212: Spirit Hall in Action

However, late on the second night after Yu Yuanzhen's furious roar, a ghostly figure appeared without warning outside the heavily guarded forbidden area in the back mountains of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan—the Sect's Spirit Bone collection vault.

The two Spirit Saint-level Elders guarding it couldn't even sound an alarm before their thoughts and Soul Power were instantly frozen by an extremely cold, soul-corroding force, and they softly collapsed, their lives extinguished.

Ghost Douluo Gui Mei's figure, under the moonlight, was like a faint wisp of smoke; he ignored the vault's powerful defensive spirit tool array, and his body seemed to pass directly through it as if it had no physical form.

A moment later, when he reappeared, he held a jade box exuding a furious Dragon might—it contained the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's most precious ten-thousand-year Spirit Bone, passed down for generations and cherished as their life: the Lightning Dragon Head Left Arm Bone!

Gui Mei's figure merged into the night, vanishing without a trace, leaving only the wide-open vault door and two cold corpses.

The news, when it reached the Sect, was like a bolt from the blue.

Yu Yuanzhen looked at the empty vault and the corpses of the guarding Elders, his face ashen.

If the opponent could silently infiltrate the forbidden area, take the Spirit Bone, and kill Spirit Saints as easily as slaughtering dogs, wouldn't taking his life be effortless?

Bibi Dong was telling him in the most blatant way: it would be effortless for Spirit Hall to destroy the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.

The so-called alliance was vulnerable in the face of absolute power.

On the third day, at the last moment of the deadline.

Under immense fear and deliberation, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan announced its withdrawal from the "Anti-Spirit Hall Alliance" and handed over three relatively less important Elders who had been most aggressive in their persecution of Liu Erlong back then.

These three Elders had their cultivation crippled and were taken away by Spirit Hall's people; their fate was self-evident.

The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan was severely weakened, lost all face, and completely withdrew from the core stage.

The second target: the Star Luo Empire.

The Star Luo Empire was known for its iron-blooded martial Spirit, and Emperor Dai Tianfeng was even more ambitious, most dissatisfied with Spirit Hall's interference, and one of the strongest proponents of the alliance.

Bibi Dong's response was even more direct.

She ordered the Spirit Hall Holy Temple stationed at the Star Luo Empire's border, under the guise of "eradicating evil Spirit Masters and maintaining continental stability," to unite forces with several surrounding branch halls, assembling over five thousand elite Spirit Masters, led by several Spirit Douluo, to brazenly cross the border and launch a devastating surprise attack on Tieyan Province, a vital border province of the Star Luo Empire controlled by a collateral branch of the imperial Dai family, which secretly hoarded supplies and trained private soldiers.

The battle lasted only one day and one night.

The Star Luo Empire's local defenders and Spirit Master forces were like chickens and dogs before Spirit Hall's well-prepared elite army.

The provincial capital was breached, the vast strategic supplies hoarded there were burned to ashes, the core members of the Dai family's collateral branch were almost completely slaughtered, their heads hung on the city walls.

After thoroughly destroying the province's resistance, the Spirit Hall army swaggered away, retreating back across the border.

This slap was loud and bloody.

It landed directly on the face of Star Luo Empire's Emperor Dai Tianfeng.

It was also a warning to all restless forces: Spirit Hall's fangs were still sharp, and the Supreme Pontiff's will could not be challenged.

The Star Luo Empire was enraged, but looking at the Spirit Hall army, more numerous and arrayed in strict formation at the border, and the unfathomable new Supreme Pontiff in the Supreme Pontiff Palace, Dai Tianfeng could only swallow his anger, strictly order a news blackout, and become extremely passive in his participation in the alliance.

Finally, and most crucially—the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School was the wealthiest in the world, and its support system abilities were unmatched on the continent, while Sect Master Ning Fengzhi was even more shrewd and calculating.

To deal with them, Bibi Dong adopted a completely different strategy: a combination of binding interests and threats.

