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The first thing Ke Jie did upon returning to Tiandou City was to report his breakthrough to Ning Fengzhi at the sect.
According to the rules of the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, a Title Douluo would become one of the sect's honored elders.
Ning Fengzhi bestowed Ke Jie with a token symbolizing his status as an elder but did not publicly announce that Ke Jie had broken through to become a Title Douluo.
"The situation on the continent is turbulent, and the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect cannot afford to reveal all its cards just yet. Uncle Ke, I must ask you to bear this inconvenience for now. Once the situation stabilizes, I will surely reward you handsomely."
Ke Jie understood Ning Fengzhi's intentions and did not object. "I understand."
"However, I broke through in the Soul Beast Town, and many people witnessed it. As for Poison Douluo, given his relationship with Tianchen, we can inform him discreetly."
Ning Fengzhi merely smiled faintly after hearing this. "That's not a problem, Uncle Ke. You don't need to worry."
In the Soul Beast Town, it was rare for even a Soul Douluo-level expert to appear within decades. Lower-level soul masters wouldn't be able to tell whether Ke Jie had broken through to a Soul Douluo or a Title Douluo.
"Old Ke, you've truly blossomed after years of accumulation. One day, Old Sword and I will treat you to a drink," Gu Rong offered an invitation.
After Ke Jie's breakthrough, he was now considered part of the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect's inner circle. As future colleagues, it was necessary to maintain good relations.
"Thank you, Elder Bone, for your kindness. If the academy isn't busy, I'll surely attend the banquet."
Ning Fengzhi chuckled. "Uncle Ke, since the founding of Seven Treasures Academy, I've never personally inspected it. This time, there are no pressing matters in the sect. Shall I go take a look?"
"If the sect leader wishes to come, I naturally welcome it. In fact, I also wanted to report my recent work progress."
---
Inside the Seven Treasures team's training room, Ning Tianchen was sparring with Feng Xiaotian.
"Tianchen Brother, keep it up!" Ning Rongrong cheered loudly, waving her fists to support him.
Yu Die chuckled and said, "Vice-captain, give it your all and make the captain sweat a little."
During their sparring, neither held back; they fought with full intensity.
After the Seven Kill Sword martial soul fully evolved, Feng Xiaotian didn't dare use his wolf claws to directly block the sharp blade.
In the heat of battle, Ning Tianchen gained the upper hand, forcing Feng Xiaotian to retreat continuously.
"The Seven Kill Sword truly lives up to its reputation as the continent's strongest weapon-type martial soul—it's simply unreasonable," Feng Xiaotian said helplessly, dodging repeatedly to evade Ning Tianchen's sword strikes.
"There is no invincible martial soul on the continent," Ning Tianchen responded.
If the opponent possessed the resolve to trade blows and had powerful offensive capabilities, the Seven Kill Sword martial soul wouldn't gain any advantage in close combat.
Suddenly, Ning Tianchen caught sight of two figures standing outside the training room window from the corner of his eye.
He immediately retracted his martial soul and bowed toward the window. "Uncle Ning, Grandfather, why are you here?"
Upon hearing this, the rest of the Seven Treasures team turned their gaze toward the window and bowed respectfully.
"I've come to inspect your training progress," Chen Xin said in his usual icy tone, devoid of any emotion.
Show-off, pretending to be all high and mighty.
Ning Tianchen silently grumbled in his heart.
In front of Ning Rongrong and himself, Chen Xin was like a kind and loving grandfather. But in public, he maintained an aloof demeanor that kept others at bay.
Ning Fengzhi's face remained smiling as he scanned the group. "You are all the future pillars of the sect. I've merely come to visit the academy—I won't be disturbing your training, right?"
Ning Rongrong pouted and muttered, "Dad, you say you're not disturbing us, but Tianchen Brother stopped the sparring the moment he saw you and Grandpa Sword."
