As figures manifested one after another, auras radiated out from the previously undetectable surroundings. Ning Tian, Ye Xuanji, Gu Tianchen, Zhi Yong... aside from Ning Tian, none had a cultivation below Level 98. There was even a manipulated Tyrannical Bone Dragon possessing ultimate combat power.
Obviously, if Niu Tian hadn't signed the contract, the only thing waiting for him would have been a righteous gang beatdown, and he would never have been able to leave the Undead Half-Plane. Of course, even if he forcefully broke through his sealed cultivation, he would still have to face the group of deities who had long been keeping an eye on the situation.
"You just sold out Sect Master Niu Tian like that?"
With this matter settled, everyone dispersed after a brief exchange. Once only the two of them remained, Ning Tian, who knew the inside story, walked over to Chen Junting's side with a peculiar look on her face.
Listening to Ning Tian's teasing, Chen Junting smiled and said, "He did this voluntarily."
"That's because you set a trap for him; you're really wicked." Ning Tian shook her head as if she didn't want to say more. However, the upward curve of her smile betrayed her true feelings.
Golden Ancient Tree? Plane Spirit?
Tsk tsk tsk—Uninformed Sect Master Niu Tian was truly pitiful!
Meanwhile, in the Divine Realm at this very moment, the God of Destruction and the Goddess of Life, who had been observing the situation after receiving the notification...
"Audacious! Truly audacious!"
In the Forest of Life, the God of Destruction flew into a rage!
Even the rich power of life around them couldn't extinguish this constantly gushing power of destruction. As for the Goddess of Life, she was now also deeply indignant at Tang San's actions, and for a moment, she even overlooked the eruption of the power of destruction.
"He actually dares to let two Priests stay in the lower realm all the time! Does he really think the Douluo Plane is his Sea God family's private plot?!"
The God of Destruction roared, his eyes beneath the purple cloak glowing with blood-red light. He never expected that the Sea God had acted so brazenly in abusing his power for personal gain.
However, angry as he was, he still had to hold his troops back on this matter.
Because since what Tang San had done had already shown signs on the surface, it meant there were even more "dirty tricks" in the dark.
He had to dig all these things out. No, perhaps he only needed to dig out enough for his purposes, then he could wait for the right opportunity to directly move against the Sea God. But at the same time, he also had to ensure that the gap in strength and influence between the two sides wasn't too small.
After all, the Sea God was not the type to sit and wait for death. If he didn't use hard power to crush him in one go, who knows what other moths would fly out of the bag. Therefore, the most secure method was still to wait; he had to wait for someone capable of breaking the stalemate between the two sides.
"Soon, soon..."
His thoughts turning to Chen Junting, the God of Destruction's mood calmed down. He could wait this long for the development of the Divine Realm; could he really not wait for these last few days?
...
In a secret room within Haotian Castle, Niu Tian and a slightly apprehensive Tai Tan walked in together. Just as streaks of golden light lit up around them and condensed into a human figure in the center, Niu Tian's voice abruptly rang out, "I failed."
"What!?" As if hearing something unbelievable, the golden figure trembled, and a surprised voice seemed to come from all directions. "You failed!?"
Even though Niu Tian's cultivation was suppressed below the god-level, his god-level spiritual power and physique, as well as the highest quality soul power of that same level, gave him the greatest deterrence in the mortal realm. With all that, he still couldn't bring Xiao Qi back? Are you kidding me?
"Da Ming, I want an explanation."
His tone instantly turned cold, and his posture shifted from an equal to that of a superior. "Why couldn't you bring Xiao Qi back with your abilities? Is it that you really couldn't, or... was it negligence?"
Not even calling him brother anymore? But this was quite normal; he was used to it.
Amidst the silence, Niu Tian shot a glance that froze the restless Tai Tan. "It's a lack of ability." He let out a turbid breath. "I was defeated by that Rakshasa God inheritor. He is very strong, and after it ended, he basically didn't have a single injury. But... I did."
When stating the facts, there was no extra emotional fluctuation. It was as if the one defeated by Chen Junting wasn't him.
"Tang San's words were too severe." Confirming that Niu Tian didn't seem to be lying, Tang San gave an apology that barely counted as one. Then, he changed the subject, "In that case, I'll have to trouble you two brothers to make a move together."
