There was nothing that Ronghua could do but to see Rongnuan suffer. She had exhausted all her spiritual power when they landed. If it weren’t for her spiritual weapons, she would be pretty much like Rongnuan, who had no spiritual power at all.
Rongnuan sat on the ground, trying his best not to shout out his pains. But with his hands clinging tight to his thighs and his distorted facial expression, it was obvious that he was in great pain, and he could not get out of his suffering.
Ronghua could not stand it anymore. “If I don’t do anything, his body will soon explode,” thought Ronghua.
“Since I can’t help, I won’t drag him back. He has to get through this himself,” thought Ronghua.
Ronghua sat down cross-legged next to Rongnuan. She then summoned the fire of nothingness to absorb some nimbus. Though Ronghua could absorb the nimbus to restore her spiritual power like crazy, she could only utilize a tiny fraction of the nimbus absorbed.
Although Rongnuan was trying his best to suppress the pill’s power, he failed. He then spat out a mouthful of blood in front of the grass. The blood was black, and it quickly disappeared. Ronghua opened her eyes and held Rongnuan’s arms. “Are you ok?” asked Ronghua.
But Rongnuan could not hear Ronghua. Ronghua then stopped her cultivation and transferred all her absorbed nimbus into Rongnuan’s body. “Rongnuan, are you ok?” asked Ronghua.
Though Ronghua knew this pill was extremely potent, she did not expect it would be this strong. “What’s wrong?” wondered Ronghua.
Rongnuan felt a stream of warm nimbus flowing into his body. He then cast off all his worries and started to utilize the remaining power of the pill to form his golden pellet. The power in Rongnuan’s body then gradually calmed down.
Seeing Rongnuan had calmed down, Ronghua then sighed in relief. Her facial expression also showed signs of relaxation.
Suddenly, a round of howling struck Ronghua and Rongnuan from outside the wall of flame.
Rongnuan’s calmness was then interrupted. He breathed heavily, and the nimbus also started to bounce violently in his body. Ronghua was enraged. She then continued to collect nimbus. Because though she could not store too much nimbus in her body, she could act as a device that could transfer the power of the nimbus to the others.
A stream of nimbus power flowed consistently into Rongnuan’s body, putting the situation back under control. Ronghua saw Rongnuan broke into a cold sweat and thought, “He could catch a cold if it were windy.” She then put the white coat back on him. “Finally! The power is at rest!” thought Ronghua.
Ronghua then sighed in relief and walked toward the wall of the fire of nothingness. She pulled down the flame with a swing of her arms. She then saw the alpha wolf was standing with its son, Ba Luo, near the wall of flame she set up earlier. “What’s up?” asked Ronghua with a cold look. “Their howling nearly killed Rongnuan,” thought Ronghua.
The alpha wolf was frightened by Ronghua’s cold look and was too afraid to say much. “No, nothing, just want to say thank you for saving my son,” said the alpha wolf.
“Ok. Anything else?” asked Ronghua.
The alpha’s heart then hitched for a second. It would have confronted Ronghua with a grim look for contracting its son. But it then asked, “Why did my son sign a contract with you?”
Ronghua then smiled coldly and asked, “What’s wrong with that?”
The alpha wolf was stunned. “My son is the pack’s future leader. Have you considered the consequences of your contract?” asked the alpha wolf.
Ronghua glanced at Ba Luo, who was standing next to its father. “Ha! The further leader? It would never be able to reach adulthood without your protection,” said Ronghua.
Ba Luo raised its head, seemingly offended by Ronghua’s remark. Ronghua then stepped out of the wall of flame, after which the flame went back burning. Ronghua had no spiritual power. “But I’ve got the alpha’s favorite son, so I don’t need to worry about an ambush,” thought Ronghua.
The alpha wolf then stood in between Ba Luo and Ronghua. “Miss, what do you want?” asked the alpha wolf.
Ronghua thought that was funny and looked at the wolves. “Lone wolves are the closest to the heaven wolves. Thus, you should be born as grade-five monsters. However, just take a look at Ba Luo, and you would notice that it was born with defects,” said Ronghua.
