He held her gently, breathing in the faint fragrance drifting from her.
Yang Tian said apologetically to the girl in his arms, "Xin'er, I'm sorry. Time is so tight, so when the time comes..."
"I know, Brother Tian. I'm happy that you've always kept me in mind." Tears glistened at the corners of Jiaoxin's eyes as she looked up at Yang Tian with a lovely smile.
She was twelve or thirteen, and she had truly changed a great deal in the two or three years since she had left home. She had never imagined she would come to depend on Yang Tian like this, as though life would be tasteless without him.
"Xin'er, do you want to stay here or go back to our home?"
"I can't go back just yet. I have to stay here to complete my breakthrough and reach the eighth order, which is equivalent to your ninth rank."
Yang Tian looked at the little fairy before him. Her face was still innocent and perfect, only now it held a much richer range of expressions.
Jiaoxin narrowed her eyes in a smile and said, "I'll stay here and wait to go back with you."
Yang Tian nodded and smiled gently. "All right. There's food here, so you don't need to worry."
Beside them, Ye Xiaolei, dressed in green, watched the two with a feeling of something pressing against her chest. Then she said, "Yang Tian, we're going out. This is too sappy. Call me when you reach your bottleneck."
With that, she said to Yating, "What are you standing there in a daze for? Let's go."
Yating watched the "loving" pair with her dark-gold eyes. She saw the tenderness Yang Tian held for Jiaoxin in his eyes and loved that feeling. She desperately wished she were Jiaoxin