Master of Nine Stars

Rong Taotao took part in the exams over the next few days. Although his mind was still unsettled, he managed to get through them.

In truth, Rong Taotao wasn't in the mood for exams, but a piece of advice from Si Huan Nian had given him a wake-up call.

Focusing on the test papers would actually help calm his mind.

And it turned out to be true. When Rong Taotao was completely engrossed in the exams, he really had no time to think about anything else.

He probably did best on *Huaxia Criminal Law (Soul Martial Chapter)*. The questions on the paper were indeed about the key legal articles his sister-in-law had pointed out beforehand. Both the short-answer questions and the case studies were relatively easy to answer.

Rong Taotao even felt that he could have scored a decent amount of points on that test just by answering with the simple values of a normal citizen, completely ignoring any knowledge of the *Soul Martial Punishment Law*.

As for *Snow Realm Soul Beast Encyclopedia Volume 2*, *Snow Realm Modern History*, and the like, Rong Taotao answered them all smoothly. On one hand, his sister-in-law had highlighted the important parts, and he had carefully memorized them. On the other hand, Rong Taotao's fundamentals were incredibly solid.

When it came to Snow Realm Soul Beasts, Rong Taotao had more practical experience. As for the history of the northern Snow Realm, due to his mother's unique existence, a Rong Taotao who yearned for the Snow Realm had diligently studied its history, even dabbling in extracurricular books on the subject.

For example, back when they first encountered a Snowball Cat, even Xia Fangran didn't know what it was, but Rong Taotao had blurted out "Calamity Xuerong"...

The subject he did worst in was probably *University Russian Language*. Ugh... it was painful.

Finally, after the last exam, *Thought Cultivation*, was over, a wave of whispers and murmurs spread through the classroom.

Freedom!

The first semester of their sophomore year was finally over. Normally, the students could pack their bags and go home for the New Year, but obviously, in addition to the written exams, they also had "martial exams" to take.

As the students watched with eager anticipation, Yang Chunxi organized the collected exam papers and said, "Everyone, go back and get ready. We depart for the Three-Wall Area tomorrow at eight in the morning."

'She also seems a little impatient to head to the Three-Wall Area for training. She probably wants to see Rong Yang...'

Yang Chunxi continued, "The supervising teachers will be me, Coach Si, Coach Li, and Coach Xia. We will assemble at the entrance of the Martial Arts Hall at eight a.m. sharp. Anyone who's late will be considered to have forfeited this training opportunity."

Hearing Yang Chunxi's somewhat merciless words, Sun Xingyu pouted but didn't dare to make a sound.

Ever since Rong Taotao's incident in the examination hall a couple of days ago, Yang Chunxi had been like a different person. Anyone could see that Coach Yang was in a terrible mood, and no one dared to get on her bad side.

The volume in the classroom finally rose after Yang Chunxi left with the papers.

"Four great generals. The school really cares about us!" Sun Xingyu said, tilting her head to look at Li Ziyi, who was sitting by the wall.

"Aren't those the same four teachers who went on that trip with Taotao a while ago?" Li Ziyi remarked casually, turning to look diagonally toward the back of the room.

Rong Taotao and Li Ziyi were probably the farthest apart, their positions forming a diagonal line across the classroom. One was in the front row on the far right, the other in the third row on the far left.

But since the classroom was relatively small, their voices could still carry.

"Yeah." Rong Taotao nodded, capping his pen. "Every single one of us is a treasure to Pine Soul Soul Martial. Of course they'd take us seriously.

"There are ten of us in the Soul Class. I'd say four teachers is a little on the low side."

"Hey, you stinky Juanjuan!" Shi Lan protested from the side. "What, are you looking down on our combat strength?"

"Not at all, not at all," Rong Taotao said with a laugh, lowering his head.

'The Snowfield training itself isn't a big deal. All ten members of the Soul Class have already advanced to the Soul Captain stage, and their combat power is considerable. The problem is...'

The four words from Gao Lingshi, "Black night is coming," kept echoing in Rong Taotao's ears. This was one of the reasons for his unease.

Black night is coming... Black night is coming...

'Sigh... I hope nothing goes wrong.'

"Heh heh~" Jiao Tengda, in the second row by the window, turned to Shi Lan and said, "If Taotao really did look down on you, what could you even say about it, huh?"

Shi Lan: "..."

Shi Lou nodded in agreement. Leaning over to her sister, she said, "On this mission, we'll be able to observe Taotao and Wei's fighting styles up close. Make sure you watch carefully and learn from them."

"Ugh, I know, Sis," Shi Lan grumbled unhappily.

Watching the chuckling Jiao Tengda at the desk in front of him, Rong Taotao had an idea and called out, "Banana."

Jiao Tengda: "Huh?"

Rong Taotao: "Who's the commander in your team?"

"That would be yours truly." Jiao Tengda grinned, pointing to Zhao Tang in the middle and Lu Mang by the wall on the right. "These two are my great axes. One for frontal assaults, one for flanking. They're fierce! I usually just hide behind them."

Rong Taotao blinked and looked at Lu Mang. "You flank with a great axe? Hasn't Li Lie kicked you out of his tutelage yet?"

The usually expressionless Lu Mang actually broke into a slight smile upon hearing Rong Taotao's words. "He probably will soon."

'Wow, what a great attitude...'

Rong Taotao tilted his head up slightly, gesturing toward Jiao Tengda in front of him. "You're the commander?"

Jiao Tengda: "I always have been."

But Rong Taotao made a circle with his finger, indicating the entire class.

