Tang San: What Are You Doing!?

"Again with this soft, yielding force!"

Xiao Wu was thoroughly annoyed. Cheng Xiao clung to her like sticky taffy, his entire body imbued with a soft, yielding force.

Whenever she tried to break free, that force seemed to possess some kind of Magic Power, clamping onto her and refusing to let go.

Yet whenever she tried to fight it head-on, she could not find any point to exert her strength. Every move she made felt like striking empty air.

It was as disgusting as could be.

"Bang!"

They both crashed to the ground, leaving them dazed and disoriented.

But they quickly came to their senses. Cheng Xiao knew Xiao Wu's temperament—she was fiercely competitive, and unless there was a clear winner, she would never let it go.

So the instant he recovered, Cheng Xiao firmly restrained Xiao Wu and pinned her to the ground.

"Pant, pant... You... hiss, go easy... You already... lost..." Cheng Xiao panted heavily. He had nearly let Xiao Wu break free by accident, only to take a heavy blow himself.

Xiao Wu refused to admit defeat. Her joints somehow popped apart with uncanny flexibility, twisting into astonishing angles as she used both hands and feet to counter-lock Cheng Xiao's limbs.

"Mm... You... pant, you're the one... ah, who lost. Call... call me Sister Xiao Wu..."

Xiao Wu might have looked light and soft, as if she weighed very little, but her waist strength was astonishing. Her legs were not thick, and her skin was smooth and tender, yet her muscles were quite firm and explosively powerful. She nearly snapped Cheng Xiao's leg in half.

If not for Cheng Xiao's long-term training giving him some confidence to resist, along with Tai Chi's ability to borrow strength against strength, he would have admitted defeat long ago.

"Pah! Today... pant, pant... I'll definitely let you... see who's... who's tougher!"

Both of them had gone all out, showing no mercy.

As they grappled, intimate contact was unavoidable. The soft, delicate feel of her skin and the fragrant breeze washing over him kept making Cheng Xiao's thoughts wander.

There's no advantage in dragging this out. I need to end it quickly!

Joint techniques were what soft techniques excelled at most. If this dragged on, he would definitely be the one to lose in the end.

Gritting his teeth, Cheng Xiao grabbed Xiao Wu's ankle and lifted her leg over his head. Xiao Wu drew back her other leg, preparing to knee him, but in the next instant, Cheng Xiao wrapped an arm around her waist and forcibly flipped her over, pulling her into a full split.

Cheng Xiao pinned her down tightly, then began tickling her waist.

"Did you lose or not? Say it!"

"Hahahaha! You... haha, you're cheating! Hahaha..."

Xiao Wu could not stop laughing. She wanted to break free, but Cheng Xiao had her restrained, leaving her no choice but to let him do as he pleased.

"I surrender, I surrender! Hahaha..." Xiao Wu finally could not take it anymore.

Seeing Xiao Wu finally admit defeat, Cheng Xiao relaxed and flopped down beside her. Xiao Wu also fell naturally into Cheng Xiao's arms.

"Pant, pant, pant..."

Both were utterly exhausted, their breathing wheezing like old bellows.

Too drained to move much, Xiao Wu rested against Cheng Xiao's chest. As she listened to his strong, steady heartbeat gradually calm, their own breathing slowly eased from ragged gasps to gentle breaths.

"What... what are you doing!?"

Suddenly, a young and shocked voice came from nearby.

The two turned their heads weakly. When they saw who had come, both froze.

"Xiao San!? You're back!"

Tang San stood not far away, as stiff as though he had been struck by lightning, staring at the two of them in their improper position.

Tang San opened his mouth. It felt as though a thousand words were lodged in his throat, but in the end, none came out. He had no idea what he should say at that moment.

This time, his teacher had taken him out to observe Soul Beast habits, and he had been away for several days. Without Xiao Wu's company, he had found the Soul Beast Forest unbearably dull.

Until today, on the way back, his heart had seemed to fly ahead to the academy long before he arrived.

