Master of Nine Stars

Half a month later, in a small classroom at the Martial Arts Hall.

Yang Chunxi stood at the lectern, a book in one hand and a piece of chalk in the other, writing something on the blackboard.

Outside, the winter sun, veiled in a cold mist, shone through the window, casting beams of light that fell upon her beige trench coat and her long hair draped over her shoulders. The scene was simply beautiful.

Ever since returning and seeing this group of kids from the Soul Class, Yang Chunxi’s mood had clearly improved a great deal.

As their head teacher, she sometimes had to put on a stern face, but even then, you could see the hint of a smile hiding in her eyes.

At that moment, Rong Taotao was resting his chin in one hand, unconsciously twirling a pen in the other, and staring at the formula Coach Yang was writing on the blackboard.

This was a Logic class. Rong Taotao wasn’t very interested, but he knew he had to listen, as he had already fallen behind on a lot of his academic subjects.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Rong Taotao was expected to take the final exams for the first semester of his second year.

The funny thing was, although Rong Taotao was a second-year student, this semester’s finals would likely be the first academic exams he had ever taken since enrolling.

During his first year, Rong Taotao had spent both final exam periods at a "respawn point."

Unlike in a video game, where a revived character can immediately go out and cause trouble, Rong Taotao’s "revival" required a period of recovery in a hospital bed, which caused him to perfectly miss his academic exams.

’If it happened once, it’ll happen twice. And if it happened twice...’ Rong Taotao thought to himself. ’Well, going by that logic, does this mean something bad is going to happen to me during this semester’s finals too?’

’Great, I’ve just jinxed myself. Now I just have to wait for it to happen!’

Life after returning to school was simple: attend class, cultivate Soul Power, and practice Martial Arts. But for Rong Taotao, this was a life he actually enjoyed.

Because Rong Taotao knew that what he needed most was time. This motivated him to throw himself into his training, making his days incredibly fulfilling.

He had competed in both the Outer Region qualifiers and the National Tournament. It was true that he had placed first in the Outer Region, and he was also a national champion—but a co-champion.

The blows he’d suffered off the field, however, seemed to have hit him harder than anything in the competition.

During the assassination attempt after he returned home, he had contributed very little to the fight. His impressive performance from the competition arena was nowhere to be seen. Faced with the vicious thugs of the Snow Realm, Rong Taotao could barely protect himself, let alone do anything useful.

This peaceful time to train at school was exactly what he needed right now!

THWACK!

"Oof." Rong Taotao clutched his forehead as a piece of chalk landed on his desk.

The Cloud Dog, curled up on the electric heating pad on his desk, quickly scrambled up. It wagged its small tail and tentatively nudged its head toward the piece of chalk.

SNIFF~

The Cloud Dog twitched its little nose, and after determining the chalk wasn’t a tasty treat, it flopped back down onto its little square heating pad.

Rong Taotao, still clutching his forehead, looked up pitifully, only to see Yang Chunxi with a stern expression. "You’re spacing out!"

Rong Taotao pouted and mumbled, "No, I wasn’t."

"Talking back?" Yang Chunxi placed a hand on her hip and asked, "Based on the overlap of their extensions, what are the different types of relationships between concepts?"

"Identical and disjoint," Rong Taotao blurted out.

Yang Chunxi raised an eyebrow slightly. "Hm? Continue."

Rong Taotao: "Proper subset, proper superset..."

Yang Chunxi: "And what else?"

’There’s... there’s...’

Across the aisle, Gao Lingwei crossed her arms on her desk.

Rong Taotao blinked. "An X?"

"Heh..." Gao Lingwei put a hand to her forehead, closed her eyes, and sighed deeply.

A faint smile appeared on Yang Chunxi’s face as she gave him a hint, "Snow Night Shock and a Lifebound Soul Beast."

Realization dawned on Rong Taotao. ’Intersecting relationship.’

’No wonder Wei made an ’X’ with her arms...’

"Not bad. So you were listening after all," Yang Chunxi remarked casually. But just as she picked up her book, her brow furrowed, and she looked toward the seat by the wall in the front row.

Li Ziyi’s face was strained, and his breathing had even become ragged.

Yang Chunxi was the first to notice. Then, the intense fluctuation of Soul Power startled the other Little Souls in the class.

