"Why the tense, drawn-out standoff? You're making me look like the big bad villain."
A blue-gold spear materialized in Lin Rong's hand. Over half of his mental power was instantly poured into it, causing it to emit a flowing, pale gold radiance.
Immediately after, Lin Rong swept the spear horizontally, unleashing a massive crescent-shaped spear projection that sliced through the bodies of Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo.
The crescent spear projection was formed from Emperor's Sacred Might, capable of forcibly interrupting a Spirit Master's ongoing spirit skill, including their seventh spirit skill, Martial Soul True Body.
Affected by the spear projection, Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo had their already activated Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum True Body and Ghostly True Body forcibly interrupted, causing them to revert from their Martial Soul True Body forms.
The black seventh spirit rings on their bodies, which had been shining brightly moments before, now dimmed into nothingness.
The enlarged Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum quickly shrank back into Guang Yue's hand, and Ghostly reverted from his ethereal, near-transparent ghostly form back into human shape.
"This, how is this possible!"
Three exclamations rang out almost simultaneously.
Guang Yue, Ghostly, and even Dugu Bo, who stood beside Lin Rong, all stared at the blue-gold spear with expressions of utter astonishment.
At that moment, they were all thinking the same thing:
What divine artifact was this spear? It could forcibly interrupt the Martial Soul True Body of a Titled Douluo!
Such an unprecedented event occurring before their eyes nearly shattered their understanding of the world.
The current situation plunged Guang Yue and Ghostly into despair.
Martial Soul True Body, except for a very few special Martial Souls, or the legendary Ten Thousand Year Martial Soul True Body, or reaching the legendary level ninety-nine peak.
Otherwise, once the Martial Soul True Body state ended, the seventh spirit skill would enter a seven-day cooldown period, during which it could not be used again.
Without their Martial Soul True Bodies, they likely wouldn't even have the qualification to fight to the death.
From the branches of the banyan tree, Dugu Bo gazed at the blue-gold spear in Lin Rong's hand, his emerald green eyes swirling in their sockets, his reverence growing by several more points.
Unlike the astonishment of the other three, Lin Rong showed no surprise upon witnessing the effect of the Emperor Sacred Spear.
The effectiveness of forcibly interrupting spirit skills when actively using Emperor's Sacred Might depended on Lin Rong's own mental power strength.
Although the Marrow Cleansing Scripture he cultivated was not a specialized mental power cultivation technique, it was a top-tier scripture that cultivated essence, energy, and spirit simultaneously.
He had been cultivating the Marrow Cleansing Scripture since before he was born, for over ten years now. During this time, Lin Rong had also absorbed the Immortal Grade Medicinal Herb, the Autumn Water Dew of the Far River.
Therefore, his current level of mental power was already significantly stronger than that of the ninety-seventh level spirit power cultivator, the old butler.
Furthermore, to ensure the success of that strike just now, he had poured a full fifty percent of his mental power into the Emperor Sacred Spear.
With the Emperor's Sacred Might at this intensity.
Unless it was Tang San, who in the original work had cultivated the Purple Demon Eye to the fourth realm, "Vast," the mental power strength of ordinary Titled Douluo would not exceed the intensity of his fifty percent mental power.
Seeing the atmosphere becoming somewhat dull and tense, the Emperor Sacred Spear dissipated into specks of starlight in Lin Rong's hand. He then turned to Dugu Bo and instructed:
"You should leave first."
Dugu Bo observed the situation and knew that he didn't get along with Chrysanthemum Douluo, and his presence would only be a hindrance.
Therefore, upon hearing Lin Rong's instructions, he suppressed the urge to mock Chrysanthemum Douluo, forcefully held back his nearly upturned lips, and turned to leave.
With Lin Rong's permission, Dugu Bo smoothly exited the Vine Dragon Prison Heaven Array.
"Alright, the two of you don't need to be nervous. Now that there are no outsiders, we can have a good chat."
The tree vines wove a set of tables and chairs on the open ground. A tea set flew out and began brewing tea automatically in mid-air.
"Don't be shy, come and sit." Lin Rong walked to the vine chair and sat down as if no one else was there, beckoning to Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo.
The abrupt shift in atmosphere left Guang Yue and Ghostly somewhat at a loss.
However, they were in a position where they had to yield, so they could only resign themselves to sitting on the vine chairs, their gazes occasionally falling upon the six spirit rings pulsating around Lin Rong.
Among them, the sixth spirit ring was still shining, maintaining the Vine Dragon Prison Heaven Array, reminding them that this tea was not to be drunk lightly.
A moment later, the brewed tea was automatically poured into teacups, hovering before everyone.
Picking up his teacup, Lin Rong gently blew on it, took a sip, and without rushing to state his purpose, began speaking on his own:
"I've heard that back in the day, you two pursued Tang Hao together with the former Pope, Qian Xunji."
"And after that battle, Qian Xunji, who was the strongest, died from his injuries, while you two, who were weaker, survived, causing you to fall out of favor with the Qian family lineage."
