— — — — — —
"Come on, don't mention it anymore. Sir!"
Su Qian shook his head. "Anyone would want to protect Zi Yan. Don't talk about rewards and heavy thanks. That's not what I'm here for."
"This…"
Zhu Kun hesitated, clearly wanting to say more, but in the end, he swallowed the words. No point ruining their relationship with too much formality.
Still, in his heart, he swore he would repay Su Qian someday. If not for him… who knew what might have happened to his daughter?
Some things just came down to luck. And his daughter, it seemed, had plenty of it.
From there, everything went much smoother.
Zi Yan chose to forgive Zhu Kun, and soon he was preparing to return her to the Ancient Void Dragon Clan.
"Those bastards… It's about time I cleaned house. To think they let my daughter wander outside for all these years without even looking for her—and even split Dragon Island in the process! They all deserve death!"
Murderous intent surged in Zhu Kun's chest.
In the end, little Zi Yan reluctantly said goodbye to Su Qian and her new friends like Qing Lin, before Zhu Kun tore open space and took her away from the Academy.
"Don't forget to come visit me on Dragon Island! I'll be waiting for you there, Qing Lin, Sister Fairy Doctor!"
Even at the very end, Zi Yan waved and called out cheerfully.
"We'll definitely come!"
Qing Lin and Fairy Doctor waved back, equally reluctant to part.
During that time, Su Qian and the others also checked the Qi Refining Tower, confirming that things below were indeed just as Renzo had described.
They now had a newborn, controllable, and trainable Fallen Heart Flame.
With that assurance, whatever doubts remained in their hearts vanished, leaving everyone satisfied.
"Well, it's about time we moved on too."
After Zhu Kun left, Renzo and his group said their farewells to Su Qian and the others, politely refusing their invitations to stay longer. Then they departed the Academy to continue Renzo's beauty hunt…
— — —
Mental Space
"Man, it's been ages since BTTH Renzo showed up, hasn't it?"
Uchiha Renzo slumped over the table, looking thoroughly annoyed.
"Yeah."
Eevee nodded. "No idea what that guy's been so busy with. You'd think he could drop by now and then to share his progress! I wanted him to meet Xiao Yan. This is such a letdown. It's been months already!"
"Maybe something really did tie him up?" Aizen shrugged, though even he sounded unconvinced by his own excuse.
"…Was someone just talking about me?"
A voice suddenly echoed from a spatial rift, and the next moment, BTTH Renzo stepped out with a grin. He raised a hand in greeting. "Yo! Long time no see!"
"You bastard! Finally! Took you long enough. What the hell have you been doing?"
Eevee shot up from his seat, glaring.
"Exactly!"
Uchiha Renzo nodded.
"Alright, enough chatter. Share your gains already! Let's see what you've been up to. And if the haul's small, don't think we're gonna let you off easy." Hentai Renzo leaned forward, practically vibrating with impatience.
"Huh? Wait a sec…" Btth Renzo blinked, suddenly realizing there were way more faces around than before. A lot more.
"How is this even possible? Before I left, there were only like thirteen Renzos—y'know, when I shared with Eevee, Aizen, and Uchiha. But now… what, thirty-seven?!"
"How about you stop counting and actually look at the faces," Aizen chuckled, pointing at one of them. "Like that Chinese-looking guy over there."
Btth Renzo froze. The guy was glaring at him. "X–Xiao Yan? No way! How the hell is that possible?!" His brain felt like it was about to short-circuit.
Uchiha Renzo sighed, stood up, and patted him on the shoulder. "Ahem. Let's just share the info. I don't have the patience to explain everything to you one by one."
"...."
"Oooh? So there are multiple mental spaces, huh? But instead of opening a new one, you kept it down to just two for now?"
"Wait—we're meeting inside Reverend Insanity?!"
"WTF?! The original body is still alive—and he's the core of all these mental spaces?! Good thing he isn't conscious right now. But he should feel the surroundings after the first fusing if it happened."
"And we don't even have the power to reach him right now?!"
"Ohhh… so you already made a plan, didn't you?"
Btth Renzo's face was a mess of emotions—joy, shock, then even more shock, and a dozen others piled on top. He couldn't control what he was feeling at all.
On the other side, the others received the flood of information and power from Uchiha Renzo, quickly digesting it all.
"…Damn. You actually collected every single Heavenly Flame? No wonder you were gone so long."
"Now that's what I'm talking about! You and Xiao Yan did me a big favor. I'm now sure of what I should do next." Fairy Tail Renzo grinned and gave him a big thumbs-up. "I can't wait to see what kind of changes my Dragon Slayer Magic will undergo with those flames!"
"I'm more interested in that Bodhisattva Ancient Tree."
Aizen chuckled as he spoke. "I already manifested one inside my world. It'll be incredible for nurturing talent."
"Hmph! Just useless Renzo, I gave all these things anyway." Xiao Yan was fuming. He knew the others really didn't benefit, but wanted to encourage the new guy.
Hentai Renzo smirked, "He snatched away all his love interests. Well played! But left you Xun'er. Brother Xiao Yan, I meant the useless Xiao there, not you, of course."
"Oh, Xun'er? That one's already… not exactly pure. Not my taste."
Btth Renzo's eye twitched as he muttered to himself, I'm not like you, who'll eat anything on the table.
"Tch."
Hentai Renzo caught his thought and sneered. "Hypocrite."
"Not pure?" MF, you want me to kick your fat ass?" Xiao Yan was one step away from trying to kill a Renzo right now.
"Cut it out already."
The Hero Renzo couldn't stand it any longer. He gave Hentai Renzo a look of disdain. "Don't try to make them hate each other more than they do, man."
Only for the latter to grin and flash him a thumbs-up. "But hey, I've gotta hand it to you—you're a master at stealing other people's women."
He'd seen it himself: Fairy Doctor, Yun Yun, Qing Lin, Medusa, Ya Fei,… basically, if they weren't Xun'er, Renzo had swept them all up.
A true professional. Xiao Yan just got Xun'er and Medusa for now. And he wasn't even chasing others. Maybe Fairy Doctor would join the harem in the future, who knows.
"So then, now that you've basically cleaned out the Dou Qi Continent, what's next? Got any plans? When are you going to ascend to the upper realm? Xiao Yan refused last time; he didn't want to leave his Continent right now." Aizen tilted his head as he asked.
BTTH Renzo shook his head. "Same here. Not for a few more years at least. There's still a lot here I can absorb and refine. And honestly, I don't know if I'm strong enough yet to fully protect myself and all my women if we go up now. Better to take it slow."
"Besides, Yun Yun and the others need to keep getting stronger. Ideally, I'd like to get them all to at least the Dou Saint level before we even consider ascending."
Charging into the upper realm recklessly was just asking for disaster.
It's not like the lower realm was a dead end for cultivation anyway.
Even setting Dou Qi aside, there were other systems he could still practice and grow in. Sure, it might be a bit slower than in the upper realm, but not by much.
"Fair point."
Aizen nodded in agreement. He didn't dispute the logic.
"What about the rest of you? A lot of you are already hitting the ceiling of your own worlds."
Btth Renzo glanced around at Aizen and the others.
Aizen shook his head. "Too risky. Lately, I've been digging into dimensional travel, and I think it will be available soon. I'd rather pursue that path than gamble on shattering the void and travel blindly. Maybe I'll come to your world when the time comes."
.
.
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