"Having Qianku Qingfeng participate in the selection to compete for the War Temple Temple Master position... is the Eternal Clan still trying to do those things?"
Unlike Gu Ruiqiu, Emperor Tian had a different perspective as he watched Qianku Qingfeng on stage.
The character of some Eternal Clan experts could be seen from their clan's inheritance.
The Eternal Clan's core inheritance—the Unyielding Staff Technique—took the meaning of an unyielding spirit soul looking down upon heaven and earth, symbolizing resisting heaven and earth with one's own strength, then breaking through the laws and standing above the heavens.
Practicing such a staff technique, how could the experts born from the Eternal Clan be willing to serve under others?
If they truly were willing to be subordinate, they would never be able to cultivate the unyielding will be required by the Unyielding Staff Technique.
And since they possessed such will, it already represented their attitude.
Within the Spirit Transmission Tower, they certainly hoped to hold the dominant position.
But will was not the same as strength. The Eternal Clan had encountered two monsters who far surpassed ordinary people in both strength and lifespan—namely, him and Snow Empress.
Under their suppression, the Eternal Clan could only compromise and sheathe their claws.
But that was within the Spirit Transmission Tower. Outside the Tower, things were different.
Within the Spirit Transmission Tower, there had always been voices calling for the Tower to directly replace the Federation. The Eternal Clan was the leader of these voices.
In their eyes, given the Spirit Transmission Tower's contributions to the Douluo Continent, it should sit in a higher position and become the maker of all rules, rather than being subordinate to the Federation as a "commercial organization."
To this end, they had been positioning themselves, trying to gain more power—even seize power—for the Spirit Transmission Tower within the Federation.
Now, having Qianku Qingfeng compete for the War Temple Temple Master position seemed like preparation for a power grab.
"Huo Yuhao, what do you think?" Emperor Tian shared his thoughts and looked at Huo Yuhao.
"Standing and watching." Huo Yuhao made a harmless joke before continuing. "I don't know the Eternal Clan's original intentions, but the current situation has certainly exceeded their expectations."
The Xingluo and Douling nations were the Holy Spirit Cult's nests. Shrek Academy's destruction, the emergence of deities—how many of these events had the Eternal Clan foreseen?
The Eternal Clan didn't have prophetic abilities. Many things must have caught them off guard as well.
"Under the current circumstances, even if they previously had plans for the Spirit Transmission Tower to replace the Federation, they won't implement them now. In fact, in their eyes, there may no longer be a need to implement them. After all, the divine-level experts on the Douluo Continent who are openly aligned with the Federation are all in the Spirit Transmission Tower."
Previously, quite a few people in the Spirit Transmission Tower had supported the idea of replacing the Federation. This was an inevitable voice after a power rose. To be fair, some of those ideas weren't without merit.
Moreover, some of those who supported this idea were fanatical supporters of the Spirit Transmission Tower, including Ling Zichen. Qianku Qingfeng probably didn't oppose it either. Under these circumstances, as events progressed, Snow Empress, Emperor Tian, and the others alone might not have been able to guide everything.
But that was without considering him and Gu Yuena. Their appearance had directly changed some people's attitudes.
Moreover, they now had a special identity. Even if that identity was fake, its deterrent effect remained strong.
This era had also gradually transitioned into an epoch where divine-level experts frequently appeared.
Under these circumstances, ignoring their intentions and going their own way would be courting disaster.
After all, the divine-level experts were all in the Spirit Transmission Tower. If they agreed to let the Tower replace the Federation directly, the Eternal Clan wouldn't need to act. If they disagreed, the Eternal Clan had even less reason to act, because they couldn't win anyway.
It was an alternative way of subduing the enemy without battle.
So, regarding Emperor Tian's question, Huo Yuhao concluded, "Qianku Qingfeng's participation in the selection must be for other reasons, unrelated to political power."
The facts were largely as Huo Yuhao had said. In a private box, Qianku Dongfeng looked at the arena below, his gaze lingering on Qianku Qingfeng for a moment before he withdrew it and sighed softly.
"Father, do we really have to stop? If Big Brother successfully becomes the War Temple Temple Master, it would clearly be a good opportunity."
Qianku Dicing glanced at him. "Otherwise? You're not satisfied and want to continue?"
After Shrek's destruction, he, the Eternal Clan's quasi-divine, had come out of seclusion.
"...Perhaps."
Qianku Dongfeng sighed, his gaze passing through the box's window to the virtual starry sky above.
Every ideological trend had its roots.
