A wry smile appeared on his face upon hearing this. He was still too inexperienced! He had thought that he'd taken care of this matter in an exceptional fashion, but who would've thought that this was a trap set by everyone for the Holy Spirit Cult?
The smile on Zhen Hua's face faded, and he said, "This incident was an extremely catastrophic one. I didn't think that the Holy Spirit Cult would be brazen to such an extent already! How was the military training that your academy sent you on, Wulin?"
In the presence of so many people, Tang Wulin couldn't go into much detail, so he gave a clipped response. "I learned a lot from it. I only came back recently, and I came to pay you a visit right away."
Zhen Hua nodded before pointing at the two middle-aged women in the room as he said, "Let me introduce everyone to you. These two are from the Battle God Hall, and they're both incumbent Battle Gods."
Tang Wulin wasn't completely oblivious about the Battle God Hall now, and he was aware that the organization had 18 Battle Gods in total. They were the pillars of the Battle God Hall, and all of them were Titled Douluos that took orders directly from the federation. It was said that the Battle God Hall had Soul Masters who were even more powerful than the 18 Battle Gods, but Tang Wulin didn't know what those beings were referred to as.
The two middle-aged women were both quite ordinary in appearance, and following Zhen Hua's introduction, Tang Wulin learned that their names were Ice Moon Douluo Tang Liyue and Dawn Cat Douluo Zhu Xuan.
Zhen Hua then pointed at one of the middle-aged men, and continued, "This is Heavenly Saint Douluo Xu Shengqun from the Spirit Pagoda."
Zhen Hua was clearly referring to this man in a more respectful manner than when he'd introduced the two female Battle Gods of the Battle God Hall.
Tang Wulin hurriedly said, "Greetings, Your Highness."
Xu Shengqun nodded as he appraised Tang Wulin in an intrigued manner.
Zhen Hua smiled, and continued, "Brother Xu is one of the current four spirit envoys of the Spirit Pagoda."
Tang Wulin's heart jolted slightly upon hearing this. He knew a lot more about the Spirit Pagoda than he did about the Battle God Hall, and he was aware of the fact that the Spirit Pagoda was a very tight-knit organization.
In the beginning, when the federal parliament had first been founded, they'd actually referenced the hierarchy of the Spirit Pagoda.
The Spirit Pagoda had 36 elders, and in the beginning, these elders were beings from all types of different powers throughout the continent. However, as time passed, the Spirit Pagoda became more and more important, and it gradually became an independent entity.
Even so, the Spirit Pagoda still had a panel of 36 elders that made a lot of their important decisions.
Above the panel of elders were several high-ranking officials, including the pagoda chairman, the two vice-chairmen, and the four spirit envoys. These 43 people comprised the entire high-ranking hierarchy of the Spirit Pagoda.
The Spirit Pagoda was a relatively diplomatic organization; even the chairman couldn't do whatever they wanted, but they had veto power, which could play crucial roles in all decisions. The vice-chairman and spirit envoys each had two votes, which was second only to the chairman's three votes, while each of the elders had only one vote. Whenever an important decision had to be made, a verdict would be decided through a vote.
The two vice-chairmen and four spirit envoys of the Spirit Pagoda had to have made extremely significant contributions to the organization, and they also represented the most powerful beings the Spirit Pagoda had to offer. As such, all of them had to be at least Hyper Douluos.
This meant that this Heavenly Saint Douluo Xu Shengqun had to possess a cultivation rank that outstripped that of Mu Ye. As for who would win in a battle, that was a different matter entirely.
Zhen Hua turned toward the last middle-aged man, and Tang Wulin could see that a hint of respect had appeared in his eyes. Just what kind of being could evoke such a reaction from the only Divine Blacksmith on the entire continent?
A complex expression had also appeared on Mu Ye's face as he cast his gaze toward this man, but as opposed to respect, Tang Wulin could see fear in his eyes.
It was undoubtedly the case that both Zhen Hua and Mu Ye were extremely influential figures on the entire continent. As such, it had to take a being of truly unfathomable power to evoke such reactions from them.
This middle-aged man was quite tall and slim with a set of handsome facial features. He had a pair of very beautiful eyes, just like Tang Wulin's, and a gentle expression was rippling within those eyes. He had a set of very long eyelashes, and even though he appeared to be around 40 years of age, he was still a very attractive middle-aged man.
There seemed to be no aura emanating from his body whatsoever, and at the very least, he didn't grab one's attention like the others did. However, Tang Wulin couldn't help but be drawn to this man.
Zhen Hua said, "You and this man actually share a connection."
"We do?" Tang Wulin was quite surprised to hear this.
