Seven Stars Steps

Boom! The Black Tortoise Shield was lowered, its weight sending dust on the ground billowing up.

"Cousin Liu Ding, why not take a Black Tortoise Soul Forging Pill first and unleash your Primordial Power? I happen to have one left." Reaching into his robes and pulling out a pitch-black pill, the mocking sneer on Liu Ji's face became even harder to conceal.

"No need." Liu Ding waved his hand grandly. "So someone won't try to welch on the debt."

"Me, welch on a debt? I'm going crazy!" Liu Tao cried out. "I'll let you play hooligan a hundred times, a hundred times!"

"Ah, so generous?" Liu Ding feigned shock. "Actually, I'm not greedy. Once is enough. But you'd better prepare yourself. Last time, you tore my clothes. This time, hehe..."

Liu Ding deliberately rubbed his hands together, his face full of a wicked grin.

Liu Tao was startled and instinctively covered her chest. A moment later, her face flushed crimson. That little hooligan had fooled her again.

After circling the Black Tortoise Ding once, Liu Ding curled his lip. "So this is the Fourth Soul-Forging Cauldron? Not much to look at. Even someone flat-chested like you has to sweat buckets carrying it. Fame really doesn't live up to the sight."

He shook his head and placed a hand on the edge of the Black Tortoise Ding. "I'm going to lift it now. But I can give you one more chance to regret this. I'm actually very soft-hearted."

Liu Tao gritted her teeth. "Stop putting on airs. No one can pity you now. Hurry up, I can't wait!" She rose onto her toes, glaring fiercely at a certain spot.

The young bulls all shuddered between their legs. That little hooligan had bragged himself into a grave. Even just once—even if his skin was thick and flesh tough—that spot could never withstand a fiery kick from someone at the Fourth Soul-Forging Cauldron realm.

"Fine, you asked for it. Don't blame me." Liu Ding casually lifted the Black Tortoise Ding three inches off the ground.

"Ah!" Cries of shock erupted through the Martial Arts Hall. It was unbelievable!

"L-lifting it doesn't count." Liu Tao's face paled, and her voice trembled. "You can't lift it. You definitely can't!"

"I'm afraid you'll be disappointed." Liu Ding suddenly exerted force and slowly raised the Black Tortoise Ding.

The Martial Arts Hall fell silent. Everyone held their breath. This was true, utter shock. Raising the Black Tortoise Ding with one hand—even Liu Ji probably did not have such strength.

"This isn't real, it isn't real..." After a long while, Liu Tao muttered in disbelief. Then she saw Liu Ding carrying the Black Tortoise Ding toward her with a half-smile. She instinctively covered her chest. "Y-you, don't come over!"

Liu Ding had been about to mock her when he heard a quiet cough beside him. It was Zhi'er.

"I knew you'd try to welch on the debt." Liu Ding gave a bitter smile. Playing hooligan probably would not happen after all. Staring at Liu Tao, he said, "Fine, put it on credit for now. When the two of us find somewhere with no one around, we can play hooligan then. Tyrant Sister Tao, how about it?"

Facing the complicated looks of everyone in the Martial Arts Hall, Liu Tao's face abruptly turned bright red. Without saying a word, she spun around and ran.

"She runs faster than a rabbit. You really couldn't wait, could you? But I'm not free today." Liu Ding sighed. Under the devouring gazes around him, he turned to Liu Ji. "Flat-chest, trouble you to carry the Black Tortoise Ding back for me."

With a flick of his hand, he sent the Black Tortoise Ding smashing toward Liu Ji.

With a long, resonant hum, Liu Ji scrambled to catch the Black Tortoise Ding. He staggered back several steps before finally stabilizing himself with the Soul Power of the Five Soulforging Cauldrons, looking utterly disheveled.

Though he had chosen to give up on Liu Tao, Liu Ji still felt terrible. The veins on the hand gripping the Black Tortoise Ding bulged.

"Zhi'er, let's go to the Library Pavilion." His cold gaze swept over the young bulls who had once bullied him when he was foolish and muddleheaded. Liu Ding beckoned to Liu Zhi.

"No, thanks. I don't have your inborn divine strength. I can't lift the Black Tortoise Ding." Zhi'er blinked. "As for the Library Pavilion, I've been in there countless times."

