Master of Nine Stars

Gao Lingwei smiled. "With the synergy we honed in the Corpse Tide, do we even need to communicate?"

Rong Taotao had a strange look on his face. After giving it some thought, he shrugged. "Alright then. I'll go back and embed the Soul Pearl. I'm going to shatter it."

"Mm."

Rong Taotao immediately said in his mind, 'Bye-bye~'

Rong Yang: "Goodb—"

WHOOSH...

Rong Taotao had never been one for indecision. Once he made up his mind, his follow-through was unquestionable.

He'd said he would shatter the Soul Pearl from his brother, and he'd do it without a second thought!

And he hadn't just cut the connection; he'd done it before Rong Yang could even finish speaking...

Meanwhile, at Hundred Corps Pass, Rong Yang sighed in his dorm room.

Sensing the mental link vanish, Rong Yang muttered with a sense of helplessness, "So ruthless..."

At Songjiang Soul Martial University, Rong Taotao returned to his dorm room, hurried to his desk, pulled open the second drawer, and saw a golden trophy above a certificate, as well as a few small square boxes.

Rong Taotao briefly inspected them and found the Bailing Tree Maiden Soul Pearl.

The other two small square boxes both contained Starfield Soul Pearls, which Ye Nanxi had given him during his training in Imperial Capital City.

Rong Taotao had no idea when he'd be able to use the Starfield Soul Pearls. After all, they were Master-rank, and his Starfield Soul Technique was only at the two-star level.

'Then again, it's probably for the best that I can't use them.'

'Didn't Ye Nanxi say that whenever I use the Soul Skill from this Soul Pearl, I have to think of her and remember that she's the one who gave it to me?'

'In that case, if I don't use the Soul Pearl, I won't have to think about Ye Nanxi...'

'Yeah, that logic checks out, right?'

'First, sever ties with family! Next, sever ties with friends!'

'From this moment on, call me Tao'Er the Ruthless!'

On the opposite bed, Si Huan Nian, who was meditating with her eyes closed, heard Rong Taotao rummaging through his things and couldn't help but open her eyes. She saw Rong Taotao holding a Soul Pearl, staring at it in a daze.

Si Huan Nian: "What's wrong? What are you spacing out for?"

"Ah!" Rong Taotao snapped out of it. Holding the small snowball with a sprout growing from it, he pressed it to his forehead. "Just absorbing a Soul Pearl."

Si Huan Nian slowly closed her eyes and said casually, "A wise choice."

Rong Taotao closed his eyes, feeling an icy sensation in his mind as he let the small snowball shatter into Soul Power and surge into his forehead...

1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds...

As the Soul Pearl settled onto his forehead, a massive amount of Soul Power flooded into Rong Taotao's mind, and the Lotus Petal inside his body suddenly began to vibrate.

"Hm?" Si Huan Nian opened her eyes and looked at Rong Taotao curiously.

She found that Rong Taotao's face was strained, his body stiff, and he was sitting motionless at his desk.

"Absorb the maximum amount of Soul Power!" Si Huan Nian said hurriedly. "Don't control it. Even if your Soul Power is full, you have to keep absorbing. Advancing to the Peak of Soul Warrior is when you open a new Soul Slot."

"Nn... ngh..." Rong Taotao let out a nasal sound. To be honest, it didn't sound right at all—the kind of sound that could get you banned...

But you couldn't blame Rong Taotao. This feeling of being completely full and about to burst was an experience he rarely had.

Ever since he'd gotten the Lotus Petal, Rong Taotao had always been in a state of "hunger." No matter how much he "ate," it was hard for him to ever feel full.

But now, with a massive amount of Soul Power being poured into his body, this feeling of being "stuffed to the brim"—of being about to explode at any second—was incredibly rare for Rong Taotao.

Rong Taotao almost cried out!

'Finally! I can finally feel what it's like to be "stuffed" again!'

'I feel like a person again! I'm not a bottomless pit anymore...'

"Feeling full?" Si Huan Nian asked.

"Stuffed." Rong Taotao managed to force out a single word. A moment ago, he was on the verge of crying tears of joy, but now he was a little scared, truly afraid his body would suddenly explode like a rubber ball.

Si Huan Nian: "Don't hold back. Keep absorbing. No matter how uncomfortable you feel, you have to continuously absorb Soul Power. Even if you can't take any more, you have to force it into your body.

Soul Slot Opening requires abundant Soul Power. Your body is preparing to burst open a new Soul Slot.

Imagine you're a duck being fattened for foie gras. You have to pinch your beak open and shove food down your throat, whether you can take it or not."

Rong Taotao: "..."

