Master of Nine Stars

「Two days later, in the morning.」

Rong Taotao, who was diligently cultivating his Soul Power in the mailroom, had a familiar visitor.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. The sound of fingers gently tapping the small window made Rong Taotao quickly open his eyes.

’Who is it?’

’Do they not make a sound when they walk? How did they get in through the main door... Oh, it’s Yang Chunxi. Never mind then...’

Rong Taotao quickly leaned forward, one hand propped on the desk, and slid open the small mailroom window with the other. "Sis, you’re here! Come on in."

Yang Chunxi, however, leaned down, resting her elbows on the windowsill. After a glance inside the mailroom, she said, "You’ve kept the room quite clean."

"Ah, haha... Come in and have a seat. Don’t make it look like you’re visiting me in jail..." Rong Taotao stopped mid-sentence.

Because Yang Chunxi had turned her hand over, extending it through the small window.

Resting on her fair, delicate palm was a sparkling, translucent Soul Pearl.

A flicker of joy lit up Rong Taotao’s heart. He propped his elbows on the desk, strained his body forward, and leaned in closer to carefully examine the beautiful Soul Pearl. "What kind of Soul Pearl is this?"

Yang Chunxi said, "It’s a Soul Pearl from a Thorny Frost Flower. It contains a Soul Skill called Frost Cold Thorn."

As she spoke, Yang Chunxi placed the Soul Pearl into Rong Taotao’s palm. "This type of Soul Skill can’t be learned through independent practice. Human Soul Martial Artists haven’t figured it out yet, so the only way to use this skill is by embedding its Soul Pearl."

"For me? Thanks, Sis! You’re the best!"

Yang Chunxi couldn’t resist reaching out to ruffle Rong Taotao’s hair. The Cloud Dog took a light leap, landed on the back of her hand, and began to knead with its tiny paws.

Yang Chunxi said, "Your brother had someone deliver this to the school. He also sent a specific message: Thorny Frost Flower is of an extremely high quality, as is its Soul Skill.

"However, this Soul Pearl came from a Thorny Frost Flower that hadn’t bloomed yet, so the Soul Skill it contains should be of a low level. Even with your current lack of strength, you should be able to use it."

Rong Taotao: "..."

A message also appeared in his Inner Soul Map:

"Discovered Soul Pearl: Snow Realm · Thorny Frost Flower (Common Level, Potential Value: —)

Soul Pearl’s Soul Skill:

1. Frost Cold Thorn: Gather Soul Power of the ice and snow Attribute. Within a vast expanse of white snow, plant a seed of evil to grow a thicket of thorns. (Common Level, Potential Value: —)

Absorb?"

Rong Taotao was stunned.

’Didn’t Sis just say that this Soul Beast, the Thorny Frost Flower, was of an extremely high quality?’

’It’s understandable that the Soul Skill, Frost Cold Thorn, is currently at the lowest Common Level. But why doesn’t it even have a Potential Value?’

’Could it be... that you can’t improve the quality of a Soul Skill through training if you haven’t learned it yourself and don’t understand how it works?’

’Yang Chunxi did make one thing clear, though. This Soul Pearl came from a Thorny Frost Flower that hadn’t bloomed yet. Its quality is fucking abysmal, appallingly so...’

’But it’s precisely because the quality is so low that I can actually use it right now.’

’If this Soul Skill were even a Grade Two, Excellent Level, I wouldn’t be able to use it at all...’

Yang Chunxi spoke up, "The first Soul Slot you opened was on your left wrist. This Soul Pearl is meant to be embedded in a wrist or ankle slot.

"However, at your current level of strength, the environmental requirements for using this Soul Skill are quite demanding. If you want to give it a try, you can go out into the snow." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Rong Taotao nodded blankly. "Oh, okay..."

"Hah," Yang Chunxi said, poking Rong Taotao’s forehead. "Rong Yang really does care about you. Aren’t you going to thank your brother?"