"Whoa! Ziyi!" Sun Xingyu’s beautiful eyes went wide. Sitting in the center of the front row, she turned to look at Li Ziyi beside her.

Her little face was filled with excitement, even flushing pink, and she looked like she was about to clap and cheer. "You’re amazing, Ziyi!"

Such a tremendous fluctuation of Soul Power was, without a doubt, the sign of someone advancing from the Peak of Soul Warrior to the rank of Soul Captain.

Yang Chunxi looked at the student sitting behind Li Ziyi. "Lu Mang, carry him back to his dorm."

Although the small classroom was close to the dormitories, they were on opposite ends of the hallway, with the second-floor staircase as the midpoint—one on the west side of the corridor, the other on the east.

The men’s dormitory was diagonally across from Si Huan Nian’s room, which was naturally closer to her.

Yang Chunxi: "Xingyu."

"Here!" Sun Xingyu quickly stood up.

Yang Chunxi: "Go to the outdoor Martial Arts Arena and find Coach Si."

"Okay~" Sun Xingyu scrambled out of the room, her short legs a blur.

Rong Taotao suddenly spoke up. "She’s just out there beating up people for fun~"

"Hm?" Yang Chunxi walked down from the lectern to the window. Looking out at the outdoor Martial Arts Arena, she saw Si Huan Nian, dressed in a white Tai Chi uniform, kick a student to the ground.

Her movements were fluid and graceful; she even had her hands behind her back, looking every bit the reclusive master.

Rong Taotao couldn’t bear to watch. ’That bully. Tormenting students for no reason, pretending to be some grandmaster... she really has a twisted sense of humor.’

"Call her up here, Taotao," Yang Chunxi said.

"Oh." Rong Taotao opened the window, frost gathering in his hand. He formed a Heaven-piercing Halberd and viciously hurled it outside.

Yang Chunxi: ???

’Is that how I told you to call her!?’

Outside the Martial Arts Hall, in the outdoor arena, Si Huan Nian was thoroughly enjoying tormenting the newbies. She was about to land another kick when she suddenly sensed something was wrong!

She spun around just as the snow-made Heaven-piercing Halberd stabbed into the ground three meters in front of her with a sharp CLINK.

POOF~ The Heaven-piercing Halberd shattered, dissolving into specks of frost and snow before vanishing completely.

Si Huan Nian looked up toward a window on the west side of the Martial Arts Hall and saw a boy with a head full of naturally curly hair.

Si Huan Nian’s beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, and a dangerous smile crept onto her face.

But to her surprise, Rong Taotao just crooked his finger at her repeatedly. "Get back here!"

’Get back here?’

’You tell me to get back here and I just do it? Wouldn’t that be humiliating?’

With a casual flick of her wrist, Si Huan Nian summoned a Long Straight Saber and hurled it at the window.

Rong Taotao: !!!

He hastily thrust out a hand, which was instantly covered in frost. An exquisite Frost Flower Snowcake formed and extended out the window.

CLANG!

With a crisp ring, the Snow-made Blade collided with the Frost Flower Snowcake. Rong Taotao felt a jolt numb his arm, and he stumbled backward several steps...

Across the aisle, Gao Lingwei quickly reached out and pressed a hand against Rong Taotao’s back to steady him, but she too was pushed back by the immense force.

The next moment, a hand suddenly grabbed the windowsill. The long, slender, pale fingers looked as if they were about to crush the frame. Then, with a dangerous smile on her face, the bully slowly hauled herself up.

At the same time, Sun Xingyu, who had just reached the outdoor Martial Arts Arena, looked around in confusion. "Huh? Where’s Coach Si?"

"Coach Si," Yang Chunxi said urgently.

"Hm?" Si Huan Nian froze for a second. ’Why is there another teacher in the classroom?’

’This kid has some real nerve, provoking me during class? Being a national champion sure makes you different, huh?’

Before, Si Huan Nian had thought class was over and Rong Taotao was just bored and looking for a beating...

"Please head back to the office first," Yang Chunxi said hurriedly. "Li Ziyi is about to advance to the Soul Captain stage. Please watch over him. Advancing a Major Rank is a critical process; we can’t have anything go wrong."

"Understood." Si Huan Nian climbed through the window. Hearing Yang Chunxi’s words, she nodded, shot a subtle glance at Rong Taotao, and then started walking toward the back door of the classroom.

