"Let's do this!"
After a moment of hesitation, Ning Rongrong felt that she couldn't refuse the goodwill of her friends. She was definitely going to run the twenty laps!
What could she do now? Could she chicken out? Hmph, does this princess have no pride?
With encouragement from her two friends, Ning Rongrong activated her Light Lion's talent soul skill, Blessing, ate a large recovery sausage from Oscar, and began her second lap around the village.
Though it was a bit disappointing, it made sense—Xiao Bai's talent soul skill, Blessing, couldn't stack with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile's enhancement soul skill.
Xiao Wu was somewhat disappointed. If Ning Rongrong's enhancement soul skill could stack with Xiao Bai's Blessing effect, it would be a noticeable boost to her combat strength.
'Something seems off!'
Standing on the rooftop of his dormitory and office, Flanders gazed suspiciously at Ning Rongrong, still running outside the village.
Wasn't it written in Master Ning Fengzhi's letter that this little girl was arrogant and willful, a total little witch, and that he should discipline her more?
He had even deliberately made things difficult for her, but this little girl still obediently followed the rules. It didn't seem as bad as what Master Ning said about her.
Could it be that Master Ning was being humble?
Hmm, it wasn't impossible!
After all, a big figure like Ning Fengzhi didn't need to flaunt his daughter's excellence to someone like him.
What Flanders didn't know was that Ning Rongrong's personality was indeed exactly as written in the letter, if not worse.
The only reason she still acted obediently was that she didn't want to lose face in front of her newly made friends.
Ning Rongrong was a little witch, there was no doubt about that, but she was also very proud and valued the honor of her sect greatly.
As the young lady of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, she didn't want to be looked down upon, especially by her close friends.
Night fell.
On the Shrek Academy's training ground, Flanders looked at the seven students in front of him.
His gaze lingered especially on Ning Rongrong, filled with satisfaction.
Twenty laps, about 120 miles. As an auxiliary soul master, Ning Rongrong had completed the entire run, and before noon, no less.
Looking around, Flanders spoke, "Oscar, Ning Rongrong, step forward!"
Immediately, Oscar and the proud Ning Rongrong took a step forward.
"Both of you performed very well today, and I'm very pleased, especially you, Ning Rongrong. You truly are a talent nurtured by the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect!"
Flanders didn't hold back his praise.
After all, praising didn't cost him anything, and it could help reduce the grudge the two kids might have toward him.
Twenty laps, 120 miles. For two second-ring auxiliary soul masters, it was indeed a tough challenge.
Upon hearing this, Ning Rongrong stood even taller.
One of the little witch's favorite things was hearing praise, especially when it was well-deserved and not just given because of her status.
"Alright, you two don't need to attend tonight's class. You can go rest."
Flanders waved his hand, signaling that the evening class didn't involve them.
"Flanders, I want to go watch too!"
As soon as Flanders finished speaking, Ning Rongrong chimed in.
She had already asked Xiao Wu about the evening class, and since staying at the academy was boring, she might as well follow along to the Grand Soul Arena to see some excitement.
"That's up to you. If you want to come, come along."
Flanders waved his hand and led the way toward Soto City.
The Soto Grand Soul Arena was as lively as ever. This time, it wasn't just Ning Rongrong following; Oscar, a food system soul master, was also coming along.
As soon as they entered the Great Soul Arena, Flender, eager to make money, turned his attention to Chu Chengzhou.
In Flender's eyes, Chu Chengzhou was a troublesome student, but at the same time, he was his cash cow.
As long as there was a soul battle involving Chu Chengzhou, he knew it was a sure win. He could bet all his assets on it and just wait to collect the money.
Before Chu Chengzhou even advanced to the rank of a three-ring Soul Sovereign, he was able to defeat a five-thousand-year-old Fire Phoenix. Now that he's a three-ring Soul Sovereign, his opponents in the soul battles would be no stronger than level 39 Soul Sovereigns. Unless it's a fixed match, there's no way he would lose.
Moreover, unlike before when Chu Chengzhou's soul power was at the 29th-level Great Soul Master, giving him a very obvious advantage in soul battles, now he was only at level 34 Soul Sovereign. The advantage in soul power was gone, so while the odds for him winning were not low, they couldn't be as high as before.
