Douluo Continent: Starting with controlling Ning Rongrong and establishing the Holy Cult

A crisp sound of bones colliding rang out, followed by a sharp, agonizing pain.

Pain throbbed throughout her body, from her knees to her waist, from her palms to her arms, but Ning Rongrong endured it without crying out.

She simply looked down at the part of her body that was wrapped in bandages.

"Hey~"

She sighed. How could she forget that she had used the Beast Trapping technique so many times while fighting the monster last night, leaving her body extremely weak? But that person didn't seem to care, so she had no choice but to pretend she wasn't in pain…

"It seems like today is not a good day for running."

Ning Rongrong shook her head, deciding to walk first. Compared to running, walking wouldn't cause her much pain, and conversely, the exercise effect of walking was far less than that of running.

Shrek Academy was so poor that the entire academy was located in a rented village. The village wasn't big either, with a circumference of only about twenty kilometers.

Ning Rongrong walked aimlessly along the dirt road in the village, completely unconcerned about getting her shoes dirty with mud.

The villagers all got up very early. Although not many people were up at Shrek Academy, the villagers were already starting their busy day.

She was relatively new, and the villagers didn't recognize her. They just assumed she was a freshman at Shrek Academy, so they greeted her.

Ning Rongrong returned the greetings one by one, her good manners shining through at this moment—although she didn't know why she should do this to the "villagers".

The number of villagers began to decrease, and Ning Rongrong took a more natural path through the woods. There were also more pebbles on the path, and sometimes she would step on them without noticing, and it would take her some time to regain her balance.

But I don't know if it's just my imagination, but my body seems to have become more flexible.

Ning Rongrong didn't think this was her doing; instead, she felt her body was gradually becoming unfamiliar, which was terrifying. Even more terrifying was that during the time she was controlled, her mind seemed to have gone astray as well.

Are you kidding me? Does she really think she'd be able to immerse herself in being controlled?

Ning Rongrong believed she couldn't do it.

"Hey, ha!"

Just as Ning Rongrong was appreciating nature, a somewhat familiar figure appeared in front of her.

Ning Rongrong stopped and squinted.

That person's name seemed to be... Oscar?

Ning Rongrong had a vague impression of him; he was the uncle from when she enrolled, and also the guy who went to train with her in the Star Dou Great Forest yesterday.

I remember he was 14 years old, two years older than me, and his soul power should be level 30 now, three levels weaker than mine.

He was practicing his boxing at the moment. After a while, he stopped, clearly having noticed Ning Rongrong's arrival.

"Rongrong? You're up so early, are you here to exercise too? Is your injury from yesterday healed?"

Perfect, this way she can leave a trace of her existence. So Ning Rongrong shook her head, trying to suppress her disgust, and said, "I'm not better yet. I'm trying to recover now. And you, why are you here?"

Oscar smiled sheepishly: "Of course, it's to improve my physical fitness and increase the time required to obtain the third spirit ring."

"Okay, when are you going to get your third spirit ring? Like yesterday, will the dean take you this morning?"

Oscar shook his head and said, "It's not decided yet. Normally, it takes a whole day to go to the Star Dou Great Forest. Yesterday, the Dean was there, and it was only taken care of in one morning. The Dean is lazy, so next time we go to the Star Dou Great Forest, we'll probably have to go on our own."

Ning Rongrong then remembered that the Star Dou Great Forest was indeed quite a distance from Shrek Academy.

"So how did you get back?"

"Of course, it was the dean who remembered me later."

Oscar said matter-of-factly.

"Okay, then keep going, I'll walk a bit more."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Ning Rongrong bypassed Oscar and headed deeper into the woods.

Oscar remained rooted to the spot, his gaze following Ning Rongrong's every move.

"Why does Rongrong seem a little different?"

He shook his head and continued his punching practice.

The sun continued to rise, and it was now noon.

Ning Rongrong had almost walked around the village before returning to a spot not far from her dormitory.

Since no one came looking for her this morning, it meant everything was fine. Xiao Wu's reply at the dormitory door further confirmed this. There were no classes scheduled for today; Dean Flander wanted everyone to get ready so that they could accompany Oscar to hunt spirit beasts the next day, which would also serve as their first teamwork training session.

Seeing that Zhu Zhuqing was engrossed in her cultivation, Ning Rongrong did not intend to disturb her.

I have plenty of free time this afternoon and evening... Shall we go to Soto for a stroll?

Having spent the last few days gathering information about Shrek Academy, Ning Rongrong hadn't properly enjoyed the life she should have as the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School. Now that she had some free time, she had the idea of ​​relaxing a bit.

But thinking about the strange things that had happened these past few days, Ning Rongrong felt she could never go back to a normal life. Right now, the most important thing was to quietly leave some clues; just in case someone found them?

"Let's go to the library. There seems to be a fairly large library in Soto City. Maybe we can find some clues about evil spirit masters."

After speaking softly, Ning Rongrong got up and left Shrek Academy. She inquired around and successfully arrived at the library in Soto City.

