Master of Nine Stars

The next day, in the morning.

Gao Lingwei sat on the sofa, a pen in one hand poised over an application form on the coffee table. Her mind, however, was clearly elsewhere. Her other hand held a phone, and she was speaking softly into it.

"Mhm, Mom, I know, I know..." Gao Lingwei murmured. Seeing such a gentle and well-behaved side of her made Rong Taotao click his tongue in amazement.

Rong Taotao thought for a moment, then scooted over to Gao Lingwei’s side, pressing his ear close to her phone.

"Yes, I will." Gao Lingwei turned her head and shot the eavesdropper an exasperated but amused glare.

"Okay, yes, I’ll be careful..." As she spoke, Gao Lingwei tossed aside the pen in her right hand, switched her phone to that hand, and with her now-free left hand, pushed Rong Taotao’s head down onto her lap.

Rong Taotao: "..."

He struggled for a moment but couldn’t break free from her grip. After a few seconds, he gave up and settled in, comfortably enjoying the lap pillow.

’What can I do? I’m not as strong as her. Might as well just relax and enjoy it, right?’

After a while, Gao Lingwei finally hung up. Looking at the person resting his head sideways on her lap, she couldn’t help but ruffle his naturally curly hair with one hand. "Wake up."

Rong Taotao rolled over onto his back. "Was that your mom?"

"Mhm." Gao Lingwei looked down at Rong Taotao. "She thought I would go home to see them after the competition. That was my original plan too, to make a trip home after it was over..."

"Let’s go, then. I’ll go with you," Rong Taotao said. "I bet Coach Xia doesn’t want to go back to the Snow Realm so soon either. He’d probably love to stay out here and soak up the sun."

"No, let’s go back to the Snow Realm." Gao Lingwei gently combed through Rong Taotao’s curly hair with her fingers. "We don’t have much time to train as it is. The Lotus Petal gives us an advantage in cultivating quickly. The next three months or so are our chance to close the gap with everyone else. Every day is precious."

"Hmm..." Rong Taotao pursed his lips. Just yesterday, the two of them had finished a grueling tournament schedule and achieved a major life goal.

And yet, in Gao Lingwei’s mind, there wasn’t the slightest intention of relaxing, nor did she feel the need for any celebration.

Even now, when her body hadn’t even fully recovered, she was already thinking about starting the next phase of her training.

Gao Lingwei said softly, "After we come out of the Snow Realm and the national tournament is over, I’ll go back to visit my parents then."

Rong Taotao thought for a moment. "What do your parents like?"

Gao Lingwei: "..."

Rong Taotao continued, "Well... for a first visit, I should make a good impression. I’ll have my dad get a couple of bottles of good wine..."

But Gao Lingwei just covered his face with her hand, gently pinching his cheeks and pulling him up. "Get up. We need to apply for the Soul Pearls."

’Wow, just what you’d expect from a Soul Martial girlfriend—waking people up by lifting their head...’

Rong Taotao, however, tried to lie back down. "I’m not getting up. It’s comfortable here."

"Hah." Gao Lingwei scoffed, leaning over to grab the application form from the coffee table and placing it directly on his forehead. "We can request Soul Pearls for various body parts, and we can also specify a certain preference."

"Ah, what kind of preference?" With the application form covering his face, Rong Taotao could feel the tip of Gao Lingwei’s pen pressing against his forehead through the sheets of paper.

Gao Lingwei: "For example, for a forehead Soul Pearl, you can request a communication type, an offensive type, or a defensive type."

Rong Taotao said quickly, "Defensive type?"

"Mhm." Gao Lingwei looked at the detailed list on the form. "Not the kind of defense you’re thinking of, like the Iron Snow Armor. It’s a Spiritual Defense.

"Many forehead Soul Skills in this world come with Spiritual Attacks or impact effects. My Snow Prison Arena and Ice Crystal Evil Face both have such properties.

"A Spiritual Defense Soul Skill can significantly mitigate the Spiritual Attacks you receive. If it’s high-Quality and effective enough, you could even become completely immune to them."

"Da Wei, let’s replace your Snow Prison Arena."

"Hmm?" Gao Lingwei removed the application form from his face and looked down into his eyes. "That’s our key to defeating stronger opponents."

Rong Taotao: "But it’s detrimental to your physical and mental well-being. In the long run, the damage it does to you is just too great."

Gao Lingwei: "I’m fine."

But Rong Taotao’s expression was serious as he said firmly, "In this Outer League, our matchups were relatively manageable. We faced a powerful opponent every other match, and we even had one team forfeit.

"But in the future national tournament, there definitely won’t be any rookie teams that just stumbled in.

"With an equally packed schedule, we’ll be constantly facing opponents at the highest level... Without a doubt, you’ll have to activate the Snow Prison Arena again and again. You might even have to use it in the next battle before you’ve recovered from the last one.

"If you’re not willing to get a Spiritual Defense Soul Pearl and Soul Skill, you could at least apply for a purely Spiritual Output Type Soul Skill.

"That way, it’s not mutual destruction, just one-sided damage to the enemy."

"Hmm..." Gao Lingwei mulled it over for a moment but remained noncommittal.

"Listen to me. Get rid of that double-edged sword," Rong Taotao said with a serious look. "I know how good the Snow Prison Arena is, but after everything we’ve been through, we both understand just how much damage it causes you. You’re still young, still growing. Don’t leave behind hidden dangers for your future.

"We’re not Soul Beasts, after all. We don’t have their special physiology or Talents. If you keep this up, your body won’t be able to take it. Be good and listen."

Gao Lingwei finally nodded. "And you? What are you applying for?"

