Chapter 1925 — Power Up

Watching Wang Xinyan, fast asleep, somehow having ended up in his arms for no discernible reason, Wei Zhao truly did not know whether to laugh or to cry.

Wei Zhao had not slept at all. Closing his eyes earlier had been nothing more than entering the jade pendant's space to cultivate. Ever since he had learned the secret of that space, Wei Zhao had scarcely slept at all, yet his perception of the outside world remained keen, so the instant Wang Xinyan crawled into his embrace, he had felt it.

Shaking his head, Wei Zhao emerged from the jade pendant's space, intending to push Wang Xinyan away, but all at once a reluctance he could not name welled up in his heart. Holding her like this felt oddly reassuring; breathing in the faint, delicate fragrance drifting from her, he found himself entranced...

That scent put Wei Zhao utterly at ease, and he could not resist drawing a few more breaths of it. Suddenly a warmth stirred in his lower abdomen, and he gave a start. Surely he did not harbor certain thoughts about Wang Xinyan? If that were truly so, and she discovered it, how mortifying that would be!

At the thought, Wei Zhao hastily circulated the second layer of the Xuanyuan Dragon Taming Art once more, hoping to dissolve that ball of fire within him... But the moment his true qi touched the fire in the meridians of his abdomen, Wei Zhao was baffled!

This was absolutely not the flame of desire—Wei Zhao could still tell whether the fire within him had sprung from lust—but if it was not desire, then could this feverish sensation be caused by the fragrance upon Wang Xinyan?

Be that as it may, Wei Zhao dared not be negligent and had already begun using his true qi to dissolve that ball of flame... Yet in the very next moment, he discovered to his astonishment that once the flame was dissolved, it seemed to transform into abundant true qi suffusing his body, and his strength was rising without pause. By the time the flame had been fully dissolved, Wei Zhao's power had actually increased markedly!

He had still not broken through the barrier that stood before the peak of the early Earth Rank, but he was drawing ever closer to it.

Wei Zhao was utterly perplexed. Why had his strength increased? And the rate of this increase was plainly faster than simply circulating the second layer of the Xuanyuan Dragon Taming Art—not by much, perhaps, but faster it undeniably was. Wei Zhao could feel it!

Could it really be the fragrance upon Wang Xinyan?

Wei Zhao frowned, secretly astonished. But having stumbled upon such a fine opportunity, he naturally had no intention of wasting it. It was no easy thing to have the chance to share a bed with Wang Xinyan; of course he meant to absorb more of that fragrance for his cultivation. Once they returned to school, if he ever sought her out for such a thing again, she would likely never agree.

The whole night through, Wei Zhao did not sleep, ceaselessly circulating the Xuanyuan Dragon Taming Art within his body until dawn.

In the middle of the night Wang Xinyan had grown a little cold and, quite naturally, gone seeking warmth. Opening her eyes at daybreak, she found herself lying in Wei Zhao's arms and gave a small start—but then she saw that Wei Zhao was not holding her; rather, she was holding Wei Zhao. Relief washed over her, yet at the same time her heart burned with shame.

Wei Zhao had done nothing to her; it was she who had thrown herself into his arms. How shameless! If Wei Zhao had seen it, what would he think of her?

At that thought, Wang Xinyan hurriedly tried to slip out of Wei Zhao's embrace. She stole a glance at him and saw that his eyes were closed, so she hastily shifted her body inward—but that small movement was enough to alert Wei Zhao.

Wei Zhao had not been sleeping at all; he had been cultivating the whole time, and so he said without thinking, "Xinyan, you're awake?"

"Ah!" Wang Xinyan had not expected Wei Zhao to wake before her. So had his closed eyes been feigned sleep? The wretch—awake, and still taking advantage of her... No, wait... It suddenly occurred to Wang Xinyan that if Wei Zhao had wanted to take advantage, he could simply have held her close. Why go to such lengths?

On reflection, Wang Xinyan understood: Wei Zhao had likely seen how soundly she slept and refrained from disturbing her. Even so, she was still deeply embarrassed. "I... I got a little cold in the middle of the night..."

"Ha... it's nothing. I don't mind being a warm stove." Wei Zhao meant it—he truly did not mind. He had already been rather fond of Wang Xinyan to begin with, and now that he had discovered the fragrance upon her benefited his cultivation, he not only did not mind, he positively welcomed it.

"Ah... I'm getting up..." Seeing that their exchange was growing more and more ambiguous by the moment, Wang Xinyan quickly rose from the bed...

In fact, many of the other students were awake by then too; the sky was simply still early, and with some time yet before six o'clock, they lingered in bed hoping for a little more rest.

Wang Xinyan got up, went to the washroom, and splashed water on her face. Wei Zhao rose as well. Seeing that others were up, Bai Weituo, as class monitor, could hardly be the one to lie in—though the first to rise had been Wei Zhao and Wang Xinyan, the vice monitor, so Bai Weituo felt no particular shame.

"Woo—woo—woo—" The stirring reveille rang out. Five fifty—time to get ready!

Every student in the barracks came running out and formed up in ranks before the building.

At six o'clock sharp, Chen Yutian appeared right on time, and the day's training began.

The first three days of training were simple enough—all things everyone had practiced back in middle school and high school: goose-stepping, quick marching, formation changes, and the like. Tiring as the day left them, everyone could still hold out.

In the mess hall, no further unpleasantness occurred. With Zhang Duopan and Fan Ganhe as an example before them, no one dared stir up trouble again. As for how the two had been dealt with, apart from Zhang Duopan and Fan Ganhe themselves, who simmered with resentment, no one else felt Chen Yutian had been unfair.

The whole affair had been started by the two of them in the first place. Wei Zhao's hand had been a little ruthless, true, but he had been standing up for a classmate, which everyone regarded as an act of loyalty. That he had gone unpunished showed that Instructor Chen Yutian was fair-minded.

In truth, had it not been Wei Zhao, Chen Yutian would likely have dealt with him alongside the others; but where Wei Zhao was concerned, he had naturally shown some favoritism.

To Wei Zhao's regret, he did not see Gu Mengyao or Shen Yushu in the mess hall.

Training of this intensity was nothing at all to Wei Zhao. What delighted him most was the moment each night when he slept beside Wang Xinyan.

It was not that Wei Zhao was lustful; it was that the fragrance upon Wang Xinyan could make his cultivation progress faster.

Three days—three days of cultivation were enough to match the progress of half a month before.

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