"To consolidate your positions in Spirit Hall, you immediately pledged allegiance to the new Pope, Bibi Dong, after her succession."
"As the first elders to pledge loyalty, you naturally became confidantes of the new Pope Bibi Dong, greatly increasing your status and prestige within Spirit Hall."
"At the same time, as Bibi Dong's confidantes, you carried out many unsavory tasks for her."
"However, despite your years of hard work and dedication, all you received was superficial prestige, with no substantive rewards."
Lin Rong paused at this point, taking a sip of tea to moisten his throat, and observed the reactions of Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo.
Although some of what he had said was his speculation based on the original work, most of it was accurate intelligence gathered by his dark guards over the years.
And his speculative parts also had their basis.
In the original work, when Qian Renxue attempted to recruit Tang San, she promised Tang San that she would kill everyone present who had participated in the encirclement of him and Xiao Wu, except for Hu Liena, including Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo.
While Qian Renxue valued Tang San's potential, she agreed to Tang San's condition after only a brief consideration. In her heart, she couldn't help but blame Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo for failing to fulfill their duty of protecting her father.
As expected, the Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo responded to him with a silent silence.
If false lies were sugar-coated bullets, then the truth of facts would be sharp swords.
The cruel truth left Guang Yue and Ghostly speechless and unable to refute.
Among the two, Ghostly, who was the most steady and calm, was the first to discern the purpose behind these words. The person before them intended to shake their loyalty to the Spirit Hall.
And the other party's sole purpose in doing so was to recruit him and Guang Yue, all for their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, just as the Spirit Hall had poached him and Guang Yue at a high price for their Two Extremes Forbidden Domain.
With a clear understanding in his heart, Ghostly immediately became composed, picked up his teacup, and drank it down in one gulp.
Guang Yue, sitting beside him, saw Old Ghost acting this way and quickly understood the cause and effect. Only then did he have the inclination to pick up his teacup and savor the drink.
After a long while, Guang Yue finished the tea in his cup and casually asked:
"Although the Spirit Hall hasn't given us anything substantial, the mere position of an elder in the Spirit Hall grants us high status and endless wealth and glory."
"Guang Yue and Old Ghost serve as elders in the Spirit Hall, gaining both fame and fortune. Although our freedom is somewhat restricted, isn't there a price for everything?"
These two sentences did not mention the Qian family lineage of the Spirit Hall. It seemed Guang Yue himself knew this was an undeniable fact.
He also knew that he and Old Ghost had no choice, so his intention in saying this was merely to increase their bargaining power.
"So, what price can you offer? To make me and Old Ghost, two Titled Douluo with Martial Soul Fusion Skills, abandon the Spirit Hall and defect to your side."
The situation was progressing even more smoothly than Lin Rong had imagined. Without him needing to say anything, Guang Yue took the initiative to bring up the matter of recruitment.
What he didn't know was that this was largely thanks to Bibi Dong.
Not long ago, Guang Yue and Ghostly, under the guise of the Spirit Hall, had secretly brought many affiliated kingdoms and duchies of the two great empires under their control, successfully completing the task assigned to them by Bibi Dong.
However, after learning that the mission was completed, Bibi Dong showed no reaction whatsoever, which left Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo feeling resentful.
Even now, the anger in their hearts had not completely dissipated. Moreover, the dissatisfaction that had accumulated in their hearts over the years towards the Spirit Hall was showing signs of erupting in their current predicament.
All these reasons combined led Guang Yue, who had no other choice, to proactively propose being recruited by the other party.
Since Guang Yue had made his intentions clear, Lin Rong was happy to be direct as well:
"Spirit Masters cultivate Soul Power and obtain Spirit Rings. Besides gaining noble status and extraordinary wealth, the essence of it all is the improvement of one's own strength."
"Once a Spirit Master possesses great power, wouldn't status and wealth be easily obtainable?"
"As Titled Douluo, you two are respected wherever you go, and are lavishly provided for by those forces."
"Therefore, I won't speak further of glory and wealth. These are merely the most basic things, not worth mentioning."
This statement immediately piqued the curiosity of Guang Yue and Ghostly. They couldn't help but sit up straighter, exchange a glance, and then Guang Yue spoke:
"In that case, your offer is a Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone?"
His tone carried a faint yet intensely strong hint of longing and excitement.
Lin Rong shook his head slightly in response.
"No, guess again. It's one of the things you most desire in this life."
One of the things he most desired! Guang Yue's heart skipped a beat, and he almost instinctively released his Martial Soul.
It was a peculiar chrysanthemum, entirely a magnificent purple. The stamen in the center stood more than half a foot above the petals, and the tip of the stamen shimmered with a faint golden light.
Although no fragrance emanated from it, Guang Yue lowered his head and lightly sniffed the chrysanthemum's stamen, his face filled with an indescribable satisfaction and obsession.
After a long moment, a trembling voice escaped Guang Yue's lips:
"Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, you have the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, don't you?"
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