Ba Luo looked at Ronghua in confusion, and then turned to its father. “Father, what is she talking about?” asked Ba Luo.
The alpha wolf remained in silence. Ba Luo then had figured out a bit from the situation. It lowered its head in apparent sadness. It was well-protected after all. The thought of it was born with defects never came to it, but Ronghua had just publicized it. It was true that it was different from other lone wolves and could never win a fight. But Ba Luo never realized that it was really different from the others.
Ronghua then said, “Alpha wolf, I think you exactly know what I mean. You are hurting your son by keeping it around you. Your protection does not benefit Ba Luo.”
The alpha wolf, “What do you want to say?”
The alpha wolf already knew what Ronghua meant. But it did not want to give up on its son.
Ronghua said, “I think you are crystal clear about that.”
The alpha wolf then acquiesced. But it could not completely let go of its son after sensing the indifference in Ronghua’s eyes.
Ronghua seemed to have understood the alpha’s worries. “Let me put it this way, may it help. The lone wolves had always been the closest to the heaven wolves. Since the ancient times of Yuan-Gu, the lone wolves could go wherever they want, whenever they like. But the lone wolves’ glories then faded after a catastrophic event made them lost many of its kinds. Lone wolves were born with the ability to fly, but not even the royal families of the lone wolves could grow wings after the heavenly tribulation. They then lost their control over the sky and disappeared ever since.”
The alpha wolf then walked toward Ronghua and stared at Ronghua with its dark eyes. “No one knew about what had happened to us since the ancient times of Yuan-Gu,” said the alpha wolf.
“No one knew about the heavenly tribulation except for the royal families. How could she know about that? Is she a person of that time?” wondered the alpha wolf.
The alpha wolf looked at its son and said, “I knew for a long time that my son was born with defects.”
Ronghua turned to Ba Luo and said, “You’ve grown wings that are unique to the royal family of the lone wolves. You’ve proven that you are the true king.”
Ba Luo walked to its father and said, “I am not leaving.” Ronghua was shocked, and asked, “You are not leaving with me? You are my contractual monster. Do you want to die?”
The alpha wolf was surprised by Ronghua’s remark and asked hurriedly, “Who will die? Will Ba Luo die if he stays?”
Ronghua was tried and turned away. “I used the spiritual power in my soul to sign the contract, do you expect the contract to be ordinary?” asked Ronghua.
The alpha wolf understood why Ronghua signed the contract that way. She would not be able to walk away safely without some leverage. “Ba Luo…” said the alpha wolf.
“No!!!” Ba Luo rejected decisively. “I am not leaving with her, and I am not leaving the mountains. I am staying here!” said Ba Luo.
Prince Ba Luo lied on its father and wept sporadically. The alpha wolf suddenly dragged Ba Luo down and threw it away before Ba Luo could react.
Prince Ba Luo landed on the ground heavily. It did not even realize what had happened.
“…Father, what are you doing?” asked Ba Luo. It was obviously embezzled by its father’s action against it and had not quite recovered from the stun.
Ronghua opened a rift in the wall of flame and said, “I will leave you two to work this out. We will leave by dawn, and see you by then.”
The rift then closed shut after Ronghua walked in. The alpha wolf walked to Ba Luo and looked down on it from above. “Get up! We will have a duel,” said the alpha wolf.
Ba Luo looked at its father with surprise and noticed that its father had totally changed.
After Ronghua shut the wall of flame, she saw Rongnuan was cultivating. She sighed and walked to him. Looking at Rongnuan’s face, Ronghua decided that his complexion was showing signs of improvement. “He had gone through the toughest time,” thought Ronghua.
“Rongnuan?” asked Ronghua tentatively. She wanted to know Rongnuan’s progress on cultivation for that they would have to stay here for quite a while if he did not complete it. Fortunately, Rongnuan did not let her down. He slowly opened his eyes and said, “…Ronghua?”
Ronghua could finally be assured. “Are you ok?” asked Ronghua. Rongnuan then stood up and looked down on Ronghua. “I am fine, and also…” said Rongnuan.
