"Of course not... I..." Mu Qian tried to explain, but suddenly couldn't think of what to say.
In all his two lifetimes, no girl had ever asked him a question like that.
"Okay, you don't have to say anything." Zhu Zhuqing smiled through her tears. "I understand now."
"What do you understand?" Mu Qian was baffled.
"Nothing. You really are a blockhead..." Zhu Zhuqing shot him a look, then turned away.
Mu Qian was about to ask again when he remembered there was still someone he hadn't dealt with.
Though, it seemed he didn't need to anymore.
He had managed to unleash that final attack in the Nine Nether Domain after all.
The Amethyst Imperial Epiphyllum's 200,000-year Spirit Skull Bone skill: Soul Severing.
This Soul Skill couldn't directly attack the soul, but it could greatly weaken an opponent's resistance to soul attacks. Under ideal conditions, it could reduce that resistance by as much as eighty percent!
That was enough. The Remnant Souls Mu Qian had gathered with the Wangchuan Soul Skill had already torn that old dog's soul to shreds.
The man's body came crashing down into the enormous crater in the ground. He sat there with a vacant stare, clearly devoid of reason.
Mu Qian sighed. "Honestly, a lot of what happened today came down to luck."
"If he'd gone all out from the start instead of underestimating me, I wouldn't have been able to exploit the weakness in his soul."
Zhu Zhuqing shook her head. "What you did was already unbelievable. He was a Spirit Saint, and you actually killed one—while also taking down a top-tier Spirit Beast with eighty thousand years of cultivation!"
Her eyes brimmed with curiosity. She couldn't understand how Mu Qian had managed it.
Her bright eyes were full of a thirst for knowledge, as though she wanted to see past the boy's outward appearance and uncover the endless secrets hidden within him.
At the same time, she understood why Mu Qian had asked her to keep quiet earlier.
Not long ago, Zhu Zhuqing had witnessed something that had completely shattered her understanding of the world.
He actually had a blood-red Spirit Ring...
Mu Qian didn't explain. Struggling against his weakness, he walked toward the old man nearby.
That last attack had drained every bit of Soul Power in his body. At this point, he probably couldn't even summon his Martial Soul.
But the attack's destructive power had been just as terrifying.
Even Mu Qian hadn't expected that one of the two First Soul Skills of his Nine Nether Martial Soul could summon the God Slayer Spear, the legendary weapon said to be the greatest instrument of slaughter in Prehistoric times!
The might of a single Soul Skill had even triggered strange phenomena in Heaven and Earth!
But the aftereffects were just as severe. He was completely spent, and even the weakest Ten-Year Soul Beast could probably kill him now.
It would likely take at least a month or two before he recovered.
Mu Qian's throat went sweet. He couldn't help spitting up a mouthful of blood.
"Why are you coughing up blood? Are you all right?" Seeing this, Zhu Zhuqing hurriedly caught his swaying body, her eyes once again filled with worry.
Mu Qian shook his head. "Don't worry, I'm fine. This world is fair. If you want to wield power beyond your level, you have to pay a price."
Seeing that Zhu Zhuqing was about to cry again, Mu Qian smiled and ruffled her hair.
"I killed a Spirit Saint! And an eighty-thousand-year Spirit Beast, too. Shouldn't you be excited for me?"
"What's there to be excited about when you're in this state..." Zhu Zhuqing still looked downcast. "If I had the choice, I'd rather we were both safe and sound..."
Under Zhu Zhuqing's puzzled gaze, Mu Qian searched the old man's clothes and pulled a silver-white bracelet from inside his tunic.
"He had a Space Soul Tool!" Mu Qian exclaimed.
He gave it a quick look. Apart from a few Soul Coin cards and some everyday clothes, there was nothing else inside.
He was pitifully poor.
Still, the Soul Tool's storage space was quite large—thirty-six cubic meters, even a little bigger than Tang San's Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges.
"Zhuqing, I already have a Space Soul Tool. You can use this one."
"It's too valuable. I can't accept it." Zhu Zhuqing shook her head. As a direct descendant of the Star Luo Zhu Family, she knew exactly how much a Space Soul Tool was worth.
"Just take it. Why are you being so formal with me? Besides, we wouldn't have gotten this without you."
With that, Mu Qian didn't wait for her to refuse. He took her small hand and forcibly slipped the bracelet onto her wrist.
Seeing this, Zhu Zhuqing didn't refuse again. Her cheeks flushed, making her look especially cute.
He put it on my wrist himself...
She didn't often speak of her gratitude, but kept it quietly in her heart.
"Let's go. We made too much of a commotion to stay here. We can't stay in the Star Luo Empire, either." After checking the area, Mu Qian made his decision.
"Let's get out of Star Forest first, then figure out where to go next. We'll deal with the Star Fruit and the Spirit Ring once we've shaken off anyone tracking us."
There was nothing left in the Star Luo Empire for them to miss.
Zhu Zhuqing nodded. She had no particular destination in mind, and she didn't need to make the decision.
One year later.
Central Douluo Continent, Spirit City.
Spirit City was outside the jurisdiction of the Two Great Empires and held an independent position on the continent.
It lay on the border between the Two Great Empires, near the center of the continent. The legendary Death Canyon lay to the north, while the Star Dou Forest bordered it to the south.
It was just past noon. The bright sunlight reflected off the magnificent city walls, making the light almost painful to look at.
Two young people, a man and a woman who both appeared to be in their teens, walked through Spirit City's east gate.
Neither carried any luggage. The girl, however, held a small, fiery-red dog in her arms.
The boy wore a dark green-and-black fitted shirt and stood around six feet tall. His short black hair was slightly tousled, but that only added to his handsome looks and gave him a more masculine air.
A cheerful smile always rested on his handsome face, making him naturally approachable. If the boy was sunny and outgoing, the girl was his complete opposite.
Her smooth black hair fell down her back, and her beautiful face held a hint of aloofness. Her clear, crystalline eyes seemed to conceal a sky full of stars.
Most striking of all was her stunning figure. Her tight-fitting purple-black outfit accentuated her nearly perfect curves.
The girl always seemed to warn others to keep their distance, but her gaze stayed fixed on the boy beside her, never once straying.
"We finally made it to Spirit City. No more sleeping rough and eating whatever we can find. Honestly, I'm sick of cold Spirit Beast meat and rations." The boy rested his hands behind his head and squinted into the sunlight, sounding unusually relaxed.
The girl covered her mouth and giggled. A gentle breeze drifted past, carrying a refreshing fragrance and stirring the strands of hair across her forehead.
It stirred the boy's heart, too.
"Woof, woof!" The little dog in the girl's arms widened its eyes, curiously taking in the human city before them.
In its little heart, arriving somewhere like this always meant one thing: delicious food.
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