Makes the Heart grow fonder "Lingling, why did you stop..." Xiao Wu's words were cut short as her gaze fell upon the person she had been longing for—zuzong.
Her pupils contracted almost instantly. "Zu Zong —" Ignoring Ye Lingling's presence, Xiao Wu leaped into the zu zong's arms, her long, slender hands instinctively wrapping around his neck, tightly embracing him, her delicate face buried in his chest.
The zuzong could clearly feel Xiao Wu's rapid heartbeat. How could he not be excited to see Xiao Wu again?
Feeling the softness in his arms, Zu Zong wrapped his arms around Xiao Wu's slender waist, his eyes reddening for the first time in his life.
Ye Lingling remained silent, giving the zuzong and Xiao Wu a complicated look before turning her gaze into the distance.
"Xiao Wu, be good, don't cry. I promised you I would come back alive." The zuzong gently stroked Xiao Wu's back.
"Waaah—, Xiao Zong, don't you want Xiao Wu anymore? Why have you been gone for so long again…"
It's no wonder Xiao Wu was so agitated. Since meeting zuzong, in the six or seven years they'd known each other, except for the time zuzong encountered Zhu Zhuqing when he obtained his third soul ring, their separations had almost never lasted more than a month.
This time, Zuzong had been gone for over two months. Although he had given instructions beforehand, Xiao Wu missed him terribly. She had asked Dugu Yan many times, and Dugu Yan always assured her that zuzong was alright, but he never returned. Later, even Dugu Yan herself didn't come to the academy for a long time. Several times she wanted to run to Sunset Forest to find him, but then she remembered Clan Leader's previous instructions. To avoid causing zuzong trouble, she could only numb herself with cultivation.
"How could I? How could I bear to leave you? It's all my fault for making you worry." Zu Zong's chest was already soaked with Xiao Wu's tears, and her slender hands were tightly wrapped around Zu zong's neck, as if afraid that zuzong would run away again.
Xiao Wu looked up, her eyes now red and swollen, pouting, "Then you can't leave me anymore. Even if you go to cultivate, you have to take me with you."
"Okay, okay, I promise you." The zuzong wiped away Xiao Wu's tears, comforting her repeatedly.
A moment later, the three sat down at the stone table.
The zuzong sat with Xiao Wu, and perhaps afraid that the zuzong would run away again, Xiao Wu clung tightly to his arm, unwilling to let go for a moment.
The zuzong glanced at Ye Lingling sitting opposite him, smiled, and finally looked at Xiao Wu in his arms.
The zuzong said, "Xiao Wu, Lingling, how have you been these past few days?"
"Not bad." Ye Lingling remained as cold as ever, even though she had become much more cheerful with the addition of the clan leader and Xiao Wu as friends, she was still taciturn.
Xiao Wu was different; after crying, the worries of the past two months had been released, and her mood had improved considerably.
Xiao Wu said, "That day, after you went to find that old poisoner, we soon saw an explosion over there. Lingling and I were worried about you, so we chased after it. But we found you were gone. Later, Teacher Qin and Sister Yanzi came too. Teacher Qin wouldn't let us go looking for you and took Lingling and me back to Tiandou Academy. Sister Yanzi went to find that old poisoner. You heartless thing, you haven't sent a single message in so long. Every time I asked Sister Yanzi, she said you were fine. Later, Sister Yanzi stopped coming to the academy."
The zuzong nodded, looking at Ye Lingling with some surprise. It was understandable that Yu Tianheng, Shi Mo, Shi Mo, and the others didn't go looking for him; rather, it was incomprehensible that they did! After all, they weren't relatives or friends, and their relationship wasn't particularly good or bad. But for Ye Lingling, a support-type Soul Master, to be willing to risk her life to go looking for him alone with Xiao Wu was truly unexpected.
However, the zuzong was actually quite pleased that Ye Lingling had risked her life to save him. After all, true friendship is revealed in times of trouble! Besides, the clan leader had originally planned to give her a magical herb.
The zuzong thought for a moment and said, "Last time when I returned from Soto City, I told Yanzi that she might have been poisoned by her own snake venom. So she went back to ask her grandfather, Dugu Bo, and then Dugu Bo came to find me in a rage. After seeing Dugu Bo, I realized that my guess was indeed correct. Not only Yanzi, but Dugu Bo was also like that. After that, I stayed there to detoxify them. Yanzi didn't come back afterward because Dugu Bo took her to find the soul bone needed for the antidote. She's probably still in seclusion now."
The zuzong chose to downplay the seriousness of the matter, since he had escaped unscathed this time and there was no need to make Xiao Wu worry too much.
"No wonder Yanyan looked at Xiao Wu with a guilty expression several times." It was Ye Lingling who spoke. For some reason, when she saw that the clan leader was alright, her tense heart seemed to relax all of a sudden.
The zuzong nodded. The Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well wasn't far from Dugu Bo's cave. Although he hadn't seen Dugu Yan in the past two months, his hearing had allowed him to hear her pleading with Dugu Bo not to harm her several times.
Speaking of Dugu Bo, the zuzong recalled the Sword Douluo who had come to rescue him earlier that day. Judging from his tone, it was Ning Rongrong who had requested the sect's help. Since that was the case, Zhu Qing should also be in Heaven Dou City.
"Xiao Wu, has Zhu Qing also come to Heaven Dou City?" the zuzong asked, looking at Xiao Wu.
"Hmph! You only care about Zhu Qing, not me," Xiao Wu complained. She reached out her small hand and touched the clan leader's waist, pinching it several times until she finally found a small patch of flesh. With a little force, she spun it 180 degrees.
The zuzong had endured the pain of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well and absorbing the ten-thousand-year soul ring, so this little pain was nothing to him. However, he still cooperated with Xiao Wu's appropriate scream.
"Ouch! That hurts."
"Serves you right, who told you to be such a womanizer?" Xiao Wu stuck out her cute pink tongue and made a face at the clan leader.
Then, her expression turned somewhat forlorn. "The day before yesterday, Lingling and I were cultivating in the back mountains. When we came back, we heard that Shrek Academy wanted to join the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, but that despicable Xue Beng and Prince Xue Xing hired an old poisoner to drive them away. Teacher Qin Ming felt he had let his alma mater down and left with Shrek Academy as well. I think Zhu Qing must have found out about your situation too!"
The zuzong suddenly understood. It seemed the plot wasn't too far off from the original story!
But that made sense. The zuzong couldn't help but feel grateful that the Shrek teachers had stopped Zhu Qing from doing something foolish; otherwise, she would have definitely gone to Sunset Forest to find him.
Speaking of which, he had to thank Ning Rongrong. If she hadn't asked Sword Douluo to intervene, even if someone had stopped Zhu Zhu Qing, given her temperament, she would have definitely sneaked out.
Whatever the outcome, it was something he didn't want to see. If something goes wrong, I'll probably regret it for the rest of my life.