Chu Jun supported him, his gaze deep, “Chengfeng.”
Ning Buwei held him tightly, his hot breath falling on the crook of his neck. He grunted in response, “What?”
“This isn’t a dream,” Chu Jun said calmly.
“Huh?” Ning Buwei lifted his head, stared at him blankly for a while, then reached out to pinch his face, smiling lazily, “If this isn’t a dream, why are you being so obedient?”
Chu Jun: “……”
“Still trying to fool me.” Ning Buwei snorted with laughter, his arm sliding down lightly, expertly wrapping around his waist, his tone quite arrogant, “Be good, let me sleep while holding you.”
Chu Jun’s eyebrow twitched slightly, “How come you’re never this bold normally?”
Ning Buwei replied matter-of-factly. “I don’t dare.”
After a moment of silence, he heard Ning Buwei state with certainty. “You talk too much in my dreams.”
Chu Jun: “……”
He grabbed Ning Buwei’s mischievous hand and brought him onto the flying sword.
The flying sword landed in front of a hidden cave dwelling. Ning Buwei had already fallen into a deep sleep holding him, his hands tightly gripping his belt, as if afraid he would run away.
Chu Jun sighed and had to carry him horizontally into the cave dwelling.
The wounds on Ning Buwei’s back were deep enough to see the bone. Chu Jun removed his tattered clothes that had been torn by the demon beast, and his gaze paused.
His back was covered in crisscrossing scars of varying depths, and on his shoulder blades were two old wounds. The wounds weren’t large, as if something had pierced through them…
Although Ning Buwei usually acted unrestrained, he was actually very cautious and deeply secretive about his past, always full of vigilance when awake.
Crimson spiritual power covered the wounds, and the torn flesh slowly healed, leaving a long, shallow scar.
By the time he had treated all the other wounds, it had grown dark outside. Seeing that Ning Buwei showed no signs of waking, Chu Jun planned to undo the temporary contract they had formed.
This person disliked being bound, and if he woke up to find the contract still there, he would surely make a fuss.
However, when Chu Jun found the spiritual contract in his sea of consciousness, he discovered it had been altered beyond recognition.
Venerable Jinghe stared at the messy spiritual contract in his hand for a long time, then looked at the sleeping divine consciousness, and after comparing the two, decided to try it himself.
Although Ning Buwei was accomplished in formations and arrays, his cultivation level was several major realms below Chu Jun’s. It was just a spiritual contract – even if altered, it shouldn’t be too different, and undoing it would at most take some time.
An incense stick’s time later, Chu Jun discovered it wasn’t just a matter of time – the contract actually became more complicated as he tried to undo it.
Chu Jun frowned slightly, bit his fingertip to add two strokes to it, intending to forcibly change it back to undo it. Unexpectedly, the spiritual contract suddenly burst into intense light, enveloping his entire divine consciousness.
Chu Jun instinctively tried to break free from the restraint, but then found himself surrounded by Ning Buwei’s aura. His movements hesitated slightly, and he was completely drawn in.
****
“Chengfeng, come quick and see what father brought back for you!” A male voice rang out, coming closer.
The blurry scene around gradually became clear.
It appeared to be a courtyard with many pomegranate trees planted around. The pomegranate flowers were in full bloom. It seemed to have just rained, as the ground paved with blue bricks was somewhat damp, and moss had grown in many of the gaps between the white courtyard walls and blue bricks.
The door under the eaves opened, and a four or five-year-old child ran out, still wrapped in a thick cloak, wearing rabbit fur boots. His white, tender little face was buried in the soft, fluffy fur, looking docile and sweet.
Although much smaller, one could vaguely see the future appearance of Ning Buwei in him.
“Father,” he ran to the man and reached out his hands.
Ning Gu reached down to pick him up, smiling and kissing him on the face.
Ning Chengfeng hugged his neck and hid in his embrace, mumbling, “Father’s beard is prickly.”
Ning Gu touched his slightly stubbly chin, smiling, “Father will shave later. Don’t you want to see what I brought back?”
Ning Chengfeng lifted his head from his embrace, his little face though expressionless, his eyes were very expectant, “What is it?”
“Look!” Ning Gu took out a snow-white wolf pup from his storage ring, “Its parents are gone, and it’s the only one left from the whole litter, so I brought it back.”
“Puppy.” Ning Chengfeng tentatively reached out to touch the wolf’s ear. The wolf pup whimpered, and he immediately withdrew his hand in fright.
“Hahaha, it’s a wolf pup.” Ning Gu laughed heartily, placing the small wolf in his son’s arms.
Ning Chengfeng stiffly held the wolf pup, wanting to pet it but not daring to, both young ones curiously examining each other.
“Where’s your mother?” Ning Gu carried his son and strode into the house.
“Mother is making porridge for me.” Ning Chengfeng obediently nestled in his father’s embrace and said to Ning Gu, “Father, I don’t like Nine-Leaf Lotus, it’s very bitter.”
“The Nine-Leaf Lotus was obtained from the main family through my connections.” Ning Gu pinched his face, “Good medicine tastes bitter. After eating it, you won’t get sick so often, little sickly cat.”
Ning Chengfeng sighed somewhat dejectedly.
At this moment, a beautiful woman emerged from behind the house, holding a small bowl of porridge. Hearing this, she smiled and said, “Why are you sighing at such a young age? I made it fragrant and added sugar, it’s not bitter at all.”
Ning Chengfeng frowned, “Father, it’s really bitter, can you taste it for me?”
