Master of Nine Stars

”Victory! What an unexpected result! What a blood-pumping, thrilling battle!” the host, Li Gang, shouted. ”The experts unanimously assessed their chances of advancing at only 3%! Just 3%!

Heroes have always emerged from the young, and these youths have accomplished an incredible feat!”

Yang Xiaoyang murmured in admiration, ”As it turns out, society has been lacking the proper respect for Songjiang Soul Martial University, and for Rong Taotao and Gao Lingwei as well!”

”Rong Taotao, Gao Lingwei! Enjoy your victory! Enjoy the applause and cheers from these tens of thousands of people! This is what you deser—huh?” Li Gang’s passionate commentary faltered for a moment.

Li Gang’s brow furrowed slightly as he continued, ”It seems that contestant Gao Lingwei has also paid a heavy price for this victory. The participants from Songjiang Soul Martial University are now leaving the arena.”

A hint of worry appeared on Yang Xiaoyang’s face. Gazing from afar at Gao Lingwei’s pale expression, she said softly, ”Friends, let’s wish these two students from Songjiang Soul Martial the best. We hope they aren’t seriously injured and can continue to create miracles for us.

They are now only one step away from the quarterfinals!”

As the female host’s voice, filled with prayers and well wishes, echoed through the stadium, Rong Taotao was seen supporting Gao Lingwei by the shoulder, helping her exit the arena.

At that, the cheers and applause in the venue grew even louder.

At the edge of the arena, a tall and sturdy reporter, Zhang Muyu, hurried over. ”Student Rong Taotao...”

Rong Taotao smiled and shook his head. ”We’re not in great shape. Let’s do the interview next time.”

”Ah, well...” Zhang Muyu had of course noticed Gao Lingwei’s terrible condition. He started walking alongside Rong Taotao, saying, ”I won’t delay your exit. I’ll just walk with you. Can I just ask one or two questions?”

”Fine, go ahead,” Rong Taotao said, continuing forward with one arm supporting Gao Lingwei’s shoulder and the other around her waist.

From the side, Yang Chunxi rushed over, stood on Gao Lingwei’s other side, and draped her arm over her own shoulder for support.

Zhang Muyu quickly asked, ”Before the match, a panel of experts made a very clear prediction. They didn’t favor your team and clearly listed the reasons why, stating you were at a disadvantage in almost every aspect.

Authoritative experts predicted your win rate was only 3%. Before the match, practically everyone had already accepted your defeat as a given. What do you have to say about that?”

Rong Taotao grinned. ”The wind can blow away a piece of paper, but it can’t blow away a butterfly.”

Zhang Muyu was clearly taken aback, hesitating for a moment. ”So?”

Rong Taotao tilted his head toward Gao Lingwei, who was beside him with her eyes shut and a pained look on her face, and said softly, ”So, the power of life lies in its non-compliance.

A battle isn’t a cold comparison of stats on paper; it’s fought by people of flesh and blood.

If our experience growing up in the Snow Realm has taught us anything, it’s probably these three tenets: Refuse to accept fate, refuse to bow down, and refuse to comply.”

Zhang Muyu’s mouth fell slightly agape as he stared dumbly at Rong Taotao. It was hard to imagine such words coming from him.

In his limited interactions with Rong Taotao, he had already pegged the young man as a smooth-talking bullshitter.

Well... come to think of it, once Rong Taotao grows stronger, maybe he’ll actually be able to spit Lotuses.

Gao Lingwei suddenly opened her eyes. Her beautiful gaze was slightly hazy as she quietly looked at the person beside her.

Suddenly, she smiled.

Her slightly strained smile was captured by the camera. To the onlookers, her expression seemed like the perfect embodiment of Rong Taotao’s words.

Zhang Muyu pursed his lips and said, ”That... doesn’t sound like something a person your age would say.”

Rong Taotao gestured toward Gao Lingwei beside him again. ”It has nothing to do with age, but everything to do with experience. Go to the Snow Realm. You’ll see batch after batch of people just like us.”

Led by Yang Chunxi, the group walked into the player tunnel, and Zhang Muyu tactfully stopped following.