As a library open to the public, Ning Rongrong easily entered and began searching for information about evil spirit masters.

The sky gradually darkened.

To her disappointment, there was very little information available, almost none at all. She could only find terms like "evil spirit master" and "evil martial spirit" in some novels; these terms were nowhere to be found in proper history or recent newspapers.

"Hmm... I should have thought of that. Making this public would cause panic. That's probably why the Dean made Zhu Zhuqing and the others leave. To find this information, we would have to go to the Heaven Dou Royal Library, or go back to the sect to check, or go back and ask Tang Twelve if he has any news... That's too far, we still can't do it."

Ning Rongrong shook her head regretfully. She put the things back on the bookshelf, got up, and left. It was getting late; it was time for dinner.

Just as she stepped out of the library, she was accidentally bumped into by a black-haired girl who was in a hurry, and then she sensed two familiar presences.

"Dad and Grandpa Bone? Are they still here?"

Looking around, I couldn't find the person I wanted to see.

"The third Saintess Ceremony... Thankfully, I wasn't involved this time. Dad and the others should be able to handle it."

Ning Rongrong started looking for nearby restaurants, and finally, her eyes were drawn to a grilled fish restaurant. It was quite crowded, so it must be delicious. She quickly walked over.

She paused for a moment as she reached the shop entrance.

Sitting inside was someone she knew—no, strictly speaking, that person shouldn't have known her at all.

He had long, light blue hair and grayish-white pupils. He wasn't much older than her, but he was very well-developed, which she envied.

She was also one of the participants in the saintly ritual that Ning Rongrong experienced, the alluring woman who left before the ritual began.

Huo Shengsheng.

Chapter 28 Huo Shengsheng and the Saintess Candidate

Why is she here? Wasn't she being chased? How did she end up here?

Will she recognize me? Even though there was a box between us, it's possible she let me pass...

I can't afford to gamble, I'm running away!

Several thoughts flashed through Ning Rongrong's mind. In the end, she did not take another step forward. She turned around, lowered her head, and hurriedly left.

Inside the grilled fish restaurant, Huo Shengsheng had just taken a bite of fish when she looked up and saw this patch of green, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl up.

Then she spoke softly, and the word "No Entry" reached Ning Rongrong's ears.

In an instant, Ning Rongrong realized she had stopped.

If it weren't for the fact that she could still move her eyes and make some small movements, she would have suspected that the person controlling her had returned.

Of course, reality wasn't much better. Although she wasn't being controlled by that person, she was still being controlled. Well, if a fight broke out, she could be declared the loser.

I remember this Huo Shengsheng, she was a four-ring Soul Master.

"Has anyone ever told you that wearing all blue makes you stand out... Just kidding, you are very standout."

A familiar voice came from behind Ning Rongrong, and a pair of hands embraced her. At the same time, Ning Rongrong felt something soft pressed against her back.

She was standing in the middle of the road, but the people around her seemed not to see her at all, and even intentionally avoided her.

It’s over.

Ning Rongrong was terrified, imagining herself being killed on the spot and taken back as a hostage. Her father and Grandpa Bone were dealing with the Holy Maiden ceremony, so Grandpa Sword must be overseeing things within the sect. At this moment, it seemed no one would come to her rescue. The only hope was that the person from before would come and manipulate her to retaliate again, but the timing didn't match up.

It’s over.

"Don't be afraid, I didn't mean to kill you, you're not my target."

Just as Ning Rongrong was preparing to accept her bad ending, a familiar voice rang in her ears, and the hot wind tickled her ears.

"This is the second time we've met. You should know that last time, during that saintly ceremony, I let you go. At the time, I thought they could handle you, but you turned out to be quite a surprise."

Huo Shengsheng's tone was somewhat mocking.

"What do you want to do? Are you trying to threaten my dad and the others with me?"

Ning Rongrong grew increasingly uneasy and tentatively asked.

"Threat? No, no, no, I told you, you're not my target. I'm just here to chat. Under the effects of my soul skill, no one will notice. After we've finished chatting, I'll naturally let you go unharmed, and... I might even treat you to some grilled fish?"

Ning Rongrong took a deep breath and said, "What would you like to talk about?"

"Zhu Zhuqing, she's your companion now, right?"

Ning Rongrong's pupils dilated: "Your target is her?"

She never expected that the other person would be so familiar with things at Shrek Academy.

"Well, no, I was just asking casually. What, are you very concerned about her?"

Ning Rongrong shook her head slightly. They had only known each other for a little over a day, so she couldn't say she cared about them to that extent.

"You don't care at all? Fine."

Huo Shengsheng seemed somewhat disappointed upon hearing this, and released her hand, walking up to Ning Rongrong.

"Then there's nothing more to talk about. Let's chat again when you two are on better terms... By the way, how about some grilled fish?"

"no need."

"Oh, what a pity, the grilled fish here is pretty good."

Huo Shengsheng shook her head in disappointment again, snapped her fingers to release the soul skill, and then disappeared from Ning Rongrong's sight.

Ning Rongrong turned around and found that Huo Shengsheng had sat back down at some point.