Inside the hall, on the left side.
Chen Xin’s silver hair gleamed with a cold, pale luster under the candlelight.
The air within three feet around him had dropped below freezing.
“Hmph.”
A cold snort escaped his thin lips.
“Arrogant.”
That single word of judgment.
Yet, when it left his mouth, the young Soul Master felt the clothes on his back instantly soaked through with cold sweat.
“Do they truly think our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect is a soft persimmon to be squeezed?” Chen Xin’s voice was as faint as a distant breeze, deliberate, each word enunciated slowly.
“They can’t even bother to come up with a decent excuse before provoking us.”
He lifted his eyelids slightly, his gaze unfocused as it settled somewhere on the ceiling.
“It seems Old Bone and I haven’t made a move in too long.
Our deterrence has faded.”
Gu Rong’s withered face turned toward Chen Xin.
The two exchanged a glance.
“Heh.”
“Heh heh.”
Two cold laughs sounded almost simultaneously.
One was raspy, like wind whistling through rotten wood; the other was clear and sharp, like the ring of a sword.
The young Soul Master stood wedged between the two Titled Douluo, feeling like a mere pebble crushed between two icebergs.
Sweat trickled down from his temples.
His lips moved twice, unsure if he should continue speaking.
“Uncle Sword, Uncle Bone.”
Ning Fengzhi’s voice came through.
Steady, neither hurried nor slow.
The gazes of the two Titled Douluo shifted to him simultaneously.
Ning Fengzhi’s eyes were as calm and deep as a still pond.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions too quickly.”
He turned and walked unhurriedly back to the Sect Master’s seat, but did not sit down.
Placing one hand on the armrest, he turned sideways to face Chen Xin and Gu Rong.
“There is a key point in what this young man reported that you both overlooked.”
He raised a finger.
“Rongrong has taken that person as her master.”
A pause.
“Taking him as a master means Rongrong believes the words spoken by that fortune-telling charlatan.”
Ning Fengzhi’s gaze deepened for a moment.
He knew his daughter too well.
That girl had been proud as a peacock since childhood.
For someone to make her bow her head and acknowledge them as a master, they must either possess something that truly convinced her, or they must have deceived her to the extreme.
Whichever it was, that young man was not simple.
“So, let’s hear the rest first.” Ning Fengzhi tapped his index finger twice on the armrest.
“Who knows, perhaps it truly is a method to advance the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda?”
Gu Rong opened his mouth to speak.
Ning Fengzhi raised a hand, cutting him off.
“If it’s true, what does it matter if we’ve been schemed against?
If it’s not…”
The corner of his eye lifted slightly, and a faint curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“Then we can reassert our authority.
There’s no hurry.”
Gu Rong closed his mouth.
Though hot-tempered, he was not foolish.
Ning Fengzhi’s logic was impeccable.
Chen Xin also fell silent again.
His silver brows slightly furrowed as he closed his eyes once more.
The great hall fell quiet for three seconds. This story is hosted at novelping.com.
Ning Fengzhi’s gaze returned to the young Soul Master.
“Continue.”
The young Soul Master swallowed hard, finally getting the chance to speak fully.
“The young lady was lured by that person’s claims about advancing the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda and signed a handwritten master-disciple contract.”
His voice gradually steadied as he began to recount the events methodically in chronological order.
“After signing, the young lady regretted it.
She felt the other party was untrustworthy and demanded to dissolve the contract.
But that person refused.
They were deadlocked for a while, and in the end, that person took the young lady to the place he was renting.”
“How shabby?” Gu Rong’s voice suddenly interjected.
The young Soul Master looked up at him and answered honestly, “Extremely shabby.
A wooden shack deep in an alley—the door panel had gaps wide enough to fit three fingers, the windows had holes that hadn’t been repaired.
From my observation, it looked like it could collapse at any moment.”
“Hmph.” Chen Xin’s voice came from the left, his eyes still closed.
“A truly capable person would live in such a place?”
Few words, but the meaning was clear.
Doubt.
Ning Fengzhi didn’t respond to this remark.
He simply looked at the young Soul Master and nodded.
“And then?”
“Then, to convince the young lady to accept him as her master, that person demonstrated his Soul Skill inside the shack.
He said he could teach it to the young lady.”
Ning Fengzhi’s fingers paused.
“A teachable Soul Skill?” he repeated, his brow imperceptibly furrowing.
“A Self-Created Spirit Skill?”
“It seems he really is a Soul Master,” Gu Rong’s expression changed, shedding his previous mocking demeanor.
