Master of Nine Stars

「Three days later, in the north.」

Aihui City, the furthest point reachable by transport.

At the terminal exit of the suburban airport, Rong Taotao wrapped his white down jacket tighter, looking up at the gray, overcast sky as a wisp of frosty breath escaped his lips.

It was early June, the height of summer, but the Snow Realm Vortex didn’t coddle anyone. Here in the Snow Realm, all you could see was snow, and all you could feel was the cold.

”Well, well, who do we have here?” a snarky voice called out from nearby.

Rong Taotao turned to look, a smile spreading across his face. ”Hey, Coach Xia!”

”Coach Xia is not ’hey.’ Coach Xia is very not ’hey’,” Xia Fangran said, shaking his head and crooking a finger at him. ”Coach Xia was living the good life at Pine Soul Soul Martial—sipping tea, reading the paper, beating up a student or two when he felt like it. Life was perfectly pleasant, but then he gets called out to be an airport taxi?”

Rong Taotao hurried over, curious himself. ”What are you doing here picking me up?”

”What a question. Aren’t you a hero of the people?” Xia Fangran summoned Snow Night Shock and gestured to the spot behind him. ”You rendered a great service by learning the Starfield Soul Technique. Old Mei was worried you wouldn’t be able to find your way home, so he sent me to give you a ride.”

Rong Taotao vaulted onto the horse, grinning. ”You really have a way with words. Spoken like a true teacher~”

”Hah!” Xia Fangran pursed his lips and kicked his legs against the horse’s belly. The master and disciple duo shot forward.

Rong Taotao hid behind Xia Fangran, letting his body shield him from the cold wind.

He was back in this familiar place. There was no spring-like warmth, no birdsong or fragrant flowers, but there was a familiar temperature, a familiar life, and familiar people.

”So, kid, how have the last few months been?” Xia Fangran asked.

”My Starfield Soul Technique is at two stars, and I’ve learned all eight basic Soul Skills,” Rong Taotao replied, resting his forehead against Xia Fangran’s back.

”Not bad, kid. You’ve really got some skills. Pushing the Starfield Soul Technique to two stars in three months... if word of that got out, it’d scare a ton of people,” Xia Fangran said with a chuckle.

As Snow Night Shock galloped through the wilderness, he continued, ”Does the Lotus Petal also speed up the cultivation of the Starfield Soul Technique?”

Rong Taotao: ”Couldn’t it just be that I’m exceptionally talented?”

Xia Fangran snorted. ”Oh, you’re just so amazing then~”

Rong Taotao chuckled. ”The Lotus Petal doesn’t have an accelerating effect, but a Star Fragment does.”

Xia Fangran: ???

He whipped his head around, staring at Rong Taotao in utter confusion. ”What do you mean? Don’t tell me you got your hands on a Star Fragment!”

Rong Taotao placed a hand on Xia Fangran’s shoulder, straightening his posture, and ducked his head behind his back again to hide from the wind. ”I didn’t.”

Xia Fangran: ”Then what the hell are you talking about?”

Rong Taotao: ”Someone else had one. I just mooched off their cultivation benefits for two months.”

Xia Fangran raised an eyebrow, puzzled. ”Who?”

A thought crossed Rong Taotao’s mind. ’He doesn’t know?’

Rong Taotao had assumed that this so-called secret would be public knowledge for someone of Xia Fangran’s level.

’So it seems... your rank isn’t high enough either, Xia Yinyang?’

Of course, Xia Fangran was rooted in Pine Soul City, and before meeting Rong Taotao, he’d spent years messing around at the Third Wall with his students. It was only natural that he’d be out of the loop.

After a moment’s thought, Rong Taotao said, ”A lady named Nan Cheng. She’s pretty incredible.”

”Whoa,” Xia Fangran clicked his tongue in amazement. ”Imperial Capital City’s Grand General of the South?”

Rong Taotao raised an eyebrow slightly. ”Grand General?”

Xia Fangran wasn’t talking about a Soul General, but a military General!

Xia Fangran: ”Major General Nan has that much free time to play around with you?”

’Nan Cheng didn’t have any free time; she barely had any time at all. In the two months she spent with Ye Nanxi, she probably made up for twenty-odd years of missed affection from Ye Nanxi’s childhood all in one go...’

’Well, she also threw in a couple of smacks for good measure...’

Rong Taotao said weakly, ”She probably thinks I’m a diamond in the rough, so she temporarily set aside her busy work, dead set on nurturing me into a talent.

Sigh... to meet such a responsible elder, it’s truly the luck of three lifetimes~”

”You little brat, your gift of gab has certainly improved,” Xia Fangran scolded with a laugh. Thinking of Rong Taotao’s family background, he didn’t find it too strange. ’Perhaps Rong Taotao’s father has a lot of pull.’

He changed the subject. ”So, are you planning to enter the campus selection tournament with your little girlfriend?”

”You bet. I timed my return for this. I’m rolling up my sleeves, ready to make a big splash!”

”Hmm, you’d better be careful then,” Xia Fangran cautioned. ”You’ll only be able to make the last campus selection tournament.

Only one team made it through each of the first three rounds. This final tournament will have the most participants, and they’ll all be the most desperate, since it’s their last chance.”

Rong Taotao quickly asked, ”Are there any seeded teams that didn’t perform well in the earlier rounds?”

”Are there?” Xia Fangran laughed. ”There are tons of them!”

Rong Taotao: ???

’Don’t you go scaring me!’

Xia Fangran said, ”There are indeed a few. It can’t be helped. Songjiang Soul Martial University’s selection system is too strict. If they could just open up the slots and send eight teams to the Outer Region competition, the rivalry wouldn’t be so fierce.”

