Chapter 248: Changes Over the Years

Because they were in this forest, not knowing where it was, there was no corresponding map.

So Ning Feiliu and Xue Di could only walk in one direction aimlessly; fortunately, they could see the sun in the sky.

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, so Ning Feiliu and Xue Di followed the direction of the sun and kept walking west.

Until...

"Surround it! Surround it! This wicked beast wants to run!" Noisy and chaotic sounds came from not far away.

There were people speaking loudly, the sound of large trees falling, and a strange roar similar to a wolf.

Ning Feiliu, however, breathed a sigh of relief; he had finally... encountered people.

Although encountering humans outside is not necessarily a good thing—if one happens to meet a group of humans with malicious intent, one would have to be on guard, which is even more troublesome.

Sometimes, humans are indeed more terrifying than Soul Beasts.

But Ning Feiliu's strength was there, and he had Xue Di to protect him, so he was not afraid of these things.

On the contrary, it was even better to encounter such Spirit Masters who had designs on him.

Then he would have a legitimate reason to interrogate them.

He could even... kill them and harvest their spirits!

A flash of blood-red light flickered in the depths of Ning Feiliu's eyes, appearing exceptionally fierce.

But soon he seemed to wake up from a dream, and a drop of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

"I still underestimated the Rune," Ning Feiliu muttered to himself, frowning.

"Are you alright?" At this moment, Xue Di also sensed that something was wrong with Ning Feiliu and immediately asked.

"I just came out of Slaughter City and am a bit unaccustomed to things," Ning Feiliu immediately found an excuse and said casually.

"Hmm... as long as you are fine." Xue Di immediately felt at ease.

Ning Feiliu, however, was still shaken; Dark Harvest... this Keystone Rune was powerful, but it also possessed a corrosiveness that previous runes had never displayed.

It was tempting Ning Feiliu at every moment, as long as his spirit wavered even slightly.

Then, without a doubt, he would become a puppet of Dark Harvest and turn into a true Evil Soul Master who commits all kinds of evil!

That... would not do.

Ning Feiliu immediately made up his mind that he must resist the temptation of Dark Harvest at all times.

He now could not take away any life at will even more so.

Because once he took an innocent life because of it, he would be constantly lured by Dark Harvest to fall into an abyss!

He would only kill those who blocked his path and those who deserved to die!

After Ning Feiliu made up his mind, he followed the direction from which the sound came and walked over.

It was indeed a group of Spirit Masters hunting a Soul Beast, though they were just a civilian Soul Hunting Group.

They made a living by accepting commissions to help employers hunt and obtain Soul Beasts.

Their strength was generally not very high, typically ranging from Great Soul Master to Soul King level.

And their employers were usually civilian Spirit Masters who had not attended a Soul Academy and were cultivating on their own.

There were so many Spirit Masters on Douluo Continent, and not all civilian Spirit Masters were qualified to attend a Soul Academy.

Even though local Soul Academies gave special consideration to Spirit Masters from civilian backgrounds, such as each village having one so-called Work-study Student qualification every year.

But sometimes a village might have multiple prospective Spirit Masters in one year, so only the one with higher talent could be sent to attend the local Soul Academy.

There were also various other reasons; in short, there were many Spirit Masters who needed to hire other Spirit Masters to accompany and help them hunt Soul Beasts.

And they would all use the money saved from their Spirit Master Subsidy to hire a Soul Hunting Group to help them obtain a Soul Ring.

The group Ning Feiliu encountered was exactly this, and they were helping a young man in his twenties hunt a thousand-year Purple Gold Pika.

Seeing Ning Feiliu appear, they were all a bit surprised at first.

Then... seeing this, Ning Feiliu casually had Xue Di help him take out the Zhuiming from his body, directly immobilizing that Purple Gold Pika.

Then, as if giving these Spirit Masters some advance payment, he asked them where exactly this place was.

"This is the Star Dou Great Forest, my lord," the leading burly man said respectfully.

He could tell that Ning Feiliu's strength was extremely powerful; although he looked very young, the biting killing intent and overwhelming aura on him could not be faked.

Especially since Ning Feiliu had used only his first soul skill to steadily subdue that thousand-year Purple Gold Pika, and he looked completely unconcerned.

Needless to say, he must be a powerful Spirit Master of at least the Soul King level!

As for looking a bit young... in reality, who could know how old he was?

Regardless, showing respect to the strong was the proper thing to do.

"The Star Dou Great Forest? Then where do you come from?" Ning Feiliu felt helpless.

The Star Dou Great Forest spanned most of the Douluo Continent, and both great empires had parts of it; how would he know where they were just by being told that? However, he still patiently continued to ask.

"We come from Barak Royal City," the burly man said, as if he would tell everything he knew.

"Barak Royal City? So this is the Star Dou Great Forest within the territory of the Balake Wangguo?!" Ning Feiliu was stunned for a moment and said.

