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Ning Fengzhi took out a storage-type soul-guided device and released over a dozen soul bones.
These soul bones emitted dazzling light, all of them ten-thousand-year-level or higher. However, Li Luochen could sense that most were only twenty to thirty thousand years old. Among them was one fifty-thousand-year soul bone, two forty-thousand-year ones, and the rest ranged between twenty and thirty thousand years.
Li Luochen had extremely high standards—his own full set of hundred-thousand-year soul bones was proof of that. What? Wasn't his Golden Radiance Left Leg Bone originally sixty thousand years old? Now it had reached a hundred thousand years. Moreover, soul bones dropped from the same soul ring often had excellent effects.
Still, Ning Fengzhi bringing out so many ten-thousand-year soul bones showed he had truly brought out his entire stash. What surprised Li Luochen even more was that the fifty-thousand-year soul bone was actually a torso bone? That was something.
It seemed Ning Fengzhi was genuinely eager for this trade—it was quite a significant investment. But it still wasn't enough. Li Luochen hadn't even brought out his soul-guided devices yet. These soul bones were likely just the opening offer.
Ning Fengzhi was trying to exchange all these soul bones for both Li Luochen's Beautiful Silk Pill and soul-guided devices—a clever move. For a moment, Li Luochen almost agreed, but he decided to think twice before acting. It seemed the saying "think thrice before you act" still held true.
"Lord Ning, why don't you try taking the pill first? Once you've succeeded, we can proceed with our real trade. Let me take a look at the soul bones for now."
Li Luochen smiled as he spoke to Ning Fengzhi, then used his spirit power to bring the soul bones closer to himself. Dugu Bo had never seen so many ten-thousand-year soul bones gathered in one place, while You Tianshang remained expressionless—nothing surprised him after having entered the Spirit Hall's treasure vault.
The Spirit Hall had accumulated countless soul bones, including several hundred-thousand-year ones. Unfortunately, none of them suited him—most were light-attribute hundred-thousand-year soul bones, with no wind-attribute ones at all.
Most of the soul bones stored by the Spirit Hall were dropped by successive generations of Spirit Hall elders upon their deaths. The Spirit Hall had been around for a millennium, and countless Title Douluos had served as elders. The number of soul bones they left behind was staggering.
Additionally, the Spirit Hall's successive generations of Judgment Elders had wiped out numerous spirit master families, collecting a vast number of soul bones in the process. These were all resources of the Spirit Hall. However, to access them required approval from both the Elder Hall and the Offering Hall—even the Pope would find it difficult to use them without permission.
Of course, these restrictions applied mainly to Bibi Dong, an outsider who became Pope. If Qian Xunji had been in power, he could have taken whatever soul bones he wanted. For example, when Bibi Dong was still a Holy Maiden, Qian Xunji had bestowed upon her a ninety-thousand-year spirit-immunity skull bone (author's added detail).
Thanks to this soul bone, Bibi Dong had been able to resist the Killing City's murderous aura and complete her trial there in less time than Tang Hao.
This demonstrated the importance of soul bones. Ning Fengzhi likely still had more soul bones hidden on him as his final bargaining chips. These were just the vanguard. Li Luochen wasn't in a rush—he would wait for Ning Fengzhi to slowly reveal everything.
Among the soul bones were a fifty-thousand-year Scarlet Flame Soaring Heaven Torso Bone, a forty-thousand-year Dark Gold Bear Right Arm Bone, a forty-thousand-year Scarlet Flame Dragon Right Arm Bone, a thirty-thousand-year White-headed Vulture Left Leg Bone, a thirty-thousand-year White-feathered Flying Eagle Left Arm Bone… All were top-tier soul bones.
At this moment, Ning Fengzhi took the golden pill and handed it to Sword Douluo Chen Xin for inspection. After nodding, Sword Douluo used his spiritual power to examine it carefully, then whispered to Ning Fengzhi that it seemed fine.
Li Luochen and the others observed Ning Fengzhi's cautious behavior. Such prudence was typical of a sly fox like Ning Fengzhi. Li Luochen didn't say anything—it would have been strange if he hadn't inspected it.
After receiving confirmation from Sword Douluo, Ning Fengzhi swallowed the Beautiful Silk Pill and sat cross-legged to absorb its effects.
As Ning Fengzhi began absorbing the pill, he sat cross-legged to refine its power. His Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda martial soul automatically activated, and the seven-colored pagoda glowed brilliantly.
The Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda began transforming, gradually growing an eighth layer. The initially illusory eighth layer solidified, perfectly fusing to become the Eight Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda. But it didn't stop there—the pagoda began growing a ninth layer, though it disappeared shortly after forming.
The ninth layer appeared faint and insubstantial. Both Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo, as well as Li Luochen, had seen Ning Rongrong's Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda, whose nine layers were solid and stable. In contrast, Ning Fengzhi's ninth layer was faint and ghost-like.
It seemed Ning Fengzhi lacked the innate talent to evolve into a perfect Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda like Ning Rongrong. However, this wouldn't hinder him from breaking through to the Title Douluo level—it just meant his limit in this lifetime might be around level ninety-one.
On the other hand, if Ning Rongrong continued to have good fortune, a single hundred-thousand-year soul ring could potentially elevate her to level ninety-eight. Moreover, Li Luochen knew that Ning Rongrong was destined to become the Nine-Colored Goddess.
After all, she and Oscar were already close. Oscar was destined to become the God of Food, and as his girlfriend—and future wife—Ning Rongrong would naturally inherit the mantle of the Nine Colored Goddess.
After all, the God of Food and the Nine Colored Goddess were a divine couple. But these developments were still far off—Oscar and Ning Rongrong's potential for godhood had only just begun to emerge.
An hour later, Ning Fengzhi was nearing the end of absorbing the pill's effects, much faster than Ning Rongrong. After all, Ning Fengzhi was already a seventy-nine-level Spirit Sage with profound spirit power, so absorption naturally went quicker.
Soon after, Ning Fengzhi opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was his martial soul—an eight-layer solid pagoda with a faint ninth layer. Should it be called the Eight Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda or the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda? It no longer mattered.
Ning Fengzhi had finally broken through the bottleneck that had plagued him for over a decade. He had successfully reached level eighty. He had tried everything to break through to level eighty—rare treasures, soul bones—but to no avail.
However, all that accumulated spirit power had remained within him. Now that the bottleneck was broken, the stored spirit power began to grow. Ning Fengzhi felt that once he obtained his eighth soul ring, his spirit power would increase by several levels. After all, he had spent nearly a decade in fruitless cultivation before focusing on managing the sect's affairs.
The joy in Ning Fengzhi's eyes was impossible to hide, though he maintained some composure in front of others. If he were alone, he would have laughed aloud and jumped for joy.
Sword Douluo: "Congratulations, Lord Ning."
Bone Douluo: "Indeed, congratulations on your breakthrough."
The two guardian Douluos of the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect were also happy for Ning Fengzhi. After all, the sect was their home, and Ning Fengzhi was their junior. Together, the three of them had transformed the sect from the third-ranked sect in the world to the second. (Secondary setting.)
"Congratulations, Lord Ning. Then, shall we proceed to the next step of our trade?"
Li Luochen suddenly spoke up.
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