Comforting Ning Rongrong

After Xia Yan found Oscar and had him return to the team, he headed toward Ning Rongrong's dormitory.

The room was pitch black, with not a sliver of light leaking from the windows; as he drew closer, he could faintly hear the sound of sobbing.

Xia Yan stood before the wooden door and knocked gently: "Rongrong, it's me, Xia Yan."

The sobbing inside the room subsided, and after a few footsteps, the wooden door creaked open.

Ning Rongrong's beautiful eyes were rimmed with red as she wiped away the tear tracks on her cheeks; under the veil of night, her face, tear-streaked and delicate, possessed a startling, hazy allure.

She bit her lip, stubbornly trying to hold back more tears, but after a few choked sobs, she threw herself into Xia Yan's arms: "Flender bullied me!"

"I want to go home... I'm going to tell my father... tell Bone Grandpa and Sword Grandpa... Flender bullied me... I'm going to kill Flender... I'll tear Shrek apart!"

Xia Yan gently stroked her pink hair, feeling a warmth and dampness spread across his chest.

It was tears.

"Fine, I'll support you. We'll head back to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect right now, have your Sword Grandpa and Bone Grandpa step in, crush Shrek, and make Flender pay the price."

"We're leaving this instant."

"Huh..."

Ning Rongrong froze, looking up at Xia Yan, her tear-filled eyes suddenly dazed: "I..."

"I... that's not..."

She panicked instantly: "I meant... I..."

Her nature wasn't bad; what she had said earlier was just out of anger, not a genuine desire to dismantle Shrek. However, Xia Yan was a ruthless man who had dared to roam the continent hunting Wolf Bandits before even reaching level thirty, and she didn't dare judge whether he was serious or not.

"You were just speaking out of anger, right?"

Xia Yan's voice was gentle. Ning Rongrong realized he didn't actually intend to take action, but she understood his meaning even less.

Was he trying to help her vent?

"Rongrong, have you ever left home alone before?"

Ning Rongrong shook her head blankly, her beautiful eyes still red, long lashes beaded with tears, looking as delicate as a flower.

Xia Yan said: "You are a genius of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, someone of extreme importance. Why were you able to leave the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect alone this time?"

"You call yourself the greatest genius of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Flender is a Soul Saint who roamed the continent in his younger years; it is impossible for him not to understand your importance to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect."

"Why, then, did he dare to reprimand you?"

Ning Rongrong blinked blankly, seemingly realizing something.

Xia Yan continued: "Flender likely knows that you pose no threat to him and isn't afraid of you going home to complain..."

Ning Rongrong understood in an instant: "It was my father!"

Xia Yan nodded: "Exactly."

"Flender is here; as long as your father sent a secret letter, he would have understood everything."

Ning Rongrong asked in disbelief: "But... why would my father do that?!"

"He's my father!"

How could he side with an outsider!

Xia Yan explained:

"You are the future of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, but all Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda masters are support-type soul masters who must rely on others. It tests one's character more than anything else."

"You look well-behaved, but in truth, you look down on everyone. You dared to challenge a seventh-ring Soul Saint before you were even level thirty—how could you shoulder the burden of the entire Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?"

"Those who want to discipline you have no authority to do so, and those who have the authority to discipline you only spoil you. There is always someone to clean up your messes, no one ever questions you, and everyone lets you have your way."

"Perhaps your father believes that only by venturing out into the world can you change."

Ning Rongrong wanted to say that she had never looked down on him... but she was drawn into deep thought by Xia Yan's words.

Xia Yan added: "Furthermore, I suspect your father had other motives."

Ning Rongrong was confused: "There's more?"

How did I not know this?

Xia Yan said: "To ensure the sect's combat strength, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect has always been recruiting or befriending powerful soul masters. Look at the students in the academy now—which one of them isn't a genius? Almost all of them are battle-type soul masters."

