Douluo Continent: A Thousand Miles of Cultivation

Seeing that Di Tian and Bi Ji had both said so, Xiao Wu became even more anxious, "Won't Shui Shui be in danger?"

Regarding this, Di Tian remained quite calm, "If something were to happen, I would definitely collide with this energy immediately. What's strange is that this child's state seems to be absorbing a soul ring!"

"what?"

Seeing that the situation was about right, Qianshui, who was watching from the side, simply slipped away.

His youngest disciple was attempting to break through to the Golden Core Realm, so he gave him an artificial, divinely bestowed soul ring. After breaking through level 100, the rules of martial souls and soul rings were no longer a secret to him.

Back at the former Crown Prince's residence, Qian Shui was furious. His entertainment room and chess and card room had been emptied out, his son looked dejected, and Qian Qian was making a fuss about going out shopping.

There's no way around it. For a homebody like her, who doesn't even own a novel, she can't even pretend to be a literary youth. How could she possibly sit still?

Besides, she had been holding it in the whole journey, which was like going to the toilet. If she could run, she would crawl instead, which was very uncomfortable. "I don't care! I don't care! I just want to go!"

Seeing Qianqian pacing around the room on her little feet, never stopping, even Qian Qingyu couldn't help but comfort her, "Little sister Qianqian, although I really want to go too, I can't..."

The young man is quite self-aware; his father is back, and if he continues to misbehave, he'll get a beating from his mother instead of his own.

What if he finds out one day that his biological mother is the one spinning around in front of him? Will his worldview be shattered?

Bored out of his mind, Qian Shui started his parent-child activity, "Brother Qingyu, speaking of which, wasn't your martial soul supposed to be a golden six-winged creature? How did it become a swan? And you also have the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, so you must be my brother!"

This is also a reminder to my son to be more shrewd in his words and actions.

“My parents should be from the main branch of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, so I have twin martial souls. But I can’t talk about the other martial soul. I’m sorry, Brother Qian.”

"It's okay, everyone has their own secrets~ But Qingyu-ge, is your name Qian Qingyu or Xuehong? Why does Auntie call you that?"

"In Tiandou City, I am Xue Hong, right..."

Qianshui was generally satisfied with the place, but he was still too honest. Back then, this kid was always jumping around, just like Qianqian.

Qian Shui wondered, 'Could it be that the old man really has a knack for raising children? But his son definitely won't be as good as my son, right? But Xiao Xue is so well-behaved… no, Xiao Xue isn't well-behaved, especially after she got married… Oh my god! Is it true that one is influenced by one's company? Am I black?!'

"Brother Qian, do you think being an emperor is really that good?" Qian Qingyu seemed to be imitating Ning Rongrong's posture as she looked back at Tiandou City in front of the Golden Hall.

"How is that bad? I heard that emperors can marry as many wives as they want, and supposedly the more wives they marry, the more powerful they are, and they can do whatever they want, and even kill anyone they don't like!" Qian Shui became more and more excited as he spoke, and simply revealed his evil thoughts of wanting to be a tyrant, which was unacceptable.

On the contrary, Qian Qingyu was completely unmoved, looking as if she had seen through the world. "No, not at all. I would spoil my wife if I had too many wives. I don't want to get married, and I don't want to kill anyone. Anyway, I just don't want to be the emperor."

This is like saying that if you overeat, you're bound to get a beating from your parents; if you don't eat, you'll get a worse beating!

"That won't do!" Qian Shui only has this one child now, and the human instinct to carry on the family line immediately kicked in.

You can't reason with a child, so Qian Shui first found an excuse to persuade him: "Absolutely not! It's said that very terrible things will happen to a man if he doesn't get married!"

(Three-year-old Qian Renxue: So why are you lecturing me with such profound道理 (moral principles)?!)

What will happen?

"The little bird will fly away!" came the father's unwavering assurance.

"Let it fly, then it won't hurt anymore..."

"puff!"

The day passed as Qian Shui and her son argued about the importance of the bird, while a certain supreme ruler had to open half of his palace and requisition the original Crown Prince's council hall.

As the saying goes, being willful is fun for a moment, but working overtime is a nightmare. Ning Rongrong's head is about to explode. She angrily abandoned a bunch of messes and left them to fend for themselves.

What's frightening is that when the big boss arrives, the employees have to come and pay their respects. The ministers of the various departments at the heart of the empire pay their respects, while others handle official business in close proximity. In no time, the former Crown Prince's residence returned to its former bustling state.

