Master of Nine Stars

The next day, around noon.

Having successfully advanced, Lu Mang went to the cafeteria with Gao Lingwei. After eating, they packed two extra meals and returned to the Social Practitioners’ dormitory.

Lu Mang had mixed feelings.

He was happy that he had successfully advanced to the Soul Warrior stage.

But he also felt terrible, because the Cloud Dog in Gao Lingwei’s coat pocket had also advanced. It had started its breakthrough last night, a little later than Lu Mang, but it had succeeded even faster, becoming an Excellent Level Cloud Peak Soul Beast.

At that moment, the little guy was poking its head out of Gao Lingwei’s coat pocket, flapping its large, cloud-shaped ears. Its shiny little black eyes were curiously watching Lu Mang—or to be more precise, staring at the food container in his hand.

Rong Taotao had an immense workload all day yesterday, and on top of that, he hadn’t slept a wink all night helping the Cloud Dog advance. So even though it was now noon, he was still fast asleep.

In contrast, Gao Lingwei had slept soundly through the night. After all, this was Hundred Corps Pass; she didn’t need to stand guard over Rong Taotao all night like before. So, she had woken up early and looked refreshed and full of energy.

And this brought up the second reason why Lu Mang felt so terrible...

Ever since Gao Lingwei got out of bed, she had been moving with extreme care, tiptoeing around to avoid making the slightest sound...

And when he thought back to them returning last night, Lu Mang felt a pang in his heart.

’Rong Taotao is just taking a nap, and you’re tiptoeing around, even recalling the playful Snowball Cat to avoid waking him. You even immediately took the Cloud Dog, which had run out, and left with it to get food.’

’And what about me? I was breaking through to the next stage last night! Advancing!!!’

’That Rong Taotao... Hmph, fine. Whatever.’

Lu Mang clutched the food container. Out here in the vast, swirling snow, his hand was as cold as his heart...

With one hand in her pocket, gently squeezing the Cloud Dog’s little paw pads, Gao Lingwei turned to Lu Mang and frowned slightly. "You look pale. Did something go wrong with your advancement?"

"No, nothing’s wrong." Lu Mang shook his head and changed the subject. "Did your mission last night go smoothly? You came back pretty quickly."

"Yeah. A group of Poachers crossed the border. The Snow Burning Army spotted them right away, so we went to hunt them down." Gao Lingwei said casually, without going into detail.

"Those people are sick in the head." Lu Mang seemed to have finally found an outlet for his frustration. "Why not just be a Social Practitioner and pay the entry fee to get in? It’s not like they stop you from killing Soul Beasts or taking Soul Pearls."

"Hah." Gao Lingwei scoffed. "As a Social Practitioner, don’t you have the Snow Burning Army acting as bodyguards? They wouldn’t be able to get away with any of their shady business.

"The most profitable Soul Pearls mostly come from Neutral Soul Beasts. It’s precisely because hunting Neutral Soul Beasts is forbidden that their Soul Pearls are rare and valuable.

"But under the escort of Snow Burning Army bodyguards, any Soul Pearls they obtain would be legal. Whether sold to the Snow Burning Army or to Soul Pearl shops in the civilian world, they’d all be at officially designated, fixed prices.

"Soul Martial Artists are happy, since they can always buy Soul Pearls at a normal price, but how could the Poachers be happy with that?

"They don’t want to sell to official channels. They’ll hoard their stash to sell at high prices on the black market, or even smuggle them to other countries. Many people break the law, selling Soul Pearls privately to the underground market, and end up on the Snow Burning Army’s blacklist.

"The punishment is one thing, but once you’re blacklisted, it becomes very difficult to enter the wall legally to train again. This, in turn, creates a new batch of poachers."

As she spoke, a look of disdain crossed Gao Lingwei’s face. "There are a lot of entitled brats in this world. Many are unwilling to pay the entry fee; they even think the Snow Burning Army owes them everything.

"They think the Snow Burning Army is supposed to stand guard and patrol here, supposed to help them fend off Soul Beast invasions. They think the three walls, built with the lives of the Snow Burning Army, are all just something they’re owed.

"You know, some Soul Beasts aren’t Neutral Soul Beasts. Their Soul Pearls have special effects that aren’t suitable for civilian circulation and could cause chaos. They’re only fit to remain here in the border garrisons.

