Master of Nine Stars

The news that Rong Taotao had developed a new Soul Skill spread that very afternoon.

That evening, Cha Er finished grading the Frost Flower Snowcake Soul Skill. He classified it as an Elite-tier Soul Skill, learnable by those with a three-star Soul Technique, and estimated its Potential Value at four stars.

After Cha Er reported all the information to the school’s leadership, the school held an emergency meeting to discuss the matter. They decided to first let the Snow Burning military test it for two months, the duration of the summer vacation.

After extensive practical testing and once the theoretical aspects of this Soul Skill were fully fleshed out, the teachers would begin teaching it to the students next semester.

When this news got out, the entire campus forum exploded...

In fact, Si Huan Nian was right; Rong Taotao had no idea what he had truly accomplished. Once Pine Soul Soul Martial officially announced this new Snow Realm Soul Skill, the news rapidly swept through the entire Huaxia Soul Martial Circle...

In the sixty-plus years since the Snow Realm Vortex appeared, how many self-learnable Snow Realm Soul Skills even were there? And now a teenage student had just brute-forced one into existence?

’You have to be kidding me.’

At this very moment, in the principal’s office, a rare hint of joy appeared on Mei Hongyu’s old, lifeless face.

Who was Rong Taotao?

’He’s a student in our Junior Class!’

’The verdict is in!’

’The Junior Class project is a success! No matter how you look at it, Rong Taotao developed this new Soul Skill at the school while he was part of the Junior Class. This isn’t just an affirmation for Pine Soul Soul Martial, it’s a huge validation of my decision!’

”Rong! The ’Rong’ of ’glory’!” Mei Hongyu mumbled softly to himself as he sat in his office. He suddenly felt that the single piece of calligraphy he sent before... probably wasn’t enough.

’Should I send another one?’

’No, that would cheapen the gesture. I’ll reward him with a useful Soul Pearl instead.’

Leaning on his cane, Mei Hongyu got up and walked to the window. He gazed at the bright moon in the night sky and couldn’t help but sigh softly.

’The younger generation is truly formidable!’

’Xu Fenghua, your child has not tarnished your great name!’

「Meanwhile」, in a dorm room on the second floor of the Martial Arts Hall, Rong Taotao opened his eyes, rubbed his stomach, and looked at Si Huan Nian beside him. ”Da Wei should be breaking through soon. One of us has to keep the Lotus Petal active. Why don’t you go eat dinner first?”

Si Huan Nian replied, ”You go. Just bring something back for me.”

”You got it.”

Dressed in a down jacket, Rong Taotao had just stepped out of his room when the door to the room opposite opened. Sun Xingyu ran out excitedly and whispered, ”Taotao!”

Rong Taotao said, ”Huh?”

Sun Xingyu exclaimed, ”How can you be so calm? The whole world is reporting on you!”

Rong Taotao was taken aback. ”The whole world?”

”Uh...” Sun Xingyu blinked. ”Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but you’re famous!”

Rong Taotao pursed his lips, not quite believing her.

Sun Xingyu’s face suddenly fell. ”Hey, what kind of stupid name did you come up with? Frost Flower Snowcake? Were you that hungry? Does everything look like food to you?”

Rong Taotao pursed his lips again, this time helplessly. ”Come on, are we going to eat or what?”

”Let’s go, let’s go! I need to properly interview you.” Sun Xingyu quickly turned back into her dorm, dragged Fan Lihua out, and whispered, ”Da Wei is about to have her breakthrough. Let’s not bother her. We’ll bring food back for her.”

”That’s what I was thinking too,” Rong Taotao said, heading downstairs.

Sun Xingyu and Fan Lihua followed Rong Taotao out of the Martial Arts Hall, holding hands.

Fan Lihua stared at Rong Taotao curiously, as if trying to find something amazing written on his face.

”Don’t recognize me anymore?” Rong Taotao suddenly turned his head and asked with a smile.

”Nn.” Fan Lihua hastily lowered her head, her shy little face blushing red. She whispered, ”You’re amazing. Congratulations.”

”Thanks.”

Sun Xingyu bumped Rong Taotao’s shoulder. ”Tell me, what were you thinking when you created the Soul Skill? I thought you did it under a teacher’s guidance, but according to the official website, the school only submitted your name. It says you developed it independently!”

”Huh?” Rong Taotao said. ”The school’s official website is already updated?”

Sun Xingyu stomped her foot in frustration while scrolling through her phone. ”You! I keep telling you you’re famous, why don’t you believe me!”

