School Life

Body Martial Souls had a major flaw: all their soul skills were tied to their own bodies and activated through them. If used repeatedly, they could easily allow enemies to find an opening.

To make up for this flaw, one needed combat techniques—the so-called Self-Created Soul Skills and fighting techniques.

Across the entire Douluo Continent, the use of combat techniques was relatively rudimentary. Most people gradually mastered them through constant soul battles, though some clans possessed some extremely fine Self-Created Soul Skills.

For example, the Clear Sky Sect's Clear Sky Nine Secret Skills and Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer, or the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's Dragon Transformation. By comparison, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had even more resources of this kind.

Aside from the Heart Separation Control passed down through the direct line of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, there was also the Seven Kill Sword Technique and more. The root of it all was that the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had an exceptionally wide variety of Soul Masters, and every generation had corresponding Titled Douluos. These Titled Douluos could generally provide the entire sect with a great number of Self-Created Soul Skills.

However, these Self-Created Soul Skills varied greatly in quality. The strongest was naturally Sword Douluo's Seven Kill Sword Technique, but unless one possessed a sword Martial Soul and was a core disciple within the sect, it was impossible to learn.

For the current Yang Xiong, though, all of that was still too far away. What he needed most now was to make his physique stronger, so he would not fall too far behind in the early stages.

Yang Xiong followed simple, repetitive routines at school. Every morning, he got up to exercise. He did not exhaust himself too much in the morning, focusing mainly on improving his mobility.

After breakfast, he went to school to study, mostly reading all kinds of books. These included all manner of knowledge from the Soul Master world, and occasionally he observed techniques for using soul power. In the afternoon, he returned home for intense training, pushing his stamina to its limit. After each day's exercise, he would usually end up sprawled on the floor.

That was when he took a medicinal bath. It relieved fatigue and also provided some physical therapy to his body, at least ensuring that he would not suffer any injuries.

After dinner, he devoted himself fully to meditation. Yang Xiong was still unable to engage in soul battles with others, so there was no need to consider actual combat yet. After all, he was only a six-year-old child.

It had to be said that Ning Rongrong's talent was truly impressive. Less than four months after awakening her Martial Soul, she had already become the first first-year student in the entire sect to obtain a soul ring, drawing envious looks from everyone around her.

However, Ning Rongrong had a bit of a princess complex and rather enjoyed being praised by others. Within the class, she was like the moon surrounded by stars.

Moreover, Ning Rongrong was especially generous. From time to time, she brought tasty food and fun things for her classmates, and sometimes even produced rare treasures, drawing countless sidelong glances.

Of course, Ning Rongrong herself also liked playing little tricks on people. All sorts of Sāo Cāo Zuo emerged one after another. Since they were all six-year-old children, their self-control was lacking, and after Ning Rongrong worked her magic, they would often burst into loud tears.

Ning Rongrong also liked leading a large group of people around the sect to stir up trouble, throwing the entire sect into chaos. She even played pranks on the teachers, giving even the Class Teacher a terrible headache, yet there was nothing he could do about her. This was also how Ning Rongrong earned the nickname Little Devil Girl.

It could be said that within the entire school, Ning Rongrong and Yang Xiong were two extremes. Ning Rongrong was the most dazzling presence in the academy, while Yang Xiong was the most low-profile person in the entire school.

Although they were in the same class, their personalities were vastly different, and they barely interacted.

Ning Rongrong had even pranked Yang Xiong several times, but he never took it to heart. Unlike the other children, he neither cried nor made a fuss. Instead, he was exceptionally respectful toward Ning Rongrong and simply continued studying alone.

Yang Xiong knew very well that Ning Fengzhi was raising Ning Rongrong as the next Sect Master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Yet due to its inherent limitation, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul could only cultivate to rank seventy-nine, and it was also a Support Soul Master. To control a sect, one needed to command far more than just strength.

For instance, the elite class had been deliberately arranged so Ning Rongrong could interact more with her classmates. That way, she could gain tremendous prestige among them and even learn to manipulate people's hearts.

This was also one of the reasons Ning Fengzhi indulged Ning Rongrong's reckless behavior. Otherwise, it would have been fundamentally impossible for a girl to inherit the sect.

Compared with the other top sects, the position of Sect Master in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was far harder to hold. After all, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda could only cultivate to rank seventy-nine. Besides Ning Fengzhi, there were certainly quite a few Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Soul Masters within the sect who had reached the Soul Saint rank. Yet Ning Fengzhi had made the entire sect as solid as an iron barrel, and within it, his word was law. Such force of character was absolutely not something that could be matched merely by the support of two Titled Douluos.

Yang Xiong was especially aware that Ning Rongrong's every move within the sect was probably being monitored. Anyone who tried to harbor improper intentions toward her would likely be dealt with at the first opportunity.

Cultivating a Body Martial Soul was even more difficult than Yang Xiong had imagined. Innate Soul Power at rank six made him something of a minor genius, but compared to those with Innate Soul Power at rank nine or Innate Full Soul Power, the gap was still enormous.

It took Yang Xiong a full two years to raise his soul power to rank ten. In the entire Class One, he was the slowest of them all, even slightly worse than those with Innate Soul Power at rank five.

A genius like Ning Rongrong could increase her soul power by two and a half to three ranks each year, and her progress would be even faster in the early stages.

Still, Yang Xiong merely trained diligently without growing overly anxious. For a Full-Body Body Martial Soul, progress might be comparatively slow in the early stages, but he would definitely catch up to their cultivation speed later on. Besides, he had grasped quite a few secrets of the Soul Master world, which would be immensely beneficial to his future cultivation.

However, Yang Xiong now faced a small problem: what exactly should he do with the item in his hand?

During the holidays, Yang Xiong wandered around Seven Treasure City by himself for some time and happened upon something quite valuable—a piece of whale rubber.

This piece of whale rubber was only about the size of an egg. Judging by its quality, it should have been a Hundred-Year Whale Rubber, and it cost only one hundred Gold Soul Coins. Without a second thought, Yang Xiong bought it.

Unfortunately, when he bought the whale rubber, he ran into Ning Rongrong, who was also out shopping.

Ning Rongrong seemed quite knowledgeable and actually knew that whale rubber had aphrodisiac effects. The expression on her face as she looked at Yang Xiong turned strange, and her eyes seemed full of disdain.

Yang Xiong was only eight years old, yet he was already buying whale rubber at such a young age. It was simply inconceivable, completely unlike Yang Xiong's usual low-profile personality.

Ning Rongrong looked at him with utter disdain. "Little Xiongzi, I never expected someone your age to already be using whale rubber. So that expression you usually wear is all an act. Aren't you afraid your parents will find out?"

Yang Xiong was speechless. "Classmate Rongrong, I just thought it was interesting and bought it as a collectible. Don't overthink it."

Ning Rongrong wore an expression of understanding. "I get it, I get it. Little Xiongzi, you won't have to keep pretending like this from now on, right?"

Yang Xiong: ...