Master of Nine Stars

「One week later, in the dead of night.」

Outside Qianshan Pass, inside a natural cave.

The bonfire crackled. The dancing flames illuminated Gao Lingwei’s quietly mesmerized expression, as well as Rong Taotao’s face as he slept soundly on her shoulder.

The Lotus Petals had some negative side effects for Rong Taotao. Especially since he now possessed three Lotus Petals, which, from another perspective, were also a burden.

People only saw the gluttonous Attribute the Lotus Petals gave Rong Taotao—his constant need for nutritional supplements. What they didn’t see was Rong Taotao’s ”sleepy” Attribute.

This was an Attribute Rong Taotao had hidden away. Or rather, it was one he worked hard to overcome, maintaining a normal daily routine with the other students.

But ever since Rong Taotao acquired the Illusion Technique: Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon, his energy consumption had increased even more.

Finally, the combination of the Illusion Soul Skill and the Lotus Petals had completely exposed Rong Taotao’s sleepy Attribute.

Gao Lingwei stretched out her arm, as if wanting to poke the bonfire, but the stick in her hand was a bit too short. She hesitated for a moment before giving up, not moving her body for fear of waking the person sleeping soundly on her shoulder.

In her right ear, she could hear Rong Taotao’s long, steady breaths. In her left ear... Gao Lingwei could faintly hear Shi Lan’s excited shouts from outside the cave.

These Little Souls were bursting with energy. Despite seven consecutive days of high-intensity operations, the Little Souls still woke up at 4 AM sharp. One couldn’t help but marvel at the power of their biological clocks.

Thanks to their efforts over the past few days, and with the Snowball Cat’s help in tracking prey, the Little Souls had found quite a few Moon Leopards.

After the entire team was equipped with the Wind and Snow Blade, the Little Souls were now all equipped with Snow Wind Charge as well.

This trend was clearly started by the Shi Family Sisters. They held an unusual level of admiration and longing for Gao Lingwei; the two of them practically wanted to replicate her entire set of Soul Skills...

The older sister, Shi Lou, was relatively composed. But the younger sister, Shi Lan, had never hidden her adoring gaze. In fact, Shi Lan now even had an elite-grade Iron Snow Armor embedded in her chest Soul Slot.

Without a doubt, the Pirate Leader Snow Ape they encountered later was also defeated by Rong Taotao using Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon. It was precisely because Rong Taotao used the Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon Soul Skill so frequently that he had ended up in this state...

His biological clock was useless for Rong Taotao now. In the wee hours of the morning, he truly couldn’t get up...

All the other Little Souls in the cave had gone out to scout the terrain, stand guard, or practice their Soul Skills. Only Rong Taotao remained, sleeping soundly while pillowed on Gao Lingwei’s shoulder.

It was worth mentioning that the other Little Souls, who didn’t have chest Soul Slots, had settled for the next best thing. They embedded Bandit Snow Monkey Soul Pearls into their elbow Soul Slots, acquiring the Iron Snow Forearm Soul Skill.

There were plenty of Bandit Snow Monkey Soul Pearls. Even after the students had equipped themselves, there were many left over, which they could just turn in to the Snow Burning military when they returned.

Over the past week, the group had amassed quite a bit of loot, including four Snowflake Wolf Hides. There weren’t many foolish Snowflake Wolves left; the aura the team faintly exuded would send any Snowflake Wolf Pack fleeing, not daring to face them head-on.

Apparently, four of them hadn’t been very observant and had now been turned into hides...

Of course, Gao Lingwei and Rong Taotao had also reaped rewards. The first Pirate Leader Snow Ape they encountered was master-grade. Under Jiao Tengda’s distribution, the Soul Pearl went to Gao Lingwei. Now, her elite-grade Iron Snow Armor had been replaced with a master-grade one.

And Rong Taotao, who had put in all the work... had also gotten what he wanted in the middle of last night.

A master-grade Snow Ghost Hand!

In fact, this natural cave was the dwelling of a Snow Charm Demon.

The Snow Charm Demon... well, it was a Good Fairy.

Not only did she provide everyone with a shelter, but she also understood the greater good and sacrificed herself to provide Rong Taotao with a Soul Pearl.

Rong Taotao liked this Snow Charm Demon very much, so he was especially enthusiastic when it came to killing her...

The faint sound of chattering drifted in from the distant cave entrance, rousing Gao Lingwei from her thoughts.

She frowned slightly and turned her head just in time to see the Shi Family Sisters walk in. Shi Lan was excitedly saying something to her older sister.

Shi Lou sensed that something was wrong and quickly nudged Shi Lan with her elbow.

”Huh?” Shi Lan blinked her long, beautiful eyes, looking completely baffled. Following her sister’s warning-filled gaze, she looked into the cave and saw Gao Lingwei’s slight frown.

”Mmph.” Shi Lan clapped a hand over her small mouth, quickly falling silent. After glancing at the still-sleeping Rong Taotao, she gave Gao Lingwei an apologetic smile.

’This Shi Lan... her personality really doesn’t match her appearance at all.’

’She has a cold, aloof face and a pair of long legs, yet she’s boisterous and clumsy, almost like Xingyu.’

”Mmm...” Rong Taotao mumbled, rubbing his head against Gao Lingwei’s shoulder. For a moment, all three women in the cave froze, not daring to make the slightest sound or even breathe too loudly.

However, despite their best efforts to maintain the quiet atmosphere, Rong Taotao still opened his eyes and looked around groggily.

Gao Lingwei shot Shi Lan a look that was both exasperated and amused, then turned her head and said softly, ”Go back to sleep. It’s still early.”

But Rong Taotao sat up straight, groggily rubbing his head. ”I’m hungry.”

”Phew...” Shi Lan let out a huge sigh of relief, patting her chest with a look of lingering fear. ”You scared me to death! I thought I was the one who woke him up. Turns out he just woke up because he was hungry.”