Just as Chen Xin was considering how to bring things to a close, Ning Rongrong suddenly ran out of the little courtyard where she was staying.
With Gu Rong taking so long to return and Tang Mo nowhere to be seen, she had grown somewhat restless. She poked her head out of the courtyard and heard a series of noises whose source she could not identify.
Not wanting Ning Rongrong to interfere, Gu Rong had used soul power to set up a soundproof barrier around her little courtyard.
But Gu Rong had clearly forgotten that Ning Rongrong was a Little Demoness by nature. How could she possibly stay obediently in the courtyard just because he had told her not to leave?
"Grandpa Sword!" Ning Rongrong hurried over to Tang Mo and spread her arms, shielding him like a mother hen protecting her chicks. "Picking on someone smaller than you! Shame, shame, shame!"
Chen Xin's old face reddened at her words. Then, using Ning Rongrong's sudden appearance as an excuse, he put away the Seven Kill Sword.
He had been riding a tiger he could not dismount: he could neither admit that he could not defeat Tang Mo with level-sixty soul power and physical abilities nor readily increase his strength any further.
Ning Rongrong's appearance had rescued him from that predicament, giving him a convenient reason to stop. Still, he had some sense of shame, which was why his old face had reddened.
"Be good, Rongrong. Grandpa Sword wasn't bullying anyone. This is called giving guidance." A trace of guilt flickered in Chen Xin's eyes, but his tone held not the slightest hesitation, as though he had convinced himself before trying to deceive anyone else.
"In that case, can I give Rongrong guidance like that too?" Tang Mo's teasing voice came