Along with Songxuan and Qianmei from the original secretariat, they also put on their professional attire again and had to help Ning Rongrong coordinate and handle military and political secrets. The lights were on until the early hours of the morning before they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The guest deliberately placed last was also an acquaintance of Ning Rongrong—Tang San, a stranger in front of her whom she almost didn't recognize.

Without pausing her pen, Ning Rongrong continued reviewing the documents without looking away. "Should I call you Tang Yin, or Tang San?"

"Rongrong, it's been a long time." Tang San's usually expressionless face seemed to force a smile.

Since we're all sensible people, there's no need to pretend.

Ning Rongrong finally raised her head and looked directly at Tang San, "Young Master of the Haotian Sect, Sect Master of the Tang Sect, current Dean of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, and you also succeeded Teacher Yin as Minister of Education."

In just a few short years, from leaving the Royal Fighting Team to wielding such immense power, what exactly happened in between? I'm very interested.

"If we're talking about immense power, Rongrong, you must be the most powerful person in our team, right?"

You question what underhanded means I used to rise to power, and I mock you for not having acquired your authority in a particularly honorable way either.

The atmosphere became awkward in just a few words. After all, it was clear that Ning Rongrong had deliberately ignored him, or rather, treated him with no courtesy whatsoever. To Tang San, Ning Rongrong was practically humiliating him.

Ning Rongrong didn't have any prejudice against Tang San, for the obvious reason that they didn't have much interaction, or even any interaction at all.

After Tang San left the Royal Fighting Team 2, Ning Rongrong almost forgot about this classmate.

So much so that when rumors later circulated that he had murdered his master and was crippled, he was only slightly surprised.

As for later, he was too busy in the process of conquering the Star Luo Empire and had to digest a huge empire of similar size to the Heaven Dou Empire, so he naturally couldn't pay much attention to the problems of Heaven Dou City.

Xue Ye was still the emperor. After Xue Qinghe's death, without a higher authority to suppress him, he could still do a lot of things in the country, especially in Tiandou City, after Xue Qinghe's entire administrative team was taken away.

For example, the power to appoint and dismiss officials that is ostensibly directly under the emperor's authority.

But this is just like the Zhou emperor enfeoffing feudal lords; he promised you territory, but whether you got it or not depended on your own abilities.

Tang San clearly seems to be someone with some skill.

Taking advantage of the power vacuum within Tiandou City, he allowed the Haotian Sect to effortlessly take control of the city.

At that time, the reputation of the Spirit Hall had plummeted to an all-time low due to Xue Qinghe's affair, and a wave of sea spirit beasts was coming to the east coast of Douluo Continent, leaving the Spirit Hall with no time to spare.

Taking a tentative step forward, without facing a crushing defeat, was a huge advantage. With the help of the avalanche, Tang San's path to power proceeded quite smoothly.

"Don't misunderstand. Father often says that the three sects are of the same ilk. You are the young sect master of the Haotian Sect, so naturally you are also a friend of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect." At least in Ning Rongrong's view, this was the truth. She did not understand Tang San's position.

But after Ning Rongrong said that, Tang San understood. Ning Rongrong seemed to know nothing. Since that was the case, she still had value to him, and there was even room for cooperation. "Then I wonder where I have offended His Excellency the Supreme Ruler!"

At this moment, Tang San also remembered the fifth article of his Tang Clan's general principles: All Tang Clan disciples should not easily provoke trouble, but if anyone takes the initiative to infringe, they will be dealt with with thunderous force.

He had even prepared to kill Ning Rongrong.

However, Tang San's deliberately cold questioning did not cause Rongrong to have any further emotional fluctuations. She didn't even change her slightly furrowed brows. Instead, she gently rubbed her slender white fingers.

In just a few years, not to mention Tang San's own changes, even the willful little girl in front of him has developed the aura of a superior, and even seems to be slightly overshadowing Tang San.

When Tang San faced her directly, he began to understand how this best ruler managed the entire Douluo Continent.

Tang San thought again, if he continued to view her as a little girl, he probably wouldn't know how he would lose.

“Xue Ke is my friend. You got engaged to her, but not only did you not announce it, she didn’t even send an invitation. Can I understand that she is not satisfied with this marriage?”

Tang San only realized what Ning Rongrong was trying to do after she finished explaining her true purpose. He breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but think that she was, after all, a girl.

"Absolutely not. Rongrong, you are stationed in the Star Luo Empire, which is a long and arduous journey. You are also busy with important military and national affairs. Naturally, I would not dare to bother you."

