Chapter 41: Fooling Ning Rongrong

Early the next morning.

Sunlight spilled through the window and onto the front of Ning Rongrong's window.

"Mm~" Following a lazy, delicate moan, Ning Rongrong slowly sat up from her bed; perhaps due to yesterday's training, Ning Rongrong had slept exceptionally soundly last night.

She wiggled her legs, which still felt a bit weak, and lingered in bed for another half hour or so before lazily getting up.

Fortunately, having soaked in the Medicinal Bath, Ning Rongrong felt no discomfort in her legs other than a slight weakness.

After tidying up and just stepping out of the Dormitory, she noticed seven people in the distance undergoing physical training under the supervision of a middle-aged man, and their training method was the simplest form of running.

"Those people must be from the Heaven Dou Team, right? It seems the teachers at Heaven Dou Imperial Academy are just so-so." After watching curiously for a while, Ning Rongrong curled her lip and turned to walk toward the Canteen.

The middle-aged man on the Playground frowned as he watched Ning Rongrong walk away; Ning Rongrong had no reservations when she spoke, and this middle-aged man had astonishing hearing, catching the sound of Ning Rongrong's voice even from that far away.

Of course, besides that, there were other special reasons; both Ning Rongrong's and Shi Quan's dormitories were actually student dormitories for the Heaven Dou Level at Heaven Dou Imperial Academy.

Students at Heaven Dou Imperial Academy were divided into three tiers: newly enrolled students and those with soul power below twenty-five levels were in one tier, called Tian Wei Level; those between twenty-five and thirty levels were in another tier, Tian Zhi Level; and those above thirty levels entered the highest, the Heaven Dou Level.

Of course, there were also students with special status who could reside there; for example, the students the middle-aged man was currently training, although they were not all Heaven Dou Level students, belonged to the Heaven Dou Team and thus also held the right to live in this dormitory area.

This was also why the middle-aged man would take note of Ning Rongrong's presence.

"Teacher Qin, it seems new people have moved into those two dormitories; don't you recognize them?" one of the running youths asked the middle-aged man curiously as he passed by.

Heaven Dou Team, Teacher Qin.

These eight people were none other than Qin Ming, Dugu Yan, Yu Tianheng, and their group.

Although the specific roster for the Heaven Dou Team had not yet been finalized, in reality, barring any accidents, the candidates for the Heaven Dou Team had hardly changed since the first year's selection.

The reason for setting up the subsequent selections had only one main purpose: to motivate the students to train hard.

Therefore, the seven people currently in the Heaven Dou Team were the same seven from the original story: Yu Tianheng, Dugu Yan, Shi Mo, Shi Mo, Yu Feng, Ao Siluo, and Ye Lingling.

The one who had questioned Qin Ming was Yu Feng, the possessor of the Wind Bell Bird martial soul.

Qin Ming turned his head to look at Yu Feng, "Still have the energy to ask questions? It seems the training isn't enough; everyone add five more laps."

Hearing Qin Ming's voice, the seven people on the Playground all let out wails, each of them glaring angrily at Yu Feng.

Yu Feng had wanted to say something more, but upon seeing Qin Ming's deep gaze, he immediately shut his mouth tight and buried his head to run earnestly.

Qin Ming shouted sternly: "Everyone, run properly! I received news from the Education Committee Member that the academy has added a very formidable student this year. He is preparing to join the Heaven Dou Team and will participate in next week's selection. Don't blame us for not warning you."

As the temporary captain of the Heaven Dou Team, Yu Tianheng asked: "Teacher Qin, what is that person's name? Why haven't we heard of him?"

"What? Afraid now that you know there's an opponent? Want to scout out his information?" Qin Ming looked at Yu Tianheng with a half-smile.

"Afraid?" Electric light flickered in Yu Tianheng's eyes as he laughed: "I'm just curious if he's worth me making a move to play with him."

Qin Ming said mysteriously: "You'll know when the time comes. I'm not sure if he's strong, but for any of you, he should be a very interesting opponent."

"Interesting?"

Hearing Qin Ming's introduction, everyone couldn't help but reveal a hint of curiosity; could the word 'interesting' even be used to describe an opponent?

"Seeing that you all still have plenty of spirit today, then add another five laps," Qin Ming said with a chuckle.

Yu Tianheng and the others groaned incessantly upon hearing this; they didn't know why their physical training had increased explosively from the very first day of this semester. It had only been two or three days since school started, and all seven felt they had lost a layer of weight, feeling exhausted after every day's training.

On the other side.

Although Heaven Dou Academy was large, one day was enough for Ning Rongrong to finish touring it.

After eating breakfast at the Canteen, Ning Rongrong had nothing to do, so she came to the forest where Shi Quan performed his mimicry training early in the morning. Looking at the empty clearing, she shouted loudly toward the wooden house: "Shi Quan, come out quickly, this young lady is here."

Shi Quan, who was studying inside the wooden house, heard the shouting outside, his face darkened. He sighed, stood up, and walked toward the outside.

"What are you here for?"

