"Here in the Tianshan Mountains, he is your precious treasure, and no one dares to provoke him. But what about after you leave here? Can you protect him for the rest of your life?"

"If a slightly powerful spirit puppet can force him into such a predicament, what would he do if he encountered other cultivators with ill intentions? Would he just stand there and wait for you to rescue him?"

"The path of cultivation is about fighting against heaven, earth, and man. If you can't even handle this little difficulty, what's the point of going down the mountain? You should just stay here and cling to someone powerful..."

Ning Yuyao looked at Shen Yunhao, who was still being beaten in the arena, and gently shook her head.

"I don't need him to fight anyone, nor do I need anyone to prove his excellence. As long as he has me in his heart, and I have a sword in my hand, I will protect him from everything, as long as... I am strong enough!"

"..."

Nie Qingshuang opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything.

So the more useless he is, the more it motivates you to cultivate? Should I just let him be?

If you two were in different roles, this statement wouldn't make much of a difference.

With such good looks, she'd be perfect as a pretty face...

But the key question is, how can a grown man like him be protected by a woman for the rest of his life?

Is that even plausible to say?

To be able to live off a woman to this extent, there's really no one else like her!

"But Yao'er, you must understand, he is a man! The title of genius that you bear is a burden and pressure for him. If he really becomes a useless person who is no better than everyone else, how will the world view him? How will his self-esteem live with it?"

Upon hearing this, Ning Yuyao finally fell silent.

But if Shen Yunhao were standing here, he would only chuckle and shake his head.

Self-esteem?

He must have been quite strong before his rebirth... Although his way of handling things was a bit naive, he was still quite resolute.

But nowadays... he certainly wouldn't think there's anything wrong with living off a woman.

I walk my own path, not seeking to be the best, but only to have a clear conscience. If you insist that this is being a kept man... then fine.

However, during their conversation, Shen Yunhao was once again repelled by the spirit puppet, retreating more than ten meters before stopping.

"Hey... I can finally stand up!"

Nie Qingshuang raised an eyebrow, quite surprised.

"Again! I refuse to believe I can't outlast you!"

Nie Qingshuang: "..."

Is this some kind of "hawk-training" tactic?

Looking back at the arena, Shen Yunhao's progress was truly remarkable. He went from being able to take all the beatings at the beginning to being able to barely withstand a few blows later on, and now he was frantically pulling back and forth.

"This kid's pretty tough..."

After fighting for so long, Shen Yunhao did look quite battered, covered in bruises and with some blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

However, judging from his energetic state, he should not have suffered any serious injuries.

Nie Qingshuang didn't know...

In the past year and a half, he has been beaten more than a hundred times...

On average, he gets beaten up by Guan Yingying every three days. After enduring so many beatings, Shen Yunhao is now incredibly tough.

"Bang!"

After being repelled for the tenth time, the spiritual energy fluctuations on the spirit puppet finally weakened a little.

"Hehe! Little brother, you're done for, aren't you!"

In the previous "battles", he basically did not take the initiative to attack, but only dodged and parried, and stretched out the battle lines to try to deplete the opponent's spiritual energy.

He knew very well that such a puppet had no sense of pain, and that trading injury for injury would be extremely disadvantageous for him.

However, unlike cultivators, spirit puppets do not have a continuous supply of spiritual energy from their Qi Palace. Once the spiritual stone energy stored in their bodies is used up, they are essentially out of power.

And now, the spirit puppet has finally been worn down to a "low power" state.

"He actually managed to hold out this long by taking a beating, tsk tsk tsk, he's quite the talent..." Nie Qingshuang smiled faintly as she looked at Ning Yuyao beside her, "Indeed, being able to hold out a little longer while waiting for you to rescue him is a skill in itself..."

Ning Yuyao: "..."

"But... I specifically requested this spirit puppet, not to see you take a beating!"

Nie Qingshuang gave a light snort, raised her hand and pointed, and a stream of pure spiritual energy shot out, landing on the spirit puppet.

Then, to Shen Yunhao's astonishment, the spirit puppet instantly regained its "full charge"!

"Boil it!"

At this moment, Shen Yunhao couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of angry words.

"I said beforehand that you had to beat it, not just be an empty shell without any power! Go for it, little guy, I'm rooting for you!"

"..."

However, not long after Nie Qingshuang returned to her original position, Shen Yunhao launched his first attack.

"Tch! So eager to go up and deliver it? You've lost your mind after just a few words, truly..."

Before she could finish speaking, Nie Qingshuang stood frozen in place.

In the arena, Shen Yunhao easily dodged the spirit puppet's previous attacks, and then punched the spirit puppet in seven or eight places, including under its armpit, knee, and side abdomen.

Then, the spirit puppet, which had just been fully charged and was full of energy, made a "crackling" sound and froze in place, as if it had "short-circuited".

Then Shen Yunhao circled around behind the spirit puppet, quickly took the Guixue Sword, and stabbed it into a certain spot on the spirit puppet's back.

The spirit puppet trembled, its radiance faded, and it completely crashed.

"What happened?"

Nie Qingshuang was stunned for a moment, then frowned and stepped forward.

"Sigh... Easy peasy!"

Shen Yunhao shrugged at Ning Yuyao, finally able to hold his head high for once.

But Ning Yuyao stepped forward and pulled open Shen Yunhao's sleeve.

A quick glance reveals more than a dozen bruises.

The fact that even someone with the strength of a Profound Soul Realm cultivator could sustain so many injuries shows just how badly Shen Yunhao was beaten.

"It's nothing, it's just a minor injury, it'll heal in a couple of days!"

Shen Yunhao smiled nonchalantly, and was about to say a few more boastful words when he saw that the little girl in front of him had tears in her eyes.

"Hey! What's wrong? I didn't say anything after I got beaten up so much, why are you crying? Don't cry, don't cry... I told you I'm fine, you can tell..."

Ning Yuyao's excitement left even Nie Qingshuang, who was standing next to her, somewhat at a loss.

Originally, he wanted to ask Shen Yunhao how he managed to break the spirit array on the spirit puppet at the same time, but now he couldn't bring himself to ask. He immediately praised, "Hmm! Not bad, not bad, you're a quick learner! This is a high-grade Xuan artifact, the Netherworld Shield, powered by spirit stones. It's enough to withstand attacks from the Void Soul Realm. You can take it and use it first... Alright, alright, since you've won, you can leave the mountain anytime. I won't stop you!"

After saying that, he tossed Shen Yunhao a palm-sized object that resembled a wristband, then vanished in a flash, his figure carrying a hint of guilt.

"Holy crap! I've struck gold! A top-grade Xuan weapon, this is my first time ever..."

Just as he was about to say it was the first time he had seen one, he remembered that the Demon-Suppressing Furnace he had seen in the Enforcement Hall was also a high-grade Xuan-level treasure, so he changed his words and said, "This is the first time I've obtained such a high-level magic weapon! Yao'er, look! We really got a good deal this time!"