Rong Taotao pursed his lips. "He’s not here."

Yang Chunxi replied, "I am."

"Ah," Rong Taotao said, forced to play along. "Thank you, brother! Thank you, Sis! You’re both the best!"

"Just focus on learning from Si Huan Nian. I’ll come see you again when I have time." With that, Yang Chunxi straightened up and turned toward the main door.

Rong Taotao quickly stuck his head out of the small window. "Leaving already? You’re really not coming in for a bit?"

Yang Chunxi turned back, gave Rong Taotao a smiling wave, and pushed the door open to leave.

"Man, that sucks. It really was just a jail visit..." Rong Taotao sat back in his chair, slid the small mailroom window shut with one hand, and turned his attention back to the sparkling, translucent Soul Pearl.

While Rong Taotao was overjoyed by the care from his brother and sister-in-law, thousands of kilometers away, another person was feeling extremely conflicted.

「Huaxia, Shanghai.」

A lanky, stick-thin figure walked silently through the bustling city streets. Under a mop of choppy hair, his eyes darted everywhere.

Returning from the ice and snow of the far north to his hometown, now basking under a scorching summer sun, Lu Mang was filled with a myriad of emotions.

Especially since... he was different now. He was no longer that junior high student who gave his all without knowing what the future held. He had been successfully accepted into Songjiang Soul Martial University.

As a student in the inaugural Junior Class of Songjiang Soul Martial University, and a member of the top-tier Soul Class at that, his achievements were nothing short of dazzling.

Looking back on Lu Mang’s assessment, it could be summed up in three words: timing and destiny.

But regardless, he had succeeded.

After walking for what felt like an eternity, from bustling main streets to the end of a narrow alley, Lu Mang stopped in the shade of a tree and gazed toward a distant street corner.

Shanghai City is an international metropolis, truly massive—large enough to hold all sorts of people.

It’s like how people describe the Big Apple City across the ocean: the skyscrapers are tall and glamorous, but the more prosperous the surface, the filthier the underbelly.

Some people live in high society, seeing only the glamour. Others worry about their next meal, crammed into tiny, run-down shared apartments, struggling with all their might just to survive.

Lu Mang was a local, having grown up here, but his family was by no means wealthy.

Still, Lu Mang had never gone hungry a day in his life. But that was only because of one person’s back-breaking labor.

And that person was the man Lu Mang was now watching from a distance.

He was a middle-aged man in an orange work uniform. Despite the scorching summer sun and the shimmering waves of heat, the man was bundled up, even wearing an orange flat cap on his head.

His figure was frail, his back bent as he held a dustpan in one hand and a broom in the other. He meticulously swept up debris along the curb, moving forward step by step.

Lu Mang watched for a long moment before finally starting to walk over.

Just as he came up behind the man and was about to call out, a little girl ran up in front of the man, holding an ice pop in one hand and its torn wrapper in the other.

The little girl put the wrapper in his dustpan. The man straightened up, breaking into a wide grin as he nodded at her.

The little girl seemed shy and turned to run back to her mother.

"Dad."

The voice came from behind him. The middle-aged man froze for a second, then turned to see a familiar figure.

The man’s weather-beaten face lit up with surprise, and he hurried forward. "You’re back."

With his hands stuffed in his pockets, Lu Mang put on a disgruntled look. "I’ve been looking for you all over the last few blocks."

Maybe it was his personality, or maybe it was just his age, but Lu Mang... hadn’t yet seemed to find the right way to act around his father, even though he cared for him deeply.

The middle-aged man set his broom and dustpan aside and stepped forward, about to hug his son. But he seemed to remember something, perhaps how dirty he was, and his outstretched arms froze in mid-air.

After a moment of stillness, the man reached out again, as if to pat Lu Mang’s shoulder, but his hand stopped in mid-air once more. After a long pause, he let his hand fall, brushing it against his pant leg. A smile reappeared on his face. "It’s good you’re back. Real good."