"Huh? For the whole Soul Class?" Jiao Tengda was a bit stunned. He pushed up his glasses and hastily said, "No way, I can't do it. You do it, you! Or have Wei do it. Li Hua from Team One is a great commander, too."

Rong Taotao: "Your forehead Soul Slot can be used now. Once we kill something in the Snowfield and get a Soul Pearl to embed for you, your commanding will be even more effective."

Fan Lihua had already turned around. With her small hands gripping the back of her chair and her big, cute eyes wide open, she listened curiously to the class's discussion and decision-making. She didn't look like a team commander at all.

This soft, cute, and well-behaved girl had a great personality. She had only been pushed into the commander's position by Sun Xingyu and Li Ziyi because of her formidable strength. She was the type of leader who led by example, charging into battle first, and she wasn't very assertive with her teammates on the battlefield.

All in all, this Little Li Hua was strict with herself but lenient with others.

If that's how she was on the battlefield, you could only imagine what she was like in daily life...

Hearing that Rong Taotao wanted to give command to Jiao Tengda, Fan Lihua, for reasons unknown even to herself, looked at Jiao Tengda with an expectant expression.

Jiao Tengda inadvertently met Fan Lihua's gaze, and for a moment, they both looked away.

It was normal for Fan Lihua to look away, but for the thick-skinned Jiao Tengda to avert his gaze... uh, it was because he was just that stunned.

Zhao Tang finally spoke up. "In a combat model where several small teams form a larger unit, there is generally a commander-in-chief who coordinates with and issues orders to the individual team captains. And within each small team, there also needs to be a commander."

"Mhm." Gao Lingwei, with her legs crossed and a pen twirling in her hand, joined Zhao Tang in lecturing their younger classmates. "In this model, the commander-in-chief generally doesn't bypass the captains to give orders directly to team members.

"However, we only have four teams, with just ten people in total. If we were to break up the squads and form a single group of ten, we could just establish a single commander."

As she spoke, Gao Lingwei tilted her head toward Jiao Tengda. "If you're being pushed for the role, then step up. Seize the opportunity.

"You should know, Taotao and I went through a phase of competing for command within our team. In the end, he was the one who earned that right, gaining the authority to order me around. For Taotao to give this right to you so easily, you should cherish it."

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Hearing this, Jiao Tengda fell silent.

Rong Taotao leaned over and tugged on the corner of Gao Lingwei's shirt. "Don't be so aggressive."

Gao Lingwei froze for a moment, only then realizing her tone had been out of line. She offered Jiao Tengda an apologetic smile and said softly, "Sorry."

"What do you two think of the proposal?" Rong Taotao stood up, looking first at Fan Lihua and then at Shi Lou, receiving nods from both.

Fan Lihua was just agreeable by nature, always ready to go with the flow. As for Shi Lou... it was hard for her to refuse any of Rong Taotao's suggestions. Although she didn't say much on a daily basis, when it came to actions, Shi Lou was, apart from Gao Lingwei, the most protective of Rong Taotao among the younger Soul Martial trainees.

During last semester's final exams, it was Shi Lou who had stabbed that Ji Qingmei...

Apparently, Ji Qingmei had dropped out of school. After a series of his incidents were exposed, his reputation became so bad that he couldn't make it here anymore.

Rong Taotao hadn't paid any special attention to Ji Qingmei; he just vaguely remembered Shi Lan mentioning him once.

Rong Taotao picked up the Cloud Dog sleeping soundly on the corner of his desk and placed it on his head. While packing up his health-preserving pot, teacup, and heating pad, he said to Jiao Tengda with a smile, "Go home and think carefully about what kind of command style you need."

"Alright, no problem." Jiao Tengda nodded heavily. He saw things clearly and knew that Rong Taotao was grooming him.

It sounded a little strange to say it out loud, as they were classmates, but Jiao Tengda used a word like "grooming." But... yeah, that description really wasn't wrong.

After all, Rong Taotao and Gao Lingwei had absolute strength, along with concrete honors and achievements. This gave the two of them a certain amount of authority in the class.

Jiao Tengda remained in his seat with a solemn expression as everyone else gradually dispersed. Soon, the only ones left in the classroom were Banana and... sitting by the wall, Mango.

With no one else around, Lu Mang also spoke up. "What did you say to him?"

Jiao Tengda looked at his teammate in confusion. "What?"

Lu Mang asked, "Did you express any kind of intention to Rong Taotao?"

"Oh, I get what you mean." Jiao Tengda thought for a moment. "I never explicitly said anything, but he probably understood what I was thinking."

"What were you thinking?"

Jiao Tengda had nothing to hide and said directly, "Things like team, future, striving together—that kind of stuff."

Hearing this, Lu Mang nodded silently. "You mean, you also want to join the Snow Burning Army."

Jiao Tengda, however, chuckled, latching onto a key word. "'Also?'"

Lu Mang didn't speak or respond, just looked at Jiao Tengda quietly.

"Of course." Jiao Tengda finally nodded. "Taotao and Wei are in the Snow Burning Army. I can't find a single reason not to go.

"I came all the way here from the southwest of Huaxia because I want to make a name for myself. If it's possible, if my strength is enough... I want to follow them for as long as I can."

"Oh." Lu Mang stood up. "Perform well. I'll give you my full cooperation."

Jiao Tengda grinned. "You're already my teammate. If you didn't cooperate with me, would our past year and a half together have been for nothing?"

Lu Mang looked at Jiao Tengda with an impatient expression. "You talk too much! I'm encouraging you, just take it and be quiet..."

With that, Lu Mang stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked off on his own.

'Sheesh...'

One of them was from Sichuan and Shu, the other from Modu, yet their northeastern accents were more authentic than the last...