Truth or Lie
Simultaneously, he was developing his Spirit Awareness, a key component required to become a full-fledged cultivator. This process was far more complicated than he had expected, as it involved unconscious Qi manipulation in his surroundings. He had to release his Qi over long distances without losing control and spread it as thinly as possible to minimize the cost.
This was why most people learned Spirit Awareness upon advancing to the Spirit King stage; only with a large base of Qi could one constantly spread their awareness without exhausting their supply. Since Xuefeng started much earlier than others, he didn't have enough Qi to cover large distances and had to slowly expand his area of influence.
During this week, he learned all the basic sword moves to the point where he could keep up with the Princess in sparring. Although it was taxing, each day of physical training increased his energy.
Of course, keeping up in sparring and avoiding being beaten were two different matters.
"Come on, move your legs faster, right hand higher, don't stop moving. Here, your right side is unprotected," Princess Shan shouted, correcting his mistakes. On the last error, she struck his Spirit Armor on his side, knocking him to the ground.
Xuefeng lay flat on the floor, breathing heavily. They were practicing in his courtyard training room using regular swords to avoid unnecessary damage. They might have worried about destroying the room, but the Princess didn't restrain her strength while sparring with him. After she saw him recover after every good beating with Ling's regeneration ability, Princess Shan no longer felt sorry for him. Even with Rank 5 armor protecting him, the impact of her hits still reached his body, and the pain was almost unbearable.
"I thought you would learn everything in a day, but who would have thought you'd improve like a normal person? You still make a lot of mistakes, but it's starting to look decent," Princess Shan commented, looking down at him.
"Well, it's all because I have such good teachers," he said with a fake smile that twitched from the pain in his ribs.
"Okay, don't pretend it hurts. I barely used any power. Stand up, we will finish for today." She reached out her hand to help him up. He grabbed it, and she lifted him effortlessly. Before he could stabilize, she leaned in and kissed him on the lips. After their first incident, Princess Shan became bolder and kept making advances on him even in open settings.
As much as he tried to resist at first, it got to the point where he could no longer ignore her. Whenever she closed in to kiss him after training, he would unconsciously reach towards her perfect butt, pulling her closer to feel her soft body press against him. He had to admit he enjoyed this newfound connection, though he couldn't shake the feeling of guilt, knowing he was purely satisfying his desires. Every woman deserved someone who would love her, yet he wasn't at that stage yet.
"Wuying will come here soon," Xuefeng warned, pulling away from their kiss.
"You think I don't know that you're also fooling around with her?" she countered as she jumped on him, tangling her legs around his waist.
"Aren't you supposed to be mad then?" he asked, moving his other hand to support her from below.
"I'm confident I can win you over sooner or later. I will be returning to the capital in two days, so I want to leave some memories for you," she explained while pursing her lips.
"You're leaving so soon?" Xuefeng raised his brows, not expecting she would leave so soon.
"Yeah, will you miss me?" she asked playfully, hugging him tighter around the neck.
"Well, I promised to protect you. How am I going to do that when you're away? What if that guy comes and forcefully takes you away?" he asked, concerned. He didn't have any plans to leave the Liu Clan at the moment.
"Don't worry, he is preparing for the Sacred Institute recruitment at the end of this year. He won't waste time on me before that," Princess Shan assured.
"Do you also plan to go there?" Xuefeng asked curiously. He had read about the top ten academies in the region and knew he would have to leave the country one day to search for more fate fragments. He would potentially join one of those academies in the future.
"I was planning to, but I changed my mind when I heard he was also going there. I plan on going to White Lotus Academy. They only accept female disciples, and with my purple talent, I can easily get in," Princess Shan replied while leaning against his shoulder.
"Don't they only accept virgins?" Xuefeng joked as he smacked her butt. "I doubt they would take you as a disciple if I were to savor you right now."
"You... What are you saying?" Princess Shan was taken aback by his forward words and smacked his chest. "Don't joke like this. Even though I don't mind touching and kissing, we shouldn't cross the line."
Xuefeng only pursed his lips and suddenly dropped to the ground, kissing her deeply as he pinned her down. She momentarily panicked at his actions, but as she tried to resist, she realized she couldn't escape his grasp. After a week of training and the miraculous effects of Ling's regeneration ability, his physical strength didn't lose out to hers.
"What are you doing? This is not funny," Princess Shan complained just before she saw two black locks of Qi around her wrists that immobilized her arms. "You... Take those off now."
During this week, he had not only received training from Wuying and Princess Shan but also from Ling. She had finished modifying a few more Spirit Arts, and the one he used now was called Spirit Shackles. He could disable someone by creating Spirit Qi rings around their arms or legs and strapping them to a flat surface.
Xuefeng was finally able to free his hands and he ran his fingers along her delicate chin, admiring her beauty. "Don't worry, I would never do anything you dislike. But I have a couple of questions I would like to ask."
"Can't you just ask normally? You know I have nothing to hide," she retorted, staring at him sharply after giving up on struggling.
"I would like you to be honest since some statements you said don't match together," Xuefeng pointed out, causing a worried expression to appear on Princess Shan's face.
"What did I lie about?" she asked, trying to stay calm.
"I read that those top academies are very protective of their disciples. If you got accepted to White Lotus Academy, wouldn't you be safe from forced marriage? Is that 'Playboy Prince' even real?" He had already thought the story was far-fetched considering her status and talents.
Hearing his questioning, she didn't answer but turned her eyes away from his gaze with a guilty look. Her actions confirmed his guess that she had lied to him.
"Tell me the truth. I want to know everything," he pressed further, turning her chin to look him in the eyes.