Things have been calm for a while, with no major disturbances.
Spirit Hall hasn't made any big moves. Qian Renxue is still in her dormant period, and Tang San is still accelerating his development.
Even with the theft of ancient treasures from the imperial treasury, Emperor Xue Ye chose to conceal the loss of the Vast Sea Konoha Cover for the sake of imperial dignity and initiated a secret investigation.
Meanwhile, Lin Rong's forces have initially taken shape, and everything is progressing steadily and in an orderly fashion.
Since having Dugu Bo and the Peerless Dragon Snake couple under his command, Lin Rong no longer needs to personally handle many matters; he simply assigns them to the couple.
As for Lin Rong himself, he devoted all his attention to cultivating the Marrow Cleansing Scripture and comprehending his mind, striving to reach the "Mind Empty, Body Transforms Itself" realm as soon as possible.
Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
One day, in the courtyard.
Lin Rong was practicing multitasking. While carving a seal, he simultaneously used his mental power to perform six tasks, including brewing tea and copying famous paintings.
Beside him, the Dragon Soul of the Nine Bend Vine Dragon leisurely wandered the courtyard, occasionally flying into the lotus pond to tease the koi.
Suddenly, a swallow with feathers the color of cloud and water blue flew into the courtyard.
Upon seeing the Sharp-tailed Swift, the Nine Bend Vine Dragon, which was playing nearby, flew up to it and retrieved a secret letter tied to its ankle.
Then, the Nine Bend Vine Dragon flew into the bamboo pavilion and placed the secret letter on the table.
Lin Rong saw the secret letter but didn't stop carving. Instead, he further divided his attention and used his mental power to control the letter and open it.
Soon, Lin Rong finished reading the contents of the secret letter.
Following that, a flash of green lightning appeared, and the secret letter turned into ashes, dissipating into the air.
On the table, a pen with no one holding it began writing something on the paper by itself.
After finishing, the paper folded itself and floated into the Nine Bend Vine Dragon's claws.
The Nine Bend Vine Dragon obediently flew to the Sharp-tailed Swift and placed the paper from its claws into the small tube on the swift's ankle.
Seeing that the small tube had been refilled, the Sharp-tailed Swift stopped preening its cloud-and-water-blue feathers, flapped its wings, and soared into the sky, flying towards a certain location at extreme speed.
A quarter of an hour later.
Lin Rong finished carving the last character, "humble," on the seal and put down his carving knife.
"Tang San broke through to level thirty yesterday, and today Dai Mubai also broke through to level thirty. They're so close together, it's quite a coincidence."
As he spoke, Lin Rong picked up the freshly brewed Phoenix Dan Cong tea and slowly savored it.
"Right now, Tang San is ten years and four months old. He broke through to level thirty two years and three months earlier than his original age of twelve years and seven months."
"It seems that appropriate encouragement is indeed effective."
"Due to neglecting her cultivation, Qian Renxue is still only a Soul King. At her current cultivation pace, it will take another year or two to break through to Soul Emperor."
"This way, based on Tang San's current cultivation progress, in about five more years, Tang San should have the strength to contend with Qian Renxue head-on."
"In other words, in about five years, it will be time to seize the Heaven Dou imperial throne."
After finishing a cup of tea, Lin Rong refilled his cup and continued to savor it.
Tang San broke through to level thirty more than two years earlier than in the original work, but Dai Mubai, who broke through to level thirty at thirteen years old in the original work, still broke through at thirteen years old now.
Both are thirteen years old, only one or two months earlier than in the original work.
The secret letter mentioned that Yu Xiaogang would accompany Dai Mubai to the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt for a spirit ring after Dai Mubai's breakthrough to level thirty. Only Flender would be accompanying them.
Lin Rong leisurely sipped his tea and thought:
"The Star Dou Great Forest is fraught with danger, this is indeed a good opportunity."
"It just so happens that Shi Nian recently broke through to Soul Saint, making it the perfect time to implement that plan."
Nine months ago.
The preliminary rounds of the All-Continent Advanced Spirit Master Elite Tournament were held at the Heaven Dou City Grand Arena.
At that time, Shi Nian, as the vice-dean of Canghui Academy, led a group of students from Canghui Academy to participate in the competition.
Lin Rong had already planned to find time to subdue Shi Nian, and since Shi Nian delivered himself this time, it saved him the trouble of going to Canghui Academy to find him.
