Not Everything Revolves Around You

Those words were so overbearing that even several guards hidden in the shadows could not help twitching their lips.

My dear young lady, Martial Souls and Soul Masters were one and the same. How could there be such a thing as "selling a Martial Soul"?

This was no longer a matter of lacking common sense. This was simply being unreasonable.

They could only offer this young man a moment of silence.

Zhou Qiubai could not be bothered to explain. He turned sideways, intending to leave.

"Stop right there!" Ning Rongrong was truly angry.

Ever since she was little, what had she ever wanted but failed to get?

Even if she wanted the stars in the sky, someone would pluck them down for her.

Yet today, she had been rejected twice in a row, and in the middle of the street, no less. She could not bear the embarrassment.

But she seemed to think of something. "Fine, you won't sell your Martial Soul, right? Then I'll buy you instead! You look like a Soul Master too. Follow me from now on—carry my bags, run errands, and be my guard! Every month... every month, I'll give you a thousand gold coins. No, five thousand!"

She felt she had offered an astronomical price.

Five thousand gold coins a month was enough for an ordinary Soul Master to live an extremely comfortable life.

Collecting subsidies from Spirit Hall?

How much could that amount to in a month?

Unfortunately...

Zhou Qiubai loved money, but he had better not earn money by selling himself.

So this time, he even quickened his pace.

"Y-you, stop right there!" Ning Rongrong jogged two steps to catch up beside him and reached for his arm. "I'm talking to you! Are you deaf?"

Just as her fingertips were about to touch Zhou Qiubai's sleeve, his wrist flicked. He seemed not to use much force, but Ning Rongrong felt a supple force strike the back of her hand. It did not hurt, yet it made her entire arm go numb for a moment, forcing her to pull it back.

"You actually dared..."

Ning Rongrong clutched her hand, both startled and furious, her pretty face flushing red.

Someone actually dared to lay hands on her?

Had she not said that her Martial Soul was the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda?

And even if he did not look at her Martial Soul, he should not have dared to touch her after seeing her clothes!

Did he not know that for a commoner to strike a noble was a grave disrespect?

Zhou Qiubai finally stopped and turned to look at her, a faint trace of pity in his eyes. "I've seen people looking for money and people looking for a beating, but I've never seen someone so eager to make herself miserable. Is this how your Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect teaches its young miss?"

His words carried another meaning as his gaze fell directly upon those crooked-looking men hidden in the shadows.

The few people in hiding were alarmed.

Even their sect master had praised their concealment skills. How had someone who looked no older than sixteen or seventeen discovered them...

That glance ignited Ning Rongrong's anger. The faint fear caused by her numb hand was instantly drowned out by rage. "Who do you think you are, daring to mention our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect? Let me tell you, I'm taking this sword today, and you're coming with me too! Otherwise..."

"Otherwise what?" Zhou Qiubai interrupted, his tone still calm. "You'll have your guards attack me? Or have those two Titled Douluo from your Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect come all the way here to kill me?"

He might panic if Titled Douluo came, but he certainly would not be afraid.

Ning Rongrong froze, not expecting him to know even that.

But she had been spoiled for too long to be willing to back down. "So what if I do? My Sword Grandpa's swordsmanship is unmatched in the world. Your lousy sword techniques aren't even worthy of carrying his shoes! My Martial Soul is the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, the number one support-type Martial Soul in the world! What would a wild Soul Master like you know about top-tier talent?"

For a commoner Soul Master, Innate Soul Power at level five or six was already quite good. Yet she was the first genius of her generation in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Even in the entire Heaven Dou Empire, there were only a handful whose Innate Soul Power surpassed hers.

Status and talent—those were the foundations of her pride.

It had to be said that although Ning Rongrong had princess syndrome, she truly had the life of a princess.

The more she thought about it, the more justified she felt. She even straightened her back. "You don't look that young. What level are you? Are you even level twenty-five? I'm twelve years old, with Innate Soul Power at level nine, and I'm already a level twenty-six Soul Grandmaster! What do you have to compare with me? Be obedient and follow me from now on. You'll get plenty of benefits!"

She finished in one breath, panting slightly, with a smug expression that seemed to say, "You're scared now, aren't you?"

Zhou Qiubai listened quietly, then nodded. "Twelve years old, level twenty-six, Innate Soul Power level nine. Not bad."

Merely not bad.

Outstanding talent, an excellent background, and the finest cultivation resources—things ordinary people could only dream of. If they were given to anyone else, they should not be this weak by now.

So...

Were you proud?

The corners of Ning Rongrong's lips had just begun to rise...

"So." Zhou Qiubai abruptly shifted the topic. His gaze settled on her face as he asked a question that seemed unrelated but was in fact deeply relevant. "Can you cultivate to become a Soul Douluo?"

Ning Rongrong's smile froze.

A Soul Douluo? Eight rings?

The limit of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda was seven rings, Soul Saint.

This was an ironclad rule known across the continent, a curse branded deep into the bloodline of this top-tier support Martial Soul.

She opened her mouth, wanting to refute him. She wanted to say that she was the genius most likely in hundreds of years to break the curse, that her father and two grandfathers had placed great hopes on her...

But those were only hopes, possibilities—not certainties.

It was only because her Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda possessed the highest Innate Soul Power in the entire sect.

For the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, Innate Soul Power at level six or seven was enough, because the endpoint was already set. The sect lacked no resources, and following the proper path to Soul Saint was a certainty.

"What... what do you know!" She became somewhat flustered and enraged. "I'm Father's only daughter, and the person my two grandfathers love most. My talent is the best! In the future, I will definitely..."

"Definitely what?" Zhou Qiubai interrupted again. "Definitely break the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's seven-ring limitation? Is that why they spoil and indulge you so much? Why, even when you're arrogant, willful, and run away from home, they cannot bear to scold or punish you? Because you are the hope they have wagered on—the possibility that might lead the sect in breaking the shackles that have bound it for generations?"

With every sentence he spoke, Ning Rongrong's face grew a shade paler.

Things she had vaguely sensed before but never deeply considered—or perhaps things she had simply been unwilling to examine—were laid bare by him in such blunt words.

"If they truly loved you only for who you were, would they let you develop such an ignorant, overconfident temperament? After you ran away in a fit of anger, would they merely send guards to follow you instead of immediately dragging you back for strict discipline?" Zhou Qiubai watched her slightly trembling pupils. His tone softened, yet his words became even clearer. "Miss Ning, how much of the affection and privilege you enjoy comes from Ning Rongrong herself, and how much comes from the label of 'the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's hope' that you carry?"

Ning Rongrong stood where she was, silent.

She thought of the complicated, indescribable look in her father Ning Fengzhi's eyes whenever he looked at her; of how Sword Grandpa Chen Xin doted on her, yet was stern whenever he urged her to cultivate; of Bone Grandpa Gu Rong's helpless indulgence whenever she acted mischievously...