“Not an ordinary person?”
“Hmm.” Chen Xin’s silver eyebrows twitched slightly.
“Interesting.”
Ning Fengzhi waved his hand.
“Go on.
What did he demonstrate?”
The young Soul Master took a deep breath.
“I observed the entire process from the shadows.
That person first demonstrated a Soul Skill called Wind-Queen’s Mystic Gate.”
He began to describe it, his voice growing tighter as he spoke.
“That Soul Skill could manipulate the five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
It could release flames, summon water currents, form ice blocks, control earth and stone, and unleash lightning.
It could also control wind, emit light, and even condense dark-attribute energy.”
He paused.
“And it wasn’t just manipulation.
That person himself could transform.
Right in front of the young lady, he turned into a bird, a snake, a rabbit, and even transformed his entire body into a human-shaped flame, then into a transparent water form.
Finally, he turned into a large bird and spat out a wind blade from his mouth, cutting a hole directly through the roof.”
The air in the hall froze.
Three pairs of eyes fixed on the young Soul Master.
Gu Rong’s lips moved twice, but no sound came out.
Chen Xin’s eyes were fully open now.
In those usually indifferent, almost emotionless pupils, a rare gravity surfaced.
Ning Fengzhi’s knuckles turned white as he gripped the armrest of his chair.
“Are you certain?” Ning Fengzhi’s voice dropped half a tone.
“All of this was from a single Soul Skill?”
“Certain.
I repeatedly confirmed it.
When that person released all those abilities, there was only one fluctuation of Soul Power.
It was one Soul Skill.”
“Impossible,” Gu Rong murmured.
But his tone no longer held the certainty it had before.
Ning Fengzhi remained silent.
His fingers began tapping the armrest again, twice as fast as before.
“And then?”
The young Soul Master’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
“After Wind-Queen’s Mystic Gate, that person proceeded to demonstrate other Soul Skills.”
He began listing them one by one.
“The second was called Heaven-reaching Record.
It could draw various talismans in the air, each with different effects.
From my observation, there were six: an earth-escape shield, rain-summoning clouds, high-temperature evaporation, calming the mind and spirit, cleansing clothes and body, and strength enhancement.
Each effect corresponded to a different symbol, usable immediately after drawing.”
“The third is called Divine Mechanism Hundred-Refinements.
It can mold ordinary wood into living creatures.
I personally witnessed that person sculpt wooden rhinoceroses, wooden eagles, and wooden horse-fish, all capable of moving autonomously, as if alive.”
“The fourth is called Dual-Perfect Hands.
That person immediately cut open the back of his own hand with a knife, exposing the bone.
Then, with a single press of his palm, it healed completely in two seconds, leaving not even a trace of blood.”
The young Soul Master’s voice trembled as he spoke.
“For every Soul Skill, that person said he could teach it to the young lady.”
With the final sentence spoken, silence fell over the hall.
A dead quietness lingered for a full five seconds.
Gu Rong was the first to break the silence.
“What you’re saying—is it true?”
His voice was uncharacteristically low, devoid of its earlier agitation.
Instead, it carried a sense of bewilderment, as if he had witnessed something utterly beyond comprehension.
The young Soul Master knelt down.
“I stake my life on it—every word is true!”
“All of them can be taught?” Chen Xin’s voice came from the side.
His tone was flat, but his silver brows were furrowed to an unprecedented depth.
“That person said so directly to the young lady.”
Chen Xin fell silent.
Ning Fengzhi finally spoke.
His voice was slow, as if he were weighing each word carefully.
“A single person possesses Power Attack System Soul Skills, Control System Soul Skills, and Support and Healing System Soul Skills simultaneously.
Each Soul Skill is so varied and intricate as to be unimaginable.
And all of them can be taught.”
He turned to look at Chen Xin and Gu Rong.
“Uncles, when did such a figure emerge on the continent?”
Gu Rong and Chen Xin exchanged glances.
Their eyes held the same unspoken answer.
They didn’t know.
“If those are all Self-Created Spirit Skills,” Chen Xin’s voice carried a rare solemnity, “this person’s talent likely surpasses anything I have ever known.”
“But if they are not Self-Created Spirit Skills,” Ning Fengzhi continued his thought, “then they must be his innate Soul Ring Skills.”
He lowered his gaze slightly.
“To possess so many Soul Ring Skills, he must at least be a Soul King or Soul Emperor with five or six rings.”
“A Soul Emperor in his teens?” Gu Rong’s lips twitched.