"Senior Dugu, if you want to break through to the divine level, once Sister Yan becomes a god, there should be a better way. On my side, when it comes to poison, I'm not skilled at condensing divine seats."
Ning Rongrong gave a light smile, clearly having seen through Dugu Bo's thoughts.
Dugu Bo's cultivation method differed somewhat from orthodox soul masters—his path centered mainly on poison.
Ning Rongrong was only half-knowledgeable in that area. Helping Dugu Bo condense a divine seat would probably top out at a third-level god at best.
As a pure poison cultivator, ordinary methods would make it extremely difficult for him to condense a divine seat and become a god.
"Rongrong, you're joking." Dugu Bo knew full well how far he still was from godhood—he only harbored the ambition.
"Yan still has a long road ahead. Let's talk about it later. I'm a bit curious about what's going on here."
"Nothing major—just some spoils of war." Ning Rongrong explained to Dugu Bo about the soul bone replacement process and the effects of the dragon souls.
"There are also some dragon clouds and dragon souls left. They should be useful to you, Senior Dugu."
Ning Rongrong compressed the remaining dragon clouds and dragon souls into a light orb and tossed it to Dugu Bo.
Dugu Bo's martial soul was also a snake. With dragons… well, they could be considered distant relatives at best.
Dugu Bo's hand trembled slightly. He started to bow, but Ning Rongrong gently lifted him with a wave of zhenqi.
Ning Rongrong stepped down from her seat and walked over to Dugu Bo, smiling: "Senior Dugu, you're too polite. No matter what happens in the future, you are my elder—Sister Yan's grandfather."
Perhaps because Dugu Bo had heard about how she had massacred everything in the Far North, he seemed a bit reserved!
"Ah, right." Seeing Dugu Bo's demeanor, Ning Rongrong changed the subject.
"There are still four hundred-thousand-year soul bones here, plus some thousand-year and ten-thousand-year ones. If you see any that would be useful, Senior Dugu, feel free to take some."
Honestly, the sect was so large.
There were still distinctions of closeness. No matter what, Dugu Bo was the first soul master she had personally recruited—different from the others. Plus, she and Dugu Yan were… ahem, close friends.
"You all chat slowly. If there's nothing else, I'll head out first. I feel a bit tired and want to go rest."
Ning Rongrong casually picked up a forty-thousand-year soul bone, opened a spatial portal, and walked through.
Moments later, she appeared inside her own room.
"Speaking of which, it's been a long time since I last stayed here."
Ning Rongrong lay quietly on the bed and soon fell asleep. When she woke again, it was already night.
"I haven't slept this well in ages."
"Yawn~"
Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Ning Rongrong stretched lazily with a contented yawn.
After all, these past few years she had either been cultivating or on the road to cultivation.
By the time she came back to her senses, she was already standing at the peak of the Douluo Continent—it felt somewhat unreal!
"Miss, you're awake." A familiar voice came from outside the door.
"Oh, come in!" Ning Rongrong nodded, gesturing for the woman to enter.
"Yes. Congratulations, Miss, on achieving great mastery in your divine skills. In the future, you will surely be invincible throughout the world and unify the continent."
The woman who walked in wore a maid outfit. She gave off the impression of a refined, delicate young lady—yet also very capable.
"Flatterer!" Ning Rongrong sized up the maid. "Rank 44 Soul Ancestor at twenty-three years old—not bad at all."
"That's because the sect has abundant resources. I also owe it to your blessings, Miss. Do you need any… service? I still remember those books you used to read…"
"Ahem~ Those are works of art." Ning Rongrong covered her face in embarrassment. "Don't say it out loud! You don't want me to die of embarrassment, do you?"
"Here, hush money." Ning Rongrong handed over a soul bone.
"This…" The maid took several steps back, not daring to accept it.
As Ning Rongrong's personal maid, how could she not know what a ten-thousand-year soul bone was? Even Soul Douluo and Title Douluo coveted such things.
