As soon as Tang San finished speaking, Tang Chen hadn't yet responded.
The creaking footsteps quickened. Yu Xiaogang, following behind Tang San, took a few steps forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with him, then anxiously said:
"Little San is right, Your Excellency Tang Chen. The Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect is arrogant and looks down on others; we have no need to show them any mercy."
Yu Xiaogang clenched his fists tightly. Thinking of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's high-and-mighty attitude, and recalling his own side where the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect had become history.
He, Yu Xiaogang, and even his nephew Yu Tianheng were now like homeless dogs, making his anger surge uncontrollably.
The Upper Three Sects should stand united against a common enemy and wholeheartedly oppose Spirit Hall, but the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had become wallflowers.
Such a sect—my Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, I, Yu Xiaogang, am ashamed to associate with them.
"Yu Xiaogang, you don't understand." Tang Chen glanced at the clueless Yu Xiaogang. "Do you know why the Tian Dou Empire, even Spirit Hall, lets the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect be?"
"Hm?"
Yu Xiaogang's expression turned blank.
"Hmph, that's because the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's high-end combat Douluos aren't afraid of Spirit Hall at all, and Spirit Hall doesn't want to offend them either."
"This..." Yu Xiaogang opened his mouth to speak, but Tang Chen directly interrupted him.
"Do you know how Bo Saixi and I got our previous injuries?"
Yu Xiaogang and Yu Tianheng fell silent, confusion showing on their faces.
From Vast Sea City back to the Xing Luo Empire, Bo Saixi and Tang Chen had both suffered severe injuries; it was said that even Bo Saixi's divine artifact had cracks.
Tang Chen shifted his gaze from Yu Xiaogang and sighed: "Aside from the publicly announced number of Title Douluos, the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect possesses at least four Limit Douluos."
"Four... four Limit Douluos?" Yu Xiaogang and Yu Tianheng drew in sharp breaths.
Limit Douluos weren't cabbages!
Unlike Tang San, who often traveled with Tang Chen, Yu Xiaogang and Yu Tianheng's information sources were more closed off. They believed that Bo Saixi and Tang Chen, plus Qian Daoliu, were basically the strongest in the world, with at most the addition of the Beast God Di Tian.
What virtue or ability did the mere Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect have to possess so many Limit Douluos?
"Grandmaster."
Tang San also let out a long sigh.
"In the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's grand hall, the Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo we saw are both Limit Douluos. The Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's sect master Ning Fengzhi is probably above 97th rank as well."
"And the Tokisaki Kurumi who appeared later is also at the Limit Douluo level."
"That's already three."
"As for the other one..." At this point, Tang San fell silent and didn't continue.
"Who is the other one!" Yu Tianheng was curious, while Yu Xiaogang was also a bit dumbfounded. The information Tang San revealed was truly terrifying; he subconsciously looked toward Tang San, wanting to know more.
"Yu Tianheng, can't you guess even now?" Tang Chen sighed. "Tokisaki Kurumi's identity is the spirit of Ning Rongrong's Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda."
"If she can independently reach the Limit Douluo level, then..."
"You're saying Ning Rongrong?"
Yu Xiaogang exclaimed directly, while Yu Tianheng's face also showed astonishment.
"That's impossible!" Yu Xiaogang refuted. "Even Little San, relying on secret arts, can only barely contend against a 98th rank."
A mere auxiliary soul master, even if somewhat special, shouldn't be this outrageous—it didn't conform to his Ten Core Competencies.
"Auxiliary soul master?" Tang Chen sneered. "You say the Ning Rongrong who nearly killed me and Bo Saixi with one sword outside Vast Sea City is an auxiliary soul master?"
"Impossible!" Yu Xiaogang and Yu Tianheng were dumbfounded, completely unaware that the anomaly in Vast Sea City was related to that mysterious young sect master of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
After all, Ning Yun and Ning Tian often appeared in public, while Ning Rongrong, despite her title as young sect master, basically didn't participate in social engagements.
Tang Chen was helpless and sighed: "Our Haotian Sect has the ring explosion secret technique, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect has the Dragon Transformation secret method."
"As one of the Upper Three Sects, the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect naturally has its own things."
"Though I don't want to admit it, that's an art even more terrifying than my Haotian Sect's secret methods."
"Perhaps it's casually switching between battle soul master and auxiliary soul master, and there should also be special self-created soul skills."
"But the number of people who can master it is probably few; I even suspect that only Ning Rongrong possesses this soul master form-switching ability."
To be honest, if the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect could switch freely without cooldown from auxiliary soul master to battle soul master, it would be no different from twin martial souls.
But from ancient times to now, probably only Ning Rongrong has achieved it; otherwise, the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect wouldn't have the rule that direct-line Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda soul masters' spouses must be battle soul masters.
"Aside from Little San's teammate called Oscar, Ning Rongrong of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect is currently the only known innate full soul power auxiliary soul master."
"No one knows what qualitative change the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda plus an innate full soul power soul master can produce."
In the entire Douluo world, the deepest understanding of martial souls wasn't from Spirit Hall, but from generations of researchers in Spirit Hall.
The Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, who wanted to evolve the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda to the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, had the most say.
From Ning Fengzhi and Ning Rongrong's situations, it was very likely they had already succeeded.
It had to be said, he, Tang Chen, was afraid...
Even unwilling to admit it, that drifting killing intent on the sea, releasing that terrifying sword.
Even a Limit Douluo would feel insignificant.
If not for the Sea God intervening at the end, he and Bo Saixi would probably have fallen.
Unless necessary, Tang Chen really didn't want to offend the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Moreover, just before they left, the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's sect master Ning Fengzhi had given him a thousand-year snow ginseng.
This would be quite helpful for his chronic old injuries.
But some things weren't so easily let go.
From a certain perspective, the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had indeed helped Spirit Hall.
If not for them, Tang Hao probably wouldn't have been captured.
At this thought, Tang Chen turned his head to the youth beside him and said: "Little San, regarding the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, what do you think?"
"We might not need to act directly; I know what you're wary of, but... only if the Tian Dou Empire is thrown into chaos will it be the best help for me and Zhu Zhuqing."
"Xue Beng and Zhu Zhuyun have already begun their actions. If not for foreign invasion, with Ning Fengzhi's personality, he wouldn't help either side."
Unlike the previous army at the borders, Xue Beng and Xue Ke were both of the Tian Dou imperial bloodline.
If Xue Ke couldn't suppress those below and Xue Beng overthrew her from below, that would still be Tian Dou's internal affairs.
You, Ning Fengzhi, wouldn't have reason to interfere then!
At most, you'd just save Xue Ke's life.
"What we need to do is stir up the water." Tang San pondered, as if making a decision. "On the way back to the Xing Luo Empire, take the main roads with lots of people, stay overnight along the way—let them deduce where we're heading."
"That way, even if the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect notices something off, they can't blame us."
Hearing Tang San's cover-up behavior, Tang Chen pondered for a long time and finally let out a long sigh:
"Sigh! Your approach might not create a rift between them."
The Tian Dou officials and Spirit Hall might confirm they went to the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, but they couldn't fully deduce that they had cooperated with the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
(End of this chapter)