Chapter 151: Ning Tian's Tears and Resolve
In her dormitory, Ning Tian cried loudly.
As the young master of the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect, she had always carried the weight of her sect's future on her shoulders. Trained from a young age to be composed, strong, and dignified no matter the situation, she had never allowed herself to cry—especially not in public.
Unless she truly couldn't hold it in.
And today, she couldn't.
Back in the Star Dou Great Forest, even when chaos broke out and danger loomed, Ning Tian hadn't shed a tear. There was no time for sorrow when classmates were dying. Even when Wu Feng fell, she felt deep grief but restrained it. She knew she had to stay calm to survive.
In the moment, her only option was to respond with reason, manage the crisis, and lead her remaining companions out of the Star Dou Great Forest alive.
They had made it out. Barely.
Then came the order—to find Elder Xuan and bring him back to Shrek Academy.
Even then, Ning Tian hadn't cried. But now, as she sat on the edge of her dormitory bed, eyes resting on the empty bunk that once belonged to Wu Feng—a bed that would never again be slept in—she finally broke.
A Titled Douluo with a cultivation of level 98 had led them into the mixed zone of the Star Dou Great Forest, and he had vanished inexplicably. Somehow, they managed to escape, yet were told they needed to kneel and apologize to Elder Xuan.
Moon hadn't issued any direct threats, but Ning Tian wasn't naive. She wasn't Ning Rongrong. She understood the hidden meaning behind his words.
If Elder Xuan didn't return to Shrek, both the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect and the Lan sisters' family would bear the brunt of the blame. Shrek wouldn't need to take any action directly. A mere rumor suggesting their dissatisfaction with the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect would be enough to push their already fragile sect toward collapse.
The Nine Treasures Glazed Sect was no longer the powerful force it once had been. After Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo died, Ning Rongrong had not returned to stabilize the sect, instead attending Tang San and Xiao Wu's wedding shortly after. This further alienated many soul masters who were already discontent with the sect's influence and actions.
Following the ascension of Ning Rongrong and the older generation, and under the suppression from the Heaven Dou Empire, the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect struggled to breathe. Without a Titled Douluo for protection, their immense wealth couldn't be safeguarded. The war with Spirit Hall had nearly drained them dry. They now had no more than one or two Soul Douluo acting as protectors.
Their inherited martial spirit—the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda—was an auxiliary system. Unlike the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, which could rely on its bloodline and strength of beast spirits to rise again through generations, the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect had no such advantage.
Even with poor spirit ring combinations, Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon martial souls could reach Soul Saint level. Over time, their descendants could evolve into Soul Douluos or even Titled Douluos through sheer lineage strength.
But the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect required powerful allies to shine. With time, their influence diminished, and the emergence of mutated spirits meant that even inferior spirits began to proliferate, making it harder to retain talent.
Ten thousand years ago, the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda was the top-tier auxiliary system, capable of dramatically boosting a team's strength. But in this era, similar auxiliary spirits had appeared—like the seven-colored gems and the rainbow dragon—whose effects rivaled the pagoda's. The only advantage the sect retained was its deep-rooted legacy. But legacies alone couldn't save them, not in an age where auxiliary-type spirit masters had fallen from prominence.
Now, they had also lost Wu Feng—a true dragon-spirited genius who could have laid the foundation for the sect's resurgence, possibly even reaching Soul Douluo in the future. Her death added salt to an already bleeding wound.
How was Ning Tian supposed to report this to the sect?
With eyes red and voice hoarse from crying, Ning Tian finally released her martial spirit.
"The Seven Treasures are named. Second, Release."
Bathed in its familiar glow, she calmed her turbulent emotions. After a long silence, she reached for her soul guide communicator and dialed her father.
"Father."
The voice on the other end was gentle but firm. "What's wrong, Xiaotian?"
Ning Tian hesitated, then forced herself to speak. "Father, Feng Mei… is dead."
"What did you say!?"
"Feng Mei is dead."
"That's impossible!" Her father's voice turned sharp with disbelief. "Weren't you only heading out to hunt third and fourth soul rings? I asked Elder Jia to protect you. He's a level 77 Soul Saint, with a giant brown bear martial spirit. In our Nine Treasures Glazed Sect, he's ranked among the top five! How could anything happen to you?"
His voice grew louder, filled with fury and denial. "Impossible! That's a Soul Saint with a bear martial spirit! Even if it was another Soul Saint with a weaker spirit, a few thousand-year soul beasts couldn't threaten him!"
Ning Tian sighed, bitter and exhausted. "Normally, nothing would have happened. But Deputy Director Jia provoked a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear."
Her father's voice faltered. "A Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear…?" His tone shook, then shifted to confusion. "No, that doesn't make sense. Elder Jia may be hot-tempered, but he isn't foolish. He knows how dangerous those bears are. He wouldn't pick a fight unless he was confident he could win."
"He believed he had enough strength," Ning Tian said quietly.
She then explained everything—how Elder Xuan had led the team, the situation in the mixed zone, and how they had been ambushed. She recounted the chaos, the disappearances, and how they had been forced to flee.
The sect leader of the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect was silent for a long time.
If someone had told him this story earlier, he would have thought it absurd. A Super Douluo disappearing? Students dying under the protection of a Titled Douluo?
But his daughter wouldn't lie. She had no reason to.
"…I'm sorry," he finally whispered, his voice hoarse. "It's my fault. I was too incompetent to protect you."
They had been set up. Used as bait. And now they had to grovel and apologize to the very people who had manipulated them.
If the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect had the strength to rival Shrek, they wouldn't have suffered this humiliation. But they didn't. And the cost was unbearable—a genius lost, the young sect master nearly dead, and their dignity shattered.
Even worse, they had supported Shrek in the past. It was their influence that helped Shrek rise during its early expansion, thanks to the funding pushed forward by the Heaven Dou Empire at their request. But now, their loyalty had been paid back with betrayal.
No one would believe what had happened.
"Father," Ning Tian said softly, "this isn't your fault. But… I have something I need to tell you."
"What is it?"
"I want to apply for the exchange program to the Sun Moon Empire."