Chapter 42

After being hoodwinked by Shi Quan, Ning Rongrong was indeed peaceful for a few days; sometimes she would stare at the pond in a daze, and in the afternoon, she would still squat in a horse stance to cultivate every day.

But Ning Rongrong was clearly not someone who could easily settle down; after realizing she wasn't cut out for it, she gradually returned to her former self.

"I don't know what's so good about reading books every day." Ning Rongrong lay bored on a lounge chair beside Shi Quan, holding a book in her hand, but after looking at it for a while, she covered her face with it.

"I also used to think reading was useless, but later I realized that reading is perhaps the simplest path for an ordinary person to change their life." Shi Quan read the book in his hands assiduously.

In his past life, he had been mediocre and achieved nothing; how was that not because he suffered from not studying seriously?

"Change your life?" Ning Rongrong curled her lips and said, "I don't know where you get so many grand principles every single day; it's a real waste that you aren't a teacher."

Shi Quan smiled lightly, "Since you are learning from me, I count as half a teacher to you, right?"

Ning Rongrong stood up, the book on her face sliding onto her lap. After looking Shi Quan up and down—he was dressed in plain clothes—she looked at his face, which could still be called delicate, and said with a look of disdain, "Tch, someone like you, just a little brat, wants to be my teacher? Keep dreaming!"

Shi Quan shook his head lightly; he had learned about Ning Rongrong's mouth these past few days. He suddenly thought of a question, "You keep calling me a little brat; tell me, when is your birthday? It's possible I'm even older than you."

In the original work, Ning Rongrong called Tang San 'Third Brother', and she ranked sixth in age among the Shrek Seven Devils, which meant her birth date should be near the end of the year.

Ning Rongrong said hesitantly, "I'm June 21st, what about you?"

Shi Quan smiled faintly and looked at Ning Rongrong, "I'm from the end of February, so don't call me a little brat every day. I'm actually a few months older than you. By age, you should call me brother; by our current relationship, you should call me Teacher Shi."

Ning Rongrong's expression turned awkward. She stood up angrily, put the book on the bookshelf to the side, and said huffily, "This young lady is hungry, come eat with me!"

Shi Quan estimated the time and said calmly, "It's between classes now, there are a lot of people eating, let's wait a while."

"No, this young lady is hungry! I'm not waiting." Ning Rongrong didn't care; she grabbed Shi Quan's arm and walked outside.

Shi Quan could only be dragged by Ning Rongrong toward the academy's main campus. As they walked, Ning Rongrong complained, wondering why this ghost of an academy had to be built halfway up a mountain; she didn't know how many times she had climbed up and down every day.

To avoid climbing this mountain back and forth, Ning Rongrong had even wanted Shi Quan to change to a different Mimicry Cultivation Environment, but she was directly refused by Shi Quan.

Like Notting Academy, the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy also held classes in the morning. This time of day on the main campus could be said to be the busiest time of the day. The main campus plaza was full of students walking in crowds, each wearing the goose-yellow school uniform unique to the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy.

Shi Quan and Ning Rongrong stood out from the crowd; one in plain clothes, one in a green silk dress, forming a sharp contrast.

Just as the two arrived outside the Canteen, trouble came.

Seven or eight youths wearing school uniforms blocked the two's path.

The leading youth looked Shi Quan up and down, his face full of disdain. He looked at Ning Rongrong and said with a chuckle, "This beautiful young lady, this is the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy Canteen; servants are not allowed to enter to enjoy our noble delicacies."

As soon as Ning Rongrong heard this, the corners of her mouth immediately lifted into a strange smile. She turned to look at Shi Quan and said, "This big fool says you're a servant? Aren't you going to teach him a lesson?"

Shi Quan covered his face, speechless. This Ning Rongrong really couldn't stay idle if she wasn't causing trouble.

"Big fool?" The youth paused after hearing Ning Rongrong's words, then flew into a rage, "Daring to call me a big fool, I think you're asking for a beating."

"You don't have any discernment at all, if you aren't a big fool, what are you? You think we're afraid of you? Even if you all went together, you wouldn't be his match." Seeing this, Ning Rongrong immediately hid behind Shi Quan, looking disdainful, and pointed at Shi Quan while she spoke.

"This is what you said, then I'll have to see how capable you are." The leading youth revealed a fierce look, waved his hand, and the youths behind him surrounded them.

Shi Quan looked at the leading youth; this youth looked somewhat similar to Xue Qinghe. "Could it be that brat Xue Beng?"

"This Ning Rongrong has actually given him a good opportunity to test me." Shi Quan felt speechless inside, but he quickly thought of a solution.

He pulled Ning Rongrong to the front and said, "She is the daughter of Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect Sect Master Ning Fengzhi, the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Are you sure you want to make a move on us?"

"Daughter of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect Sect Master?" Upon hearing this, everyone stopped in their tracks, not daring to move casually. All eyes fell on the leading youth.

Just as Xue Beng's expression shifted and he was in a dilemma, Ning Rongrong spoke up to help him, "Don't listen to his nonsense, I am not the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect."

