Master of Nine Stars

"You motherfucker, spit that Pear out!"

Fan Lihua, who had just been swallowed by the Snow Cage, suddenly heard Rong Taotao’s furious battle cry from outside!

With a massive BANG!

The Snow Cage Grass had just closed its lid when a human cannonball viciously slammed into it!

The barrel-shaped Snow Cage instantly buckled under the heavy impact. Its snowy lid flew open, and with a gust of air, the Snow Cage Grass spat Fan Lihua straight into the sky.

Astonished, Fan Lihua turned in mid-air to look down. She saw that Rong Taotao had actually smashed the barrel-shaped Snow Cage Grass flat!?

Crying out in pain, the Snow Cage Grass’s surrounding Snow Vines erupted into a frenzy, whipping wildly in every direction and sending Rong Taotao flying.

Fan Lihua reached for Rong Taotao, but her limbs were too short to catch him. Whipped so hard he nearly fell apart, Rong Taotao shot past her like a meteor, hurtling far into the night sky...

Right. All he was missing was an "I’ll be back!"

...

Ten seconds earlier, while Fan Lihua’s gaze was fixed on the Stone Tower and Shi Lan, Rong Taotao was at the edge of the Pine Forest. He had decisively dismounted and was rushing toward Li Ziyi and Lu Mang. "Your shoulders! Both of you, lend me your shoulders! Launch me at that Snow Cage Grass!"

Li Ziyi yelled in shock, "Are you sure!?"

Rong Taotao’s voice was firm, his expression resolute. "Today, I’m gonna show you what I call a fancy play!"

"You son of a bitch!" Li Ziyi cursed, but he still did as Rong Taotao had instructed and crouched down.

The unusually silent Lu Mang crouched down beside him as well.

As they both crouched, Rong Taotao leaped up. He twisted in mid-air to face the Pine Forest as his feet landed squarely on their shoulders.

The stoic Lu Mang and the foul-mouthed Li Ziyi simultaneously dug their feet in, viciously twisted at the waist, and threw their shoulders forward in a powerful shove.

"SWOOSH~"

Pushing off their shoulders, Rong Taotao shot forward like a cannonball, plunging headfirst into the Pine Forest!

The cold wind howled past his ears, whipping through his naturally curly hair. But Rong Taotao reached his hands behind him—he actually thought he wasn’t going fast enough!

A series of Snow Burst Balls then exploded in his palms, acting like jet propulsion and rocketing him forward with insane speed.

"BANG!" "BANG!" "BANG!"

In the blink of an eye, Rong Taotao, hurtling forward like a javelin, was right in front of the Snow Cage Grass.

The Snow Cage Grass tried to control its vines, but Rong Taotao was moving so fast that it didn’t even have a chance to react.

Rong Taotao concentrated all his Soul Power into his shoulder, shattering three Snow Vines in his path before slamming his right shoulder viciously into the Snow Cage Grass’s barrel-shaped "stomach"!

"SWOOSH~"

Fan Lihua was spat directly into the night sky. Under the immense force of Rong Taotao’s impact, the Snow Cage Grass was actually torn from the ground. The boy and the plant crashed heavily into a pine tree behind them!

CRACK!

The slender pine tree actually snapped!? ’This is...’

For a moment, the students outside the Pine Forest could only stare, their mouths hanging open in an "O"...

’Is this what they call legendary combat IQ? Is *that* the "fancy play" he was talking about?’

’He just crashed right into it, with "jets" firing from his hands!?’

The uprooted Snow Cage Grass’s roots suddenly stretched out long and thin. It had gone completely berserk! 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

The field of Snow Vines under the Snow Cage Grass’s control stopped trying to grab or entangle anything. All that was left was lashing!

A frenzied lashing!

The snowy vines frantically lashed out at everything in the Pine Forest. Even Fan Lihua, still in the air, was not spared and was sent flying by a sharp whip.

"Keep up! Keep up!" Jiao Tengda shouted. The group of Soul Class students scrambled to follow in the direction Fan Lihua and Rong Taotao had been flung.

