Master of Nine Stars

In the midst of the explosion, Fan Lihua displayed astonishing physical Talent. Before being sent flying by the shockwave, she placed a hand on Snow Night Shock and instantly recalled her Lifebound Soul Beast.

The moment Fan Lihua was blasted away and about to hit the ground, she once again summoned Snow Night Shock, landing steadily on its back!

Just as she executed a perfect maneuver, gritting her teeth against the pain and fighting off the dizziness, she heard Shi Lou’s cry of alarm. Fan Lihua hurriedly turned to look and saw an astounding sight!

Shi Lou and Shi Lan were in peril!

CLACK! CLACK! CLACK! A frantic clatter of hooves!

Fan Lihua, Long Spear in hand, her steed neighing into the wind, swept past the others like a gale and charged toward the pitch-black Pine Forest!

However, Rong Taotao—who had always been in perfect sync with Fan Lihua, matching her pace, her reactions, and even her decisions—didn’t make a move.

First of all, Rong Taotao wasn’t riding his own horse, but Jiao Tengda’s.

Secondly...

At that moment, Rong Taotao’s eyes were wide, staring dumbly at the person who had collapsed into his arms—or more accurately, half a person...

Rong Taotao had killed Soul Beasts before, but in terms of human life, he had never been so close to death.

On the chaotic battlefield, half a body had flown from somewhere—it was a student who had been blown to pieces...

The horribly mutilated student hadn’t yet breathed their last. Despite being just an upper torso, the student’s eyes held an endless yearning—a yearning to live, a thirst for life...

"COUGH... COUGH..." Gouts of crimson blood flowed from the student’s mouth, dripping onto Rong Taotao’s face. Some of it even trickled into Rong Taotao’s mouth.

It was slightly warm, and a bit salty.

Rong Taotao stared blankly at the student on him. In that instant, the world seemed to fall silent...

"Help... cough, help..." Before the words were finished, the light in the student’s eyes—which were filled with endless pleading—slowly faded.

"Rong Taotao! RONG TAOTAO!!!"

In an instant, noise once again broke through into Rong Taotao’s utterly silent world.

The corpse on Rong Taotao was shoved aside. Jiao Tengda knelt in the snow, grabbing Rong Taotao’s arm and struggling to pull him up. "Get up!"

Rong Taotao snapped back to his senses, only to be grabbed by the shoulders by Jiao Tengda and roughly thrown onto Snow Night Shock’s back.

"Go! Now!"

The crashing impacts and explosions of the Celestial Burial Snow Meteors continued unabated, an incessant roar.

The indiscriminate, dense bombardment had temporarily shifted to the south. If they lingered here for even a second longer and the bombardment shifted back, the youths of the Soul Class likely wouldn’t be so lucky again.

The severed torso was the best proof of that.

"FAN LIHUA!!!" Sun Xingyu’s desperate cry instantly drew Rong Taotao’s attention.

Rong Taotao whipped his head around and saw a terrifying scene in the distant Pine Forest: a writhing mass of Snow Vines lashing out wantonly, seeming to fill the air.

And in that Pine Forest, which flickered with strange points of light, a blinding glare suddenly erupted, illuminating the dark and terrifying woods.

An opalescent white light flashed, outlining a giant, snow-colored Cannibal Flower.

It was shaped like a pitcher plant from the ordinary world, but it was enormous. It had only a single barrel-shaped cage with a huge lid on top, which was now open, as if waiting for prey to enter.

BANG! BANG!

Dragged into the Pine Forest by the vines, the Shi Family Sisters swung the snow-made Great Sabers in their hands again and again, tearing at the resilient vines wrapped around their legs. In their other hands, Snow Burst Balls exploded frequently as they fought desperately to save themselves!

But to their despair, the Snow Vines winding around them seemed endless. And... the vines were far too resilient...

It often took three or four slashes to sever a single vine, but in the process, other vines would have already coiled around them.

CLACK... CLACK... CLACK... To the sound of urgent hoofbeats, Fan Lihua’s long hair flew in the wind.

The snowflakes at her side were still slowly rising, drifting toward the night sky. She suddenly swept her hands through the air, and a Pear Blossom Spear instantly took shape.

Snow Night Shock, a True Divine Pet!

Even though it was still an Excellent Level creature, it was truly loyal!

Although Snow Night Shock knew this journey was perilous, it didn’t retreat. It never disobeyed its master’s commands, letting Fan Lihua ride it straight toward the Shi Family Sisters!

"HYA~!" Fan Lihua let out a sharp cry!

Her Long Spear was wreathed in dense Soul Power. Though a spear was typically used for thrusting, in Fan Lihua’s hands, she swung it with the slashing motion of a double-bladed spear!

She even used Soul Power to forge an even larger, sharper blade over the spear’s own!

The Snow Spear, the white horse, and the dauntless Fan Lihua...

