Master of Nine Stars

Rong Taotao’s vision blurred, and the bright dormitory suddenly plunged into darkness.

What should have been white light from the dorm room lamps was now a dim, sinister, and eerie crimson.

Gao Lingwei was still sitting cross-legged in front of him, but the Cloud Dog and Snowball Cat she had been holding were gone.

She... well, she hadn’t changed.

She hadn’t turned into a Fierce Ghost or taken on a savage appearance. She looked exactly like the person Rong Taotao remembered, without the slightest difference. It was just...

At this moment, she was completely expressionless.

Not only was her face blank, but her eyes, which should have been beautiful, now stared silently at Rong Taotao as if he were a dead man.

In the dim, gloomy surroundings, Gao Lingwei just kept staring at him, motionless. It was incredibly eerie.

Rong Taotao felt his heart pound violently. He subconsciously tried to back away, and just as his hands braced against the bed to shuffle backward, his vision blurred again.

A moment later, Rong Taotao’s vision returned to normal.

Before him, it was as if Gao Lingwei had never even looked his way. Her head was lowered, a smile on her face as her fingers playfully teased the Cloud Dog and Snowball Cat in her arms.

”Whew...” Rong Taotao let out a long breath, finally understanding how Ice Crystal Evil Face worked.

’So this is a Visual Illusion Technique. It just finds an opening and projects an image into the target’s eyes.’

’The image itself mostly just sets the mood and amplifies the target’s fear. The real damage from this Soul Skill comes from the Spiritual Attack woven into it.’

’Honestly, the image I just saw wasn’t that scary. But I still felt a deep sense of dread and panic, and instinctively wanted to get away.’

”KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!” Rong Yang’s voice suddenly sounded from outside the door. ”Taotao?”

Gao Lingwei quickly hopped off the bed and ran to open the door.

”Let’s go. We have a mission.” Rong Yang, already in full gear, said curtly, ”Thirty seconds. Move it.”

Rong Taotao, suppressing the lingering palpitations in his chest, poked his head out. ”Lu Mang is still in the middle of his breakthrough to the Soul Warrior Stage. It’ll take him the whole night, at least.”

”Hmm?” Rong Yang frowned slightly, stepping inside. He glanced at Lu Mang, who was sitting cross-legged in meditation, and made a swift decision. ”He’ll stay here. You two, get dressed. Now. I’ll have the dorm manager keep an eye on Lu Mang.”

With that, Rong Yang stepped back out of the room.

Gao Lingwei quickly unsummoned the pets in her arms, grabbed her clothes from the bed, and headed for the bathroom. Rong Taotao yanked a bundle down from the top bunk.

’Damn,’ he thought. ’Now I get why Rong Yang had the team return.’

’In our line of work, you really have to seize every single second of rest you can get!’

’You never know when you’ll be called out on a mission. The team only got back to Hundred Corps Pass this afternoon. How many hours of rest did Mao Rabbit and Ugly Ox even get? And now we’re heading out to work again?’

Rong Taotao threw on his snow camouflage, plopped the Cloud Dog on his head, and grabbed his army pack. After one last look at Lu Mang, who was still in the middle of his breakthrough, he closed the door behind him and hurried downstairs with Gao Lingwei.

Outside the dormitory building, however, only Fu Tiance, Rong Yang, and Ugly Ox were waiting.

”Let’s move.” Fu Tiance didn’t even wait for Rong Taotao to get his footing before spurring his horse onward.

Gao Lingwei quickly summoned her Snow Night Shock, and they both mounted up.

Her long, damp hair wasn’t dry yet, and as the Snow Night Shock galloped forward, her jet-black locks whipped right into Rong Taotao’s face...

”Woof~” The Cloud Dog whimpered. Having also gotten a face full of hair, it dissolved into a puff of mist with an aggrieved look and quickly merged back into Rong Taotao’s body.

’Damn, this useless little mutt. You just go home whenever you feel wronged. What about me?’

’We share the good times, but I have to face the bad times alone?’

”Put these on.” Rong Yang rode up beside them and handed over two black balaclavas.

Rong Taotao took one and asked curiously, ”Where are we going?”

”East. We didn’t spot any poachers when the skies were clear, but as soon as this blizzard kicked up, the patrols immediately spotted people sneaking across the border.”

Rong Yang said in a low voice. Seeing Gao Lingwei’s damp hair freezing stiff in the frigid wind, he added with a hint of apology, ”Sorry to disturb your rest. If it weren’t for this sudden blizzard, we probably wouldn’t have needed to call you.”

Gao Lingwei tied up her long hair, tightening the red ribbon. She took the balaclava from Rong Taotao and said, ”No, Sheep, don’t say that. This is exactly why you brought us here in the first place.”

”Mm.”

The five of them on their four mounts quickly left the city, sticking close to the base of the wall as they galloped east. Captain Fu’s voice drifted back from the front. ”I sent Mao Rabbit to get you that forehead Soul Pearl. You’ll get it when we return from this mission.”

”Thank you, Captain Fu.” Gao Lingwei’s muffled voice came from inside the black balaclava. After tying her hair into a low ponytail, she had also wrapped it around her neck, brought it forward over her chest, and tucked it inside her clothes.

...

Once everything was situated, Gao Lingwei summoned her Frost Night Xuerong and placed it on top of her head.

In the pitch-black night, the huge eyes of the Snow Night Shocks glowed like headlights, illuminating the swirling snow before them.

The Snowball Cat perched on Gao Lingwei’s head, looking all around. After they had been riding for a little under seven or eight minutes, Gao Lingwei spoke up. ”I see figures from the Snow Burning Army. A ten-man squad. Front left, about 800 meters.”

Rong Taotao raised an eyebrow. He remembered that when Gao Lingwei had first acquired Frost Night Xuerong, she had said its visual range was ”at least 500 meters.” ’Have the two of them gotten this good at coordinating already?’