Chapter 18: One Sword, Two Edges

"Jian'er, what is your current soul power level?"

That night, after finally waiting for Ning Rongrong to fall asleep, Jian Douluo cautiously woke Qin Jian and brought him out.

"Sigh, Rongrong is just too clingy to you now; it's not easy for me, her teacher, to have a word with you alone..." Jian Douluo said, speechless.

Qin Jian scratched his head and said, "Teacher, my current soul power is already... Level 20."

"Level 20..."

Although this rate of improvement was exceptionally high, there was not much surprise on Jian Douluo's face: "It hasn't exceeded my expectations. When I saw you two could perform the Fusion of the Ocean's Tear, I knew you should be reaching Level 20 soul power soon."

"Yes, next I should only need a catalyst to reach Level 20, and then it will be..."

Qin Jian's voice suddenly dropped.

"Jian'er, are you also... regarding Rongrong?" Jian Douluo stopped mid-sentence.

But Qin Jian clearly understood his meaning; he nodded and said, "Teacher, I truly like Rongrong, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to perform the Fusion of the Ocean's Tear."

"Then what will you do after you reach Level 20? Do you really have to separate?" Jian Douluo frowned.

Qin Jian slowly curled up, sitting on the sofa with his arms around his knees: "Teacher, I can't bear to... I don't know what to do..."

"But I must become stronger, I must become a god, otherwise the end that awaits me is being devoured!" he said in a low voice.

Jian Douluo's brows were tightly locked, and his expression suddenly shifted: "Then can you tell Rongrong all of this? Perhaps she could understand, and you could give her a promise."

Qin Jian shook his head and looked up: "I can't, Teacher. The greatest prerequisite for these God Position Nine Trials is that I cannot tell the other person about any of this!"

Jian Douluo covered his forehead with his right hand: "I'm afraid if you truly set your heart on separating, the Sect Master will tear you apart alive..."

Qin Jian dejectedly rested his head on his knees and said, "Teacher, if it really comes to it, you can just reveal some things about the God Position Nine Trials to the Sect Master, as long as you don't tell Rongrong."

Jian Douluo raised an eyebrow and said, "I actually think you'd be better off finding a way to set an engagement first."

"En... engagement..."

Qin Jian's mouth hung open: "Teacher, Rongrong and I are only ten years old this year, and we have to get engaged?"

Jian Douluo nodded as if it were a serious matter: "Think about it, if the Sect Master finds out about your God Position Nine Trials, it means that after you leave Rongrong, you still have to have relationships with eight other women. How could a father accept that..."

"I believe the Sect Master would rather marry Rongrong off to a poor boy than let her wait for you for so long, only to end up heartbroken."

Jian Douluo said: "If you had to lose Rongrong completely, would you be willing?"

"Lose her completely?!"

As if struck in the heart by a giant hammer, Qin Jian's face instantly turned deathly pale.

"Sigh, these God Position Nine Trials are truly too hard on you; after all, you aren't naturally a cold and heartless person..." Jian Douluo sighed.

Qin Jian took a light breath and said, "After all, I am inheriting a Supreme God Position; how could the Assessment be simple? If I were truly a cold and heartless person, perhaps the requirement would be to fall deeply in love with someone..."

Jian Douluo nodded silently: "You little fellow are quite insightful."

"Qin Jian..."

Just as the two fell into silence, the sound of slippers shuffling suddenly arose.

Then the two saw Ning Rongrong rubbing her eyes as she walked out of the bedroom: "Qin Jian... why are you up... I can't sleep..."

"It's nothing, I was just coming back..."

Qin Jian hurriedly stood up, said a word to Jian Douluo, and then took Ning Rongrong's small hand and went back to the room together.

Jian Douluo watched their retreating figures and couldn't help but sigh again: "This year of closed-door training was a bit too effective; the little girl Rongrong is too attached to Jian'er now, almost unable to be apart for a single moment..."

"Fortunately, I have only known the sword my whole life, and have never had feelings for the opposite sex..."

"Qin Jian, Qing Sword, one sword with two edges, hurting others and hurting oneself..."

"......"

Soon, a few days passed.

Originally, Qin Jian and Ning Rongrong only needed to follow the eldest prince, the Crown Prince of the Empire, Xue Qinghe, directly into the Imperial Palace.

But the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and the personal disciple of the Peak Douluo Jian Douluo coming to participate in court etiquette training had great political significance in the eyes of Emperor Xueye.

Thus, a reception was arranged in advance.

The result was that Xue Qinghe brought a large and small motorcade to pick up Ning Rongrong and Qin Jian, and then even Ning Fengzhi entered the palace, while Jian Douluo and Gu Douluo naturally remained inseparable from him.

"Qin Jian, why do you keep looking at me?"

Inside the snow-white carriage, the twenty-year-old Crown Prince looked as gentle as jade. He, or perhaps she, noticed Qin Jian's intermittent, scrutinizing gaze and couldn't help but reveal an amiable smile.

"It's nothing, I'm just quite curious about His Highness the Crown Prince."

Qin Jian withdrew his gaze.

No one noticed the flash of pink Sword Qi in the depths of his eyes.

First Soul Skill, Charm Sword!

From the moment they met, Qin Jian had been seizing every opportunity to unleash his soul skill on Xue Qinghe.

He was extremely curious and vigilant about this successor to the Spirit Hall's Six-Winged Angel martial soul.

What he was curious about was that she still existed perfectly well, not having disappeared due to his messy, chaotic actions over a decade ago, and was still able to be born accurately; this was very magical...

What he was vigilant about was not her as an opponent on the battlefield, but the worry of her becoming an opponent in the field of love.

So he struck first to gain the advantage; in any case, the other party wasn't Ning Rongrong, and he had no intention of obtaining her true feelings.

Besides, even if she wasn't one of his future heartbreaks, she was still one of the final big bosses. If he could pull the battlefield into the field of love, wouldn't that save a lot of trouble...

His First Soul Skill was silent and imperceptible when the opponent was not using soul power. Although it generally only had the greatest effect on Spirit Masters with lower or similar soul power and would be greatly discounted because the opponent's soul power was higher, the effect would be extraordinary over the long term.

Xue Qinghe felt a sense of dizziness in her head. She didn't know why, but from the first moment she saw Qin Jian, a deep sense of affection had arisen in her heart, and as time passed, this affection was actually growing stronger.

Could it be that she, a twenty-year-old, would fall in love at first sight with a ten-year-old boy...

She couldn't help but shake her head and smile.

"You don't need to be curious. We will be participating in etiquette training together for the next half year, and we will naturally become familiar with each other by then."

She once again revealed a smile full of amiability.

Qin Jian nodded repeatedly, then looked at her and released his First Soul Skill once again...

This person had poisoned the Heaven Dou Empire's Second Prince Xue Luochuan to death at 14, poisoned the Third Prince Xue Haicang to death at 15, forced the Fourth Prince Xue Beng to feign being a playboy for over a decade, and even Prince Xue Xing had been forced to feign being an incompetent prince.

She thought that showing a few amiable smiles could influence Qin Jian's senses, but that was absolutely impossible!

First Soul Skill, I'll release it, I'll release it, I'll keep releasing it...

Xue Qinghe suddenly reached out to rub their own temples and said softly, "Strange, why do I keep feeling dizzy today? Is it because I didn't rest well last night?"

"Cough..."

The three of them were not sitting far apart, so Qin Jian heard her words and immediately knew the dosage of Charm released was too high; if he continued, he might be discovered, so he hurriedly withdrew his soul skill...

(End of chapter)