Chapter 29

On the designated day, he waited outside the gates of the Winged Dragon family, cursing the absence of phones or any other method of communication as he didn't know if Ning'er has woken up or not.

If she still hadn't woken up and they became late then that would paint a very bad picture of them.

Thankfully, he only had to wait for ten minutes after which Xiao Ning'er came from inside the gates.

"Itachi. You're already here. Did I make you wait for too long?" Xiao Ning'er asked.

"Doesn't matter. Let's get going." He said and they both started walking toward the Outer Western gate of the city.

The sun had yet to rise and the red hue in the horizon before the dawn looked beautiful as they walked side to side through the city.

He was thinking about all the things he needed to do to reach Legend Rank when he felt a hand slide into his own.

He looked down in surprise and saw Xiao Ning'er holding his hand. She was blushing and was looking away from him.

He simply squeezed her hand and continued walking without any complaint.

This early in the morning, no one was awake so no one would see them together and raise a stink about the daughter of the Winged Dragon Family having an affair with some commoner.

They walked in silence for a while like that until they finally reached the Outer Western gate of the City.

And the gate was large. Not as large as the inner gate but it was easily 50 feet tall with walls of the same height.

But he knew well enough that the gates were mostly meaningless as any Demon Beast from Gold Rank to higher up can easily jump up to the top of the Wall without much problem.

That is why the top of the walls were so thick. So that the defenders could fight the Demon beasts on top of the wall.

He thought about how most the people inside the city will die within two years if he doesn't come up with a way to deal with the Demon Lord, the Dark Guild, the Sacred Family and the Demon Beast Hoard.

Because despite not having any advanced technology, he was surprised to realize that he liked this place.

It provided him with a safe place to increase his strength without needing to worry about anything else.

He liked this city. And while he was not willing to give up his life to save it, he would still do his best to make sure that it doesn't fall.

He felt Xiao Ning'er's hand squeeze his own and saw similar expressions play out in her face as well.

He looked around and noticed that no one has come yet, which meant that they were probably early.

"Come." He said and pulled her along with him.

"Where?" Ning'er asked curiously but didn't hesitate to follow.

He pulled her along until they were behind a large tree, hidden from prying eyes.

"Why have you brought me here Itachi?" Ning'er asked. But the way she nervously like her lips told him she had already guessed his reasons for bringing her here.

"For this." He said and pushed her against the tree trunk even as he wrapped his arm around her thin waist and moved forward to claim her lips.

They stayed still like that for a while, with the birds chirping above them and the morning breeze rustling their clothes.

Then she responded by clutching onto his shirt and kissing him back.

Her kiss was inexperienced and needy in a way that he had not experienced before.

He put his other hand on the tree so that he won't push her too hard against it's bark and they made out under the tree for a while before he felt something wet and salty on his lips.

He separated from her and looked at her in concern.

"Are you alright Ning'er?" he asked as he gently wiped away her tears from her cheeks.

And then she sniffed once and then twice before she broke down in tears and started sobbing.

He sat down against the tree and pulled her down on his lap even as he wiped and kissed her tears away while hugging her.

"It's alright." He whispered in her ears "You're with me now. You're safe."

He continued to murmur sweet nothings in her ears until she calmed down and stopped sobbing.

"Feeling better now?" he asked even as he took out a cup of coffee from within his Pocket Dimension. Made by the clone of one of the best and most beautiful chef in the City who was now the waifu of one of his clones.

Ning'er sobbed once again as she took the hot cup with both her hands and gave him a grateful nod.

He brought out a cushion from inside his Pocket Dimension as the back of the tree was starting to dig on his back and sat comfortably with her in his arms as they both shared the safe cup of coffee.

She blushed bright red when he took a sip from the same cup that she was drinking from the first time but didn't back away from it.

Once she had calmed down a little, he asked "Can you tell me what that was about? Is someone hurting you?"

She shook her head.

