Can This Be Taught Too?

Ning Rongrong's pupils widened slightly.

Eight?

She had seen quite a few Soul Masters in her life. Grandpa Sword had nine soul rings and nine soul skills, and Grandpa Bone was the same. But most of those soul skills were extensions of the same system; fundamentally, they followed a single path.

Yet the Wind Empress Qimen this person had displayed just now encompassed transformation, Five Elements manipulation, and spatial displacement in a single soul skill. If his other seven soul skills were of the same caliber...

Impossible.

Ning Rongrong shook her head, tossing that thought aside.

"Keep bragging." She crossed her arms and lifted her chin, resuming that lofty, scrutinizing stance. "I'll admit that Wind Empress Qimen of yours has some substance. But if you're saying you have eight more soul skills just like it... Never mind whether you even have that many soul skills. If they're all that outrageous, I don't believe it."

She cocked her head, her gaze full of judgment.

"Besides, if the rest are just ordinary soul skills, I won't be interested."

Yang Xing smiled.

There was a certainty in that smile that Ning Rongrong could not describe, as though he had expected her to say exactly that.

"I guarantee none of them are ordinary." His tone was almost excessively frank. "This master of yours does not do things that disappoint Miss Ning."

"Who's your disciple?! Who are you calling your master?!"

Yang Xing pretended not to hear. He raised his right hand, extended his index finger, and traced something through the air.

Ning Rongrong instinctively stepped back half a pace. Last time, this man had pointed at her, flicked her forehead, and turned her into a bird.

But this time was different.

The path Yang Xing's fingertip traced through the air left behind a faint golden streak.

The streak hovered in the air without fading.

Ning Rongrong's gaze was immediately drawn to it.

The golden streak bent and extended through the air. Yang Xing's finger was like an invisible brush, writing something into the void.

Three strokes, five strokes, seven strokes. A complete, bizarre symbol she had never seen before took shape.

Golden light flowed across the entire symbol as it hovered in midair, giving off an indescribably ancient aura.

"This is..." Ning Rongrong's lips moved.

Before she could finish—

Yang Xing flicked his finger, and the golden symbol shot straight toward Ning Rongrong.

Ning Rongrong's pupils contracted. She instinctively tried to dodge, but the symbol was too fast. In the blink of an eye, it had pressed against her body.

"Bzz."

A deep hum rose from beneath her feet.

Before Ning Rongrong could react, her vision darkened. A layer of earthy yellow light rose from the ground and enclosed her completely. Like an inverted bell, it sealed her inside without a gap.

She reached out to push against the barrier. Her fingertips met an earthen wall as hard as iron.

"Hey!" Ning Rongrong's voice came from inside the earthen dome, muffled. "What are you doing?! Let me out!"

The earthen dome vanished. It came quickly and went just as quickly, lasting no more than three seconds.

Ning Rongrong's hair was a little disheveled from being trapped inside, and her face was full of anger. Just as she was about to start cursing, she caught sight of Yang Xing's fingers moving again.

This time, he drew a blue talisman.

It was faster than before, with fewer strokes.

The instant it was completed, Yang Xing casually tossed it upward.

Ning Rongrong looked up.

A dark cloud appeared out of thin air three feet above her head. It was only the size of a washbasin, a small, gloomy mass hanging precisely above her.

Then it began to rain.

Not a drizzle, but a torrential downpour that came crashing down in sheets. It was outrageously precise, drenching only her while not a single drop splashed nearby.

"Ah!"

Ning Rongrong screamed and covered her head with both hands.

But it was useless. That cloud seemed to have eyes, sticking to her wherever she went. When she ran left, it drifted left. When she dodged right, it moved right.

In three seconds, Ning Rongrong was soaked from head to toe. Her white dress clung to her body, water dripped from her short hair, droplets hung from her lashes, and she looked as bedraggled as a drenched kitten.

"Yang Xing! Just you wait!!"

Her voice was nearly a shriek forced from her throat. She charged at Yang Xing through the puddles, both fists clenched until her knuckles turned white.

Yang Xing's finger moved again.

A crimson talisman flew out and stuck precisely one foot in front of Ning Rongrong.

A wave of gentle heat washed over her at once.

Ning Rongrong halted.

It was hot, but not scalding. The temperature was just right, like the warmth of a fire by the hearth in winter. Her soaked hair and the white dress plastered to her body began to steam dry at a visible speed in the heat.

Two seconds.

Her clothes were dry. Her hair was dry. Even the stray strands that had stuck to her cheeks from being soaked had fluffed back up.

Ning Rongrong stood frozen in place, lowering her head to look at her sleeve, dry and fresh as before.

Her charge toward Yang Xing had been interrupted. Her fists were still clenched, but she could not take another step forward.

Because she did not know whether to hit him first or ask what that was first.

Yang Xing gave her no time to struggle with it.

His fingers wrote continuously through the air, sending one glowing talisman after another flying out.

A pale purple talisman drifted before Ning Rongrong and pressed itself between her brows.

A cool sensation spread from her forehead, like drinking a cup of iced plum juice. The fury that had surged from being drenched actually calmed down several degrees beyond her control.

"Clear-Mind Talisman." Yang Xing's voice was lazy. "For cooling your temper."

Ning Rongrong's eye twitched.

A white talisman circled around her once. After a flash of white light, every mark on her clothes—from rolling on the ground earlier, getting dust on them, and brushing against the bench—vanished completely. Her white dress was spotless as new, and even its wrinkles had been smoothed out.

"Clean-Clothes Talisman."

Another golden-red talisman stuck to the back of her hand. A sensation of strength spread from her arm through her entire body, and Ning Rongrong's eyes immediately lit up. She could clearly feel as though her soul power had been lifted by a notch.

"Strength-Boosting Talisman. It lasts for a quarter of an hour."

Yang Xing withdrew his hand, interlaced his fingers before himself, and looked at Ning Rongrong with a smile.

Ning Rongrong stood where she was.

Her mind was racing.

Earth escape, rain summoning, high-temperature evaporation, calming the mind, cleaning clothes, boosting strength. Six completely different effects, corresponding to six entirely different talismans. Yang Xing had drawn every one of them in the air on the spot, and they took effect the moment they were completed.

This was different from Wind Empress Qimen.

Wind Empress Qimen achieved various effects through manipulating changes with one's own power. Fundamentally, it was a form of direct control over space and matter.

But this relied on drawing different symbols to unleash different abilities. The symbols themselves were the medium, the weapon, and the vessel.

They were entirely different systems.

One worked from within outward. The other used talismans as a catalyst.

Ning Rongrong had completely forgotten her grudge over being drenched like a rat. Her eyes shone as she stared at Yang Xing, her lips parting as she spoke with barely restrained urgency.

"What soul skill is this?"

She took two steps forward.

"Can this be taught too?"