Rongnuan gathered a mass of light in his hand. Ronghua was delighted upon seeing that light. “You certainly did not waste that pill. What about your cultivation now?” asked Ronghua.
Rongnuan closed his eyes and tried to calm down. He then opened his eyes and said happily, “I am at the Peak of Royal Nine Stars!”
Ronghua was surprised by that answer. “I am certainly surprised by your talents. Your beginning point of cultivation is already an unreachable goal for many. Not bad,” said Ronghua.
Though Rongnuan rarely smiled, he smiled upon receiving Ronghua’s complement. Ronghua was also surprised to see the fading smile on Rongnuan’s face. “You so seldomly smile that I thought you don’t know how to smile,” said Ronghua.
Embarrassed, Rongnuan turned his face around. Ronghua saw his blushing earlobes. “Is he feeling shy? That is a surprise,” thought Ronghua.
“Now, let’s test which element do you possess,” said Ronghua.
Ronghua took out a crystal ball. She could have sensed his element directly, but she had already transferred all the spiritual power left in her to Rongnuan to help him get through that difficult phase in cultivation. Otherwise, Rongnuan’s cultivation could never grow so rapidly with only a soul-restoring pill.
Rongnuan put his hands on the crystal ball. He and Ronghua both fixed their sights on the changing pattern shown on the crystal ball. “With Rongnuan’s cultivation, his elemental power shouldn’t be useless,” thought Ronghua.
In anticipation of the element that the ball might reveal, Rongnuan watched the crystal ball nervously.
Suddenly, the crystal ball moved and shot out flames. Rongnuan was disappointed. Sensing Rongnuan’s disappointment, Ronghua tried to comfort him and said, “It’s the fire element. That’s alright. I can teach you a great deal about it too.”
The crystal ball then moved again and shone in green light. Ronghua was shocked. “The wood element? You possess a dual element of fire and wood. Maybe you should try to learn about alchemy, bro,” said Ronghua.
Rongnuan was relieved. “Alchemy? Teach me then,” said Rongnuan.
Ronghua petted Rongnuan’s head and said, “Of course I will teach you.”
The dawn was coming, and the sun soon rose. Ronghua looked at the precious sunlight and said, “The day is breaking.”
Rongnuan turned around and noticed Ronghua was fascinated by the sun. Though he was touched by this picture, he had to suppress an urge to speak something out loud.
The sunlight contoured Ronghua’s side face, infatuating Rongnuan.
“Ronghua…” said Rongnuan. Ronghua then turned around and asked, “What?”
Rongnuan took off the coat and put it on Ronghua’s emaciated body. Ronghua tried to banter with Rongnuan and said, “What, not feeling cold anymore?”
Rongnuan took a step back and said, “Not anymore!”
Knowing Rongnuan possessed the fire element, Ronghua bantered with him again. “Will you warm me if I feel cold from now on?” asked Ronghua.
Looking at Rongnuan, Ronghua smirked. She was not expecting an answer.
“I will,” Rongnuan replied resolutely. “As long as I am alive and can afford, I will give you anything you want,” said Rongnuan.
Ronghua should have reflected on such remark carefully, but she was touched by Rongnuan’s determined look and the charm that was unique to mature men. Ronghua touched Rongnuan’s face and asked, “What if you die?”
Rongnuan did not think of this possibility. “Then I will…” said Rongnuan.
“Don’t answer this in a hurry,” interrupted Ronghua, “Tell me when you have thought this through.”
For unknown reasons, Ronghua was afraid of hearing his answer, or perhaps she would like that question to remain unanswered. She did not know what kind of answer Rongnuan would give her, but the state of affairs no longer allowed Ronghua to give too much advice to Rongnuan.
Ronghua put down the flames. There was a huge pack of lone wolves around them. Rongnuan then quickly jumped to the front of Ronghua and tried to protect her from the enemy wolves.
Ronghua tried to comfort him and said, “It’s ok. Let down your guard, dear.”
Rongnuan did not defy Ronghua. “It should be safe if she says so,” thought Rongnuan.