Heaven Dou Empire.
Heaven Dou City, Imperial Palace.
"Qian Renxue, Gu Yuena, go ahead and scream! Scream until your throats break—no one is coming to save you."
Ning Rongrong tossed the gawking Bi Ji back to the Star Dou Great Forest, then seized Gu Yuena and Qian Renxue.
"Calm down, Ning Rongrong! I'm just here to watch the show—it has nothing to do with me! It's all Qian Renxue's fault!"
Black qi rose all over Ning Rongrong's body. Gu Yuena wished she could slap herself.
Why did she have to come watch the excitement!
It was like throwing a meat bun at a dog—gone without return.
"Heh!" Using chains of laws, Ning Rongrong bound Gu Yuena tightly, then trussed both her and Qian Renxue up like dumplings and tied them to the stone pillars in the grand hall.
"The Life God King reincarnated—I can let that slide. She was just an assistant anyway."
"But what makes you two main culprits think I would overlook the matter of my multiple daughters?"
"Qian Renxue, Gu Yuena—you two really know how to play."
"Using the blood essence I left behind when I set up the array and didn't have time to retrieve, combined with Qian Renxue's blood essence, and borrowing the still-unawakened consciousness of the Douluo plane, you created a life."
"You're really something!"
"You solved the benefit distribution problem between the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and the Spirit Hall, and you also solved Qian Renxue's issue of the Angel Clan not wanting to marry."
"When it comes to causing chaos, I, Ning Rongrong, willingly call you two the strongest." Ning Rongrong paused, her voice turning cold and sharp.
"But Qian Renxue, did you ever consider my feelings? Did you ever consider how others would look at me?"
In this life, she was a twenty-year-old maiden at the prime of her youth—and now she had a daughter who looked seven or eight years old.
This really opened her eyes.
"Uh… you actually care about how others look at you?" Qian Renxue's eyes widened as if she had seen a ghost; even her voice trembled with disbelief.
"I clearly asked Dugu Yan. She said that based on her understanding of you, if the matter was already a done deal, you would absolutely be fine with it. Teacher said the same thing."
A "well" mark creased on her forehead.
This damn thing even had Dugu Yan and Ning Fengzhi's contributions?
Fine, fine, fine—you people with families are ganging up to bully me, a delicate young maiden, right!
Ning Rongrong reached out and grabbed.
Space split open. A bewildered figure was yanked out.
"Level 99 Limit Douluo, Dugu Yan. You've been working quite hard these past few years."
"Uh…"
Before she could figure out what was going on, Dugu Yan saw Ning Rongrong, then looked at Gu Yuena and Qian Renxue tied to the pillars. Her heart sank with a thud.
It's over—exposed!
I knew it wouldn't work! The sect master insisted on analyzing Ning Rongrong's personality herself and said it was probably feasible.
Although nothing major should happen, this clearly looks like she's angry, okay?
Dugu Yan had only recently learned that Ning Rongrong had returned and had wanted to go find her.
But she got dragged straight to the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace.
As for how Ning Rongrong dragged her here—that wasn't important. What mattered was what to do next.
"Um, Rongrong, listen to my sophistry—ah, pfft pfft pfft—listen to my explanation! I'm just an accomplice! The mastermind isn't me!"
"The mastermind is Sect Master Ning…"
"Shut up. How dare you keep babbling here." Ning Rongrong cut off Dugu Yan's excuses.
Dugu Yan: "…"
"Fine, I'm one of the masterminds too." Dugu Yan's eye twitched. She spread her hands in a gesture that said she wasn't afraid of boiling water anymore.
Dugu Yan's mind went blank for a moment. A third empty pillar now had a green-haired young woman tied to it.
Mm, another one bound.
"Hmph. Qian Daoliu is old—I'm afraid he can't handle the torment. So Qian Renxue, you'll just have to take double the punishment on his behalf!"
"Kyōka Suigetsu."
In the blink of an eye, the world shifted.
Whether it was the supreme God King Gu Yuena, the God King-level Qian Renxue, or the level 99 Dugu Yan—they all fell into hypnosis.
"Phew—"
Ning Rongrong took a deep breath and said helplessly, "These three really need discipline. They dare do anything."
"Come out."
Ning Rongrong glanced toward the doorway.
"Ehehe, still got caught."
Space rippled slightly. Tokisaki Kurumi and Di Tian stepped out.
Looking at the three who appeared completely broken, Tokisaki Kurumi tactfully skipped over it, but her curiosity scratched like a cat:
"What exactly did you do to the three of them?"
