Master of Nine Stars

"Heh, your master is quite the character. That’s why you’re so familiar with the feeling of your arms being weak, numb, and shaky." Xia Fangran summoned a Luminous Lantern Paper Cage and added with a smile, "And you also know how to adjust and keep fighting in that state."

Rong Taotao shrugged. "But ever since I learned the Snow Soul and could make my own weapons, my style has changed a bit. For me, the Snow Soul might actually be my Core Soul Skill."

Xia Fangran nodded thoughtfully, then turned to Gao Lingwei. "What about you? Are you familiar with that state?"

Gao Lingwei: "Very."

Xia Fangran: "..."

Gao Lingwei said, "Back at Songbai Soul Martial High School, my classmates had to help me back to the dorm after most training sessions. I rarely made it back on my own. For me, it doesn’t count as training unless I’ve completely exhausted my strength."

Xia Fangran raised an eyebrow slightly. ’I’ve been teaching for twenty years. What kind of student haven’t I seen?’

’But today, I know I’ve really run into a couple of tough nuts...’

Looking at Gao Lingwei’s dead-serious expression, Xia Fangran suddenly smiled. "Taotao."

Rong Taotao: "Huh?"

Xia Fangran said, "It’s a good thing you have that Lotus petal restricting you from sparring with your classmates."

Rong Taotao looked confused. "Otherwise?"

Xia Fangran replied, "Otherwise, you two would fight from morning till night. And I can predict the outcome every time: either you’d fight to exhaustion, or one of you would end up seriously injured."

Rong Taotao’s face flushed. ’At my current level, it’d be pretty much impossible to fight Gao Lingwei to the point of exhaustion. So... that only leaves ’serious injury’!’

Xia Fangran suddenly spoke, his tone serious. "Let me be clear from the start. During this three-month training expedition, I will not act as a Scout for you two.

If you’re ambushed by a Soul Beast, not only will I not warn you, but I will also immediately leave the battlefield and offer you no assistance whatsoever.

Of course, if I see you performing poorly during a fight, I will offer a pointer or two.

This time, I am purely a teacher, not a bodyguard."

"Good!" Gao Lingwei’s eyes burned with intensity. As someone who loved a challenge, this was exactly what she wanted.

She had desperately wanted to spar with Rong Taotao before, precisely because she craved a true life-or-death experience—a real battle.

For any Martial Artist in the world, a genuine, life-or-death battle is the fastest path to improvement.

But since Rong Taotao was strictly forbidden from sparring with classmates, Gao Lingwei had been forced to give up on the idea. Now, however, Xia Fangran’s teaching method was exactly what she’d hoped for.

Seeing Gao Lingwei’s reaction, Xia Fangran nodded in satisfaction. ’Teaching students like this is a pleasure,’ he thought. ’So much better than the ones who do nothing but whine and complain.’

With Gao Lingwei’s clear agreement, Xia Fangran naturally turned to Rong Taotao. "Did you get that?"

But to his surprise, Rong Taotao didn’t seem to be taking his words seriously at all, offering a dismissive, "Uh-huh, yeah, I heard you."

As he spoke, Rong Taotao quickened his pace to walk beside Gao Lingwei. "Back in high school, you had a classmate help you back to your dorm every day? Was it a guy or a girl?"

Gao Lingwei: "..."

Xia Fangran felt his composure utterly shatter.

For a split second, he felt like an awkward third wheel who should just disappear.

Gao Lingwei said softly, "Gan Lin."

Rong Taotao chuckled. "Hehe, in that case, I’ll have to be nice to her. Once I get stronger, I’ll beat her to a pulp every day and then help her back to her dorm. That way, I can repay all the favors you owe her."

Gao Lingwei gave him a strange look. ’What kind of twisted logic is that?’

’Can you even repay favors like that?’

"Huh? Where’s Coach Xia?" Rong Taotao glanced around and suddenly realized their teacher was gone. ’Wait, Xia Yinyang just vanished?’

’Didn’t he say he would only leave if there was danger? Why’d he leave now?’

Rong Taotao immediately dropped his pack and materialized a Heaven-piercing Halberd from thin air. Gao Lingwei tensed as well, her eyes cautiously scanning their surroundings.

Gao Lingwei’s reaction was clearly faster than Rong Taotao’s. In these harsh conditions, their visibility was limited to a mere five meters.