"No need to act like that. You know my personality."
"If I give it to you, it's yours. Consider it thanks for all your hard work these years." A forty-thousand-year soul bone really didn't matter much to Ning Rongrong.
As for whether others in the sect thought it was unworthy—let them come say it to her face.
She had done so much for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, bringing back soul bones by the handful. What was wrong with personally giving one mid-tier soul bone to her own maid!
If any worshiper or elder dared to object, had Tokisaki Kurumi not beaten them hard enough back then? Did they need this young miss to personally loosen their limbs for them?
The maid carefully accepted the soul bone.
With a "thud," she immediately knelt down.
"The great kindness Miss has shown this servant, this servant will remember for a lifetime—"
"Alright, alright." Ning Rongrong directly lifted her with zhenqi. "I don't like this sort of thing. I don't have those strange noble habits like the Heaven Dou aristocrats."
"Try not to let others know about the soul bone. Even if they find out it's fine, you're only a Soul Ancestor right now. No one in the sect would act against you, but if outsiders learn about it, you might not be safe outside."
A ten-thousand-year soul bone might not be precious to Ning Rongrong, but it was different for others.
"Right—has my older brother Ning Yun come by?"
The maid stood up. Hearing Ning Rongrong's question, she thought for a moment and answered:
"Young Master came a few times. He seemed to want to comprehend Miss's cultivation methods or something, but he stopped coming half a year ago. Apparently something went wrong during alchemy and he nearly ended up flat on his back in the Alchemy Pavilion."
"I see…"
Ning Rongrong nodded without comment.
"That's all. You can go now!" Ning Rongrong gestured for the maid to leave. "Also, keep cultivating hard."
After the maid left.
Ning Rongrong sighed: "If I helped Father and the two grandpas become gods, they would probably only reach third-level gods at best—second-level if I pushed it. But they'd still be too weak."
"First-level god divine seats really aren't that easy to condense."
Lan Fozi was a special case.
The foundation of the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King and Demon Empress, combined with racial talent, plus the "fear" generated by hundreds of thousands of years of sea soul beasts dreading the Deep Sea Demonic Whale clan.
Finally, after the heavenly tribulation was absorbed by the domain and turned into heaven-and-earth qi that fused into and sublimated Lan Fozi's body.
"No wonder it's so difficult for the Abyss side to produce even one first-level god—the resources required are simply enormous."
"If we use heavenly tribulation, perhaps we could create second-level gods, but for first-level gods…"
Ning Rongrong shook her head. She stayed in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School for about seven or eight days.
During these days, Ning Rongrong didn't cultivate or read. Every day she just watered some flowers and plants.
She ate on time, slept on time, occasionally walked the birds, and wandered around aimlessly.
She looked exactly like a social dropout.
"I've touched the bottleneck of the supreme four realms, but breaking through still feels out of reach."
Ning Rongrong set down the watering can, stretched both arms across the table, and wore the expression of a nationally protected slacker.
"So many days have passed, and not a single message from the clones. They couldn't have been smacked to death by sea soul beasts while crossing the ocean, right?"
"No, that shouldn't be. Even if something happened, I should sense it."
Suddenly, a long, resonant dragon roar came from nowhere.
In the sky, a black dot appeared far away and gradually drew closer until its outline became clear.
It was a purple-black demonic dragon.
It flapped its enormous wings like a black meteor streaking across the sky, tearing through the heavens at incredible speed and soon arriving above the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School.
In an instant, more than a dozen figures flew out from the school, all rising into the high sky and facing the demonic dragon from afar.
Every single one was a Title Douluo.
The demonic dragon's body stretched hundreds of meters. Its pitch-black scales gleamed coldly as it hovered above the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, emanating a chilling, terrifying aura.
Once everyone had arrived, it opened its mouth and spoke in a female voice:
"May I ask the esteemed members of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School—is your young miss, Ning Rongrong, present?"
(End of chapter)