Even with many ancestral warnings within the Spirit Transmission Tower, the Eternal Clan still wanted the Tower to rise to the top, surpassing the Spirit Hall of twenty thousand years ago. They had their reasons.
It had been said before that as the Douluo Continent's resources grew increasingly scarce, the Federation had been looking toward the stars. Since there were no resources left on the Douluo Continent, they would seek them in the stars.
To this end, the Federation had been researching spacecraft for interstellar travel. The Spirit Transmission Tower was also researching and making very smooth progress.
It was foreseeable that the Douluo Continent would eventually enter the interstellar age.
But while going to the stars could bring many resources, it would also break the existing structure.
In the Spirit Soul era, the Spirit Transmission Tower sat securely in its position. But what about the interstellar era?
After witnessing other systems and cultivation methods in outer space, would the Spirit Transmission Tower still hold its current status?
In the future, when facing the stars, could the Federation and the Spirit Transmission Tower maintain their current harmony? Would disagreements arise?
These were questions Qianku Dongfeng had pondered after becoming the Tower Master.
His final conclusion was: rather than wait for death, it was better to have the Spirit Transmission Tower completely replace the Federation's position and gain full initiative. Then these problems would no longer be problems.
In fact, implementing the Tower's complete replacement of the Federation wasn't that difficult.
After all, in a sense, the Spirit Transmission Tower and the Federation already shared the world. Even though the Federation's strength wasn't negligible, many people in the Federation had ties to the Tower. The obstacles to the Tower taking power weren't as great as imagined.
Moreover, the War Temple and Shrek had left too many openings. As long as Shrek was brought down and certain people in the War Temple were implicated, the Federation would undergo a major internal purge, significantly weakening its overall strength.
It could be said that although they hadn't anticipated many things, Shrek Academy's fate and Chen Xinjie's downfall had been considered by Qianku Dongfeng. In their plans, their outcomes weren't much different from what had actually happened.
Even Shrek's destruction had been subtly pushed by Qianku Dongfeng from behind.
After all, with Shrek destroyed and the War Temple implicated, there wouldn't be much power left within the Federation to counterbalance the Spirit Transmission Tower. Taking advantage of the Federation's weakness and the vacancies in various key positions, the Tower could gradually occupy those positions and, through imperceptible changes, stand at a very high level and begin taking over governance.
So when Shrek's treason scandal surfaced, Qianku Dongfeng had seen it as a godsent opportunity.
Unfortunately, the outcome was far from what he had imagined.
In his vision, the Federation's excision of Shrek and the War Temple would cause greater losses, severely weakening it. That would be the perfect time for the Spirit Transmission Tower to rise and gradually seize power.
In reality, with deities participating in the battle, the Federation's losses were within a relatively controllable range, and it still had the energy to organize a worldwide conscription to replenish its forces.
In his vision, with the Federation having lost so much combat power, it would be less prone to internal strife and would need to stabilize as quickly as possible. As long as they moved fast enough to place Tower personnel within the Federation, Emperor Tian and the others, for the greater good, wouldn't go too far even if they opposed it.
Moreover, Emperor Tian and Snow Empress had always advocated non-involvement in Federation politics. Whether they would directly participate in personnel appointments was still debatable.
As long as they got past these two pillars of the Spirit Transmission Tower, there would be nothing left to worry about.
But in reality, these two had both touched the divine level. They themselves were the big picture.
Moreover, after Snow Empress and Emperor Tian's true strength was exposed, their prestige grew even heavier. Coupled with the fact that the two reincarnated deities were also connected to them, the Tower members who had sided with the Eternal Clan fell silent.
After all, under these circumstances, whether the Spirit Transmission Tower took control of the government was a matter of a few words from those individuals. The Federation couldn't stop them anyway. Since those individuals had no such intention for now, the rest could only go to sleep.
Besides these reasons, there was also the external threat. The Holy Spirit Cult was cooperating with the Abyss Plane, and the Cult even had divine-level experts. With such a threat, now was not the time for power struggles.
But for the Spirit Transmission Tower, it was indeed a good opportunity. Stopping like this naturally left Qianku Dongfeng feeling dissatisfied.
"Father, I want to talk to Tower Master Emperor Tian and the others. I want to ask what they're really thinking."
Qianku Dongfeng looked toward the stands. "The Spirit Transmission Tower doesn't have a doctrine that ancestral laws cannot be changed. On the contrary, the first-generation Tower Master's teachings were also 'change with the times, change with the situation.' Nothing is eternally correct. With changes coming, the Spirit Transmission Tower can't just stay as it is."
Hearing this, Qianku Dicing also turned his gaze toward a certain spot in the audience, his eyes flickering.