Just as a small mound of snow suddenly bulged from the ground about five meters away, Gao Lingwei struck!

Wielding a long Heaven-piercing Halberd, she lunged forward and viciously stabbed down into the ground.

SHHNK!

The Snow Halberd plunged into the snow, and a piercing shriek echoed out. "SCREEE~"

The small snowy mound thrashed violently. Rong Taotao rushed forward to strike, but the mound of snow had already darted away, vanishing into the blizzard.

It never once revealed its true form.

Gao Lingwei poked at the snow with her Long Halberd, uncovering a severed tail.

The tail was pure white, dotted with specks of crimson blood.

"Probably a Snow Dragon," Gao Lingwei said. "They don’t have strong attacks, but they’re insidious, always hunting from beneath the snow."

Rong Taotao shouted into the swirling blizzard, "Coach Xia, it’s fine now! You can come out!"

However, Xia Fangran did not respond, as if he had never been there in the first place.

Gao Lingwei thought for a moment. "If Coach Xia disappears every time something happens, then his departure itself is a kind of warning for us."

Rong Taotao nodded. "That’s true. I guess he won’t be paying us any attention for a while."

After a moment of contemplation, Gao Lingwei suggested, "We need to find shelter first. The blizzard a month ago brought an abundance of Soul Beasts into the Three Passes. If we don’t find a base, I doubt we’ll last even a day."

Rong Taotao thought for a moment. "When our Junior Class had our assessment here before, I found a cave. But it’s in the Snow Forest. We probably shouldn’t go there, right?"

"Right." Gao Lingwei nodded lightly.

Things were different now. A month ago, the massive once-in-sixteen-years blizzard had driven a huge number of Soul Beasts into the area. The Snow Forest, having borne the brunt of it, would be teeming with them.

Gao Lingwei said, "Right, we shouldn’t go. Our top priority is survival. We can only begin training in earnest once we’ve established a foothold. Let’s head to the shelter I used before."

In high school, Gao Lingwei had trained north of the Wall multiple times on school-organized trips. The top priority of the high school Soul Martial Teachers was to ensure their students’ safety, so she was quite familiar with the terrain and knew the locations of many shelters.

Rong Taotao looked surprisingly meek. "Alright, I’ll follow your lead."

After their brief discussion, Gao Lingwei summoned her Lifebound Soul Beast, Snow Night Shock.

Since Xia Fangran had left and deliberately made their survival more difficult, their top priorities were now to conserve energy for any potential encounters and to find shelter as quickly as possible.

The deep blue glow from Snow Night Shock’s eyes provided far more light than the White Lantern Paper Cage.

Gao Lingwei leaped nimbly onto the horse’s back, then leaned down and extended a hand to Rong Taotao. "Get on."

Rong Taotao, of course, had no reason to refuse, but he gestured toward the four packs on the ground.

’Damn it,’ he thought. ’I really should have grabbed a pack saddle from the supply depot before we left.’

Gao Lingwei said, "Snow Soul. Carrying pole."

Rong Taotao’s eyes lit up.

’Of course!’

’Just like the Sha Monk!’

"Da Wei is right!" Rong Taotao summoned his snow-forged Heaven-piercing Halberd again, hooking two packs onto the Ironspear Point at the front and two onto the butt of the Halberd Shaft at the back.

Hup~

Shouldering his halberd-"carrying pole," Rong Taotao grabbed Gao Lingwei’s cold hand with his free one and carefully hopped onto the horse.

The enormous Snow Night Shock could easily carry four people, let alone just two.

Rong Taotao settled the Heaven-piercing Halberd horizontally in front of him across the horse’s withers, arranging the packs so they hung down on either side. He then smoothly pulled a compass from a side pocket on one of the bags.

Like someone catching fireflies, Rong Taotao reached into the White Lantern Paper Cage floating overhead and scooped a few glowing snowflakes into his palm. He used their light to check the compass before asking Gao Lingwei, "Which way?"

Gao Lingwei: "Northwest."

Rong Taotao placed a hand on Gao Lingwei’s shoulder, gently guiding her slightly to the left. "Let’s go."

Gao Lingwei rested one hand on Snow Night Shock’s neck, shifted her weight to the left, and squeezed her legs against its sides. "Hyah!"

"Whoa~!" Snow Night Shock suddenly lurched forward, throwing Rong Taotao backward. He hastily wrapped his arms around Gao Lingwei’s waist...

...