Only the young miss of the sect dared to speak to Ning Fengzhi like this.
The others pretended to be distracted, feigning ignorance of her words.
Ning Fengzhi gently patted her forehead. "Then let's take a day off. Cultivation requires balancing work and rest—there's no need to rush."
Ning Rongrong's eyes lit up at the mention of a break.
"Oh, by the way, Dad, I heard from Brother Xiaotian that the Four Elements Academies and the Imperial Team will hold an inter-academy exchange tournament before the Soul Masters Tournament begins."
Ning Fengzhi's gaze shifted to Feng Xiaotian.
Currently, only the Feng family had pledged allegiance to the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect. The Huo and Shui families were still targets Ning Fengzhi needed to win over.
Feng Xiaotian recounted the situation truthfully.
After losing Feng Xiaotian, Godwind Academy had managed to form a seven-person team, but their strength had plummeted significantly.
This year's inter-academy exchange tournament was originally supposed to be hosted by Godwind Academy. However, due to their poor performance, Feng Changlin had been reluctant to proceed and had postponed it repeatedly.
Ning Fengzhi understood and said in a gentle tone, "As I just said, today is a day off for the Seven Treasures team. Xiaotian, return to your family and ask Lord Feng if the tournament can be hosted at Seven Treasures Academy instead."
"Of course, all expenses during the event will be covered by Seven Treasures Academy."
The inter-academy exchange tournament was an excellent opportunity to win over the Feng and Huo families—it couldn't be missed.
"Sect Leader, I can only relay your message. I can't guarantee that Grandfather will agree," Feng Xiaotian said, bowing respectfully.
"That's enough."
Next, under the guidance of Ning Rongrong and Ning Tianchen, Ning Fengzhi toured every building in the academy.
Afterward, Chen Xin proceeded to inspect Ning Tianchen's cultivation progress as usual.
---
Elemental City, Feng Family Manor
After hearing Feng Xiaotian's report, Feng Changlin abruptly stood up from his chair.
"Xiaotian, are you serious?"
"Grandfather, I didn't leave out a single word of what Sect Leader Ning said," Feng Xiaotian replied, shrugging, seemingly oblivious to the implications.
Holding the inter-academy exchange tournament required the host to cover all expenses. Although the Feng family had received a few shops in the Seven Treasures Marketplace, they were still far from wealthy.
Moreover, with Feng Xiaotian no longer part of Shénfēng Academy, how could Feng Changlin bear to spend such a large sum of money only to have the Shénfēng team embarrass themselves in public?
Now that Seven Treasures Academy was willing to take over, there was no reason to refuse.
"Xiaotian, come with me to Old Huo's place. When we get there, make sure to emphasize that these were Sect Leader Ning's exact words!"
A quarter of an hour later, the two arrived at the Huo family residence.
"Grandpa Feng, Xiaotian, why are you here?" Huo Wu happened to be at home and bumped into them.
Upon seeing Huo Wu, Feng Xiaotian immediately transformed into a shy boy, stumbling over his words. "Sister Huo Wu, Grandfather and I came to discuss something with Grandpa Huo."
"Little Wu (referring to Huo Wu), is Old Huo around?" Feng Changlin took over the conversation, his gaze filled with satisfaction as he looked at Huo Wu.
"Grandpa is in the study. Grandpa Feng, I need to return to the academy to train, so I'll excuse myself." With that, Huo Wu hurried off in the direction of Blazing Academy.
"Huo Wu…" Feng Xiaotian hesitated, wanting to call her back but unsure how to begin.
Feng Changlin watched his actions and chuckled. "Xiaotian, can't you be a little more proactive?"
"Back in the day, I was the famous 'Young Master Feng' of Tiandou City."
Feng Xiaotian retorted, exasperated, "Grandfather, you were blacklisted by the Maple Red Pavilion back then—what's there to boast about?"
Feng Changlin snapped angrily, "Brat, who told you that?!"
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