The middle-aged man smiled to reveal a set of white teeth, and he said, "Allow me to introduce myself; I am Zang Xin, and like you, I'm from the Tang Sect."
Zang Xin? Tang Wulin had never heard of this name before. If there were anything in common between the two of them, it would have to be the fact that both of their names required many strokes to write... [Their Chinese names are Tang Wulin (唐舞麟) and Zang Xin (臧鑫) so yeah, signing contracts must be a pain in the ass for them.]
Zhen Hua said, "Senior Zang is the Vice-palace Master of the Douluo Palace. His Douluo Title is Amorous."
"Ahem." Zang Xin immediately cleared his throat in an awkward manner upon hearing this.
"My apologies, I forgot that you didn't like having your Douluo Titled mentioned," Zhen Hua hurriedly apologized with an awkward look on his face.
Tang Wulin hadn't noticed Zang Xin's reaction to his own Douluo Title at all as he'd been completely stunned by the words "Douluo Palace".
He was even more well aware of the internal structure of the Tang Sect; there were three inner halls and three outer halls, and he belonged to one of the three inner halls, the Battle Hall.
The three inner halls were comprised of the Enforcement Hall, the Battle Hall, and the Holy Hall. The Douluo Palace was part of the outer three halls, and it was said that only the priests of the Holy Hall had a chance to ascend into the Douluo Palace.
The master of the Douluo Palace was none other than the master of the entire Tang Sect, which meant that this Amorous Douluo was the second-in-command of the Tang Sect!
After visiting the Star Luo Empire, Tang Wulin had been made aware of the fact that not only did the Tang Sect hold an extremely important position on the Douluo Continent, it was revered to an even greater degree on the Star Luo Continent.
Zhen Hua had referred to Xu Shengqun as Brother Xu, but he referred to Zang Xin as Senior Zang, and there was a big difference there. It was undoubtedly the case that this Amorous Douluo was definitely older than he looked.
"Sigh, it's all the palace master's fault for forcing this title upon me; it's been embarrassing me my entire life! Wulin, there's no need for you to refer to me as 'Your Highness', and certainly don't refer to me by my Douluo Title. Just call me Old Man Zang."
Zang Xin had spoken in a very benevolent manner, and he wore a smile on his face this entire time, but Tang Wulin didn't dare to oblige to this. He hurriedly said in a respectful manner, "Tang Wulin pays his respects to the vice-palace master!"
A faint smile appeared on Zang Xin's face, and he said, "This is our first meeting, so why don't I give you a little gift?" He raised his hand as he spoke, and a small item flew toward Tang Wulin.
Tang Wulin hurriedly caught the item to find that it was a small round badge that was extremely intricately crafted. There was clearly a soul array within the badge, and it was very beautiful to behold. One side of it was blue while the other was red, and both sides had the character "Tang" engraved upon it.
"That's a Tang Sect Ice Fire Seal!" the other five Titled Douluos, including Xu Shenqun, all exclaimed in unison.
In particular, Ice Moon Douluo Tang Liyue and Dawn Cat Douluo Zhu Xuan both wore envious and astonished expressions on their faces.
Tang Sect Ice Fire Seal? Even as a Tang Sect disciple, Tang Wulin had no idea what this was. However, he could naturally tell from everyone's reactions that this was something of immense value, and he immediately extended a deep respectful bow as he said, "Thank you for your kindness, Vice-palace Master!"
He didn't dare to refer to this man as Old Man Zang.
Zang Xin smiled, and replied, "Don't mention it. The palace master asked me to give this to you, so I'm only a gift-bearer. You deserve this for everything you've done."
"The palace master also knows about me?" Not only was Tang Wulin oblivious to who the current Douluo Palace Master was, even most of the Titled Douluos on the continent were unaware of his identity. Only the very few people who truly stood at the pinnacle of the continent knew the identity of this extremely secretive and mysterious palace master.
Zang Xin continued, "When you get some spare time, come to visit the Douluo Palace with that Tang Sect Ice Fire Seal, and someone will tell you how to use it. Make sure you keep it safe and don't lose it or you'll be missing out on a great opportunity."
"Yes," Tang Wulin replied in a respectful manner. He then made his way over to Mu Ye and Zhen Hua before standing behind them. These people were all seniors of his, and there was no place for him to sit in their presence.
Zhen Hua smiled, and said, "I was hoping that we'd be able to reel in a big fish with Senior Zang on the scene, but seeing as that plan has fallen through, why don't we have some lunch? Mu Ye, we'll have to trouble you again."
"Aright," Mu Ye answered before glancing at Tang Wulin as he instructed, "Come give me a hand."
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