"Nothing much—just some non-mainstream games. Anyway, Qian Renxue, that knowledge-rich fallen angel, isn't unfamiliar with this sort of thing. I just gave them something a bit stimulating."
Di Tian remained silent. Tokisaki Kurumi blinked: "Master, why don't you give me one too, hehe! Oh, and make it a girl—a girl! It'd be even better if Master did it herself."
"Scram, scram! You never think about proper things all day." Ning Rongrong's forehead was covered in black lines. Seeing Di Tian's hesitant expression, she sighed. "Don't worry. I know my limits. I've completely isolated this space and time. Even if something happens, it won't matter."
An unknown amount of time passed.
Gu Yuena, Dugu Yan, and Qian Renxue staggered out of the palace gates.
They no longer felt real.
Even their minds had become dazed.
Ning Rongrong had already left. Di Tian temporarily returned to the Star Dou Great Forest.
"Hehe, did you have fun?"
The sudden voice startled the three of them. Just as they tried to use their divine power, waves of weakness hit them, and they stumbled and fell straight to the ground.
"Ouch… Tokisaki Kurumi, what are you doing?" Gu Yuena's face was flushed with shame and anger.
"Oh oh oh, I'm really curious—Miss Silver Dragon King, did you dream of some burly Dragon King, or perhaps some graceful and voluptuous female Dragon King?"
"I don't want to argue with you." Gu Yuena glared at Tokisaki Kurumi, retreated a few steps, took several deep breaths, then used her divine power to teleport back to the Star Dou Great Forest.
"Master said that in one week, the tripartite conference will begin at the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect."
"Got it." A reply floated back from the Star Dou Great Forest, then silence fell.
"Did you two have fun?" Tokisaki Kurumi grinned wickedly.
"You really do know everything! Master won't go too far with you—at least not before you cross the bottom line. But this is a one-time thing only."
"She also acknowledged Ning Ling's identity."
Hearing Tokisaki Kurumi's confirmation, Qian Renxue immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, if Ning Rongrong really pursued the matter, it would be very troublesome!
Although Ning Fengzhi had agreed, Ning Fengzhi was just a figurehead sect master who bought cat girls—what did his agreement even count for!
"Hey!" Seeing Qian Renxue and Dugu Yan stand up, Tokisaki Kurumi flashed behind them and whispered softly, "Was Kyōka Suigetsu fun? Were all five senses very realistic?"
"Not fun." Qian Renxue said firmly.
"Mm, it would've been even better if it had been Ning Rongrong herself." Dugu Yan nodded, then froze. She saw Qian Renxue and Tokisaki Kurumi staring at her with wide eyes.
Facing those four sparkling, watery gazes, Dugu Yan's cheeks instantly turned bright red.
"I… I'm not like you god-level beings. My mind hasn't recovered yet."
"It's a side effect."
"Right, it must be a side effect."
Dugu Yan turned into a streak of green light and flew straight out of Heaven Dou City at such speed that even Qian Renxue's vision almost couldn't keep up.
"Sigh, just like Master—thin-skinned." Tokisaki Kurumi shrugged helplessly. "As expected, compared to a certain fallen little angel who lurked in Heaven Dou for decades and is an expert in this field, your level is far behind."
"I'm not a fallen little angel." Black lines crawled across Qian Renxue's forehead. "Also, don't you think Ning Rongrong has become a bit… never mind. She probably broke through to Creation God. Even if I wanted to do something, I couldn't."
Thinking back to the somewhat weak Ning Rongrong before, now she felt completely different.
"Hehe, honestly, I like Master's personality just like that—it's really interesting!" The corner of Tokisaki Kurumi's mouth curved up. If only one day her strength could surpass hers…
Sigh, just thinking about it. Impossible!
"Right." Tokisaki Kurumi's expression turned serious. "Before leaving, Master left a clone behind. Regarding the establishment of order between the mortal realm and the immortal realm—how are your discussions going?"
Qian Renxue patted the dust off her clothes, composed herself, and nodded: "The basic strategy is fine. It's just that Martial Souls are hard to handle…"
After listening to Qian Renxue's explanation, Tokisaki Kurumi spoke:
"The fragments of the Dragon God's laws will be taken back. From now on, newly born humans will not have Martial Souls. When soul beasts die, they will no longer drop soul rings or soul bones."
The humans who are still alive can continue cultivating to god level using the Martial Soul method.
As for soul rings, the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect will provide god-bestowed soul rings throughout. How many years they can obtain depends on their own ability.
"What about afterward? Cultivation is the key point!" Qian Renxue pressed.
"The cultivation methods were formulated later by Master based on this world's cultivation style."
"The techniques include both human and soul beast paths."
…
One week later.