Even Snow Night Shock, the horse that had been bound by the Snow Vines, was inadvertently freed. But amidst the frenzied lashing, it had no time to escape. In the blink of an eye, countless vines struck the giant white horse and sent it flying as well...

The other few Little Souls scrambled after them, but... Rong Taotao had been flung an incredible distance. Fortunately, he was heading toward the Martial Arts Arena.

...

「Meanwhile, in the Martial Arts Arena.」

Specks of snow drifted slowly upward as a sky full of burning Cyan Lotus Petals rustled down. The scene was one of breathtaking beauty.

"FIGHT!!!" Li Lie bellowed, wielding a giant axe wreathed in Azure Flame. He was an unstoppable force, tearing through everything in his path!

He hacked wildly at the young Ice Soul Guide. Though the Protective Cyan Lotus Petal blocked every strike, the ferocious Soul Power Waves still forced the Ice Soul Guide into a steady retreat.

In any battle, the Ice Soul Guide race always fills the role of a master strategist.

Ice Soul Guides possess incredibly high intelligence and a formidable learning capacity, but the Snow Realm Soul Skills they typically master are merely simple, elementary ones.

During this invasion of Songjiang Soul Martial University, the Snow Realm Army wasn’t just here for revenge or to slaughter the young human Snow Realm Soul Martial students. Their first priority was to ransack the university’s libraries.

The attacks on the stadium’s training grounds, the Martial Arts Arena, and the academic buildings were nowhere near as intense as the assault on the libraries.

That was why, by the time Soul Police Captain Huang Kuanren arrived, all three libraries were already in ruins. And it was why Mr. Ren had issued the order to hunt down any Snow Realm Soul Beast seen carrying a book.

In other words, an Ice Soul Guide’s individual combat prowess has always been lacking.

The Ice Soul Guide in the Martial Arts Arena was only so domineering because he was protected by a Cyan Lotus Petal.

The Ice Soul Guide had meticulously planned everything, even using the battles at the Third Wall and Songbai Town as a diversion to lure the strongest defenders away. But it never imagined that Songjiang Soul Martial University—which had supposedly emptied its coffers and sent all its forces to reinforce the Third Wall—would still have someone so utterly fearless in reserve!

The young Ice Soul Guide was both shocked and furious. Forced back step by step, he could barely squeeze out a single word: "You..."

The Soul School rank is also divided into tiers.

Li Lie of the Pine Soul Four Rites—known as Wine—was at least at the Upper Soul School level! He might even be a Great Soul School!

The Soul School rank was a realm unattainable for most. And even within that rank, the difference in power between tiers was like night and day.

Junior Soul School, Middle Soul School, Upper Soul School, and Great Soul School. Four distinct tiers!

The renowned Sugar of the Pine Soul Four Rites was also at the Soul School rank, yet she had been completely suppressed by the young Ice Soul Guide’s Cyan Lotus Petal. She could only desperately defend the students, stretched to her absolute limit.

But this Li Lie... he was truly wild!

Fierce and explosive!

"Die!" the young Ice Soul Guide shrieked, his eyes burning with rage. His handsome face was twisted in a snarl.

Blown back by the shockwave, the Ice Soul Guide’s blood boiled with rage. With a fierce wave of his hand, the Cyan Lotus Petal that had been protecting him—his own essence—shot toward Li Lie like a razor-sharp, spinning blade!

The drunken Li Lie instantly brought his axe up to block. Stamping his foot in mid-air, a Snow Burst erupted from the sole of his shoe, jolting his body to the side.

"SHING!"

The giant axe, wreathed in roaring Azure Flame, was actually sliced in half by the palm-sized Cyan Lotus Petal!

The broad axe head now had a perfectly smooth cross-section.

Li Lie landed heavily on the ground. He whipped his head around just in time to see the speeding Cyan Lotus Petal spinning back to strike him in the back.

A chill ran down Li Lie’s spine. He kicked off the ground and dodged frantically.

"Look out!" Si Huan Nian cried out. With a wave of her hand, her own Cyan Lotus Petal spun through the air, intercepting the one aimed at Li Lie’s back.

"DING!"

The two Cyan Lotus Petals collided in mid-air.

