Above the Sky

"My eldest sister's Soul Power should also be around Rank Forty."

Zhu Zhuqing lowered her head, hugging her arms as she murmured.

"Then you probably won't die."

"If I were your eldest sister, I would have killed you long ago. Whether in terms of influence or strength, you wouldn't have had the slightest chance of escaping."

Li Xun crouched down, picked up a branch from the ground, and drew a rough map. "Judging by how I saved you in Dragon Arising City, you were probably hunted all the way here from the Star Luo capital, right? Think about it—how many times did you escape along the way?"

Zhu Zhuqing suddenly looked at Li Xun, light gradually returning to her eyes. After hesitating, she said, "Big Brother Li Xun... are you saying my eldest sister wanted to drive me out of the Star Luo Empire?"

Li Xun nodded. "Very likely. Otherwise, considering your age and current level, there's no reason you could have survived."

Zhu Zhuqing's body trembled at his words, and tears suddenly welled up in her eyes. She hurriedly covered her mouth with her hand.

She had been someone who should have despaired, yet she suddenly discovered that she might have been the one being protected.

Once that thought surfaced in her mind, it became like a lifeline she could not cast aside.

And it kept telling her that it had to be true.

Zhu Zhuqing desperately wanted to cry, to vent the bitterness and anguish she had kept bottled up for so long.

Li Xun slowly stood and walked over to Zhu Zhuqing, patting her head in comfort. "Is there anything else you don't understand?"

"But... I... I'm still a little afraid..." Tears ran down Zhu Zhuqing's face as she choked out the words.

"It's fine. You can come to Heaven Dou with me first. Even the Star Luo Royal Family will have to show some restraint there."

Li Xun smiled, took off his cotton coat, and draped it over Zhu Zhuqing. Then he helped her slowly step onto the flying sword. "As for that Dai Mubai, I reckon you'll be safe once he's dead."

Sword Douluo stood on the flying sword, watching everything with an odd expression as his eyelids twitched.

He felt that agreeing to rehearse lines with Li Xun had been a mistake.

The boundless sky was vast and lonely.

Yet the addition of a flying sword gave that solitude a different sort of color.

On the flying sword, Sword Douluo was looking at Li Xun with a strange expression.

He felt that the only reason this brat had rescued Zhu Zhuqing was because he wanted someone to block the wind for him on the flying sword.

If Li Xun knew Sword Douluo thought of him that way, he would surely cry injustice.

Even without his rescue, Zhu Zhuqing definitely would not have died.

But knowing full well that she would join Shrek Academy and become Tang San's thug and Dai Mubai's accessory, how could he not interfere?

Wouldn't that be helping the enemy?

What kind of person did Sword Douluo take him for?

Li Xun tightened the arm wrapped around Zhu Zhuqing's waist, pulling the two of them closer together.

It was not that Li Xun was being a hooligan. It was simply unsafe up in the air, and rather cold as well.

The only cotton coat had been given to Zhu Zhuqing.

He now had only a thin single layer of clothing on him.

Fortunately, Zhu Zhuqing's waist was slender, making it effortless to hold her. With the two pressed close together, they could at least share a little warmth.

Yet for some reason, Zhu Zhuqing kept squirming back and forth. This left Li Xun, who could clearly feel that round softness against his lower abdomen, deeply troubled.

It was not that Li Xun had not considered wearing the cotton coat and standing in front.

It was just that Sword Douluo was an unworldly and immaculate man. Li Xun could suffer a little discomfort himself, but he could not let Sword Grandfather's reputation be tarnished because of a girl.

Zhu Zhuqing was very hot right now. Even in the frigid high sky, she felt as though her entire body were burning.

And even hotter was the warmth coming from the person behind her.

Although she was wearing a cotton coat, perhaps due to regional differences, this garment meant to ward off the cold was quite thin. With the two of them so close, she could clearly feel the firm chest behind her.

That sensation made her unconsciously twist her body, seeking to ease her discomfort.

Feeling the arm around her waist like an iron band, her heart pounded wildly. She had never been this close to a boy before.

In that instant, Zhu Zhuqing thought of many things. She forcibly calmed herself down, and as her body gradually relaxed, her heart became unusually tranquil as well.

At that moment, she felt that the entire world had changed. The sky was so vast, and even the howling wind by her ears sounded especially pleasant.

She felt as though the invisible shackles binding her had dissipated.

All of it stemmed from her speculation about her eldest sister's motives.

As for Dai Mubai... since he had chosen to abandon her and flee, there was no need for the two of them to have anything to do with each other anymore.

That would also spare her eldest sister from having to make things difficult.

Just as Zhu Zhuqing was lost in thought, she suddenly felt the arm around her waist loosen. One of Li Xun's arms abruptly lifted, his palm reaching straight toward her upper body.

Zhu Zhuqing's mind buzzed and went completely blank, her heart beating uncontrollably.

Just as her thoughts froze, his palm stopped at the wound on her left shoulder.

Zhu Zhuqing had spent the entire day fleeing, unable to tend to her injuries. Li Xun feared that, having already lost too much blood, she would suffer in the frigid high altitude.

From hypothermia.

Li Xun slowly mobilized the Chakra within his body, channeling it through his palm toward her wound.

Although he had yet to develop any healing Ninjutsu, relying on the properties of Wood Style and expending Chakra without restraint, he could still heal some external injuries.

"Why has your body gone all stiff? Are you afraid of falling?"

Feeling Zhu Zhuqing's tense body, Li Xun tightened the arm wrapped around her waist.

By then, Zhu Zhuqing's mind had cleared. Realizing that she had misunderstood, her face immediately flushed red.

Feeling the warm, soothing sensation coming from the wound on her left shoulder, she was astonished.

"Big Brother Li Xun can actually heal injuries without using his Martial Soul..."

Zhu Zhuqing turned her head to glance at Li Xun. "And he's clearly a control-type Soul Master..."

When Li Xun saw Zhu Zhuqing turn her head, he smiled at her. Who knew that she would seem as though startled, quickly turning away again.

"Hm? Did she see my handsome face and get embarrassed?" Li Xun fell into thought.

Perhaps they had been away too long and missed the sect dearly, or perhaps the sky was no longer so cold. Even when they passed towns along the way, Li Xun did not have Sword Douluo stop.

Only when they came across places with pleasant scenery did the three of them stop to rest and ease their physical and mental fatigue.

Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Ning Fengzhi's joy was plain to see. "I never expected this journey to bring such gains as well."

"Teacher, don't celebrate too soon. You'll still need to personally discuss the specific details of cooperating with the Breaking Clan with Senior Yang Wudi." Li Xun prepared Ning Fengzhi mentally.

"Indeed. Though the Breaking Clan has declined, it is still not something ordinary sects can compare to. I shall set out today." Ning Fengzhi nodded with a smile.

When Li Xun had first said that he wanted to win over the Breaking Clan, Ning Fengzhi had not held much hope. He had only offered encouragement because he saw it as a way to temper his disciple.

Yet in little more than a year, Li Xun had silently advanced the matter to such a point.

How could this not delight him?

After all, the Breaking Clan was an existence comparable to the Lower Four Sects, not to mention that they had once been vassals of the Clear Sky Sect.

As for whether this would anger the Clear Sky Sect, Ning Fengzhi merely smiled indifferently.