As soon as he spoke, a white figure darted out from behind Yang Xing.
Ning Rongrong rushed up to Xiao Wu in three quick strides, eagerly picking up the conversation.
"Yeah, yeah!" Her eyes curved into crescents, and her voice was sweet and crisp. "Xiao Wu, you were the only one here who always wanted to help me! When that damn tiger wanted to hit me earlier, only you and Tang San said you'd help, and you even dragged Zhu Qing along to find the teachers!"
She grabbed Xiao Wu's arm and shook it twice. "I'll remember this favor! From now on, order whatever food you want in Suotuo City, and pick whatever pastries you like! I'll cover you with my people and my money!"
With Ning Rongrong grabbing and shaking her, some of Xiao Wu's fear of Yang Xing was distracted away. Her gaze shifted from Yang Xing to Ning Rongrong's face, where sincerity, warmth, and affection were written all over her delicate features.
Her body was still trembling, but not nearly as badly as before.
"Rongrong, it's good that you're okay." Xiao Wu's voice still floated a little, but it sounded more natural than before.
Out of the corner of her eye, Ning Rongrong spotted Zhu Zhuqing standing at the edge of the group, expressionless but with a faint flicker in her eyes.
She released Xiao Wu's hand, walked several steps over to Zhu Zhuqing, and directly reached out to grab her cool wrist.
Zhu Zhuqing's body stiffened for an instant.
"Zhu Qing!" Ning Rongrong pulled her over beside Xiao Wu, her tone firm. "I know you didn't help me deal with that stinking tiger earlier because you had ties with Dai Mubai and couldn't act. I don't blame you for that."
She released Zhu Zhuqing's wrist, turned to face the two of them, and spoke rapidly.
"And when Xiao Wu went to find the teachers for help, Zhu Qing, you went with her too, right? Xiao Wu said so. You even suggested finding the other teachers."
At that, Ning Rongrong suddenly blinked, as if she had just remembered someone she seemed to have forgotten. She straightened up and swept her beautiful almond eyes across the empty, wrecked training ground.
Other than Tang San, who could not move, Dai Mubai, whose face was deathly pale, and Li Yusong, who lay moaning in the distance, there was no sign of that food-system Soul Master with the full beard.
"Oh, right." Ning Rongrong tilted her head curiously, bringing her gaze back to the two girls before her. "That big sausage... where's Oscar? Where did he run off to? Wasn't he still here before the fight?"
Xiao Wu had not yet fully calmed down from her fear of Yang Xing. Her face was a little pale, and she merely shook her head blankly, indicating that she had not had the mind to notice anyone else at the time.
Zhu Zhuqing, on the other hand, still maintained her calm, observant demeanor. A trace of recollection flashed through her cool eyes as she answered with some uncertainty, "It seemed like he hurried off as soon as you started fighting Dai Mubai. He went toward the dormitories. He was probably trying to find a teacher to break up the fight."
Ning Rongrong pursed her lips and muttered softly, "Is that so? Then he's pretty kind-hearted..."
Then Zhu Zhuqing's catlike eyes flickered slightly. Her gaze swept over Ning Rongrong's face before landing on the robed young man not far away, lingering there for a moment.
"Mm." She uttered a single sound.
Ning Rongrong nodded in satisfaction and was just about to say something else when the corner of her eye caught Xiao Wu's unusual state.
Xiao Wu's shoulders were still trembling faintly. Both hands clenched the hem of her skirt, her fingertips white. A layer of indescribable shadow lingered in those bright, lively eyes.
Ning Rongrong frowned.
"Xiao Wu?" She leaned closer and lowered her voice. "What's wrong? Your face is so pale."
Xiao Wu's body stiffened again.
"N-Nothing." She shook her head a little too quickly, her scorpion braid swaying back and forth. "I was just scared earlier."
"Scared?" Ning Rongrong tilted her head. "What scared you?"
Xiao Wu's gaze drifted uncontrollably toward Yang Xing.
Just once, then it snapped back almost immediately.
But what kind of eyesight did Ning Rongrong have?
She followed Xiao Wu's gaze.
Yang Xing stood where he was, looking utterly innocent. The lipstick marks on his face were especially conspicuous under the moonlight.