A tripartite conference was held at the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
Led by Ning Rongrong, Qian Renxue, and Gu Yuena, they redefined the cultivation realms and revised the laws of Douluo Star.
The cultivation realms were divided into: Body Tempering, Tendon Refining, Bone Forging, Houtian, Xiantian, Supreme Four Realms, and Longevity.
Douluo Star was divided into the Mortal Realm and the Cultivation Realm.
After dividing the benefits, Gu Yuena went alone to another parallel world. Ning Rongrong considered it for a long time but ultimately did not go—she had little interest in spectating.
Not long after, Gu Yuena returned, her strength having reached half-step Creation God.
Ning Rongrong traced Gu Yuena's experience along the timeline and discovered that the first thing Gu Yuena did upon arriving was to eliminate Tang Hao and Tang Yin.
Then she extracted Tang Wulin's Golden Dragon King bloodline—but it seemed she did not kill him.
As for Gu Yue and Na Na, Gu Yuena forcibly extracted the Silver Dragon King bloodline from both of them and erased all memories related to soul beasts.
"Let Di Tian absorb the Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King bloodlines to achieve God King!"
As for whether Di Tian would take revenge on humans, Gu Yuena seemed to have set a bottom line out of consideration for Ning Rongrong.
Gu Yuena also used the laws bestowed by Ning Rongrong to open a new cultivation path for soul beasts, preventing them from becoming meat on the chopping block again.
The Spirit Pagoda—the nightmare of soul beasts—was completely destroyed by Di Tian after he achieved God King.
The Divine Realm drifting in the void was thrown even farther away by Gu Yuena.
At this moment, Ning Rongrong was quietly sipping tea.
Gu Yuena sat beside her.
"You still showed mercy. You only erased the cause and effect related to yourself in that parallel world." Ning Rongrong spoke.
"You did the same, didn't you?" Gu Yuena did not refute. She casually picked up an orange from nearby and began eating it as if it were her own home.
"By the way, your daughter Ning Ling—today seems to be her coronation ceremony. Is it really okay not to go?" Gu Yuena asked meaningfully.
"A certain busy sect master Ning has already gone. What would this young sect master go there for?"
"Qian Renxue is the Heaven Dou Great Emperor. I'm just a young sect master."
"Eternal Immortal Kingdom." Ning Rongrong murmured and shook her head, complaining, "The name Qian Renxue came up with is really tacky as hell."
"You didn't want to name it, so someone else did—and then you weren't happy." Gu Yuena chuckled lightly.
"Speaking of which, what's the situation with Xue Ke? Did Qian Renxue fulfill her promise?" Ning Rongrong changed the subject.
"Mm…" Gu Yuena thought about the information Bi Ji had given her and nodded. After all, Bi Ji was her disciple—Gu Yuena still cared a little.
"Emperor Xue Ye and Xue Qinghe have both been revived, though their appearances have changed somewhat. They're now living in the original Star Luo Empire territory."
"Xue Qinghe was revived?" Ning Rongrong was somewhat surprised but did not use the laws to check the timeline.
"Mm. According to Xue Ke, Qian Renxue believed her own plan was what caused Xue Qinghe's death, so she revived him."
"As for the other princes, they had all attempted to assassinate Xue Qinghe—or rather, Qian Renxue's state of mind at the time—so morally and logically, they were considered assassination failures and got counter-killed."
"Mm. In that case, Emperor Xue Ye at least has descendants now! At least he won't have to change his name midway."
"You humans really care about this kind of thing." Gu Yuena complained. "Your father Ning Fengzhi agreeing to Ning Ling's plan seems to have been based on…"
"Stop! Want another round of Kyōka Suigetsu?"
Gu Yuena: "…"
After a long pause, Gu Yuena cautiously asked: "Ning Rongrong, do you have a bit of a sultry personality? This isn't me saying it—it's the inference Qian Renxue gave based on your reaction when she pushed you against the wall back then."
"She told me—if there's a problem, go find her."
With that, without waiting for Ning Rongrong's reaction, she directly transferred through space and slipped away.
"Seriously, am I that scary?" Ning Rongrong shook her head. "What sultry? I, Ning Rongrong, am not like that!"
Ning Rongrong looked up at the sky. Gentle sunlight fell on her body, illuminating her with radiance. No energy emanated from her, yet she seemed to glow with a holy aura.
After a long while.
Ning Rongrong murmured to herself: "I suppose I should go take a look at Heaven Dou. It wouldn't be quite right not to show my face at my own daughter's coronation ceremony."
Space trembled slightly.
Ning Rongrong's figure had already vanished.
(Grand Finale)
(End of Book)