"Don't cry!"
Luan Feng seemed to notice something. Seeing Xu Tianyuan on the verge of shedding little pearls of tears, she panicked and hurriedly pulled him into her arms, gently patting his back.
"There, there. From now on, I'll have your back. You don't need to hide your talents anymore."
Hide my talents, my ass.
If I hadn't bonded with the Pride Sin Template yesterday...
I'd probably have kicked the bucket already.
Xu Tianyuan felt bitter inside, but there was no way he could tell her about something like that.
"Oh."
He gave her a smile straight out of Fire Punch's protagonist.
"Speaking of which..."
Luan Feng suddenly remembered something. "That girl sitting across from you in the cafeteria just now looked like Nana. She's pretty talented. Have you already won her over?"
By now, she had fully assumed the role of Xu Tianyuan's elder and couldn't wait for the boy to get married and give her best friend a grandchild.
Her best friend was already gone, but that didn't matter. A grandchild was all she needed.
"I've heard about Nana. She's usually a quiet girl. Although she awakened the evil martial soul Ghost, she's never done anything bad, and she's even caught Jing Hongchen's eye."
"She's just a bit too petite. Might be hard for her to bear a son."
"But that's all right. Have one first and see how it goes. A daughter would be lovely too."
Xu Tianyuan's mouth twitched as he listened.
Still, thinking back, he had been so hungry earlier that his entire brain had been occupied by the words "eat food." He hadn't spared a thought for figuring out who Nana actually was.
Now that Luan Feng had reminded him, he finally put the girl's true identity together.
Nana.
A pawn the Holy Spirit Cult had planted in the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.
According to the original story, the girl had only worked for the Holy Spirit Cult because she had been forced to.
The Holy Spirit Cult held her parents' souls captive, clenched in its palm. What could a teenage girl like her possibly do?
If she disobeyed, her parents wouldn't even have the right to reincarnate.
If she obeyed, she had to remain in the academy as a bomb that could go off at any unknown moment.
Those were the facts, and there was no changing them.
But understanding her circumstances was one thing. Xu Tianyuan had absolutely no desire to become deeply entangled with that ticking bomb.
Those lunatics in the Holy Spirit Cult were capable of anything.
So, for now, the best approach came down to one word: caution.
As for dating and getting married...
Xu Tianyuan silently muttered to himself, then shook his head.
He knew he was no Liu Xiahui. He was a hot-blooded young man; claiming he had no interest whatsoever in girls would be a lie fit only to fool ghosts.
In his previous life, he had always lingered a little longer on videos of pretty girls while scrolling through short clips. That was part of the standard human package.
But this really wasn't the time.
If he had that much time to spare, he'd be better off figuring out how to kill Xu Tianran.
Fucking Xu Tianran.
As long as that bastard lived, he wouldn't have a single day of peace.
Just thinking of that name made Xu Tianyuan grit his teeth.
Sixteen years of playing the meek little grandson had honed his patience to perfection. Yet whenever he thought of his dear crown prince big brother, sitting in his wheelchair with that gentle, refined smile, he still couldn't suppress the fire in his heart.
"Ahem. Let's talk about that stuff another time."
Xu Tianyuan coughed twice and tried hard to wriggle free of Luan Feng's embrace.
It was futile.
She was a genuine Titled Douluo, after all, and a Battle Soul Master at that.
A Titled Douluo's physical strength was built up through the age of their soul rings and sheer soul power. How could a little Soul Elder in his thirties possibly match her strength?
At least, he couldn't right now.
In a few months, that might be another story.
"Ease up! I'm about to snap!"
Xu Tianyuan shouted dramatically, struggling while furiously grumbling to himself.
He would bet anything that if Luan Feng kept hugging him for another three seconds, he wouldn't need to visit the cafeteria tomorrow. All three meals would be saved.
As though suddenly remembering something, Luan Feng released him and instead rested her hands on his shoulders, her expression turning solemn.
"From now on, you don't have to keep pretending to be a wastrel."
"I'll also publicly announce my support for you."
"But..."
Her tone grew more emphatic.
"Remember, don't leave the academy lightly. You know I serve in the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Corps, so I can't stay by your side all the time. There's no guarantee Xu Tianran won't try something while I'm away."
Xu Tianyuan naturally understood that.
He rolled his eyes inwardly.
Does that even need saying?
If Xu Tianran actually got a chance to kill me...
He'd send people overnight to grind even my bones to ash.
If I dared slip out of the academy gates alone...
I'd die without even knowing how it happened.
"Don't worry." Xu Tianyuan nodded immediately. "I won't leave the academy until I'm absolutely certain I can handle it."
"At most, I'll pull a few dirty tricks to make Xu Tianran miserable."
Luan Feng nodded at his words, but the worry between her brows didn't fade.
She knew all too well what Xu Tianyuan's situation in the palace had been like over the years.
Xu Tianran's desire to kill him was nothing new.
If His Highness the Crown Prince truly caught an opportunity, he wouldn't hesitate for an instant.
Luan Feng raised a hand and took two metal objects from her Storage Soul Tool.
One was hexagonal and pitch-black, its surface covered in intricate patterns. A cold metallic sheen gleamed along its edges, making it look like a miniature shield.
The other was much smaller, resembling a palm-sized silver pendant. A blue crystal the size of a thumbnail was set into it, with faint streams of light swirling inside.
"The Thousand-Jin Shield and the Swift-Speed Pendant."
Luan Feng held the two objects out to Xu Tianyuan.
"Both are Level 7 Soul Tools, and their requirements are relatively low. The first focuses on defense, the second on speed. Just channel soul power into them to activate them."
"If you use them well, an ordinary Soul Douluo shouldn't be able to take you down."
Xu Tianyuan's eyes instantly lit up.
Level 7 Soul Tools.
What did that mean?
In the Sun Moon Empire, Level 7 Soul Tools were already considered strategic-grade equipment.
Every Level 7 Soul Tool circulating on the market could fetch an astronomical price at auction. Even if an ordinary Soul Master saved for an entire lifetime, they might not be able to afford one.
"I wanted to give you something better."
"But you probably wouldn't be able to use a higher-level Soul Tool."
As a Titled Douluo, Luan Feng could tell at a glance that Xu Tianyuan's current soul power level was only in the thirties. She sighed softly, a trace of regret in her voice.
"You managed to defeat Xiao Hongchen, a Soul Ancestor, in an instant with only a Soul Elder's cultivation. I really do want to know why, but..."
Luan Feng paused there, her gaze lingering on Xu Tianyuan for a moment, her eyes filled with complicated emotions.
"In any case, never put yourself in danger."
Luan Feng was indeed brimming with questions about Xu Tianyuan's string of outrageous feats and his utterly illogical combat strength.
A prince who had pretended to be useless for sixteen years had suddenly beaten Xiao Hongchen like that, then casually robbed him of tens of thousands of Gold Soul Coins. Who would believe it?
But there were probably some things she wouldn't get answers to even if she asked.
Luan Feng held out no hope, yet she still couldn't contain her curiosity. Pretending not to care, she asked, "How about... you tell me exactly how you did it?"
--
P.S. The novel goes premium today, so here's an extra chapter. Two chapters will be updated tomorrow at 11 p.m. Thank you all for your support!
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