Ning Rongrong had been especially well-behaved these past few days.
She arrived earlier than anyone else for class and left later than everyone else.
Whenever she had nothing to do, she hovered around Li Hanqiu, asking him about one thing, then another.
Even after finishing her questions, she lingered beside him, her hands clasped behind her back as she bobbed along on tiptoe at his heels.
This had left Tang San frantic these past few days. He tried every means imaginable to keep Ning Rongrong from approaching Li Hanqiu.
He was just short of pinning Ning Rongrong down in the middle of the night and whipping her with Blue Silver Grass.
Whenever Li Hanqiu graded their cultivation notes, she leaned over the corner of his desk, watching him with a beaming smile.
When Li Hanqiu scolded someone, she chimed in beside him, taking it upon herself to add, "But I didn't upset Teacher today!"
Her behavior made it obvious that she liked Li Hanqiu. In fact, all he needed to do was ask, "Would you like to become my disciple?"
Nine times out of ten, Ning Rongrong would fold her arms and say, looking both bashful and haughty, "W-well, if you insist, I suppose I'll listen to you!"
Unfortunately, Li Hanqiu seemed to have gone blind, paying no attention whatsoever to her eager attentions.
He taught when it was time for class and spent the rest of his time cultivating his soul power.
Whenever he had a spare moment, he buried himself in studying the newly arrived batch of soul beast hide armor. He planned to cultivate Martial Soul Avatar Armor and hoped to find inspiration in those hides.
In short, he simply ignored Ning Rongrong, leaving the girl so frustrated that she rolled around in her dormitory bed at night.
"That idiot! That blockhead! I've gone this far already. Why won't he say anything?"
Wrapped in her quilt, she rolled one way, cursed him, then rolled back again.
"He usually takes disciples faster than anyone. Why does he turn into a fool when it comes to this young lady?"
Xiao Wu had long since fallen asleep in the neighboring bed. She rolled over, one leg landing on her quilt with a smack.
"Mmm... carrots... carrots are yummy..."
Ning Rongrong rolled her eyes at Xiao Wu's long leg, then bundled herself up again.
The next day, she learned that Li Hanqiu had bought another batch of soul beast hide armor from outside.
This time, the materials were genuinely high-quality. Li Hanqiu intended to use them to study the vulnerable points of soul armor cultivation.
Her chance had come. Ning Rongrong's eyes lit up.
Li Hanqiu is so busy. He definitely won't have time to sort all this out, she calculated.
If I wipe every piece of hide armor clean and arrange them neatly, one by one, then when he walks in and sees how thoughtful and capable I am...
The more she thought about it, the redder her face became.
She wasted no time putting her plan into action.
That afternoon, she hurried excitedly to the academy gates.
But the delivery caravan had already left.
"Where are the people who delivered the hide armor?" she asked, grabbing the old gatekeeper.
"They left." The old man gestured leisurely. "About an hour ago, a scruffy fellow in a gray robe came along, calling himself some sort of Grandmaster, and collected the goods.
"He also said something about... Teacher Li asking him to receive them on his behalf. He headed that way, up the Back Mountain."
A gray robe? Scruffy facial hair?
Ning Rongrong's eyes darted. That had to be Gangzi!
What does he want with Li Hanqiu's soul beast hide armor? No, I have to take a look.
Ning Rongrong glanced toward the Back Mountain, lifted her skirt, and hurried after him.
On the Back Mountain trail.
The sun was nearly down, and the wind was chilly. Wild grass almost half a person's height lined both sides of the trail, rustling in the breeze.
Holding up her skirt and panting, Ning Rongrong spotted a hunched figure coming down the Back Mountain in the distance.
The figure wore a filthy gray robe and had a face covered in stubble. He glanced over his shoulder every few steps, skulking along. It was none other than Yu Xiaogang.
Ning Rongrong frowned and hid behind a tree.
"What shameful business is that rotten old man up to now...?"
Only after Yu Xiaogang had gone far away did she emerge from behind the tree and climb the Back Mountain.
Outside the warehouse.
The batch of soul beast hide armor was piled on the ground beneath coarse burlap, with several empty wooden crates discarded beside it.
"What was Yu Xiaogang doing? Surely he wasn't stealing the hide armor Li Hanqiu bought?" Ning Rongrong snorted.
She rolled up her sleeves, crouched down, lifted the burlap, and picked up the topmost piece of hide armor.
The materials really were excellent. The hide armor was thick and tough, with a smooth, glossy feel.
"This is pretty good quality. Is Li Hanqiu going to make armor out of it?"
Ning Rongrong wondered aloud, but before she finished speaking,
her fingers suddenly went numb.
A sharp pain followed, as though a needle had poked out of the hide armor and stabbed her.
"Ah-that hurts!"
Ning Rongrong sucked in a breath and tried to fling the piece away.
But her wrist no longer obeyed her. An icy tingling shot from her fingertips up her forearm, then spread to her shoulder and chest.
Her legs gave way, and she fell to the ground with a thud.
Soul power rampaged through her body, darting wildly in all directions as though something had agitated it.
Even the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda manifested without her control, its light flashing erratically.
"What... is happening...?"
Her little face flushed red, then abruptly turned white. A metallic sweetness rose in her throat, and she spat out a mouthful of blood before collapsing into the burlap.
The light before Ning Rongrong's eyes faded into darkness, layer by layer.
"Hanqiu..."
In her dazed state, that was all she managed to say.
A long time passed-or perhaps only an instant.
A gust of wind swept past outside the warehouse.
"Rongrong?"
