Master of Nine Stars

"Stop! Hold your fire! We’re on your side!" A powerful voice boomed from the darkness.

Gao Lingwei’s movements paused slightly. With one hand gripping the Snowball Cat’s head, she looked to her right.

There, in front of Ugly Ox, a man was lying on his back in the snow, kicking his feet wildly as he tried to scoot backward.

Under the searchlight-like gaze of the Snow Night Shock, Ugly Ox’s imposing figure loomed over him, one foot planted crushingly on the man’s chest. He leaned down and barked, "ID!"

"Here, look!" The man quickly fumbled in his pocket and actually pulled out a small, black wallet. He flipped it open and showed his credentials to Ugly Ox.

But at the very moment he held up his ID, pointing it at Ugly Ox with one hand, something strange happened!

A vast expanse of stars suddenly burst forth from his palm?

"TING~ TING~ TING!"

The continuous, crisp chimes completely detonated the battlefield.

The stream of stars shot out like a current of water, a continuous, solid torrent that slammed right into Ugly Ox’s chest!

Fortunately, Ugly Ox had kept his protective shield active, which saved him from having his chest pierced through...

Fu Tiance, Rong Yang, and even Gao Lingwei, who was watching from a distance, all had their expressions change. This man was a Starfield Soul Martial Artist!?

Starfield Soul Skills were known to counter Snow Realm Soul Martial Artists!

When facing a Snow Realm Soul Martial Artist, Starfield Soul Skills could deal bonus damage.

Just like now. The stream of stars the man had unleashed was an Elite Quality offensive Soul Skill, yet even against Ugly Ox’s King’s Quality Full Body Defense Technique, it still sent Ugly Ox flying!

Cracks had even appeared on Ugly Ox’s incredibly sturdy defensive shield!

No wonder two people in their eight-man team were sharing a single Snow Night Shock. It turned out this two-meter-tall man was a Starfield Soul Martial Artist!

"A bunch of bastards! Who the fuck is on your side?" the tall man roared. His panicked face suddenly turned savage, all pretense gone.

The tall man flung his hand up, and in an instant, brilliant starlight exploded!

Like a firework display, hundreds of dazzling stars spread across the battlefield, turning into ground-level lights of astonishing brightness that completely illuminated the area.

Starfield Soul Skill, Excellent Level: Radiance of the Star Cluster!

At that very moment, Gao Lingwei’s advantage as the "Wind Snow Night’s Sole Goddess" was drastically diminished.

In the relatively bright environment, the savage man’s gaze swept across the battlefield. He made a grasping motion with one hand, as if holding something, and hurled it forward viciously. "Snow Burning Army, is it!? I’ll kill a few of you today to whet my appetite!"

Following the man’s throwing motion, a gigantic star suddenly plummeted from the night sky, heading straight for the airborne Ugly Ox!

Starfield Soul Skill, Elite Quality: Lone Star Fall!

Rong Taotao’s expression changed. That Starfield Poacher was an expert at picking his targets.

Ugly Ox had been knocked flying in Rong Taotao and Gao Lingwei’s direction, and the enormous star falling from the sky—with its speed and trajectory—was aimed right where the two of them were!

’One stone, three birds?’

Rong Taotao quickly leaped off his mount, kicked Hu Bugui’s rear, and commanded loudly, "Snow Charge!"

Then, Rong Taotao hastily crouched down and pressed one hand to the ground.

Snow Realm Soul Skill, Elite Quality: Ice Pillar!

"NEIGH~" Hu Bugui’s figure shot forward.

"Taotao?" Gao Lingwei cried out softly. As Hu Bugui suddenly charged ahead, her body was thrown back slightly.

In front of Rong Taotao, the ground trembled. The deep snow was thrown aside as a translucent ice pillar shot out, rocketing toward the night sky.

BAM!

Rong Taotao had clearly underestimated Ugly Ox’s abilities. Fu Tiance and Rong Yang hadn’t rushed to the rescue precisely because they knew the extent of their teammate’s power.