"In your eyes, the Douluo Continent's future is the interstellar age. But in their eyes, the future might have another possibility. Do you really think the appearance of two reincarnated deities before this change was just a coincidence caused by the Divine Realm's troubles?"
Qianku Dongfeng was started.
"You mean Emperor Tian and the others knew about Huo Yuhao and the others all along?"
"For ten thousand years, the Extreme North and Star Dou have been too stable. The timing of Snow Empress's re-cultivation is also strange. Think more about it and you'll find the oddities."
Qianku Dicing answered briefly, then dropped the topic and looked directly at the arena below. "Alright. Since those ideas won't work, set them aside. The War Temple and Shrek have both tarnished their reputations. Learn from their mistakes. Don't let the Spirit Transmission Tower follow the same path and give people a reason to poke fingers at you."
"Qingfeng's opponent is no simple one. Watch carefully—you can see a battle worth observing closely."
"Quasi-divine?!"
Qianku Dongfeng shifted his gaze and his pupils contracted sharply.
Yes, quasi-divine.
At this moment, Qianku Qingfeng and his opponent had already begun their exchange.
Qianku Qingfeng, clad in Four-Word Battle Armor, surrounded by three red and six black spirit rings, used his Purgatory Halberd to part the blazing flames before him. Looking at his opponent, he was equally surprised—he hadn't expected to encounter an existence who had already reached the quasi-divine level.
"I watched your earlier matches. Your cultivation hadn't reached this level. Did you break through?" Qianku Qingfeng asked.
"Correct."
The woman opposite had a flaming figure behind her, also surrounded by three red and six black spirit rings. She smiled and said, "I've had some gains recently and broke through. If not, I wouldn't have the confidence to face you. After all, I don't even have Battle Armor."
A seasoned semi-divine with Four-Word Battle Armor already had the qualification to face a quasi-divine.
And this statement also revealed the woman's background.
Clearly, she was a reclusive Limit Douluo.
One who left no impression on Huo Yuhao whatsoever.
But her name was just as noteworthy as Qianku Qingfeng's—so much so that even Emperor Tian, who had just heard Rong Nianbing's name, furrowed his brows.
Because this woman was named Rong Tianling!
Emperor Tian looked at Tang Wutong, narrowing his eyes.
"She's also surnamed Rong. Could she be related to the Emotion God Rong Nianbing?"
"Uh..."
Tang Wutong said uncertainly, "I'm not sure either. But when I was in the Divine Realm, I heard that after Uncle Rong Nianbing left, his children also went down to train in various planes. Maybe... there is a connection? The Rong surname is indeed rare."
"Whether there's a connection, we'll know from the battle ahead."
Huo Yuhao's gaze fell on the woman on the stage who called herself Rong Tianling, a hint of thought passing through his eyes.
Rong Tianling's martial soul was the Fire Shadow martial soul, which had appeared in records. That martial soul was indeed real. From this perspective, she seemed unrelated to Rong Nianbing.
After all, even if Rong Nianbing had descendants on the Douluo Continent who had branched out here, their martial souls wouldn't be the Fire Shadow.
Moreover, even if Rong Nianbing's descendants needed training, there was no reason for them to come to the Douluo Continent.
Coming here would be almost like a vacation—ahem, that referred to the past, of course.
But breaking through to quasi-divine and bearing the Rong surname already made Rong Tianling special.
On the arena, Qianku Qingfeng was unaware of the significance of this name, but his opponent was a quasi-divine, so he couldn't afford to be careless.
A mass of purple-black light exploded from the Purgatory Halberd, instantly engulfing Qianku Qingfeng. His figure flickered in and out of the purple-black flames, his entire body dyed in an eerie dark purple.
Then, his second spirit ability—Netherworld Slash—roared forth. A purple arc of light shot into the sky, spreading across the void like a huge fan-shaped curtain, carrying a deathly stillness that devoured all things, descending upon Rong Tianling.
This attack made even Rong Tianling feel a hint of danger. Without hesitation, the flame-formed figure behind her suddenly expanded into a sea of fire, colliding head-on with Qianku Qingfeng's Netherworld Slash.
Boom!
Purple-black and crimson-red light exploded above the arena. Violent energy ripples swept outward, blocked only by the defensive barrier around the stage. Even so, the spectators could feel the oppressive aura that could shake heaven and earth.
After blocking his attack, Rong Tianling's sixth spirit ring also lit up, and she began chanting an incantation.
This move immediately caught Huo Yuhao and Elder Electrolux's attention.
"Spirit incantations adapted from magical incantations!"
***
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