The classroom was dead silent. Yang Chunxi and Si Huan Nian were clearly two very different types of people.

Si Huan Nian’s "bully" attribute seemed to cover every corner of the Martial Arts Arena, as well as every aspect of the Little Souls’ lives. Aside from Rong Taotao, probably no one in this class dared to "joke around" with her.

Just as the terrified students were watching Si Huan Nian reach the door, she suddenly stopped and turned around.

In an instant, all the students in the class lowered their heads, looking as quiet as cicadas in winter.

Shi Lan, in particular, looked like she was about to shove her face right into her book.

It was as if she were trying to transmigrate into the world of *Logic*...

"Coach Yang, you missed one," Si Huan Nian said softly. With a flick of her wrist, a Snow-made Long Whip shot out, heading straight for Fan Lihua, who was sitting in the front row on the left, by the window.

"Oof~" Fan Lihua let out a small cry as the long whip wrapped around her waist.

With a casual tug from Si Huan Nian, Fan Lihua’s petite body flew diagonally across the classroom, straight toward the back door, where Si Huan Nian caught her and tucked her under one arm.

Although the classroom was small, it was sparsely populated with large gaps between the desks, so there wasn’t a chaotic scene of toppled tables and chairs.

However, the fact that Fan Lihua was snatched away by the whip so suddenly without even her chair tipping over demonstrated Si Huan Nian’s incredible skill.

Yang Chunxi’s face, however, lit up with joy. ’A double blessing!?’

’This is wonderful!’

’Two students are advancing to the Soul Captain stage at the same time!’

In the center of the second row, a trace of envy appeared on Zhao Tang’s handsome face. Then, he lowered his head, his eyes dimming slightly with disappointment.

Fan Lihua and Li Ziyi were both members of the Soul Class’s first group, and both were now advancing. Only Sun Xingyu, whose aptitude was slightly lower, showed no signs of a breakthrough.

In Zhao Tang’s group, the second group, Lu Mang was also close to advancing. As an experienced senior, he felt he should be setting an example for his juniors, but instead, he was holding the class back.

Si Huan Nian had just stepped out of the classroom with Fan Lihua tucked under her arm when Gao Lingwei’s voice suddenly called out, "You missed another one."

Gao Lingwei had one hand braced against Rong Taotao’s back. She had originally been helping him stay upright, but now she could feel his body trembling slightly, along with a faint fluctuation of Soul Power.

POOF~ With the sound of a cloud dispersing, the Cloud Dog curled up on the heating pad rapidly dissolved into wisps of white mist and flew back into Rong Taotao’s body.

"Good! Excellent! Wonderful!" Seeing this, Yang Chunxi was practically bursting with happiness. For a moment, her smile was even sweeter than Sun Xingyu’s. "Go on, Ling Wei. Take him to Coach Si."

"Yes, ma’am." Gao Lingwei crouched down, hoisted up Rong Taotao—the fish that had slipped through the net—and walked out.

With more than half the students suddenly gone, Yang Chunxi looked at the remaining ones with a beaming smile and encouraged them, "You all need to work hard too!"

Jiao Tengda looked helpless and utterly exasperated.

’I thought I’d finally caught up to Taotao in terms of power level, but look at this...’ he thought. ’My man Tao was out competing, which means he couldn’t practice his Soul Techniques, but he was still cultivating his Soul Power, wasn’t he?’

’Sigh... Nothing to be done about it. A starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Even though he was away for competitions, the guy still had three months of special training at Qianshan Pass.’

Yang Chunxi continued, "Don’t go back to your dorms today, and don’t make any loud noises. If necessary, I will arrange other rooms for you to stay in tonight."

As she spoke, a small hand appeared on the classroom windowsill. Sun Xingyu poked her head up and climbed into the second-floor classroom, peering inside. "They said Coach Si climbed up here?"

"Hehe." Yang Chunxi let out a little laugh and beckoned to her. "Come on in."

"Oh." Sun Xingyu climbed in and looked around curiously. "Where’d everyone go? Why’s it so empty?"

Shi Lan pouted and muttered, "Stop scolding us, stop scolding us..."

"Huh?" Sun Xingyu looked completely baffled. ’I didn’t scold anyone, did I?’

In reality, at that very moment...

It wasn’t scary that so few people were left; what was awkward was being one of them.