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Heaven Dou City.
As the evening drums just sounded, the news of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's destruction swept through the entire Heaven Dou Imperial City like a plague.
In the secret rooms of aristocratic mansions, crystal lamps illuminated faces filled with panic; even the washerwomen by the moat were whispering about this shocking news.
The next day at the morning court, jade hu tablets shattered on the palace floor.
Qian Renxue sat beside the empty dragon throne, feigning fury, and declared, "Investigate! Investigate thoroughly!"
The Crown Prince's enraged voice echoed through the Golden Throne Hall, yet it could not conceal the terror flickering in the eyes of the assembled ministers.
Even Marshal Ge Long, known for his decisive methods, now had his tightly clenched fists trembling slightly.
In the most renowned restaurant on Heaven Dou Street, merchants dared not even clack their abacus beads too loudly.
"I heard even Lightning Douluo…" The guest suddenly fell silent, cautiously glancing at the patrolling Heaven Dou guards outside the window.
After the court session, in the Crown Prince's study, Qian Renxue's fingertips lightly traced the newly delivered intelligence reports, and the candlelight danced on the faint, almost imperceptible smile at the corner of her lips.
Shrek Academy.
When the eight words "Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan destroyed" reached his ears, Yu Xiaogang's book "thudded" to the ground.
He staggered back two steps, his pupils contracting violently, his chapped lips trembling as he uttered a few broken syllables: "No… this… impossible…" Before he could finish, he collapsed like a broken puppet, his forehead hitting the stone steps hard, and blood instantly stained the book red.
Liu Erlong's crimson eyes seemed to be dripping blood.
She picked up Yu Xiaogang, whose face was ashen, and her fiery Fire Dragon Spirit erupted uncontrollably, incinerating all the surrounding vegetation to ashes.
"Get the carriage! Now! Immediately!" Amidst her roars, she kicked down the door of the dean's office.
Upon hearing this, Flender's owl-eye glasses slid to the tip of his nose, but he didn't even bother to push them up.
Soon, he hastily threw the academy's treasury key to Zhao Wuji, and the wings that suddenly unfurled behind him swept the table full of account books flying: "Old Zhao, the academy is yours!" Before his words finished, three figures had already soared into the sky, raising billowing dust.
Mid-air, Yu Xiaogang woke with a start from the jostling.
He clutched Liu Erlong's wrist tightly, his fingernails digging deep into her flesh: "Father… he…" His hoarse voice abruptly cut off, and the sudden gush of blood stained Liu Erlong's clothes.
In mid-air, Liu Erlong and Flender couldn't help but speed up their flight.
Moon Pavilion.
The gilded tea cup in Tang Yuehua's hand suddenly fell to the ground, and the scalding tea splashed onto her luxurious skirt, but she seemed oblivious.
The news of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's destruction was like an icy blade, slowly climbing up her spine to the back of her neck.
She abruptly stood up, her moon-white robes billowing like clouds in the wind: "Prepare the carriage! Immediately proceed to the Strength Clan!"
The carriage passed through the streets and alleys of Heaven Dou City, and the continuous discussions from outside the curtain poured into her ears.
Tang Yuehua clutched her sleeves tightly.
When the gilded carriage stopped in front of the Strength Clan's gate, Tang Yuehua's anxious heart slightly settled.
She saw that the outposts on the periphery of the clan territory were three times more numerous than usual, Tang Sect disciples patrolled back and forth, armed with Hidden Weapons, and a faint smell of gunpowder permeated the air.
Tai Tan had clearly prepared for the worst.
"Aunt."
Tang San's figure appeared at the end of the corridor, Twenty Four Moonlit Bridges glowing faintly at his waist.
In the young man's raised eyes, besides the expected respect, there was also a hint of chilling coldness.
"Little San, it seems you already know." Tang Yuehua gently stroked the hidden patterns on her sleeve, her voice three parts deeper than usual, "This storm, I'm afraid, has only just begun."
Tang San's Mysterious Jade Hand was faintly visible on his fingertips, and the Blue Silver Grass under the corridor moved without wind: "Aunt, don't worry, all Tang Sect hidden sentinels are already in place."
Tang San stepped half a pace forward, his voice extremely soft: "Aunt, you don't look so well."
Tang Yuehua raised a hand to lightly press her temples.
She gazed at her increasingly steady nephew, the worry in her eyes almost materializing: "Aunt is fine, it's just you…" Her words abruptly cut off, and the slender line of her neck tightened slightly.
Tang San led her to sit in a zitan armchair, and the Mysterious Heaven Skill's internal energy quietly flowed into her meridians: "Fortunately, the Tang Sect is located in Heaven Dou City." He glanced at the faint outline of the imperial palace visible outside the window, "No matter how rampant Spirit Hall is, they wouldn't dare to openly act in Heaven Dou City."
"What about the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School?" Tang Yuehua suddenly gripped the armrest.
"Elder Tai Tan has already gone to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School." Tang San flipped his hand to reveal a Tang Sect special signal flare, "I just received the signal, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School is fine." He looked meaningfully into the distance, "The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School is not far from Heaven Dou either."
