A Simple Favor

"Senior?"

Seeing that Danheng was the one who had caught her, Zhu Zhuqing's tense body immediately relaxed.

Since it was Senior Danheng, there was no need to be overly restrained.

"Mm. Are you alright?"

Danheng landed on the ground and set Zhu Zhuqing down. The other Shrek Academy students still had not recovered from the Titan Giant Ape's attack.

"I'm fine, but Senior, why are you here?"

Zhu Zhuqing felt an inexplicable sense of ease around Danheng.

When she was with Danheng, she did not need to think too much or harbor any ulterior motives, because Danheng had never been one for schemes—or rather, he disdained them.

After all, he possessed absolute strength, enough to render any scheme futile.

Before Danheng, she felt like a child being looked after by an elder.

Then again, at her age, she probably was just a child to Danheng.

"Oh, I saw what seemed to be a rather powerful gorilla over here, so I came to take a look. I didn't expect to run into you all."

Danheng truly had not expected that merely coming to witness a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast would lead him to encounter people from Shrek Academy.

This group really had something special about them. After meeting them before, the train's solidification progress had noticeably increased.

Even so, the train cars' current solidification progress was still not much. It was only because the cars were so large that every increase in progress could be seen quite clearly.

However, Danheng had not seen that little fatty before. From him, Danheng could sense an unusual fire-element power as well.

"Mm, cough cough, Senior, these are all my classmates, and Teacher Zhao too. You've met him before. I'll rest for a while first."

Zhu Zhuqing coughed twice and spat out a little blood before sitting down against the large tree behind her to rest.

"Mm."

By now, the Shrek Academy students had recovered from the aftershock of the Titan Giant Ape's attack. All of them stared in the direction it had left with lingering fear.

Tang San, meanwhile, lowered his head and quickly ate the sausage Oscar handed him, without saying a word.

That little girl named Little Wu should be fine.

The surroundings were silent, filled only with everyone's ragged breathing. Danheng did not speak either, merely analyzing the situation in silence.

He had already been able to tell that Little Wu was likely a rabbit who had taken human form.

Perhaps this Titan Giant Ape had once been her companion?

If so, then that little rabbit was also a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?

Was she really that tiny?

But...

A rabbit and an ape—no matter how he looked at it, that was a strange combination, wasn't it?

How had those two animals even ended up together?

One was as massive as a towering statue, while the other was not even as large as its palm.

In a flash, Danheng caught a whispered transmission. Tang San was asking Oscar for a Mushroom Sausage.

It was not that Tang San had failed to notice Danheng's arrival. He had also seen Danheng knock back the Titan Giant Ape with a single palm strike. But Tang San had previously launched a sneak attack to test him, and there was already bad blood between them.

If he went to beg Danheng for help, where would his pride go?

Besides, even if he begged, whether Danheng agreed was another matter entirely.

If Danheng refused, it would only waste time. Little Wu had been taken away by the Titan Giant Ape, and Tang San did not want to delay for even a moment. Nor did he dare to.

He feared that if he wasted even one more second, the Little Wu he found would be a corpse.

Seeing Oscar hesitate, Tang San once again expressed his determination. Oscar could only sigh helplessly and quickly make a Mushroom Sausage for Tang San.

Zhao Wuji had wanted to stop him, but Ning Rongrong added a speed boost to Tang San as well, allowing him to vanish from sight in the blink of an eye.

"You two... sigh."

Zhao Wuji was so angered by the two of them that he could not speak for a moment. But with things already at this point, he could only let Tang San go.

"Mister Danheng, thank you for saving my student."

Zhao Wuji walked up to Danheng, glanced toward Zhu Zhuqing sitting beneath the tree, and, after confirming that she was not seriously hurt, cupped his hands in thanks.

"It was only a simple favor. I have other matters to attend to. Until we meet again."

"A simple favor... Heh, it really was the work of 'raising a hand.'"

Thinking of how Danheng had sent the Titan Giant Ape flying with one hand, then thinking of how the Titan Giant Ape had sent him flying with one hand, Zhao Wuji did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"Miss Zhuqing, I won't stay any longer. Recover well. Goodbye."

After turning to bid Zhu Zhuqing farewell, Danheng vanished from where he stood. He rather wanted to follow the Titan Giant Ape now and see what sort of story it had with Little Wu.

"Mm, goodbye, Senior Danheng."

After Danheng left, Zhao Wuji decided that everyone would follow Tang San. He could not let that little hedgehog take such a risk alone.

Otherwise, he was probably in for another beating!

If anything happened to Tang San, he would probably be beaten to death on the spot!

"Zhuqing, what exactly is your relationship with that Senior Danheng?"

As they walked, Ning Rongrong curiously edged closer to Zhu Zhuqing and whispered into her ear.

The sight of Danheng sending a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast flying with a single palm strike had truly shaken Ning Rongrong to the core.

Even if her Grandpa Sword and Grandpa Bone had been the ones there, they probably could not have done that, right?

Yet her two grandfathers were both renowned powerhouses of the Douluo Continent. Danheng was actually even stronger than them?

"Um... Senior Danheng saved me once. Later, since he wasn't familiar with the Heaven Dou Empire, I guided him for part of the way."

After thinking for a moment, Zhu Zhuqing did not directly say that Danheng had come from beyond the Douluo Continent.

After all, it had taken her quite some effort to accept that explanation herself.

"Not familiar with the Heaven Dou Empire? Is he from the Star Luo Empire?"

"No."

Zhu Zhuqing immediately denied it. If Danheng were from the Star Luo Empire, the Star Luo Emperor would probably laugh himself into the sky!

"Could he be from Spirit Hall?"

He was neither from the two great empires, yet possessed such terrifying strength. Spirit Hall was the only possibility Ning Rongrong could think of.

If Danheng was from Spirit Hall, then that would be rather troubling.

"I don't know. In any case, Senior Danheng's origins are mysterious, and he never told me. Come to think of it, Senior Danheng and I..."

Before Zhu Zhuqing could finish, Ning Rongrong's interest was instantly piqued. Gossip! She wanted to hear it!

"Senior Danheng and I are probably... like an elder and a child?"

Zhu Zhuqing could not explain it clearly either. She simply felt quite comfortable when she was around Danheng.

Danheng was usually very amiable as well. She had never seen him display any major emotional fluctuations. It was as though most things here were nothing more than ordinary in his eyes—he simply had not seen them before.

After all, what decent person treated a Soul Bone as if it were nothing and casually gave it away to someone?

"An elder and a child... like my two grandfathers and me?"

Ning Rongrong muttered to herself, while Zhu Zhuqing beside her said nothing more.