The flight back to the Seven Treasure Glaze Tile Sect was a silent, surreal journey through the ink-black, star-dusted sky. They moved as a single, cohesive unit, a small, untouchable island of power in the vast emptiness of the night. Sword Douluo Chen Xin was a phantom before them, his immense Spirit Power forming a stable, invisible platform that carried them effortlessly through the air, the wind parting around them as if in deference to his might.
The initial, heart-pounding shock of their abduction and the subsequent, mind-bending revelations had given way to a quiet, contemplative awe. Ning Rongrong, who had been a whirlwind of righteous fury and terrified concern just an hour before, was now snuggled against Zhang Tian's side, her head resting on his shoulder, her eyes wide as she stared at the sprawling, glittering tapestry of Heaven Dou City below.
She broke the comfortable silence, her voice a soft, disbelieving murmur that was almost lost in the rush of the wind.
"I still can't believe it."
Zhang Tian looked down at her, a gentle, questioning look in his eyes.
"I mean… all of it," she continued, her voice gaining a little of its usual, bubbly energy as she tried to process the sheer audacity of the situation. "That the Crown Prince… Brother Qinghe… was a woman all along! An imposter from the Spirit Hall!"
She sat up, turning to face him fully, her eyes shining with a mixture of admiration and pure, unadulterated shock. "And you knew! You figured it out! How? How did you know, Zhang Tian? My own daddy, who was his teacher for years, he never suspected a thing! None of us did!"
From the front of their invisible platform, the Sword Douluo's deep, rumbling voice echoed back to them. "Your little husband is right to be proud of his intelligence, Little Rongrong. Your father is a wise man, one of the most intelligent I have ever known. But even he was completely fooled. We were all fooled."
Zhu Zhuqing, who had been silently watching the city lights, added her own quiet observation. "It was a perfect deception. Her disguise was flawless. Her actions, her mannerisms… there was no reason to suspect."
Zhang Tian simply smiled, a calm, almost placid expression on his handsome face. He gently squeezed Ning Rongrong's hand.
"Well…I have a reasoning for that," he explained, his voice even and logical. "I believe that it's because Uncle Ning was too close to the situation. He saw Xue Qinghe not just as an individual related to politics of the Imperial Family, but also as his student. A boy he was personally mentoring, someone he had grown fond of. When you have such a close, personal relationship, it is difficult to see the flaws. You are blinded by your own affection and trust."
He looked at them, his gaze direct and unwavering. "I, on the other hand, was an outsider. I had no emotional connection to the Crown Prince. I saw him only as a piece on the political chessboard. And from that detached perspective, the inconsistencies, the small details that didn't quite add up… they were much clearer. If Uncle Ning had ever had a reason to truly suspect him, I have no doubt he would have unraveled the entire deception far more quickly than I did."
His explanation was both logical and tactfully humble, a masterful deflection that soothed his fiancée's shock while simultaneously paying respect to her father's intelligence.
Meanwhile, back in the cold, opulent chamber of the Imperial Palace, the illusion had been restored. The breathtaking, holy beauty of Qian Renxue was gone, replaced once more by the handsome, approachable face of Crown Prince Xue Qinghe.
The two Titled Douluos, She Long and Ci Xue, stood before her, their usual arrogant confidence completely gone, replaced by a deep, palpable anxiety.
"Young Miss," She Long began, his voice a low, worried hiss, "is this truly wise? They know everything now! That boy, Zhang Tian, the two girls, that old monster Chen Xin… and by now, Ning Fengzhi and Gu Rong will know as well. If they reveal your identity to the world… your entire, decades-long plan will be turned to ash!"
"Are you worried, Uncle She?" Xue Qinghe asked, his voice the calm, pleasant tenor of the prince once more. He walked over to a nearby table and poured himself a fresh cup of tea, his movements slow and deliberate.
"Of course, we are worried!" Ci Xue added, his own voice tight with stress. "This is a catastrophic breach of security! We should have killed them when we had the chance!"
