After thinking it over, Ning Rongrong slowly spoke:
"I think I've heard my father mention Qin Xuan. He's Bibi Dong's direct disciple, an unparalleled genius rarely seen in Spirit Hall in a hundred years."
"Could Zhu Zhuqing have joined Spirit Hall Academy because of Qin Xuan?"
"Mm." Dai Mubai nodded slightly. The image of the Nine Nether Evil God Tiger surfaced in his mind, and he sighed with emotion.
"Qin Xuan's Martial Soul seems to have mutated from the White Tiger Martial Soul. He's about our age, yet he's already reached the Soul King realm."
"Most importantly, his Soul Ring Configuration is simply heaven-defying..."
"Oh?" Yu Xiaogang grew interested. "What's Qin Xuan's Soul Ring Configuration?"
"Two Thousand-Year Soul Rings and three Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings!" The moment Dai Mubai finished speaking, everyone gasped.
Yu Xiaogang came to his senses and exclaimed in shock, "Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
"The energy limit a Soul Master can withstand from their First Soul Ring is just over four hundred years. How could he absorb a thousand-year Soul Ring? It defies common sense!"
"Mubai, are you sure you didn't see it wrong?"
"I'm not color-blind. How could I mistake it?" Dai Mubai replied, his eyes clouding with sorrow. "Qin Xuan's strength is terrifying. I lasted ten rounds against him, but in the end, I was no match for him."
"Boss Dai, lasting ten rounds against someone like that is still a respectable defeat!" Tang San comforted him.
"Mubai, what were Qin Xuan's Soul Skills?" Yu Xiaogang pressed on.
"This..." Dai Mubai was momentarily at a loss for words. After hesitating briefly, he said, "My head hurts. I'm going back to rest."
With that,
he covered his head with one hand and hurried toward the dormitory.
At that moment, he was cursing Yu Xiaogang's ancestors back eighteen generations.
He'd never fought Qin Xuan. He'd only been bragging, putting on a show in front of everyone.
Who could've guessed that this useless Grandmaster would be like a dog-skin plaster, sticking to him and asking questions nonstop?
Dai Mubai hadn't answered Yu Xiaogang's question and had hurried away. Anyone there who wasn't an idiot could guess what was going on.
As the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Ning Rongrong was blunt and didn't give "Boss Dai" an ounce of face.
"I bet Boss Dai never even fought Qin Xuan. He surrendered before the fight started!"
"Zhu Zhuqing is his fiancée, for heaven's sake. Boss Dai really is a coward!"
"If it were me, even if I couldn't beat Qin Xuan, I'd make sure he lost a layer of skin!"
Ning Rongrong had only recently joined Shrek Academy. She still had friction with the other five in their daily lives, and their relationship wasn't nearly as close as it would become later.
The little princess spoke loudly. In the quiet village, her words rang particularly harshly.
Dai Mubai hadn't gone far, so of course he heard her.
"Who are you calling a coward?"
"Go on, say that again!"
Roaring in anger, he released his Martial Soul and strode toward Ning Rongrong.
"That's enough!" Zhao Wuji hurriedly stepped in front of Ning Rongrong.
"Rongrong, that was going too far. Hurry up and apologize to Mubai!" Flender pushed up his round glasses and reminded her.
"Boss Dai is just trying to protect himself. If he really fought Qin Xuan, he'd probably die in Spirit City," Tang San added.
Xiao Wu, Oscar, and the others also looked at Ning Rongrong with traces of disgust.
Usually, the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was spoiled and willful, always putting herself first. She looked down on the academy's shabby facilities and grueling training, and she didn't get along particularly well with the other students.
She'd once skipped class and slacked off, only to be punished and publicly reprimanded by Dean Flender. Then Dai Mubai had sent her flying, giving her her first taste of failure.
That was why Ning Rongrong had disregarded Dai Mubai's dignity and struck him where it hurt.
Her words had been a little harsh, but she didn't think she'd said anything wrong.
And what happened?
She'd ended up the target of everyone's scorn instead!
"Heh..." Looking at their one hypocritical, ugly face after another, Ning Rongrong let out a cold laugh, her eyes reddening.
"Apologize?"
"Why should I apologize to Dai Mubai?"
"Now I see it clearly. You're all in this together!"
"If you look down on me, then I don't want to stay in this dump of an academy anymore. I'm leaving!"
With that,
she flung her sleeves and strode away without looking back.
As they watched Ning Rongrong's figure recede into the distance, no one tried to stop her.
The atmosphere at Shrek Academy was strange now.
There should have been seven members of the Shrek Seven Devils, but only five remained.
Afterward, Tang San thought over what Ning Rongrong had said before leaving. He tried seeing things from Dai Mubai's perspective, and found that, crude as her words had been, she had a point. It seemed she hadn't said anything wrong.
If Qin Xuan had taken Xiao Wu, he'd have risked his life to bring her back!
It was clear that Tang San's feelings for Xiao Wu were genuine. He'd risk his life for the woman he loved, but Dai Mubai clearly hadn't reached that level of devotion!
Besides, Dai Mubai himself was a coward. He'd abandoned Zhu Zhuqing once in Star Luo City, while Tang San had never once said he'd give up on Xiao Wu.
"Good riddance!"
"If Ning Rongrong doesn't leave, I'll personally kick her out of Shrek Academy!"
Dai Mubai ignored the strange looks around him, turned, and went back to his dormitory, slamming the door shut.
Half a month later.
After training hard for this period, Song Qingling and Xia Hui had both broken through to Soul Elder.
There wasn't much to do at Spirit Hall Academy on an ordinary day, so the two women returned to the Purple Heaven Sect to help Xia Lei handle the sect's affairs.
Zhu Zhuqing, meanwhile, trained in the Mimicry Training Hall every day, working hard from morning until night.
She didn't live in the dormitory at Spirit Hall Academy. Instead, she lived with Qin Xuan at Emerald Spring Villas.
Living with Qin Xuan gave her a strong sense of security. But the most important reason was that she could practice the Martial Soul Fusion Skill!
After spending this time together, Zhu Zhuqing had discovered that the compatibility between the Hell Spirit Cat and the Nine Nether Evil God Tiger was even higher than that of the White Tiger Martial Soul.
If they could fully fuse before the competition, they'd have another trump card.
At noon.
Qin Xuan lay alone on a leather sofa and murmured to himself:
"As a Soul Master's Soul Power Level rises, it gets harder and harder to advance."
"My Soul Power Level is at fifty-two now. I wonder if I can reach the level sixty bottleneck before the finals."
"Ah... relying on Spirit Hall all the time isn't a long-term solution."
"In the future, Tang San will have many forces behind him, including the Tang Sect and the Clear Sky Sect."
"If I want to cut off the Tang family's fortune, I'll have to do more than defeat Tang San. I need to crush them across the board in every other way too, so they can't rise from the ashes."
"After the finals, it'll be time for me to establish my own sect!"
"One that lasts forever, just like the Tang Sect. Even after ten thousand years, it'll still stand on the continent!"
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