Word about what happened at the Training Ground quickly spread through Notting Academy.
Tang San's First Spirit Skill was poisonous, and it could entangle people, too.
But it leaked.
Xiao Chenyu spread the news all over the academy.
Meanwhile, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, deep in the heart of the Heaven Dou Empire, had yet to receive the latest news from Notting Academy.
The sect's inner courtyard.
Ning Rongrong sat in front of her dressing table, kicking the legs of her stool over and over with her toes.
Several books on basic cultivation for support-type Soul Masters lay on the table, along with notes on cultivating the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda, annotated by Ning Fengzhi himself.
She'd barely read two pages before pushing the books aside.
"Cultivation again, rules again."
"The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect is so huge. Can't you let me go out and play for a few days?"
The maid beside her kept her head down, not daring to answer.
The little princess wasn't bad-tempered, but whenever she got willful, everyone in the sect got a headache.
Ning Rongrong picked up a pastry and had just taken a bite when a gold-embossed Diary suddenly appeared on her dressing table.
Clack.
The pastry fell back onto the plate.
Ning Rongrong stared at the Diary for a moment, then reached out and poked its cover.
A line of text was written on it.
[Su Hang's Diary, Ning Rongrong's Exclusive Copy]
Ning Rongrong shot to her feet.
"Who put this here?"
The maid was startled, too, and hurriedly shook her head.
"Miss, it wasn't me."
Ning Rongrong circled the room. The window was shut, and the door hadn't opened.
The Diary had simply appeared on her table.
She gritted her teeth and reached out to open it to the first page.
[Douluo Calendar, 2637. Night.]
[Tang San's First Spirit Ring was a disaster today. Blue Silver Grass's Entangle leaked, and Yu Xiaogang stubbornly kept lecturing about theory. It made for quite the feast.]
Ning Rongrong blinked.
Tang San?
Yu Xiaogang?
She'd never heard of them.
She kept reading, but then the Diary suddenly mentioned her.
[Still, among all the goddesses on the Douluo Continent, Ning Rongrong, the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, is pretty interesting.]
[She was spoiled rotten by Ning Fengzhi, Sword Douluo, and Bone Douluo from the time she was little, and she's got a full-blown Eldest Miss attitude. After she goes to Shrek, Flender gives her a thorough dressing-down, and only then does she gradually change.]
Ning Rongrong slammed her hand on the table.
"Nonsense!"
"Why would I need someone else to teach me a lesson?"
The maid took half a step back in fright.
Ning Rongrong ignored her and flipped to the next page.
[What's even more outrageous is that she'll actually marry Oscar in the future.]
[A food-type Soul Master with a sausage Martial Soul.]
[So the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect ends up marrying a man who spends every day chanting incantations and selling sausages.]
Ning Rongrong froze for half a beat, then slammed the Diary onto the table.
"Su Hang, is it?"
"You're the one who'll marry a sausage seller!"
"Your whole family will marry sausage sellers!"
After cursing him out, she picked the Diary back up.
This Su Hang was infuriating.
She wanted to see what else he could make up.
But when she turned to the next pages, Ning Rongrong stopped fooling around.
[The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect looks glorious, but in truth, it can't escape the coming war on the continent.]
[Once the three-way game between Spirit Hall, Heaven Dou, and Star Luo begins, none of the Upper Three Sects can stay out of it.]
[No matter how good Ning Fengzhi is at calculating, he can't protect everyone.]
[Sword Douluo Chen Xin and Bone Douluo Gu Rong are both towering guardians. But once war breaks out, protecting the sect often means paying with their lives.]
[Ning Rongrong was spoiled as she grew up, but she also saw the sect bleed with her own eyes.]
[So she changes later on not just because Shrek taught her well. More than anything, loss forces her to grow up.]
The room fell silent.
Ning Rongrong sat back down, her fingertips pressing against the edge of the page.
No matter how willful she was, she knew the difference between what she could joke about and what she couldn't.
Her father.
Sword Grandpa.
Bone Grandpa.
Those names weighed more heavily on her than any rules.
Footsteps sounded outside the door.
Ning Fengzhi walked in, still holding the sect's account books.
"Rongrong, who upset you this time?"
Ning Rongrong immediately closed the Diary and hugged it to her chest.
The Diary appeared blank to everyone else. After Ning Fengzhi entered, all he saw was his daughter sitting at the table, looking rather troubled.