'There it is! One of Si Zao's bizarre analogies?'

Si Huan Nian: "Do you need me to get the spoon for you?"

Rong Taotao: ???

The next moment, Rong Taotao felt an incredibly dense Soul Power emanate from Si Huan Nian. It was terrifyingly pure, all of it ice-and-snow Attribute Soul Power, and it poured into Rong Taotao's body.

Rong Taotao really wanted to throw up. This feeling of having his body filled to the brim with Soul Power was really...

"There's... there's a Soul Power Thread... a thread, Si Zao!"

Hearing Rong Taotao's stuttering voice, Si Huan Nian hurriedly asked, "Where?"

Rong Taotao: "My Dantian! It's going down!"

"Hmm..." Si Huan Nian sighed inwardly. If it was going down from the Dantian, then it was heading for the Soul Slots in the knees or ankles.

It seemed that even a genius like Rong Taotao couldn't open all three of the top-tier Soul Slots: the forehead, the eyes, and the chest.

Right now, Rong Taotao didn't have a right eye Soul Slot, nor a chest Soul Slot.

But life is full of disappointments. Take Si Huan Nian herself, for example. Was her Talent not high? Was her strength not great?

Of course, she was in the top tier. And yet, even Si Huan Nian hadn't opened a single Soul Slot in her eyes.

Some things could only be chanced upon, not sought after.

Rong Taotao suddenly spoke up, "My left ankle... the Soul Slot... it was opened a long time ago. Why is it going to my... left ankle?"

"Hm?" Si Huan Nian's eyes lit up. Was there still a chance for a different outcome?

Under Si Huan Nian's expectant gaze, Rong Taotao said blankly, "It turned back around... it stopped at my left knee. It's... HISS..."

A tearing pain shot through his knee. The unopened Soul Slot was violently forced open, and Rong Taotao almost thought his kneecap would be ground to pieces by the Soul Power.

Si Huan Nian: "The knee?"

Rong Taotao: "Yeah."

Si Huan Nian pursed her lips, her excitement all for nothing.

'The knee... I guess that's fine. There are some decent offensive Soul Skills for it. A flying knee charge could shatter a target's chest.'

'If he really can't find a suitable Soul Skill, embedding a Soul Pet would also be an excellent choice. After all, doesn't Rong Taotao have a Snow General Candle embedded in his right elbow?'

After getting Rong Taotao back on the right track, Si Huan Nian withdrew her Soul Power, letting Rong Taotao open the Soul Slot on his own.

"Blergh~" In a daze, Rong Taotao dry-heaved.

'Alright,' Rong Taotao had to admit, 'I no longer miss this feeling of being overfull...'

Si Huan Nian, knowing that it was difficult for Rong Taotao to move, got off her bed, picked up a wastepaper basket, and placed it on his desk.

She took Rong Taotao's stiff arms, moved them, and made him cradle the wastepaper basket with both hands.

Then, Si Huan Nian placed a hand on the back of his head and gently pushed down, making him lower his head toward the basket.

At that moment,

Rong Taotao's eyes were filled with candy wrappers, the wax paper from cream puffs, sprinkles from donuts, empty shrimp-chip bags, and peanut-brittle crumbs...

Rong Taotao: "..."

'SI! HUAN! NIAN!!!'

'Oh, yeah, this is *really* stimulating my appetite!'

"BLEAARGH~"

"You don't want to vomit because you ate too much, it's just an illusion caused by the Soul Power," Si Huan Nian said, gently patting Rong Taotao's back. At a time like this, it seemed she genuinely wanted to reason with him...

As she patted his back, Si Huan Nian seemed to discover something interesting.

It was all because the Soul Power gathered on Rong Taotao's body was too abundant, to the point of being almost viscous.

As Si Huan Nian patted his back, the moment she lifted her palm, it actually drew out threads of Soul Power visible to the naked eye?

The normally invisible Soul Power was now as thick as a watery mist.

Si Huan Nian's beautiful eyes lit up. Even a tyrant could have a playful heart?

Her fingers traced over Rong Taotao's back again and again, pulling out Soul Power Threads and actually writing two words in mid-air.

Si Huan Nian quickly grabbed her phone from the desk and opened the camera app...

CLICK!

The image froze: a young man in a pink jacket, cradling a wastepaper basket and vomiting miserably. Above his head was a thick thread of Soul Power.

Written in cursive were two large words: "Heh heh".

Truly, the joys and sorrows of humanity are not intertwined. Si Huan Nian simply found him amusing...

...

The competition is coming up, so Yu will be writing diligently. I hope to keep bringing everyone an exciting story!

Please send some votes my way~