Shi Nian's Martial Soul was named Lingering Dream, a special Martial Soul that was qualitative but not formless, capable of generating various illusions.
For ordinary Spirit Masters, especially those with weak mental strength, the vindictive Shi Nian was definitely an extremely difficult and ruthless character.
However, after Lin Rong broke through to "Mind Empty, Body Transforms Itself," the state of mind bestowed upon him by the Marrow Cleansing Scripture allowed him to ignore all illusions and charm-based abilities.
Therefore, all of Shi Nian's spirit skills were ineffective against Lin Rong.
With the old butler, a Titled Douluo, standing by Lin Rong's side, Shi Nian's proud illusions were also ineffective against him.
After weighing the pros and cons, Shi Nian decisively and wisely chose to submit to Lin Rong.
At that time, Shi Nian was not yet a Soul Saint, but only a level sixty-seven Soul Emperor.
Lin Rong's plan required the true form of Lingering Dream, "Nightmare." To help Shi Nian break through to Soul Saint earlier, he generously provided an extremely high-quality medicinal herb with hallucinatory effects for Shi Nian to absorb.
After absorbing the herb, Shi Nian immediately broke through to level sixty-eight. It took another eight months for Shi Nian to finally break through to level seventy.
Because the plan required "Nightmare" to be as powerful as possible, Lin Rong had Dugu Bo take Shi Nian to the Sunset Forest to obtain a spirit ring of his choice for his seventh spirit ring.
The original work did not specify the year of Shi Nian's seventh Spirit Ring.
However, this time with Dugu Bo's help, Shi Nian's seventh Spirit Ring was taken from a forty-thousand-year-old Demon Eye Demonic Tree.
With a forty-thousand-year limit, most Soul Douluo's eighth Spirit Rings are not much better than this.
...
The Sharp-tailed Swift swooped down from the clouds and flew into a house.
The hidden guards stationed there took the paper from the small message tube, quickly read it, then destroyed the paper and turned to enter a secret chamber.
Inside the secret chamber.
After hearing the hidden guard's report, Shi Nian's heart was thrown into turmoil.
"I truly never expected that the current Pope, Bibi Dong, would have had an affair with that 'famous' Master Yu Xiaogang."
"Even more unexpected is that the former Pope would do something so debased."
Shi Nian displayed a rare gossipy expression, his eyes flashing with fierce flames, as he conjured a mind-bending love story involving two men and one woman.
"However, how did you, my lord, come to know of such private matters?"
"Furthermore, you want me to use nightmares to make Yu Xiaogang recall the sweetest moments of his relationship with Bibi Dong in his dreams."
"Additionally, you want me to create illusions, making Yu Xiaogang learn the truth of Bibi Dong's 'betrayal' in those illusions."
"What is your purpose in having me do this, my lord?"
Shi Nian couldn't understand and fell into deep thought.
...
What was Lin Rong's purpose in having Shi Nian do this?
In the courtyard, under the bamboo pavilion.
Lin Rong put down his teacup. His reason for doing this was naturally:
The stronger Bibi Dong's hatred, the easier the Rakshasa God trial would be, and the faster the trial would progress.
Conversely, the stronger Bibi Dong's love, the harder the Rakshasa God trial would be, and the slower its progress.
And in this world, there were only three people Bibi Dong cared about: her first love Yu Xiaogang, her daughter Qian Renxue, and her disciple Hu Liena.
Due to her hatred, Bibi Dong had never been able to recognize the love she hid for her daughter.
Although Bibi Dong also treated Hu Liena as a daughter, fundamentally, Hu Liena was merely a substitute for Qian Renxue.
Only Yu Xiaogang, her first love whom she met when her affections first stirred, occupied the most important position in her heart.
Therefore, as long as Yu Xiaogang was willing to reconcile with Bibi Dong, regardless of whether Bibi Dong agreed or not, it would inevitably amplify her love for Yu Xiaogang.
This deeply etched love would make Bibi Dong's progress in the Rakshasa God trial extremely difficult, greatly delaying her inheritance of the Rakshasa God position.
And this was the objective Lin Rong wished to achieve.
He did not believe that Yu Xiaogang, after learning the truth of what happened back then, would refrain from going to Bibi Dong to clarify everything.
Even if Yu Xiaogang could hold back, he would have Shi Nian use illusions to psychologically suggest to Yu Xiaogang, constantly reinforcing the thought of going to Bibi Dong.
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