Naturally, Ning Rongrong realized that Xiao Wu had probably been frightened by her cheap fraud of a master's actions just now. Besides, for some reason, seeing Yang Xing's face irritated her.
So she took three strides back to Yang Xing, reached out, and shoved him. It was not hard, but her attitude was full of disgust.
"You!" Her voice turned haughty again as she pointed at Yang Xing. "You scared Xiao Wu! Stay away from her, stay away..."
Yang Xing was pushed back half a step and clicked his tongue.
"What did I do? Hey~ can't you show your master a little respect? I just saved you."
"Saving me is one thing!" Ning Rongrong planted her hands on her hips. "But can't you pay attention to your appearance? Look at your face! Look at your clothes! What do you look like? You're terrifying, you know!"
As she spoke, she grabbed Yang Xing by the sleeve and pulled him farther away from Xiao Wu. She was not strong, but she put on quite the show.
Then she turned around and jogged back to Xiao Wu.
"It's okay, it's okay." Ning Rongrong looped an arm through Xiao Wu's, her voice soft as cotton. "He's just like that. He looks scary, but he's not a bad person."
Her arm remained linked with Xiao Wu's as she gently patted the back of her hand.
"My master may look a little sleazy, act a little disgusting, and talk a little unreliably, but he really won't hurt anyone. Don't worry."
Hearing that string of descriptions from behind them, Yang Xing's mouth twitched three times.
With Ning Rongrong holding her arm, the fear seeping from between Xiao Wu's bones eased even more. Ning Rongrong's warmth traveled through their arms—warm and real.
She took a breath and forced a smile. "Mm, I'm fine now."
Ning Rongrong hugged her tighter in satisfaction, then waved at Zhu Zhuqing in the distance.
Zhu Zhuqing walked over and stood on Ning Rongrong's other side. The three girls stood together, keeping five or six meters away from Yang Xing.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Dai Mubai's eyeballs had spun around at least fifty times already.
His evil eyes held only one word now.
Panic—
Yang Xing's utterly dismissive attitude when he had passed by Dai Mubai earlier had not reassured him in the slightest. Instead, it had made him even more terrified.
While Ning Rongrong had been muttering to Yang Xing, she had pointed in Dai Mubai's direction several times. He could not hear what she was saying, but he could see the white-dressed girl's furious expression and her gesturing hands.
They were talking about him. They had to be talking about him.
It was just that Yang Xing had no free hands right now.
But what if Yang Xing freed them up?
Dai Mubai had seen with his own eyes a hand catching a Soul Emperor's full-force strike, then a single kick sending Li Yusong flying.
What if that kick landed on him?
Dai Mubai did not dare imagine it.
His Adam's apple bobbed twice as his peripheral vision swept toward the edge of the training ground.
Could he run? Where could he run? Could he outrun someone who could teleport and appear out of thin air?
Just as he wracked his brains and still could not think of any way out.
Bang. A hand landed on his shoulder from the side.
"Argh!"
Dai Mubai nearly jumped out of his skin. The cold light in his evil eyes flared as he turned to strike.
Then he saw who it was.
Zhao Wuji had appeared silently beside him at some unknown time.
The burly man, over two meters tall, stood beside him with his head wrapped in thick bandages. His left eye was swollen into a slit, his right cheek was bruised purple, one arm hung across his chest in a sling, and his other hand rested on Dai Mubai's shoulder.
He looked like someone who had been dragged back from a dump.
"What happened?" Zhao Wuji's voice was muffled, squeezed out through his swollen lips. "What's with all the noise in the middle of the night? Oscar woke me up from bed, and I accidentally knocked that brat out."
He swept his gaze across the wrecked training ground: the cratered ground, scattered rubble, and Li Yusong still lying on the ground in the distance.
"What happened to Old Li?"
Dai Mubai's eyes immediately lit up.
Zhao Wuji! A level seventy-six Soul Saint! Martial Soul: Mighty Vajra Bear! The Immovable Bright King!
He might look like a crippled patient right now, but this was Zhao Wuji! The infamous Immovable Bright King, the devil who had made a fierce name for himself across the Douluo Continent before retiring!
Half the stone in his heart finally dropped.
It was not that Zhao Wuji would definitely be able to defeat Ning Rongrong's mysterious master.
But at least... at least he could take a hit, right?
Before you continue