Running Laps

Ning Rongrong glanced at the thing in his hand, then recalled that soul chant from earlier. A thin layer of frost appeared on her face.

"No need." Her voice was gentle, but her refusal was crisp and decisive. "This young lady isn't hurt. I only used up some Soul Power."

She let out a soft breath and activated the passive absorption function of the Qi Body Origin Stream within the Wind Empress Qimen. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the air poured into her body at an imperceptible speed, and the pallor of her face visibly returned to a healthy flush.

More than ten breaths later.

Ning Rongrong stood there with a face as calm as water, her hair perfectly neat and not even a speck of dust on her white dress.

Compared to the bruised and battered Tang San, the unconscious Xiao Wu, and Zhu Zhuqing, she looked far too intact for someone who had just fought a Soul Saint.

Zhao Wuji stopped wiping his nosebleed.

He turned and looked Ning Rongrong up and down.

The girl had clearly been so exhausted that she could barely stand just moments ago. How had she recovered so completely in such a short time?

"You." Zhao Wuji's gaze became scrutinizing. "You're the girl from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Aren't you only a Soul Grandmaster? What exactly are all those strange abilities of yours? Spatial displacement, water bullets, earth spikes, wind walls, and that icy ground you made for Tang San... Isn't your Martial Soul the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda? Since when did the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda have those effects?"

Dai Mubai looked over as well, his eyes full of confusion.

Oscar looked utterly baffled.

Tang San propped himself up into a sitting position, his gaze also falling on Ning Rongrong. During the battle, he had already vaguely sensed it. Ning Rongrong's abilities had nothing to do with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda. They clearly belonged to an entirely different system of power.

Everyone's eyes converged on Ning Rongrong alone.

Ning Rongrong tilted her head.

She had originally planned to keep some trump cards hidden. But the battle had already exposed more than half of her abilities, and there was no way to conceal them now.

Besides, these people would be her classmates from now on.

More importantly, the desire buried deep in her bones to be seen, to prove that she was more than just support, could no longer be suppressed.

"That isn't an ability of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda." Ning Rongrong smiled, her tone casual. "It's another Soul Skill I learned. It's called Wind Empress Qimen."

She raised her left hand, palm facing upward.

A small orange-red flame flickered twice in her palm before going out. In its place, an egg-sized droplet floated above her hand, smooth and translucent.

The droplet shattered and became a sharply faceted ice crystal.

The ice crystal melted, and a clump of yellow-brown earth condensed out of thin air.

The earth dispersed, and tiny blue-white arcs of electricity crackled at her fingertips.

The five elements appeared in succession, taking less than five seconds from start to finish.

Everyone present stopped breathing.

Zhao Wuji's hand, which was wiping away his nosebleed, froze in midair.

Dai Mubai's evil eyes widened to their limit.

The sausage in Oscar's hand fell to the ground, and he did not even notice.

Tang San sat on the ground, his brows deeply furrowed.

Zhu Zhuqing stood in the back. Her icy face remained expressionless, but her eyes were locked tightly on the scene. At some point, the fingers behind her back had silently clenched, and no one knew what she was thinking.

Ning Rongrong lowered her hand, then lightly stamped her right foot. Her body vanished from where she stood and appeared three meters away. With another step, she returned to her original position.

Spatial displacement.

She had displayed it so casually, as though it were nothing.

"Simply put," Ning Rongrong said, clasping her hands behind her back as though introducing a newly purchased dessert, "this Soul Skill lets me control changes in matter within a certain range around me. The five elements, spatial movement, transformations of material states—I can do all of it."

A deathly silence followed.

Zhao Wuji was the first to speak. His voice was somewhat dry.

"You're saying this is one Soul Skill?"

Ning Rongrong nodded. "One."

"One Soul Skill can control fire, water, lightning, and earth, perform displacement, and create wind walls?"

"Mhm."

Zhao Wuji stared at her for a long while before looking at Dai Mubai beside him. Dai Mubai stiffly shook his head, indicating that he did not know either.

"Impossible." Zhao Wuji's brows knotted together. "I've lived for so many years, but I've never heard of a Soul Skill with so many different effects. Even a Soul Skill bestowed by a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring couldn't cover so many attributes at once. Unless it's a Self-Created Soul Skill—but even a Self-Created Soul Skill couldn't reach this level at your rank."

Ning Rongrong tilted her head, her smile sweet.

"Teacher Zhao, didn't you say it yourself? You only accept monsters here."

That night, Flender assigned the dormitories: two rooms for the girls and two for the boys. Ning Rongrong shared a room with Xiao Wu, while Zhu Zhuqing had a room to herself. Ning Rongrong had no objections. Xiao Wu had a lively personality, and getting along with her was not tiring.

The next morning.

Ning Rongrong met Shrek Academy's other two senior students.

One was Ma Hongjun, a fat man covered in flab with a red mohawk. His Martial Soul was a phoenix, and after its mutation, it carried some flaw that people would rather not think too deeply about. The other was Oscar, a food-type Soul Master with a face full of beard who always held a sausage in his hand. He possessed Innate Full Soul Power.

The way Ma Hongjun stared at Ning Rongrong and Xiao Wu made Ning Rongrong uncomfortable all over.

But she maintained her smile.

The refined lady persona was officially on duty.

After breakfast, Flender's bell summoned everyone to the training ground.

The dean with a face like the sole of a shoe stood in the center. His gaze swept over the seven people from behind square black-rimmed glasses before finally settling on Ning Rongrong and Oscar.

"You two auxiliary types, today's lesson is physical training." Flender's voice carried a magnetic rasp. "Starting now, run twenty laps around the entire village. If you haven't finished before lunch, you don't get lunch."

Oscar's expression collapsed.

Ning Rongrong tilted her head.

Twenty laps?

She quickly calculated the distance in her mind. One lap was at least three kilometers, so twenty laps meant sixty kilometers. For an auxiliary-type Soul Master in her twenties, that was indeed a torturous number.

But for her...

The corners of Ning Rongrong's lips curled upward.

The information flow of the Wind Empress Qimen steadily circulated deep within her mind. It reduced the air resistance against her body, altered the coefficient of friction between the soles of her feet and the ground, and made every step feel as though she were gliding over ice.

She had already tested all of this on the road to Suotuo City yesterday.

"Go." Flender waved his hand.

Oscar sighed and glanced at Ning Rongrong. "Follow me. I'll lead the way."

Ning Rongrong smiled at him. That smile was gentle and appropriate, carrying a hint of shared misery.

The two left the academy grounds.

Oscar began to run. His pace was neither fast nor slow, the most reasonable rhythm for an auxiliary-type Soul Master running long distance.

Ning Rongrong followed behind him.

Three steps.

She followed him for only three steps.

Then her body suddenly accelerated.