"Lingzi, Lan... someone's here."
Hearing the sound of fighting in the distance, Tang Qinghe stood up and woke the two people beside him.
Zhu Zhuqing and Lan Baoyu also got to their feet.
Tang Qinghe's expression grew serious.
While he had already explored the Star Dou Great Forest, and it was unlikely they would run into soul beasts, the most dangerous thing in this world was often not soul beasts, but people themselves.
And now, there were people here.
Tang Qinghe gestured to the other two. Then, with a flash, he vanished from where he stood and reappeared atop a giant tree, its trunk several dozen meters thick.
He looked in the direction of the fighting and saw, in a dense stretch of forest several miles away,
a dark-haired girl being attacked by four or five soul masters.
His Purple Demon Eyes pierced through the trees and darkness, bringing the scene into sharp focus.
And, thanks to his improved Spirit Power, they had already reached the Spirit Essence level.
Even from this distance, he could see everything clearly.
The dark-haired girl was a Great Soul Master, with Spirit Power of roughly rank twenty-seven.
Tang Qinghe recognized her. She had a curvaceous figure, with a body that seemed to radiate fiery allure.
The five soul masters attacking her—three men and two women—included four Spirit Elders and one Spirit Master.
One of the women, a Spirit Elder with a small harp-like martial soul, held a bow across the strings. The notes she played were hypnotic, filling the air with illusory sounds that affected the dark-haired girl's senses.
Three male Spirit Elders with bow-type martial souls drew their longbows and fired dozens of purple soul-force arrows from all directions at the girl.
Whoosh, whoosh...
The sound of arrows breaking the air surrounded the dark-haired girl. Her face changed as a yellow soul ring rose beneath her feet. She completed her martial soul possession in an instant, then sprang into the air, twisting and dodging the arrows as they flew toward her.
But before she could get far, more arrows came whistling in, sealing off the space around her.
In a desperate moment, the dark-haired girl could only keep leaping about, listening for the arrows and judging their trajectory. She used her height and the gaps between the trees to dodge them again and again.
The last of the soul masters was also a dark-haired woman, whose figure was even more alluring than the girl's. Watching the girl struggle under attack, she only had to lift a hand to end her life.
But she had no intention of doing so. She simply stood to one side, arms crossed beneath her chest, and let the girl keep dodging.
Even so, the dark-haired girl was clearly running out of strength.
As another strange, enchanting melody sounded, she faltered. An arrow flying in from behind pierced her right shoulder.
She grunted in pain, pulled the arrow out, and threw it away, then struck back at the bow-wielding Spirit Elder nearest to her.
At that moment, the Spirit Master also made his move. He released a martial soul just like the dark-haired girl's and struck her with a single blow, sending blood spilling from her mouth.
The dark-haired girl endured the pain and kept dodging.
Seeing this, Tang Qinghe could no longer bear to watch.
That was too fake.
A harp martial soul specializing in control, three bow-wielding Spirit Elders, and one Spirit Master.
By all appearances, they were trying to kill the dark-haired girl, but there were only five of them against a Great Soul Master. Even if the three bow-wielding Spirit Elders and the Spirit Master were all working together, they could have finished her off easily. That was the obvious truth.
As for the bow-wielding Spirit Elder who had struck her, he had clearly let her retaliate. Not only had the arrow been deflected, it had seemed as though he had deliberately taken the hit. He wasn't dead; he had merely stopped attacking.
Such blatant restraint could only mean that the people involved had some other motive.
And the dark-haired girl's identity was already obvious: Zhu Zhuqing.
As for the woman with the same martial soul as her, she was naturally her older sister, Zhu Zhuyun.
Seeing the scene of the sisters' bitter struggle, Tang Qinghe didn't feel any sympathy.
After all, he had no reason to.
Getting involved would only invite needless trouble. Though Zhu Zhuqing had now become his friend, she couldn't expect him to protect her every moment.
Besides, this was a struggle between the Zhu family and the Star Luo Empire, and the two sides had a genuine blood feud. Why should he get involved in something so troublesome?
Thinking this, Tang Qinghe leaped down from the tree and landed on the ground. "It's nothing serious. A few Star Luo Empire soul masters are pursuing another soul master from the Star Luo Empire."
Zhu Zhuqing asked in confusion, "Young Master Tang, how can you tell they're from the Star Luo Empire?"
Tang Qinghe said, "This is the border of the Star Luo Empire's Duoding City, not far from the Star Luo Empire's royal capital. Besides, I came here from the Star Dou Great Forest. The borders in this region are vague, and there's no one living near the Star Dou Great Forest. Running into soul masters from the Star Luo Empire isn't unusual."
"Elder Tang, the fighting's getting closer. They seem to be coming toward us. What should we do?" Lan Baoyu asked Tang Qinghe.
"Nothing. We don't need to do anything. They're just a few Spirit Elders and a Spirit Master. They pose no threat to us. We just need to wait for dawn and then leave along the road."
Tang Qinghe had confidence in himself.
The two were relieved to hear that.
Indeed, those people posed no threat to him.
He alone was enough to deal with them.
Even Zhu Zhuqing's poisonous spider martial soul could easily poison these Star Luo Empire soul masters.
Before long, Zhu Zhuyun and her group were close enough for Zhu Zhuqing and Lan Baoyu to see her clearly: long black hair, fair skin, and beneath her cold, beautiful face, a body that was every bit as fiery and alluring as her sister's.
Her limbs were slender and toned, giving her the strength and poise of a young huntress.
But at that moment, the girl was in a terrible state. Her whole body was soaked with sweat, and her back was covered in dark purple marks left by the arrows. She looked utterly defeated.
Yet Zhu Zhuyun was calm. She glanced at Tang Qinghe, Zhu Zhuqing, and Lan Baoyu, sitting beside the campfire, then led the others off in another direction and fled.
Zhu Zhuyun didn't recognize them, but that didn't mean Zhu Zhuqing wouldn't.
She had overreached earlier. Now that she saw her younger sister had grown so strong, she couldn't find a good excuse to let her go.
Seeing that Tang Qinghe's group consisted of only three people, all apparently young, she grew worried.
"My dear little sister, did you think you could survive just by relying on those people? You really think too little of me." Zhu Zhuyun paused, then glanced at the four men behind her. Seeing the man she had sent to kill Zhu Zhuqing return with his life intact, she ordered him, "Then kill her. Take them all out."
At her command, the woman behind her plucked at her harp, filling the air with a mesmerizing melody. The three bow-wielding Spirit Masters immediately sprang in front of Zhu Zhuyun, drew their bows, and aimed at Tang Qinghe's group.
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