Glazed Tile Residence

After evening classes, Ning Rongrong carried The Legend of King Arthur and a small packet of candied fruit over to Dorm Seven again. She was a regular by now, and had even used her "money powers" to clear out an empty storeroom next door and turn it into a comfortable tearoom, grandly calling it the "literary exchange room."

"Yan Zu, Sister Xiao Wu, I'm here!" She pushed the door open, sat cross-legged on a cushion with practiced ease, and shared the candied fruit with them. "Try these! They're honey-preserved plums offered as tribute from the southern reaches of the Star Luo Empire. My daddy had someone send them especially for me."

Xiao Wu popped a plum into her mouth, her eyes narrowing in satisfaction at the sweet-and-sour taste. Yan Zu picked one up and savored it slowly.

"Ning Rongrong, you come over here every day. Don't your sect's guards worry?" Xiao Wu asked casually.

"They're standing guard outside." Ning Rongrong waved a hand dismissively. "Besides, with Yan Zu and Sister Xiao Wu here, it's safer than anywhere else."

She paused, then suddenly lowered her voice. "Actually... I really like it here. Back in Heaven Dou City, everyone either flattered me or feared me because I was the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Only here do you treat me as Ning Rongrong, not 'Sect Master Ning's daughter.'"

Xiao Wu saw the fleeting loneliness in her eyes, and something in her heart softened. This little princess, who seemed to have everything, had troubles of her own.

"Then come by often from now on," Xiao Wu said, taking the initiative for once. "But don't bring too many snacks. You'll make us fat."

Ning Rongrong's eyes lit up, and she nodded vigorously. "Okay!"

The three ate candied fruit and chatted about the amusing things happening at the academy. Before they knew it, it was late. Ning Rongrong yawned and picked up her book to leave, but just before she went, she suddenly remembered something and took an exquisite jade pendant from her robes.

"Yan Zu, this is for you."

She held out the pendant. It was a piece of smooth, lustrous white jade carved with the image of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, with a golden crystal the size of a grain of rice set into the pagoda's tip.

"This is a 'Guest Elder Token' my daddy asked me to give you. With it, you can receive the highest level of treatment at any business owned by the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and you can also call on some of its resources. Daddy said... thank you for taking care of me, and thank you to Mr. Wen Yansheng for his wonderful work."

This was another gesture of goodwill from Ning Fengzhi, as well as a probe.

Yan Zu accepted the pendant. It felt smooth and warm in his hand, and he could sense the pure Soul Power contained within it. He did not refuse it, saying solemnly, "Please thank Sect Master Ning for me. And please tell him that Mr. Wen Yansheng is working on a new story that may offer some insight into the sect's future."

Ning Rongrong was curious. "A new story? What is it?"

Yan Zu smiled faintly. "A story about a 'mortal's comeback.' It's about a young man looked down on by everyone, who relies on his tenacity and wisdom to break his shackles and change his fate, one step at a time. Its tentative title is... Battle Through the Heavens."

Ning Rongrong's eyes grew even brighter. "I'll be waiting!"

After they saw Ning Rongrong off, quiet returned to Dorm Seven.

Xiao Wu poked Yan Zu's arm. "Little Brother A-Zu, that Ning Rongrong... she seems to be getting more and more attached to you."

Yan Zu chuckled. "She's attached to 'Wen Yansheng's' work, and to Little Jade. Haven't you noticed that every time she comes, she spends most of her time playing with Little Jade?"

Xiao Wu tilted her head up to look at his profile and suddenly asked, "A-Zu, do you... feel a little differently about her?"

Yan Zu turned and met her clear eyes, which held a trace of nervousness. He reached out and gently brushed her nose with a finger. "She's a friend, a companion, and you..."

He paused, his voice gentle but firm. "You're Xiao Wu. Just Xiao Wu."

Xiao Wu's face flushed red, but she smiled like a child who had stolen candy and hugged his arm tightly. "Mm!"

Ning Rongrong had been troubled lately.