Though only the size of a palm, the tiny Cyan Lotus Petals seemed to hold infinite energy. They collided like two bombs, detonating completely.

"RUMBLE..."

The resulting shockwave was no less powerful than the blast from an Epic-grade Celestial Burial Snow Meteor!

All that was missing was a mushroom cloud!

A majestic wave of Soul Power radiated outward, blasting away everything in the Martial Arts Arena... Debris filled the air, snowflakes scattered, and shockwaves threw everyone and everything into chaos.

"PFFT..."

"PFFT..." Blasted in opposite directions, the Ice Soul Guide and Si Huan Nian coughed up blood at nearly the same instant.

The two Cyan Lotus Petals, after their thunderous collision, were tossed about in the turbulent shockwave. Then, as if feeling their masters’ call, they began to drift in different directions.

One flew toward Si Huan Nian, the other toward the Ice Soul Guide.

Just then, a dazed Soul Class boy, who had been whipped senseless, came plummeting from the sky.

Rong Taotao fought through the pain racking his body. He felt like he’d been whipped to pieces, but there was an upside... The pain was keeping him incredibly sharp!

"Huh? Whoa!"

A Snow Burst was already forming in Rong Taotao’s hands, ready to break his fall. But while still in mid-air, the sound of an explosion rocked his eardrums, and in the next moment, he was sent tumbling by a powerful, turbulent gust...

The dense Soul Power and immense turbulence made it hard for Rong Taotao to even breathe.

Rong Taotao wanted to cry.

’I just want to land! Is that really so hard...?’

Sent flying once again, Rong Taotao spotted something amidst the chaos: a lotus petal, glowing with an eerie cyan light, drifting unsteadily toward him on the turbulent winds.

He couldn’t help but stare. The shimmering lotus petal was simply too dazzling; it would have captured anyone’s attention.

’This is...?’

The Snow Burst Vortex in his hand dissipated. Like a puppy pouncing on a butterfly, he reached out and snatched the lotus petal, which was now no longer sharp but felt delicate and soft.

’What is this thing?’

’It looks so pretty...’

In that instant, the petal pulled him off course, and he changed direction once more, flying off into the distance.

At the same time, a message appeared in his mind.

"Discovered: Snow Realm · Nine-Petaled Lotus · Seventh Petal: Sinful Lotus. Absorb?"

Rong Taotao: ???

Clutching the soft yet powerfully drifting Cyan Lotus petal in one hand, he was stunned for a full second before finally choosing to absorb it.

"Absorbing! Nine-Petaled Lotus: Sinful Lotus! Reward: 1 Potential Value point. Currently available Potential Value: 1."

"Promoted! Soul Technique: Heart of the Snow Realm, One-Star Peak!"

"Promoted! Soul Technique: Heart of the Snow Realm, Two-Star Initial Stage!"

"Promoted! Soul Technique: Heart of the Snow Realm, Two-Star Middle Stage!"

...

Message after message flooded his mind, leaving Rong Taotao completely bewildered.

It wasn’t that he was shocked by the messages, but rather...

The Cyan Lotus Petal abruptly merged with his body, but instead of granting him any Soul Power, it did the opposite... Rong Taotao felt his physical condition plummet!

Plummeting, nosediving, crashing!

Rong Taotao instantly felt drained of all strength. His head spun, and he fell to the ground with a THUD. The cyan petal that had just merged with him seemed to realize how weak he was, and it actually floated back out of his body.

The Cyan Lotus Petal, shimmering with a faint light, fluttered like a butterfly and came to rest on the tip of Rong Taotao’s nose, where it swayed gently in the wind.

"Hah... hah..." Rong Taotao lay on his back, gasping for breath. His eyes went crossed as he stared at the lotus petal perched on his nose. The scene was... well, kind of cute?

But before he could dwell on it, his breathing grew ragged. His heart began to POUND violently, and a cold sweat broke out on his trembling palms.

In the next moment, an extreme, gnawing hunger washed over him.

’I must be going crazy...’

’This is so fucking absurd!!!’

’On this incredibly dangerous battlefield, I’m... hungry!?’

’Damn, were my moves that good? Good enough to work up an appetite?’

...