Zhu Zhuqing

Just as the Black Shadow Girl was about to despair, the massive beast before her stopped.

What puzzled the girl most was that a Blond Youth was sitting on the giant bear's back.

His golden hair and distinctive aura left a deep impression on her. The Blond Youth seemed like a king who held all things under his control.

Confidence radiated from every inch of him as the Blond Youth revealed his signature gentle smile.

"Miss, are you all right?"

"I-I'm fine. How did you..." The Black Shadow Girl looked in amazement at the giant bear beneath the Blond Youth and the massive tiger beside him.

"Oh, you mean these two idiots? They're both dogs." Ye Lan joked.

The Black Shadow Girl laughed at Ye Lan's words, and the tension in her nerves eased considerably.

The intelligent Xiong Er secretly shot Ye Lan a resentful look. The somewhat dull-witted Diamond Tiger could not understand what Ye Lan meant and merely licked the fur on its paws.

Ye Lan looked past the Black Shadow Girl. A pack of Wind Spirit Wolves lingered behind her, too hesitant to advance.

"We can talk later. Let's drive these Wind Spirit Wolves away first." Ye Lan jumped down from Xiong Er's back.

The wolves wanted to drag the Black Shadow Girl away, yet they feared the Diamond Tiger and Bloodthirsty Demonic Bear nearby.

"Xiong Er, go! Drive those wolves away. Da Ju, you too!" Ye Lan ordered the two beasts to chase off the pack. Xiong Er reacted the fastest, charging at the wolves with howls. The Diamond Tiger did not know what Da Ju meant, but it understood that the Blond Youth wanted it to drive off the wolves.

The Diamond Tiger did not care about these wolves at all. Even if they stood still and bit it, they might not be able to injure it.

The bear and tiger rushed into the fray in mere moments. Within seconds, the wolf pack was completely routed.

Among the wolves, the largest Wind Spirit Wolf let out a thunderous howl. Hearing their leader's command, the other wolves turned and fled without looking back.

Xiong Er and Da Ju had no interest in Wind Spirit Wolves that were only decades or centuries old, nor did they pursue them to the bitter end.

After driving away the Wind Spirit Wolves, the two beasts obediently returned to Ye Lan's side and lay down at his feet.

The Black Shadow Girl watched everything in astonishment. She could not believe that such terrifying beasts, capable of defeating dozens of Wind Spirit Wolves, could be so obedient. She had no idea how the Blond Youth had accomplished it.

"Thank you, benefactor. My name is Zhu Zhuqing!" Zhu Zhuqing looked at Ye Lan with grateful eyes.

Zhu Zhuqing? What a coincidence. He had actually saved Zhu Zhuqing? Perhaps this was the Butterfly Effect. Even without him, Zhu Zhuqing might have escaped the Wind Spirit Wolves' pursuit.

Ye Lan had quite a favorable impression of Zhu Zhuqing.

In the original story, among Shrek's main cast, Zhu Zhuqing was the one Ye Lan admired most—the rare normal person among the Shrek Seven Devils. Within the Shrek group, Zhu Zhuqing had the worst talent, yet she was the strongest and most hardworking. To fight against her family's fate, she had traveled alone from Star Luo to Heaven Dou in search of Dai Mubai.

And what about Dai Mubai? Afraid to compete against the duo of Dai Weisi and Zhu Zhuyun, he had directly abandoned Zhu Zhuqing and fled from Star Luo to Heaven Dou, leaving Zhu Zhuqing alone in the Star Luo Empire to bear all that pressure.

And what had Dai Mubai been doing in Heaven Dou? Visiting high-class prostitutes every day, taking twins, changing women every few days, living as carefree as could be. He had completely forgotten that Zhu Zhuqing was bearing the pressure alone in Star Luo.

While Ye Lan's thoughts wandered, the exhausted Zhu Zhuqing's vision went dark, and she fell forward.

Seeing Zhu Zhuqing lose her balance, Ye Lan instantly snapped out of his thoughts and caught her body with both hands.

Aside from the warmth of her body, Ye Lan felt sticky blood on his palms.