Rong Taotao: "An Eye Soul Pearl. Illusion Technique Type or Spiritual Attack type would be fine."

A resigned smile appeared on Gao Lingwei’s face. "You want to give all the reward Soul Pearls to me again."

"Hehe, you’re the carry, so the stronger the better." As he spoke, Rong Taotao, still lying on his back, deliberately rocked his head back and forth, rubbing the back of his head against his exclusive lap pillow.

"Get outta here." Gao Lingwei scoffed at him, picking up the application form and once again covering his face with it.

Rong Taotao’s muffled voice came from under the form: "When we get back, we should also replace the Snow Fury Soul Skill on our wrists.

"I’ll go ask Principal Mei and see if there are any suitable Soul Pearls. After all, we took first place in the Outer League. It wouldn’t be too much for Pine Soul Soul Martial to reward us with a few Soul Pearls.

"Then, I’ll see what Principal Mei’s mood is like. If he’s really happy, we might be able to get a few Soul Slots replaced right there at the school. In that case, we can just store the prizes from the Outer League away with the trophy and certificate."

Gao Lingwei said softly, "Let’s decide after we see what Soul Pearls we’re actually awarded. If you can advance to the Soul Captain stage in three months, you’ll have an Eye Soul Slot to use. We can embed it for you then."

Rong Taotao grinned. "I’m only a Mid-stage Soul Warrior right now. There’s no way I can reach Soul Captain in three months; that’s not realistic. Instead of hoping for my Soul Power level to reach Soul Captain, you’d have better luck hoping for my Soul Technique level to reach four-star."

"Oh?" Gao Lingwei paused her writing. "Is that possible?"

Rong Taotao: "That depends on whether Coach Si is willing to contribute her Lotus Petal."

"Heh." Gao Lingwei just shook her head and smiled, not taking him seriously. She knew he was joking.

’Absorb Si Huan Nian’s Lotus Petal? Whether your Soul Technique could even reach four-star is one thing, but you’d probably just fall into a coma... Yeah, a nice, long sleep. Let’s just hope you don’t sleep through the national tournament...’

’Besides, having three Lotus Petals sounds wonderful, but with Rong Taotao’s small frame, he probably couldn’t handle it.’

Listening to the sound of Gao Lingwei’s writing and feeling the movement of her pen on his forehead, Rong Taotao said softly, "Da Wei."

"Hmm?"

"Now, we’re number one in the Outer Region."

Gao Lingwei had already confirmed this fact yesterday, but for some reason, it seemed Rong Taotao still hadn’t moved on from the feeling of being "number one in the Outer Region."

"Mhm... Yes!" A thought stirred in Gao Lingwei’s heart, and she stopped writing. Her mind drifted back to six months ago.

She had just returned from the Snow Burning army, and during the pitch-black Extreme Night, she had walked with Rong Taotao through the Pine Soul Soul Martial campus...

On the very day she returned, as they were walking to the cafeteria, the sky had finally brightened.

The months-long Extreme Night had suddenly ended, and the winter sun, shrouded in a cold mist, had appeared in the sky.

Amid the faint sounds of the entire school boiling with excitement—cheering and weeping with joy—the two of them had made a promise.

’Time flies. In the blink of an eye, half a year has passed... It all feels like yesterday.’

"CRACK!!!"

Just as Gao Lingwei was lost in her thoughts, the door was suddenly thrown open.

Xia Fangran walked in, phone in hand, muttering to himself, "Young man, you haven’t been in school that long, and you’re already writing poetry? Tsk tsk... It’s really good, really... Huh? Where’s your head?"

Rong Taotao: "..."

Gao Lingwei removed the application form from Rong Taotao’s face. He sat up, shooting Xia Fangran a resentful look.

Rong Taotao had expected Xia Fangran to take the hint and leave. Who would have thought that Xia Fangran would just plop down on the sofa, phone still in hand, and sling an arm around Rong Taotao’s shoulders? "Posting at four in the morning... Good grief, I bet you stayed up all night just to squeeze out those few words, didn’t you?"

Xia Fangran was, well... overly excited.

Rong Taotao knew very well that Xia Fangran was the kind of person he could entrust his life to; they had even been through life-and-death situations together.

But given Xia Fangran’s personality, he would never normally act so friendly.

’Maybe... my post really struck a chord, even in the heart of someone from the Yin Yang School?’

"It’s great, tsk tsk... really great!" Xia Fangran kept his arm around Rong Taotao’s neck, forcing him to look at his phone screen. "Look, so many news outlets have reposted it, and they’re full of praise for Snow Realm Soul Martial Artists.

"It’s about time these comfortable people learned about the place we live, learned how much we’ve sacrificed for this land."

Rong Taotao gave an awkward smile. "Actually, they all know..."

Xia Fangran immediately started cursing. "They know jack shit! When I got off the plane and was enjoying the sun, people thought I was a psycho..."

Rong Taotao struggled to break free from Xia Fangran’s arm while changing the subject. "Are we heading back to the Snow Realm soon?"

Xia Fangran was incredibly forthright. "No problem! I talked to Old Mei. He’s gone to negotiate with the Snow Burning army. We’ll go have some fun outside the Second Wall. I’ll train you two properly, and after you get some good results in the national tournament, you can write another piece for me!"

Rong Taotao: "..."

’Good grief, I want to be your student, but you’re trying to commission an article from me?’

Gao Lingwei suddenly blurted out, "Coach Xia, you don’t have a key card. How did you get in?"

"What a joke. I just opened the door and came in, didn’t I?" Xia Fangran said, still scrolling through his phone and clucking his tongue in admiration. A moment later, his finger paused, and he suddenly asked, "By the way, how much does it cost to replace a door?"