Tang Yuehua looked at the faint mountain shadows outside the window, her voice as light as a sigh: "It's a pity, Dragon Valley is thousands of miles away, even if the Sword and Bone Douluo wanted to assist…"
Tang San's fingertips lightly tapped the zitan table: "Crown Prince just returned from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School and personally brought over a hundred craftsmen from the Imperial Construction Department to the Tang Sect." As he spoke, Tang San pointed towards the construction site outside the window.
Tang Yuehua's wide sleeve gently brushed: "At this moment, biding our time is the best strategy.
Since School Master Ning has agreed, all resources needed by the Tang Sect can be utilized."
Ripples appeared in the tea on the table, reflecting Tang San's slightly reddened eyes: "It's just… the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan… Teacher, he… at this moment…"
A soft, orchid-scented hand gently landed on his hair, and Tang Yuehua's voice was even gentler than the zither music of the Moon Pavilion: "Silly child, you now carry the lives of hundreds of disciples on your shoulders.
It's not too late to go see your teacher after you've turned those Hidden Weapons into the Tang Sect's bronze walls and iron fortresses."
Tang San took a deep breath and slowly said, "At this speed, all of Tang Sect's defensive works will surely be completed within half a month.
By then, I will personally go and bring Teacher back."
Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School.
The candle tears in the glazed lamps piled up like mountains, reflecting the lingering gloom within the deliberation hall.
In the nine-courtyard complex of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, patrolling disciples walked with heavier steps than usual, and the clinking of their jade pendants was particularly noticeable in the quiet hall.
Ning Fengzhi sat upright on the gilded main seat, his usually immaculate white robe unusually wrinkled.
The documents on the table piled up like snow, but he merely repeatedly caressed the thunder emblem representing the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan; this was brought back by Gu Rong himself from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
The air within the hall suddenly rippled like water, and Gu Rong's gaunt figure stepped out of thin air, his black robe still bearing a few lingering wisps of spatial turbulence.
Days of patrolling had left his eye sockets sunken, but his tense expression had finally eased somewhat.
"Uncle Gu, is there anything unusual?" Ning Fengzhi's fingertips unconsciously tapped the table, and the surface of the tea in the cup reflected his slightly furrowed brows.
Gu Rong's bony hand swept through the void, rippling out a circle of grayish-white spirit power: "This old man used spatial power to scout a hundred-li radius around the Sect." His hoarse voice carried fatigue, "There isn't even a suspicious fly."
Feng Zhi nodded and slowly said, "Let Uncle Jian take over for you for a few days.
You should get some good rest."
Gu Rong's expression relaxed as he slowly said, "Fengzhi, in this old man's opinion…" He suddenly lowered his voice, drawing a dry finger across his neck, "If those madmen truly wanted to act, they wouldn't have waited until now."
The tea spoon in Ning Fengzhi's hand suddenly "clinked" against the rim of the cup: "You mean… their destruction of Blue Lightning… could it be…"
"To show the monkeys?" Gu Rong's sinister gaze swept across the clouds outside the hall, and a chill suddenly ran up his spine, "Wait!" He suddenly grabbed Ning Fengzhi's wrist, "Ever since Tang Hao died here two years ago, that feeling of being spied upon hasn't stopped!"
"Uncle Gu…" Ning Fengzhi nodded, his voice as light as a sigh, "I also have this feeling.
From when we started funding the Tang Sect, to the destruction of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, it was only seven days in total." He traced the location of Dragon Valley on the map with his fingertip, "The power that could prevent even Lightning Douluo from sending out a distress signal, to flatten the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School… probably wouldn't even need half a day.
The reason they haven't moved against us is because we still have value to them."
Gu Rong's gaunt hand slammed onto the zitan table, making the teacups clatter: "Are we really going to bow to those executioners?"
Ning Fengzhi took out a scroll from a spirit tool and slowly unrolled it, revealing various Hidden Weapons blueprints before them, still stained with Tang San's personal annotations.
"Send these blueprints to Salas," he sighed, "and also present rare metals to the Supreme Pontiff Palace in the name of the Sect."
"Fengzhi!" Gu Rong felt somewhat stifled, and spatial power uncontrollably tore open several cracks, "These Hidden Weapons could cause immense threat; if given to Spirit Hall, once their Spirit Master army is equipped…"
Ning Fengzhi's hand suddenly grasped Gu Rong's wrist: "Precisely because of this, we must send them! Now, I'm not even sure if Spirit Hall will truly move against us, and you and Uncle Jian cannot possibly remain on guard like this forever, nor can the Sect disciples maintain this state indefinitely."
Ning Fengzhi's other hand, fingers deeply embedded in the zitan armrest, knuckles white from the effort.
He gazed at the glazed lamp on the hall's dome, his voice hoarse as if abraded by sandpaper: "Uncle Gu… I know better than anyone what this means.
But when it concerns the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, I dare not gamble.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School is already on the brink of a precipice."
