The group continued chatting for a while.
Cousin Meng Dong bragged to Meng Bei that he was now level 39 and had hope of breaking through to level 40 before turning 20.
This talent was considered quite good throughout the entire Meng clan.
Meng Bei didn't tell Meng Dong his current soul power level.
In the Meng clan's eyes, Meng Bei had only been away from the family for about half a year, so at most he had just broken through to Soul Elder realm. No one could imagine that in just half a year, Meng Bei was now close to breaking through to Soul Emperor.
After the pleasantries, Meng Bei and Ning Rongrong prepared to leave.
At this time, Meng Jian called Meng Bei aside privately. After Ning Rongrong left, Meng Jian cautiously asked what Meng Bei needed to pay attention to when meeting with Ning Fengzhi later.
Meng Jian knew that asking these questions in front of Ning Rongrong would inevitably damage Meng Bei's face.
But if he didn't ask, when Ning Fengzhi came to visit this afternoon, if he responded inappropriately, it would damage the relationship between the two families.
Although Meng Jian appeared carefree on the surface, he was actually a meticulous person, which was why the family had sent him.
Upon hearing this, Meng Bei simply told Meng Jian about Ning Fengzhi's personality characteristics.
Actually, this wasn't very necessary. Ning Fengzhi himself had nothing particularly taboo, and with Ning Fengzhi's emotional intelligence, even if Meng Jian was terrible at conversation, it would be impossible to create an awkward atmosphere. So Meng Jian's worries were completely unnecessary.
However, to put Meng Jian at ease, Meng Bei still gave him some simple instructions.
Meanwhile, Ning Fengzhi was indeed busy with something.
He was working with Tang Hao and others to find ways to infiltrate the Haotian Sect.
According to investigations, since the Haotian Sect announced its seclusion, its originally numerous industries had shrunk significantly. Therefore, the Haotian Sect after seclusion lacked resources in all aspects compared to before.
Within the current Haotian Sect, there were roughly two factions.
One faction consisted of people with resilient characters who were willing to endure poverty and cultivate, happy to live in seclusion within the Haotian Sect. At the same time, this faction didn't harbor much resentment toward what Tang Hao had done back then.
The other faction consisted of people with explosive temperaments who were unwilling to accept mediocrity. They had always been brooding over the Haotian Sect's seclusion and were dissatisfied with their current impoverished life. They hoped every day for the Haotian Sect to emerge and restore its former glory as the continent's number one sect.
At the same time, most people in this faction had relatives who were injured or killed in Spirit Hall's attacks due to Tang Hao's actions back then. They transferred this hatred to Tang Hao, who had left the sect, believing that Tang Hao's cowardice had indirectly caused the tragedy of that time.
Therefore, they hated Tang Hao to the bone and constantly cursed him.
Most Haotian Sect members had explosive personalities. Among these two factions, the first type was a small minority, while the second type made up the majority.
According to analysis by the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's think tank, among these two factions, they were most likely to win over the second faction.
Although the first faction held no resentment toward Tang Hao, they also had no favorable feelings toward him. The key was that they were content with the status quo and had no dissatisfaction with the Haotian Sect under Tang Xiao's leadership.
Under these circumstances, trying to win them over would be very difficult.
The second type of people were different.
Although they hated Tang Hao to the bone and constantly cursed him, this also meant they were not content with the status quo.
In other words, they weren't actually dissatisfied with Tang Hao, but with their current situation.
Tang Xiao's ability was sufficient for maintaining but insufficient for progress, not enough to lead the Haotian Sect out of this situation. As long as Tang Xiao continued as sect master, this mediocre situation would be difficult to change.
In contrast, Tang Hao possessed the strength to lead the Haotian Sect's comeback.
According to analysis by the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's think tank, as long as Tang Hao first found a way to temporarily appease the resentment in most Haotian Sect members' hearts, then proposed some grand policies to atone for his sins through merit, such as leading the Haotian Sect's revival and defeating Spirit Hall.
Then these people who originally hated Tang Hao to the bone would very likely turn around and instead support Tang Hao as sect master.
Among them, the most likely to be won over was the Seventh Elder, Blazing Sun Douluo!
From his title alone, one could hear this Blazing Sun Douluo's explosive, sun-like personality.
In that incident back then, Blazing Sun Douluo's eldest son unfortunately died in the confrontation with Spirit Hall, which had almost become this Blazing Sun Douluo's psychological burden. According to intelligence reports, Blazing Sun Douluo cursed almost daily that Tang Hao was a beast, Spirit Hall were beasts, and Ghost Leopard Douluo who killed his son back then was also a beast!
Although Blazing Sun Douluo cursed Tang Hao every day, precisely because of this, as long as Tang Xiao remained sect master for one day, the Haotian Sect would remain secluded for one day, and Blazing Sun Douluo's revenge for his son's death would be delayed by one day.
If Tang Hao was willing to actively acknowledge his mistakes to Blazing Sun Douluo and then promise to avenge Blazing Sun Douluo's son, then presumably, this Blazing Sun Douluo would very likely become Tang Hao's first supporter!
Of course, specific actions needed careful planning, and contact with Blazing Sun Douluo needed to be gradual—it couldn't be accomplished overnight.
In the afternoon, Ning Fengzhi made time to meet with Meng Jian's group.
Both sides discussed various matters regarding the upcoming wedding arrangements, invited personnel, and other aspects.
Throughout, Ning Fengzhi maintained a refined and elegant attitude, giving Meng Jian and others plenty of face, greatly increasing the Meng clan's favorable impression of Ning Fengzhi.
Meanwhile, Meng Bei received an invitation from Xue Qinghe.
Ever since Meng Bei mentioned to Emperor Xue Ye about having Xue Qinghe recognize Ning Rongrong as his sister, Emperor Xue Ye had been very concerned about this matter.
On one hand, he continued sending people to gather intelligence about Meng Bei. On the other hand, he tested Xue Qinghe's attitude.
Emperor Xue Ye somewhat suspected whether Crown Prince Xue Qinghe had secretly made a deal with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
Ever since the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect crippled Prince Xue Xing, Emperor Xue Ye's attitude toward the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had become subtle.
Although he hadn't openly fallen out with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, behind the scenes, Emperor Xue Ye was actually very angry.
No matter how useless Prince Xue Xing was, he was still his biological brother.
What the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect did was undoubtedly a hard slap to his face.
This incident made Emperor Xue Ye wary of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. He realized that the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's influence in the Heaven Dou Empire was somewhat too large.
This was especially obvious after Dugu Bo joined the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Crown Prince Xue Qinghe was also Sect Master Ning Fengzhi's disciple, and now Ning Fengzhi's son-in-law wanted Xue Qinghe to recognize Ning Fengzhi's daughter as his sister.
These actions inevitably made Emperor Xue Ye think too much.
When he went to test Xue Qinghe's attitude about this matter, Xue Qinghe actually appeared completely ignorant of it. Emperor Xue Ye's probing yielded nothing.
How was this possible? Xue Qinghe didn't know? Even ghosts wouldn't believe that!
Emperor Xue Ye immediately thought Xue Qinghe was deliberately concealing it, so he secretly ordered that Xue Qinghe not be allowed to leave the Crown Prince's quarters, quietly placing Xue Qinghe under house arrest.
Thus, Xue Qinghe was placed under house arrest without knowing anything.
The confused Xue Qinghe could only send someone to invite Meng Bei. She wanted to ask Meng Bei what exactly was going on.
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