Master of Nine Stars

"Hah... hah..." Rong Taotao was panting heavily. He raised an arm to the back of his head as layers of frost spread out, freezing the wound there.

The woman before him, however, didn’t seem to care about his attempts to save himself.

She just stood in place, silently watching Rong Taotao. Her clear, cold voice was devoid of any human warmth. "I’ve heard your story, champion."

Rong Taotao blinked hard and shook his head slightly, trying to clear his thoughts. "Who... are you?"

But the woman seemed not to have heard his question, continuing as if talking to herself. "You look like an Arrogant little brat. Quite interesting."

She might have said that, but Rong Taotao couldn’t detect the slightest hint of interest in her tone. It was more like someone looking down on him from on high, scrutinizing him, as if deciding his fate.

A faint breeze rustled her snow-white robes, lifting the edge of her hood ever so slightly.

However, Rong Taotao, on high alert, didn’t dare to meet her eyes, terrified of falling prey to a Soul Skill like an Illusion Technique.

"You..."

The woman spoke softly, "So, is she still so fragile?"

Rong Taotao quickly froze the wound, coating the skin with a thin layer of frost. He was stalling for time as he asked, "Who?"

The woman replied, "Gao Lingwei."

Rong Taotao’s breath hitched.

’Gao Lingwei?’

In that moment, Rong Taotao suddenly realized why she looked so familiar. Though he couldn’t clearly see the upper half of her face, the lower half—the shape of those thin lips...

The woman spoke softly, "Now that she’s found someone with your background, does she feel secure?"

At her words, anger surged in Rong Taotao’s heart.

That one simple sentence was a slight against them both.

"You’re with her, aren’t you?" The woman’s lips held a faint, barely-there smile as she whispered, "Why don’t you ask her for me? Right now?"

Rong Taotao remained silent, focusing on absorbing Soul Power and covering the wounds all over his body with a layer of frost.

Then, he heard Yang Chunxi’s anxious voice in his ear, "Captain Fu and his team were already on a mission together. Reinforcements will be there any second! Taotao! Hang in there, Taotao!"

In a classroom, sitting at a desk, Rong Taotao was like a statue, his body stiff and unmoving.

Meanwhile, in the Snowfield, Rong Taotao was desperately trying to save himself while enduring the woman’s taunts and torment.

"Does she still run off to a corner and cry in secret?"

"Is she still as useless as ever, only able to stare wide-eyed in silent, powerless rage?"

"Or perhaps... she thinks she’s found a protector, hiding behind you and fantasizing that one day, you’ll help her find me, so she can stand before me, and face me."

Rong Taotao didn’t mind the woman talking for a while longer. As he applied frost to the wound on his arm, he glanced into the distance. He saw the massive man, holding a barely-living Rat, standing quietly and watching them from afar.

"It seems you’ve done a decent job," the woman said. With a flick of her hand, frost swirled in the air, and a Heaven-piercing Halberd made of snow materialized in her grasp.

"At least some of her dreams came true. Outer League champion, national champion." The woman chuckled, her laughter thick with scorn. "That’s just who she is. Fragile, weak, and cowardly."

As she spoke, she raised the halberd in one hand and pointed it at Rong Taotao from afar. "It must be exhausting, taking care of her. How about I relieve you of that burden?"

Rong Taotao hastily drew his own Heaven-piercing Halberd, holding it horizontally before him. He no longer had time to tend to the wounds on his legs.

"Oh, my poor Weiwei..." the woman murmured. Then, she exploded forward, thrusting her halberd at him.

Rong Taotao’s pupils constricted. He swiftly swung his Heaven-piercing Halberd to parry, its shaft sliding against the incoming Long Halberd to divert it to the side.

Rong Taotao subconsciously tried to activate his Douxing Qi, but there wasn’t a single shred of Starfield Soul Power in Rong Yang’s body!

’Damn it...’

’Rong Taotao had always wanted to experience what it was like to be in the body of a Soul School student, but he never imagined it would be a heavily injured one.’

Even though Rong Taotao hadn’t taken the blow head-on—he’d skillfully dissipated the force and redirected the woman’s Heaven-piercing Halberd to the side—his arm was still aching and numb.

It was partly due to the woman’s strength, but also because this weak body was failing him.

CRACK! He had just applied a layer of frost to his wounds, but a few pieces had already shattered from that single blow.

"They always say that in the Outer League, no one can break your defense." The woman’s Long Halberd had been deflected to the ground. She wasn’t angry at all; in fact, her smile held a hint of amusement.

She tightened her grip, and the Long Halberd swept out in a wide horizontal arc.

Rong Taotao planted the Ironspear Point of his Heaven-piercing Halberd on the ground. Gripping the Halberd Shaft, he hurriedly thrust it forward to intercept the sweeping Long Halberd.

TING~!

A crisp ring echoed, followed by the woman’s slightly surprised hum. "Hm?"

As he intercepted the blow with his vertical halberd, Rong Taotao’s movements at the last second—dissipating the force and then exerting his own—were perfectly fluid, executed in a single, seamless motion.

To an observer, it looked like Rong Taotao had been sent flying. But the woman in white felt that something was wrong. The direction he’d been flung was not where she had anticipated.

’She had struck him, but Rong Taotao... he had dissipated the force and then pushed back, cleverly adjusting his angle and position to rebound off her Heaven-piercing Halberd?’