"Then fine, go back first. Tell Sister Zhu'er to stew a pot of turtle soup for me to replenish myself. That turtle ding was far too heavy. My arms are still weak." Liu Ding smiled.

"Alright." Zhi'er covered her mouth and giggled. Calling the Black Tortoise Ding a turtle ding—only Liu Ding would dare be so outrageous.

"Z-Zhi'er, do you want me to escort you?" Seeing Liu Zhi twist her slender waist and leave the Martial Arts Hall, Liu Ji hurriedly followed while carrying the Black Tortoise Ding.

Liu Zhi acted as though she had heard nothing and instead quickened her little steps, leaving him behind.

Liu Ji's gaze turned cold. He turned back to Liu Ding and said grimly, "Liu Ding, so what if you've reached the Fourth Soul-Forging Cauldron? There are only a year and a half left until the Sect Lord Contention. Even if you reach the Five Soulforging Cauldrons, you won't have a chance to reach the Six Soulforging Cauldrons before turning sixteen. By then, I'll make you watch helplessly as Zhi'er nestles in my arms!"

After watching Liu Zhi leave with a warm gaze, Liu Ding turned back and coldly glanced at Liu Ji. Curling his lips slightly, he walked into the corridor of the Library Pavilion.

"You won't have to wait until the Sect Lord Contention. Starting tonight, Zhi'er will keep nestling in my arms until the end of time."

Liu Ji had thought Liu Ding was afraid, but Liu Ding did not even turn his head as he casually tossed out words that drove him mad. Liu Ji flew into a rage. "Little hooligan! Once I become Sect Lord, I'll make you regret what you said today!"

Too lazy to pay attention to that mad dog, Liu Ding entered the first floor of the Library Pavilion and browsed casually. Most of the books here contained cultivation insights recorded by clan members, as well as relatively rudimentary basic martial skills used to deal with equally simple-minded savage beasts.

After his soul had been repaired, Liu Ding only needed a quick glance to know that martial skills below the Three Soul-Forging Cauldrons were useless. He went up to the second floor. A clan member guarded its entrance, and he was a Martial Apprentice of the Six Soulforging Cauldrons, not weak at all.

The guard gave Liu Ding a strange look but did not stop him. Clearly, he had already heard of the commotion Liu Ding had caused in the Martial Arts Hall.

Liu Ding smiled at him. As he entered, he heard the man say, "Study well. I hope you can lead the clan to greater heights."

Damn, that burden is way too heavy. It doesn't suit my lazy temperament at all. Still, Liu Ding politely replied, "Thank you."

There really were many insights on the second floor regarding breakthroughs into the Fourth Soul-Forging Cauldron realm. There were all kinds of methods: going out for training, entering seclusion in silence, and obsessively practicing various martial skills.

Liu Ding studied them one by one and soon realized that these insights did not fit his cultivation at all. He felt that his situation was quite different from the insights described by his predecessors. In other words, those predecessors had truly stood at the peak of the Fourth Soul-Forging Cauldron, only one step away from reaching the Five Soulforging Cauldrons.

But Liu Ding felt that he even possessed the sensations those predecessors described upon breaking through to the Five Soulforging Cauldrons. In other words, he had the soul sensations one should have at the Five Soulforging Cauldrons, even the Seven Soul-Forging Cauldrons.

Yet despite clearly possessing the sensations of those realms, the fact that his actual strength was only that of a Four-Vessel Martial Apprentice drove him mad.

"Damn it, am I really some kind of monster?" Liu Ding smacked his head hard. It was too frustrating. It simply made no sense.

Slap. A small, dust-covered booklet fell from the shelf after that blow.

He picked it up and saw that it was a black scroll. When he opened it, several highly embossed black characters appeared before him:

Fourth Soul-Forging Cauldron Martial Skill: Seven Stars Steps.

What Liu Ding needed now was a method to break through, and he had little interest in martial skills. But just as he was about to put the Seven Stars Steps scroll back, he caught sight of an image on its supplementary page: seven stars, arranged like a ladle.

"The Big Dipper?" Liu Ding was greatly surprised. Among the knowledge he had gained from that dream of a brief lifetime were memories related to the Big Dipper.

Why would the Big Dipper of another world appear here? Liu Ding was puzzled and could not help leaning against the shelf as he began to read carefully.