Gentle Xue Furong

"Are you an idiot? How could you dare to take my soul skill head-on!"

Xue Furong caught Li Jiuxuan as they landed. The little guy's soul power was nearly exhausted; he was burning hot yet weak, his entire body sagging limply against her, lacking even the strength to stand steady.

"Instructor Furong, I just wanted to see where my limits are right now."

Li Jiuxuan's voice was as thin as a thread, yet a smile still hung at the corners of his mouth, devoid of any fear or regret.

Deep down, he was even surging with an irrepressible excitement. He had taken a strike from a Soul Emperor head-on—even if it was only at twenty percent power, it was enough to make anyone's blood boil!

"A mere Soul Grand Master, yet you still try to act tough!"

Xue Furong glared at him, a rare sight. A flicker of irritation appeared on her usually cold and indifferent face, adding a touch of human warmth to her expression.

"I, I'm sorry..."

Li Jiuxuan gave a sheepish laugh. He had never seen the usually composed Xue Furong lose her temper, and in his flustered state, he felt a bit taken aback.

Watching him like this, the fire in Xue Furong's heart, which had been burning quite fiercely, suddenly left her with nothing but helplessness.

She lowered her head to gaze at the heavily injured boy in her arms who was still managing a smile. Shock, admiration, and pity intertwined, eventually transforming into a soft sigh: "Sigh, it's my fault too. I shouldn't have rashly used a soul skill to test you."

She crouched down, letting Li Jiuxuan rest against her soft, supple thighs. Her fingertips condensed a gentle water-attribute energy, which she slowly channeled into Li Jiuxuan's forehead: "You are not allowed to be this reckless again. No matter what happens, your life must always come first!"

"I, I understand."

Li Jiuxuan nodded obediently.

While healing Li Jiuxuan, Xue Furong's stern expression softened completely. Looking at this tiny child, a wave of heartache couldn't help but rise in her heart.

When Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er were his age, they were still constantly burrowing into her arms, begging for hugs.

They were nothing like him, so persistent and rash.

Although ambition is a good thing, one must always act according to their ability, otherwise, it will...

"Result in more loss than gain..."

Suddenly, Xue Furong became somewhat dazed. The way Li Jiuxuan was looking at her now, cautious and full of guilt, looked a bit like that child of hers who had long since departed from this world...

"Instructor Furong, what, what's wrong!"

Li Jiuxuan was instantly stunned. This auntie was healing him, but as she went on, it looked like she was about to shed little pearls!

Clearly, Xue Furong's delicate body was trembling slightly, her pupils were moist, and her breathing had become ragged.

"It's, it's nothing..."

Xue Furong quickly regained her composure, raised her hand to wipe her face, and returned to her usual expressionless self.

"Are, are you really okay?"

Li Jiuxuan felt guilty. Although he didn't understand the reason, it seemed to be related to him.

"Let's go, I'll take you back."

Xue Furong recovered her composure quickly. She turned around, bent over, and in one fluid motion, hoisted Li Jiuxuan onto her back.

On the way, Xue Furong didn't speak again, and Li Jiuxuan didn't know what to say to comfort her.

This tall auntie had a soft, steady back, and a faint, clean fragrance lingered at the tip of his nose.

He lay quietly on her, feeling a sense of peace and comfort in his heart.

In truth, this beautiful auntie had a face shape as soft as water; it was only because she didn't smile most of the time that she appeared cold and indifferent...

But beneath that cold exterior, one could not hide her gentle and delicate heart...

A long while later, as they neared Calm Heart Lake, Li Jiuxuan spoke up cautiously: "Instructor Furong..."

"Hmm?"

"From now on, am I considered an official disciple of Skywater Academy?" he asked, feeling a bit uncertain, given Shui Yuerong's vague attitude.

"Yes."

Li Jiuxuan was very happy to receive the answer: "Then, in the future, can I come to ask you if there is any knowledge I don't understand?"

"Why?"

"Because I feel that even if I become an official disciple, the Dean doesn't seem very willing to bother with me..." Li Jiuxuan pouted against Xue Furong's soft back.

"...You may."

Li Jiuxuan smiled. In this world, he finally had a place that felt like home again.

And so, he began to chat with Xue Furong, one sentence after another.

"Have you and the Dean known each other for a long time?"

Xue Furong answered truthfully: twenty-five years.

"Does she have a heartbreaking past that she just hasn't talked about?" Li Jiuxuan asked curiously.

Xue Furong said she did.

"Hehe, I think that man was a coward. If it were me, I definitely wouldn't have run away." Li Jiuxuan laughed out loud.

Xue Furong said nothing.

"...Instructor Furong?"

Xue Furong waited patiently for Li Jiuxuan to ask his question.

"In the future, may I call you Auntie Furong?"

Xue Furong gave a soft hum of agreement.

In the end, after Xue Furong escorted Li Jiuxuan to his small cabin, she departed, saying she would take him to obtain his second soul ring once his body had stabilized.

Li Jiuxuan actually didn't have much of a problem with his body anymore; after all, Xue Furong had consumed quite a bit of her soul power to heal his wounds.

Watching Xue Furong leave, he did not obediently continue to rest. Instead, he sat cross-legged on the bed and began to meditate, cultivating his spiritual power.

Truth be told, cultivating spiritual power required even more time than cultivating soul power, demanding an environment that was ethereal, focused, and undisturbed.

After all, one was cultivating the mind, the will, and the foundation of the soul; there was no room for taking shortcuts.

Li Jiuxuan leaned against the headboard, silently sensing the resilient spiritual power within his sea of consciousness, his heart clear.

Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er would not be able to absorb the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow so quickly, as it required integrating this divine object into their soul power origin, transforming it into the purest extreme power of ice.

If they were lucky, with the help of Shui Yuerong, they could absorb it within a month.

If they were unlucky, not only would they fail to absorb it, but they would also damage their foundations.

An even more terrifying consequence would be losing their lives.

However, Shui Yuerong had experience with such absorption and would likely be watching over them constantly, so it was unlikely that two such talented disciples would simply perish.

Without realizing it, time flew by rapidly.

In the blink of an eye, over a month had passed.

About half a month ago, Xue Furong had taken him to the Frozen Forest to hunt a soul beast.

He had obtained his second soul ring.

It was a 750-year-old Icy Profound Ice Marten.

His second soul skill was called Icy Instant Shadow Slash.

Skill effect: Freeze enemies within a certain range, briefly increase one's own burst power, and then transform into a stream of light and afterimages to execute a full twelve slashes against the immobilized enemies.

Each slash was more powerful than the last, with the final slash shattering the ice and dealing terrifying damage.

Now, Li Jiuxuan's strength had advanced further, and he had stepped into the rank of a level 22 soul master.

He had broken through one level from absorbing the soul ring, and another level from his cultivation over the past half-month.

"Hm?"

One day, Li Jiuxuan was sitting cross-legged on his bed as usual, cultivating his spiritual power.

He faintly discovered that the extreme ice attribute within his body had produced a trace of strange energy—light, graceful, and elegant!

Unlike the extremely domineering aura of the Ice Dragon King, although it also carried a bone-chilling cold, it was clearly softer and more delicate.

This clearly contradicted the domineering, aggressive characteristics of the Ice Dragon King's aura!

He opened his eyes, intending to inspect why such an aura was flowing through his body, but he was suddenly stunned!

Because that aura was not produced by his own body at all!

Instead, a slender, graceful young girl was lying on his bed, fast asleep!

Furthermore, she was clutching his waist and abdomen tightly!

"Yue, Sister Yue'er!"