Rong Taotao scratched his head in embarrassment. ”It’s all happening so fast, I didn’t expect this. I created the Soul Skill under Teacher Cha’s guidance. He’s being too selfless... When I get back, I’ll ask Coach Si for Teacher Cha’s number. I need to talk to him and get his name added to the credit.”

”I knew it,” Sun Xingyu said with an I-told-you-so look, holding her phone in front of Rong Taotao. ”Look, this is an article published by a national-level media outlet. And here, this is the Soul Martial Report, and on Weibo... let me see what number it is on the trending list...”

”If I’m famous, does that mean I can get endorsements and make some money?” Rong Taotao blinked.

”Your Weibo has been dug up, and... uh, never mind.” Sun Xingyu suddenly put her phone away.

Rong Taotao sensed something was wrong. ”What is it?”

Sun Xingyu shook her head repeatedly. ”It’s nothing, it’s nothing.”

Rong Taotao demanded, ”Spit it out!”

Sun Xingyu said with a displeased expression, ”Your Weibo is full of people questioning you. They’re saying really nasty things, you shouldn’t look.”

”Huh?” Rong Taotao was immediately unhappy. ”How did they even find my Weibo?”

Sun Xingyu explained, ”You interacted with Da Wei on Weibo before, right? Some students followed the breadcrumbs and found you a long time ago.”

At his side, Fan Lihua said softly, ”Don’t worry about what those people say. We all believe in you and we know what you’re capable of.”

Sun Xingyu quickly agreed, ”Yeah, yeah!”

”Yeah, thanks,” Rong Taotao said absentmindedly. He wasn’t in a good mood, but instead of immediately checking the comments, he suddenly remembered something else.

A question suddenly popped out of his mouth: ”Xing’Er, why didn’t you ask Li Zi to come eat with us?”

”Ah!” Sun Xingyu looked completely baffled, slapping a hand to her forehead. ”I forgot about him!”

Rong Taotao: ”...”

Sun Xingyu quickly pulled out her phone, her fingers flying across the screen as she muttered, ”I’m so dead, I’m so dead. That jealous guy is going to explode again!”

Rong Taotao gave Sun Xingyu a sorrowful look, but after holding it for only three seconds, he couldn’t stop a gloating smile from spreading across his face. ”HAHAHAHAHA!”

”Shut up, you’re so annoying.”

Led by Rong Taotao, the trio went to the second-floor cafeteria. Rong Taotao ordered a few dishes, sat down at a table, took out his phone, and started scrolling through his Weibo.

He had only created his Weibo account for Gao Lingwei. After successfully winning over his goddess, he was with her every day and rarely logged on anymore.

There was only one post on his Weibo, and it was just a picture of the autograph Gao Lingwei had once written for him: ”Fine robes and spirited horses, live up to your youth.”

The comments under this post were about to break ten thousand!

Sorting by the number of likes, the top comments were all calling him shameless and saying that ”a fine cabbage had been ruined by a pig.” Well, these comments were old, so they had a lot of likes.

Sorting by most recent, the quality of the comments instantly went up a level! They had all changed to accusations and curses about academic fraud...

The two factions of commenters in a single post were as distinct as night and day, leaving Rong Taotao completely dumbfounded.

”This? This is the loser Gao Lingwei fell for?”

”Why don’t you show your face? ’Nourishing People’? My Gao Lingwei needs you to ’nourish’ her?”

”Frost Flower Snowcake, you’re killing me. Haven’t even been awakened for a year, haven’t been in school for a year, and you’re already inventing your own Soul Skills?”

”Pine Soul Soul Martial is really something else! To make the Junior Class project a success, they developed a Soul Skill and just slapped the credit on a Junior Class student?”

”No, seriously, this is just too ridiculous. Who would believe this? Is Pine Soul Soul Martial brain-dead? The Snow Realm has been around for over 60 years and there are only a handful of Soul Skills. And you’re telling me you invented one after a year of school? What’s your Soul Technique star level, lil bro? You developed an Elite-tier Soul Skill? Can you even use it?”

’Holy crap. I’m speechless.’

’Xing’Er was right. I really am f*cking famous now! Infamous!’

Looking at all these haters, Rong Taotao felt awful. ”Well,” he said, ”at least I’ve moved up in the world.”

Sun Xingyu blinked her big eyes. ”Huh?”

Rong Taotao clicked his tongue. ”Before, they were all calling me a toad trying to eat swan meat, saying I stole their goddess.

”Now they’re not on about that anymore. They’ve started accusing me of academic fraud. That’s a clear qualitative improvement!

