rongrong's eyes—every time the two were injured, the hands on her pupils would wind backward.
As Soul Douluo themselves, they faintly guessed Ning Rongrong's ability.
It was not ordinary healing, but time—turning back time itself.
Those who figured it out were shocked but did not dare speak.
Especially Ye Renxin. She knew what had happened when Ning Rongrong helped Shui Cangyue break through to Title Douluo.
Back then, it had not looked anywhere near this severe. Yet afterward, Shui Cangyue refused to talk about it—she clearly did not want to recall that experience.
As they repeatedly vomited blood, as their bodies and even shoulders were repeatedly blown to dust by the zhenqi only to be restored by Ning Rongrong,
no one knew if the two struggling men had grown numb to it, but the surrounding Soul Douluo no longer looked at Ning Rongrong as a junior. They looked at her as a death god who could casually reverse life and death.
Some were even secretly relieved that they had not been chosen.
Failure after failure, attempt after attempt—it gripped everyone's hearts.
Finally, after one infusion of energy,
their bodies did not suffer the usual catastrophic damage.
Instead, their soul power began to climb upward.
As fellow Soul Douluo, the enshrined elders present vaguely guessed:
Could it be… success?
Level 86… 87… 88… it finally stopped at level 89, and their soul power seemed about to stabilize.
"As expected, still a little short?"
Ning Rongrong murmured.
She slowly raised her free right hand and pointed toward one of the three piles of soul bones on the floor.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Streams of light flew over and hovered quietly before her. Only when they looked closely did they realize these were ten-thousand-year soul bones radiating powerful auras.
A torso bone, a skull bone, and a right arm bone—each over fifty thousand years old.
With a wave of her hand, Ning Rongrong sent the six soul bones in two batches of three. Three merged into Ling Tian's body, and three were absorbed by Wang Teng.
"Calm your minds and break through to level 90 with everything you have."
The two did not reply, but they had heard her.
Absorbing three fifty-thousand-year soul bones at once was still extremely difficult for Soul Douluo.
"Nine Treasures turn out as glazed—full attribute amplification!"
Ning Rongrong directly threw every buff she had onto them, adding the harmonizing effect of her own Taiji domain.
The ferocious expressions the two wore from absorbing the soul bones gradually returned to normal as time passed.
Ning Rongrong reached up and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.
The earlier battle had already drained her mentally; splitting her attention to control the reversal naturally caused some backlash.
Time ticked by.
The morning sunlight that had streamed through the windows had now become the glow of sunset.
Their auras gradually stabilized. The Taiji domain beneath Ning Rongrong's feet slowly faded, and the zhenqi returned to her body.
"All that's left now is to wait for them to wake up."
Ning Rongrong walked to a nearby seat and sat down. She took out a spirit-medicine-grade ginseng from her soul tool and began chewing on it.
Her face, which had looked like someone recovering from a serious illness, regained some color, but it was still clear that her current condition was far from good.
"Rongrong…"
Ning Fengzhi wanted to say something.
Ning Rongrong gently shook her head.
An hour later, Wang Teng and Ling Tian slowly regained consciousness.
Their soul power fluctuations had already reached level 90.
Wang Teng and Ling Tian stood up, walked to Ning Rongrong, and bowed deeply.
"Young Sect Master, we succeeded."
Though excited, the fear and exhaustion in their eyes had not completely faded.
Heaven only knew how they had endured nearly an entire day of this.
Compared to outsiders, the two who experienced it firsthand understood even more clearly.
Their lives had been forcibly pulled back from the brink of death by the power of time, again and again, until success was achieved.
Honestly, after living through it and recalling what had just happened, if they had known the truth beforehand, they might not have dared to try. It was simply too torturous—like being lingchi sliced a thousand times.
It felt as if millions of ants were gnawing away at their bodies bit by bit, only for the process to repeat endlessly.
They had lost count of how many times it happened.
"Enshrined Wang Teng, Enshrined Ling Tian—normally I should assist you in absorbing the hundred-thousand-year soul rings to increase your success rate, but I overestimated myself, so I'm sorry."
"Young Sect Master, please don't say that." Up close, the two could also sense that Ning Rongrong's aura was unstable. It was obvious that helping them break through had cost her dearly.
Moreover, she had returned immediately after wiping out the sea soul beast tide and had almost no time to recover.
"Hundred-thousand-year soul rings or the ninety-five-thousand-year ones—choose for yourselves!"
"The one best suited for you is the hundred-thousand-year soul ring of the Evil Spirit Orca King. Of course, if you prefer a spirit-type one, that's fine too. It's up to you."
"However, with my current condition, if you choose the hundred-thousand-year rings, I can't guarantee one hundred percent success."
"Leave that to me." Ning Fengzhi stood up. "I can't do what Rongrong did, but I can still maximize your chances."
"The hundred-thousand-year ones!" Wang Teng and Ling Tian exchanged a glance.
Few could resist the temptation of a hundred-thousand-year soul ring.
Though a ninety-five-thousand-year ring would probably be easier to absorb… given how hard their Young Sect Master had worked, if they didn't push themselves a little, it would feel wrong.
"Think it over carefully before deciding." Ning Rongrong nodded. "Don't pressure yourselves. Even if you fail, it's just a hundred-thousand-year soul ring."
The two fell silent at her words. Probably only their Young Sect Master would dare call it "just" a hundred-thousand-year soul ring.
In the end, both still chose to absorb the hundred-thousand-year soul rings.
But they postponed it by one day, until they recovered to their peak condition.
Night fell.
Ning Rongrong came to Ning Fengzhi's side.
"Dad, at this rate, we probably won't finish absorbing all these soul rings."
"That doesn't matter." Ning Fengzhi shook his head and looked Ning Rongrong up and down. "What I'm worried about is you. Are you really alright?"
No hundred-thousand-year soul ring was more important than his daughter.