"Hmm! As members of the royal family, it's normal to have pride ingrained in their bones. You may not like them, but you must understand them. As for their lack of dedication to cultivation, that's something you cannot emulate. In the end, Douluo Continent is centered around soul masters and strength. The reason why the two great empires cannot unify the continent, apart from factors related to Spirit Hall and our Upper Three Sects, is because they lack high-end combat power, which is insufficient to determine the outcome of wars…"
Ning Fengzhi spoke extensively to Xu Yang, conveying the philosophy of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School: a thirst for talent, learning to "invest," and meticulous planning for the future. This strategy is one of the main reasons why the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School remains one of the Upper Three Sects.
Unfortunately, this time Ning Fengzhi invested incorrectly. Xue Qinghe is about to be replaced by Qian Renxue, rendering his efforts essentially futile.
...
Elsewhere, Qian Renxue had just returned to her residence. Sitting on the sofa, she slowly spoke into the air.
"She Shu, investigate Ning Fengzhi's newly accepted disciple Xu Yang. I want all the information about him!"
As her words fell, a middle-aged man stepped out of the darkness. The man was over two meters tall, with a slender frame as straight and sharp as a spear.
"Yes, young master!"
She Long nodded in agreement without saying much and disappeared into the darkness in an instant.
"Ci Shu, prepare for replacing Xue Qinghe. My current identity needs to die publicly."
"Young master, why?!"
This startled Ci Xue, another Title Douluo hidden in the shadows. He couldn't sit still and appeared directly to question her. This deviated slightly from their plan; logically speaking, they still needed to remain undercover for some time until they thoroughly understood Xue Qinghe's situation before acting.
"That Xu Yang's martial soul resonated with mine. Although I promptly used my Cloud Phantom Soul Bone to sever this connection, there's no guarantee he won't tell Ning Fengzhi about that momentary feeling and investigate my identity. Therefore, we need to accelerate our plan.
But don't worry, Ci Shu. I've already figured out Xue Qinghe's situation and am absolutely confident in replacing him!"
Ci Xue understood now. No wonder the young master wanted to investigate that child named Xu Yang—it was because of martial soul resonance. A martial soul capable of forming a fusion technique with the six-winged angel would be a great asset for her future conquest of Heaven Dou Empire.
Furthermore, letting her current identity "die" was necessary; otherwise, if Ning Fengzhi forcibly took her away using strong measures, her identity would undoubtedly be exposed. Although having this identity die might seem suspicious, Spirit Hall's methods could still conceal it well enough that Ning Fengzhi would only find traces at most.
Additionally, since Ning Fengzhi was not yet familiar with Xue Qinghe's personality traits, once replaced, he wouldn't be able to detect any flaws. Occasional differences in behavior would likely be dismissed as unique quirks of Xue Qinghe.
"I see. Then I will proceed immediately. Young master, you must also prepare yourself!"
After speaking, Ci Xue disappeared into the darkness just like She Long.
A week later, Xu Yang and Ning Fengzhi arrived in Heaven Dou City again. After entering the imperial palace, they went to Honghe Palace—the residence where Xue Qinghe currently lived.
When Xu Yang saw Xue Qinghe again, he noticed that his guards had already been replaced.
"Has the replacement already succeeded?! But I still need confirmation!" Watching Xue Qinghe approach slowly, Xu Yang had a vague suspicion in his heart. Smiling as he approached him softly: "Junior brother Xue, have you changed your guards?"
"I knew you'd ask that!" Qian Renxue felt smug inside but responded with a smile on her face: "Yes! He said yesterday that he wanted to return home to visit his family, so I let him leave! Is there something you need from him?"
"No, not really—just curious since junior brother suddenly changed guards."
Xu Yang was now certain that the person in front of him was Qian Renxue pretending to be Xue Qinghe.
Since that was the case, he decided to get closer to this "junior brother."
(●ˇˇ●)
Xu Yang couldn't help but reveal a slight smile at the corner of his mouth—a sight that sent shivers down Qian Renxue's spine.
The teaching location was Xue Qinghe's study room. Acting as if he wanted to listen attentively to their teacher's lecture, Xu Yang directly sat down next to Qian Renxue without hesitation—so close that their sides were practically touching.
This made Qian Renxue feel extremely uncomfortable; she had always sat alone before and never allowed anyone near her side. She instinctively wanted to push Xu Yang away but held back upon remembering her current identity.
As time passed slightly longer than expected, she gradually grew accustomed to Xu Yang's presence and no longer resisted as much. She even felt that there was something uniquely attractive about him—though she couldn't pinpoint exactly why.
Xu Yang felt similarly drawn toward her but vaguely guessed what might be causing it.
It was martial soul resonance creating mutual attraction between them. If such feelings existed between them now—it meant their martial souls were highly compatible—possibly even reaching 100%.
Only such compatibility could create mutual attraction between two individuals.
Thinking about how Qian Renxue's appearance was described in the original story made Xu Yang not reject these feelings entirely; after all—as someone who struggled at society's bottom rung in his previous life—he had long stopped believing in love and only felt lustful desires when faced with beauty.
"Senior brother," Qian Renxue asked during their break period while looking curiously at Xu Yang beside her: "Although it might be presumptuous—I don't seem aware of what your martial soul is?"
She knew asking this question was rude and intrusive since revealing one's martial soul publicly could be seen as provocation—but curiosity overwhelmed her desire for etiquette; what kind of martial soul could resonate with six-winged angels?
"My martial soul? … It's the sun in the sky—with attributes of fire and light—a mutated martial soul."
Xu Yang knew Spirit Hall would soon uncover this information anyway—so hiding it served no purpose; instead revealing it might earn some trust from Qian Renxue herself.
"The sun?"
Qian Renxue muttered softly while recalling records about Angel Gods: Angel Gods were deities associated with light who controlled celestial powers—including partial dominion over sunlight—and wielded abilities like Sunfire manipulation; thus explaining why solar-based martial souls resonated deeply alongside angelic ones…
At this moment—Qian Renxue fully understood why their respective martial souls resonated so strongly—and felt newfound longing toward acquiring Xu Yang himself; if they successfully executed fusion techniques together someday—they'd become unstoppable across Douluo Continent entirely!
With newfound thoughts running wild internally—her previous resistance toward Xu Yang vanished entirely—replaced instead by gentle smiles radiating warmth outwardly: "So senior brother possesses solar-based powers… Truly unprecedented within Douluo Continent itself."
"When discovering my martial soul hadn't appeared anywhere previously—I too felt astonished realizing its mutation manifested uniquely like this!!"
Xu Yang smoothly followed along conversationally while subtly attributing everything toward mutations surrounding solar energies overall…
(End of Chapter)