Even after living in Shanghai for twenty years, Father Lu still had his hometown accent.

Lu Mang watched all this, hands still in his pockets, his expression unchanging. He just said quietly, "I got in."

"Oh? Really?" The man’s eyes filled with delight. "Good, good!" he repeated. "My son’s going to make something of himself. He’s better than his old man..."

Lu Mang pressed his lips together. "You know why I went all the way out to Songjiang Soul Martial.

"Now that I’m in, the school is ready to make good on its promise. All the conditions Songjiang Soul Martial offered me will be fulfilled. Let’s go. To Songbai Town."

Hearing this, the man looked troubled. "Songbai Town..."

"Mhm," Lu Mang nodded. "It’s a large town in the north, built around a key Soul Martial High School. It’ll be a little cold, but not as frigid as my university.

We can move there and start a new life.

"They’ll arrange housing for us and a job for you. They’ll also reimburse my tuition and living expenses for the next few years, even my travel fare for this trip."

The man hesitated. "But..."

Lu Mang said, "We’ve talked about this. You already promised me."

The man’s hand tightened on the handle of his dustpan. "But..."

Lu Mang cut in, "The sooner we go, the sooner I can start cultivating my Soul Power without falling behind in my studies."

A thousand arguments would have been less persuasive than that single, simple sentence.

The man fell silent, looking at his son. Lu Mang’s gaze was resolute, not flinching in the slightest.

After a long silence, the man lowered his head and picked up his tools. "My shift ends at noon. If I leave now, someone else will have to cover for me, and they’re all tired too."

Lu Mang let out a soft "mhm." "I’ll head home first, then. This afternoon, I’ll help you contact your work and the landlord."

Bending slightly, the man picked up his broom and swept at the ground absentmindedly. "Alright, alright..."

For the more traditional among the Huaxia People, moving was something to be resisted.

Twenty years ago, the man had already been through it once. Back then, he was young, free of attachments, and had mustered the courage to come to this city to make a name for himself.

But after one setback after another, his initial lofty ambitions were crushed by fate.

Reality had ground down his spirit and changed his outlook.

But he didn’t collapse. He worked diligently, scrimped and saved, and managed to raise Lu Mang.

He never thought that twenty years later, he would have to move again.

Now, all he wanted was stability. He was no longer that young man from all those years ago... He didn’t want to leave this second home, a place where he’d lived for two decades.

He had happy memories here. They were brief, but they were real.

And here, too, was the life he knew.

At that thought, the man straightened up, raised an arm to wipe the sweat from his brow, and then bent over his work once more.

’This is just how life is, isn’t it?’

Lu Mang, who had supposedly walked off, hadn’t actually gone far. He stopped at the street corner, his body half-hidden behind a tree, revealing only half his face as he watched the distant, slightly stooped figure.

He knew it would be difficult to make his father leave the home he had known for so long, but Lu Mang was resolute.

Previously, Rong Taotao had tried to subtly probe Lu Mang about his beliefs, figuring he must have some powerful conviction to have come to this land of ice and snow.

Back then, Lu Mang had only replied with a hint of sarcasm, "What kind of convictions can a fifteen or sixteen-year-old kid have?"

In fact, Lu Mang had been lying.

His father, who left for work before dawn each day, and the porridge always kept warm for him in the rice cooker—these things had, time and again, deepened the conviction in Lu Mang’s heart.

Many other top high schools had tried to recruit Lu Mang, but their offers were nowhere near as generous as the one from Songjiang Soul Martial University.

And so, Lu Mang had gone to the snowy north without a moment’s hesitation.

He hadn’t even stopped to seriously consider whether he truly wanted to spend his life as a Snow Realm Soul Martial Artist.

He only ever asked himself one question:

’If... after I’ve grown up,

my father still has to struggle like this, then what’s the point of me growing up at all...?’