Goodbye Zhu Zhuqing

Before long, the two had flown out of the city.

As the flying sword slowly rose, Li Xun's view gradually widened. Since they were not flying very fast, he carefully took in the surrounding scenery.

Outside Dragon Arising City lay a stretch of farmland.

Looking down from the sky, the crops at dusk rolled like a dark green ocean.

But Li Xun had no mind to admire it, because he had realized something: "Flying slowly only means getting cold more slowly. It doesn't mean I won't get cold."

"Then shall we speed up?" Sword Douluo chuckled and teased.

"Mm, wait."

Li Xun adjusted his footing. Looking down, he spotted a girl fleeing rapidly through the fields.

Two Spirit Beasts were chasing close behind her.

Li Xun thought the girl looked somewhat familiar and examined her more closely.

Only then did he realize that she was Zhu Zhuqing, whom he had seen on the street at noon.

"Sword Grandfather, a little that way." Li Xun pointed in Zhu Zhuqing's direction.

"Xiao Xun, that girl's Martial Soul is the Hell Spirit Cat. She should be from the Star Luo Zhu Family. Interfering in this matter won't do us any good."

Sword Douluo had noticed the figure below long ago, but once he recognized her Martial Soul, he had stopped paying attention.

The Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire were hostile nations.

As supporters of the Star Luo Empire's royal family, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had no reason to save a descendant of that family.

"Sword Grandfather, I met her today. Her talent is quite good, and I was thinking of bringing her into the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect." Li Xun turned and smiled at Sword Douluo.

Sword Douluo frowned. "The Hell Spirit Cat is a Martial Soul unique to the Zhu Family's direct line. Are you sure you can make it work?"

Except under special circumstances, a family's direct descendants generally would not join another sect.

"Sword Grandfather, she's part of this generation's royal marriage alliance. She's already nearly at the end of her rope." Li Xun looked at the small figure below.

The royal families of the two nations had highly distinctive Martial Souls. A little investigation was all it took to learn Zhu Zhuqing's identity.

So Li Xun chose not to hide it.

Sword Douluo fell silent for a moment, then guided the flying sword slowly downward. "Do you need me to act?"

Li Xun had always been decisive in what he did, and nothing had gone wrong so far. Out of trust, Sword Douluo did not object.

Besides, even if the girl grew up and returned to Star Luo, she would only be dragged into a struggle for power.

That would also be good for Heaven Dou.

If she somehow won in the end, she would still have to remember the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's help.

A faint smile curled across Li Xun's lips. "Sword Grandfather, I really will need your help. In a moment, just say this..."

As the flying sword drew closer, Li Xun looked at the girl desperately fleeing below.

This makes twice I've saved your life. How do you plan to repay me?

Zhu Zhuqing's face was pale, and barely any Soul Power remained in her body.

Fortunately, the forest was not far from here. As long as she entered the woods, she could use her Martial Soul's traits to shake off the two Gale Demon Wolves behind her.

She did not know how things had turned out this way.

After parting from Li Xun, she had remained carefully hidden, yet she had still been discovered by her sister's subordinates.

Left with no choice, she could only sneak out of the city.

She had thought she had escaped their pursuit, but she never expected to be targeted by two hundred-year-old Gale Demon Wolves.

"How could Spirit Beasts appear so close outside Dragon Arising City? Could it be..." Zhu Zhuqing bit her lower lip and, ignoring the pain, quickened her pace once more.

The wound on her left shoulder, which had only been crudely bandaged earlier, had split open again. Blood was slowly seeping out.

Though Gale Demon Wolves were high-level, they hunted in packs and were not especially fast.

Under normal circumstances, she could have easily shaken them off with her speed.

But she was injured now, leaving the two sides in a delicate balance.

"About five hundred meters left..."

Zhu Zhuqing looked at the distant forest, pain surfacing in her eyes. She felt that she was nearing her limit.

She did not know whether she could make it there.

Just as Zhu Zhuqing began to despair, a sharp whistling sound suddenly came from above.

Then, a flying sword carrying two people suddenly appeared in front of her.

A young man leaped from the flying sword and landed steadily on the ground.

"Two mere hundred-year-old wolf..." Li Xun stopped himself halfway through.

That was one of Yu Xiaogang's classic lines. He felt it sounded a little off coming from him.

Li Xun summoned his Martial Soul, and two spirit rings—one yellow, one purple—slowly appeared beneath his feet.

"Wood Style, Tree World Advent."

Li Xun interlocked his fingers and formed the Serpent Seal, circulating both Soul Power and Chakra within his body.

Seeds of life scattered down like a torrential rain. The instant they touched the ground, they rapidly grew into a dense forest.

Zhu Zhuqing's red lips parted slightly, astonishment filling her beautiful eyes.

She had recognized the handsome young man before her.

He was the one who had rescued her that morning. Although his movement technique had been strange before, he had not used any spirit abilities.

Seeing the yellow and purple spirit rings beneath the young man's feet, even Zhu Zhuqing, who had been born into the Zhu Family, found it unbelievable.

"His Second Spirit Ring is a Thousand-Year Spirit Ring." Zhu Zhuqing murmured to herself.

Just as she was lost in thought, the pained howls of Gale Demon Wolves suddenly rang out behind her.

Zhu Zhuqing hurriedly turned to look.

A dense forest had appeared in the field at some point.

The trees were not particularly tall, but they were astonishingly dense. Like vines possessed of their own will, they surged collectively toward the two Gale Demon Wolves.

Before the two Gale Demon Wolves could react, they were surrounded by plants rushing in from every direction.

Ferocity flashed in the Gale Demon Wolves' eyes as they launched attack after attack, trying to fend off the plants.

But they soon realized something was wrong. Although their attacks could damage the surrounding plants, new trees would quickly grow in their place.

Seeing this, one of the demon wolves leaped with all its might, intending to escape from the center. Yet before it could jump very high, its legs were tangled up.

It was dragged back down.

Awooo! Awooo! Awooo!

The instant the demon wolf hit the ground, the overwhelming plants around it immediately engulfed it.

The thorns covering the vines' surfaces ground against the demon wolf's tough hide like saws, making it howl in agony.

With one demon wolf gone, the other's pressure increased sharply. It was about to follow in the first one's footsteps.

Zhu Zhuqing stared at it all in a daze.

She could not understand why this young man, who looked about her age, was so powerful.

She had only been shocked by Li Xun's Thousand-Year Spirit Ring before. She had never expected his Martial Soul to be this formidable.

She was considered a genius within her family as well.

Yet when facing two Gale Demon Wolves, all she could do was flee, much less kill them.

"He only used one spirit ability..." Zhu Zhuqing parted her lips, doing her best to calm herself.

Compared to Zhu Zhuqing's shock, Sword Douluo was no less surprised.

When Yu Yuanzhen had gone to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, he had only mentioned the injuries Li Xun inflicted on Yu Tianheng, without explaining the details.

Since they had not witnessed it themselves, Sword Douluo, Ning Fengzhi, and the others had been surprised, but had not truly grasped it.

Only now, after seeing Li Xun's spirit ability with his own eyes, did he understand.

Just how far that patch of young saplings from back then had grown.

"Xiao Xun's First Spirit Ability is far stronger than before, both in number and scale. And he has only just advanced to Soul Grandmaster." Sword Douluo looked at the seeds covering the ground, his eyes gleaming.

When he had helped Li Xun acquire this spirit ability, he had guessed that it still had room to grow. Now, his guess had indeed been proven correct.

"Miss Zhuqing, we meet again."