Nether Spirit Tiger

"This is Su Ming. His Martial Soul is Cloud, and he's a Soul Ancestor over level forty. He's currently the strongest student at Shrek Academy."

"You can call him Su Ming or Brother Ming."

"My Martial Soul changed only after I heard Su Ming's theory. Since you've just finished absorbing yours, and it's almost noon, let's have lunch together. Then, if there's nothing going on this afternoon, we can ask Su Ming to help you plan the direction for your Martial Soul's evolution."

"Sure, let's go. It's already midday, and I'm starving after protecting you all for so long. Let's get lunch first, then when we get back, we can work out a proper plan for Zhuqing."

"Once we've got a plan, Zhuqing will have just absorbed the medicine and reached level thirty, right? Boss Dai, you can go straight to a teacher and have them help you hunt a Soul Ring for her."

With that, the five of them headed to the cafeteria for lunch.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, council hall.

An hour had passed since Ning Fengzhi received word from his subordinates that Su Ming and Dugu Bo had returned to Heaven Dou City.

Seated in the hall, Ning Fengzhi was discussing with Sword Douluo Chen Xin and Bone Douluo Gu Rong when it would be best to pay Su Ming a visit.

They had yet to settle on a specific time when a servant came running straight into the hall.

"Reporting, Sect Master. Sword Douluo, Bone Douluo—Miss Rongrong has returned."

Before the servant could finish, a young woman in a blue dress came running in, shouting as she went:

"Dad, Grandpa Sword, Grandpa Bone, I'm back!"

Ning Rongrong dashed into the council hall and threw herself into Ning Fengzhi's arms as he rose to his feet.

"Weren't you at Shrek Academy in Heaven Dou City? It's only been four or five days. Why are you back already?"

Hearing Ning Fengzhi's question, Ning Rongrong huffed and pulled away from his embrace. Then she turned and ran to another white-haired old man, throwing herself into Chen Xin's arms.

"Grandpa Sword, it's been four or five days since we last saw each other. I missed you so much."

Chen Xin quickly wrapped his arms around her petite frame, his heart aching with affection. "Good girl. Grandpa Sword missed you too! I missed you terribly."

The withered old man, Bone Dragon, sounded distinctly jealous as he spoke.

"Why do you only miss your Grandpa Sword, Rongrong? Don't you miss your Grandpa Bone?"

Ning Rongrong was a clever little thing. Seeing his reaction, she quickly wriggled free of Chen Xin's embrace and ran into Bone Dragon's arms.

"How could I not, Grandpa Bone? I missed you too."

After that, Ning Rongrong chatted with the two old men, making them both exceptionally happy.

Seeing that they had talked enough, Ning Fengzhi, seated in his chair, knew it was time to get down to business.

"All right, Uncle Jian, Uncle Gu. That's enough chatting,"

Ning Fengzhi said solemnly:

"Rongrong, you said you came back for something. Did someone bully you, or what happened?"

Ning Rongrong quickly explained.

"Dad, nobody bullied me."

"It's like this: I ran into Su Ming at Shrek Academy after he came back. Didn't you say he had a way to evolve other people's Martial Souls, and tell me to build a good relationship with him?"

"After he returned, I asked whether he could evolve the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda into the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda. He said he could, but that it wasn't something I could decide on my own. He told me to come back and talk to you, then go see him together tomorrow."

After hearing Ning Rongrong's explanation, Ning Fengzhi realized that Su Ming really could evolve the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda into the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda.

"What? He really can evolve the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda into the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda? Rongrong, is that true?"

"It's true! I even asked him what he needed to evolve my Martial Soul. He told me to come back and talk to you, then go see him together tomorrow."

After hearing Ning Rongrong confirm it again, Ning Fengzhi paced back and forth across the hall. After only a couple of turns, he sent Rongrong away.

"All right, Rongrong. Your Grandpa Sword, Grandpa Bone, and I have something to discuss. We'll go to Shrek Academy together tomorrow. You go out and have some fun for now."

Hearing Ning Fengzhi's words, Ning Rongrong glanced at Chen Xin and Bone Dragon, then skipped out of the hall.

After Ning Rongrong was gone, Chen Xin looked toward Ning Fengzhi, who was seated in the head seat, and spoke.

"Fengzhi, it seems this young man called Su Ming came prepared."

Bone Dragon said, "I wonder what he'll ask for in return for turning the Seven Treasures into the Nine Treasures?"

"Whatever he asks for, we must agree." After all, the dream of every Sect Master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had been to advance the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda into the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda and restore the glory of the ancient Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda.

Ning Fengzhi was no exception. No matter how outrageous Su Ming's demands were—even if he asked Ning Rongrong to marry him and wanted to become Sect Master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect—Ning Fengzhi would probably agree.

Heaven Dou City, Shrek Academy.

After leaving the cafeteria, Ma Hongjun and Oscar went to find Zhao Wuji and practice their punches.

At Su Ming's little villa, Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, and Su Ming sat down together in the living room.

"In that case, I'll get straight to the point."

"I've looked into the Hell Spirit Cat Martial Soul. There are two best directions for its evolution, since cat-type Martial Souls are too weak: one is a leopard, and the other is a tiger."

"Zhuqing, which direction do you want to choose?"

Zhu Zhuqing looked thoughtful. Dai Mubai had spent enough time with Su Ming to know that he must have a best evolution path in mind for the Hell Spirit Cat Martial Soul, so he went ahead and asked him.

"Zhuqing, don't overthink it. Su Ming definitely has an evolution path in mind that suits the Hell Spirit Cat Martial Soul. He's just asking for your opinion, so you can make the choice yourself and won't regret it later. Take my advice and just ask him."

At Dai Mubai's suggestion, Zhu Zhuqing directly asked Su Ming. She could tell that Dai Mubai and Su Ming were unusually close.

"Then, Brother Ming, what do you think the evolution path should be for me?"

"I recommend choosing a tiger. Your two families have intermarried for generations, Zhuqing, so you also have quite a bit of Evil-Eyed White Tiger blood in you. That makes a tiger the best choice."

"You have only one evolution path now: the Nether Spirit Tiger. You could call it the Nether Black Tiger or the Dark Domain Demon Tiger. Any name will do. The important thing is that it's a tiger with Nether attributes."

"Since you've already obtained your first two Soul Rings, you'll need to hunt only dark-attribute tigers for your third, fourth, and fifth Soul Rings if you want to evolve."

"For your third Soul Ring, the best choice is a Nether Spirit Tiger. You've already taken one pill, which improved your physical constitution, so your third Soul Ring can probably be around two thousand years old."

"As for the fourth Soul Ring, a Ghost Tiger or a Ghost-Slaying Black Tiger will do. For the fifth Soul Ring, I still recommend a Dark Domain Demon Tiger. It has spatial attributes."

"All right, that's everything. Mu Bai, you can take Zhuqing to find Dean Flender, or Dean Liu Erlong, and have her take you both to hunt a Soul Ring."

As he spoke, Su Ming stood up.

"I'm going to find Dean Zhao and practice punches too. It's been a while."

Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing also stood up right after him.

"Su Ming, I'm thanking you on Zhuqing's behalf."

"Brother Ming, thank you."

"What's there to thank me for? We're all good brothers."