Li Hanqiu's voice drifted up from below the slope.
He had been thinking about this shipment that day and had timed his visit to inspect it.
Seeing the empty crates scattered haphazardly outside the door from afar, his heart had already lurched.
He rushed up in a few strides and saw Ning Rongrong lying limp on the ground, her little face deathly pale and blood still clinging to the corner of her mouth.
His expression changed violently.
"Rongrong!"
Li Hanqiu hurried over, dropped to one knee, and lifted her to lean against him. He placed his fingers on her wrist to check her pulse.
"What happened?"
Ning Rongrong's eyes were half-open, her lips darkened. She could no longer form a complete sentence. "The... hide armor... has..."
Li Hanqiu swept his gaze over the ground, stopping on the overturned piece of hide armor.
There was no time to examine it closely.
He pressed one hand against Ning Rongrong's back and poured pure soul power into her as though it cost him nothing.
The soul power stored in his soul mark had been his last-resort trump card.
Now he released all of it. Even Holy Light Ao paced anxiously in circles beside them.
After a long while,
Ning Rongrong suddenly coughed and spat out another mouthful of dark-red blood.
This time, she expelled the poisoned blood.
Her breathing gradually steadied. Some of the deathly gray drained from her face, and much of its rosy color returned.
"Li... Li Hanqiu..."
She raised her eyes and found herself looking straight at his handsome face.
His features were as fine and handsome as ever, but his usual air of having victory firmly in hand was gone.
Only panic remained. Sweat had soaked the hair over his forehead, plastering it against his brow, and even his lips had turned slightly pale.
Seeing him like this, Ning Rongrong's tears suddenly spilled from her eyes.
"I'm... I'm sorry... I've caused you trouble again..."
"It's no trouble. No trouble at all." Li Hanqiu helped her sit upright. "How do you feel? Are you still uncomfortable?"
When Ning Rongrong pouted and shook her head, his heart finally settled halfway back into place.
If Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo learned that something had happened to Ning Rongrong under his care,
he had no confidence at this stage that he could fight two Titled Douluos.
Then confusion swept over him. How had Ning Rongrong been poisoned out of nowhere-and by such a vicious, insidious poison at that?
Li Hanqiu reached out, picked up the piece of hide armor from the ground, and brought it close to his nose.
A colorless, odorless substance had been secretly applied to the hide armor.
His nose alone could detect nothing. But when stimulated by soul power, that coating immediately released a faint, rank odor.
Li Hanqiu's gaze turned cold.
"Someone tampered with this batch of hide armor."
Ning Rongrong shuddered.
She suddenly recalled Yu Xiaogang skulking down the Back Mountain.
"It was... Yu Xiaogang..." she said through gritted teeth. "I saw him... coming down the Back Mountain..."
Li Hanqiu said nothing.
He looked at the pile of hide armor on the ground, then at the disheveled girl in his arms. A trace of coldness flickered deep in his eyes.
Ning Rongrong took quite a while to recover.
Then she suddenly pulled away from Li Hanqiu and dropped to her knees. They struck the ground with a solid thump.
"Li Hanqiu... no, Teacher."
Her eyes were red and her voice trembled, but she enunciated every word clearly.
"I was wrong. I was far too spoiled before."
"But I... I just like being with you. I, Ning Rongrong, want to become your disciple."
Biting her lip, she lifted her face, her gaze more earnest than it had ever been.
"I'm not lying."
The night wind blew in through the mountain pass, scattering her pink hair in a breathtakingly beautiful sight.
Li Hanqiu slowly held out his hand.
"Get up."
Ning Rongrong stayed where she was, bashfully lowering her head.
"Tell me whether you'll take me first. Only then will I get up." Her voice was choked with tears, anxious yet stubborn.
Li Hanqiu sighed.
"I will. You've already knelt. How could I let you kneel for nothing?"
At those words, Ning Rongrong's tears spilled again.
Only this time, they were tears of joy.
"Still not getting up?" Li Hanqiu shook his head and sighed. "Aren't your legs numb?"
"They are!" Sniffling, she reached for his arm. "I... I can't stand up anymore..."
Caught between irritation and amusement, Li Hanqiu could only bend down and half-lift, half-carry her to her feet.
The instant he lifted Ning Rongrong into his arms, the system's voice rang out in his mind for the first time in a long while.
[Disciple accepted successfully: Ning Rongrong (female).] [Manga Grandmaster System: Rewards issued.] [Reward: Host's soul power +3 levels.] [Reward: Multitasking. Multiple matters can be analyzed simultaneously. Situational judgment greatly improved.] [Reward: Age of all the host's Soul Rings +3,000 years.] [Congratulations: All of the Shrek Seven Devils have been registered!] [Ultimate grand prize being issued. Estimated time: three days.]
[Ding. Attention: Host's soul power level has reached level 62, Soul Emperor.] [One in Ten Thousand Soul Rings effect activating... estimated delivery time: twenty-four hours.]
Li Hanqiu's pupils contracted slightly, then returned to normal.
This was the first time a grand prize had come with an estimated delivery time. It seemed the reward would be richer than anything before.
Li Hanqiu stopped dwelling on it. The reward was not going anywhere, after all.
He lowered his head to look at Ning Rongrong, still sniffling in his arms, then gazed toward the academy's scattered lights below.
"Let's go," he said. "Your teacher will take you back to your dormitory."
Ning Rongrong murmured assent and buried her face against his arm. Without even looking where they were going, she obediently let him carry her away.
Moonlight spilled over the ground as the two figures, one large and one small, gradually disappeared from the Back Mountain.
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