Without any surprise, not long after the spiritual ssage was sent out—An Ning estimated it was less than a full hour—the chestnut cakes freshly out of the stear on the stone table were still more than half left when a familiar, tall figure appeared outside the courtyard.
"Your earlier statent that the power of the Heavenly Dao is damaged, is that true?"
Without any superfluous pleasantries or greetings, and not caring that the host was clearly in the middle of afternoon tea, this Sect Leader Nangong got straight to the point.
Glancing at the man in dark robes who had unceremoniously sat down to one side, completely disregarding how obviously out of place he was in the surroundings, An Ning's mouth twitched slightly for a mont.
She gave Xiao Yi beside her a subtle look that said, "See, I knew it," before turning her gaze to the man before her.
She slowly set down her teacup.
"On this point, I think Sect Leader Nangong should have already had so suspicions."
As the first person in this world in hundreds of years to comprehend the laws of heaven and earth.
Hearing the implication in her words, Nangong Ding opposite her faintly lowered his brows, neither confirming nor denying.
An Ning wasn't bothered by this.
Since formally reaching the peak of Foundation Establishnt over half a year ago, she hadn't been idle; she had tried to form her Golden Core.
Yet, as expected, even relying on her experience to finally find a thod that allowed the spiritual energy within her body to gather once more, during the actual "Core Formation" process, she couldn't feel any genuine feedback from heaven and earth at all.
Knowing full well that proceeding like this would most likely an no lightning tribulation either, An Ning imdiately and decisively abandoned her plans to advance further.
Actually, she had been very curious for a while now about what this world's so-called "half-step Golden Core" truly was.
Now she understood. It was rely a so-called "Golden Core" that hadn't undergone the feedback from heaven and earth, hadn't been tempered by a lightning tribulation, and whose very foundation was shaky and insubstantial.
No wonder that mber of the Xie Family died so early. Willingly taking shortcuts to force a breakthrough was one reason, but the true root cause was probably that his foundation itself was a castle in the air.
Of course, the Child of Destiny, A-Yi from her previous life, might have been sowhat of an exception.
Seeing the deeply hidden urgency in the other's eyes, after a brief explanation, An Ning soon looked up, her slightly smiling gaze unwavering as she looked at the person before her.
"In fact, that the power of the Heavenly Dao is damaged, and that it might even be related to that demon-sealing formation—all of the above are rely my own speculations from these past days. Whether to believe it or not is entirely up to you, Sect Leader."
Even as she said this, watching the gradually deepening pupils of the man before her, An Ning knew in her heart that he would "believe" it.
So what if it was only a one percent, a one-thousandth possibility?
After all, he had been stuck at this cultivation stage for far too long.
Sure enough, not even bothering to take another look at the so-called "formation," the man in dark robes before her soon raised his eyes, his pupils tinged with a faint, visible blood-red as they stared directly at An Ning.
A mont later, he stated very bluntly:
"Does Miss Shen intend to use this seat to deal with those trash?" It wasn't a question, but a statent.
Having her plan guessed, An Ning remained unperturbed, rely curling the corner of her lips in an almost imperceptible smile.
"I'll trouble the Sect Leader to take action!"
"Of course, if the Xuanming Sect can single-handedly bear the cost of the spiritual materials on this list, I wouldn't mind that either."
A mont later, she only heard the visitor let out a derisive snort.
Then, accompanied by a gust of wind, the dark purple hem of his robe soon vanished from the courtyard. However, before he left, An Ning specifically asked one more question:
"Previously, the reason Sect Leader Nangong paid no heed to the Demon Domain... could it be that you wanted to let whatever is inside fully erge into the world, making a grand gamble?"
From the other's expression, An Ning soon found her answer.
She couldn't help but sigh inwardly, what a ruthless man!
However, one thing remained unchanged now: bearing the cost himself? How could that be possible?
