Master of Nine Stars

The next morning, inside the hotel where the Pine Soul Soul Martial students were staying.

From the bathroom of one of the rooms, a strange singing voice drifted out: ”The cool breeze gently blows, quietly slips into my collar, summer has stolen away without a sound~”

In the living room, Rong Taotao was on his phone, busy arguing with trolls on Weibo. Hearing the bizarre singing, his own expression turned just as odd, and he craned his neck to peek toward the bathroom.

’Good grief, this butchered Cantonese... you could probably buy ten pounds of it for two bucks!’

Inside the bathroom, Xia Fangran was clearly in a fantastic mood. He groomed his thick, side-parted hair while looking in the mirror, turned from side to side, and then walked out humming a tune, looking pleased with himself.

Noticing Rong Taotao’s peculiar stare, Xia Fangran chuckled. ”You’ve got a good eye, kid! So? What do you think? Pretty sharp, huh?”

Xia Fangran lifted a leg, showing off the flip-flops on his feet, along with his gray cropped pants and white short-sleeved T-shirt.

This was a city, after all, a far cry from the remote and bitterly cold Snow Realm. The order Gao Lingwei had placed yesterday afternoon had already been delivered this morning.

From the overjoyed look on Xia Fangran’s face, you could tell he truly loved the outfit.

The outfit wasn’t expensive, not even a brand name. The important thing was the feeling of wearing summer clothes—it made Xia Fangran feel absolutely wonderful.

Rong Taotao gave him a thumbs-up and smiled. ”Nice, really nice~”

”Yep, yep.” Xia Fangran nodded eagerly. ”Okay, you go watch the drawing with the Pine Soul team later. I’m going out for a walk.”

Rong Taotao: ”...”

’Are you for real? Your students have a match tomorrow, and you’re going out for a stroll?’

But thinking about Xia Fangran’s miserable days in the Snow Realm, Rong Taotao simply nodded. ”Be safe, Coach Xia. Remember to use the crosswalks and look both ways for the traffic lights...”

”Get outta here!” Xia Fangran swore with a laugh. ”If I stand in the middle of an intersection, who’s gonna dare hit me? I’d kick their car flying with one foot...”

With that, Xia Fangran turned and left. Not even Rong Taotao could ruin his great mood as his butchered Cantonese resumed: ”The days fly by, filling me with a hundred feelings, missing that one~ vibrant~ scene~”

Rong Taotao pursed his lips, watching Xia Fangran go. He couldn’t help but sigh. ’Look at him... this 500-month-old baby has been cooped up for way too long...’

BUZZ BUZZ~

His phone vibrated. Rong Taotao glanced down and saw a message from Gao Lingwei: ”The drawing is about to start. Are you and Coach Xia coming over?”

Rong Taotao’s fingers flew across the screen. ”Ah, I’ll come by myself. Coach Xia went to an intersection to pick a fight with a traffic cop.”

Gao Lingwei: ???

Shuffling in his slippers, Rong Taotao grabbed his phone and room key, walked out the door, and went to the room next door, knocking gently.

Gao Lingwei opened the door, her expression full of confusion. ”Is Coach Xia in trouble?”

Rong Taotao shook his head repeatedly. ”No, no. He went looking for trouble.”

Gao Lingwei: ”...”

Rong Taotao walked into the identically laid-out hotel room. He saw Yang Chunxi sitting upright on the living room sofa, with several thick stacks of documents piled on the coffee table in front of her.

”Sister-in-law,” Rong Taotao greeted her.

”Mm, have a seat. Turn the TV volume up,” Yang Chunxi said casually, without even looking up from the documents in her hands.

Rong Taotao quickly stepped forward, grabbed the remote, and turned up the volume. ”Aren’t we going to the auditorium?” he asked. ”To watch the drawing with the main group?”

”There’s no need. You two have dedicated instructors.” Yang Chunxi looked up at Rong Taotao with a smile. ”Two of them, at that. Huh? Where’s Coach Xia?”

Rong Taotao shrugged. ”He went out to wander around and soak up some sun.”

”Oh, hehe.” Yang Chunxi chuckled and shook her head. ”Go on, sit down. It’s fine. I’m here.”

Rong Taotao walked over to a separate armchair, leaned down to rub the Snowball Cat’s little head, then picked it up and sat down.

”Meow~” The Snowball Cat nuzzled affectionately against Rong Taotao’s palm, then suddenly started speaking a foreign language, as if calling for its companion. ”WOOF WOOF!”

”Quiet,” Gao Lingwei said suddenly.

”Mew...” The Snowball Cat whimpered, shutting its mouth with a pitiful little expression as it looked toward its owner on the far sofa.

Gao Lingwei had her legs crossed, her chin resting in her palm, her eyes glued to the television screen.

Rong Taotao held the Snowball Cat closer and whispered, ”Just wait until we’re done with this, okay? I’ll let you play with the Cloud Dog in a bit.”

Yang Chunxi let out a soft sigh. ”More than twenty schools, sixty-four teams in total. Besides you two, there are three other teams from Songjiang Soul Martial University. I hope we don’t run into our own in the first round.”

Pine Soul Soul Martial sent four teams this time, and even if they had expanded that to eight, no one would have complained. But it was a different story for other institutions; the number of participating teams varied, with some lower-tier schools sending only a single team to compete.

Rong Taotao looked at Yang Chunxi curiously. ”So, you’d rather we didn’t face our own school’s Snow Realm Students even more than facing students from Starfield, Sister-in-law?”

”Mm. There’s a reason Pine Soul Soul Martial is called the top dog,” Yang Chunxi said with a smile. ”Year in and year out, our Pine Soul Soul Martial has always placed first in the tournament rankings.

”Out of the three divisions, we might occasionally let one championship slip away, but we’re guaranteed to win at least two.

”Your upperclassmen fought their way to the top, often against unfavorable Attribute matchups. Pine Soul Soul Martial is the most elite of schools. The Quality of our student body alone puts us in a different league from other schools, to say nothing of our instructional resources.

”Besides, at the end of the day, our life in the Snow Realm is simply too harsh. The effect this has on forging a student’s raw strength and inner Quality is unimaginable. The other schools just can’t compare.”