”Before I was just a toad, but now, at least I’m a person...”

”Pfft...” Fan Lihua covered her mouth and couldn’t help but giggle, but when she saw Rong Taotao’s resentful glare, she quickly stifled her laughter.

”Forget it, forget it. I’m not eating here. Let’s get it all to go.” The more Rong Taotao thought about it, the angrier he got, and he stood up and walked directly to the counter.

The trio packed up their food and hurried back to Pine Soul Soul Martial. Just as they stepped into the Martial Arts Hall, Sun Xingyu suddenly slapped her forehead again.

Fan Lihua asked with concern, ”What’s wrong?”

Sun Xingyu pouted and whispered, ”I just texted Li Ziyi and told him to go to the cafeteria to eat. We’re already back now, and I...”

Fan Lihua finished, ”You forgot about him again?”

Sun Xingyu: ”...”

”You guys take this portion to Da Wei. I’m going back to my room.” Reaching the second floor, Rong Taotao handed the food to Fan Lihua.

CLICK.

The door to the girls’ dorm suddenly opened, and Gao Lingwei looked at Rong Taotao with a smile, giving a slight nod.

Rong Taotao raised an eyebrow slightly. ”Success?”

”Mhm, I just broke through successfully.” Gao Lingwei’s eyes were initially smiling, but then she noticed Rong Taotao’s expression was off. ”What happened?”

”Ah, it’s nothing. Congrats,” Rong Taotao said, waving his hand dismissively.

Gao Lingwei frowned slightly. ”Tell me.”

”Erm...” An idea struck Rong Taotao. He held out his right hand and created a Frost Flower Snowcake. The large Snowflake Thin Slice was exceptionally exquisite, its hollowed-out patterns looking as if they had been meticulously carved by a machine.

”Tsk tsk...” Sun Xingyu, who was still texting Li Ziyi to come back, stopped tapping her phone screen when she saw the snowflake.

Fan Lihua’s eyes also lit up with little stars as she curiously craned her neck to get a better look.

”Here, hold this.” Rong Taotao handed the Frost Snow Thin Slice to Gao Lingwei.

Gao Lingwei was surprised, but she took the slice by its edge with two fingers. ”What’s this for?”

”Cover your face.” Rong Taotao picked up his phone and opened the camera. ”I’m going to take a picture and post it on Weibo.”

A small smile played on Gao Lingwei’s lips. ”You don’t have to cover my face.”

Rong Taotao shook his head repeatedly. ”Cover it. I’m not letting them see you!”

Gao Lingwei nodded nonchalantly. She leaned against the wall, holding the Snowflake Thin Slice up to cover her face.

Rong Taotao sat cross-legged on the floor and took a picture of her from a low angle, muttering to himself, ”Tsk tsk... This Frost Flower Snowcake, these long legs, this person... so annoying, how did they all end up being mine?”

SNAP!

”Ah, much better!” Rong Taotao immediately opened Weibo and started typing furiously.

And... post!

Gao Lingwei handed the Snowflake Thin Slice to the two curious girls and gently patted Fan Lihua on the head before turning to Rong Taotao. ”Come on, I’ll go eat with you.”

Rong Taotao quickly said, ”Xing’Er, can you take the food to Coach Si? Thanks for the trouble.”

”Got it,” Sun Xingyu said as she hurriedly opened Weibo.

A few seconds later: ”Pfft... HAHAHA!”

Rong Taotao had posted the photo. In it, Gao Lingwei was leaning casually against the wall, the beautiful lines of her body outlining her long, slender figure.

Having just come out of her dorm, she wasn’t wearing a ponytail, and her long hair was draped over her shoulders. Unfortunately, her captivating face wasn’t fully visible; only her bright eyes could be faintly seen through the exquisite, hollowed-out patterns of the snowflake.

The photo was perfect, but the key was Rong Taotao’s caption...

”Nourishing People

Just now from a Paddy C8500

Could you please keep your jealousy down? You’re interrupting my happiness...

(Image)”

...

Just because I’m writing about daily life, establishing settings, and not including combat, doesn’t mean it’s ”filler.” These are all part of the book. I feel like my current pacing is pretty good, and after writing over 600,000 characters, I only got one or two comments on the last Chapter calling it ”filler.” Maybe I should be happy about that

I’ll let everyone be their own judge. In the future, when I write about settings and daily life, I will try to make it more interesting and do my best to give everyone a better reading experience. Thank you all for your pointers and support.

It’s the end of the month~ Asking my bros for your ticket support!