When Ning Fengyu was led into the core conference hall, even though he had steeled himself, his spirit sank at the scene before him.
The grand hall was brightly lit. At the head of the table sat Wisdom Brain Douluo and Glowing Feather Douluo. Next to them sat Chen Zhen and his son, Chen Yi. Further along were Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo.
Ning Fengyu had long suspected a close relationship between the Body Sect and the Spirit Hall, yet seeing it revealed so openly made him feel suffocating despair.
"Elder Ning, why have you come here so late at night?" Chen Yi asked, masking his intent with a half-smile as he looked at the entering Ning Fengyu.
Everyone in the hall, including Glowing Feather Douluo and Chrysanthemum-Ghost Douluo, watched Ning Fengyu with keen interest. It was no secret that the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect and the Body Sect had been at odds for some time, so his coming alone tonight made his motivation clear.
Ning Fengyu felt their gazes as if he were bearing a thousand-pound burden. Taking a deep breath, he ignored those stares, walked to the center of the hall, and knelt down on both knees.
"I have not come for the Sect. I come for the Ning bloodline, to seek a path for survival."
He set 'the Ning Clan' above 'the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect'.
"Oh?" Chen Yi leaned forward, lightly tapping his seat's armrest, his tone indifferent. "The Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect has two peak experts and the fame of Sword and Bone Douluo shakes the world. You are at your peak—so why would you come to beg for our mercy?"
"Elder Ning, why do you say this?"
Ning Fengyu pressed his forehead to the floor, his voice thick with repressed pain and desperation.
"Young Sect Master Chen, the Ning Clan intends your sect no harm. All the conflict started with Ning Fengzhi's personal scheming—the rest of the Ning are innocent victims!"
Chen Yi shook his head coldly. "Ning Fengyu, do you really not understand why Ning Fengzhi is so determined?"
Ning Fengyu's body trembled violently and his face paled.
He knew well that Ye Clan of the Nine Heart Begonia Sect had long been tied to the Body Sect. In recent years, their alliance had spread across the continent. Should the Body Sect absorb the Ye Clan, it could spell doom for either the Body Sect or the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect.
"Moreover," Chen Yi's voice sounded again, stabbing at Ning Fengyu's heart like an icicle, "Haven't you already arranged an escape route—Vast Sea City?"
Ning Fengyu suddenly looked up, eyes brimming with uncontrollable fear and shock.
The Ning Clan's most promising bloodline had secretly been relocated to Vast Sea City, to be ferried by sea to distant islands—a last hope for the clan's survival.
Could it be that the Body Sect had already discovered this long ago? Just how terrifying is their intelligence network?
Ning Fengyu had underestimated the power of the Body Sect's informants—they had not, by chance, breached the very core of the Seven Treasures Sect, but some years ago, after the "Whale Glue Incident," the Body Sect focused much of their development and infiltration on the great ocean cities. Their influence in Vast Sea City grew like a silent tide.
Even while the Ning Clan thought they were secretly moving disciples, every action was already under Body Sect surveillance.
"So then," Chen Yi's tone grew ice-cold—revealing naked killing intent for the first time in front of the Seven Treasures Sect—
"Why should we keep you alive? Why should we give you a way to live?"
Ning Fengyu shuddered at these words, feeling his final psychological defenses shatter beneath blow after blow.
Against absolute power and a foe who saw through everything, he knew no plea, explanation, or even innocence could save him.
In utter despair, he crawled several steps forward, kowtowing before Chen Yi and the chief elder, his voice hoarse and shrill:
"Young Sect Master Chen, Grand Elder! The Ning Clan is still useful! Please, let the Ning Clan live!"
Realizing that even their last avenue of escape had been blocked, Ning Fengyu's last hope died. Now, his only option was to offer up whatever value the clan had left.
"The Seven Treasure Sect—The Ning Clan's wealth is beyond measure! Countless gold soul coins, rare mines, soul tools, precious materials—all this can be given to your noble sect! We'll devote everything to the Body Sect's cause!"