Only then did Ye Lan notice that Zhu Zhuqing's black clothes were covered in dark red bloodstains, with some areas torn open by Wind Blades.

Through the tears, he could see strips of pale skin covered with dried blood. Ye Lan looked away and laid Zhu Zhuqing flat on the soft grass, preparing to treat her injuries.

If they were not treated promptly, Zhu Zhuqing, whose Soul Power was exhausted, would definitely fall seriously ill.

Besides the Blood Marks that had already scabbed over, the most troublesome issue for Ye Lan was that the flesh around some wounds had stuck to her clothes.

That was why Ye Lan did not rashly feed Zhu Zhuqing Blue Silver Grass directly. With Blue Silver Grass's vitality, her wounds would heal quickly, but the fabric would grow into her flesh.

By then, treating the wounds would hurt Zhu Zhuqing badly enough to make her faint.

It was better to deal with the wounds now, before they healed, while Zhu Zhuqing was unconscious.

Ye Lan steadied himself. After treating several wounds on her legs, he looked at the blurred Blood Mark on Zhu Zhuqing's back and found himself in a difficult position.

To treat the wound there, he had to remove the clothing from her back. Although Ye Lan felt a trace of anticipation, he did not want to take advantage of her vulnerability.

"What are you looking at? Go stay over there. Don't look this way!" Ye Lan ordered Xiong Er and Da Ju.

Xiong Er wore a lewd grin, as if it knew exactly what Ye Lan was about to do.

Seeing Xiong Er's sleazy expression, Ye Lan gave it a direct kick.

Clutching its butt, Xiong Er led the Diamond Tiger fifty meters away from Ye Lan. The two beasts obediently refrained from looking in his direction.

Seeing the two beasts move away, Ye Lan no longer had any concerns.

With the help of the Eight-Faced Exquisite Heart, Ye Lan constructed a three-dimensional model in his mind of Zhu Zhuqing lying facedown on the grass.

With his eyes closed, a vague 3D model of Zhu Zhuqing had already formed in Ye Lan's mind.

After opening his eyes to confirm that the model matched reality, Ye Lan turned his back to Zhu Zhuqing and summoned thirty strands of Blue Silver Grass, wrapping Zhu Zhuqing into a sphere of Blue Silver Grass.

Ye Lan then controlled the Blue Silver Grass, using the 3D model he had constructed earlier as reference to manipulate the tips of the grass and undo Zhu Zhuqing's clothing. The Blue Silver Grass gently treated her wounds before finally dressing Zhu Zhuqing again.

What confused Ye Lan was that, after treating the wounds, there seemed to be an extra strip of cloth. It had not appeared in the model, and Ye Lan did not know what it was.

After helping Zhu Zhuqing put on all her clothes properly, Ye Lan controlled the Blue Silver Grass and unraveled the sphere around her.

Seeing that Zhu Zhuqing's clothes were intact, Ye Lan finally relaxed.

However, the white cloth beside her made Ye Lan realize something was wrong.

To prevent the cloth and flesh from healing together again, Ye Lan turned Zhu Zhuqing over and decided to feed her the Blue Silver Grass immediately, no longer bothering with the white cloth.

Ye Lan was stunned by Zhu Zhuqing's figure after turning her over. That strip of white cloth was actually...

Ye Lan's gaze lingered for less than a second before he summoned Slender Blue Silver Grass from his palm.

Pinching Zhu Zhuqing's cheeks, he opened her cherry lips and fed the Blue Silver Grass inside. Once it entered her mouth, Ye Lan transformed it into green energy.

Ever since his previous experiment treating Wang Gao and the other two's wounds, Ye Lan had learned of another function of Ultimate Life: it could replenish another person's vitality.

Though this life energy was hardly worth mentioning to the current Blue Silver Grass, it was an immensely nourishing substance to other living beings.

Watching Zhu Zhuqing's throat instinctively swallow the stream-like green energy, Ye Lan let out a sigh of relief.

He took clothes from his backpack and covered Zhu Zhuqing with them, then used another piece as a cushion beneath the back of her head.

Ye Lan had not done much of this sort of caregiving.

After making sure he had not missed anything, Ye Lan prepared to meditate and cultivate.