"Sister Rongrong, why did you come along?" Ning Yuhao asked curiously.
"What, am I not allowed to come?" Ning Rongrong raised an eyebrow, looking rather unhappy.
Ning Yuhao hastily corrected himself. "Of course you are. I'm definitely happy to have you here, Sister Rongrong."
"Hmph! As if anyone wanted to come. It stinks in here. There are letters for you." With a wave of her hand, Ning Rongrong took two letters from her Soul Tool and handed them to Ning Yuhao.
Ning Yuhao accepted the letters and said helplessly, "I just haven't put flowers in my room or sprayed perfume. You can hardly call it stinky."
There were two letters in total: one from Zhu Zhuqing and the other from Dai Mubai.
Ning Yuhao was just about to open a letter when he noticed Ning Rongrong was still standing beside him. "Sister Rongrong, you've given me the letters now. If there's nothing else, you should head back. Didn't Father tell me to get some proper rest?"
Ning Rongrong folded her arms. "What, you've only just come back, and you're already finding me annoying?"
"No, no, it's just..." Ning Yuhao said no more, but his meaning was clear enough.
"I couldn't be bothered with you. I just saw that Sister Zhu Zhuqing sent a letter, and I want to see what she said." Ning Rongrong pursed her lips. Clearly, she had no intention of leaving unless he let her read it.
Ning Yuhao could not help grumbling inwardly, Then ask Zhu Zhuqing to write to you. What's the deal with reading a letter she wrote to me?
With no other choice, Ning Yuhao opened Zhu Zhuqing's letter.
Its contents were quite simple. She mainly told him how she had been doing lately and invited him to visit the Star Luo Empire.
Once they finished reading, Ning Rongrong said, "Xiao Hao, let's go visit Sister Zhu Zhuqing when we have time. I've never been to the Star Luo Empire."
Ning Yuhao did not refuse, then opened Dai Mubai's letter. Ning Rongrong had little interest in Dai Mubai's letter and left after reading Zhu Zhuqing's.
[Brother, I've found a great place. It's a little out of the way, but the freedom makes up for it. My imperial brother even had people open some shops nearby, so daily life is convenient too.
And it's right here in the Heaven Dou Empire, a private Soul Master Academy. Everyone here is pretty interesting, and the things they say are hilarious, like "an academy that only accepts monsters." Once you turn twelve, brother, you can come take a look if you're interested. Show them what a real "monster" looks like.]
A smile appeared on Ning Yuhao's face. Ever since Dai Mubai no longer had to take part in the duel between heirs, he had become much more cheerful and was even developing into something of a goofball. Perhaps this was Dai Mubai's true nature without all that pressure.
Still, whether someone had led him astray or he had always been that way, he had started lingering among the flowers. When Dai Mubai wrote to say he had played a round of poker with a maid, Ning Yuhao's expression had been like that "old man looking at a phone on the subway" meme.
"The loom of fate is still there. Though the threads are somewhat tangled, they still intertwine at certain points." Ning Yuhao put down the letter, his gaze deepening. The academy Dai Mubai had joined was, naturally, Shrek Academy.
Dai Mubai had fallen out of favor with the Star Luo Emperor for severing the Martial Soul resonance, yet he had still ended up running away and joining Shrek Academy. Ning Yuhao had not expected that.
"Then they should still all gather there." Ning Yuhao had not approached Tang San and Xiao Wu ahead of time, mainly because he had been busy cultivating.
After writing back to Dai Mubai, Ning Yuhao had already made his plans. He intended to go to Shrek Academy later as well.
Over the next two years, since they were both in Heaven Dou, Dai Mubai often visited the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect to hang out with Ning Yuhao. Ning Yuhao and Ning Rongrong also spent two weeks visiting Zhu Zhuqing in the Star Luo Empire. Through his connections with Zhu Zhuqing and Dai Mubai, Ning Yuhao even borrowed many books from the Star Luo Empire's collections. By now, Ning Yuhao could truly be called a master. His immense spiritual power gave him an exceptional memory, while his own talent gave him extraordinary comprehension. After all, he had scored over 650 on the college entrance examination back then.
Over those two years, Ning Yuhao had not neglected his cultivation too much either. He had now reached rank 38.
As a famous saying went, "Making money all the time is pretty dull, isn't it?" Cultivating all the time was rather dull too.
Ning Yuhao tossed a piece of raw meat onto the ground, and a bear-type Soul Beast hurried over at a trot to gnaw on it. The bear was not large, with a humped back, a white face, black fur, and a white ring around its neck. Ning Yuhao had found it and was raising it. He planned to raise him into a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast and then fight him, which would count as settling the score for his past self.
"Sister Rongrong, let's go," Ning Yuhao called. Ning Rongrong emerged from the sect as well. In a pale green dress that complemented her lovely face, she looked very beautiful.
"Let's go. I hope Zhu Zhuqing doesn't arrive too early. It wouldn't be good to leave her waiting for us." Ning Rongrong smiled, in quite a good mood.
No one came to see them off. They had only told Ning Fengzhi. After all, if Bone Douluo found out, given how much he cherished Ning Rongrong and Ning Yuhao, he certainly would not agree to let them leave the sect.
Shrek Academy was not far from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, at least closer than Spirit City. Neither of them was in a hurry, however. They stopped here and there along the way, taking a little over a week to arrive.
"This looks pretty decent."
Shrek Academy was situated in a village outside Suotuo City. Its surroundings could have been described as terrible, but Dai Mubai's arrival had brought an enormous transformation.
By willingly severing the Martial Soul resonance and giving up the duel between heirs, he had reaped a hefty harvest of goodwill from his eldest brother. In the imperial palace, the Star Luo Emperor called the shots, so his brother could only lend him some support. Outside the Star Luo Empire, however, the Star Luo Emperor's reach did not extend that far.
Dai Weisi sent people to buy up large tracts of land around Shrek Academy and repair the road from Suotuo City to this nameless village. He then opened many everyday amenities and entertainment facilities there, and the nameless village was even renamed "White Tiger Village."
"Xiao Hao, this is delicious!" Ning Rongrong was holding a grilled fish. After taking a bite, she offered it to Ning Yuhao's lips. The young man grilling the fish heard the praise from such a delicate, lovely youngster as Ning Rongrong, and even his dark face flushed a little.
Ning Yuhao took a bite. It did taste quite good.
"I really didn't expect this place to develop like this." Although White Tiger Village was not as prosperous as Suotuo City, there were plenty of food shops lining the streets. Thanks to the convenient transport, even some shops that could no longer get by in Suotuo City had moved to White Tiger Village.
As she ate her grilled fish, Ning Rongrong said somewhat indistinctly, "Right. When Dai Mubai first came here, didn't he say it was really desolate, with hardly anything around?"