"Fool!" spat Chen Zhen standing to the side, sneering contemptuously.
"If we destroy you, all these will be ours. Why would we need you to offer them?"
Ning Fengyu paused, then locked pleading eyes with Chen Yi.
"Young Sect Master, the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda is famed for support. Because of its martial soul's limits, our clan can never reach Titled Douluo. We exist only as a support force, never a threat—merely tools, the safest vassals imaginable!"
Chen Yi replied without expression:
"Yes, your Seven Treasures Pagoda's support is indeed formidable, and it is true you can't reach the Titled Douluo level. But… there's still a faint possibility, isn't there?"
Seeing Chen Yi's unyielding face, Ning Fengyu's heart plummeted to the abyss. He turned a desperate last gaze to the silent Grand Elder.
At last, the old man set his teacup down, the sound of porcelain on wood echoing through the silent hall.
"…Very well." The Grand elder's voice was calm. "Considering you still possess self-awareness and a willingness to be useful, we will let your Ning Clan retain a spark of life."
At those words, Ning Fengyu's grey eyes, like a drowning man clutching driftwood, suddenly filled with joy.
"However…" The Grand elder immediately continued,
"I want to see your sincerity. Real sincerity."
Ning Fengyu was stunned for a moment, then, clinging to hope, replied:
"Understood! I'll bring the loyal core members of the Ning Clan, as well as the Sect's property ledgers and secret vault keys—"
"No." The Grand elder interrupted, eyes calm beneath his green robes.
"You will soon return to Martial City."
Ning Fengyu did not understand, looking confused.
"In three days."
"On a snowy night, Heaven's Emperor will ride the Dragon Throne back to the heavens. On that day, I want Ning Fengzhi, Sword, and Bone all to attend in person and pay respects."
Ning Fengyu's pupils shrank to pinpoints, a chill running from coccyx to crown.
He understood!
The Body Sect—or rather, the two powers before him—intended, within three days, to unite and assassinate Emperor Xue Ye of Heaven Dou, and on that same day, annihilate the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect!
"You may refuse." The Grand Elder's tone remained unhurried. "We do not force you. At worst, the battlefield simply shifts to your Steven Treasure City. The result is the same."
To fight at Steven Treasure City… That would mean the combined army of the Body Sect and Spirit Hall would attack the very headquarters of the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect.
By that time, all would be lost—the Ning Clan would not even leave ashes behind.
Ning Fengyu gave a bitter laugh, filled with endless sorrow and despair. He closed his eyes, reopened them, now only a numb stillness in his gaze.
"…I will do my best," he rasped, voice feeble as a dying bellows. "No… In three days, Ning Fengzhi, Sword, and Bone will all be present."
He knew he had no other choice.
In order to preserve even the faintest hope—and to prevent the total erasure of the Ning lineage—he would have to personally send his sect leader and two lords into the abyss.
The Grand elder, treating it as just another trivial transaction, barely nodded. "Go."
Ning Fengyu, like a man exhausted to the core, struggled to his feet and staggered out the door—vanishing into the night, looking as if he'd aged decades in an instant.
After Ning Fengyu left, the hall fell silent again.
Chen Yi turned to the Grand Elder, suspicion and confusion on his brow.
"Weeds must be uprooted, or they'll grow again in spring," was a principle the elder had always taught him.
Why spare the Ning Clan—a clan of over a thousand years' heritage? Even a remnant ember could one day be a threat. Why give them an escape?
"Xiao Yi, remember this…"
"You may kill a person, but you cannot kill a martial soul."
"Even if weeds are burned, as long as soil and seeds remain, sooner or later they'll sprout again. You can massacre the Ning Clan today, but a thousand years later, a new Seven Treasures Pagoda soul master might rise again."
"Instead, let some known branches survive—the manner and number of survivors is for us to control."
"This is true 'control'."
He added, a strange light in his eyes:
"And what I spoke of… was the 'spark'."
…
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