“We’ve been through so much this entire way. Why hasn’t he shown any signs of waking up…” Elder Wan Zheng’s heart ached, and he was worried.

The Chu Yue he saw was always energetic, active, playful, and charming. But now, Chu Yue was lying on the bed silently and weakly. He looked very frail, like a piece of glass that would break when touched.

“How could this happen… What exactly did this child experience?”

Rong Xiu paused and covered the corner of Chu Liuyue’s blanket. “Elder Wan Zheng, let’s go outside to talk.”

Staying here would disturb her to some extent. 

Elder Wan Zheng hurriedly nodded in agreement. “Right, right! Let’s go outside and let him rest properly!”

When he was speaking, he even intentionally lowered his voice as if he were terrified that he would disturb Chu Liuyue.

Rong Xiu’s thin lips curled up. “Go ahead.”

Elder Wan Zheng was very reluctant and almost turned back thrice with each step he took. He only felt more relieved when Rong Xiu said that he had already set up a barrier here and that he would instantly know about anything that happened here.

The duo walked out and sat down on a stone bench in the courtyard.

…

“I know that you have many questions; you can ask whatever you want to know. I will definitely tell you all that I can.” After sitting down, Rong Xiu spoke in a straightforward manner.

Facing Elder Wan Zheng, his attitude was very open and genuine. It didn’t matter if it were someone else, but Elder Wan Zheng was currently Chu Liuyue’s mentor and one of the few people who had the most right to take care of her.

Elder Wan Zheng originally had a stomach full of questions and too many things that he wanted to ask. Hearing Rong Xiu say that, he didn’t know how he should begin.

After some serious thinking, he tidied his thoughts and finally asked, “How is Chu Yue’s condition?”

This journey was too hurried, such that he actually forgot to take Chu Yue’s pulse personally. However, Rong Xiu was a heavenly doctor himself and should know about this clearer since he brought Chu Yue back.

Rong Xiu replied, “Don’t worry about this. Her body… is fine. Even though she was slightly injured before, she should quickly recover after resting for a while.”

He paused for a moment. “After all… you also know that she just broke through to become a stage-nine warrior.”

At this point, her recovery speed and other aspects were all very strong—not to mention that it was Chu Liuyue of all people.

Upon hearing this, Elder Wan Zheng heaved a sigh of relief. He clenched his fists, relaxed them, and clenched them again as countless complicated emotions flashed across his eyes. In the end, he could only shake his head and sigh.

He said rather helplessly, “I actually don’t know if I should be worried or happy for him.”

I previously heard Elder Hua Feng briefly talk about how Chu Yue had broken through to become a stage-nine warrior from a stage-eight warrior in a mere few days. But at that point, I was more worried, so I didn’t think much about it. 

Now that everyone is back and Chu Yue’s condition seems to have stabilized, I am slowly realizing how… shocking this matter is! How many people in the world can have such an opportunity? So many people went to the Flood-Desert Northern Region this time, but all of them came back empty-handed. Only Chu Yue—who couldn’t even go over in time at the start—became the winner! 

“This kid’s… luck is really abnormal!” After much thinking, Elder Wan Zheng could only use the word ‘luck’ to describe this. Previously, I was already shocked enough when witnessing the kid break through to become a stage-eight warrior. I didn’t expect such a short time to have passed, and he—

“Hah! With his speed, he might suddenly reach the Apotheosis Realm some day and become a legendary warrior!” Elder Wan Zheng was relaxed and couldn’t help but tease.

Rong Xiu looked down, and his thin lips curled up slightly. “Maybe…”

“Sigh. As long as he’s fine, I can rest assured!” Elder Wan Zheng wiped away the sweat on his forehead. “Oh right, Hua Feng and the others previously said that Chu Yue was brought away by a group of mysterious men in black. Do you… know them?”

Rong Xiu was the one who saved him. If someone really knows something, it has to be him. 

Rong Xiu shook his head, and his words were the same as before. “When I went there, I didn’t see their so-called master. The other party was also very cunning; they didn’t leave any traces behind.”

“That’s difficult to solve…” Elder Wan Zheng knitted his brows tightly. “If it’s like that, we can only find out some information when Chu Yue wakes up.”

But who knows when he will wake up? 

Rong Xiu smiled. “You don’t have to worry about that. During this time, I will take good care of him. When he wakes up, perhaps… everything will have an answer.”

Elder Wan Zheng nodded.

“I guess that’s all we can do… Oh right, there’s something—” As he spoke, he looked at Rong Xiu opposite him with some hesitation. “What kind of relationship… do you and Chu Yue have?”

Elder Wan Zheng asked this in a very conflicted manner. Previously, I just thought that the two of them were good friends and that Rong Xiu treated Chu Yue like his younger brother. But judging from the situation in the past few days, it is clearly—

Rong Xiu’s gaze flickered slightly, and there seemed to be ripples in the depths of his phoenix eyes. After some time, his lips curled up into a smile. “She’s very important to me.”

To be more accurate, she is the most important person to me. 

Elder Wan Zheng was dazed. It is… very rare for Rong Xiu to say such words. After all, this is someone that can ruthlessly kill many of the people in the Sky-Cloud Empire without blinking! 

Rong Xiu clearly didn’t want to reveal too much, and Elder Wan Zheng knew that it was best not to ask again.

Elder Wan Zheng carefully digested Rong Xiu’s words in his heart and finally looked at the latter calmly. “That’s great.”

As long as Rong Xiu can protect him, nothing else matters. With Chu Yue’s personality, he might get into some trouble in the future. It might be just like this time, where the enemies didn’t choose anyone else and only took him away… If it weren’t for Rong Xiu, I really don’t know what the consequences would’ve been. 

Elder Wan Zheng stood up. “Everyone just came back, and there are quite a few things to settle. During this period of time, it might be quite chaotic outside. I’ll have to trouble you to take good care of Chu Yue.”

Rong Xiu stood up as well and lightly nodded. “Don’t worry about it.”

…

The entire Ling Xiao Academy was indeed in a mess.

The 300-plus students and elders had toed the line between life and death, and almost all of them had met their demise in the Flood-Desert Northern Region. This was an incident that the academy had never met in the past few hundred years.

Other than comforting the crowd’s emotions, Elder Bo Yan and the others had already started investigating this matter. The key was where exactly did the news of the Heavenly Square Cauldron appearing come from!

The person who released this fake news could basically be locked in as the mastermind!

The entire academy’s atmosphere became tense. Everyone waited sternly, and even the air seemed to be frozen.

And in this solemn and cold atmosphere, something that shocked the crowd’s hearts happened—Fairy Water Mound’s Jiang Zhiyuan was expelled from Ling Xiao Academy!