"Familiar?"
At his words, Long Yuan froze for a moment. After all, they had never met, or so reason dictated.
Could Na'er have sensed the Golden Dragon King's presence? But hadn't she lost her memory?
Forget it. He'd think about it later.
Having made up his mind, Long Yuan released his seal on the Sea of Consciousness and withdrew.
The next moment, Tang Wulin's body went limp, and he collapsed beside Na'er.
"Ah!" Na'er jumped, then crouched helplessly beside him.
He'd been full of life just moments ago. How had he fainted all of a sudden?
Fortunately, less than two minutes later, Tang Wulin woke up.
His mental power was too weak for him to even look inward at his Sea of Consciousness. While sealed inside it, he'd been unconscious the entire time, completely unaware of what had happened. And after suddenly taking control of his body again, he needed a while to adjust.
"Mm..."
Tang Wulin opened his eyes to see a slender, pale finger waving in front of him.
"You're awake!" Na'er said excitedly.
"Ah... yeah. Sorry for worrying you." Tang Wulin still hadn't figured out what had happened.
But he knew the teacher must have driven off those bad guys by now.
At that moment, Na'er seemed to remember the question Long Yuan had asked using this body earlier. "I... I'm called Na'er."
"Na'er. That's a lovely name, and you have a lovely voice, too." Tang Wulin sat up. "Um, I'm Tang Wulin. Why are you here by yourself? Where's your family?"
Na'er shook her head, looking confused. She furrowed her brow and thought for a long while, but in the end, said nothing.
"Teacher, what should I do now?" Tang Wulin asked silently.
[She seems to have lost her memory. Take her home for now and have your parents help figure things out.]
"Oh, okay. I understand, teacher."
"Grrr—"
Just then, an untimely sound rang out.
Tang Wulin quickly looked down, then realized the sound hadn't come from him. He turned to look at Na'er instead.
Sure enough, despite her disheveled appearance, her cheeks had turned a little red.
"Are you hungry? If you don't know where to go, you can come to my house. My mom's cooking is delicious!"
Tang Wulin spoke, and when Na'er nodded, he took her hand and led her home.
As they walked, Long Yuan spoke to Tang Wulin.
[Wulin, your physical condition is too weak, and so is your mental power. You need to make training in both a priority. You can't rely on me every time.]
To be honest, Long Yuan didn't really want to take over and fight in his place, especially when Tang Wulin's mental power was so weak.
He could seal Tang Wulin's Sea of Consciousness for a short time, but if Tang Wulin remained unconscious inside it for too long, Long Yuan couldn't guarantee that nothing would go wrong.
If something unexpected happened and Old Tang woke up, it would be difficult to continue with his plan.
"I understand, teacher. I'll work hard."
[As long as you're not afraid of hardship.]
"It's fine. I'm not afraid of hardship!"
Long Yuan said no more. Of course he believed him. Tang Wulin had always been tenacious and resilient as a child—there was no denying that.
"Mom, we're back!" Tang Wulin shouted, knocking on the door.
At the sound of his voice, Lang Yue quickly opened it.
"I know, you little rascal. Keep your voice down so you don't wake—"
She hadn't finished speaking when her attention was drawn to Na'er behind Tang Wulin.
"How did you get so dirty? And who's this little girl?"
"Oh, this? I fell down and got dirty. And this is Na'er. I met her on the way home. She can't find her family, and she doesn't remember where her home is."
Tang Wulin genuinely had no idea what had happened, and he'd promised the teacher not to reveal his existence, so he had to leave out the part about the thugs.
Fortunately, Lang Yue didn't think much of it. She hurriedly ushered both children inside.
"Mom, Na'er and I are hungry. Is there anything to eat?"
At the mention of food, Na'er turned to look at Lang Yue, too.
"Oh, you little glutton. All you think about is food." Lang Yue chuckled helplessly, but still went to find them some light snacks.
"Here, have a little something to tide you over. We'll see what to do once your dad gets home. After that, I'll take you both to wash up."
After a quick bite, Tang Wulin went to the bathroom to wash up.
Lang Yue watched Na'er nibbling at her bread. "Little one, your name is Na'er, right? Where's your dad?"
Na'er shook her head. "I don't have a dad."
Lang Yue froze, then instinctively asked, "What about your mom?"
"I don't have a mom, either."
After saying this, Na'er stared into space for a while before continuing to eat.
Lang Yue felt a pang of shame. Kindhearted as she was, she didn't ask any more questions. She simply stroked Na'er's hair and quietly watched her eat.
After Na'er finished, Lang Yue took her to wash up and found her a set of clothes to wear.
Fortunately, they were both children, so the clothes were more or less the right size.
Before long, Tang Ziran came home. He was surprised to find Na'er suddenly in their house, but after hearing Lang Yue's explanation, he thought for a moment and said, "Let's have dinner together, then take her to the Administration Hall and ask around. Maybe we can find her parents or other relatives."
After dinner, the three of them went out, leaving Tang Wulin home alone. With nothing else to do, he could only sit cross-legged on his bed and start cultivating his Soul Power.
With Long Yuan's help, he quickly settled into his cultivation, greedily absorbing the energy of heaven and earth around him.
About three hours later, Tang Ziran and Lang Yue returned with Na'er.
Tang Ziran gently pushed open the door. When he saw Tang Wulin still cultivating, he didn't disturb him and quietly closed the door again.
"Wulin's still cultivating. Let's not disturb him."
"Then what should we do? The Administration Office couldn't find Na'er's family, either," Lang Yue said softly.
Suddenly, she seemed to think of something. "Why don't we adopt Na'er?"
"Let's talk about it tomorrow. It's getting late, and we'll definitely need to ask Na'er what she thinks. We should ask Wulin, too, but he's cultivating now, so we shouldn't disturb him."
Lang Yue glanced at Na'er, who was sitting on the sofa. She was clearly sleepy, her head bobbing up and down.
"Then we'll talk about it tomorrow."
Since there were only two rooms and Tang Wulin's room had just a small bed, Tang Ziran had Lang Yue take Na'er to sleep in their larger room. He himself made do with the sofa for the night.
Soon, the lights in the house went out, and everything fell quiet.
Long Yuan's divine sense left Tang Wulin's body, passed through the wall, and flew into the room on the other side, where Tang Ziran and his wife slept.
He carefully studied Na'er, who was sleeping soundly in bed.
"Strange..."