"Still no."
Unexpectedly, Niu Tian shook his head and refused.
"The Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's strength is too great, and that youth can even contact Di Tian. With all these circumstances combined, if we want to bring Xiao Qi back to the sect, I'm afraid even if the whole sect mobilized, it would still be a struggle."
Was this still the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect from his impression?
The golden figure carrying Tang San's divine sense flickered, undoubtedly showing his unsettled mood at this moment. He truly hadn't expected that a Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect could rapidly develop to this step; could this be the luck of a Child of Destiny?
If only they had joined his Tang Sect back then... perhaps his declining Tang Sect could have been revived! What a pity, such a pity.
Regardless, this Huo Yuhao ultimately had to be kept under his control.
Stopping his thoughts, the golden figure gradually dissipated. Without giving Niu Tian and Tai Tan a chance to reply, Tang San only left one last sentence, "Then don't worry about this matter anymore."
When the figure completely dissipated, the secret room returned to calm, and the silent Tai Tan then spoke up.
"Big Brother, would the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect really dare to..."
"Er Ming!"
A shout stopped his unfinished words.
"If we can't beat them, we can't beat them. What else do you want to do? Besides, that also involves Xiao Dong's own decision, so we aren't exactly in the right." Saying that, he turned and walked out of the secret room.
At this moment, the light in Tai Tan's eyes also flickered. He probably realized that his big brother, who hadn't told him the truth since returning to the sect, must be hiding something.
As for whether he would tell this guess to others... Tai Tan turned around and directly followed. A joke! Big Brother would never be wrong.
Almost after they left, in less than a minute, a golden light quietly flashed, and then fell silent.
Meanwhile, in the Divine Realm at this very moment, a wisp of divine sense also returned to Tang San's body. This refreshed his spirit, and his hand movements subconsciously slowed down until they paused while he frowned.
"How could it be the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?"
While pondering, his mind recalled the news not long ago told to him together by the God of Fire, the God of Light, and the God of Space among the Seven Elemental Lord Gods. The three gods had already selected their divine throne inheritors, and they were all in the Douluo Plane.
Those three inheritors were also from the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
"Plus the God of Emotions and the God of Love, that makes a full six. Calculating like this, their future power is already not small."
Thinking of this, Tang San couldn't hold back and used the divine sense left in Wang Dong'er's body to personally probe the information and situation of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. The result was, he didn't know before, but once he looked, he was taken aback! Overall, they had already surpassed his original Shrek Seven Devils, save for the lack of a God King-level divine throne.
If calculated like this... "After they ascend to the Divine Realm in the future, will they be easily controlled?"
At this moment, Tang San was no longer confident in his previous judgment. Because if they could be the boss, who would want to be a little brother?
It seemed he would have to pay attention in the future. Especially since that guy the God of Destruction was also watching.
But now, that Rakshasa God inheritor had already reached level ninety-nine, and even his spiritual power and physique were extremely powerful. Presumably, inheriting the Rakshasa God's divine throne was already close to success.
Now, "No matter what, I must make Xiao Qi speed up."
First, use Xiao Qi to hold back the Child of Destiny.
As Tang San's thoughts constantly crossed his mind, time in the mortal realm naturally passed by minute by minute.
For example right now, Chen Junting suddenly learned a piece of news that shocked him, yet didn't feel strange.
"Just a while ago, Shrek Academy decided to dispatch the Bright Phoenix Douluo to the Dou Ling Empire, seemingly to discuss and reach some cooperation with the Supreme Elder of the Tian Hun Empire, Shui Xiye."
It turned out that when Chen Junting's cultivation was difficult to increase, he sought out Sect Master Ning Bowen to discuss finding a suitable time to convene the major powers, announce the method of artificial soul bones, and advertise his titles as the "founder" of the Spirit Soul method, the creator of artificial soul rings, and the developer of artificial soul bones to the world.
Because he had to start collecting faith and condensing his divine throne.
Who would have thought, he learned such a piece of news from the Sect Master instead.
Shui Xiye? Reverse the name, and wouldn't it become Ye Xishui.
So, Chen Junting informed Ning Bowen of this possibility. However, what he got was Ning Bowen's dismissal.