As the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, she had worn fine clothes and eaten delicacies since childhood. But now, to verify that secret-whenever she came within three feet of Yan Zu, the Soul Power in her body inexplicably circulated faster, and it felt even more comfortable than the Mimicry Training Ground her sect had spent a fortune building-she had to go to Dorm Seven every day.

The conditions in Dorm Seven drove her mad: the communal sleeping platform, the smell of sweat and feet, and the "fragrance" wafting in from the neighboring toilet all mingled together.

"I'm going to build a separate dormitory!" Ning Rongrong's young miss temper flared. "Yan Zu, Sister Xiao Wu, you have to move out!"

Xiao Wu folded her arms warily. "What are you up to?"

"I've looked into it." Ning Rongrong pulled out a blueprint, a shrewd gleam in her eyes. "There's an empty plot in the northwest corner of the academy. I'll rent it and build the 'Glazed Tile Residence.' The main building will have three rooms: an east room, a west room, and a central room. One for each of us!"

Xiao Wu immediately hugged Yan Zu's arm like a little beast guarding its food. "No! I want to share a room with Little Brother A-Zu!"

Ning Rongrong was stunned. "Huh?"

"We've always slept together!" Xiao Wu raised her chin, her pink scorpion braid swinging back and forth. "We have bunk beds in Dorm Seven, and we shared a bed in Five Souls Village too! We can't be far apart!"

Ning Rongrong's eyes widened, and then she grew indignant. "Then, then I'll stay in that room too!"

Yan Zu: "???"

"Ning Rongrong, have you no shame?" Xiao Wu was hopping mad. "Don't you know men and women shouldn't touch each other?"

"Of course I do." Ning Rongrong was perfectly self-assured. "But I'm doing it to cultivate! Besides, we're only ten. What's there to be afraid of? And anyway-" She pulled out her money pouch and shook it. "I'm paying for this courtyard, so I have the right to choose which room I sleep in!"

The final compromise: the central room was the largest, so they would put two beds in it. Xiao Wu and Yan Zu would share one, and Ning Rongrong would sleep in the other, no more than six feet away.

On the first night, Ning Rongrong sat cross-legged on her bed to cultivate, only to find that her Soul Power was circulating just ten percent faster than usual. "That's not right." She frowned. "Back in Dorm Seven, it was clearly three times as fast when I got within three feet!"

She secretly opened her eyes and saw Xiao Wu wrapped around Yan Zu like an octopus. The two of them were under one blanket, with the Qilin Little Jade lying between them.

"Too close..." Ning Rongrong gritted her teeth. "I'm too far away!"

On the second night, Ning Rongrong used the excuse that she was "afraid of the dark" to move her bed three feet closer to Yan Zu's, until they were almost side by side. Xiao Wu glared at her.

On the third night, Ning Rongrong took a mile after being given an inch. "This still isn't enough! I want to sleep between you two!"

"In your dreams!" Xiao Wu bristled.

"Then how about I put another blanket on your bed and sleep at the foot?" Ning Rongrong settled for the next best thing. "Just let me squeeze in by your feet!"

Yan Zu was helpless. "Rongrong, you're the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect..."

"Princesses have to cultivate too!" Ning Rongrong had already climbed onto the bed with her pillow. "Don't move. I'll sleep right here. I won't take up any space!"

And so, a bizarre scene took shape: on the wide wooden bed, Yan Zu slept in the middle, with Xiao Wu on his left, hugging his left arm tightly, and Ning Rongrong on his right, clutching his right sleeve for dear life. The Qilin Little Jade lay at their feet.

The three of them and the beast cultivated beneath the shroud of auspicious Qi, and their Soul Power all circulated at three times its usual speed.

"That's more like it," Ning Rongrong said, closing her eyes in satisfaction. "Maximum efficiency!"

Xiao Wu was so angry her teeth itched, but she could feel that the Soul Power in her body really was growing rapidly, so she could only grumble, "Tomorrow I'm sleeping in the middle!"

"No, it's my turn tomorrow!"

"You two..." Yan Zu looked at the ceiling and sighed. "Can you let me turn over?"

"No!"