Deng Tianxin's Test

"How would I know if I didn't try?" Yu Xiaogang muttered under his breath, bracing himself against a crooked tree as he slowly got to his feet.

Seeing his master stand up, Luo Sanpao hurriedly scrambled up from the ground, shook the dirt and dead leaves off his body, and toddled after him at his feet.

Yu Xiaogang limped out of the woods and headed toward the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.

Elsewhere, Ning Yu and Liu Erlong were walking along an unknown road.

Liu Erlong looked at Deng Tianxin in confusion and asked, "Kid, why aren't we taking a carriage? Why insist on walking?"

Deng Tianxin thought for a moment before saying, "My goal is to travel around and have fun. Riding in a carriage every day would be boring."

"Have fun?" Liu Erlong raised an eyebrow and knocked him on the head. "Your teacher sent you out to train, yet you're treating it like sightseeing. Aren't you afraid she'll check your cultivation progress when she gets back and beat your backside into bloom?"

Deng Tianxin covered his struck forehead and gave a carefree snort. "Heaven knows, earth knows, you know, and I know. As long as you don't tattle, how could that old witch possibly find out? Besides, walking is training in itself. It strengthens the body and tempers the will. It's much better than being cooped up in a carriage."

He spoke with perfect confidence, chest puffed out as though he had all the reason in the world.

Liu Erlong looked at Deng Tianxin with an amused half-smile and said nothing, but her eyes clearly said it all.

Go on, keep making things up.

Though she had only spent a few days with the little fellow, she had already figured out his temperament. If three-tenths of what came out of his mouth could be believed, that was already plenty.

Still, she did not press him further. To her, taking a carriage or walking made no difference. As long as she followed this little fellow, her Soul Power cultivation speed would double. What did a little walking matter?

Besides, she had come out to train in the first place. Walking around and enjoying the scenery was far more interesting than being stuck inside a carriage.

Deng Tianxin took out a map and began pondering where to go next.

"What is it? What are you looking at?" Liu Erlong leaned over curiously and asked.

Deng Tianxin did not answer immediately. His little finger moved across the map as he frowned slightly, as though tackling an incredibly complicated arithmetic problem.

"I'm planning the route," Deng Tianxin said solemnly. "Look, we're roughly here right now. If we go this way, we'll reach Heaven Dou City in half a month. This way takes a month to reach the Balak Kingdom. Sunset Forest is over here, and farther this way is a stretch of wasteland..."

As he pointed across the map, Deng Tianxin explained it all to Liu Erlong.

"Get to the point." Liu Erlong crossed her arms and mercilessly cut off his lengthy speech.

"...The point is, I haven't decided where to go either," Deng Tianxin admitted honestly.

He had not had any specific plan when he left Spirit Hall. He had simply set out for the Fragment of the God of Love's Origin scattered across the land.

Those fragments were spread throughout the continent. There was neither a map nor any guide, and he could only sense them once he came within a certain range.

Rather than painstakingly plan a route, he might as well walk and sense along the way. Finding one would count as finding one.

In any case, he had plenty of time. Bibi Dong would remain in Slaughter City for at least another two years, so he had all the time he needed to wander around slowly.

"Then let's go to Heaven Dou City." Liu Erlong made the decision for Deng Tianxin, reaching out to tap the city marked with a crown on the map. "Heaven Dou City is one of the most prosperous cities on the continent, and Heaven Dou Royal Academy is there too. I've always wanted to see it. Besides, the Great Soul Arena there is packed with experts, making it perfect for honing my actual combat skills."

Deng Tianxin thought about it and said, "Alright."

The reason he agreed was that he had remembered someone.

In Douluo Continent, she was also hopelessly obsessed with love—and a complete brother-con.

That's right. It was Tang Yuehua.

Before Liu Erlong and Yu Xiaogang fell in love with each other, they had not known each other's identities.

Tang Yuehua was different. She clearly knew Tang Hao was her brother, yet she still loved him beyond redemption.

Deng Tianxin was certain that she had to have a God of Love Fragment on her.

As for how large that God of Love Fragment was, that was hard to say.

Thinking of something, Deng Tianxin cautiously asked, "Sister Liu, do you have someone you like?"

"Someone I like?" Liu Erlong was briefly stunned by the abrupt question. Then she flicked his forehead and laughed as she scolded, "You're just a little brat. What are you thinking about all day? I've only been out training for such a short time. Where would I find the time to think about such nonsense?"

She spoke bluntly, but there was not the slightest hint of bashfulness in her tone. Clearly, she truly had not taken the matter to heart.

To Liu Erlong, romance was nowhere near as satisfying as punching a sandbag flat. Compared to flirting and dating, she would rather find a powerful opponent and have a fight.

Deng Tianxin rubbed his forehead, but secretly muttered to himself.

He felt that Liu Erlong was rather peculiar now. He simply could not connect the Liu Erlong before him with the Liu Erlong from the novel.

Liu Erlong smiled at Deng Tianxin and asked, "What, do you like your big sister here?"

Hearing that, Deng Tianxin gave Liu Erlong a once-over and evaluated, "You're passable, but a little old."

"Old?"

The smile on Liu Erlong's face instantly froze. Her heroic brows visibly twisted into a dangerous arc.

She slowly turned her head and looked down at Deng Tianxin from above. A glint in her eyes sent chills down his spine.

"Who did you call old?" Her voice was terrifyingly calm, exactly like Bibi Dong's tone before she lost her temper.

Deng Tianxin had blurted out that line out of sheer habit. He had not thought it through at all.

Only now, seeing Liu Erlong's expression, did he realize belatedly that he had stepped on a landmine.

Deng Tianxin instinctively took half a step back. Before his short legs could take a second step, a long, strong hand had already precisely pinched his chubby cheek and pulled it outward.

"It hurts, it hurts... I was wrong! I really was!" Deng Tianxin tilted his head and bared his teeth as he begged for mercy. "I meant you're mature! Mature! Not old! Those two words mean the same thing in our village!"

"Why does your village have so many ambiguous words?" Liu Erlong did not lessen the force in her hand at all. Instead, she tightened her grip further, her smile growing increasingly kind. "Today, mature means old. Tomorrow, will ugly mean beautiful?"

"I didn't..." Deng Tianxin's little hands flailed wildly as he tried to pry Liu Erlong's fingers apart, but her fingers were like iron pincers and would not budge. "Sister, you're not old at all! You're the youngest grandma I've ever seen... No! The youngest big sister... That's not right either! Anyway, you're pretty! Very pretty!"

Deng Tianxin's incoherent flattery finally broke Liu Erlong's composure, and she burst out laughing. The hand pinching his cheek rubbed the reddened spot before finally letting go.