"Actually, when we first learned of this person's name, we indeed held a trace of suspicion. But according to Du Busi of the Body Sect, the reason their Tian Hun Empire didn't make any further moves back then was because of his battle with Shui Xiye. The Martial Soul Shui Xiye revealed was also the Bright Phoenix. Since her Martial Soul is the Bright Phoenix, how could she be an Evil Soul Master?"
"After all, once the Bright Phoenix Martial Soul is also cultivated to this level, and a second Martial Soul is attached, it will definitely lead to a conflict between the Bright Phoenix and her original evil Martial Soul. Under these circumstances, at the very least she would be severely wounded, and at worst, she would suffer a fate worse than death under the conflict."
Under Ning Bowen's narration, Chen Junting, upon hearing "her Martial Soul is the Bright Phoenix," was one hundred percent certain that person was absolutely "Ye Xishui," without a doubt.
He was wondering, where did this Ye Xishui go? Unexpectedly, she had been hiding in the Dou Ling Empire all along.
In that case, besides "Ye Xishui," the other two who had no movement after attacking the Tian Hun Empire and the Star Luo Empire, "Zhong Liwu" and the Demon Empress, were probably also hiding in the Dou Ling Empire.
Furthermore, that Dou Ling Emperor who seized the throne might have also done the same thing as Xu Tianran: secretly supporting Evil Soul Masters, and then using their power to unify the continent.
But now, this group of guys were no longer simple Evil Soul Masters.
"Sect Master."
The sudden opening interrupted Ning Bowen's eloquent speech. The moment he looked up, he met Chen Junting's serious gaze, and at the same time, guessed his thoughts.
"You still think so?"
Chen Junting didn't answer, but instead asked: "Sect Master, has anyone ever proven that two Martial Souls with conflicting attributes cannot coexist?"
"This..."
Asked this, Ning Bowen suddenly hesitated. Has anyone?
Then next, Ning Bowen asked himself this while quickly skimming through Martial Soul-related knowledge in his mind. As a result, he found that it seemed it had never been proven.
Because the situation of Twin Martial Souls was inherently rare, and two conflicting Martial Souls were even rarer. And the origin of this saying was nothing more than because past Twin Martial Soul owners didn't know how to cultivate Twin Martial Souls, thus leading to tragic endings.
But now, this era was different. The cultivation method for Twin Martial Souls already existed, and Twin Martial Soul owners would no longer experience those tragic endings of the past. However, the consequences of those past failures were simply passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation due to the changing of the times.
Because of this, his subconscious almost made this judgment. If the facts were really as Chen Junting said...
The moment he figured out the consequences, he undoubtedly thought of the same view as Chen Junting. Even compared to these two, a more serious situation was that the Dou Ling Emperor had been thoroughly infiltrated by "Ye Xishui" and her group without even realizing it. This would also explain why, after establishing their joint organization, they hadn't made much progress regarding the Evil Soul Masters.
And if this was really the case, then it was bad. This meant the enemy had gained a whole extra decade of unhindered development time.
Strike! Must strike ruthlessly!
As for doubting whether Chen Junting's judgment was wrong? After Ning Bowen eliminated the most likely incorrect options, he chose to unconditionally believe Chen Junting's judgment: "Shui Xiye" was Ye Xishui.
"What do you decide to do?"
"Just make a trip directly."
Since he knew, this matter couldn't be dragged on any longer. It just so happened that his current strength plus the Battle Armor already made him the number one person below the god-level, plus the guarantee of the divine tool Immortal Execution Sword Array, even a level-100 Priest, he dared to challenge.
With the guarantee of strength, Chen Junting naturally made a decisive decision.
"Just you alone?"
Ning Bowen, who still didn't know exactly what step Chen Junting's strength had reached, couldn't help but frown. "How about I let Uncle Ye go with you? After all, there are three Ultimate experts there."
"No need, let Master guard the sect."
Chen Junting had already stood up, and his tone at this moment was like he was stating a trivial matter. "I will be back very soon."
The next second, he tore through space and disappeared. The movements between raising his hand and stepping all showed that this was an easy task.
"Sigh—" Seeing Chen Junting leave, Ning Bowen sighed for some unknown reason. After pondering for a moment, "I must notify Shrek Academy of this matter as soon as possible, and have them withdraw their people."
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