Ten Core Theories That Didn't Add Up!

Yang Xing's brain raced through a rapid calculation in 0.3 seconds.

Should he tell the truth?

No. Ning Rongrong was only twelve. Telling her he had spent an entire night in wild revelry with sixteen maidservants—at best, it would be unbecoming of a teacher; at worst, it would be instant social death.

His expression did not change in the slightest. He even put on a look of sudden realization.

"Oh, this?" Yang Xing's tone was light and breezy as he casually wiped his face twice with one hand. "This is a side effect from your master cultivating a special soul skill."

After saying that, he even winked at Ning Rongrong.

The angle and amplitude of that wink, combined with the colorful lipstick marks on his face and his messy bird's-nest hair, created an exceedingly bizarre comedic effect.

Ning Rongrong's eye twitched.

She rolled her eyes.

She did it with extraordinary precision, her eyes nearly rotating one hundred and eighty degrees, fully conveying the central message of, "What bullshit are you spouting?"

"Cultivating a soul skill." She repeated those four words in an even tone, as though reciting scripture. "Cultivating a soul skill leaves this many women's lip prints on your face?"

She tilted her head.

"Liar Master, are you trying to fool me or fool a ghost?"

Yang Xing remained composed. "I really was cultivating."

"Do you take this young lady for some clueless three-year-old?" Ning Rongrong's voice rose slightly, and her almond-shaped eyes narrowed. Her scrutinizing, furious gaze scraped inch by inch across Yang Xing's face. "Were you fooling around somewhere improper before you came here?"

There was something in her voice that she herself had not noticed.

It was not mere disgust.

It was a subtle, unreasonable irritation.

While she had been chased down and beaten, nearly bludgeoned to death with a stick, her liar master had actually been out fooling around with who knew what woman?

She had called out "Master" three times before he came.

Though apparently, she had needed to call three times anyway.

But she did not care about that.

All she knew was that she was unhappy.

The feeling made Ning Rongrong's chest feel stifled. She could not tell whether it was grievance or anger, but those marks simply offended her eyes. Very much so. Every last one of them offended her eyes.

Seeing the words "You'd better give this young lady a reasonable explanation, or I absolutely won't let this go" written all over Ning Rongrong's face, Yang Xing decisively chose to deny it firmly.

"I wasn't fooling around." He shook his head, his attitude sincere. "I really was cultivating."

Ning Rongrong gave a cold laugh.

"A method of cultivation that requires seven or eight women to stamp their seals all over your face?"

Yang Xing's mouth twitched. How was this girl's chain of logic so clear?

"Ahem." He gave a dry cough, his gaze drifting for half a second before he changed the subject at lightning speed. "Let's not talk about that. Good disciple, tell your master what happened just now. Why was an old man chasing you down and beating you? Is he from your academy? Did you cause trouble again?"

The three questions came crashing down like a barrage.

Ning Rongrong's attention was forcibly diverted somewhat. She opened her mouth, still wanting to press him about the lipstick, but the words "Did you cause trouble again?" struck another nerve with pinpoint accuracy.

"What do you mean, again?!" Her voice sharpened. "This young lady never causes trouble!"

"Then why was someone chasing you down and beating you?"

Ning Rongrong's lips moved.

Honestly, she did not really want to talk about it.

From skipping class during the day to go shopping, to being publicly scolded by Flender, arguing with Dai Mubai, then being chased down by Li Yusong, who had swung his staff at her seven times without landing a hit, only for the final strike to nearly take her life.

From beginning to end, she did feel that she had not been entirely blameless. She had been a tiny bit willful. If she told him, what if her cheap master did not take her side?

But she really had been feeling a little stifled today and wanted to talk about it.

Ning Rongrong's almond-shaped eyes shifted as she pressed her lips together.

A brief silence.

Yang Xing watched her look as though she wanted to speak but hesitated, waiting.

Three seconds later.

"Considering that you, Liar Master, came out in the middle of the night to help this young lady." Ning Rongrong's voice softened slightly, though her chin remained held high. Her haughty attitude of "This young lady is granting you the right to know" did not change at all. "And since you look like you really want to know."

Yang Xing had not looked particularly eager to know at all. Still, he cooperatively nodded.

"Then this young lady can tell you about it, but you absolutely cannot criticize me, understand?"

Yang Xing smiled and nodded. "Of course."

Then the two leaned their heads together and began whispering. Ning Rongrong's voice rose and fell, occasionally carrying hints of indignation and grievance, while Yang Xing nodded repeatedly and occasionally interjected a word or two. Their exchange looked especially harmonious beneath the moonlight.

To the people watching from more than ten meters away, the sight was indescribably strange.

Tang San stood where he was, his gaze fixed heavily on them.

He had seen the scene of pale blue light surging from Yang Xing's palm to heal Ning Rongrong with absolute clarity. Five seconds. From pale-faced and utterly drained to fully recovered, it had taken no more than five seconds.

"A healing-type soul skill." Tang San murmured, his brows tightly furrowed.

His mind raced.

Among his master Yu Xiaogang's ten core theories of soul masters, it was clearly stated that a soul skill's attributes were highly tied to the martial soul itself. A soul master's soul ring skills could not possibly encompass three entirely different attribute directions at once: attack, control, and healing.

But this person before him.

That kick which shattered six soul rings had been pure physical suppression.

And now he had displayed restorative abilities comparable to those of a top-tier healing-type Soul Sage.

Then there was the Wind Empress Qimen on Ning Rongrong—transformation, Five Elements manipulation, spatial displacement.

All of those came from the same person?

Tang San's Adam's apple bobbed.

"It doesn't fit Master's theories." His voice was soft, as if speaking to himself. "Why is this person's soul skill combination like this? How can one person possibly master so many abilities from completely different directions at once?"

He recalled what Ning Rongrong had said when she displayed the Wind Empress Qimen during the day.

She had said that her master possessed other soul skills as well. Every one of them could be taught.

Then this healing ability... was it one of them too?

One person possessing both top-tier offensive methods and top-tier healing methods. It completely shattered the conventional understanding of the soul master world.

Tang San unconsciously rubbed the jade at his waist.

Zhu Zhuqing stood behind and to Tang San's side.

Moonlight reflected in her cat-like eyes, and her gaze remained fixed on the hand Yang Xing had used to heal Ning Rongrong.

Pale blue light. A palm pressed down, and five seconds later, she was back to full health.

"So this is one of the other soul skills Ning Rongrong said her master could teach?" Zhu Zhuqing's lips moved, her voice too quiet for anyone but herself to hear.