Tang San maintained a very polite demeanor and humbled himself, saying, "It's perfect that Rongrong is back. I now formally invite you, His Excellency the Supreme Ruler, to attend my engagement ceremony with Princess Xue Ke!"

"Yes, Xiao Ke is my childhood friend. Even if you didn't invite me, I would still go. I'm just letting you know in advance: if you betray her, even the Haotian Sect can't keep you here!"

Chapter 313 The Game in Progress

As the saying goes, different methodologies lead to different perceptions.

Ning Rongrong didn't know what Tang San was thinking or what his stance was, but Xue Qinghe and Ning Huahua always told her to distinguish between enemies and friends.

In Ning Fengzhi's eyes, Haotian Sect was a friend, but in Ning Rongrong's eyes, that might not be the case.

Ning Rongrong's panoramic view of the entire continent allowed her to see further, such as the beast tide incident on the east coast.

No matter how much she hated the Spirit Hall, the undeniable fact was that without the Spirit Hall, the situation would have deteriorated rapidly to the point where she would be unable to control it.

Therefore, the Spirit Hall, which is resisting the beast tide, is a friend for the time being.

But what about the Haotian Sect?

She couldn't quite figure out Tang San yet, but all sorts of complicated information told her that since some of the enemies were in Heaven Dou City, and Xue Haicang was the direct beneficiary of being killed, then the role played by this hot newcomer Tang San was definitely not simple.

However, Tang San was very resolute: "Rongrong, I know your feelings for Princess Xueke. If you are worried, I, Tang San, can swear on my martial soul that I will never let Princess Xueke down. If I break this oath, I will die with my martial soul destroyed!"

Tang San made an exceptionally decisive oath on the spot, swearing an oath with his martial soul.

Seeing his reaction, Ning Rongrong finally smiled and said, "Okay, I believe you."

"Then, Your Excellency Supreme Commander, would you like to hear about the Ministry of Education's next plans?"

Unsurprisingly, the person who came immediately after Ning Rongrong returned to Tiandou City was either genuinely in need or just trying to get close to her and gather information.

For example, Tang San arrived neither too early nor too late, and was thus lost among the officials.

As the saying goes, one doesn't hit a smiling face, so Ning Rongrong didn't refuse. She also kept to herself, taking Tang San's plan and reviewing it. "Restart the Elite Tournament?"

"Yes, but not entirely. My idea is that, as a celebration of the conquest of the Star Luo Empire and the achievement of unification, the Empire could hold a grand event for all ages and levels to demonstrate the prosperity of our Empire's martial prowess."

After a pause, and after judging where Ning Rongrong was looking, Tang San continued, "In my personal vision, such a competition is not limited to the various academies. It could also involve all forces, like the Spirit Hall, sending out their own teams."

At the same time, this is also where all rankings are located. The sect rankings have been stagnant for many years, and this opportunity can be created to allow the top combat forces of each sect to participate and have a chance to achieve a higher ranking.

Ning Rongrong glanced at Tang San and asked, "Are you trying to use this to keep him in check?"

"Yes, for the empire, it is perfect that there is open struggle between the major sects. The strong will naturally gain great fame, but at the same time they will be targeted by other sects."

"For example, my Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School?"

Perhaps anticipating Ning Rongrong's question, Tang San confidently smiled and said, "Of course, that includes the Tang Sect and the Clear Sky Sect! With enough strength, we can naturally take them all, can't we?"

Unexpectedly, Tang San was so frank, and Ning Rongrong agreed wholeheartedly, "That is indeed as you said."

"so…"

"Your suggestion is very constructive. However, this matter is too big, and I need time to consider it. Tang San, go back and prepare for tomorrow's engagement. Zhu Qing and I will be there."

Having received a reply, Tang San left the former Crown Prince's council hall with a beaming smile, saying, "Then we'll welcome the Supreme Ruler at that time!"

Only when he left did he regain his expressionless demeanor. It seemed as if even the heavens were suppressing something that night, with thunder rumbling in the distance.

As Tang San stepped out of the main gate of the former Crown Prince's residence, bathed in the flashes of lightning, he glanced at the vast mansion with a mixture of confidence and mockery. "The Tang Clan's secret techniques must never be leaked!"

But isn't Ning Rongrong the same?

"What is Tang San's purpose?" Zhu Zhuqing, who had not appeared until now, finally walked up to Ning Rongrong's side.

"Hmph!" Ning Rongrong only sneered at this. "He handles things so flawlessly, and his words are without any flaws? But don't you think that what seems like his honesty is all scheming?"

It was the difference in methodology that determined the winner in this contest.