Scolded to Tears?

"B-but..."

Ning Rongrong wanted to argue, but found that she had no way to refute Jiang Chen.

Was she really as useless as he said?

"Wait!"

Something suddenly occurred to Ning Rongrong. "Isn't Oscar a support type too? Are you saying I can't even compare to him?"

Jiang Chen gave her an odd look. "What if I told you that, apart from Tang San, Oscar actually has the greatest talent of the bunch?"

"What makes him so special?!"

Ning Rongrong simply refused to believe that any Support-type Soul Master could be more talented than she was.

"He told me last night that he's a Food-type Soul Master with innate full soul power. The entire continent might not produce even one in a hundred years."

Jiang Chen looked at her. "In terms of talent and rarity, even you, the successor to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, might not measure up."

"..."

Ning Rongrong opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

Her lofty self-confidence had vanished completely.

She could accept being inferior to Battle Soul Masters. After all, their cultivation methods and roles were different.

But now Jiang Chen was telling her that the old-man-looking Oscar was a Support-type Soul Master with full soul power?!

It was already difficult for Support-type Soul Masters to increase their soul power, and innate full soul power was rarer still. Calling it a once-in-a-thousand-years occurrence would hardly be an exaggeration.

Yet Jiang Chen still refused to let her off, continuing to rub salt in the wound.

"So, without any family status or backing, every one of them has come this far through their own hard work."

"Do you still think you're so exceptional?"

Ning Rongrong stood frozen, her eyes reddening as tears streamed down her face.

She sniffed hard, trying to hold them back, but the harder she tried, the more tears came.

Finally, she let out a wail, crouched on the ground, and buried her face in her knees.

"You... you're a bully!"

She accused him between sobs, her shoulders shaking. "I... I'm not that bad..."

"All... all you do is bully me... boo-hoo..."

Jiang Chen stood beside her without trying to comfort her, simply folding his arms and watching her cry.

He had to give this girl a scolding before she could understand how harsh the world could be.

Often, she needed to work through these emotions on her own.

Meanwhile, not far away...

Two Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect Guards concealed in the shadows felt chills run down their spines as they watched.

This kid had some nerve. He had actually scolded their young lady to tears!

In all her life, no one had ever spoken a harsh word to her!

If those two elders found out, this kid would be in for it.

"What should we do? Should we teach him a lesson?" one guard asked.

"The sect master instructed us to reveal ourselves only if the young lady was in danger."

"But if the two elders hold us accountable afterward, won't we be in trouble?"

"It's fine. Go back and report the situation to the sect master and the elders. I'll keep guarding her from the shadows."

"Ah, I suppose that's our only option."

Just then, Jiang Chen suddenly looked toward their hiding place from the training grounds, a faint smile playing on his face.

"Hiss..."

One guard sucked in a cold breath and instinctively ducked lower. "Does that kid know we're here?"

The other guard's scalp prickled as well.

A level-thirty Soul Grandmaster had actually seen through the concealment of two Soul Kings?!

Had they known that Jiang Chen could even see through a Titled Douluo's concealment, they would probably have been shocked speechless.

"It's all right. From the looks of things, he probably won't expose us. I'll watch from farther away. Go back and make the report."

"All right."

On the training grounds.

Ning Rongrong crouched on the ground, sobbing for a full five minutes.

When she finally raised her head, her eyes and the tip of her nose were bright red, and tear tracks still streaked her cheeks. But much of the defiance and haughtiness in her eyes had faded.

While crying, she had thought through a great deal and come to understand just as much.

She really had wasted far too much time over the years, relying on her status and the affection showered on her.

That was fine within the sect, where no one dared say a bad word to her, but the outside world was different.

If she wanted to become someone her father and her two grandfathers could be proud of, she had to overcome these difficulties.

At that thought, Ning Rongrong sniffed and asked hoarsely, "Then... then tell me what I should do."

Seeing her look so aggrieved while trying so hard to hold herself together, Jiang Chen nearly burst out laughing.

He cleared his throat, struggling to remain serious. "Simple. Do as I say. Starting today, physical conditioning in the morning, mental control in the afternoon, and at night... extra practice in soul power precision."

Ning Rongrong's face fell again. "I have to train at night too?"

"What else did you expect?" Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow. "You don't think you can get stronger just by lying around, do you?"

"...Fine."

Surprisingly, Ning Rongrong did not talk back this time. She merely gave a dispirited reply.

She slowly stood, brushed the dirt off her skirt, walked to the edge of the muddy ground, and picked up the three pebbles again.

As her soul power and mental power stirred, the three pebbles gradually rose, hovering much more steadily than before.

After taking a deep breath, she began jogging around the grounds.

Determination burning inside her, Ning Rongrong struggled to keep the three pebbles suspended in the air.

But jogging while keeping the pebbles afloat drained both her mental power and stamina at an alarming rate.

Before she had completed even one lap, the pebbles in front of her began wobbling violently—a clear sign that her mental focus was faltering.

Sure enough, Ning Rongrong stumbled as she rounded a turn, and all three pebbles clattered to the ground.

"All three fell. Three extra laps. You have five to finish now."

Jiang Chen's calm voice drifted over from a distance.

"Hmph!"

Ning Rongrong gritted her teeth but did not argue. She picked up the pebbles, steadied them with her mental power, and began jogging again.

High in a distant tree.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect Guard watching in secret silently wiped away his sweat.

"How did that kid do it? He actually got the young lady to obey him?"

"Running while controlling pebbles, too... There really is something to this training method."

"The sect master would probably be very pleased to see her like this."

On the other side of the grounds.

With the ticking time bomb that was Ning Rongrong dealt with, Flender was in an excellent mood. Hands clasped behind his back, he strolled to the edge of the training grounds and looked toward the figures gritting their teeth as they climbed a low hill.

Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Zhu Zhuqing each had heavy rocks strapped to their hands and feet as they scrambled up the hill on all fours.

Under Zhao Wuji's Gravity Enhancement, every step felt like pulling their legs free of a mire.

"Oh? Trying something new today, old Zhao?"

Flender walked over to Zhao Wuji, squinting as he studied this unfamiliar training method.

Zhao Wuji chuckled, withdrew his soul skill, and shouted to the three on the hill, "Seventh round trip complete! Rest for half an incense stick!"

Thud, thud!

Except for Tang San, Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing collapsed to the ground almost simultaneously, gasping for breath.

"Interesting..."

Flender folded his arms, intrigued. "Combining weighted hill climbs with your gravity soul skill not only improves their coordination, but also their endurance. That doesn't sound like something a brute like you could come up with."