Arriving at the Star Dou Great Forest

Zhu Zhuqing had a clear destination in mind as she ran. She did not head toward the Heaven Dou Empire or Spirit City.

Instead, she traveled south, making her way toward the Star Dou Great Forest.

She was merely a young girl who had just obtained a Soul Ring. Even if those people had fried their brains, they would never have guessed that Zhu Zhuqing would choose to go to the Star Dou Great Forest.

After all, no normal person would run into the Star Dou Great Forest for no reason.

But Zhu Zhuqing was not a normal person.

Although the pressure of being forced into marriage was gone, she understood one thing: it was better to hold strength in her own hands.

Only with strength could her life truly belong to herself.

Otherwise, as a woman, she had no desire to suffer Bibi Dong's pain.

That was why she possessed an almost obsessive fixation on growing stronger.

It was also why she had left the Star Luo Empire despite the danger.

If she could have chosen her birth, she would rather have started with both parents dead.

That way, she probably would not have had to be so restrained in everything she did!

On a clear little river, Zhu Zhuqing ran swiftly across the water's surface.

However, she would plunge headfirst into the water after barely running any distance.

She had many ideas for increasing her combat power and had devised numerous plans.

But because she had previously lived in a place without secrets, aside from thinking about them in her head, she had not wanted to reveal even the slightest hint of them.

If she dared display such traits, she estimated that she would face an endless cycle of creating Self-Created Soul Skills.

And another line would be added to the information used to recruit a son-in-law for her: genius Self-Created Soul Skill creator.

Or, perhaps even worse, they might arrange another prince for her in order to curry favor with the Dai Family.

She had no desire to live that kind of life!

Her control over Soul Power was strong enough; she was merely somewhat lacking when it came to manipulating it.

So, after leaving, she immediately began creating her own Soul Skills without delay.

She had seen such knowledge in the Zhu Family's collection of books.

However, she had not been able to read the core materials.

Even the sections concerning Self-Created Soul Skills contained only introductions. Most of her conjectures had been accumulated through her powerful mind and rich experience.

Self-Created Soul Skill: Technique of Running Anywhere!

The purpose behind creating this Soul Skill was simple: to run!

As long as she perfected this Soul Skill, there would be no obstacle in this world that she could not cross.

No matter where it was, as long as her feet did not stop, she would certainly reach it.

However, this skill required just a tiny bit of acceleration to execute.

She did not even need to practice the Technique of Running Anywhere on land.

Among those of the same rank, no one could run better than her.

What she was practicing now was running on water.

By circulating Soul Power beneath her feet to offset gravity, she could basically accomplish it.

But water fluctuated, which meant that the Soul Power she used to counteract gravity also needed constant adjustment.

Her control over Soul Power was sufficient, but the switching frequency was too fast, and she could not keep up.

As a result, after running for a short distance, she would lose control and plunge headfirst into the water.

After soaking in the river and drifting downstream for a while, Zhu Zhuqing opened her eyes again.

After once more summarizing the reasons for her failure, Soul Power surged behind Zhu Zhuqing, and she leaped out of the water again.

While in midair, she used Soul Power to blast the water droplets off her body before slowly landing on the surface.

Standing on water was no longer difficult for Zhu Zhuqing.

But running was not nearly as easy.

As she drifted slowly downstream with the current, Zhu Zhuqing gradually lowered her body.

She looked like a cheetah about to launch itself into the air.

The next moment, Zhu Zhuqing's rear foot drove down fiercely. The splash beneath her foot was kicked into mist and burst outward.

She herself shot forward with a whoosh.

Soul Power rippled beneath her feet like flowing water.

Whenever it touched the water's surface, that Soul Power would ripple along with it like water, so Zhu Zhuqing would not need to devote too much attention to controlling it.

Sure enough, after adopting the excellent approach of yielding when the water yielded, Zhu Zhuqing quickly adapted to the technique of running on water.

Zhu Zhuqing had confirmed from the map that this river was one of the waterways leading directly to the Star Dou Great Forest.

Up ahead, she would connect to a long river.

And that river would take her straight into the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest.

But why would she go into the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest?!

To serve herself up on a platter?

She planned to find a suitable place on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest and cultivate properly for a while.

Ideally, she would create all the Soul Skills she had envisioned.

And raise her Soul Power to Level 20 while she was at it.

Then she could enter the Star Dou Great Forest to gain experience and hunt for her second Soul Ring. Perfect.

Because she had been running along the river, Zhu Zhuqing finally reached the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest after half a month.

Over those past two weeks, she had completely mastered running on water!

Forget running—she could now spar with someone on the water's surface without any trouble!

"Damn it, you bit me? I'm eating you, you bastard!"

The sun hung high overhead as Zhu Zhuqing, dressed in black combat clothes, gritted her teeth and turned a three-meter-long Black Water Crocodile over the fire.

Walk by the river often enough, and eventually your shoes would get wet!

Others merely got their shoes wet, but Zhu Zhuqing had been ambushed underwater by a century-old Black Water Crocodile.

She had been running along just fine when the damned thing launched a sneak attack, clamping its jaws down on her leg with a crunch.

Thankfully, her physique was tough. Though she had been injured, it was nothing serious—just a bit of broken skin.

And the price for that was—

This Black Water Crocodile became Zhu Zhuqing's first target for water combat practice.

It also contributed its life to Zhu Zhuqing's lunch!

Her appetite was not large, but she wanted barbecue!

"The water isn't safe anymore. If I keep running on the surface, who knows how many dangers I'll run into!"

Soul Beasts in the water were generally much stronger than those on land.

And none of them were suitable for Zhu Zhuqing to absorb.

So she decisively gave up this convenient shortcut.

"Star Dou Great Forest, here I come!"

Standing on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, Zhu Zhuqing casually tied a bow around her foot, planted her hands on her hips, and declared grandly.

This would be the beginning of her legendary life.

She, Zhu Zhuqing, was destined to become the number one woman in the world!

But before that, she needed to find a sparsely populated place to settle down.

Leaving aside the need to recover from her injuries, she still had plenty of Soul Skills left to create!

Limping toward the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest, Zhu Zhuqing felt the pain shooting through her foot and expressionlessly took out a crocodile claw from her Storage Soul Tool.

Though she was already full, that did not stop her from taking a few more bites!

Even if she could not swallow it, she could still chew it twice and spit it out, right? (￣~￣)

Though it was called the Star Dou Great Forest, its vast expanse encompassed nearly every type of ecosystem.

With plans to settle down, Zhu Zhuqing made her home on a remote little mountain where almost no one ever passed by.

There was neither a direct road leading to the Two Great Empires nor any Soul Master Academy nearby.

It was also in the outermost region, so practically no one came to a place like this to hunt Soul Rings.

Even Soul Hunting Town had not been established here.

It was clear that this was an excellent place to settle down!