Ning Rongrong was now reflecting on her growth. Although she still had her mischievous "little witch" tendencies, her personality had mellowed significantly. She didn't want to let her bratty behavior or spoiled nature cause any conflicts with others, especially with the people mentioned in the diary—Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu. As for Tang San and Dai Mubai, she'd let things play out naturally since she didn't hold them in high regard.
Ning Rongrong also felt a deep sense of gratitude towards Su Ming. Thanks to his system, when she awakened her Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, she had unexpectedly reached innate full spirit power. This delighted her father, as well as Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo, who were overjoyed. After all, even though the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan was known as the top auxiliary clan, it was extremely rare for someone to awaken with innate full spirit power due to the limitations of the martial spirit.
Her innate full spirit power had brought immense joy to her family, and her father had even declared that she would inherit the position of clan leader in the future! However, Ning Rongrong's personality had undergone some subtle changes over the past six years, largely influenced by Su Ming's diary. While she remained a little witch at heart, she no longer acted spoiled or unreasonable.
She had learned much from Su Ming's diary about future events, and her mentality had matured. She was no longer the same naive girl as in the original story. Additionally, she now knew that as long as she stayed by Su Ming's side and continued receiving rewards from the diary, there was even a chance her Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda might evolve into the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda. With Su Ming's help, she could change the destiny of her clan!
As she thought about this, her eyes sparkled with excitement. When I meet Su Ming in a few days, will my current spirit power level surprise him? Over the past six years, thanks to the steady increase in her spirit power and her diligent training with the Glazed Jade Pendant, she had reached an astonishing spirit power level of 34. This was especially remarkable since auxiliary-type spirits were typically harder to cultivate!
Her father and two grandfathers were astounded. They had seen many prodigies with innate full spirit power, but none had progressed so quickly!
What they didn't know was that Ning Rongrong had a cheat—a system supporting her!
Star Luo Empire, Zhu Family
Meanwhile, Zhu Zhuqing saw in Su Ming's diary that he would be heading to Shrek Academy in a few days, which meant it was time for her to set off as well. She, too, had greatly benefited from Su Ming's diary. Her innate spirit power had reached level nine, which was considered monstrous in her family. In the Zhu family, it was almost unheard of for someone with the Netherworld Civet spirit to have innate level nine spirit power.
Her outstanding talent had drawn great attention from both the Zhu family and the royal Dai family. On the day of her awakening, the Dai royal family had immediately announced her engagement to Dai Mubai. As vassals, the Zhu family had no power to resist, even though Zhu Zhuqing's spirit power was one level higher than Dai Mubai's.
If the Zhu family rejected the marriage, the royal family would certainly suspect disloyalty, which would lead to the destruction of the Zhu family. After all, the Zhu family had no titled Douluo to protect them.
Zhu Zhuqing's exceptional talent also caught the attention of her older sister, Zhu Zhuyun, and her fiancé, Dai Weisi. From that moment on, they had become competitors. Zhu Zhuqing had endured countless attempts on her life since awakening her martial spirit, but she had evaded them all. Because she mostly stayed within the Zhu family, her enemies couldn't be too blatant, though they constantly suppressed her.
Dai Mubai's actions disgusted Zhu Zhuqing. He had been the first to break under pressure, fleeing to the Heaven Dou Empire a year ago!
Zhu Zhuqing assumed that Dai Mubai believed he and she stood no chance against Dai Weisi and Zhu Zhuyun, who had been cultivating for much longer and had already reached the Soul Elder level. The competition for the throne in the Dai family was solely based on strength.
Now, thanks to the system's help and her own hard work, Zhu Zhuqing had reached spirit power level 35. While this was an incredible feat for someone her age, it was still not enough to contend with Dai Weisi and Zhu Zhuyun. Moreover, Dai Mubai had fled to the Heaven Dou Empire, essentially abandoning his claim to the throne. Why can't he at least try harder?
Zhu Zhuqing didn't care much for the throne; she knew that power was the only thing that mattered. But she couldn't respect Dai Mubai for running away and leaving her to face the attacks of Dai Weisi and Zhu Zhuyun alone. He had abandoned her.
Thankfully, the time had come. Su Ming was about to head to Shrek Academy, and Zhu Zhuqing had received the system's secret message that she would also arrive at Shrek in a few days. In the original story, she had arrived while fleeing, in a rather pitiful state.
