Before the four of them had even made it back to the academy gates, Xiao Wu grabbed Bai Chenxiang by the wrist and dragged her into a narrow alley beside the pedestrian street.
"Come on, come on. Let's go in and talk."
The alley was flanked by the back walls of two shops, with several empty wooden crates piled against the walls.
Sunlight only reached the entrance. The alley itself was dim and hard to see into.
Xiao Wu glanced around twice, making sure no one else was there, then released Bai Chenxiang's wrist and turned to face her.
"Chenxiang, what did you win? Hurry up and tell us!"
Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing came over too. The three of them cornered Bai Chenxiang at the back of the alley.
Bai Chenxiang was hemmed in and took half a step back, her back pressing against the cool brick wall.
She lowered her head. Her two drooping braids rested against her chest, and her voice was very soft.
"I won a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring."
The alley fell silent for a beat.
Xiao Wu's eyes flew wide open, and her mouth dropped open. "What? A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring?"
Ning Rongrong's breathing suddenly quickened, the waistband of her blue skirt tightening slightly as her chest rose and fell.
Zhu Zhuqing had been leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, but when she heard those four words, she straightened up.
The three of them stared at one another, none of them speaking first.
The air froze for two or three seconds.
Xiao Wu was the first to snap out of it. She rushed over, grabbed Bai Chenxiang's sleeve, and gave it a vigorous tug.
"Good heavens, is that for real? A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring? Say that again!"
Bai Chenxiang's sleeve was tugged crooked. She nodded. "It's real."
Xiao Wu's heart pounded like a drum, and her ears were buzzing. She quickly ran through the implications in her mind.
What did a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring mean? It was something that only powerful Titled Douluo-level experts could possess, according to legend!
Across the entire Spirit Academy, there were probably only two people with Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings: the dean and the vice dean.
And Bai Chenxiang, a Level 61 Soul Emperor, had caught a palm-sized Ragdoll Swallow and gotten a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring?
Ning Rongrong took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
"Wait, Chenxiang. How are you going to absorb a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring? You're only Level 61. According to normal theory, a Level 61 body can't withstand the energy impact from a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring."
Zhu Zhuqing had thought of that too, and looked at Bai Chenxiang.
Bai Chenxiang shook her head. "There's no need to digest and absorb it."
"What do you mean?"
"Because it's only a fake Soul Ring. A decorative one."
The three of them froze.
Xiao Wu let go of Bai Chenxiang's sleeve. "A fake Soul Ring? A decorative one?"
Bai Chenxiang nodded.
"Right. It isn't a real Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring. It won't give me any actual increase in Soul Power, and it won't come with a Soul Skill. But the description said that when it's displayed, the aura is real. The pressure, Soul Power fluctuations, and light effects are all exactly the same as those of a real Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring."
Ning Rongrong blinked, taking a few seconds to process that.
"You mean that when other people see you display your Soul Rings, they'll think you really have a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring?"
"Right."
The corner of Zhu Zhuqing's mouth twitched.
Xiao Wu slapped her thigh and bounced with excitement. "This is great! So great! Hurry and show us. Let's see how it looks!"
Bai Chenxiang glanced around the alley to make sure no one was nearby, then took a deep breath.
"Okay, I'll release it. Be ready. I'll control the aura so it won't put any pressure on you."
Xiao Wu rubbed her hands together and stepped back half a pace. Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing also moved back a little.
Bai Chenxiang closed her eyes.
The next moment, Soul Rings lit up around her.
[Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black... red!]
Six Soul Rings appeared one after another, giving off a gentle glow in the dim alley. This was Bai Chenxiang's original Soul Ring Configuration: standard, the normal level for a Level 61 Soul Emperor.
Then the final Soul Ring, which had originally been [black], turned into an enormous red halo!
The red Soul Ring rose from beneath Bai Chenxiang's feet and slowly expanded. Its light instantly filled the entire alley.
