"Are you suggesting that I strengthen ties with the Heaven Dou Empire, my lady?"
With this reminder, Ning Fengzhi immediately grasped the key point to break the deadlock.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School was located near the royal city of the Heaven Dou Empire in Seven Treasure City, which inherently established a deep connection with the Heaven Dou Empire. If both sides could bind their interests, they might indeed be able to counteract Spirit Hall.
After all, Spirit Hall was merely a force of soul masters, while the two great empires represented vast national machinery encompassing economics, agriculture, livelihoods, and mineral resources—far beyond what Spirit Hall could compare to.
Either of these two machines, once set in motion, would pose a significant challenge to Spirit Hall, especially in a prolonged conflict. If time were allowed to drag on slightly, Spirit Hall would struggle without money or food.
The two great empires lacked only high-end combat power. As long as the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School was willing to assist the Heaven Dou Empire, it could compensate for the lack of high-end strength within the empire and provide them with the capital needed to contend against Spirit Hall.
"The idea is sound; Spirit Hall indeed wouldn't dare to directly attack either of the two empires. They even sent Qian Renxue to replace Xue Qinghe in an attempt to control the entire Heaven Dou Empire through a 'cat swapping for a prince' scheme."
"Unfortunately, my teacher still doesn't fully understand Spirit Hall. Their high-end strength is not as simple as it appears; aside from the Hall of Pope, there is also the Hall of Worship where six Super Douluos and one Limit Douluo reside. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School only has two Super Douluos and cannot compete."
While Xu Yang silently listened to the conversation between Ning Fengzhi and Madam Ning, he inwardly scoffed but had no intention of interjecting. He vividly remembered the previous incident and felt confident that he had many ways to preserve the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School.
For instance, regarding celestial herbs—he could give one each to Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo to enhance their strengths; with their increased power, they would be sufficient to withstand any attacks from Spirit Hall.
"What do you think about taking Crown Prince Xue Qinghe as my disciple?" Ning Fengzhi suddenly proposed.
"Why not Second Prince Xue Luochuan? It seems that Xue Ye is clearly more inclined for him to become the crown prince; there are already rumors circulating in the palace!" Madam Ning responded with some confusion.
Currently, Emperor Xue Ye had four sons: Crown Prince Xue Qinghe, Second Prince Xue Luochuan, Third Prince Xue Haizang, and Fourth Prince Xue Lang. Since Xue Lang was still very young, he was not considered. Among the remaining three, Xue Qinghe was not necessarily the most outstanding.
Second Prince Xue Luochuan possessed remarkable intelligence and strategic acumen; he had an impressive sensitivity in politics and was the best candidate for inheriting the throne. Meanwhile, Third Prince Xue Haizang had good soul master talent with innate soul power reaching level nine and was expected to become a Titled Douluo—Emperor Xue Ye had invested considerable effort into his cultivation.
The Swan Martial Spirit was not a lowly martial spirit; while it might not be on par with top-tier martial spirits, it was still a rare advanced martial spirit. Otherwise, the royal family wouldn't have allowed the Xue family to hold power for so many years.
Although Crown Prince Xue Qinghe was decent, he appeared somewhat mediocre compared to these two princes and would struggle to compete against them.
"Precisely because of that I choose Xue Qinghe! Second Prince Xue Luochuan is too clever and fundamentally a member of royalty who only sees interests. If I help him become emperor, it may be difficult to manage and could hinder our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School's development."
"And Third Prince Xue Haizang indeed possesses exceptional talent; I believe Emperor Xue Ye wants him as a pillar of Heaven Dou Empire rather than wasting time on the throne!"
"Thus supporting Crown Prince Xue Qinghe is our best choice. While he has capabilities, he is not mediocre; compared to the other two princes, he needs our support from Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School even more."
"Even if we can't make him crown prince, we can still show Emperor Xue Ye our stance—that Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School is willing to support Heaven Dou Empire!"
Ning Fengzhi elaborated on his reasoning. Both Xu Yang and Madam Ning understood clearly that this meant Crown Prince Xue Qinghe aligned better with their interests.
However, all this depended on whether Crown Prince Xue Qinghe remained truly himself; at this moment he likely had already transformed into Qian Renxue. Even if he hadn't yet done so, Qian Renxue had already infiltrated closely beside him.
The idea of Spirit Hall wanting to unify the continent wasn't something Bibi Dong conceived alone; it had been in motion since before Qian Xunji's time when Tang Hao severely injured him. It was only due to both empires accumulating strength that they hadn't acted until Qian Renxue's birth.
Qian Renxue's birth was quite unfortunate; her father Qian Xunji was ambitious and only cared about her terrifying potential for unifying the continent while her mother Bibi Dong loathed Qian Xunji deeply—she didn't like her daughter either and even felt disgusted by her.
This led Qian Renxue to spend very few years with her parents while being raised primarily by her grandfather Qian Daoliu.
Thus it seemed likely that when Qian Renxue's soul power reached a level capable of absorbing the Cloud Dream Bone from Angel God's equipment, she was sent off to Heaven Dou Empire—wherein this bone would help disguise her soul power and martial spirit with intentions of replacing Xue Qinghe.
"Since that's settled then let's have some suitable candidates attend Heaven Dou Royal Academy. When Yang'er reaches an appropriate age, he can enroll as well; this will demonstrate our intentions from Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School," Madam Ning suggested again.
"Hmm~!"
Xu Yang felt bewildered by how suddenly he became part of this conversation while enjoying his meal but then felt ecstatic inside—this might be his chance to connect with Dugu Yan at Heaven Dou Royal Academy!
Hearing this proposal made Ning Fengzhi turn his attention toward Xu Yang as he stroked his chin thoughtfully. After a few seconds he replied: "I initially planned on keeping Yang'er's identity hidden for some time; now it seems his identity will need to be revealed sooner than expected..."
Xu Yang felt confused at first about what was wrong with his identity; shouldn't everyone already know by now?
But soon he understood.
In the following period, Ning Fengzhi frequently brought Xu Yang along for various events hosted by Heaven Dou Empire—gatherings, auctions, royal celebrations...
Everyone grew curious about this little boy suddenly appearing beside Ning Fengzhi. Whenever someone inquired about him, Ning Fengzhi would respond that this was his newly accepted disciple.
At that moment Xu Yang realized what Ning Fengzhi was doing: he was building momentum for him! If Xu Yang were merely an ordinary disciple of Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School—even if he possessed high innate soul power—without certain strength behind him no one would care who he was; he'd just be an ant easily squashed at any moment.
However being Ning Fengzhi's disciple changed everything; just this single identity drew attention from other factions. Being frequently seen alongside such an esteemed figure indicated that Ning Fengzhi valued this disciple highly. When Xu Yang eventually entered Heaven Dou Royal Academy for study later on it would signal that Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School supported Heaven Dou Empire.
"Look! I've allowed my most valued disciple into Heaven Dou Royal Academy—doesn't that show my willingness to support Heaven Dou Empire?!"
(End of Chapter)