Hell Spirit Tiger

"This is Su Ming, his Martial Soul is Cloud, and he is a Soul Ancestor above level 40. He is currently the strongest among the students at Shrek Academy."

"You can call him Su Ming or Brother Ming, either is fine."

"My Martial Soul's evolution was only possible after listening to Su Ming's theories. Since you've finished absorbing your medicine and it's almost noon, let's eat together. There's nothing planned for the afternoon, so let Su Ming help you map out the direction for your Martial Soul Evolution."

"Sure, let's go. It's already high noon, and after guarding you for so long, I'm starving. Let's go grab lunch first, and once we're back, we can properly plan things out for Zhuqing."

"Once the plan is set, didn't Zhuqing just reach level 30 after absorbing the medicine? Boss Dai, you can just find a teacher to take you all to hunt for her Soul Ring."

After saying this, the five of them headed to the cafeteria together.

Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, main assembly hall.

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

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

Before they could settle on a specific time, a servant ran straight in.

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

Before the servant could finish, a young girl in a blue skirt trotted in, shouting:

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

Ning Rongrong ran into the assembly hall and threw herself into the arms of Ning Fengzhi, who had just stood up.

"Aren'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 say this, Ning Rongrong pouted, released him, and turned to trot into the arms of the other white-robed elder, Chen Xin.

"Sword Grandpa, we haven't seen each other for four or five days, I missed you so much."

Chen Xin hurriedly hugged her small frame with affection, "Good girl, Sword Grandpa missed you too! Missed you terribly."

The withered old man beside him, Bone Douluo, spoke up with a clearly sour tone.

"How come Rongrong only misses Sword Grandpa and not Bone Grandpa?"

Ning Rongrong was a clever little thing; seeing this, she quickly broke free from Chen Xin and trotted over to Bone Douluo's arms.

"How could that be, Bone Grandpa? I missed you too."

Afterward, Ning Rongrong chatted with the two elders, coaxing them until they were exceptionally happy.

Ning Fengzhi, sitting in his chair, saw this and knew the pleasantries were over; it was time to ask about the real business.

"Alright, Uncle Sword, Uncle Bone, that's enough chatting."

Ning Fengzhi said with a serious expression:

"Rongrong, tell us, why did you come back? Did someone bully you, or what happened?"

Ning Rongrong quickly explained.

"Daddy, nobody bullied me."

"It's like this: I ran into Su Ming at Shrek Academy. Didn't you say he has a way to make other people's Martial Souls evolve? And that you wanted me to build a good relationship with him?"

"After he returned, I asked him if there was a way to evolve the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda into the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda. He said yes, but that this wasn't something I could decide on my own. He told me to come back and find you, and that we should go see him together tomorrow."

Upon hearing Ning Rongrong's explanation, Ning Fengzhi realized that Su Ming truly 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 this true?"

"It's true! At the time, I even asked him what he needed to evolve my Martial Soul, and he just told me to come back and find you guys, and that we should go see him together tomorrow."

Hearing Ning Rongrong's confirmation again, Ning Fengzhi paced back and forth in the hall. After a few turns, he coaxed Rongrong away.

"Alright, Rongrong, I have things to discuss with your Sword Grandpa and Bone Grandpa. We'll go to Shrek Academy together tomorrow; you go out and play for now."

Hearing Ning Fengzhi's words, Ning Rongrong glanced at Chen Xin and Bone Douluo, then skipped away.

Seeing that Ning Rongrong was far enough away, Chen Xin looked at Ning Fengzhi, who was sitting in the main seat.

"Fengzhi, it seems this little fellow named Su Ming came prepared."

Bone Douluo said: "I just don't know what kind of demands he'll make for evolving the Seven Treasures into the Nine Treasures."

"No matter what he asks for, we must agree." After all, the dream of every generation of Sect Masters of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was to evolve 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. Even if Su Ming made an outrageous demand—even if he asked for Ning Rongrong's hand in marriage or to become the Sect Master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect—Ning Fengzhi would likely agree.

Heaven Dou City, Shrek Academy.

After parting ways at the cafeteria, Ma Hongjun and Oscar went to practice sparring with Zhao Wuji.

At this moment, in Su Ming's villa, Dai Mubai, Zhuqing, and Su Ming were seated in the living room.

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

"I have looked into the Hell Spirit Cat Martial Soul. As for its evolution path, feline-type Martial Souls are generally too weak; the two best ways to evolve them are either into leopards or tigers."

"Zhuqing, take a look and see which evolution path you would choose?"

Zhu Zhuqing was lost in thought. Having spent a long time with Su Ming, Dai Mubai knew that Su Ming must have the most suitable evolution path for the Hell Spirit Cat Martial Soul in mind, so he told her to just ask Su Ming directly.

"Zhuqing, don't overthink it. Su Ming definitely has a suitable evolution path in mind for the Hell Spirit Cat Martial Soul. He's only asking for your input so you can make your own choice and have no regrets, but listen to me and just ask him."

Hearing Dai Mubai's advice, Zhu Zhuqing asked Su Ming directly. She had also noticed that the relationship between Dai Mubai and Su Ming was far from ordinary.

"Then Brother Ming, what do you think about my evolution path?"

"I suggest you choose the tiger. Because your two families have intermarried for years, you have quite a bit of Evil-Eyed White Tiger bloodline within you, so the tiger is the best choice."

"You only have one evolution path now: the Hell Spirit Tiger, Nether Black Tiger, or Nether Dark Tiger—call it whatever you like, as long as it is a tiger with the Nether attribute."

"Since you have already obtained your first two Soul Rings, if you want to evolve, you must hunt dark-attribute tigers for your third, fourth, and fifth Soul Rings."

"For your third Soul Ring, it is best to hunt a Hell Spirit Tiger. You have already consumed a medicinal pill, so your physical constitution has improved; your third Soul Ring can be around 2,000 years or more."

"As for the fourth Soul Ring, a Ghost Tiger or a Ghost-Slaying Black Tiger will both work. For the fifth Soul Ring, I suggest the Dark Domain Demon Tiger, as it possesses spatial attributes."

"Alright, that's all. Mubai, you can take Zhuqing to find Dean Flender, or ask Dean Liu Erlong to take you both to hunt for your Soul Rings."

Su Ming stood up as he spoke.

"I also need to go find Dean Zhao to spar; it's been a long time since I've had a good fight."

Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing stood up immediately after him.

"Su Ming, I thank you on behalf of Zhuqing."

"Brother Ming, thank you."

"Don't mention it, we're all good brothers."