After Xia Yan found Oscar and sent him back to the group,
he headed for Ning Rongrong's dormitory.
The room was pitch-black, not a glimmer of light escaping through the window. As he drew closer, he could faintly hear someone crying.
Xia Yan stopped before the wooden door and knocked softly. "Rongrong, it's Xia Yan."
The crying inside quieted. After a few footsteps, the door opened.
Ning Rongrong's beautiful eyes were red-rimmed. She wiped the tear tracks from her cheeks. Beneath the night sky, her pretty face, damp with tears,
was veiled in a hazy, breathtaking allure.
She bit her lip, stubbornly trying not to cry again, but after a couple of muffled sobs, she threw herself into Xia Yan's arms. "Flender bullied me!"
"I'm going home... I'm telling Dad... and Bone Grandpa and Sword Grandpa... Flender bullied me... I'm going to kill Flender... and tear Shrek apart!"
Xia Yan gently stroked her pink hair. His chest felt warm and damp.
Tears.
"All right. I'm with you. Let's go back to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect right now. We'll have Sword Grandpa and Bone Grandpa crush Shrek and make Flender pay."
"We're leaving right now."
"Ah..."
Ning Rongrong froze and looked up at Xia Yan. Her tear-filled eyes suddenly turned blank. "I..."
"I... didn't..."
She panicked. "I mean... I..."
She wasn't bad by nature. Everything she'd just said had been said in anger; she didn't truly want to attack Shrek. But Xia Yan was a ruthless man who'd dared to hunt Wolf Bandits across the continent before he'd even reached level thirty. She couldn't tell whether he meant what he said.
"You were just venting, right?"
Xia Yan's voice was gentle. Ning Rongrong could tell he didn't really intend to attack, but she was even less sure what he meant.
Was he helping her get revenge?
"Rongrong, have you ever left home on your own before?"
Ning Rongrong shook her head in bewilderment. Her beautiful eyes were red, and tears still clung to her long eyelashes. She looked as delicate as a flower.
Xia Yan said, "You're a genius of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and incredibly important. Why were you allowed to leave the sect alone this time?"
"You even called yourself the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's number-one genius. Flender is a Soul Sage who roamed the continent in his younger days. There's no way he doesn't understand how important you are to the sect."
"So why did he dare scold you?"
Ning Rongrong blinked blankly, as if she was beginning to understand.
Xia Yan continued, "Maybe Flender knows you can't threaten him, so he isn't worried about you going home and telling on him..."
Ning Rongrong understood in an instant. "It was my dad!"
Xia Yan nodded. "That's right."
"Flender is right here. If your father secretly sent him a letter, he'd understand everything."
Ning Rongrong asked in disbelief, "But... why would my dad do that?!"
"He's my father!"
How could he take an outsider's side?
Xia Yan explained:
"You're the future of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, but all its Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Soul Masters are auxiliary types. They have to work with others, which makes temperament all the more important."
"You look obedient, but in truth you look down on everyone. You dared challenge a Seven-Ring Soul Sage before reaching level thirty. How could you possibly shoulder the entire Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?"
"The people who want to teach you a lesson have no authority to do so, while those who do have the authority all spoil you. Whenever you make a mistake, someone always covers for you. No one ever calls you to account, and everyone lets you do as you please."
"Maybe your father believes that you can only change after going out and making your way in the world."
Ning Rongrong had wanted to say, I've never looked down on you... But Xia Yan's words had drawn her into deep thought.
Xia Yan continued, "Besides, I suspect your father had another motive."
Ning Rongrong was confused. "Another one?"
How come I don't know about that?
Xia Yan said, "To ensure the sect's strength, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect has always recruited or befriended powerful Soul Masters. Look at the students in the academy now. Which one isn't a genius? Almost all of them are Battle Soul Masters, too."
Ning Rongrong suddenly understood. "I get it!"
"Father must have found out you were at Shrek Academy. That's why I was able to come here. It must all be because of you!"
Xia Yan neither confirmed nor denied it. Though he hadn't shown his face for over two years, it wasn't as if he'd never gone to the Great Soul Arena. If Ning Fengzhi had really wanted to find him, he could have.
"Not necessarily. You probably would've come even without me."
Ning Rongrong didn't agree. She shook her head firmly.
"No. I was able to come because of you."
The faces of the others came to mind again.
Especially Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, Oscar, and the others. Their attitudes toward her made her sick. "But... I hate Dai Mubai and the others. They're so disgusting..."
Xia Yan comforted her. "You still have Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu. You don't dislike them."
Ning Rongrong nodded in agreement. Her emotions had completely settled, and she felt as if everything had become clear.
So that's how it all happened...
She wiped away her tears and looked at Xia Yan gratefully. "Xia Yan, thank you..."
Xia Yan gently rubbed her pink hair. "If you still want to cry, you can keep crying in my arms."
Ning Rongrong burst into laughter. She raised her little fist as if to hit him hard, then lightly tapped his chest and pouted.
"I'm not a little kid..."
"But..."
She took a small step forward, buried her face in Xia Yan's chest, and wrapped her arms around him,
feeling the warmth of his body.
Then I'll be one just this once...
After they'd spent a while together, Ning Rongrong went to wash her face.
Xia Yan said:
"I still have to go to the Great Soul Arena. Wait for us in the village."
Ning Rongrong shook her head and tugged at his clothes.
"Come on, can't you stay with me a little longer?"
Xia Yan rubbed her soft cheek. It felt wonderful to the touch. "I have to set an example for the new students. I need to show them what I can do."
Ning Rongrong hugged him and smiled obediently against his chest.
"Mm. I'll wait for you to come back."
Ning Rongrong stood outside and watched Xia Yan leave. In the quiet village of Shrek, hers was the only room with its light on.
Shrek Academy was only forty or fifty li from Suotuo City.
Xia Yan sped along beneath the moonlit sky.
In less than half an hour,
he arrived at the Suotuo Great Soul Arena.
The Suotuo Great Soul Arena was an enormous, oval-shaped building, nearly a hundred meters tall. Beneath the night sky, it looked imposing and dark, with faint lights flickering across it.
It was the most famous place in Suotuo City.
Notting City had a Soul Fighting Arena, while Suotuo City had a Great Soul Arena. They differed by only one word, but they were completely different things.
Soul Fighting Arenas could be found anywhere. Any place where Soul Masters fought could be called a Soul Fighting Arena, and they came in all sizes.
It was like how any place that sold things could be called a store.
But Great Soul Arena was a name reserved for a specific kind of place.
It referred to the third-party arenas jointly established by the continent's seven great Soul Master clans. They were set up only in major cities and belonged neither to Spirit Hall nor to either of the two empires.
The rules of the Great Soul Arena weren't complicated.
Battles were divided into one-on-one, two-on-two, and group fights involving seven to ten people.
The lowest rank was the Iron Badge, followed by the Copper Badge, Silver Badge, Gold Badge, Purple Gold Badge, Sapphire Badge, Ruby Badge, and Diamond Badge—for a total of eight ranks.
At the Iron Soul Fighting rank, a victory earned one point, while a loss cost one point.
After five consecutive wins, each additional victory earned ten points. After ten consecutive wins, each additional victory earned a hundred points. Losses worked the same way.
Once a Soul Master reached ten points, they could obtain a Copper Badge.
After obtaining a Copper Badge, the points earned in each match increased tenfold. Accumulating one hundred points earned a Silver Badge, and another thousand points earned a Gold Badge...
And so on, all the way up to the Diamond Badge.
Shrek's students could only graduate after earning a Silver Soul Badge.
Before you continue