She dispatched her trusted subordinate, and Liu Erlong's capable assistant in the Judgment Hall, carrying a personal letter from the Supreme Pontiff and an extremely tempting "cooperation agreement" to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School.

The core contents of the agreement:

1. Spirit Hall would grant the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School priority mining rights and exclusive operating rights to several rare mineral and medicinal core production areas under its control, with extremely generous profit sharing.

2. Spirit Hall promised that within the next ten years, it would prioritize hunting the highest quality support system spirit rings for the direct disciples of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, with Titled Douluo-level powerhouses personally providing protection.

3. All trade routes belonging to Spirit Hall would grant the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School's goods the highest level of transit convenience and tax exemptions.

The conditions were extremely generous, enough to drive any merchant mad.

But the messenger also "inadvertently" revealed a piece of news: His Holiness the Supreme Pontiff had long admired Sword Douluo Chen Xin's swordsmanship and hoped to invite Sword Douluo to Spirit City for "sparring and exchange" and to "stay for a while."

Additionally, His Holiness the Supreme Pontiff had recently acquired an interesting spirit tool that seemed capable of sensing certain hidden, powerful Soul Power fluctuations, especially... ten-thousand-year-level Spirit Beast auras.

Ning Fengzhi looked at the tempting clauses in the agreement, then listened to the messenger's seemingly soft but pointed "relaying," and his back was instantly soaked with cold sweat.

Inviting Chen Xin to "stay" in Spirit City? This was a naked demand for a hostage.

And that last hint about the spirit tool was like a venomous snake biting his heart.

He instantly thought of the Sect's greatest secret and weakness—Bone Douluo Gu Rong.

Gu Rong's Spirit, the Bone Dragon, was extremely unique; its aura, under specific detection, had similarities to certain powerful undead or bone-type Spirit Beasts, making it very easy to misinterpret.

Bibi Dong was warning him that she had means to "discover" the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School harboring a "ten-thousand-year Spirit Beast."

If this accusation were leveled, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School would face instant annihilation.

Ning Fengzhi's expression changed erratically, finally settling into a helpless sigh. In the face of absolute power and a fatal weakness, any alliance was laughably fragile.

He painstakingly signed his name on the cooperation agreement and publicly announced that the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School would maintain neutrality and not participate in any alliance actions against Spirit Hall.

Thus, in just a few short months, the seemingly grand "Anti-Spirit Hall Alliance," under Bibi Dong's precise, ruthless, divisive, and heavy-handed combination of attacks, crumbled like ice and snow under the scorching sun, vanishing into thin air.

The two Empires ceased their activities, and among the Upper Three Sects, one was crippled (Blue Lightning), one withdrew (Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School), and one was isolated (Clear Sky Sect).

Spirit Hall's authority, under the iron-fisted rule of the new Supreme Pontiff Bibi Dong, not only did not weaken but instead soared to an unprecedented height.

When the last secret report about the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School's surrender arrived at the Supreme Pontiff Palace, Bibi Dong was standing before a huge floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at Spirit City prostrate beneath her.

The golden glow of the setting sun cast a sacred yet cold light on her luxurious Supreme Pontiff robe.

Internal troubles were cleared, external threats temporarily pacified.

It was time.

Deep within those profound, cold purple eyes, the half-year-suppressed flame of revenge, ignited for Ah Yin, finally surged forth without reservation.

Ah Yin, her sister, the Blue Silver Emperor who had accompanied her gently in the Star Dou Forest, and one of the sources of her tragic fate—the Clear Sky Sect, Tang Hao! Tang Xiao!

"Give the order."

Bibi Dong's voice was not loud, yet it was like cracking ice, clearly reaching the ears of Ghost Douluo, who stood silently in the shadows beside her.

Gui Mei's figure silently emerged, bowing to receive the command.

"Target: Clear Sky Sect."

"Edict: Annihilate!"

"Key targets: Tang Hao and Tang Xiao, brothers. I want them alive, or their corpses!"

"Operation Codename: Blue Silver's Sorrow."