"So, these types of Soul Beasts can be hunted, and the Snow Burning Army enforces a mandatory buy-back of their Soul Pearls.

"These people enjoy the security provided by the Snow Burning Army and the Soul Beast resource sites they maintain, but on the other hand, when they get their hands on such Soul Pearls, they’re unwilling to sell them back to the Snow Burning Army.

"Even though the Soul Martial Law explicitly forbids private use, they still refuse to leave those resources at the Third Wall to help the Snow Burning Army better defend against our enemies.

"The official purchase price isn’t even low, but they only care about selling for a higher price. They don’t care who they ultimately sell to, even if it’s a Soul Martial Artist from another country."

Lu Mang mused, "If Soul Pearls couldn’t be extracted, maybe the situation would be better."

Gao Lingwei replied, "That makes some sense. Our Huaxia only has one Snow Realm Vortex, above the Dragon River. But the Russian Federation has a vast territory and a huge number of Snow Realm Vortexes.

"It’s not that difficult for Soul Martial Artists from other countries to learn Snow Realm Soul Techniques or use Snow Realm Soul Skills.

"Since Soul Pearls can be extracted, the demand for Snow Realm Soul Pearls among Soul Martial Artists worldwide is quite high. Selling the Soul Pearls to them is indeed more profitable."

The two of them arrived at the dormitory door as they talked.

Gao Lingwei stopped talking, took out her key, and carefully inserted it into the lock.

Lu Mang: "..."

’Goddess Wei was just willing to answer my questions, but as soon as we got to the door, she went completely silent.’

’Buddy, I thought I was already doing right by you. Sigh... but I guess a girl’s touch is just more thoughtful...’

But who would have thought that just as Gao Lingwei inserted the key, a voice called out from inside, "You’re back!"

Gao Lingwei opened the door to see Rong Taotao sitting on his bed, holding half a chocolate bar in one hand and a cat-face mask in the other, seemingly studying it.

"What’s this?" Gao Lingwei asked as she walked over.

Rong Taotao said, "The Twelfth Squad is getting an upgrade. We’re finally done being the Firebird Warriors. We’re getting ready to officially become the Twelve Zodiacs."

"Let’s eat first." Lu Mang placed the two meals on the table, but asked curiously, "Since when is there a cat in the Twelve Zodiacs?"

"You get one too." Rong Taotao casually picked up a cat-face mask and handed it to Lu Mang. "Yeah, Miss Mao Rabbit pegged the three of us perfectly. We’re not in the Twelve Zodiacs."

Lu Mang: "..."

He examined the cat-face mask, looking at the painted-on whiskers, and couldn’t help but purse his lips. "Wouldn’t a bear, wolf, or leopard mask have been cool too?"

It wasn’t that Lu Mang found the cat face too feminine, but rather that its style was quite bizarre. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed a bit creepy—not like something a proper military squad should be wearing...

Rong Taotao opened his food container and picked up his chopsticks. "Come on, be glad she didn’t give us squirrel, penguin, or little raccoon masks. With Mao Rabbit’s sense of style, we’re lucky she picked masks like these."

Lu Mang was a little surprised. "Mao Rabbit’s style? What kind of style? Are you that familiar with her?"

"Not really. When she came by earlier, she wasn’t wearing her mask. She has a baby face, pretty cute. I figure she probably likes those cute... uh..." As Rong Taotao spoke, he suddenly felt a gaze lock onto him from the side.

The feeling of a chill running down his spine made Rong Taotao stop talking immediately and bury his head in his food.

Behind him, Gao Lingwei, who was hanging up her coat, let out a soft, cold laugh. "Heh heh, is that so?"

Rong Taotao: "..."

"Yip~" The Cloud Dog whimpered coquettishly, flying out of Gao Lingwei’s coat pocket. It flapped its big ears and wobbled as it landed on the table in front of Rong Taotao.

It stuck out its little pink tongue, a cute smile on its face. Its shiny little black eyes were fixed on the braised pork rib held in Rong Taotao’s chopsticks, its small tail wagging back and forth nonstop.

"Here." Rong Taotao smiled and placed the rib on the table.

"Awoo~" The Cloud Dog eagerly leaned forward, snatching the delicious little rib in one bite and closing its eyes in bliss.