This time, however, Zhu Zhuqing had a space talisman in her hand. With it, she could secretly travel to the Heaven Dou Empire without being detected.
I wonder if Su Ming will be surprised, she thought. After all, her current power level was vastly different from the original timeline. Would he notice?
That's up to the system's acting skills.
Now, she just needed to wait until nightfall and slip away unnoticed. Midnight was the perfect time to leave.
Meanwhile, Su Ming continued writing in his diary.
[Today, I'll recount what happened before we left Holy Soul Village—it was intense.]
[Xiao Wu and I went to the cave where Ah Yin was located. I explained the concept of spirit souls and their benefits to her. Although Ah Yin only had a cultivation of 2,000 years, she retained the wisdom of a 100,000-year spirit beast, so she could understand.]
[Before long, Ah Yin agreed to become my spirit soul and provided me with a 2,000-year fourth spirit ring. The skill it granted, Withered Wood Revives, passively boosts life force by 30%, and the active skill does the same, but it can be used on others as well.]
[I tested it on Xiao Wu, and she said it felt like an all-around enhancement—not just physical healing but also an overall feeling of vitality. It reminded me of the Excitement Pink Sausage Oscar would later obtain, which temporarily increases all stats by 10%.]
[Although my fourth spirit ring is weaker than my third in terms of age, it can grow as I become stronger. So, it's not a loss at all.]
[In fact, I've gained a lot. As Ah Yin is my spirit soul, I can share some of her abilities—like her information-gathering through the Blue Silver Grass or her Blue Silver Domain. The Blue Silver Domain might require Ah Yin to get stronger first, though.]
[Ah Yin's information-gathering through Blue Silver Grass is far superior to my wood element's range. With Blue Silver Grass, Ah Yin can collect information from almost anywhere, while my wood element can only gather info within a limited radius.]
[Wait, something feels off. Why did convincing Ah Yin to become my spirit soul go so smoothly?]
When Ah Yin read this, she froze. Is he going to figure it out?
The other women waited in suspense, wondering how the system would handle this.
"System, do you know why this went so smoothly? It feels too easy."
[Ding! Please don't overthink it. Becoming a spirit soul offers many benefits, allowing Ah Yin to recover her strength much faster. Following you will help her reach 100,000 years of cultivation again. She'd be foolish not to agree.]
Su Ming thought the system's reasoning made sense, though something still felt off. Is it really that simple?
He decided not to dwell on it. As long as things were going well for him, why worry? He resumed writing.
[After sealing the equal contract with Ah Yin, I used a disguise talisman to transform a hundred-year-old Blue Silver Grass into a fake Blue Silver Emperor, just to prevent Tang Hao from noticing Ah Yin's absence.]
[I wonder what Tang Hao will think when he realizes his Ah Yin has been swapped.]
[Then, Xiao Wu and I went to the place where Tang Hao hid the soul bone. I quickly swapped out the 100,000-year-old Blue Silver Emperor's right leg bone with a hundred-year-old Blue Silver Grass soul bone the system gave me. Despite being a hundred-year bone, the system-made one looks and feels identical to the 100,000-year one!]
[The swap was necessary. Without the system's fake soul bone, I wouldn't have dared to steal it. If Tang Hao found out the bone was missing, he'd likely massacre the entire village. After all, the soul bone was stolen from there, and the villagers are just ordinary people with no spirit power. To him, they'd be insignificant.]
The other women agreed it wasn't unlikely. Tang Hao, being from the noble Clear Sky Clan, wouldn't care about the lives of commoners. It would be no surprise if he didn't mind wiping out the entire village.
[After obtaining the soul bone, I had Xiao Wu use a transfer talisman to teleport us back to Nuoding Academy. I hope Tang Hao doesn't notice anything. With the system's items being so realistic—even Ah Yin couldn't tell the difference—I doubt Tang Hao will.]
[Okay, that's all for today's diary. In a few days, we'll head to Shrek Academy. I'm really looking forward to it—not because of the academy itself, which is just a scam, but because I'll finally meet Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing.]
The other women, now intrigued, thought: Why is Shrek Academy a scam? Hurry up and explain! You're such a tease!