Although Bai Chenxiang controlled the aura and didn't release any real pressure, the glow and texture of that red Soul Ring still stunned all three of them.
A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring.
The red halo danced across the brick walls, casting Bai Chenxiang's shadow on the wall behind her, stretching it long and large.
Xiao Wu stared, mouth half open.
Ning Rongrong instinctively covered her mouth with one hand.
Zhu Zhuqing's pupils contracted.
"This... this is convincing enough to pass for the real thing!" Xiao Wu murmured.
The red Soul Ring's sheen, patterns, and fluctuation frequency were almost identical to the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings Xiao Wu had seen in the academy's audiovisual records.
If she hadn't known beforehand that it was fake, she would have thought Bai Chenxiang had suddenly awakened some heaven-defying inheritance.
Zhu Zhuqing stared at the red Soul Ring for two seconds, then shifted her gaze to where the original black Soul Ring had disappeared.
"Hey, didn't you have another black Soul Ring?"
Bai Chenxiang withdrew all her Soul Rings. The red light gradually faded, and the alley grew dim again.
"It was replaced by the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring," Bai Chenxiang explained. "When it's displayed, the black Soul Ring is hidden, and the red one appears in its place. But the replacement only lasts eight hours."
"What happens after eight hours?" Ning Rongrong asked.
"Then the red Soul Ring disappears, and the black Soul Ring returns to normal."
"Oh." Ning Rongrong quickly calculated in her head. "Eight hours is still plenty. That's a whole day, from morning until afternoon."
Xiao Wu's mind was already racing with ideas.
Her eyes rolled twice, and the corners of her mouth slowly curled up into a particularly wicked grin. "Hehehe."
Seeing Xiao Wu's expression, Ning Rongrong asked curiously, "What are you planning?"
Xiao Wu rubbed her hands together and lowered her voice. "What do you think would happen if we used this Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring to scare someone?"
The three of them exchanged glances.
The corners of Zhu Zhuqing's mouth lifted slightly.
Ning Rongrong thought it over and asked, "Scare who?"
"Ma Hongjun."
Xiao Wu tossed out the name in two crisp syllables.
Xiao Wu planted her hands on her hips, her Scorpion Braid swinging behind her.
"Think about it. In F4, Tang San got beaten up by me, Dai Mubai got beaten up by Zhuqing, and Oscar got beaten up by Rongrong. That leaves only Ma Hongjun, out of the four, who hasn't been taught a lesson. And that guy used to bother Chenxiang all the time."
At the word "bother," Bai Chenxiang's expression changed.
Ma Hongjun really was annoying. Ever since the first week of school, he had kept coming up to her every few days, saying things like, "Be my girlfriend." When she turned him down, he didn't just leave; he would even turn nasty and threaten her.
Once, in the classroom corridor, when there weren't many people around, Ma Hongjun had even grabbed her wrist. He'd held on so tightly that she had to struggle several times. Luckily, a classmate helped her, and she managed to break free.
The whole thing had made Bai Chenxiang very uncomfortable.
Xiao Wu continued, "So, while Chenxiang still has her Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring, we can use it to scare him. Then he won't dare bother Chenxiang again."
Ning Rongrong considered it and decided the idea seemed pretty solid.
"How do we do it?"
"Easy." Xiao Wu held up a finger, twirling it as she spoke.
"Once we're back at the academy, the four of us split up. Chenxiang goes alone and pretends she's by herself. The three of us go find Ma Hongjun. Once we find him, we'll have Chenxiang walk over alone. When Ma Hongjun sees her by herself, with his personality, he'll definitely come over."
"Then what?" Ning Rongrong pressed.
"Then Chenxiang pretends to get angry and activates her Soul Ring. The moment that Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring lights up, with Ma Hongjun's nerve, won't he be scared stupid right there on the spot?"
The more Xiao Wu talked, the more excited she got, her Scorpion Braid swaying like a rattle-drum.
"When he sees Level 61 Bai Chenxiang with a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring hanging over her head, what do you think he'll do?"