"Meow~" Beside them, a swirl of frost and snow coalesced, and the Snowball Cat appeared, crouching in front of Rong Taotao’s food container and wagging its tail at him.

The Cloud Dog ate the meat off the rib and spat out the bone. The Snowball Cat immediately lowered its head and picked up the bone...

"Hey, hey, don’t eat that. I’ll give you some meat." Rong Taotao quickly stopped it, picking out another piece of meat and placing it in front of the Snowball Cat.

Seeing this, the Cloud Dog’s endlessly wagging tail suddenly stopped. It tilted its little head, seemingly deep in thought.

SWISH...

The Cloud Dog suddenly dissolved into mist, which then continuously gathered and re-formed.

When it reappeared, it had taken on the form of a Snowball Cat.

However... this type of creature seemed to have a very long growth period. Rong Taotao had been with it for over half a year, and the Cloud Dog had only grown a tiny bit, still not much bigger than the palm of his hand.

So now, a miniature Snowball Cat stared with shiny black eyes, flashed an authentic Cloud Dog smile, and wagged its tail at Rong Taotao...

For a moment, everyone in the dorm room was stunned.

The genuine Snowball Cat was also dumbfounded. It stared with its beautiful, sapphire-blue eyes, the bone dropping from its little mouth as it looked in astonishment at the tiny creature beside it.

The next moment, the Snowball Cat reached out a paw, its face full of curiosity, and gently tapped the "Little Snowball Cat" on the head.

The Little Snowball Cat: "Woof woof~"

Rong Taotao simply put the rest of the ribs on the container lid and pushed it toward the two little critters. Then, he opened his Inner Soul Map.

The Cloud Dog had advanced to the Excellent Level in the early morning. At that time, Rong Taotao had specifically checked and found that its Soul Skill was still of Normal Quality before he finally fell into a deep sleep.

In just one morning, the Cloud Dog’s Cloud Peak Soul Skill, Thousand Transformations, had actually been promoted to Second-Class, Excellent Quality?

’Holy cow, that’s incredible.’

’Before, the Cloud Dog could only dissolve into mist to evade enemies. Now that Thousand Transformations has advanced to Excellent Quality, it can actually transform into other creatures?’

’It’s just that its body is too small, and the transformation isn’t very refined.’

’The Snowball Cat has the appearance of a bicolor Ragdoll, with a snow-white body and some dark patches on its face. But the Snowball Cat that the Cloud Dog transformed into is pure white.’

’Also, its eyes are just shiny black, nothing like the Snowball Cat’s big, sapphire-like eyes.’

’As a result, the thing the Cloud Dog transformed into was a little... unsettling.’

’After all... eyes make a huge difference in one’s overall appearance...’

Nearby, Gao Lingwei watched the Little Snowball Cat with great interest. She pulled out her phone, walked over, and scooped the Little Snowball Cat into her arms while searching for pictures on her phone.

"Mmm?" The Little Snowball Cat blinked its shiny black eyes, not understanding.

Gao Lingwei held her phone in front of it. "This one. Give it a try?"

After a good while, the Cloud Dog seemed to understand what its mistress meant.

Before Rong Taotao’s eyes, the Little Snowball Cat dissolved and reformed, turning into a pocket-sized version of a Snowflake Wolf.

Uh... Due to a major difference in temperament, this Snowflake Wolf wasn’t fierce at all. In fact, with the faint white mist drifting around its body, it had a hazy beauty, as if it were radiating an Immortal Aura.

Rong Taotao grinned. "Holy smokes! One Cloud Dog is worth a whole wall of action figures. It can turn into whatever you want."

"How about this one?" Gao Lingwei, having found a fun new toy, swiped up again on her phone screen.

In Rong Taotao’s view, the little cloud-like Snowflake Wolf transformed into a tiny Snow Night Shock, which Gao Lingwei held in her palm as it looked around...

"Then... how about this one?" Gao Lingwei suddenly put down her phone and aimed the little Snow Night Shock in her hand at Rong Taotao.

For a moment, the man and the pet stared at each other, wide-eyed.

"STOP!!!" Rong Taotao hurriedly threw down his chopsticks and snatched the tiny Snow Night Shock away.

’Jeez, that’s way too dangerous. If I wasn’t paying attention, I might’ve ended up on four legs...’