"Attack!" Upon hearing this, Xue Beng's eyes lit up. He waved his hand, not giving Shi Quan another chance to speak, and raised his hand to punch Shi Quan.

Shi Quan leaped backward, dodging the punch while giving Ning Rongrong a thumbs up, "I give you a like."

Ning Rongrong was truly clever.

She only said she wasn't the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, but she didn't say she wasn't Ning Fengzhi's daughter.

But just this one sentence was enough to make people misunderstand.

Seeing this, Ning Rongrong hurriedly hid to the side, then made a face at Shi Quan and watched the excitement with great interest.

Shi Quan couldn't be bothered to mess around with Xue Beng and the others here. He retreated while explaining, "I am also a student of the academy, I just joined this year, I'm just not wearing the school uniform today."

"Still daring to impersonate a student of the academy, that's an extra crime. Beat him hard for me."

Xue Beng didn't care about anything; he said loudly, his stance clearly showing he was looking for trouble with Shi Quan.

Seeing this situation, Shi Quan's retreating figure suddenly changed; he lunged forward, planted his feet, braced his shoulders, and delivered an Iron Mountain Lean straight toward Xue Beng's chest. Xue Beng had not even reacted before he was sent flying.

Then, with a reverse horizontal kick, he swept another person away.

In just one encounter, two of the seven had been sent flying, and two more had been smashed; only three were left.

Shi Quan's thunderous counterattack did not stop. He then lifted his leg, drove his knee up, and used an iron elbow to send another person flying.

Seeing that Shi Quan was actually so fierce, all seven were somewhat panicked.

"What are you panicking for! All of you use your martial soul to beat him!" Xue Beng clutched his chest in pain and roared angrily.

Only then did everyone react and hurriedly summon their martial souls.

Soul power fluctuations were released; all seven had two yellow Soul Rings, and their martial souls were all Beast Spirits. Those who could study at the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy all had strong family backgrounds, so naturally, there would be no Ten-year Soul Rings.

As the seven released their martial souls, with his Internal Energy churning, a yellow and a purple Soul Ring also bloomed with light as the seven released their martial souls.

"Two-ring Millennium Soul Ring? How is this possible!"

Everyone at the scene was attracted by this amazing scene and let out a gasp in unison.

It wasn't that they hadn't seen a Millennium Soul Ring, but they had never seen anyone whose Millennium Soul Ring appeared as their second Soul Ring.

Just as the seven were stunned, the first Soul Ring under Shi Quan's feet had already lit up.

The Blue Silver Grass in his hands spread rapidly like a whirlwind, and as it touched the seven, it immediately extended onto their bodies.

Although the Blue Silver Vine extended upward, there was no power in the climbing vine. In fact, as long as one reacted quickly before the vine wrapped around them, or gave a light shake, they could pull the spreading vine off their bodies.

The seven looked at the spreading vines and were mostly frightened. A few who had a little bit of brains were just about to break free when the second Soul Ring under Shi Quan's feet bloomed with purple light.

The spreading Blue Silver Vine instantly solidified.

Those few who had a little bit of brains moved and immediately stumbled, almost falling to the ground.

The originally soft and powerless Blue Silver Vine now seemed to have turned into iron and stone, becoming incomparably hard.

This was the Second Soul Skill brought to Shi Quan by the Millennium Soul Ring of the Ink Jade Bamboo: Blue Silver Hardening.

When released, it could increase the toughness of the Blue Silver Grass exponentially, and it would become as hard as the Ink Jade Bamboo itself.

Although the vines extended by Blue Silver Growth lacked strength, when combined with the Second Soul Skill, Blue Silver Hardening, these extended vines now became something akin to a cage.

The two people at the back were the furthest away, so the vines only reached their knees, while for the few in front, they reached their waists; the deep blue vines emitted an ink-jade halo, and in just a few breaths, all seven were firmly controlled in place by Shi Quan.

Group control?!

Cries of shock once again resounded throughout the entire main campus; a two-ring Great Soul Master had actually mastered the ability of group control—generally speaking, a Control System Soul Master would only be able to obtain group control abilities at the Fifth Soul Ring, yet now a two-ring Great Soul Master had achieved it!

"Are you still going to fight?" Shi Quan's gaze swept over the seven people.

"I don't believe you can control all of us; attack together!" Xue Beng roared in anger, his hands with snow-white wings flapping incessantly against the Blue Silver Vines beneath him.

Boom, boom, boom!

Various dull thudding sounds rose and fell, yet the iron-hard Blue Silver Grass remained as steady as Mount Tai; as long as the strikes did not directly shatter the vines, any damage to them would slowly recover.

After the healing attribute brought by the First Soul Skill was combined with the hardening effect of the Second Soul Skill, its effect became even more pronounced.

Although Blue Silver Grass was inherently weak, the Ink Jade Bamboo, despite being a high-level Spirit Beast, possessed toughness and defensive attributes that were absolutely among the top tier of Spirit Beasts...

(End of this chapter)