"Flender, please don't look at me like that. I'm not planning to fight in a soul battle for now."
Flender's intense gaze made Chu Chengzhou feel uncomfortable, so he quickly spoke up.
Before a soul battle, a soul power test was required, and with his mastery of the black-level techniques, he couldn't hide his soul power level from the soul power-testing crystal.
Five months ago, he was just a 29th-level Great Soul Master, but now he was a 34th-level Soul Sovereign and very close to reaching the 35th-level.
In just five months, his soul power had increased by five levels. If you excluded the normal soul ring's contribution, which added more than one level of soul power, that was an increase of more than three small levels.
This rapid increase seemed suspicious, and if someone noticed and tried to force him to reveal a non-existent soul bone, things could get troublesome.
For this reason, Chu Chengzhou had refrained from participating in soul battles in the Great Soul Arena for the past few months.
"You're not coming again?"
Flender's face fell, and he looked at his cash cow, feeling disheartened.
"Come on, Chu, we've been waiting for you to get started!"
Ma Hongjun urgently spoke up.
The Black Horse Club was the most upscale in Soto City, and the expenses were not low. The more he went, the more Ma Hongjun's wallet visibly shrank. He was hoping to earn some money by betting on the soul battles again, but now it seemed that Chu Chengzhou wasn't going to participate. How could he let that happen?
Having enjoyed the enthusiastic service of the club's ladies, Ma Hongjun wasn't willing to return to being a "phoenix in the brothel."
"Uh... you guys stop it. It's not just me, Xiao Wu isn't planning to fight in a soul battle either."
Chu Chengzhou pointed to Dai Mubai, who had come with them.
"If you guys want to make money, you can bet on Dai Mubai. He's a Silver Soul Battle master and can fight in the main arena now.
While Dai Mubai's strength is not as good as mine, he's still a formidable Soul Sovereign at the third ring, with a pretty solid win rate. As long as you don't bet too heavily, you'll surely make some profit."
Although Chu Chengzhou was not fond of Dai Mubai, he had to admit that Dai Mubai's soul power at level 37 was not weak. While he might not win every battle, he would most likely win seven or eight out of ten.
Unlike the original story, perhaps because of the pressure from Chu Chengzhou, Dai Mubai's performance in the Great Soul Arena had greatly improved. His soul power had not increased much, but his record in soul battles had significantly improved.
The reason? Dai Mubai would go to the Great Soul Arena to vent his frustration after being humiliated by Chu Chengzhou.
"Ah..."
Ma Hongjun sighed helplessly.
Although betting on Dai Mubai would still yield wins, there was still the risk of losing all bets, unlike with Chu Chengzhou, where he could bet everything and just wait for the money to roll in.
Soon, Dai Mubai went to register for the competition, while Xiao Wu took Zhu Zhuqing to sign up for soul battle badges. Meanwhile, Chu Chengzhou, feeling a sudden urge to use the restroom, headed toward the washroom.
"Fatty, is Chu really that strong in soul battles?"
Ning Rongrong asked Ma Hongjun, looking curiously at Chu Chengzhou's departing back.
"Of course! Maybe you don't know, but a few months ago, Chu was still a 29th-level Great Soul Master. He won all his battles in the Great Soul Arena, and every time we bet on him, our fortunes multiplied dozens of times."
Ma Hongjun spoke with pride as he remembered his "glorious achievements."
Hearing this, Ning Rongrong blinked, her face showing a hint of doubt.
If she remembered correctly, Chu was now a 34th-level Soul Sovereign, right? How could there be such a huge gap from being a 29th-level Great Soul Master just a few months ago?
"Fatty, when did this happen?"
"Uh, I think it was five months ago?"
"Five months?"
Ning Rongrong raised an eyebrow. There seemed to be some incredible secret behind this!
Within an hour, the Shrek group gathered at the entrance of the Great Soul Arena.
The soul battles went smoothly today. Besides Chu Chengzhou, Xiao Wu, and the auxiliary soul masters Ning Rongrong and Oscar, Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, and Zhu Zhuqing all won their individual soul battles.
The group split into three groups and left Soto City's Great Soul Arena.
Only Flender returned directly to Shrek Academy.
Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, and Oscar went to the Black Horse Club. However, while their destination was the same, Ma Hongjun and Oscar stuck together, while Dai Mubai was subtly excluded from the group.
There could only be one top dog, and with Chu Chengzhou around, they had to keep some distance from their former top dog.
Xiao Wu, Ning Rongrong, and Zhu Zhuqing decided to visit the Soto City night market.
As for Chu Chengzhou? Of course, he was the one acting as the "flower protector!"
The Soto City night market was lively and bustling, and Xiao Wu and Ning Rongrong were having a great time.
While walking, the four of them unknowingly found themselves at the Seven Treasure Chamber of Commerce entrance.
Thinking for a moment, Chu Chengzhou turned to the others and said, "Xiao Wu, I need to order some items. Do you want to come in and have a look?"
On his profile, his blacksmithing skills would improve to black-level in a month.
Yellow and purple-level forging corresponded to metal refining in later generations, so black-level should correspond to spirit-forged metals.
Spirit-forged metals could be stored inside a soul master's body, so Chu Chengzhou planned to order some rare metals for upgrading his equipment.
"Seven Treasure Chamber of Commerce? Rongrong, is this your sect's shop?"
Xiao Wu looked at Ning Rongrong, who nodded.
"Yes, in the Heaven Dou Empire and several other kingdoms and principalities, we have branches of the Seven Treasure Chamber of Commerce in all major cities."
Chu Chengzhou then responded, "I need to buy some items. I hope you can help me get a good price."
"Of course, don't worry! I'll make sure they give you a discount!"
Ning Rongrong patted her chest confidently.
"Thank you, Rongrong!"
Chu Chengzhou smiled and didn't refuse Ning Rongrong's kindness. After all, the Seven Treasure Chamber of Commerce wasn't going to suffer for giving him a small discount.
"Welcome!"
As soon as they entered the Seven Treasure Chamber of Commerce, a sales associate greeted them.
"Call your manager over!"
Ning Rongrong waved her Seven Treasure Glazed Tower martial spirit and ordered the sales associate.
Seeing Ning Rongrong's martial spirit and her two soul rings, the sales associate immediately recognized her.
"Miss Ning, please wait. I'll have the manager come out right away to assist you."
The Seven Treasure Chamber of Commerce was named after the Seven Treasure Glazed Tower, and the sales associate knew who Ning Rongrong was.
A few minutes later, the sales associate returned with a middle-aged man who seemed a bit plump.
Upon seeing Ning Rongrong, the man quickly rushed forward.
"Manager Wang, I'm honored to meet you!"
He bowed respectfully to Ning Rongrong.
"Miss?"
Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing were surprised.
"Yes, my father is the sect leader of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect!" Ning Rongrong smiled shyly.
Both Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing were speechless.
So, Ning Rongrong was a little rich girl? What was that like?
However, they didn't think much of it. After all, in Douluo Dalu, strength was what truly mattered. Wealth was secondary, and gold and jewels were just distractions.
"Manager Wang, my senior here wants to buy some things."
Ning Rongrong pointed to Chu Chengzhou.
"What are you looking for, young friend?" Manager Wang asked.
"I'm looking for some rare metals. Can you show me some samples?" Chu Chengzhou asked.
He wasn't very familiar with rare metals, and since they might have different names in this world, he wanted to see the samples first.
Sure enough, he needed to prepare materials for forging spirit-forged armor and upgrading his bow.
"Rare metals? Please wait a moment, I'll get some samples for you."
Manager Wang quickly ordered a sales associate to bring the items.
After a few minutes, the associate returned with a cart full of metal ingot samples of various colors.
"Here are the rare metals we have in stock."
Manager Wang pointed to the cart.
"Thank you, Manager Wang. I'll take a look myself."
Chu Chengzhou nodded and started examining the metals.
He didn't recognize most of the samples, but that wasn't a problem. With his special forging skills, he could handle any metal, as long as it wasn't too weak for advanced forging.
After inspecting the samples, Chu Chengzhou picked out two ingots.
One was blue-colored with no distinct attributes, and the other was red and emitted a faint heat.
The blue metal could enhance soul power, while the red metal could enhance fire-type soul power.
The latter, in particular, was more effective for fire soul power.
"Manager Wang, what are these metals?" Chu Chengzhou asked, holding the two ingots.
