The Willful Ning Rongrong, the Ghost Lotus Phantom Beast

The air in the middle of the Star Dou Great Forest was damp and stifling.

The enormous canopy layered over itself, blocking out the sky and casting only scattered patches of light and shadow on the ground.

For the past few days, Ji Feng hadn't come looking for trouble, and the smugness in Ning Rongrong's heart had nearly burst out of her chest.

As expected, she was still the Young Miss of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Across the entire Douluo Continent, how many sects could match the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect in wealth?

The other party had been so aggressive before, yet now he'd chickened out and didn't even dare show his face.

The more she thought about it, the more imposing she felt. Even her steps along the forest path grew lighter.

She hadn't taken Flender's Heart Separation Control training seriously at all.

Drawing a circle with one hand and a square with the other? Boring to the extreme.

Who was she, Ning Rongrong?

The darling of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, its future successor. Did she really need to put in effort herself for training this basic?

She could just go through the motions. As she thought this absentmindedly, she swept her eyes over the dense forest, looking around with a mix of boredom and pickiness.

Suddenly, Ning Rongrong stopped in her tracks.

In a clearing not far ahead, a strange plant stood in quiet bloom.

The entire plant was a translucent, dusky blue. Its layered petals resembled a lotus blooming in the mortal world, each petal edged with a faint glow. In the dim forest, it looked like a dusky-blue lantern.

A fist-sized orb of light floated above its stamen, shifting through seven colors. It was so beautiful that it seemed someone had plucked it from a dream and placed it before her eyes.

"The Ghost Lotus Phantom Beast..."

Ning Rongrong's eyes lit up at once. Her hands clasped unconsciously before her chest, and her voice took on a girl's sweet, excited lilt. "Oh my god, it's a hundred times prettier in person than in the illustrated guide!"

The Ghost Lotus seemed to sense a human gaze. Its petals trembled slightly, and the orb of light at its tip shimmered as if a frightened little beast were hesitating over whether to flee.

Ning Rongrong was completely captivated by the breathtaking scene. There was only one thought in her mind.

This flower was so beautiful. She had to get it.

"Oscar!" She turned and lifted her chin at the young man some distance behind her, her tone utterly matter-of-fact. "Go pick that flower for me."

Oscar froze for a moment, then looked past her at the Ghost Lotus Phantom Beast, his brow furrowing slightly.

He recognized it.

The Ghost Lotus Phantom Beast looked much like a plant, but it was an actual Soul Beast, and a high-ranked one at that.

"Rongrong,"

Oscar spoke softly, his tone conciliatory.

"That's a Soul Beast, not an ordinary flower. I can't tell how old the Ghost Lotus Phantom Beast is. If we provoke it, we could be in danger. Besides, we came here to train. If Grandmaster finds out we harmed a Soul Beast for no reason..."

He didn't finish, but his meaning was clear enough.

The smile on Ning Rongrong's face instantly turned cold.

"You don't want to?" She tilted her head and looked at Oscar.

Her gaze was like that of someone looking at a toy that had suddenly stopped obeying. "I only asked you to pick a flower for me, and you're putting me off with all this reasoning?"

Oscar opened his mouth, wanting to say more, but Ning Rongrong had already turned away and stopped looking at him.

She walked over to Tang San. Her icy expression changed in an instant, replaced by a wounded, aggrieved look.

"Tang San, tell me who's right."

Ning Rongrong's voice ended in a coy, petulant lilt.

"I only wanted to pick a flower. It's not an unreasonable request. Oscar actually refused to help me. Does he not care about me at all?"

Tang San leaned against the tree trunk, his gaze passing calmly over Ning Rongrong's face.

He glanced at Oscar, still standing motionless in the distance, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

"Rongrong has a point," Tang San said, his voice gentle and certain.

He spoke as if stating something perfectly ordinary.

"It's just a flower. Oscar, what's the harm in helping Rongrong pick it? A support-type Soul Master may not be good at fighting, but surely he can summon the courage to pick a flower."

Oscar looked at Tang San, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.

Tang San met his gaze, his smile unchanged, though his eyes remained cold.

No one understood better than he did just how wealthy the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was.

He would have many more things to rely on Young Miss Ning for in the future.

As for what Oscar thought, that didn't matter.

Whether the flower was a Soul Beast or a plant didn't matter either.

What mattered was making Ning Rongrong feel that he was on her side. That was enough.

Fawn over her, indulge her, make her happy, and make sure she remembered that she owed Tang San one.

Ning Rongrong was satisfied, just as expected. She raised her chin again and glanced sidelong at Oscar, her expression plainly saying, "See? Even Tang San agrees with me."

Oscar was silent for several breaths, but in the end, he started forward.

He walked toward the Ghost Lotus Phantom Beast, his steps light, though unease mounted with every step.

As the owner of the Food-type Martial Soul, Sausage,

His ability to sense Soul Beasts wasn't particularly strong, but the closer he got,

The Soul Power fluctuations emanating from the Ghost Lotus grew clearer.

Those weren't the fluctuations of a three-hundred-year-old Soul Beast, nor even a thousand-year-old one.

A six-thousand-year-old Ghost Lotus Phantom Beast would show faint blackish-purple markings along the edges of its petals up close, traces left by the passage of time. He could see them clearly now.

Alarm bells rang in Oscar's heart, and his steps halted involuntarily.

But Ning Rongrong was already urging him impatiently from behind. "Hurry up! What are you dawdling for?"

He gritted his teeth.

He didn't even need to imagine what Ning Rongrong or Tang San would say if he turned back now.

Maybe if he was careful and only touched a petal, he wouldn't alert the Soul Beast itself?

Clinging to that final shred of hope, he slowly and cautiously reached toward the flower, its ghostly light shimmering.

The instant his fingertip touched a petal, every last hope was torn to shreds.

The Ghost Lotus Phantom Beast exploded into action!

Its layered petals burst outward in a fraction of a second.

The orb of seven-colored light at its center suddenly swelled, transforming into a scorching beam that shot straight at Oscar's chest.

Oscar's pupils contracted. His body instinctively sprang backward as he rapidly chanted his soul incantation.

"Sausage!"

His Martial Soul manifested in an instant, but it was already too late.

The beam slammed squarely into his chest.

Oscar was sent flying, his back crashing hard against a thick tree trunk.

The brittle crack of breaking bone mingled with the muffled groan rising from his throat.

He coughed, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the ground, its bright red stark against the forest floor.

It felt as though a red-hot iron had been shoved into his chest. Every breath wrenched at his bones and sinews, bringing searing pain.

"Oscar!"

Ning Rongrong screamed, but she didn't rush over to check on his injuries.

Instead, she instinctively backed away two steps, her face filled with terror. "Oh my god, how could that thing..."