Master of Nine Stars

"Oh, oh, my bad, my bad." Rong Taotao chuckled awkwardly and quickly pulled his hand away. He tried to wipe away the bloodstain on her face, but only ended up smearing it and making it redder.

Gao Lingwei crouched down, scooped up a handful of snow, and took Rong Taotao’s hand. She first used the snow to wash his hand, then used it to wipe her own cheek.

Seeing this, Xia Fangran couldn’t help but snort.

’Alright, at least she still recognizes people.’

’But it’s only been a month. There are still two more to go...’

’Maybe I should let them rest for a couple of extra days when we get back to Qianshan Pass. These two kids really need to reset.’

"Principal Mei had someone deliver the Soul Pearls for you two to Qianshan Pass. We’ll head back to embed them and get some rest," Xia Fangran said, summoning his Snow Night Shock.

While summoning her Hu Bugui, Gao Lingwei reported, "I’m about to advance."

Rong Taotao’s face lit up. "That’s great news! A double blessing! You’re advancing in strength and getting a new Soul Pearl embedded. Sweet!"

Over the past month, Rong Taotao’s own Heaven-piercing Halberd technique had also advanced by a Minor Rank.

Clearly, on a battlefield of life and death, training against dense hordes of Snow Corpses, Rong Taotao’s skills were growing at an astonishing rate!

Just a few days ago, his Heaven-piercing Halberd Mastery had reached Five-Star, Mid-Tier.

’How could the other students possibly compare to this level of training?’

Rong Taotao figured he should spend a Potential Point on his Heaven-piercing Halberd Mastery. His halberd skill was almost maxed out again, and he definitely couldn’t let his progress get capped.

At the same time, Rong Taotao’s Soul Technique: Heart of the Snow Realm, and his Soul Skills, Snow Soul and Snow Burst, had also improved by leaps and bounds. He estimated that their Quality would increase with future training as well.

His Soul Skill: Ice Pillar, however, was a bit of a shame.

During their training, Rong Taotao and Gao Lingwei had used Ice Pillar more than any other skill. However, Ice Pillar was a "peak-on-debut" Soul Skill; its Elite tier was its maximum level.

Rong Taotao could spend Potential Value to raise the upper limit of Ice Pillar’s potential, but his Soul Technique was only at Three-Star, Mid-Tier. This meant he could only support Elite-tier Soul Skills. Even if Ice Pillar reached Master Quality, Rong Taotao wouldn’t be able to use it...

"Meow~" As Gao Lingwei and Rong Taotao settled onto Hu Bugui, she also summoned her Frost Night Xuerong.

To everyone’s surprise, the Snowball Cat didn’t curl up on Gao Lingwei’s head. Instead, it quickly leaped onto the head of the Hu Bugui steed and didn’t look back. From the moment it was summoned, it had no interaction with Gao Lingwei; in fact, its actions suggested it was trying to get as far away from her as possible.

Gao Lingwei didn’t seem to mind, saying softly, "Be my eyes."

Rong Taotao, sitting behind her, leaned forward and gently bumped his forehead against her back. "You should try to adjust a little," he said. "It’s not a good sign when your own pet is afraid to face you."

"Mm," Gao Lingwei nodded slightly. "Let’s get back, change our clothes, and wash up first. Even if I try to be pleasant now, it won’t do much good. The scent of slaughter on us is too strong, and Xuerong’s senses are very sharp."

"Taotao," Xia Fangran’s voice suddenly called from ahead.

"Yeah?"

"This journey is so boring," Xia Fangran said. "How about a song to liven things up! Let’s celebrate the successful completion of your first phase of assessment!"

"What’s the second phase of the assessment?" Rong Taotao asked.

"I’ll be adding Snow Ghosts for you," Xia Fangran said. "A Snow Ghost’s physical body can shatter into snow mist at will and reassemble itself at any moment. Tossing a bunch of them into the Snow Corpse horde will guarantee a major difficulty spike. That’ll give you two a hell of a time."

Rong Taotao was speechless.

’Oh, thanks a lot!’

"Hurry, hurry!" Xia Fangran urged. "Let’s hear the song!"

Rong Taotao grinned. "What do you want to hear? My title as the Pine Soul Jukebox isn’t just for show, you know."

Xia Fangran laughed heartily. "Let’s start with ’Forget-me-not.’ It’ll make you remember the days you were tortured by Si Huan Nian. We need to knock you down a peg!"

"Gah~" An expression of Jiao Tengda’s slipped out of Rong Taotao’s mouth. He started humming quietly, "’Forcing the weak to understand cruelty, to fiercely face the coldness in life... The one you loved and couldn’t let go, fated to meet but never meant to be...’ Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!"

Grinning, Rong Taotao muttered, "I’m not singing it! This song is more for you two, not me."

As he spoke, Rong Taotao wrapped his arms around Da Wei’s waist and rested his cheek against her back, nuzzling from side to side. In doing so, he managed to smear his face with dried blood...

Xia Fangran stared, completely bewildered.

Li Lie was rendered speechless.

’I never did anything to you! How did I get dragged into this?’

"Coach Xia," Rong Taotao called out.

"Yeah?"

"Why haven’t you gotten married?"

"What a stupid question!" Xia Fangran cursed back, flustered. "Haven’t I been stuck looking after you blockheads every single day? It’s been twenty whole years!"

"Oh..." Rong Taotao scratched his head. "Well, I’ll keep an eye out from now on. I’ll find a chance to introduce you to someone."

Li Lie suddenly interjected, "If you want to keep studying at Songjiang Soul Martial, you’d better not introduce him to anyone."

"Huh?" Rong Taotao asked, confused.

’What does he mean? Is there a story here?’

Xia Fangran shot Li Lie an annoyed look. "Shut your mouth."

"Hahahahahahaha..."

Braving the wind and snow, the group swiftly returned to Qianshan Pass, their journey filled with Rong Taotao’s singing and everyone’s laughter.

In this atmosphere, Gao Lingwei’s mood clearly lightened considerably. She had a suspicion that Coach Xia and Coach Li were deliberately chatting and joking around like this.

After all... on the way here, the two coaches hadn’t had the time or inclination to bother with the two students.