Xue Qinghe took a slow, calming sip of his tea. He turned to face them, and his eyes, though they were once again the placid blue of the prince, held a cold, calculating light that had not been there before.
"Calm yourselves," he commanded, his voice soft but filled with an unshakeable authority. "Panicking will accomplish nothing. Think. What has actually changed?"
He began to pace the room, his mind a cold, brilliant chessboard. "Yes, my identity is now known to the core members of the Seven Treasure Glaze Tile Sect. To Zhang Tian, his fiancées, Ning Fengzhi, and his two guardians. And yes, this gives them a powerful piece of leverage against me. Against the Spirit Hall."
A faint, cunning smile touched his lips. "But leverage is a two-way street. This is not a disaster. It is an opportunity."
He looked at his two worried guardians. "Do you truly believe a man as intelligent as Ning Fengzhi would simply expose me? What would he gain? The gratitude of the Heaven Dou Empire? Perhaps. But he would also gain the eternal, unforgiving enmity of the Spirit Hall. He would be inviting a war that, even with their two Super Douluos, they could not hope to win against the full might of my grandfather and the Hall of Elders."
"He is a merchant at heart," Xue Qinghe continued, his voice turning analytical. "He will not throw away a priceless bargaining chip for the sake of simple patriotism. He will use this information to extract benefits from me. From the Spirit Hall."
He turned to them, his eyes gleaming. "And that is precisely what I want. This allows me to open a channel of negotiation. It allows me to tie the Seven Treasure Glaze Tile Sect to our cause. Imagine it. One of the three great sects, the wealthiest and most influential of them all, secretly supporting the Spirit Hall. The advantages, when the time comes for our final move, will be immeasurable."
She had, of course, absolutely no idea that this entire, brilliant political gambit was not her own idea at all, but was the exact outcome that Zhang Tian had been subtly, psychologically manipulating her towards since the day of his engagement.
Her focus, however, quickly shifted. The cold, furious fire that had been momentarily banked by the strategic necessities of the situation now returned, a low, simmering inferno in her heart.
"In any case," she said, her voice turning cold once more, "the immediate priority has changed. Tang Hao."
She walked to her ornate desk and sat down, pulling out a fresh sheet of parchment and a quill. "I will send a letter back to the Hall of Elders tonight. I will inform them that the Titled Douluo who has been causing chaos in the empire, the one who has been destroying our branches, is none other than the man who killed my father."
She began to write, her script a perfect, elegant imitation of Xue Qinghe's hand. She detailed the situation, carefully omitting any mention of Zhang Tian or the Seven Treasure Glaze Tile Sect. She was a master of information control.
'Grandfather,' she wrote, the words flowing from her quill with a cold, deadly precision, 'the target has been identified as the Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao. His recent activities indicate a new level of aggression and instability. My own agents estimate his current cultivation to be at least at the ninety-fourth rank, perhaps even having reached the threshold of a Level 95 Super Douluo. Uncle She and Uncle Ci are insufficient to handle a threat of this magnitude.'
She paused, her grip on the quill tightening. 'I request that you, or one of the other Grand Elders, personally take action. This man is a blight upon the honor of our Spirit Hall. He must be captured, or eliminated. Avenge my father.'
She carefully folded the letter, sealing it with the Crown Prince's official crest. Her plan to personally subdue Zhang Tian, to make that terrifyingly brilliant mind her own, was a secret she would keep locked away in her own heart. That was her own private war to be won.
She dismissed her two guardians, requesting them to return to their posts outside her chambers.
Once the door was closed and she was alone, the stiff, princely posture seemed to melt away from her. She walked over to her large, canopied bed and collapsed onto it with a sigh that was pure, weary, woman.
The golden tiara on her head glowed, and the illusion dissolved, revealing the breathtaking, true form of Qian Renxue once more. She coiled on the bed like a cat, her golden hair a shimmering halo against the dark silk sheets.