Although it wasn't particularly coincidental, it had brought him to the Balake Wangguo side...

One must know that there was a second-largest city in the Balake Wangguo called Soto City! If he really had the heart, he could indeed go to Soto City to see Tang San and the others.

However, Ning Feiliu did not have such thoughts.

After asking for directions, he just prepared to head straight to Barak Royal City to resupply and rest, and then return to Heaven Dou City.

He actually still had a bit of his mission to travel the Bei Jing left unfinished; last time he met Shui Bing'er and the others, he had started traveling from Tianshui City toward Extreme North City.

But in fact, there were still two towns below Tianshui City that he had not traveled to.

So he would return to Heaven Dou City, report his safety to Dugu Yan, Dugu Bo, and the others, and then continue to travel to those two towns before coming back.

As for what to do next? He wasn't quite sure either; he could only take it one step at a time. Perhaps when the time came, he could silently contemplate how to continue improving his cultivation, and then a brand-new mission would pop up?

Barak Royal City.

On this day, a group of extraordinary big shots seemed to have arrived in the Royal City.

Even the King of the Balake Wangguo, Kundela—who is the cousin of the current Emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire, Xue Ye—quietly paid a visit.

It was just that the other party seemed very low-key and did not make any public announcement.

It could be said that if not for the visit from King Kundela of the Balake Wangguo, no one would have known that this group of people who entered the Royal City normally had such noble identities.

Inside a luxurious hotel.

"…Young Master Ning, Miss Ning, if you have any instructions, please do not hesitate to ask." King Kundela said with a kind smile on his face, just like an ordinary old man, speaking cheerfully to the people in front of him.

Before him were a man and a woman; both were quite good-looking, elegant in temperament, clearly of extraordinary background, and their features were visibly somewhat similar.

If there were no surprises, they should be siblings.

The man leading them, who was clearly the older brother, looked to be about twenty-three or twenty-four years old. He had a slender build, wore a moon-white robe, and was gentle, handsome, and quite easygoing in temperament. Beside him was a little girl who looked only eleven or twelve, with short, ear-length pink hair and an extremely fair, exquisite face; her whole person gave one a feeling of being otherworldly.

Her beautiful eyes were lowered, and she looked particularly cold and detached.

If Ning Feiliu were here, he would probably find it hard to recognize her… could this actually be Ning Rongrong?

That spoiled and willful eldest young lady of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?

"Not at all, Your Majesty is too kind; we will be leaving the Royal City in a few days." Ning Mingrui replied with a chuckle, his manner as smooth and tactful as his father, Ning Fengzhi.

"Is that so? Actually, you could stay a few more days; I can even take it upon myself to let Young Master Ning and Miss Ning stay in the Royal Palace." Kundela said with a smile.

"Many thanks for Your Majesty's kindness, but how could we commit the taboo of staying in the Royal Palace?" Ning Mingrui continued to respond politely.

After some pleasantries, Kundela left, though before he departed, he specifically instructed the hotel staff that they must treat the siblings Ning Mingrui and Ning Rongrong well.

Ning Rongrong had not spoken this entire time, like an exquisite porcelain doll ornament, just watching Ning Mingrui and Kundela exchange pleasantries from the side.

After Kundela left, she said to Ning Mingrui, "Big Brother… why don't you head back first? Soto City is not far from here now."

Ning Mingrui shook his head and said, "Father entrusted me to look after you all the way to that Shrek Academy; how could I just drop you here and go back?"

"…" Ning Rongrong, contrary to the image of the spoiled little princess in Ning Feiliu's impression, simply fell silent.

"Sigh… Rongrong, why must you travel such a long distance to seek schooling?" Ning Mingrui sighed and said.

Over these years, perhaps because Ning Feiliu was not around, and most importantly, Ning Rongrong's personality had indeed changed a great deal.

Therefore, the relationship between Ning Mingrui and Ning Rongrong had recovered quite a bit.

He could realize that Ning Rongrong truly regretted her actions and wanted to change for the better.

It was just a pity… given Feiliu's personality, he was afraid that he still would not forgive Ning Rongrong.

This was the thing he, as the eldest brother, least wanted to see.

But whether to forgive or not was Ning Feiliu's business; if he were to force Ning Feiliu to forgive Ning Rongrong, or even feel that it was Ning Feiliu's fault for not forgiving her, that would be wrong.

That would instead be his own failing.

Therefore, Ning Mingrui could not change anything and could only fulfill his duty as Ning Rongrong's big brother.

However, what surprised him greatly was that suddenly, three months ago, Ning Rongrong had taken the initiative to propose going out to seek schooling.

The key was that Ning Fengzhi had actually allowed it, only requiring Ning Mingrui to take some sect disciples along to protect Ning Rongrong all the way.

Over these years, Ning Rongrong had actually always wanted to become stronger, and not just in terms of cultivation level.

