Chu Feng grasped Little Fish's wrist and examined her body from the outside.
He found that Little Fish's body was extremely weak. This frailty stemmed from her bloodline, and his formation arts could do little to help.
However, he quickly noticed that inside Little Fish's body, a force was working to repair her.
It was a pill — clearly one that had been prepared specifically for her bloodline.
But though the pill was powerful, its refinement speed was slow. As a result, even though it was healing her, the effect was minimal.
What Chu Feng could do for Little Fish was help her refine the pill faster. Once the medicinal energy spread throughout her body, it would naturally aid her in recovering more quickly.
"Thank you, big brother." Little Fish could feel Chu Feng's formation power pouring steadily into the pill within her body, and she understood that he was helping her refine it.
"Fish, what's on my chest?"
"Could it be related to your bloodline?" Chu Feng asked her in secret.
He could sense that a mark had appeared within the heart of his soul — a mark in the shape of a small fish.
Earlier, his life force had been hanging by a thread. He had truly been on the verge of death. The reason he had recovered in an instant, and even used that opportunity to break through, was all because of Little Fish. She had unleashed a tremendous power on his behalf, but by the time Chu Feng had the chance to observe it, that power had already merged into his body.
The only trace left was a small fish-shaped mark at the location of his heart.
"I'm not telling you." Little Fish flashed a mischievous smile, then added, "Don't worry about it. See? I'm perfectly fine. That was a special technique of my clan, but it can only be used once — and I used it on big brother."
With that, Little Fish extended her small hand and pressed it against the spot over Chu Feng's heart.
"Now big brother will always carry a trace of me on you."
"Don't lie to me. There's really no effect?" Chu Feng wasn't convinced.
A power severed from one's own body — how could that possibly have no consequences?
"There really isn't any effect. I wouldn't lie to big brother."
"You can feel it yourself, right? Once the pill is fully refined, I'll be perfectly fine."
Little Fish's eyes curved into two crescent moons. Beneath her long lashes, her gaze was filled with warmth as she looked at Chu Feng with that gentle expression.
That kind of look made it almost impossible not to believe her.
And yet Chu Feng still couldn't bring himself to fully trust it.
But he couldn't find any evidence to prove otherwise.
Besides, what was done was done. There was no reversing the outcome.
"Fish, truly — thank you," Chu Feng said.
He knew full well that without Fish, he might very well have lost his life this time.
"There's no need for big brother to say things like that to me. Didn't I promise I would protect you?" Little Fish said.
"You silly girl, you need to protect yourself first. Making yourself this weak for my sake — it pains me." Chu Feng genuinely ached for her.
But Little Fish pressed a finger to Chu Feng's heart. "You're not allowed to feel pained. Otherwise, you might think I'm causing trouble inside your chest."
At that, even Chu Feng couldn't help but laugh.
Uwaaaah— But just then, an agonized scream of unimaginable intensity rang out.
It came from the direction of Ouyang Lingyu.
Looking over, Chu Feng saw that Ouyang Kuangfei and the other juniors had been blasted away.
Around Ouyang Lingyu's body, visible streams of black flame had appeared, weaving through him continuously.
It was that black flame that caused him such excruciating pain.
And it was that same black flame that had sent Ouyang Kuangfei and the other juniors flying.
Ouyang Kuangfei tried to rush forward again. This time, braced mentally, he wasn't blown away by the black flame — but the moment he drew close, he was overwhelmed by searing agony, making it impossible to reach Ouyang Lingyu.
Left with no other option, he ran to Chu Feng's side.
"Chu Feng, please save Brother Lingyu!"
"He has a sharp tongue, but he's really not a bad person."