Chapter 62: You Have Us

"The important thing is not to let failure defeat you, Wu Feng."

"I... but I..."

Faced with Ning Wuque's comforting words, Wu Feng became somewhat flustered. Clearly, whether in the past or the present, the relationship between her and Ning Wuque had always been rather delicate.

In her memory, aside from the period when he was guiding her training and offering encouragement and support, this guy either teased her or bickered with her. How could he... how could he possibly...

Be so gentle with her?

She had already prepared herself to be scolded by Ning Wuque. If it weren't for him holding the line for them, their match would have been a definite defeat!

"Yes, Wuque is right, Sister Feng. This is just a minor failure. Let's go together to eat your favorite earth dragon barbecue, shall we?"

Holding Wu Feng in her arms, Ning Tian guided her step by step with gentle persuasion, and then continued:

"Set your mind at ease. None of us blames you for your rashness, and no one reproaches you for your impulsiveness. In our hearts, you are at your most cutest precisely like this. If you lacked a bit of your arrogance and pride, you wouldn't be the you I know, right Wuque?"

As her voice trailed off, Ning Tian looked up toward Ning Wuque not far away, signaling him with her eyes to quickly go along with what she had just said.

At this, Ning Wuque felt helpless inside. Those words were somewhat overly cheesy, and he simply couldn't bring himself to say them, so he could only respond with a stammering nod:

"Ah, yes, right, exactly like that."

"Mm, thank you, Ning Tian, and... Wuque, let's go eat earth dragon barbecue together. Next time, I will definitely win it back!"

Reaching out to wipe away her tears, Wu Feng's face carried a slight blush, evidently feeling shy from being stimulated by Ning Tian's words just now. How old was she, anyway, to be talking about whether she was cute or not... How utterly embarrassing!

Yet, her heart felt warm. Neither Ning Tian nor Ning Wuque despised her because of her arrogant display earlier.

Losing to Huo Yuhao and his two companions was one aspect, but more than that, it was actually because of her arrogant presumption before the match that Ning Wuque didn't need to take the opponents seriously at all.

Under this double blow, Wu Feng had become so vulnerable after the match. The prouder one was, the more fragile one became at the very moment of being shattered.

Soon, the three of them left the academy gates as usual, with Ning Tian treating them to a lavish feast at a restaurant established by their sect.

Perhaps due to that day's defeat and the comfort offered by Ning Tian and Ning Wuque, Wu Feng began to reflect upon and change her own flaws.

Over the next few days, unless Ning Wuque chose to take the stage to support them, she would fight much more cautiously in the remaining 2v3 battles, no longer blindly slapping on buffs and rushing forward to rely purely on instinct.

However, whenever Ning Wuque was holding the line for her—such as when they faced Xie Huanyue, one of the only three Soul Elders of this year—she would charge forward without any reservation whatsoever.

For no other reason than that a reassuring figure was standing right behind her. No matter how reckless or careless she might be, it didn't matter at all. This sense of security made Wu Feng feel fearless while also evoking a special kind of feeling.

To be honest, perhaps she no longer disliked Ning Wuque at all, but rather placed him in a position in her heart just beneath Ning Tian.

And so, proceeding smoothly without any mishaps, the three of them arrived at the finals of the freshman assessment.

"Wuque, are you feeling confident?"

At noon, about an hour before the official start of the match, Ning Tian stood beside Ning Wuque and asked softly, adding with concern:

"Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu are the only ones from the Star Luo Zhu and Dai families who can perform a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. A Martial Soul Fusion Skill performed jointly by a three-ring Soul Elder and a two-ring Great Soul Master...

This is just a match. If worse comes to worst, we can simply concede. There's no need for you to get hurt over this."

Ning Tian was well aware of one thing: unless Ning Wuque resorted to ring detonation, it would be impossible for him by himself to overcome the Martial Soul Fusion Skill of Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu.

Yet, she was even clearer about the nature of Ning Wuque's ring detonation. It was merely a meaningless assessment match after all, and not worth getting injured over.

Beside them, Wu Feng also nodded in agreement. Rather than winning, she cared more about Ning Wuque's physical condition. If anything unfortunate were to happen to him,

Not only would she be heartbroken, but Ning Tian would undoubtedly be anguished beyond measure.

"Well then, let's do as you say. I won't use ring detonation to deploy the Ninefold Yama Pass. Speaking of which, the long vacation is coming up soon... Are you returning to the sect?"

Nodding, Ning Wuque also felt there was no need to stubbornly fight to the death in this largely meaningless match. Besides, since Ning Tian herself didn't care, why should he insist on claiming first place?

At the same time, this sweet feeling of being constantly cared for by young girls filled Ning Wuque's heart, deepening the bond between him and Ning Tian more and more.

By now, he was almost running out of reasons not to strive to live on for her sake. Initially, he had been prepared to use the most extreme methods to boost his strength once Zhang Can died, just to see if he stood any chance of attaining godhood.

Now, it seemed he would have to slightly alter some of those previous crazy plans, at least to reduce the probability of a sudden demise.

"Return... to the sect... this..."

At the mere mention of whether they would return to the sect after the vacation, Ning Tian's mind suddenly flashed back to all the intimate interactions she had shared with Ning Wuque during this period.

This is bad!

Being intimate is a momentary thrill, but returning to the sect is a fiery cremation! If nothing else, her father must know about what had transpired between her and Ning Wuque by now, and by a hundred percent certainty.

If they were to return to the sect now...

"How about... we forget about it?"

Lifting both hands, Ning Tian grasped Ning Wuque's palm, rubbing her soft skin against it continuously while her entire being was flooded with emotions of embarrassment, fear, and worry.

She was genuinely afraid that before the new semester even started, her father might hack Ning Wuque into eight pieces!

"We'll do whatever you prefer, but I may need a top-tier healing Soul Saint of at least the seventh ring to assist me. The duration of the enhancement after detonating my first soul ring has now been shortened to one minute; I can begin the experiment for detonating the second ring."

Originally, this wouldn't have been necessary, because hiring a top-tier seventh-ring healing Soul Saint to escort and protect him was an astronomical expense.

His initial plan had been to spend his sect contribution points within the sect and ask Zhang Can to pull strings to hire one, as long as it was a healing Soul Saint and didn't even need to be the absolute top tier, just enough to keep him barely alive.

But now, he intended to live a bit longer, so...

Ning Wuque smiled as he looked at Ning Tian and spoke:

"Just for my sake, could you be a little rebellious?"

"I... Okay! Don't worry, Wuque, I will definitely find you a top-tier healing Soul Saint! We'll return to the sect during the vacation!"

Filled with anxiety, Ning Tian hugged Ning Wuque tightly and agreed without hesitation.

Feeling the soft and fragrant body in his arms, Ning Wuque harbored his own calculations.

Before Ning Tian became his girlfriend, he certainly would have feared being chopped into eight pieces by the sect master. However, so much time had passed, and the sect master still hadn't made a move. Coupled with the increasingly intimate daily interactions between the two of them in recent days, following logical reasoning,

Perhaps the sect master had made some consideration unknown to him and tacitly accepted the relationship between him and Ning Tian.

What could it possibly be?