She often practiced combat techniques as hard as a Battle Soul Master, just like a Beast Spirit master, training hard in physical combat skills.

Yet, doing so only gave her a little bit of self-preservation ability; when facing a Battle Soul Master of the same rank, as long as the other party got serious and used a soul skill, Ning Rongrong could only lose the contest.

After all, the gap in martial souls was destined; even if Ning Rongrong used the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda to enhance herself, it only allowed her physical fitness to be on par with a Battle Soul Master.

But this was equivalent to missing a martial soul and several soul skills.

She had even desperately used the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda as an attack weapon, yet when the fragile tower body was broken by her opponent, she felt immense pain on the spot and fainted.

But after she recovered from her injuries, she still would not give up.

This behavior of Ning Rongrong's broke the hearts of Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo.

They all tried to persuade her not to do this anymore, after all…

She was not her San Ge, Ning Feiliu, and could not compare to Ning Feiliu's high level of comprehension.

Yet Ning Rongrong did not give up at all; what Ning Feiliu could do, she could do too.

However, she did not want to become stronger to beat Ning Feiliu into submission; the reason she did so was actually to prove…

That she, Ning Rongrong, was absolutely not as useless in every way as her San Ge said!

She was not a weak Auxiliary System Soul Master without combat ability, nor was she the arrogant, unfilial ingrate that Ning Feiliu described! The main point was the latter half of the sentence, but she had to first prove to Ning Feiliu that she could also defy the heavens and change her fate, relying on her own efforts to become a Battle Soul Master! It was just that over these years, she had explored everywhere in Heaven Dou City and had not found any method that would allow her to compete with a Battle Soul Master.

Until… she heard that there was a special Soul Academy in Soto City called Shrek Academy, where the students who came out were all monsters.

So, perhaps there… there was a unique method that could allow her to truly become stronger.

And so, she came here.

"Heaven Dou City had no way for me to become a Battle Soul Master, but perhaps there is one here." Ning Rongrong said in a low voice, "Big Brother, so I want to try."

"You don't need to be like Feiliu; Feiliu is… a genius rarely encountered in a lifetime." Ning Mingrui misunderstood and said, "We are just ordinary people, so there is no need to force these things."

"If San Ge can do it, it doesn't mean I can't…" Ning Rongrong continued, "I just want to follow in his footsteps, want to… prove it to him."

"Sigh." Ning Mingrui knew he could not persuade Ning Rongrong anymore and said, "Then get some rest early; we will set off directly tomorrow at noon."

"Okay, Big Brother." Ning Rongrong returned to her room just like that.

Ning Mingrui looked in the direction Ning Rongrong had left and shook his head.

That once-arrogant little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had now become so humble.

It had to be said that this was definitely Ning Feiliu's credit.

It was just that Ning Feiliu's methods were undoubtedly fighting fire with fire, leading to a situation that was now somewhat overcorrected.

However, Ning Mingrui felt that the current Ning Rongrong was instead…

Even harder to fathom.

Although the Ning Rongrong of the past was spoiled and willful, as long as one persuaded her by following her wishes, it was still possible for her to be obedient.

But the Ning Rongrong of now, despite appearing very humble and well-behaved, gives people a feeling that she is even harder to persuade.

It is as if once she has decided on something, it is impossible for her to change it again.

Therefore... it is unknown whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Ning Mingrui sighed, and furthermore, Ning Feiliu's whereabouts are currently unknown; it has already been over eight months since Ning Feiliu last sent a message back.

During Ning Feiliu's three years of training, although he might only return once a year or so, his tracks and letters were sent back every so often.

Yet over eight months ago, Ning Feiliu seemed to have suddenly vanished into thin air, leaving no news behind.

However, before entering Slaughter City, Ning Feiliu had actually written two letters and had the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect disciples he met at the time send them back to Heaven Dou City.

The letters said that he might not have any news for one to two years, but that this was normal and there was no need to worry about him meeting with an accident.

But if there was still no news from him after two years, only then would it mean he had run into trouble.

When the letters fell into the hands of Dugu Yan, Dugu Bo, Ning Fengzhi, and the others, they immediately became even more worried.

Then, as expected, Ning Feiliu had no news for the next eight months, as if he had truly met with a mishap.

But because he had written a letter to warn them, Dugu Bo and Ning Fengzhi were not yet panicked enough to send people all over the Douluo Dalu to look for him.

They simply worried for him in silence.

Dugu Yan, however... was not the least bit panicked, because she had completely trusted that Ning Feiliu would absolutely be fine! Ning Mingrui was the same, though he was more willing to believe that Ning Feiliu would eventually be safe and sound.

Because... that was his most formidable younger brother, the peerless genius Ning Feiliu who might not appear once in ten thousand years! It was just that after not seeing him for so long, he could not help but miss him.

"Feiliu, where are you now?" Ning Mingrui could not help but think to himself.

(End of this chapter)