Even if he wanted to break through his shackles, since when was Nangong Ding so kind of altruistic, benevolent person willing to make sacrifices?
Without any surprise, after that man returned that day, the various major sects and prominent families soon t with misfortune.
Coinciding with the convening of another Immortal Dao Conference, without giving these so-called "righteous path" factions any chance to speak, this man simply tossed an extraordinarily long booklet, dozens of pages thick, into the hands of the leader of the Ling Shu Sect.
Similarly, there was no room for negotiation. They saw the man at the head of the gathering part his thin lips slightly, a flash of cold severity passing through his eyes.
"These spiritual materials must all be gathered within half a month."
What, can't do it?
Oh, that's far too simple. Nangong Ding was utterly unconcerned.
As one of the three great—no, now two great—sects of the righteous path, if you don't even have that much "influence,"
Such trash, wouldn't it be simpler for the Ling Shu Sect to just... disappear?
"The next one will be the Qingyun Sect.
If they can't do it either, then we continue, until all the items are found!"
With just that one light, airy sentence, from beginning to end, Nangong Ding at the head of the hall didn't even change his expression.
However, as his words fell, the face of Sect Leader Yun of the Ling Shu Sect, standing at the forefront, instantly turned pale. As the person from whose arms treasure was about to be snatched, the gazes the other sect leaders cast upon this Sect Leader Yun also unconsciously beca complex and inscrutable.
Hidden within them was even a trace of hostility.
Even though at this mont, everyone knew this man was rely the "target" pushed forward, and the true culprit was the demonic sect leader at the head of the hall, so what?
The Xuanming Sect was inherently powerful and overbearing, crushing them like ants. Who dared to show dissatisfaction?
Since they couldn't hate the Xuanming Sect, then naturally, they could only hate the one who deserved their hatred.
In short, in an instant, all the earlier flattery and camaraderie instantly turned to bubbles.
Feeling the gazes of the crowd, beneath his wide sleeves, Yun Zhou's fists unconsciously clenched tightly together...
Witnessing this scene, An Ning: "..."
What can you say? Not the slightest bit surprising!
"What do you call this, 'the wicked are tornted by the wicked'?" Inside her spiritual sea, the system couldn't help but secretly complain.
And just which idiot said this villainous father was just a martial artist obsessed with cultivation!
Indeed, An Ning nodded in agreent.
Look at this man's thods. Although simple and crude, they were unexpectedly efficient. The important thing was, he delegated the responsibility, avoided having to do it himself, and perfectly redirected the hatred of the major sects.
Avoiding a scenario where these people truly united and caused trouble!
Tsk, watching the currently overwheld Sect Leader of the Ling Shu Sect in the surveillance feed, An Ning couldn't help but think with a bit of schadenfreude:
No need to think too much. After this ordeal, the righteous path's leading figure? One of the three great sects? Forget whether they could preserve these statuses, I'm afraid even the Ling Shu Sect's thousand-year reputation and its rapport with the various sects and prominent families would be utterly destroyed.
But could this man say no?
The answer, naturally, was impossible. Not to ntion that Nangong Ding was always overbearing and domineering, and ant what he said.
Given the character of these fellow "righteous" cultivators, he didn't dare guarantee that when the Xuanming Sect ca knocking, these people would be willing to lend a hand! Rather than throwing stones when he was down.
It's over!
At this mont, under the gaze of countless fellow cultivators filled with hidden resentnt, Sect Leader Yun had only one thought.
All the planning over the years, the decades of cautiousness, the ambition he thought was so well hidden... it was all over!
Regarding this, An Ning just calmly patted her little nephew's head.
"Actually, sotis, your father's thods... it's not impossible to extract the essence from them..."
Not far away, the red-robed youth nodded in agreent.
Especially when he thought of his master, Yan, who had been running around all over the place recently but still had ager gains.
Indeed, strength was truly important!
But fortunately, just a little bit more, his cultivation was about to catch up to Aunt's.
Hehe...
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