Master of Nine Stars

For the next little while, Rong Taotao and Gao Lingwei settled into a peaceful routine, dutifully attending their academic and training classes at the school.

Having experienced the cruelty of the battlefield, especially the life-or-death moments where their lives hung by a thread, Rong Taotao and Gao Lingwei truly cherished these quiet days.

The two’s diligent studies and hard training naturally paid off. Even that little fatty, who had been practicing the halberd with Gao Lingwei and Xia Fangran, was starting to look the part.

Good news kept coming from the other students in the Soul Class as well. They had all been stuck at a bottleneck for a while, but with Si Huan Nian’s return and the passage of time, the students began to break through the Peak of Soul Warrior one after another, officially stepping into the Soul Captain Stage!

This often led to classes being interrupted by students who were breaking through to the next stage. Rong Taotao even had to act as a porter once, carrying Lu Mang back to his dorm.

As everyone advanced one by one—including Zhao Tang, who had previously been at odds with his Lifebound Soul Beast but had used every trick in the book to appease his Snow Night Shock and finally advance to the Soul Captain Stage—only Sun Xingyu was left, still lingering at the Peak of Soul Warrior.

Sun Xingyu had been in a terrible mood lately. Watching her classmates enter the Soul Captain Stage one by one while she alone made no progress was truly agonizing.

The difference in aptitude from their Initial Soul Slots was finally becoming apparent as the Soul Martial Artists’ levels grew higher.

And Sun Xingyu was indeed the only student among this group of geniuses with just five Initial Soul Slots.

An aptitude like that would have her revered as a ”Great God” anywhere else. But in this Soul Class, an aptitude of five Initial Soul Slots... well, it really wasn’t enough to stand out.

Her classmates had naturally noticed this too, but there was nothing they could do to help.

The former ”class clown” was no longer happy. Sun Xingyu had gone silent in their ”Fruit Salad” group chat. Everyone saw it, and they were all worried sick.

Logically, advancing from the Soul Warrior to the Soul Captain Stage was a major event, and it wouldn’t have been out of place to celebrate extravagantly. However, to spare Sun Xingyu’s feelings, the students all exercised restraint, acting as if nothing had happened. They went about their daily classes and training, never once mentioning anything related to the Soul Captain Stage.

But just because they didn’t mention it, did that mean the Soul Captain Stage was the same as the Soul Warrior Stage?

The physical enhancement, the strength, the speed...

Once, in the girls’ dorm, while the mischievous Shi Lan was playing around with Fan Lihua, she accidentally knocked Sun Xingyu into a wall...

Although Sun Xingyu said she was fine on the surface and laughed it off, she felt terrible inside.

Similarly, there was one other person desperate to advance—Rong Taotao!

But his troubles weren’t something an ordinary person could understand. Saying them out loud would be a total humblebrag.

’So frustrating! Why haven’t my Soul Techniques advanced to four-star yet?’

’I can feel the level restriction loosening up. I’m just one step away, so why can’t I break through?’

His classmates didn’t even dare to mention the term ”Soul Captain,” so of course, Rong Taotao couldn’t possibly bring up his four-star Soul Techniques.

As Rong Taotao continued to train bitterly, time quickly flew by, and soon it was January 1st, New Year’s Day.

With their small class size, holidays were arranged at Yang Chunxi’s discretion. Today, she didn’t give the students the day off. Instead, she had them review this semester’s ”Snow Realm Soul Beast Encyclopedia” course, and she even specifically pointed out the key topics for the exam.

This ”pointing out” made the students ecstatic. Yang Chunxi hadn’t highlighted the whole book, but exactly 10 points of knowledge.

Although ’Sister-in-law’ didn’t explicitly say if these would be on the final exam, the youths of the Soul Class, who had taken her tests a few times and were familiar with Yang Chunxi’s style, knew exactly what was up.

Three to five of these 10 Snow Realm Soul Beasts were bound to appear on the final exam paper!

As the bell rang to signal the end of class, Jiao Tengda and Fan Lihua immediately came over. They were muttering to each other on the short walk over, looking like they were plotting something.

”Taotao.” Jiao Tengda stood in the aisle, one hand braced on Rong Taotao’s desk and the other on Gao Lingwei’s.

”Huh?” Rong Taotao looked up. ”What’s up?”

”We’re putting together a little event tonight to celebrate the New Year. What do you think?” Jiao Tengda said, then nodded at Gao Lingwei on the other side of the aisle. ”Wei.”

Gao Lingwei replied, ”Mm.”

Fan Lihua stood in front of Rong Taotao’s desk and whispered, ”Xingyu has been a little down lately. Last night, she was talking in her sleep again, all about ’Soul Captain’ this and that.”

Fan Lihua’s voice was soft and sweet; it really was pleasant to listen to.

”Sleep-talking?” Rong Taotao looked up at Fan Lihua.

Fan Lihua’s face flushed slightly, and she subconsciously averted her gaze, reaching out to the Cloud Dog lying on a mat at the corner of the desk. Her fair, delicate hand gently pinched its large, cloud-like ear.

The Cloud Dog tilted its little head up. ”Yip?”

”Uh.” Rong Taotao scratched his head. Having known her for so long, he was familiar with Fan Lihua’s personality and didn’t press her.

He turned his head to Jiao Tengda. ”What kind of event are you thinking of? Like a party? Our class is good at fighting, but I don’t think we have any special talents when it comes to entertainment.”

Jiao Tengda crouched down and said in a low voice, ”I don’t think we can keep going on like this. Everyone’s walking on eggshells, and it’s exhausting for all of us.

”Sun Xingyu must have realized that we’re all intentionally being careful around her, which probably makes her feel even worse.”

Rong Taotao: ”So?”

Jiao Tengda: ”So let’s just talk about it openly! Once it’s out in the open, everything will be fine. We don’t need to put on any kind of performance. How about we just get together, tell some stories, and chat?”

Rong Taotao stared blankly at Jiao Tengda. ”Tell stories? Chat?”