Ugly Ox threw a Snow Burst behind him, bringing his backward momentum to an abrupt halt. He landed steadily, making it impossible for the falling star to pierce him.

The moment he landed, Ugly Ox shot forward like a catapult, charging at the Starfield Poacher! His enormous eyes blazed with fury. "Die!"

Fu Tiance closed in on the Starfield Soul Martial Artist from the other side, but Rong Yang’s movements were a bit hesitant. He glanced at Rong Taotao before finally rushing forward.

Rong Taotao had originally intended to provide some cover for Ugly Ox, and by now, his Ice Pillar had already risen.

The Ice Pillar, rising from below, immediately slammed into the dazzling star bombarding its way down.

"CRASH..."

A sound like shattering glass rang out as the Ice Pillar was pierced section by section, exploding inch by inch.

Rong Taotao quickly dodged aside. From beside him came a frenzied roar, "I am a son of freedom! We are the Free People who live freely in this northern Snow Realm!!!"

Without a word, Rong Taotao whipped out a Heaven-piercing Halberd and swept it sideways.

With a sharp "CLANG," the Heaven-piercing Halberd collided heavily with a War Axe.

Before him was a middle-aged man with a scar on his face. His expression was utterly fanatical, even bordering on crazed.

Illuminated by the starlight scattered across the snow, the scar-faced man’s eyes burned with a fervor, as if he truly possessed a faith!

The scar-faced man shoved with his War Axe, knocking aside Rong Taotao’s Heaven-piercing Halberd, and shouted, "I was born free, born without chains! No one can take away the rights bestowed upon me by the heavens! No one!"

As he spoke, the scar-faced man swung his axe down viciously!

Rong Taotao: ???

’I... uh... Am I interrupting your enjoyment of freedom?’

KRAK!

An ice flower exploded under Rong Taotao’s feet, instantly steadying his body as he lunged forward. "And you’re interrupting me from playing with my cats and dogs! It’s the middle of the night! I was already in bed, and they dragged me back out for this shit!"

"Huh???" The fanatical Free Person’s face stiffened slightly, as if he’d heard something unbelievable.

Well... in this Free Person’s long career as a poacher, he’d clashed with the Snow Burning Army many times. Thinking back, wasn’t every single soldier stern-faced and deadly serious?

The soldiers were either silent or bellowed orders for the poachers to surrender, but today...

The Free Person was completely baffled! He never in a million years expected to find someone like *this* in the regular army.

What kind of bizarre response was that?

In a flash, Rong Taotao thrust his halberd toward the scar-faced man’s chest!

Although the scar-faced man wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, his years of combat experience and muscle memory were still there. At the last second, he just managed to lift his great axe and parry the Ironspear Point aimed at his chest.

"No one can arrest me! No one!" The scar-faced man, snapping out of his daze, roared furiously as he swung his great axe in a powerful, spinning smash. "We are the sons of freedom! Protected by the heavens!!!"

"Sons of freedom, protected by the heavens!"

"Sons of freedom, protected by the heavens!!!"

The words had barely fallen when a chorus of voices echoed across the battlefield, utterly fanatical!

Mind you, their team had only eight people in total, and one was already seriously injured. Yet, these few people were shouting with the force of dozens!

’You’re telling me this is a Poacher Organization? This is more like a cult, right?’

’Then again, the Free People’s platform is way more sophisticated than the Qian Organization’s. The Qian Organization’s platform is right in their name—we want money, cut the crap, everything is for money.’

’But this Free People Organization... Are they playing the ideology game?’

THUD! THUD! THUD! The scar-faced man swung his axe viciously at Rong Taotao. Though his attacks missed, only kicking up flurries of snow, his momentum didn’t falter. He spun his body, swinging the War Axe in a wide arc to strike at Rong Taotao again.

Axe after axe, he spun and chopped, his movements truly wild and unrestrained!