She flashed through the sea of Snow Vines!

SHIIING!!!

With her momentum, Fan Lihua brutally hacked several Snow Vines to pieces!

This single strike was far more powerful than a Snow Burst!

Fan Lihua didn’t stop there. Twisting the long shaft, she viciously swept the spear’s pole against Shi Lou, launching her out of the Pine Forest.

"Li Hua!" Shi Lou’s face was filled with terror as she flew backward through the air. She ignored the sharp pain in her abdomen where she’d been struck, her eyes fixed only on Fan Lihua and Snow Night Shock beneath her, where every step was fraught with peril in the sea of vines!

Snow Night Shock kicked and bucked, pushing forward as its hooves dodged the grasping tendrils of one Snow Vine after another. Its combination of Snow Step and Snow Charge was flawless.

But no matter how hard Snow Night Shock struggled, no matter how well Fan Lihua controlled it... in the end, horse and rider were still trapped in the sea of Snow Vines.

Snow Night Shock’s forward charge came to an abrupt halt, mired in the bog of vines. But Fan Lihua abandoned her mount in an instant. Her small figure shot forward, heading straight for Shi Lan, who was suspended in mid-air, tearing at vines and setting off continuous explosions!

It seemed... Fan Lihua had no intention of getting out alive...

SHIING!

A flash of cold light!

It was still the same Snow Spear, carried on the wind; still the same Fan Lihua, her long hair flying. But this time, the white horse once beneath her was already bound by countless vines, swallowed by the sea of tendrils.

"Up!" Fan Lihua cried sharply. She spun around, and with a vicious flick of the spear’s shaft, struck Shi Lan hard, sending her flying out of the Pine Forest.

"Li Hua..." Shi Lan’s face was rigid. As she flew backward out of the forest, she desperately reached out her hand, as if trying to grab the girl, but... how could Shi Lan’s arm possibly stretch that far?

Fan Lihua’s rapidly moving figure came to a sudden stop. With a THUD, she landed heavily. In an instant, countless Snow Vines scrambled up, coiling around her small frame.

BANG! BANG!

Fan Lihua’s small hands tore at the Snow Vines on her body. A series of Snow Bursts erupted, but the Snow Vines were seemingly endless, seizing her small body and dragging her toward the Snow Cage Grass.

No distance. No momentum. Not even enough space to swing her spear...

HAH... HAH... Tearing desperately at the vines, Fan Lihua panted heavily. Finally, her whole body was bound. One of her hands was still outside the Snow Vines, grasping at empty air.

"Ugh..." A pained groan escaped Fan Lihua as the vines binding her body tightened relentlessly.

CRACK!

A crisp snap of bone came from her arm, which was bent at a sickening angle that made one’s teeth ache and flesh crawl just to see.

Finally, she was powerless.

Her bright eyes peered through the gaps in the layers of Snow Vines, looking past the forest, toward the edge of the pines dozens of paces away. She saw Shi Lou and Shi Lan land heavily on the ground.

"Go... Go now! To the Martial Arts Arena... Don’t come in... Run!" Fan Lihua said in a trembling voice as waves of excruciating pain washed over her. Finally, her broken arm hung limply, and her eyes glazed over as she entered another world.

The Snow Cage Grass opened its lid. The vines coiled around Fan Lihua and stuffed her into its large, barrel-like stomach. The next moment, endless Soul Power seeped into Fan Lihua’s body, as if to dissolve her completely.

The Soul Power wasn’t just devouring her body; it even restricted her from mobilizing her own Soul Power, leaving her without even the chance to use Snow Burst.

Suddenly, Fan Lihua smiled. It was a bit forced, but not bitter. Instead... it was a smile of relief.

’Go, Shi Lou, Shi Lan.’

’Go to the Martial Arts Arena. Go to the safest place...’

In Fan Lihua’s mind, the scene of the Nine Little Souls gathering for the first time at Hundred Corps Pass, inside the stone classroom, reappeared...

Back then, Shi Lan had been so confident, her eyes shining with the light of her dreams. Facing Yang Chunxi’s question, Shi Lan had clenched her fist and shouted, "I want to go to the Snow Realm! I want to see what it’s like there!"

In Fan Lihua’s eyes, the Shi Lan of that time was so tall, so radiant...

One image after another flashed through her mind. Fan Lihua quietly closed her eyes.

’Leave this place, Shi Lou, Shi Lan.’

’You can’t die here so easily. You have to live with all your might.’

’You’re different from me.’

’You... you’re people with dreams...’

"You motherfucker! Spit that Pear out!!"

And it was at this very moment that Fan Lihua, now inside the Snow Cage, heard Rong Taotao’s irrepressible Battle Cry from outside!

Fan Lihua’s eyes flew open!

’What was that sound?’

’Was that Rong Taotao?’

’Am I... hearing things?’