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Chapter 77: The Witch Arrives
🕑 Added 2024-11-12 11:42:50 +0000 UTCYang Podi noticed Xue Qinghe's group approaching but chose to ignore them, continuing his training instead. To him, these people were irrelevant, and he'd rather spend his time strengthening his physical abilities. Especially with the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Clan—those old foxes seemed to have hidden intentions in every word they spoke.
However, things didn't go as he hoped. Teacher Li called all the team members to gather, take a bath, and change into fresh clothes to meet the Crown Prince, apparently at Xue Qinghe's request. After all, showing up covered in mud and sweat would be disrespectful.
As the seven of them stood before Xue Qinghe, preparing to bow in greeting, the Crown Prince spoke up, cutting them off. "There's no need for formalities. You are all now students of the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy and will serve it in the future. Such gestures are unnecessary."
Yang Podi was a bit puzzled. "Your Highness, may I ask what this is about?"
"Not much," Xue Qinghe replied. "I simply came to observe, as your training methods seem interesting. Did you design them, Yang Podi?"
"Yes, Your Highness," Yang Podi responded. "These methods are my own design, inspired by my experiences in the spirit beast forest, mimicking a bit of wild life."
Xue Qinghe seemed intrigued. "Impressive. I didn't expect you to have such rich combat experience in the wild. You must have been modest earlier when you said you lacked experience."
"And congratulations on your recent victory in the Spirit Elder vs. Spirit Master battle. That was quite a show."
"Thank you, Your Highness. I only did my best in the fight, without any other intentions," Yang Podi replied politely.
After a few more indifferent exchanges, Yang Podi grew curious. The Crown Prince had spoken at length, but what was his real purpose?
At this point, Ning Fengzhi spoke up. "Yang Podi, the Crown Prince and I have some matters to discuss over the next few days. It would be inconvenient to have a young girl with us, so could I trouble you to look after Rongrong for a bit?"
Yang Podi quickly declined. "Sect Master Ning, I'm not skilled at looking after others. Perhaps you could ask someone else?"
"Don't worry," Ning Fengzhi replied. "Teacher Anya will be watching over her at the academy, and she'll just observe during training. She won't disrupt your sessions."
Xue Qinghe chimed in with a mischievous smile, "You needn't worry, Yang Podi. Rongrong is well-behaved. She'll just be with you occasionally."
Seeing that the two influential figures had spoken, Yang Podi reluctantly agreed. "Well-behaved?" he thought. "Then where did she get the nickname 'Little Witch'?"
After some brief discussion, Ning Rongrong stayed with Teacher Anya, behaving like a demure little princess, while Xue Qinghe and Ning Fengzhi departed. However, Sword Douluo shot Yang Podi a few menacing glances, as if warning him that he'd use his sword if anything happened to his beloved 'little fairy.'
Throughout the afternoon, Rongrong stayed by Teacher Anya's side, quietly observing the training. She seemed quite well-behaved—until dinner.
As everyone ate, Rongrong looked at the academy's food with disdain, finding it hard to swallow and complaining about everything.
After the meal, Yang Podi intended to return to his quarters to meditate, but Rongrong interrupted him. "It's still early. Let's go out to Heaven Dou City and have some fun!"
"Apologies, Miss Rongrong, but we need to return to our training."
Ignoring his refusal, Rongrong grabbed Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan by the arms. "Yan Yan, Ling Ling, you both want to go out, right?"
In an instant, Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan were already swayed by Rongrong, and even Tai Long and Niu Meng seemed tempted. "We train every day. How about taking a break tonight?"
Before Yang Podi could respond, Rongrong pressed on. "You promised my father you'd look after me. Can't you manage such a simple thing?"
Seeing that everyone seemed to be siding with her, Yang Podi gave in. Once they reached Heaven Dou City, the 'fun' really began, with Rongrong leading everyone like she owned the place, dragging them around without a care, even into the night.
The three girls were particularly unstoppable, wandering from shop to shop with so much energy that Yang Podi felt more exhausted than during their weighted training runs.
Rongrong even suggested they visit a certain establishment, claiming she'd always been curious since her father never let her go. Now, with him away, it was the perfect chance to experience it.
Everyone exchanged stunned glances. Was this really a young girl? She seemed more like a seasoned veteran.
At one point, Rongrong mischievously asked Yang Podi, "Yang-ge, who do you think has a better figure, Yan Yan or Ling Ling? Which one do you like more?"
"Rongrong, I'm still young and not interested in such things," he replied awkwardly.
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't pretend. I know exactly what men think." She shook her head, sounding like someone who'd seen it all.
"Don't tell me you want them both as your girlfriends? You men are all the same, so fickle!"
Nearby, Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling blushed with embarrassment.
Yang Podi was at a loss, thinking, "I didn't do anything—how did I become the bad guy?"
When he finally made it back to his quarters to meditate, the next morning his younger brother, Yang Ping'an, barged into his room. "Big brother, something's wrong. Tai Long is about to fight someone."
"What happened with Tai Long? Why is he fighting?"
Yang Ping'an hesitated, but under Yang Podi's pressing gaze, he admitted, "It seems it's because of Rongrong. Some boys found her cute and tried to tease her, which somehow led to Tai Long starting a fight."
Yang Podi felt speechless. These young men were fighting over a seven-year-old girl—what were they thinking?
Thankfully, Teacher Li managed to resolve the situation, though Rongrong looked on with a smirk, clearly amused by the chaos she'd caused.
The morning of training was wasted because of the incident.
When Yang Podi finally arrived at the training field, he noticed everything had changed—the pits had been filled in, and the muddy sections and water pools had been altered.
Before he could say anything, Rongrong spoke up. "Yang-ge, I know you like Yan Yan and Ling Ling, but all that mud and water is bad for a girl's skin. I made adjustments so everyone can stay clean while training."
Teacher Li could only sigh helplessly at the situation.
Over the next few days, Rongrong continued to unleash her "Little Witch" personality, creating constant disruptions. If it wasn't one team member challenging another over jealousy, it was her outing someone's crush on a female teacher, causing no end of embarrassment and making it hard for anyone to focus on training.
Even the usually disciplined Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling started paying more attention to skincare than training after listening to her.
Yang Podi himself ended up with the nickname "Cold-Faced Tyrant" as Rongrong organized the group to "rebel" against him.
The entire team was in chaos, nearly falling apart, leaving Yang Podi overwhelmed and frustrated.