"Dad."
Ning Rongrong looked up and put on a natural expression.
"Is there a place called Notting Academy over in Heaven Dou?"
Ning Fengzhi paused.
"The little academy in Notting City?"
"Why do you ask?"
Ning Rongrong kicked the leg of her stool.
"Just curious."
"Is there someone named Su Hang?"
Ning Fengzhi didn't answer right away.
He put down the account books and sat in the chair beside her.
The trade routes through Heaven Dou had indeed brought back some recent news.
A new student had appeared at Notting Academy.
Six years old, with one Spirit Ring.
His First Spirit Ring was purple.
He'd even subdued Xiao Chenyu, the city lord's son.
In ordinary Soul Master circles, that kind of news would probably be dismissed as drunken boasting.
But the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was in business, so its sources of information were varied.
When the same story came through three different channels with much the same details, it was worth looking into.
Ning Fengzhi looked at the empty space in his daughter's arms.
"Where did you hear that name?"
Ning Rongrong lifted her chin.
"I'm not telling you."
Ning Fengzhi tapped the table lightly.
"Rongrong, this Su Hang is no ordinary person."
"Dad, you know about him too?"
Ning Rongrong almost let her composure slip.
Ning Fengzhi nodded gently.
"His First Spirit Ring is purple, and his Martial Soul is suspected to be a top-tier Beast Martial Soul."
"A place like Notting City couldn't produce a child like that."
Just then, two sets of footsteps sounded outside the door.
Sword Douluo Chen Xin entered first, dressed neatly in white, his sword still sheathed at his waist.
Bone Douluo Gu Rong followed him and made a beeline for Ning Rongrong as soon as he entered.
"Little princess, who's bullying you?"
"Bone Grandpa will tear down his house for you."
Ning Rongrong huffed.
"There's someone named Su Hang who says I'll marry a sausage seller someday."
Gu Rong was taken aback, then laughed so hard his shoulders shook.
"A sausage seller?"
"That kid's got some nerve."
Chen Xin, however, didn't laugh.
"Su Hang?"
Ning Fengzhi briefly explained the news that had come in from the Heaven Dou trade routes.
After listening, Chen Xin rested his fingers on the hilt of his sword.
"Keep an eye on him in secret."
"First find out where he comes from, then decide whether to approach him."
Gu Rong waved a hand.
"Old Swordsman, that's too slow."
"Rongrong's already asking about him. There's no way she'll be able to sit still."
Ning Rongrong immediately protested.
"Who can't sit still?"
Gu Rong grinned.
"You."
Ning Rongrong turned away and ignored him.
Ning Fengzhi rubbed his temples.
"Rongrong, you're not allowed to sneak out."
Ning Rongrong stood up at once.
"I won't sneak out."
"I was just asking."
Chen Xin watched her for a moment.
"For the next few days, I'll have someone keep an eye on the inner courtyard."
Gu Rong slapped the table.
"The more you watch her, the more she'll want to run."
"You might as well let me go with her."
Ning Fengzhi shook his head.
"No."
"There may be a Title-level expert behind Su Hang, or someone even stronger."
"If we go there rashly, they might misunderstand our intentions."
Listening from the side, Ning Rongrong only grew more curious.
A purple First Spirit Ring.
He dared to write about her future.
And he knew the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect would get dragged into a war someday.
Was this Su Hang genuinely capable, or was he just making things up to scare people?
That night.
The lights in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's inner courtyard gradually dimmed.
Ning Rongrong stuffed several changes of clothes into a small bundle, then added pastries, Gold Soul Coins, and a short dagger.
After thinking it over, she tucked the Diary into the very bottom.
She left a note on the table.
[Dad, Sword Grandpa, Bone Grandpa, I'm going to take a look at Notting Academy. I'll be back soon. Don't send too many people after me. It'd be embarrassing.]
When she'd finished, she nodded with satisfaction and slipped out through the back gate.
Outside the sect, a small carriage that had been prepared in advance waited beneath a tree.
One of her most familiar guards, the coachman had already been bribed with Gold Soul Coins.
Ning Rongrong climbed into the carriage and lifted the curtain to glance toward the sect.
No one came after her.
Only then did she pat her little bundle and clutch the diary to her chest.
"Su Hang, you'd better really be capable."
"Or I'll tear your bed apart."
Before you continue