Her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, but they were no longer of Tang Hao, or of the empire. They were of him.
'Zhang Tian…' she thought, a strange, unfamiliar heat spreading through her. 'How can I get closer to him? How can I bring him under my control?'
A slow, cunning smile spread across her beautiful face. 'His father-in-law. Ning Fengzhi. He will make the first move. He has to. He now holds the greatest secret in the empire. He will contact me, to negotiate, to demand benefits for his silence.'
She closed her eyes, a feeling of deep, profound anticipation washing over her. 'And I will happily provide whatever he asks for. As long as it gives me a reason to visit the Seven Treasure Glaze Tile Sect. As long as it gives me a reason to see Zhang Tian again.'
~~
Back in their opulent suite, the trio rested. The adrenaline of the night's events had finally faded, leaving behind a deep, bone-deep weariness. Zhang Tian gently tucked his two sleeping fiancées into their beds before sleeping together while hugging them.
Meanwhile, in Ning Fengzhi's private study, along with a pale-faced Bone Douluo. The air in the room was thick with a tense, shocked silence. Chen Xin had just finished recounting the entire, unbelievable tale.
Ning Fengzhi sat behind his desk, his face a mask of stone, but his hands, hidden beneath the desk, were clenched into tight, white-knuckled fists.
He had trusted Xue Qinghe. He had mentored him, guided him, seen him as the future of the empire. He had treated him like a second son. To learn that it had all been a lie, a twelve-year-long deception orchestrated by his greatest enemy… it was a betrayal so profound, so personal, that it left him feeling physically ill.
"It is the truth, Fengzhi," Chen Xin said, his voice a low, grim rumble. "I saw it with my own eyes. The Seraphim spirit. There is no mistake."
Ning Fengzhi finally looked up, and his eyes were filled with a mixture of emotions. Shock. Rage. And a deep, profound humiliation.
"To think…" he said, his voice a hoarse, strangled sound, "that I, Ning Fengzhi, the leader of the Seven Treasure Glaze Tile Sect, was so blind. That I took the Young Miss of the Spirit Hall, the granddaughter of Qian Daoliu himself, as my personal student. And I never noticed a thing."
He let out a short, bitter, self-deprecating laugh. "It is truly, truly embarrassing. Humiliating." He then looked at his two old friends, a new, sharp light entering his eyes. "And my son-in-law… he saw it all. He deduced the entire truth from a few scattered clues. His intelligence is… terrifying."
"What do we do now, Fengzhi?" Gu Rong's dry, rattling voice cut through the heavy silence. "Now that we know this secret, we are in a very dangerous position. Do we expose her?"
Ning Fengzhi was silent for a long, thoughtful moment, the shrewd, calculating mind of the sect leader reasserting control over the wounded heart of the teacher.
"No," he said finally, his voice regaining its usual, calm authority. "Not yet."
He looked at his two sworn brothers. "To expose her now would be to declare open war on the Spirit Hall. We are not ready for that. And it would gain us little, other than the temporary gratitude of an Emperor who is already our ally."
A slow, cunning smile, a perfect mirror of the one Qian Renxue had worn just an hour before, spread across his face.
"No," he repeated, his eyes gleaming with a new, dangerous light. "We will not expose her. We will do what our sect does best. We will use this information. We will wait. We will let her wonder what our next move will be. And when the time is right, when she is desperate, we will extract a price from her, and from the Spirit Hall, that will ensure the prosperity of our Seven Treasure Glaze Tile Sect for the next thousand years."
~~
A/N: Check out my other novels like "Harem Master: Seduction System" and the "Villain: Manipulating the Heroines into hating the Protagonist" and I hope you like this story and those stories as well.
Check out more chapters on my P.atreon. The P.atreon will have 20+ Chapters ahead for this story. I hope you like it.
The link of p.atreon is: bit.ly/evildragon