Rong Taotao looked miserable. ”Why not take eight? Why insist on just four?”

”Yeah! I was wondering the same thing,” Xia Fangran grumbled. ”It’s not like Songjiang Soul Martial doesn’t have the strength for it. That Old Ghost Mei just won’t budge. He insists on following tradition, what an old fossil.

With Songjiang Soul Martial University’s reputation, getting another four spots would be a piece of cake. But it might be for the best if you two don’t get selected. Going in a couple of years would be more suitable.”

”Nonsense! ’Seize the day in your youth, and vow to be first among men,’ my dear Coach Xia!” Rong Taotao grabbed Xia Fangran’s shoulder and shook it back and forth. ”It’ll be too late when I’m in my forties with nothing to show for it!”

Xia Fangran’s expression turned odd. ’Is this kid taking a shot at me?’

’I’m not exactly a nobody, am I?’

’If you ask around about Xia Fangran here in the northern Snow Realm, you’ll find I’m a pretty big deal.’

’Yep. Right. He’s definitely not talking about me.’

Xia Fangran scratched his head and said, ”You should still be careful. Don’t think of Starfield Soul Skills as some kind of panacea. This is the Snow Realm, after all. There’s no Starfield Soul Power here for you to absorb.

If you use up all your Starfield Soul Power, it’ll probably take a full day to replenish it.

Just absorbing Soul Power isn’t the issue. The key is converting the Soul Power’s Attribute. That’s extremely draining and a rather painful process for a Soul Martial Artist.”

”Right, right,” Rong Taotao nodded repeatedly. ”I’ll just use them as a surprise attack or a final trump card. I won’t be running around showing off my Starfield Soul Skills.”

Xia Fangran nodded in satisfaction. ”Good. As long as you understand that. How’s your Halberd Technique lately? Have you been slacking off?”

Rong Taotao: ”Ummm...”

Xia Fangran gloated, ”Then just you wait until you get back. Your little girlfriend is going to crush you. She’s improved by leaps and bounds these past three months!”

Rong Taotao’s heart leaped with joy, but he asked, ”For real?”

Xia Fangran snorted. ”I’ve been teaching her with all my heart and soul, honing her skills. If she didn’t show me some results, I’d have to fly up and give her a swift kick out of my tutelage...”

Rong Taotao muttered under his breath, ”Don’t you just let your students figure things out on their own?”

Xia Fangran laughed too. ”Teaching her is different from teaching you. It’s not really my place to interfere with your fighting style.

Your style and mine are polar opposites. I’m afraid I’d teach you into some kind of clumsy hybrid. So I can only keep putting pressure on you, correcting your movements at most. I wouldn’t dare try to impose my own philosophy on you.”

Rong Taotao: ”...”

In truth, Xia Fangran rarely corrected Rong Taotao’s movements. For one, Rong Taotao’s fundamentals were truly solid. For another, because their styles and philosophies were different, the purpose behind their actions was completely different as well.

Any so-called correction from Xia Fangran had to be carefully weighed before he made a decision.

The ride from Aihui City to Pine Soul City normally took eight hours.

However, Xia Fangran’s Snow Night Shock was of extremely high quality and immense strength. Back on the Snowfield when they were being chased by Frost Beauty and Xiao Ziru, Xia Fangran’s comment, ”His horse isn’t as fast as mine,” wasn’t just a joke...

After resting for half an hour at a Pine Soul station, the master and disciple finally arrived at Pine Soul City around dinnertime.

Back again in the familiar Tianzi City, Rong Taotao’s heart was filled with emotion.

From a warm, sunny day to a cold northern night—he had made the journey in just one short day.

It was almost surreal. Beneath the same sky, two such extreme worlds existed.

Rong Taotao now understood why, every year, so many students who had worked so hard to get into Pine Soul Soul Martial ended up dropping out.

Having been to the bustling Imperial Capital City and entered the warm Starfield Vortex, Rong Taotao understood even more clearly why so many people gave up on this top-tier university.

They just wanted a warm world, a colorful life. Was there anything wrong with that?

No, there was absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Everyone walks their own path and chooses their own life.

But what if the one person in this world who could warm me happened to be right here, in this dark and freezing northern night?

Just like now, on the outdoor Martial Arts Arena of Pine Soul Soul Martial, a tall figure stepped with a Void Step, their Long Halberd jabbing repeatedly at empty air.

Her movements were precise and methodical, her expression utterly focused. Even the Ironspear Point, jabbing at the air, seemed to land in the exact same spot every time, without the slightest deviation.

Amidst the flashing blades and sword shadows of the Martial Arts Arena, Rong Taotao stood off to the side, hands in his pockets, quietly watching the familiar figure under the bright streetlights.

It was true.

You walk your own path.

And you choose your own people.

Rong Taotao slowly sat down, wrapping his arms around his knees, silently watching her repeat the same movements again and again, tirelessly.

She was focused, so focused she had lost herself in the motions.

And was he not the same?

”Rong... mmph.” Shi Lan, returning from dinner, spotted Rong Taotao by chance and excitedly started to wave and shout, only to have her mouth covered by Stone Tower’s hand.

”Mmmph...” Shi Lan pried at her sister’s hand, looking curiously at Rong Taotao, and then at the person he was watching.

Shi Lan thought for a moment, then pulled her phone from the back pocket of her jeans. She crept up behind Rong Taotao and snapped a photo.

The picture showed Rong Taotao’s back as he sat in the snow, with snowflakes dancing in the glow of the streetlight.

And through the layers of frost and snow, in the distance, was a person wielding a Heaven-piercing Halberd.