"The blue one is called Blue Essence Copper, which comes from large copper mines in the mountain ranges of the Heaven Dou Empire. The red one is called Fire Gold, which has been used for the forging of fire-type soul weapons for generations.
After recalling for a moment, Wang Fugui explained.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect started with mining, and as a prominent subordinate, Wang Fugui had some knowledge of the sect's products.
Upon hearing the names of the metals, Chu Chengzhou raised an eyebrow. It seemed that these two rare metals were also named the same in later generations of the Douluo Continent.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was the largest mining owner on the continent. Could it be that the rare metals in later generations were all named by the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?
"How much are they?"
Not dwelling too much on the names, Chu Chengzhou asked.
"Well..."
Wang Fugui couldn't help but glance at Ning Rongrong, who was sitting beside them.
Chu Chengzhou came with the young lady, so the price was tricky to determine!
The business had its rules. If he sold too cheaply, it would be a violation, unless the young lady personally spoke up.
But if he sold at the original price, how would it look in front of the young lady?
After all, they were classmates. Wasn't it fair to give a little discount to her family's business?
"Manager Wang, you don't need to look at Ning Rongrong. Just charge me whatever the original price is. I'm not short on money."
Seeing Wang Fugui's hesitation, Chu Chengzhou spoke up.
"Senior Chu, if you're just buying the metals, I'll take care of it. I'll give them to you directly!"
At this moment, Ning Rongrong spoke.
She had initially not known what Chu Chengzhou was planning to buy. She had just considered offering some discounts, as many of the items sold by the Seven Treasure Chamber of Commerce had considerable costs, like high-capacity storage soul tools, soul bones, and so on.
Because of that, she hadn't dared to make any promises.
But since Chu Chengzhou was buying rare metals, there was no need to discuss it—she would just give them to him.
As the daughter of the largest mining magnate on the continent, even though rare metals were expensive, they were essentially just stones dug from her family's mines. Was she really going to charge for them?
It was like the son of a coal baron having a classmate over and offering to sell him coal to burn—would you really charge for that?
"Give them to me for free? Let's not do that. Since you are running a business, I can't just take them for nothing."
Chu Chengzhou shook his head. He wasn't without gold soul coins, but he didn't want to owe Ning Rongrong a favor, even though he had already considered her as a fish in his own pond.
"Senior Chu, don't embarrass me."
Ning Rongrong shook her head. "It's just some metals. Our Seven Treasure Glazed Tower martial spirit has a treasure-seeking ability. We have as much of these as we want, and we even have more than we can sell."
"Although rare metals are expensive, their cost price isn't high, so you don't need to worry about it."
Ning Rongrong's attitude was firm.
"In that case, I need quite a bit."
"That's no problem, Senior Chu, take as much as you like!"
Ning Rongrong waved her hand nonchalantly.
Since they were all classmates and she was the girlfriend of her little sister's boyfriend, even if Chu Chengzhou wasn't yet her close friend, he was still considered a friend.
And since they were friends, she had no problem with him taking more, especially since her family had plenty of it!
"Alright then, Rongrong, thank you! Manager Wang, I need three hundred pounds of Blue Essence Copper and one hundred pounds of Fire Sun Iron."
Not refusing Ning Rongrong's offer any longer, Chu Chengzhou gave the two amounts to Wang Fugui.
The density of Blue Essence Copper and Fire Sun Iron was much lower than Silver Ore. Even after removing impurities and shrinking the volume in later stages of forging, three hundred pounds of Blue Essence Copper would be enough to forge spiritual armor for himself and Xiao Wu.
As for the hundred pounds of Fire Sun Iron, that would be used to forge a fire-type strongbow.
As for owing Ning Rongrong a favor? That could be dealt with later.
"Young Master Chu, Blue Essence Copper is abundant, and we have it in stock. However, Fire Sun Iron is quite rare, so it needs to be ordered from the headquarters in Tiandou City. It will take about half a month."
Wang Fugui said apologetically.
"No problem. Just notify me when you have it or deliver it to Shrek Academy outside the city."
Chu Chengzhou wasn't in a rush to start forging before reaching the level of spiritual forging, so the timing didn't matter much.
T/N: Here, sorry it's a bit late, also thank daoist_cat for the extra chapter in addition to the four