"Don’t speak, step back!" Wu Xiuluo gave a low shout, then gently pushed Ning Wenbin back a bit. It was really just a gentle push, but Ning Wenbin collided with the wall with a "bang," causing him to cry out in pain.

"Did you have to do that..." Ning Wenbin rubbed his backside, looking utterly miserable.

Yet Wu Xiuluo didn’t reply to him at all, just formed a seal with her hands and pushed upwards. A beam of golden light shot out from her handprint, hitting the smoke in mid-air directly. The black fog that came into contact with the golden light began to dissolve like butter meeting red-hot steel.

Ning Wenbin, who was watching from behind, was completely dumbfounded. He even forgot to remove his hand from his backside, maintaining a rather obscene and comical posture.

Seconds later, he shivered all over, stammering, "Xiu... Xiuluo, that light must be from a flashlight, right..."

As if responding to his words, Wu Xiuluo quickly formed another seal, and golden light shot out again, once more hitting the smoke in mid-air, causing another large chunk to dissolve.

This time, Ning Wenbin saw it clearly — it wasn’t flashlight light, but light coming from Wu Xiuluo’s hand. With a thud, he fell to the ground, then turned his head to Lin Tian: "Lin... Brother Lin Tian, Xiuluo she... Hmm, why aren’t you surprised at all?"

Ning Wenbin wanted to ask Lin Tian what was going on with Wu Xiuluo, but seeing Lin Tian wasn’t shocked at all, as if it was nothing unusual.

Lin Tian glanced at him, thinking this guy must be completely bewildered, feeling his beloved goddess turned out to be like this, not even human anymore. Lin Tian could more or less guess Wu Xiuluo intentionally showed off her skills to clearly tell Ning Wenbin they are from entirely different worlds, never possible, better let go early to avoid getting too deep.

But Lin Tian didn’t have time to care about such things because the golden light Wu Xiuluo released was eliminating the "smoke" too slowly. He lightly stomped, jumped high into the air, and lunged at the smoke.

Upon contacting the smoke, he punched out dozens of punches instantly; each punch ignited with purple flames. Dozens of punches with Zi Yan slammed into the center of the smoke.

The smoke that came into contact with the purple flame vanished more completely, burning away large swaths. By the time Lin Tian landed, almost all the vast smoke was gone.

"Lin Tian, you..." Ning Wenbin’s eyes widened again, stammering, "You... you too, are you even human?"

Ning Wenbin touched his weak legs, leaned against the wall to stand up, then looked at Xiao Manxuan: "Thank goodness, at least Mr. Xiao is normal..."

But before he finished speaking, Xiao Manxuan had already softly spoke: "Little Zi, go, eat them all!"

Then Ning Wenbin saw a purple insect fly out, and it was, of course, Little Zi. A wisp of smoke still trying to "drift away" in the distance, once Little Zi appeared, it flashed like a purple lightning, shooting into the smoke.

Little Zi quickly flew around the smoke as if doing a figure-eight dance. Shortly afterwards, the last bit of smoke vanished without a trace. Little Zi flew back and landed in Xiao Manxuan’s palm.

"Good Little Zi." Xiao Manxuan stroked Little Zi’s wings, pampering praise.

With a thump, Ning Wenbin, who had just leaned back against the wall, completely fell to the ground again. He couldn’t bother with pain, just muttering continuously: "Even Mr. Xiao is not normal, are you even human!"

One emits golden light, one purple flame, one commands insects and talks to them, Ning Wenbin found himself utterly flabbergasted.

"Hey, can a normal person talk to me about what’s going on here?" Ning Wenbin patted the ground, talking to himself.

Lin Tian shook his head, both amused and sighed: "This child, quite shaken, Senior Sister Xiuluo, your purpose is achieved, he will absolutely not bother you anymore."

"Damn!" Ning Wenbin suddenly jumped up, grabbing Lin Tian’s shoulders, looking excited: "Brother Lin Tian, come on, when you all are like this, can I not be shaken? I’m actually very impressed I haven’t wet myself."

"And, who said I’m giving up? No matter what Xiuluo becomes—demon, ghost, human—I won’t give up, I’ve decided on her for life, even if she says she’s a female ghost now, my heart will not change!" Ning Wenbin firmly declared, his eyes unprecedentedly resolute.

Wu Xiuluo’s calm gaze quivered slightly, but only for a moment, she quickly returned to calm as if her mind was a mirror, impervious to any ripple.

Seeing such an expression from Wu Xiuluo, Lin Tian secretly sighed in his heart, what kind of woman could possess such a resilient mind unshaken by the world’s changes.

Generally speaking, when women hear such unwavering, sincere words, even if they don’t fall for Ning Wenbin, they would at least gain some favor, but Wu Xiuluo showed not a hint of such emotions.

She isn’t an average woman, different from anyone Lin Tian’s ever met, as if she holds an unshakable belief deep inside.

Rough-around-the-edges Ning Wenbin naturally didn’t notice Wu Xiuluo’s gaze changing, he continued questioning Lin Tian: "Brother, tell me, what was all this just now?"

Lin Tian removed his hand, then patted his shoulder, calmly saying, "I thought your reaction would be composed."

"Composed my ass, big brother, I nearly thought I saw an Immortal! How could I stay composed?" Ning Wenbin was almost rendered speechless, cursed a bit, then felt it’s inappropriate to curse in front of Wu Xiuluo, his voice instinctively lowered.

Lin Tian shook his head, laughing: "You, this guy, think carefully, your cousin is an Ancient Martial Artist, a power from the secretive world, don’t you know even a little?"

"Right, how did I forget, cousin is an Ancient Martial Artist, which means what you guys did isn’t strange." Ning Wenbin suddenly understood, finally came around, but then he looked up at Lin Tian: "Wait, how do you know my cousin is an Ancient Martial Artist?"

"Pff..." Xiao Manxuan couldn’t hold back her laugh, chuckling softly: "Sister Luoxi is friends with us, do you think we don’t know?"

"Wow, damn!" Ning Wenbin exaggeratedly shouted, Lin Tian thought he was going to ask how they knew each other, but this guy screamed: "Cousin actually has a boyfriend! Lin Tian, you’re cousin’s boyfriend!"

"Cough, cough..." Lin Tian almost choked on his words, feeling completely powerless against this constantly startled guy: "Brother, be precise with your terms, it’s male friend, not boyfriend, careful you’ll get hit, I won’t hit you, your cousin will."

"Scoff..." Ning Wenbin snorted carelessly, then declared seriously: "I can tell you clearly, ever since childhood, cousin never had a male friend, so, a male friend means boyfriend with cousin."