He watched their retreating figures and sighed to himself. ’Indeed. If he keeps this up, many more people will hear his story.’

In the players’ locker room, a staff member stood before Gao Lingwei, chanting softly.

Although Rong Taotao wasn’t the target of the staffer’s healing, the low chant still reached his ears. Inevitably, his own heart began to calm, and his taut nerves eased considerably.

It seemed to be an Ocean Soul Technique that used song to help soothe people’s nerves.

The staff member chanted softly for a full fifteen minutes before leaving the locker room with Yang Chunxi’s thanks.

Rong Taotao sidled up to Gao Lingwei and whispered, ”How are you feeling?”

”Mm, it’s a pretty interesting Soul Skill.” Gao Lingwei sat on the bench with her eyes closed, elbows resting on her knees, head bowed as if quietly sensing something.

Rong Taotao said, ”I should embed this Soul Pearl and Soul Skill later to cure Si Huan Nian of her rotten temper. Keep her from being so irritable.”

Gao Lingwei: ”...”

Yang Chunxi put a hand to her forehead, a look of helplessness on her face. She felt her young brother-in-law was truly a lost cause.

”Er.” The moment the words left his mouth, Rong Taotao felt something was off and quickly backpedaled. ”I’ll sing for you too, to soothe your nerves. I can sing in tune. At last year’s welcome party, Xing’Er almost made me go on stage to sing ’Forget-me-not’.”

”Alright, I’m fine now.” Gao Lingwei opened her eyes and said softly, ”My body wasn’t harmed, and I don’t need to rest quietly. I’ll just go back to the hotel and watch some TV to distract myself. I’ll be fine in no time.”

An idea struck Rong Taotao. ”If you want to distract yourself and relax... how about we go for a walk in the park? Or go hiking?”

”Hm?” Gao Lingwei turned to look at Rong Taotao. ”No need. We’re still in the middle of the competition. If we get photographed, we’ll just get torn apart by public criticism again.”

Rong Taotao just pursed his lips. ”It’s not like we don’t get yelled at enough already.”

Gao Lingwei shook her head, rejecting Rong Taotao’s suggestion. The group went straight back to the hotel. Meanwhile, the internet had completely exploded over the match’s outcome.

Rong Taotao had won. Compared to his first match, which was a complete steamroll that looked almost like match-fixing, this second-round match... Rong Taotao’s path to victory had been extremely arduous.

But because of that, Rong Taotao was able to showcase his true skills, displaying his strange and terrifying Heaven-piercing Halberd Technique to its fullest!

A Soul Warrior, going head-to-head with a Soul Captain!

He dragged out the fight against the bigger, stronger Tang Yang from start to finish!

No fear, no submission, no acceptance!

Just as Rong Taotao had said in his interview while leaving the arena: Non-compliance!

Furthermore, the words Rong Taotao spoke while facing Tang Yang during the match were clipped into short videos, made into captioned GIFs, and shared like crazy across the internet.

It was the moment after Rong Taotao’s impenetrable defense, when he suddenly counterattacked, forcing Tang Yang back several steps with a single thrust of his halberd.

Afterward, Rong Taotao held his halberd with one hand, its Ironspear Point aimed straight at Tang Yang. ”I might be lacking in power, but when it comes to Martial Arts, I, Rong Taotao, have never feared anyone in my entire life!”

When Rong Taotao returned to the hotel and opened Weibo, he saw the same GIF, pushed to the very top of the comments section.

”So f*cking badass... He’s a walking highlight reel!”

”A Soul Warrior taking on a Soul Captain from start to finish, and at the end, he basically steps on the Soul Captain’s face and says something like that... My god, this kid must have a death wish...”

”Refuse to accept fate! Refuse to bow down! Refuse to comply! This is the best description of a Snow Realm Soul Martial Artist! Rong Taotao, just f*cking do it! All of us from the northern Snow Realm have got your back!”

”Calm down, calm down. He’s the son of a Soul General. What kind of educational resources do you think he’s had since he was a kid? He must have a famous master guiding him. It’s expected that he’d be this skilled. It’d be a joke if he wasn’t.

