Fire Nether was so pissed off that he actually laughed.
He thought—
Ye Wu really did treat him a little differently.
But now it seemed, she said the same thing to everyone!
After calming down Qingxuan, Ye Wu turned around and saw Fire Nether standing at the cave entrance.
Fire Nether just stood there silently, gazing at her.
Everything this woman said, he'd heard it all—let's see how Ye Wu tries to talk her way out of this.
"Why are you here?" Ye Wu acted perfectly natural, as if her playgirl antics hadn't just been caught red-handed: "You're still hurt. Go get some rest."
Ye Wu didn't panic at all.
After last night's second dual cultivation session, Fire Nether's favorability towards her went up a bit more.
Now it was a whole negative twenty!
The most important thing was, weird as Fire Nether's expression was, at least he didn't lower his favorability towards her.
As long as it didn't drop, she didn't have to worry too much.
"Alright." Fire Nether agreed: "You're not going off to look for a third favorite person, are you?"
He raised an eyebrow slightly.
Ye Wu stroked her chin.
That question… sounded kind of jealous.
But.
Judging from the still-negative favorability, Fire Nether was probably just being sarcastic.
"No way, of course not, how could I be that kind of person?" Ye Wu declared righteously.
Fire Nether gave her a look, then turned back to his room.
By the afternoon—
He had just come out to practice some spear technique.
Behind the cave's mountain.
Hu Jiuling looked innocently at Ye Wu: "Master. Fire Nether said, dual cultivation not only doesn't hurt, it even feels a little nice. Once Brother Fire Nether's injuries are healed, I want to try dual cultivation too."
Hu Jiuling actually didn't care much about growing stronger.
He was just simply curious.
And also…
He liked feeling good.
"Alright, alright, got it. I'll arrange it for you." Ye Wu hurriedly promised.
"Really?" Hu Jiuling sounded delighted: "It won't make things hard for you, right, Master?"
Ye Wu quickly said: "Hard? How could it be? Out of you five, you're my favorite."
Hu Jiuling instantly cheered up. He was about to say something, but turned—and saw Fire Nether's poker face.
Hu Jiuling greeted enthusiastically, "Brother Fire Nether!"
Ye Wu slowly turned her head and saw Fire Nether's ambiguous expression.
Ye Wu suddenly felt a bit stifled.
Are you kidding me?
Every time she dropped a playgirl line, why did Fire Nether have to overhear it?
Ye Wu immediately said, "Really, this is seriously the last time!"
Because—
Xiao Heng and Mo Ye didn't even bother with her anyway!
Hu Jiuling was a little confused.
The last time?
Last time for what?
Fire Nether only looked calmly at Ye Wu, then walked over and grabbed Hu Jiuling by the collar: "Don't just mess around all day. Since you came to the back mountain, take out your Green Fox Pen and practice."
Hu Jiuling's little face scrunched into a ball: "Can't we start tomorrow?"
"Today!" Fire Nether said.
Hu Jiuling had no choice but to agree weakly.
Ye Wu, on the other hand, found the scene in front of her quite interesting.
According to the original novel, Fire Nether was a spear expert—his spear technique was so impressive, even Ye Liuyun praised it.
As for Hu Jiuling, as a member of the Green Fox Clan, his weapon of choice was the Green Fox Pen.
These Furnaces, she was planning to train them all well.
She just had to understand them first, so she'd know which direction to cultivate them in later on.
Ye Wu volunteered to step aside: "You guys do your thing, I'll just watch."
Fire Nether nodded.
His wrist flicked, and the Mystic Iron Long Spear shot forth.
The spearpoint glimmered with a crimson light under the sun, the Jiao Long Clan bloodline surging, a phantom dragon curling around the tip, hazy but distinct.
He spun around and swept the spear—dragon phantom lunging with the spear! Twenty zhang away, a huge boulder vanished into nothingness in an instant.
It was literally smashed to dust.
Fire Nether glanced at Hu Jiuling: "Our weapons are different, but mastering one path leads to mastering many. Your Green Fox Pen takes a nimble route, but it lacks the punch for a killing blow."
As he spoke, he thrust his spear again—by the spearpoint it looked like he was aiming at a distant giant tree, but the moment the spear shot out, he twisted and stabbed at the ground right in front of Hu Jiuling.
"So, you have to combine feints with real attacks if you want to win."
Fire Nether said.
He really did have some insight when it came to weapons.
Hu Jiuling was thoroughly convinced, and obediently began practicing.
Ye Wu leaned against a tree, watching with rapt attention.
The original book was packed with all kinds of spicy scenes between the male and female leads.
But there really wasn't much about the supporting girls, much less about these background-Furnaces.
Yet actually—
These side characters that barely got a mention in the novel were shining bright in real life.
Ye Wu thought for a bit, then walked over with a big grin: "Fire Nether, why don't you teach me some Whip Technique too?"
As she spoke, Ye Wu swung out the Purple Vine Whip wrapped around her waist, saying straightforwardly, "I was planning to seriously practice my Whip Technique."
The supporting female's original weapon was a whip.
After transmigrating, Ye Wu had no intention of changing that.
She actually found the whip pretty handy.
Fire Nether looked at Ye Wu, a trace of surprise in his eyes, but then he calmly said, "Any weapon, if you want to master it, takes a huge amount of grueling training. No need to waste your time."
His spear technique got to this level after taking so much pain.
Ye Wu?
No way would she survive that kind of suffering!
Better not to start if you're just going to quit halfway through.
Ye Wu raised her brows and said directly, "That's an order."
Fire Nether was silent for a while: "Then take out your whip."
Whatever. Ye Wu was bound to give up soon enough.
At worst, it'd just waste a little time.
"That's more like it. Tonight's dual cultivation partner is still you." Ye Wu said with obvious delight.
Fire Nether couldn't help but glance at her.
This woman!
How can she be so shameless!
He steadied himself and said, in a businesslike tone, "Let me see you perform your Whip Technique first."
Performing Whip Technique, huh…
Ye Wu dug through her memories.
This female side character was always simping—she was too lazy to even spend time cultivating, let alone practicing Whip Technique.
But.
Ye Liuyun had given her a Mystic Rank Whip Technique: Sky Splitting Whip.
As for Ye Wu's current skill…
Well, she could just barely wave the whip around.
Ye Wu didn't feel embarrassed at all, and right there performed her elementary-school level Whip Technique.
At first, Fire Nether's face was sort of serious, but after watching for a while, he fell silent.
Hu Jiuling, though, was very supportive—clapping repeatedly at the side.
"How was it?" Ye Wu braced herself and asked.
"Master, your whip…," Hu Jiuling started.
Ye Wu looked at him expectantly.
"It really just… um, whips!" Hu Jiuling exclaimed admiringly.
Ye Wu glared at him.
The hell kind of useless feedback is that!
Fire Nether took a deep breath: "Hu Jiuling, go practice on your own."
Hu Jiuling replied with a big grin, "Master, you can do it!"
Hu Jiuling happily slipped away to slack off.
Fire Nether went quiet, at a loss for words.
If he told the truth, Ye Wu wouldn't just trigger the contract and kill him, right?
"Just say it straight!" Ye Wu encouraged him. "I'm here to improve!"
Fire Nether's face twitched slightly; after a long pause, he said softly, "Your Whip Technique is like an antelope hanging its horns—leaving no traces to be found."
"Are you saying my Whip Technique is super inspired, and someday I'll become a top master?" Ye Wu sounded excited.
Fire Nether replied honestly, "I meant… your Whip Technique—I can't make heads or tails of it."