"Is it the disease then? Is it still acting up?"

She looked down at the coffee and gave a timid nod.

He sighed and pulled her closer to him and wrapped her up in a tight hug, her head buried in his chest and everything else in the world forgotten for a while.

He knew that the Arctic Disease was very painful for her and would cause her to silently cry inside her room at nights. He could only imagine how she must have dealt with all that pain in the original timeline when there was no one to help her.

"Do you want me to heal you?" he asked and for the first time, he wasn't asking so that he could fuck her to his heart's content but because he was worried about her.

She remained still and didn't say anything for a while and just when he was starting to think that he had lost her, she gave a nod.

"Yes." She said.

He looked at her, feeling a little surprised by her decision. But then again, a person could only take so much hurt when the treatment was just in front of them.

His arms around her tightened.

"Very well." He said "We'll do it tonight."

She nodded but didn't said anything else.

"I'll keep you safe and do my best to make sure that you don't regret this." He whispered to her.

She nodded and tightened her arms around him. That was all the answer he needed from her.

They stayed like that for a while until he heard voices coming from the distances.

He tapped her a few times and she gave him a nod and got up from his embrace.

He felt slightly empty in her absence but didn't let it get to him.

He took out a mirror from her pocket dimension and she gave him a soft smile before she started to wipe the last traces of tears from her eyes and removed the creases from her clothes and took care of her disheveled hair.

Then they walked up to the gate and waited for a few more minutes before Chen Linjian and his group finally reached them.

"You're here." Chen Linjian said with some surprise "I hope we didn't keep you waiting for long."

"No. You came just in time." He said with a smile.

Chen Linjian nodded and then started to count the number of people in the expedition.

They found that a few others still haven't arrived and ended up waiting for another half an hour.

During that time, Ye Ziyun nervously walked up to him and Xiao Ning'er.

"Hey Ning'er…" Ye Ziyun said while playing with her dress "You've come to the expedition as well."

"I have." Ning'er replied back coldly while he crossed his arms and stood with the wall to his back, gazing at the other teenagers in the group.

"I… see. I hope you're enjoying yourself so far." Ye Ziyun said.

He could see Ning'er clutching her hands from the corner of his eyes even as he tried not to show any interest in their girly talk.

"I have." Ning'er replied though he could see the corner of her lips rising at what they did behind that tree.

"Good. I was hoping that-"

"I heard that you threatened my friend Itachi Uchiha. Is that true Ye Ziyun?" Ning'er interrupted.

"I… I was just worried about you Ning'er… I was just trying to-"

"Help? You were trying to help me by pushing my only friend away from me? Is that your idea of helping Ziyun?" Ning'er asked coldly.

"I thought he was trying to take advantage of you Ning'er." Ziyun said a with a bit more determination while she glanced at him.

Ning'er eyes narrowed upon hearing that "Even if he was trying to take advantage of me, that's none of your business Miss Ye Ziyun. Please stay away from me and my friends from now on."

Ye Ziyun clutched her clothes tightly even as her lips trembled "I… I thought that I'm your friend as well Ning'er "

Xiao Ning'er looked away from her ex friend and shook her head "We live in two different world Ziyun" she said softly "You're the daughter of the city lord, while I'm the child of the patriarch of a small family. The difference between us is that of earth and heaven. There can be no friendship between us."

"Ning'er-"

"Ziyun… Please leave."

Ziyun looked on the verge of crying but then she simply nodded and bit her lips before she quickly left.

He sighed and walked up to Ning'er making sure to maintain a little distance from her now that everyone was here.

"That was needlessly cruel of you Ning'er." He said "She was just trying to look out for you."

Ning'er clenched her fists but didn't said anything.

Before he could say anything else, Shen Yue finally arrived with four of his cronies and Chen Linjian start telling everyone to get ready to leave the City gates

"We'll talk about this later." He said and started walking toward the now opened gate while Ning'er followed behind him in silence.