"This young lady has nothing to do this morning, so I came to play with you. Besides you, I don't know anyone else in the academy." As she spoke, Ning Rongrong walked into Shi Quan's wooden house unceremoniously.

"What are you doing?" Ning Rongrong scanned the wooden house, her gaze landing on the book on the table, "You're reading?"

"That's right." Shi Quan walked to the desk and sat down again, while Ning Rongrong came to Shi Quan's side and leaned her head in, "What is this book about? What's so good about it?"

Shi Quan rubbed his temples and said: "This book is about gem-type martial souls. Uncle Ning asked me to help you all research methods for martial soul evolution. I have to study and don't have time to play with you; go play somewhere else yourself."

"Methods for martial soul evolution?" Ning Rongrong's eyes were full of curiosity, "Shi Quan, I heard your Innate Soul Power is only one level; is this true?"

"It's true."

Ning Rongrong's eyes widened, and she continued to ask: "Then is it also true that your martial soul evolved?"

"It's true."

"How did you do it?"

"Study." Shi Quan said without blushing or skipping a beat; although the facts had nothing to do with studying, it was the only answer he could give.

"Study?" Ning Rongrong continued to ask: "Anything else?"

After a long sigh, Shi Quan realized that if he didn't divert Ning Rongrong's attention, she would likely pester him. He slowly closed the book, looked at Ning Rongrong, and said: "And thinking."

"Nothing else?"

"Just those two."

Ning Rongrong rolled her eyes at Shi Quan and said: "Who doesn't know how to study and think based on what you said."

"Follow me."

Shi Quan led Ning Rongrong out of the wooden house to the front of the pool.

Shi Quan pointed to the slightly rippling water in the pool and asked: "Do you have any thoughts looking at the water in front of you?"

"Thoughts?" Ning Rongrong looked at the clear water of the pool and said subconsciously: "Isn't it just water?"

Shi Quan said calmly: "I see the flow of the water. If you were to think and study from the flow of the water, what could you come up with?"

"The flow of the water?" Ning Rongrong looked at the flowing water blankly and said hesitantly: "Think about why the water flows? Study... what is there to study about this?"

Shi Quan shook his head slightly, "What I think about is how to manage to strike and break the flowing water; what I study is the power of the flowing water."

"Strike and break the flowing water? The power of the flowing water?" Ning Rongrong was left confused and bewildered by Shi Quan's words, "What does that mean?"

"Try leaning over and striking the water with force."

Ning Rongrong crouched down and punched the water surface with force, causing it to cave in and splashing quite a bit of water onto her body; seeing this, Ning Rongrong felt as if she had been played, so she immediately stood up, glared at Shi Quan, and said, "Are you messing with me?"

Shi Quan shook his head lightly and gestured toward Ning Rongrong, "You hit me with a punch with the same amount of force."

"Hit you?" Ning Rongrong asked with some hesitation, "You're telling me to hit you?"

"Mm," Shi Quan nodded.

"Then I won't be polite." Ning Rongrong's eyes lit up, and she hammered toward Shi Quan's chest.

Yet she only saw Shi Quan move his hand slightly, and the force in her hand seemed to strike empty air, vanishing completely; the next second, her fist was gripped tightly in his hand.

Shi Quan released Ning Rongrong's fist and asked, "Do you understand now?"

Ning Rongrong stared blankly at her own fist, and only after a moment of daze did she say, "How did you do that?"

"Learning." Shi Quan pointed to his own head, then put on an inscrutable expression and continued, "Learning has no limits. Everything in the world can actually be treated as a target for us to learn from. When looking at people, events, or things, you cannot be limited to just the surface. No matter what it is, if you think about it more, you will discover that everything has aspects worth learning from."

"Think about it carefully." Watching Ning Rongrong fall into deep thought, Shi Quan said indifferently, while thinking to himself, "Let's see if I don't bamboozle you into a limp."

After finishing his bamboozling of Ning Rongrong, Shi Quan turned around and returned to the room to start studying.

The secret guard in the shadows was filled with amazement in his eyes after hearing those words from Shi Quan; he had originally marveled at how Shi Quan, a piece of trash with innate rank one, had managed to reach his current level, but after following Ning Rongrong for these two days, the secret guard finally understood.

This Shi Quan could not be measured by the standards of an ordinary person at all; just the few short remarks Shi Quan had just made were of great benefit even to him, a Soul King. With such talent, it was no wonder he could defy the heavens to change his fate and evolve his martial soul.

The secret guard hurriedly took out paper and pen to record everything Shi Quan had just said; they had to return to report to Ning Fengzhi every so often, and he naturally had to report today's remarks back word for word.

Shi Quan did not think that much; he just wanted Ning Rongrong to stop bothering him, so he randomly made up a statement to let her think about it on her own, so that he could focus on his own affairs in peace.

To him, it was just a matter of a few words, so he naturally couldn't be bothered to care.

If Ning Rongrong really managed to realize something from his words, then that would be her own good fortune.

However, how could such things be so easy to realize? Which of the martial arts he practiced hadn't been created by their originators after exhausting their efforts for decades and then being perfected by subsequent generations? If it could be realized so easily, that would be a true genius.

(End of chapter)