Heh, the only reason I’m not that strong is because I’m not the son of a Soul General.”

”With a salty and narrow-minded comment like yours, if you were the son of a Soul General, you’d probably just be another menace to society...”

Happy Life: ”This old man doesn’t have a son like you.”

Ye Nanxi: ”Tao! Tao! I’m so in love with you! You were never this domineering when you were with me, ahhhh!”

Rong Taotao’s finger paused. ’I wasn’t domineering when I was with you?’

’Did you forget when I f*cking stepped on your face and said ”respect” three times?’

Rong Taotao’s expression was strange. He thought about it for a moment, then decided to reply to her.

Nourishing People: ”@Ye Nanxi, just talk online the way you talk in real life. Don’t be so vague and give people the wrong idea.”

Ye Nanxi: ”So now it’s wrong for me to be your fan? Hmph! You’ve lost a fan!”

Rong Taotao nodded in satisfaction. ’Ah, much better...’

Gao Lingwei: ”@Ye Nanxi, I heard you’re coming to Songbai Town this winter for the festival.”

Ye Nanxi: ”Wow~ It’s the great Wei that Taotao is always thinking about! Wei, I’m a fan! Your legs are so long! Quick, let’s exchange contact info.”

Rong Taotao looked at the comments with a pained expression. ’Miss Ye Nanxi is the daughter of a Soul General, for crying out loud. How can she act like such a simpleton online?’

Shuffling in his slippers, Rong Taotao left his room and went next door, knocking lightly on the door.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK~

CLICK. Yang Chunxi opened the door, raising an eyebrow at Rong Taotao. ”What is it? Hungry again?”

Rong Taotao: ”...”

Yang Chunxi smiled. ”I’ll order some takeout for you. What do you want to eat?”

Rong Taotao scratched his head. ”Why don’t we go out to eat? And hey, you in there, stop playing on your phone. Let’s go out for a bit.”

Gao Lingwei walked out from the inner room, looking much better. She smiled. ”She has a nice personality.”

”Who? Ye Nanxi?”

”Mhm.”

Rong Taotao grimaced. ”Oh, give me a break. She’s arrogant and domineering. If you say one wrong word, she’ll beat you black and blue. She’s got all the bad habits of a second-generation rich kid.”

Gao Lingwei: ”She just hasn’t found the right friends.”

”What? You want to be friends with her?”

Gao Lingwei shrugged. ”She’s your friend, isn’t she?”

Rong Taotao scratched his head. ”Fine, whatever. Let’s go, time to eat.”

Gao Lingwei, however, was looking down at her phone, an eyebrow slightly raised. ”She said we don’t have to wait for winter or New Year’s. We’ll run into each other at the national tournament.”

”Huh?” Rong Taotao froze for a second. ”She advanced too? In the solo competition?”

Gao Lingwei tapped her finger on her phone screen and said, ”The main three-person tournament. Her two teammates are a pair of twins who carried her. Heh, she’s pretty blunt about it. Says her mother forced her onto a team of Great Gods.”

As she spoke, the corners of Gao Lingwei’s mouth lifted slightly. She looked up at Rong Taotao. ”She also said she’s looking forward to meeting you again, and that next time, she’ll make you understand who’s the real boss.”

Rong Taotao: ”...”

Gao Lingwei: ”What, did you teach her a lesson?”

”Yup.” Rong Taotao chuckled. ”And I did it right in front of her Soul General mother. You have no idea how satisfying it was!”

”Heh.” Gao Lingwei shook her head and smiled. ”You really are daring.”

Rong Taotao pursed his lips. ”Well, with women, you can’t treat them too ni—er...”

Rong Taotao’s words died in his throat as he saw Yang Chunxi’s dark gaze and Gao Lingwei’s faint smirk. A chill ran down his spine, and he quickly said, ”Let’s go, let’s go, time to eat, time to eat...”

When he got to his own door, Rong Taotao even gave it a knock. ”Happy Life, let’s go! Time to go out and have some fun!”

From inside the room came Xia Fangran’s annoyed voice: ”Don’t bother me, I’m already having fun...”