Li Xiaohan carried the porridge over, narrowing her eyes at him, “Ning. Cheng. Feng.”
The little one made a bitter face and reluctantly got down from Ning Gu, hugging Li Xiaohan’s leg, “Want Mother to feed me.”
Li Xiaohan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, sat down holding him, feeding him while chatting with Ning Gu.
“The main family has been in an uproar lately over the Linglong Bone matter. I brought back some seeds this time, so we won’t need to travel to Ning City every month anymore,” Ning Gu said.
Li Xiaohan wiped Ning Chengfeng’s mouth with a handkerchief, “That’s good, I’m always worried every time you go… But that Linglong Bone was taken from the Floating Sky Realm by Young Master Xingyuan, naturally it belongs to him, what’s there to make a fuss about?”
“They say the Linglong Bone can bring the dead back to life and even allow cultivators to ascend on the spot. The Ning family clan is so large, even the main family has many factions fighting internally, naturally they won’t let Young Master Xingyuan keep it all to himself.” Ning Gu shook his head, “Young Master Xingyuan’s parents… sigh, they really have their hands full.”
Ning Chengfeng drank half a bowl with furrowed brows, looked up and asked Ning Gu, “Father, is the Linglong Bone sweet?”
Ning Gu smiled, “Not sweet, it’s just a broken bone.”
Ning Chengfeng sighed disappointedly.
Li Xiaohan reached out to rub his head, scaring him by saying, “Don’t sigh all day, you’ll sigh away all your good luck.”
Hearing this, Ning Chengfeng covered his mouth and opened his eyes wide, looking at his mother.
Li Xiaohan laughed, “How did I give birth to such a little silly goose.”
Ning Chengfeng retorted indignantly, “Not a silly goose.”
Seeing the wolf pup biting his sleeve, Ning Gu grabbed its scruff and pulled it from Ning Chengfeng’s arms, “Then what are you?”
Ning Chengfeng held his little face taut, “Mother said I’m her good baby.”
Ning Gu picked up the remaining half bowl of porridge and coaxed, “If you drink all the rest, you’ll be Father’s good baby too.”
“Ah—” he thought seriously and opened his mouth wide.
Li Xiaohan held him while Ning Gu fed him the porridge. Although he found the Nine-Leaf Lotus bitter, he obediently finished it all.
“Chengfeng is so good,” Li Xiaohan rubbed his little head.
“Of course, our Chengfeng is already a little man, not afraid of bitterness at all,” Ning Gu smiled and chimed in, “Come, let Father rub your tummy.”
Ning Chengfeng let out a small burp of fullness, making both of them laugh heartily, while he shyly burrowed into his mother’s embrace.
After holding him for a while, Li Xiaohan softly said to Ning Gu, “He’s asleep.”
“Give him to me, I’ll carry him to bed.” Ning Gu took him, “Oh my, he’s heavy.”
“Not heavy,” Ning Chengfeng said softly with his eyes closed.
Ning Gu laughed, “Weren’t you asleep?”
“I am asleep,” Ning Chengfeng opened his eyes a crack, saw his parents looking at him, and quickly closed them again, “Really asleep.”
“Since Chengfeng is asleep, let’s go eat something delicious,” Li Xiaohan whispered.
“Sure, I brought back many toys that were meant for Chengfeng, but since he’s asleep, let’s give them to other children,” Ning Gu also whispered.
They looked down to find their son’s eyes wide open, saying very seriously, “I’m awake again.”
Then he heard Li Xiaohan and Ning Gu’s laughter.
Although Ning Chengfeng was initially afraid of the wolf pup, he soon became familiar with it, eagerly feeding it food and water, clumsily spilling all over himself and even getting the wolf’s tail wet.
He carried the wolf pup in his arms and waddled on his short legs to find Li Xiaohan to change clothes, pushing the door open with all his might, “Mother, my clothes are dirty…”
But the room was empty with no one in sight.
“Mother, Mother?” Ning Chengfeng carried the wolf pup, searching everywhere in the house, finally seeing his mother’s figure in the main hall. He ran over to pull Li Xiaohan’s sleeve, “Mother, my clothes are dirty.”
Li Xiaohan turned around stiffly, her face deathly pale, eyes blood-red, startling Ning Chengfeng greatly. He stared at Li Xiaohan blankly, “Mother, what’s wrong?”
Li Xiaohan suddenly picked him up and ran outside. Ning Chengfeng lay on her shoulder and saw his father standing in the courtyard, facing many people whose faces he couldn’t make out, as they swung their swords at his father.
“Father!” Ning Chengfeng cried out in fear.
But he saw Ning Gu deflect all the swords with one move, leaping to fly towards them, embracing Li Xiaohan and carrying them away on his sword, with the group of people in hot pursuit.
Ning Chengfeng was held tightly in Li Xiaohan’s arms, so he could only hold the trembling wolf pup tightly.
“Be good, Chengfeng, don’t be afraid.” Li Xiaohan looked down and smiled at him, “Father and Mother are playing a game with those uncles.”
“But they’re scary,” Ning Chengfeng looked at his parents’ blood-red eyes, “Father and Mother’s eyes are scary too.”
“Don’t be afraid, as long as we don’t get caught, we win,” Ning Gu smiled at him, “The eyes are just a color your Mother and I specially dyed, they’ll be gone soon.”
Ning Chengfeng nodded, “Father, we must win.”
Ning Gu smiled bitterly, “Yes.”
After what seemed like forever, the family of three finally stopped.
