Chapter 15

Ning'er came back to consciousness groggily. She came to, with her body limp and face pressed into something warm and comforting, a slow, rise and fall of her body that left slight butterflies in her stomach.

She almost groaned in pain as pain made itself known throughout her entire body, and she could barely move beyond her arms tightening a tiny fraction around whatever they were thrown around, and a small moan of discomfort leaving her mouth as she pressed herself tighter against the warn object her face was pressed against.

"Looks like sleeping beauty is awake." She heard the familiar voice of Shin Long say, amusement in his tone. He sounded close, very close, like nearly right next to her ear close.

The orange haired girl blinked her eyes open slowly, and that was when she noticed just what her face was pressed against. The bare, broad back of the slightly younger boy she was with, her arms hanging around his shoulders and her legs wrapped around his waist, his strong arms holding her by the thighs as he carried her on his back.

Ning'ers face flushed red, but she forced herself not to overly react and make things awkward. She had already decided hadn't she? She wouldn't hand Shin Long off to anyone else.

And boys like girls pressing up against them did they not? The position they were in now had her breasts pressing up tightly against his back. She'd cursed her development body wise for a while now, but finally it was actually worth gaining and she could make use of it. And Shin Long had definitely appreciated the view he'd gotten last night when he was treating her.

"Looks like," Ning'er agreed, a small smile spreading across her face, "What happened? The last thing I remember is integrating with the Earth Eater and then everything went black." Well, there was also the feelings of euphoria rushing through her veins and a sense of strength she'd never felt anything close to before.

It had been surprisingly easy to integrate with the Earth Eater, just as Shin Long had said.

"Well, you kind of managed to retain enough of my yang qi and balance it out with all of your yin qi. To the point where your soul force exploded and rose massively," Shin Long began explaining, "I was expecting you to maybe break through to the two star bronze rank, I wasn't expecting you to shoot right up to the four star rank though, you're quite the prodigy aren't you? Managing to integrate all that yang and yin qi together into your soul realm."

Eh? Ning'er blinked in shock as she registered those words. Four Star Bronze Rank?...But she'd been cultivating for over a year, with elixirs, and yesterday before meeting Shin Long she'd only managed to reach seventy six in soul force.

..Yet in just one day, he was telling her he'd accomplished what she was aiming for more than five times over?

Ning'er felt a bit faint. She didn't know what to think.

"Well, don't go thinking you can reproduce what happened here," he continued, "The only reason it worked is because you built up a stupidly huge amount of yin qi and I added enough yang to balance it out, with my qi balancing it out and making it non lethal to you, you were able to integrate with it without it hurting you."

Ah, so that was why. She'd resented how little growth her soul force had shown with all the elixirs she'd had to take. She'd been so angry yesterday when she found out Ye Ziyun was over ninety points when it came to soul force, without having to resort to growth enhancement elixirs like she had.

But it seemed like she wasn't behind her, it was just the crappy cultivation technique her family ordered her to use that was holding her back.

Her arms tightened a bit around Shin Longs neck, "Thank you." she whispered. What he had done for her deserved far more than a mere thank you. But, it was colossal in scope, so much so, that 'thank you' was all she could really think to say right now.

"No worries sweet thing," he laughed, tightening his hold around her thighs a bit and pulling her just a tad tighter against his back, "Having a girl like you pressed up against me is reward enough I think, so let's call it even kay?"

The flush spread across her face again at his words, but instead of being embarrassed, she felt giddiness surge through her chest. She couldn't really think of anything to say without making a fool of herself right now, but if he enjoyed it, then she'd gladly let him feel her body up against him all he wanted.

She pressed her chest harder into his back, feelings his hands slid back up her thighs a moment later as he tensed up, close to her rear end, where his hands tightened a bit around her thighs again, his hands sinking into the spongy flesh.

"...If you like it, I don't mind doing it." she managed to whisper.

"You're some girl Ning'er." Shin Long laughed, shaking his head

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Ning'er was quite disappointed that she had to have Shin Long let her down when they got back to the gates of Glory City. Her body was still sore, but she was able to walk.

Regardless, she would have much rather let Shin Long carry her for as long as he could. She was comfortable in his embrace.

Still, she followed alongside him once they entered the city once more and he made a beeline for the plunder store. He quickly called out all the materials he'd gained from the Earth Eaters, including the three left over demon spirits, and sold them for a whopping forty six thousand, nine hundred demon spirit coins.

"What now?" Ning'er asked the boy once he stored the money in his spatial ring.

"Back over there." he answered with a smile, pointing down the street at a familiar stall just down the road. The stall where she bought those two demon spirits for him. The plunder store was near the holy Orchid Institute, well one of them at least, mainly for the students that wanted to make money from the training area.

"Oh, if it isn't the young master and lady from this morning," the stall vendor greeted them with a smile and a wave once they made their way over, "What can I be doin' for ya? Wanting to buy more demon spirits? I've only got one left though." he said, pointing down at the stall where indeed only one demon spirit remained.

A Snow Lynx by the looks of it.

"I'll take it," Shin Long said instantly, pulling the money from his spatial ring and handing it over, seemed he remembered the price from this morning,"Thanks." he nodded when the salesman gestured for him to take the demon spirit after receiving the money.

"Pleasure doing buisness with you laddie." the salesman grinned.

They left him behind and began walking towards the dorm area. Ning'er stayed quiet for a few moments as shin Long closed his eyes, and absorbed the demon spirit into himself, his unique soul force spiralling around him for a few brief moments before dissipating.

He was quiet for all of one minute, before opening his eyes and grinning at her, "And that's that, another one added to the collection." he beamed at her.

Ning'er was honestly a little in awe of how easy he made it seem. Sure, the Snow Lynx was a common demon beast, and he had experience subjugating much stronger ones now, but he casually did it while walking beside her this time.

It was kind of wild.

"What now?" Ning'er decided on asking. She enjoyed being in his company and didn't want to break off from him yet. Plus, they'd been far quicker than she'd thought they'd be and classes wouldn't be out for a good few hours yet. "Do you have any other plans?"