Ning Rongrong suddenly realized: "I understand!"

"Father must have discovered you were at Shrek Academy, which is why I was able to come here. It must be because of you!"

Xia Yan remained noncommittal. Although he hadn't shown his face for over two years, he hadn't exactly avoided the Great Soul Arena; if Ning Fengzhi had truly wanted to find him, he certainly could have.

"Not necessarily. You probably would have come even without me."

Ning Rongrong, however, did not think so and shook her head firmly:

"No, it must be because of you that I was able to come."

The figures of the others surfaced in her mind once more, Especially the attitudes of Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, Oscar, and the others; they simply made her feel nauseated: "But... I hate Dai Mubai and the others, they are so disgusting..."

Xia Yan comforted her: "But there's still Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu, you don't dislike them, do you?"

Ning Rongrong nodded in agreement. Her emotions had fully recovered, and she felt as though her entire being had become clear and transparent.

So that was how it all was...

She wiped away her tear tracks and looked at Xia Yan with a gaze full of gratitude: "Xia Yan, thank you..."

Xia Yan gently stroked her pink hair: "If you still want to cry, you can continue crying in my arms, you know."

Ning Rongrong let out a giggle, waved her small fist as if to strike with force, and tapped it lightly against Xia Yan's chest, pouting coquettishly:

"I'm not a little kid..."

"However..."

She took a light 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 just be one for a little while...

After their tender moment, Ning Rongrong went to wash her face.

Xia Yan said:

"I still have to go to the Great Soul Arena. You should wait for us to return in the village."

Ning Rongrong shook her head and tugged at the corner of his clothes:

"No, can't you stay with me a little longer?"

Xia Yan rubbed her soft cheeks, the texture feeling exceptionally good: "I have to set an example for the newcomers enrolling for the first time, to let them see what it's all about."

Ning Rongrong hugged him, smiling obediently in his arms:

"Mm, then I'll wait for you to come back."

Ning Rongrong stood outside the house, watching Xia Yan leave. In the quiet Shrek Academy village, hers was the only room still glowing with light.

Shrek Academy was only forty or fifty miles away from Suotuo City.

Xia Yan's figure moved rapidly through the moonlit night.

In less than half an hour, He arrived at the Great Soul Arena of Suotuo City.

The Great Soul Arena of Suotuo was a massive structure, oval in shape and nearly a hundred meters high. In the shroud of night, it appeared extremely imposing, with faint lights flickering within.

It was the most famous place in Suotuo City.

Notting City had a Soul Arena, and Suotuo City had a Great Soul Arena. While they looked like they only differed by a single character, the two were fundamentally different.

Soul Arenas existed everywhere; any place provided for Soul Masters to battle could be called a Soul Arena, regardless of scale.

It was just like how any place that sold goods could be called a shop, But "Great Soul Arena" was a proper noun, Referring specifically to the third-party competitive venues founded jointly by the seven great Soul Master families of the continent. They were only established in major cities and did not belong to the Martial Soul Hall or the two great empires.

The rules of the Great Soul Arena were not complex.

Battles were divided into one-on-one, two-on-two, and group battles of seven to ten people.

The lowest rank was the Iron Badge, followed by the Copper Badge, Silver Badge, and then the Gold, Purple Gold, Sapphire, Ruby, and Diamond Badges, totaling eight levels.

At the Iron Soul Master stage, winning a match earned one point, while losing a match deducted one point.

After five consecutive wins, every subsequent victory earned ten points; after ten consecutive wins, every subsequent victory earned one hundred points. The same logic applied to losses.

Reaching ten points earned a Copper Badge.

After obtaining a Copper Badge, the points earned per match increased tenfold. Accumulating one hundred points would upgrade one to a Silver Badge, and obtaining one thousand points would upgrade one to a Gold Badge...

And so on, until one obtained the Diamond Badge.

Shrek students could only graduate once they had obtained a Silver Soul Badge.