"Rongrong, what are you doing here? Weren't you resting?"
"I came to train! Grandpa Sword, from now on, I'll come here to train with you every morning!" Ning Rongrong said earnestly.
Sword Douluo smiled and shook his head, fondly stroking Ning Rongrong's silky long hair as he said gently, "Sweet child, why put yourself through this? With your talent, there's no need to cultivate so hard. Besides, with Grandpa Sword here, no one can bully my Rongrong."
Ning Rongrong shook her head and said stubbornly, "Grandpa Sword, I made a bet with Jun Yi, so of course I have to cultivate hard. Even without that bet, I should shoulder my responsibilities. As the future successor of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, I have to cultivate hard too!"
Hearing this, Sword Douluo felt a small tremor of shock in his heart. He looked at Ning Rongrong with gratification and said, "My Rongrong really has grown up."
"Heh, all grown up," Jun Yi chimed in from the side.
"What does this have to do with you, brat?"
"All right, I'll shut up."
Sword Douluo gently stroked Ning Rongrong's head and said, "You already exercised for a long time early this morning. If you train again this morning, your body won't be able to take it. How about this? Just watch how the others train this morning, and we'll officially begin tomorrow. What do you think?"
"Mm-hmm." Ning Rongrong nodded. Her body was indeed utterly exhausted, and even walking to the training grounds had taken her a long time. She really wasn't in any condition to train.
"Since you've got so much to say, brat, have you rested enough?"
Sword Douluo turned to look at Jun Yi, who was sitting on the ground. After that casual remark, he strode over to him.
Jun Yi instantly felt his ass clench. He hurriedly put on a pained expression and looked at Sword Douluo. "No, I'm still... really tired..."
Before Jun Yi could finish, Sword Douluo charged at him again, tree branch in hand. Jun Yi hurriedly turned his palm downward, deployed his ROOM space, and began maneuvering against Sword Douluo.
As Ning Rongrong watched Jun Yi, who, despite all his wisecracking, looked so radiant and spirited in battle, her heartbeat involuntarily quickened.
Only when Sword Douluo beat pig-like squeals out of Jun Yi did Ning Rongrong realize that all those earlier squeals of a pig being slaughtered had come from him. Seeing his bedraggled state, she covered her face and laughed.
In the days that followed, Ning Rongrong suddenly developed a strange habit: every day, she would set aside an hour specifically to sit nearby and watch Sword Douluo thrash Jun Yi.
Just like that, Ning Rongrong, like Jun Yi, settled into a three-point routine. Jun Yi trained his physique in the morning, made Soul Tools in the afternoon, and cultivated Soul Power at night.
Ning Rongrong, meanwhile, trained her physique in the morning, went to a specialized simulated environment to cultivate in the afternoon, and rested at night. Her spiritual power was far inferior to Jun Yi's, so she couldn't replace sleep with meditative cultivation to recover from her fatigue the way he did.
A regular routine always let time slip by unnoticed. In the blink of an eye, six years had quietly passed. Jun Yi and Ning Rongrong had grown from children into true young adults, and over those six years, the two had also forged a deep "friendship."
That afternoon, as before, Jun Yi was wholly absorbed in engraving the core formation of a Level 4 Fixed Soul Cannon. Several disciples of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect stood around him, watching his technique and eagerly awaiting the formation's completion.
As the carving knife in Jun Yi's hand continued engraving, all the formation's patterns finally joined into a whole, faintly taking on a golden hue.
The carving knife danced in Jun Yi's hand, golden light flickering as the formation gradually took shape. A dazzlingly brilliant core formation for a Tier 4 Fixed Soul Cannon emerged before their eyes.
"It worked! It finally worked! This is great!" several Seven Treasure Glazed Tile disciples beside him exclaimed excitedly.
"Mm."
Jun Yi was somewhat excited as well. The moment he produced the Level 4 Fixed Soul Cannon also marked his mastery of the production of all Level 4 Soul Tools. All that remained was to assemble the components and fuse them together perfectly, and the Level 4 Fixed Soul Cannon would be complete.
"Congratulations, Senior Brother Jun Yi," the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect disciples said one after another.
"Work hard, everyone, and you'll soon reach my level too," Jun Yi said modestly.
"That'll still be a little difficult. Even now, I've only mastered making some Level 1 Soul Tools."
"I'm even worse off than you. After studying for two years, all I can make is a Level 1 Soul Tool Shield."
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect disciples chatted among themselves.
These people were all Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect disciples with relatively good spiritual power whom Ning Fengzhi had specially selected to learn Soul Tool production from Jun Yi.
Originally, Ning Fengzhi had had no such idea, but Jun Yi had taken the initiative to draw out all the Level 1 Soul Tool blueprints and production methods he possessed and give them to Ning Fengzhi.
After all, over these past few years, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's care for Jun Yi could be described as meticulous in every respect: dedicated instruction from a Titled Douluo, an inexhaustible supply of Soul Tool materials, and all sorts of other care, such as medicinal baths.
Jun Yi was no ungrateful white-eyed wolf. Giving Ning Fengzhi the methods for making Level 1 Soul Tools could count as his repayment.
Back then, when Ning Fengzhi saw Jun Yi take out the Soul Tool blueprints, he had been utterly astonished. He had never expected Jun Yi to be so generous.
As the sect master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, he clearly understood just how terrifyingly valuable these blueprints were in both commerce and the Soul Master market.
He had never imagined that Jun Yi would be willing to give these things away. His gaze toward Jun Yi grew even more ardent. He knew that Jun Yi would surely become the most dazzling pearl on the continent, and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect would be his backing.
Naturally, Jun Yi knew nothing of Ning Fengzhi's thoughts. In his view, he was merely repaying a kindness; he hadn't weighed so many gains and losses.
"Jun Yi, are you here?"
A voice brought Jun Yi back to reality. He turned to look. The girl wore a simple, plain blue outfit that gave her a clean, fresh look. She had neat, ear-length hair, delicate skin as tender as lychee flesh, exquisite features, a height of around 1.65 meters, a very well-proportioned figure, and a noble, otherworldly bearing.
"Rongrong, what brings you here? Aren't you cultivating?"
The newcomer was none other than Ning Rongrong, the current young miss of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
"Of course I came because I need you for something. Come on, come inside with me."
With that, Ning Rongrong walked over to Jun Yi, linked her arm through his, and pulled him toward the door.
The other Seven Treasure Glazed Tile disciples all tacitly turned away to do other things, getting back to work. After all, although Ning Rongrong cultivated diligently, her personality was still that of a Little Demoness who did as she pleased. Which of these disciples would dare provoke her?
Ning Rongrong pulled Jun Yi all the way to the main hall of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and said, "Brother Qinghe came to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect today. He's chatting with Father in the main hall right now. They asked me to fetch you."
(End of chapter)