Master of Nine Stars

From within the now-still torrent of snow, a hand suddenly shot out. A Free Person’s head emerged, and seeing the massive figure of Ugly Ox before him, he hurriedly shouted, "I surrender! I surrender!"

The four Free People that Rong Taotao and Gao Lingwei had dealt with earlier were all at the Soul Warrior level; otherwise, the two of them could not have won so cleanly and decisively.

It was precisely because of their weakness that they were sent flying by Ugly Ox’s opening hammer strike.

The remaining Free People had simply gathered around the Starfield Soul Martial Artist to face the enemy together.

Unexpectedly, however, the Starfield Soul Martial Artist suddenly decided on a last-ditch, desperate move. He stomped a foot on the ground, and a blast of countless stars sent them flying, leaving them gravely injured.

By the time the two Soul Captain-level Free People recovered and crawled out of the snow, the battle was already over.

The Free Person, plucked from the snow by Ugly Ox with one hand and kicked to the ground, saw the scene. Beneath the swirling White Lantern Paper Cage, the half-buried corpse of the Starfield Soul Martial Artist lay in the snow. And standing before the body were two figures.

Compared to Ugly Ox, Fu Tiance, Rong Yang, and the others, these two figures, while tall enough, appeared somewhat slender. Their shoulders weren’t broad; they looked... more like teenagers...

’Is it over?’

Despair flickered in the Free Person’s eyes as he stared at the Starfield Soul Martial Artist, whose chest had been pierced and torn open. The man he viewed as a supreme god now showed no signs of life, having died a wretched death at the feet of those two people.

"There’s one more," Fu Tiance said. "Be careful. Keep searching."

Rong Taotao looked around, but his visibility was limited. He quickly nudged Gao Lingwei’s arm. "Is the headcount right?"

Gao Lingwei frowned slightly, summoned Snow Night Shock with one hand, pulled Rong Taotao up onto it, and they rode off to the side.

Overhead, a Snowball Cat with frost-misted eyes kept watch.

In her vision, hundreds of meters away, a person was clutching their stomach and crawling with great difficulty.

That was the first Free Person she had seriously wounded. She had held back because she couldn’t confirm their identity at the time. When the figure came flying toward her after being blasted by Ugly Ox, Gao Lingwei had pierced their stomach instead of aiming for the chest.

CLIP-CLOP, CLIP-CLOP...

As the sound of Snow Night Shock’s hooves drew near, the Free Person, already fading in and out of consciousness, went ashen-faced in an instant.

In the pitch-black Snowfield, the two beams from Snow Night Shock’s deep blue eyes illuminated the man’s struggling, crawling figure. There were no large pools of blood in the snow. It seemed he had performed some basic first aid on himself and frozen the wound shut.

But even so, with his internal organs gravely wounded, he wouldn’t survive long on faith alone.

SHINK!

A Heaven-piercing Halberd stabbed deep into the snow right before his eyes, and the Free Person’s body went rigid.

Rong Taotao swung himself off the horse and, with a heavy stomp, knocked the barely-conscious Free Person out cold. Once he was sure it was safe, he crouched down, aimed his palm at the wound, and unleashed a spray of frost.

"We might not be able to save him," Gao Lingwei said from atop her horse, looking down at Rong Taotao.

"I’ll do my best," Rong Taotao grunted. "When you’re in a fight, you can’t worry about whether the enemy lives or dies. But since we’ve won, we should save him if we can. We might even get some information out of him."

Of course, Rong Taotao wouldn’t be involved in the various matters that came after the capture. He just wanted to do the best he could in his part of the process and then hand over the ice-sealed body.

With the Snowball Cat looking around, keeping watch and providing a clear field of view, Gao Lingwei could look down at Rong Taotao without worry.

’It’s a shame he’s wearing a hood,’ she thought. ’I can’t see his focused expression.’

The moment that thought surfaced, Gao Lingwei froze.

’Time, companionship, a common goal, life-and-death missions undertaken together... they really are the perfect recipe for developing feelings.’

’She didn’t know when it started, but she now found herself wanting to see him focused on a mission, wanting to see that head of soft, naturally curly hair of his.’

At this thought, Gao Lingwei couldn’t help but smile and shake her head. She closed her eyes and refocused on the visual feed provided by her Snowball Cat.

In the vast Snowfield, it seemed even the Soul Beasts knew the level of combat here was high. None were foolish enough to try and get a piece of the action.

As the Snowball Cat scanned the area, Gao Lingwei also saw, hundreds of meters away, the dozen or so gigantic, towering ice pillars and the undulating, wave-like snowscape left in the wake of A Snowy Ocean.

"Let’s go." Rong Taotao stood up, grabbing the Free Person’s collar with one hand. "What about the others? I remember one of them was knocked unconscious. We can’t let him get away."

"Right, I’ll take you..."

...

Around midnight, the Twelfth Squad returned to Hundred Corps Pass. After handing the criminals over to the Snow Burning Army, the five of them headed into the city on their four mounts.

At the intersection where they would part ways, Gao Lingwei reined in Snow Night Shock and said her goodbyes to the others.

Fu Tiance nodded. "Right, you kids did well tonight. Better than I expected. You’ve got guts, and you know how to exploit an opening. Not bad at all."

Rong Taotao grinned and cupped his fists in a salute to the three of them. "That’s only because the two of us had three Great Gods playing support for us!"

Fu Tiance’s expression froze for a moment.

’Are you kidding me? I’m the support?’

’Me, the great Chenlong, head of the Twelve Zodiacs and captain of this squad, went out on a mission... just to play support for a couple of kids?’

The usually silent Ugly Ox suddenly spoke up. "They have great potential. Their software is solid, and they’re definitely worth developing. Good eye, Captain."