Rong Taotao’s eyes narrowed, and his backward steps came to a sudden halt.

The instant the man’s War Axe chopped down again, Rong Taotao dodged sideways and whipped his left hand forward. The Dark Gold Heavy Hammer materialized and immediately flew from his grasp!

"I am the free... PLFF..." The scar-faced man’s roar was cut short as his face was smashed and nearly deformed by a Dark Gold Heavy Hammer!

’Huh? You’re what now?’

’A free man of this northern land?’

’Yeah, and I’m the guy who just hit you with a fucking hammer...’

Under the light of the stars scattered across the snow, the scene was astonishingly clear.

In Rong Taotao’s eyes, it was as if he were watching a slow-motion replay.

The Dark Gold Heavy Hammer closed in on the man’s face, inch by inch. The man had clearly realized the situation was bad, but having put all his strength into swinging his axe, he had nothing left in reserve and was completely unable to dodge.

In slow motion, the scar-faced man’s eyes swiveled to look at the Dark Gold Heavy Hammer by his cheek, and the hammer drew closer and closer to his face...

Contact. Impact. The scar-faced man’s face began to contort. His eyes rolled up, his mouth twisted, and a trickle of saliva dribbled out...

WHOOSH...

The legendary son of freedom tumbled countless times across the snow, carving a path through the Shuangxue as he slid into the distance.

Rong Taotao strode forward with incredible speed, catching up to the "freely sliding man"...

Holding his Long Halberd, Rong Taotao viciously stabbed down at the scar-faced man, who was still sliding face-down in the snow. "Your head’s probably ringing, huh!?"

"SHLICK!"

The Heaven-piercing Halberd not only pierced the Free Person’s back but also pinned him to the snow.

"Behind you!" Gao Lingwei suddenly cried out. Her Heaven-piercing Halberd was still impaling a wailing Free Person?

Gao Lingwei galloped over on her mount and, with a powerful flick of her Heaven-piercing Halberd, actually flung the man on its tip toward Rong Taotao’s back!

Rong Taotao, still moving forward, yanked his left hand and tilted his head!

You see... the scar-faced man had been sent flying by the Dark Gold Heavy Hammer, and that hammer, immensely powerful, had continued flying straight ahead of Rong Taotao.

Hearing Gao Lingwei’s warning, Rong Taotao yanked his hand, and the invisible thread connected to his palm instantly pulled the forward-flying hammer back!

A yoyo... no, this was a Yoyo Hammer!

As he rushed forward, Rong Taotao tilted his head to dodge. The Dark Gold Heavy Hammer grazed past his face, flying backward. The coordination between master and hammer was as smooth as flowing water, but the person behind him...

THUD! A dull, heavy sound!

The figure ambushing him from behind was hit square in the face by the heavy hammer and sent flying backward...

*That* was true, immense power, the force of it vibrating Rong Taotao’s eardrums!

Unlike the scar-faced man who was just sent flying, this ambusher behind him took a direct hit to the face from the hammer. He didn’t even let out a wail; it was as if he’d been knocked out instantly.

The display was so flashy it left Gao Lingwei completely stunned...

Logically speaking, she was stronger than Rong Taotao, and this was even her home turf!

But in terms of their battle records, Gao Lingwei had taken down two of the Free People.

And one of those was a Free Person that Ugly Ox had blasted over to her, a kill that was practically handed to her at the very beginning.

Rong Taotao had also dealt with two, using a Soul Skill he had just learned that day to pull off a "one hammer, two hits" that very night!

Setting aside Rong Taotao’s combat intelligence, his understanding of the Soul Skill and the speed with which he mastered it truly left Gao Lingwei amazed.

With Hu Bugui moving swiftly, Gao Lingwei was at Rong Taotao’s side in an instant. She leaned down, grabbed his arm, and pulled him up onto her mount, unable to hold back her heartfelt praise. "Beautiful!"

Rong Taotao: "Praise my skills! Not my face!" 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Gao Lingwei: ???

...