Last night had been the most peacefully Su Zui had slept in some time.
Inside a pink tent, Su Zui lay beneath a silk quilt, holding Rongrong tightly in his arms as she curled into a ball.
After they kissed last night, their relationship had quickly warmed. The two of them had hidden under the covers and whispered to each other all night before finally drifting off to sleep.
Neither of the two youngsters knew that, just as they nestled in each other's arms and fell asleep, two carrier pigeons took wing and flew like shooting stars toward Spirit Hall and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, respectively.
No one knew that the contents of those two letters were enough to profoundly affect the balance of power across the entire continent.
Spirit Hall and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect: one was the strongest force on the continent, while the other was the wealthiest.
And those two behemoths were about to be bound tightly together by two letters.
Three days later, Suotuo City, Balak Kingdom.
The Balak Kingdom was a duchy located in the southern part of the Heaven Dou Empire and was subordinate to the empire.
To the south, the Barak Empire bordered the Star Luo Empire directly and was also the strongest. For this reason, the Balak Kingdom was known as the gateway to the Heaven Dou Empire.
There were two extremely important cities in the Balak Kingdom.
One was Balak City, the kingdom's royal capital.
The other was Suotuo City, located in the center of the Lima Plain.
Suotuo City was the most prosperous major city in the entire Balak Kingdom. Even Spirit Hall had established a third-tier Spirit Hall Main Hall there.
Because of Suotuo City's important military and strategic position, Spirit Hall had assigned a black-robed bishop with Soul Power at a full seventy-ninth level to its main hall there.
It was now noon, and an exceptionally handsome boy and beautiful girl were strolling along a street in Suotuo City.
The boy wore a white-and-gold robe and looked to be only twelve or thirteen.
He was already over 1.7 meters tall, and his long hair fluttered in the wind. Anyone who saw him would have praised him from the heart.
A young man on the road, fair as jade; a gentleman without equal in the world.
The girl beside him wore a long white dress and had short, ear-length hair.
She was a little shorter than the boy, standing about 1.65 meters tall.
Her big, limpid eyes were practically glued to him as she held his hand tightly and excitedly pointed out the little trinkets on the street.
Standing together, the two were a match made in heaven.
"Rongrong, is the Shrek Academy you mentioned really that impressive? You said it only accepts monsters, not ordinary people?"
Ning Rongrong nodded like a little quail.
"It's true, Su Zui. Actually, when I first heard about it, I thought it was a little unbelievable too. What a boast! But now that we're here, we should naturally go take a look."
Then, as though she had remembered something, Ning Rongrong asked, "Su Zui, didn't you say your Soul Power had already broken through to level 40? Are you going to get a Soul Ring first, or come register with me?"
Su Zui smiled and patted Ning Rongrong's head.
"I need to get a Soul Ring first and go home for a day or two while I'm at it."
"I've been away from home for half a year. My family must be worried sick."
Su Zui had not yet told Ning Rongrong that he was the young master of Spirit Hall. He planned to sound out Qian Daoliu and Bibi Dong first.
After all, he was the young master of Spirit Hall, and relations between Spirit Hall and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had not been very good these past few years. So if he wanted to be with Ning Rongrong, he would have to do some persuading.
What Su Zui didn't know was that, three days ago, a certain unidentified Titled Douluo had already told Spirit Hall everything.
By now, more than a dozen versions of Su Zui and Ning Rongrong's love story were circulating within Spirit Hall.
Some busybodies had even made up several chapters of a love story. At that very moment, Light Feather Douluo was engrossed in reading a booklet.
When Ning Rongrong heard that Su Zui was leaving, her little mouth immediately puckered into a pout.
"Su Zui~ I don't want you to go~ I want you to stay with me!"
Seeing how cute little Rongrong looked acting coquettishly, Su Zui scooped her up and kissed her on the cheek.
"All right, Rongrong, aren't there still two weeks until Shrek starts? During that time, I'll have lots of fun with you!"
At his words, Ning Rongrong's face immediately broke into a smile.
She hooked her arms around Su Zui's neck and planted a sweet kiss on his lips.
"Mua, Su Zui~ I knew you were the best!"
Ning Rongrong naturally knew that Su Zui had already broken through to level 40. For a peerless genius like him, the sooner he obtained a Soul Ring, the better.
But Ning Rongrong simply liked the way Su Zui indulged her in everything, and she liked how he treated her as the treasure closest to his heart.
Of course, Ning Rongrong wouldn't really make Su Zui stay with her for two weeks.
Mm, Ning Rongrong was also a very considerate girlfriend, so she planned to have Su Zui stay with her for one more week, then let him go get his Soul Ring of her own accord.
For the remaining week, she could stay at the hotel and have a good rest.
Ning Rongrong had brought a veritable fortune in Gold Soul Coins with her this time, and had booked the Immortal Suite at Suotuo City's central grand hotel for two whole weeks.
At first, the owner had doubted whether the two could afford it, but the moment Ning Rongrong took out a glazed tile-colored card, his face broke into a smile.
This was the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's highest-grade Glazed Tile Card.
It was said that every Glazed Tile Card held a fortune of at least one hundred million Gold Soul Coins.
How could the hotel owner not realize then that the two people before him were honored guests of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?
Over that week, the two explored every corner of Suotuo City.
At night, they washed up together, cuddled for a while, and finally curled up under the covers to sleep.
Still, they had an unspoken understanding and never crossed that final boundary.
In truth, not crossing it had no effect on their closeness. Su Zui and Ning Rongrong both felt that spending every day glued to each other like this was already the best life they could have!
Every morning, Su Zui also woke up early and, while Ning Rongrong was still asleep, wrote letters to all his friends and elders and sent them off.
The first he remembered were naturally the family members who had raised him, such as Qian Daoliu, Qian Renxue, and Bibi Dong.
Next came his elders. These accounted for the most letters, several dozen in all.
Among them were letters to Golden Crocodile Douluo, Chrysanthemum Douluo, and Ghost Douluo, and even to the auntie and the old chef who had looked after his daily needs since he was little.
The rest were for his friends: Xie Yue, Yan, Hu Liena, and several others.
Happy times were always short. In the blink of an eye, a week quietly slipped by.
Early that morning, Ning Rongrong took the initiative to pack Su Zui's luggage, putting everything she had prepared into his Storage Soul Tool.
Watching her, Su Zui was a little surprised.
"Little Rongrong, didn't you say you wanted me to stay with you for two weeks? Why are you packing my luggage today?"