Huo Shengsheng and the Saintess Candidate

Why is she here? Wasn't she being hunted down? How did she end up in this place?

Will she recognize me? Although there was a crate between us at the time, I can't rule out the possibility that she went easy on me...

I can't afford to gamble. Run!

Several thoughts flashed through Ning Rongrong's mind. In the end, she didn't take another step forward. She turned around, lowered her head, and hurried away.

Inside the grilled fish shop, Huo Shengsheng had just taken a bite of fish. She looked up, caught sight of that flash of green, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl upward.

Then, she parted her lips slightly, and a single command, "Forbidden Movement," drifted into Ning Rongrong's ears.

In an instant, Ning Rongrong found herself frozen in place.

If it weren't for the fact that she could still roll her eyes and make tiny movements with her fingers, she would have suspected that the person who controlled her before had returned.

Of course, reality wasn't much better. Although she wasn't being controlled by that person, she was still restrained. Well, if a fight were to break out, she could be declared the loser immediately.

She remembered that this Huo Shengsheng was a four-ring Soul Ancestor.

"Has anyone ever told you that wearing all green makes you very conspicuous... Just kidding, you yourself are very conspicuous."

A familiar voice came from behind Ning Rongrong. A pair of arms wrapped around her, and at the same time, Ning Rongrong felt something soft pressing against her back.

She was standing in the middle of the road, yet the people around them seemed not to see this scene at all, and they even subconsciously steered clear of them.

It's over.

Having imagined a scenario where she was killed on the spot or dragged away as a hostage, Ning Rongrong was already breaking out in a cold sweat. Her father and Bone were busy dealing with the Saintess Ritual, and Sword must be holding down the fort at the sect. At this very moment, she feared no one would come to save her. The only thing she could hope for was that the person from before would return to control her and force a counterattack, but the timing didn't match up.

It's over.

"Don't be afraid. I don't intend to take your life; you are not my target."

Just as Ning Rongrong was preparing to accept her bad ending, that familiar voice echoed in her ear, the hot breath making her ear itch.

"This is our second meeting. You should know that last time, during that Saintess Ritual, I let you off the hook. At the time, I assumed they could handle you, but I didn't expect you to be quite so surprising."

Huo Shengsheng's tone carried a hint of playfulness.

"What do you want? Are you going to use me to threaten my father and the others?"

Ning Rongrong felt increasingly uneasy and asked tentatively.

"Threaten? No, no, no. I said, you are not my target. The reason I came here is just to chat with you. Under the effect of my soul skill, no one will notice us. Once we finish chatting, I will naturally let you go unharmed, and perhaps... I could even treat you to some grilled fish?"

Ning Rongrong took a deep breath and said, "What do you want to talk about?"

"Zhu Zhuqing, she is your companion now, right?"

Ning Rongrong's pupils constricted: "Is she your target?"

She never expected the other party to be so familiar with the affairs inside Shrek Academy.

"Well, not really. Just asking casually. Why, are you very concerned about her?"

Ning Rongrong shook her head slightly. They had only known each other for a little over a day; it wasn't enough to call it concern.

"Not concerned? Alright then."

Huo Shengsheng sounded somewhat disappointed. She let go and walked around to stand in front of Ning Rongrong.

"Then there's nothing left to talk about. Let's chat again when you two are closer... By the way, want some grilled fish?"

"No need."

"Sigh, what a pity. The grilled fish here is actually quite good."

Huo Shengsheng shook her head in disappointment again, snapped her fingers to dispel her soul skill, and then vanished from before Ning Rongrong's eyes.

Ning Rongrong turned back and found that Huo Shengsheng was already sitting back down, as if she had never left.

"I survived," she muttered to herself, her feet already moving.

After experiencing something like this, she no longer wanted to stay in the city. The sooner she returned to the academy, the better, and then she would tell...

Before she could finish the thought, the familiar voice reached her ears once more.

"By the way, the fact that we met today is a secret. You are not allowed to mention my existence to anyone. As a reward, I can tell you that you have been targeted by the Holy Spirit Sect. Stay safe."

Ning Rongrong's heart turned cold again. She didn't doubt for a second that the other party would kill her if she revealed the secret. It seemed this secret would have to rot in her heart, and besides—

What did it mean that she had been targeted by the Holy Spirit Sect? Just because she disrupted one Saintess Ritual?

How unjust! That wasn't even me who did it; it was my body!

Some things became more terrifying the more she thought about them. Ning Rongrong stopped thinking and focused solely on returning to Shrek Academy.

Back at Shrek Academy, she had no appetite left to eat.

She hurried back to the dormitory, where Zhu Zhuqing was still diligently cultivating. Ning Rongrong stared at Zhu Zhuqing for a few seconds, but in the end, she didn't utter a single word.

At the grilled fish shop, Huo Shengsheng ate her fish, finally waiting for the person she truly needed to see.

A black-haired girl sat down opposite her. Looking at the three fish that had been picked clean in front of her, she hesitated before opening her mouth: "Why did you ask me here? Someone is tailing me very closely. You had better have a real reason, Miss Person-in-Charge."

"Oh, I brought you here to pay the bill for me."

"And then?"

"It's gone."

"That's it? Just like that, and it's gone?" The black-haired girl scratched her head, struggling to grasp the logic of the person sitting before her.

"Correct." Huo Shengsheng replied with shameless indifference.

"Ouch, what are you doing~" The black-haired girl flared up in annoyance.

"Here, you try some too. It's delicious."

Huo Shengsheng pushed a grilled fish toward her and forcibly fed her a piece of meat.

"Mmm... it's not bad, I suppose. Fine, I forgive you." The black-haired girl chewed the fish, then shifted the topic. "Since you have nothing else to say, it's my turn. There's a traitor within the Holy Spirit Sect. Do you know who it is?"

Huo Shengsheng froze, and at that moment, the piece of fish she had picked up fell back onto the plate.

"A traitor? Once someone joins the Holy Spirit Sect, can there even be traitors? Even if they were a spy, they should have been assimilated by now."

"Mhm, I thought so too. But then how do you explain the location of the Saintess Ritual being leaked?"

"Ha? It was actually leaked?" Huo Shengsheng's movements became fluid once more. "If it really was leaked, how could you be here as a candidate for the third Saintess Ritual? Your presence here implies that the third Saintess Ritual must have already succeeded."

The black-haired girl's expression suddenly turned despondent.

"It's not that easy to succeed."

Ning Fengzhi and Gu Rong had been investigating the third Saintess Ritual for an entire day. Ever since they received the intelligence a day ago, they had been scouring the entirety of Suotuo City.

The faint, flickering black mist above Suotuo City indicated that the Saintess Ritual was destined to take place here, yet they could not find a single location within the city that met the requirements.

This left the two of them quite troubled.

"Could the intelligence be flawed?" Gu Rong looked at the black mist in the sky and asked Ning Fengzhi, who stood beside him.

"The intelligence came from a spy within the Holy Spirit Sect. It was a spy personally vetted by the Martial Soul Hall; it has absolute credibility..."

Ning Fengzhi shook his head.

"Oh? And who is this spy?"

"I cannot say, and the Martial Soul Hall did not tell me either."