Return Journey

"Rongrong, what does it say?"

Gu Rong leaned in beside Ning Rongrong, and Ning Fengzhi and Flender promptly followed suit.

They had also seen the blank slip of paper.

"Hey, why do I feel like there were words on it when I first looked?"

Gu Rong was puzzled. Ning Rongrong glanced at him in surprise, then at the other two. Though they didn't discuss it, she could be almost certain they felt the same way.

Ning Rongrong handed the slip to Gu Rong. He looked at it, then passed it to Ning Fengzhi. Ning Fengzhi looked at it and passed it to Flender. Flender examined it, shook his head, and returned it to Ning Rongrong.

"Maybe we're overthinking it. I can't sense any trace of Soul Power on this. It was probably blank to begin with. We just subconsciously assumed it came from the Evil Soul Master leader's clone, so we thought there were words on it."

Ning Fengzhi speculated,

"Besides, who would keep something valuable on a clone? In my view, this belonged to the body's original owner. What it was used for, I don't know. It's a pity we didn't find any clues about the ritual's location on the clone. It's getting late, Dean Flender. Sorry for the trouble, but please take my daughter back to school. Bone Uncle and I still need to investigate this ritual. The children have been through a lot, so they must be tired."

"Sect Master Ning is right." Flender nodded, looked around until he spotted the six of them, and waved, signaling that they should head back.

After spending a brief time with Ning Fengzhi and Gu Rong, Ning Rongrong was also sent back to Flender. The meaning was clear: what came next was dangerous, and Ning Rongrong couldn't get involved.

Would that work?

Of course not. If he followed the two of them, he might get into the Third Saintess Ritual instance. He could even pick up a reward then. If things went badly, he could just load his save and come back...

Right! Speaking of loading a save, Lu Ma suddenly remembered he hadn't saved yet, so he hurriedly did so.

[Save overwritten successfully!]

Only after seeing that line on the screen did Lu Ma nod in satisfaction and try to speak with Ning Fengzhi and Gu Rong.

Unexpectedly, after giving Ning Rongrong a shove, the two of them immediately vanished, as if they were trying to stop Ning Rongrong from pestering them.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Lu Ma was speechless. Now he had no choice but to go back with Flender.

He'd missed the First Saintess Ritual, and now he was going to miss the Third one, too. Lu Ma's heart was bleeding.

"Rongrong, come over here."

A voice came from the rear right. Lu Ma adjusted the camera and saw Zhu Zhuqing beckoning to her.

"Coming."

After giving a brief reply, Ning Rongrong put on her formulaic smile again and jogged over to Zhu Zhuqing.

When she drew close, Zhu Zhuqing took Ning Rongrong by the wrist.

"Rongrong, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Look at these bandages—aren't they wrapped beautifully?"

Ning Rongrong rolled her eyes at Zhu Zhuqing.

Realizing she'd said the wrong thing, Zhu Zhuqing gave an awkward little laugh.

But Ning Rongrong's gaze at her really was getting stranger and stranger.

What did I do wrong now?

Zhu Zhuqing was baffled. As far as she could remember, she hadn't done anything too outrageous to Ning Rongrong. Over the past few days, they'd only talked, though perhaps they'd talked a little too much.

Little did she know, it was precisely all that frequent conversation that had made Lu Ma feel something was off, which in turn prompted Ning Rongrong's body to react accordingly.

"Why does Zhu Zhuqing talk so much?"

In Lu Ma's impression, Zhu Zhuqing was the quiet type, especially at a time like this. But from what he'd observed, she was only acting unusually toward him; she was still just as cold toward everyone else.

Then... is it me?

Lu Ma didn't think he'd done anything.

After thinking it over for a long while without reaching an answer, he could only blame the game's developers.

The night was quiet.

So quiet that they could hear the leaves rustle, the group's footsteps, and everyone's breathing.

Not a word was spoken. Maybe they'd argued earlier, or maybe they were simply exhausted. Or perhaps they didn't dare speak because Flender was leading the way.

The scenes from Lu Ma's memories—Zhu Zhuqing getting angry because Dai Mubai told Tang San to go easy, Ning Rongrong telling Tang San to kill Dai Mubai, Oscar becoming disappointed in Ning Rongrong... None of them had happened. Of course, the latter two couldn't happen because Ning Rongrong was currently being controlled by Lu Ma.

"Relax. Let's have a chat."

Flender couldn't take it anymore. He really didn't want his students to keep walking around like a bunch of dead men.

Flender's suggestion broke the silence of the night, but the atmosphere didn't truly come alive. Oscar tried to tell a lame Soul Beast joke, but all he got in response was Dai Mubai's forced chuckle and Ma Hongjun's perfunctory grunt. Tang San and Xiao Wu walked side by side, quietly talking about their recent brush with death, but they kept their voices very low.

It was Zhu Zhuqing who finally brought the conversation back around.

"Rongrong, earlier you said you'd tell us about your new Soul Skill. Can you tell us now?"

Her question drew the attention of the other five. Even Flender perked up his ears. He was just as eager to hear Ning Rongrong explain her Third Soul Skill herself—the one granted by a Soul Beast that wasn't compatible with her Martial Soul.

"Oh, right."

Lu Ma responded first, then started wondering whether he should tell them. There'd be no punishment if he didn't, and no reward if he did...

Perhaps Lu Ma was more inclined to keep his promises. In the game, Ning Rongrong still spoke up.

"My Third Soul Skill is Poison Attribute Amplification. It can add 60% Poison Attribute damage to an attack, while also granting the target a buff that makes them immune to poison."

"So it really does inflict poison, and it can even cleanse it."

Ning Rongrong's words confirmed Tang San's guess. When Ning Rongrong had returned the opponent's spike earlier, the reason the opponent had been poisoned was Ning Rongrong, not poison on the spike itself.

For some reason, Tang San found Ning Rongrong a little irritating now. If she weren't an ally, he would have already shot a Sleeve Arrow at her.

"How much? 60%?"

Different people focused on different things. While Tang San was thinking about the poisoning and detoxification effects, Oscar was more concerned with the amplification value.

As an auxiliary Soul Master himself, he knew exactly what a 60% damage boost meant. That was a figure only a Five-Ring Soul King could achieve, at the very least.

"That can't be right..." he murmured, starting to doubt his own life.

Sixty percent... What level of Soul Beast would it take?

And since Lu Ma had already started talking, he might as well go into more detail. So he revealed information about the Soul Beast, too.

"This Soul Ring came from a three-thousand-year-old Man Faced Demon Spider."

That information didn't get much of a reaction.

Everyone's first thought was that a Third Soul Ring could be a Thousand-Year Soul Ring. They hadn't been concerned with the maximum age, with the exception of Tang San.

Recalling that his teacher had said the upper limit for a Third Soul Ring was around 1,700 years, Tang San began to doubt his own memory.