Chapter 1932 — A Strange Question

Sleeping side by side in the barracks with others around had been a collective affair, but now Wei Zhao and Wang Xinyan were squeezed together in a single tent, and the atmosphere could hardly help but turn a little awkward...

Yet this scene and this feeling stirred something familiar in Wei Zhao—also inside a tent, also with a beautiful, gentle girl. He seemed to have lived through a picture like this before... Was it Xiaoning? Wei Zhao shook his head. He and she had been in a cave, not a tent.

But deep in his memory it seemed as though today's events had happened before. Could it be a previous life? Or a dream? Or was it that he and Wang Xinyan were simply fated to be close?

If it was the last, that was certainly possible—the two of them truly were bound by fate. Several times they had shared a seat, and now they shared a bed. How many such coincidences could a life hold?

"Are you... asleep?" Wang Xinyan's voice cut through his thoughts and brought Wei Zhao back to reality.

"No. What is it?" Wei Zhao asked.

"I'm a little scared. It's so quiet here..." Only after entering the tent did Wang Xinyan suddenly find the stillness around them frightening. Before, in the barracks, classmates had surrounded them and soldiers had patrolled outside day and night; never had it been quiet like this.

"You'll get used to it. This is a dead mountain—no wild animals, and safe enough," Wei Zhao said. "Some mountains aren't quiet at all, but come nightfall they echo with the howls of ghosts and wolves, and that's far more terrifying."

What Wei Zhao said was true. Nights in the tropical primeval forest were the most terrifying of all—one had to guard against enemy incursions and against every kind of beast and poisonous insect. Here, there was no danger to speak of.

"Mm. Will you talk with me a while?" Though Wang Xinyan was exhausted, she had just slept and was not too drowsy. Then she remembered that Wei Zhao had not slept yet, and said apologetically, "Ah, that's right—you haven't rested. Why don't you sleep first? Don't mind me..."

"I'm a cultivator. I'm fine without sleep." Wei Zhao shook his head and smiled.

"Wei Zhao, what do you think people are really pursuing in life?" Wang Xinyan had been lost these past weeks, unsure of life's meaning. Was her whole life to be nothing but a sacrifice to her family's interests?

"Everyone pursues something different. It's hard for me to say." Wei Zhao was puzzled that Wang Xinyan should ask something so profound.

"Then what is it that you pursue?" After asking, Wang Xinyan regretted it. "I'm sorry—I was just asking casually. If you don't want to say, you don't have to..."

"Once... a long time ago, I asked myself the same thing—what was I pursuing, what was my goal? But in those days I was lost. I didn't know what I was after or what my goal was... Everything I did each day seemed to be something I disliked, yet I had no choice but to do it..." Wei Zhao said. "Back then I truly didn't know what I was pursuing, or whether I would drift through this life in a muddled daze..."

"Oh? And then?" Wang Xinyan was surprised. So Wei Zhao, too, had known such feelings and such years.

"So that's how it was... Then I really do rather envy you..." Wang Xinyan gave a bitter smile. "Since I was small... I've never had many friends, and I've never had feelings for any boy. I don't know what true love is, and I've never had a particularly close friend..."

"Ha. Am I not your friend?" Wei Zhao asked with a smile.

"You... of course you are. I think I've found one. In front of you I've said so many things—things I never once did before..." Wang Xinyan's face brightened into a smile. "But you don't need me to protect you; instead it's you who has to protect me..."

"Friends help each other, of course. There's no rule that says who must protect whom," Wei Zhao said.

"Mm... But between a boy and a girl, is there really such a thing as pure friendship?" Wang Xinyan asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Wei Zhao was caught off guard. He was about to say yes—weren't he and she exactly that? But inwardly he shook his head. Pure? When he had seen Wang Xinyan without clothes, he had had thoughts; when he felt the softness of her chest, he had had a physical reaction. Was that pure?

Catching the fragrance of Wang Xinyan's body, Wei Zhao involuntarily reacted again. Fortunately the tent was pitch dark; even with moonlight seeping through, they could make out only the faintest outlines of each other's faces.

Seeing Wei Zhao frozen like that, Wang Xinyan's expression turned a little strange. She turned on her side, wanting to chat more comfortably, but her hand came to rest on something hard. Puzzled, she gave a soft "Hm?" and said instinctively, "Did you bring a sausage?"

But no sooner had she spoken than she realized something was off—and what it was she had grasped. Her face flushed crimson at once. She snatched her hand back and turned away, giving a little sniff. "So I was right—there isn't one. You pervert!"

"It's a normal reaction..." Wei Zhao smiled wryly, somewhat helpless. "Who told us to be so close, and you to smell so sweet..."

Hearing him mention her fragrance, Wang Xinyan's face burned even redder. "I'm sleepy. I'm asleep," she said hurriedly.

"..." Wei Zhao was speechless. He shook his head, steadied his mind, and began to circulate the second layer of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art...

Wang Xinyan waited a while, and when Wei Zhao said nothing more, she felt a little apologetic. She had studied physiology and such, and knew that Wei Zhao's reaction was normal—not deliberate on his part. If he had had no reaction at all, that would truly be the problem. But she was too embarrassed to apologize. Drowsily, sleepiness overtook her too, and she drifted off just like that...

In the latter half of the night, Wang Xinyan woke. She had drunk too much water earlier, and now nature was calling. She wanted to slip out and relieve herself, but seeing the pitch-black world outside the tent, she was very much afraid. After hesitating a moment, she reached out and touched Wei Zhao. "Wei Zhao..."

"What is it?" Wei Zhao opened his eyes and asked.

Wei Zhao opening his eyes so suddenly, without a trace of sleep on his face, gave Wang Xinyan quite a fright. "You... you weren't asleep?"

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