He hurried back to the dormitory, but did not find the petite figure he had been longing to see. After asking his roommates, he learned that Xiao Wu was cleaning the training ground alone. Delighted, Tang San rushed straight there, intending to help her finish cleaning so she could rest for a while.

Yet when he arrived at the training ground, the scene he had imagined—Xiao Wu happily waving at him—did not appear. Instead, he found the two of them lying together on the ground, panting heavily.

For a moment, he felt his breathing grow labored, his throat dry and hoarse to the point of speechlessness, while a stabbing pain began to spread through his heart.

Heartache. True heartache was not loud arguments or hysterics, but silent internal torment.

"We were sparring just now!" Xiao Wu did not notice that something was off with Tang San. She jumped up and skipped over to him. "Xiao San, Xiao San! Let me tell you, Little Cheng actually created a Self-Created Soul Skill. It's as amazing as that stone-throwing thing of yours. Mm, but it's annoying too..."

Although Xiao Wu was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in human form, she had not yet matured to the point of developing romantic feelings between men and women.

But Tang San was different. Like Cheng Xiao, he was a transmigrator. Within their weak young bodies were the souls of adults!

The difference between adults and children was that adults had complicated thoughts. Sometimes, even adults themselves could not fully understand their own rich and tangled hearts.

Over these past days together, Xiao Wu had given Tang San a feeling entirely different from anyone else's. In his previous life, he had been an orphan. In this life, his father had neglected him as well, and he had never known much warmth.

Yet in his time with Xiao Wu, he had felt from her a warmth that made him want to lose himself in it. He simply had not realized it before.

However, now that he had suddenly stumbled upon the intimate scene between Xiao Wu and Cheng Xiao, that special feeling buried deep in his heart finally surfaced. Tang San realized in astonishment that Xiao Wu was actually so special to him.

He only felt as if something important had been taken from him, filling him with a silent rage. Yet there was no one he could confide these thoughts in, so he could only keep tormenting himself inside, with nowhere to vent them.

Tang San's gaze gradually darkened, fury raging in his heart until he did not hear what Xiao Wu was saying at all.

He abruptly raised his head. His eyes, burning with anger, collided with Cheng Xiao's indifferent gaze, and killing intent was born from that rage.

"Xiao San, Xiao San! What are you thinking about?"

Xiao Wu waved her little hand before Tang San's eyes. He jolted, and the killing intent in his eyes instantly vanished. Only then did he realize that her small, childish, adorable face had somehow drawn close, looking at him with utter confusion.

Tang San hurriedly revealed an indulgent smile. "Huh? Nothing. I just haven't seen you in a while, so I missed you a little."

"How is that a while? It's only been three days."

"You haven't finished cleaning yet, right? I'll help you with the rest." With that, Tang San lowered his head and picked up a bamboo broom nearby.

"Hehe, Xiao San is so nice!"

Watching Tang San's back, Cheng Xiao's gaze remained indifferent. It was not as though he had failed to notice that fleeting killing intent just now, but he did not care. He was certain Tang San would not dare attack him here.

Making someone wary of you was easy. All you had to do was seize hold of what they cared about most.

And Cheng Xiao had already grasped Tang San's weakness—Xiao Wu!

As long as Xiao Wu treated Cheng Xiao differently, Tang San would not dare attack him in front of her. Tang San could not bear the consequences of Xiao Wu coming to hate him.

Therefore, all Cheng Xiao had to do was keep raising Xiao Wu's favorability.

"Heh, sure enough, foxes and dogs can't play together." Cheng Xiao stretched his waist, a smile on his lips as his eyes narrowed into a dangerous curve. One carried strange tales in his heart, the other hid a wolf's heart—neither was truly human.

As for who would outplay whom, who knew?

At any rate, Cheng Xiao was rather enjoying things as they were. He loved seeing that look of "you hate me to death, but you still can't do anything to me"...

"What foxes and dogs?" Xiao Wu had only heard half of it, and her face was filled with confusion.

"I'm talking about you, fox spirit!"

"Pah, pah, pah! Little Cheng, you've learned bad habits from Xiao San too! Don't ever say that word again, or else..."