"The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School is now like a glazed lamp in a storm," he lightly touched the jade pendant at his waist, a token of past School Masters, "Uncle Jian and you, and we, can naturally break through the encirclement, but those Sect disciples…"
A drop of cold sweat trickled down Gu Rong's wrinkled forehead.
He fell silent.
"Enough," Ning Fengzhi suddenly stood up, "You personally make a trip to the Heaven Dou Holy Temple." A smile, uglier than a cry, stretched across his lips, "Let them see the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School's sincerity."
Upon hearing this, Gu Rong's figure began to blur, stepping into the void and slowly disappearing, leaving behind only a soft sigh.
When the last trace of spatial fluctuation subsided, Ning Fengzhi suddenly looked out the window.
He vaguely saw Feng Xiao's all-seeing eyes.
"Will those eyes be yours?" he murmured to the empty hall.
Star Dou Great Forest.
Morning mist, like gauze, drifted over the thousand-year-old hemlocks at the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Feng Xiao's dark robes brushed against dew-laden ferns, startling a few phosphorescent, shimmering blue butterflies.
He inhaled deeply, the air, a blend of humus and resin scents, filling his lungs, his eyes reflecting this ancient, unchanging emerald ocean, and Feng Xiao couldn't help but feel in a good mood.
Thinking of what was about to happen, Feng Xiao's thumb unconsciously caressed the end of the Fuxi Zither, and the golden-patterned Blue Silver Grass swaying in his memory suddenly became clear—Feng Xiao sighed slightly, perhaps this was the destiny of a hundred-thousand-year Spirit Beast.
One step into the forest felt like entering another World.
Through powerful mental force, Feng Xiao could clearly sense some weaker Spirit Beasts around him.
Seven spirit rings circulated beneath his feet, and an invisible mental ripple spread out from him as the center.
Three hundred-year-old Nether Cats froze on the branches, their amber vertical pupils reflecting the figure playing the zither; in the distance, a thousand-year-old Mysterious Turtle at the bottom of the pond surfaced, its carapace patterns flickering with the zither music.
When the fifth note sounded, a certain thirty-thousand-year Ghost Vine King's tendrils quietly retracted into the shadows.
Feng Xiao's lips curved slightly; most of those ten-year or ten-thousand-year Spirit Beasts remained motionless, as if listening to Feng Xiao's zither music, naturally posing no trouble for Feng Xiao.
Feng Xiao was now also a Spirit Saint, and at this point, he fully possessed the strength to survive in the Star Dou Great Forest.
Even if he encountered powerful Spirit Beasts, he could fully retreat unharmed with his own strength.
The Star Dou Great Forest's boundless canopy, stretching for thousands of miles, shimmered with golden-green waves under the setting sun, and life-infused mist perpetually enveloped the ancient trees.
Feng Xiao's figure moved through the gnarled giant trees, and as his toes touched moss-covered rocks, he startled several resting Three-Eyed Demonic Foxes.
The patterns on the Fuxi Zither continuously glowed faintly, isolating any approaching poisonous miasma within three feet.
On a natural high platform formed by a lightning-struck tree, Feng Xiao finally stopped.
His seven spirit rings retracted in succession, startling away the lurking thousand-year Nether Wolf pack nearby.
The night wind brushed the zither strings, automatically playing a calming, clear melody.
Feng Xiao swallowed the last bite of dry rations, his fingertips sweeping across the Fuxi Zither strings, and seven spirit rings lit up beneath him in sequence.
Just as his Domain was about to unfold, a cold mental tendril suddenly pierced into his sea of consciousness—cold and sticky like a venomous snake flicking its tongue.
Feng Xiao furrowed his brow, and invisible mental ripples erupted in a fan shape.
All his mental force condensed into a beam, piercing the night like a sharp sword.
The original five-hundred-meter detection range instantly extended to one thousand five hundred meters under the unidirectional amplification, but the width was compressed into a narrow passage only wide enough for five people to walk abreast.
In his mental vision, over twenty dark figures moved like Gui Mei through the ancient trees.
Gray mist coiled around their feet, and each step landed precisely on the spirit power imprints left by those before them.
Feng Xiao's lips curved into an arc, and his fingertips lightly brushed the spirit tool at his waist.
A brilliant golden light flashed, and the Elder token engraved with the Seraphim emblem was already in his hand—it was precisely the honorary Elder credential of Spirit Hall personally bestowed by Bibi Dong.
Five hundred meters from Feng Xiao, the Spirit Hall team suddenly halted as if receiving some silent command.
Twenty Spirit Emperor-level powerhouses instantly dispersed, their Spirit blades flashing with cold light, and over ten towering ancient trees crashed to the ground, severed by the sharp spirit power.
A sharp glint flashed in Feng Xiao's eyes, and with a light tap of his toes, he transformed into a white afterimage, heading towards the direction where the trees had fallen.
The Fuxi Zither strings moved without wind, weaving an invisible sound wave protective net within a three-zhang radius around him, pulverizing all the splashing wood chips into dust.