"Zhuqing, I'll treat you well, protect and cherish you, and never let you suffer the slightest harm... forever." Mu Qian said with a resolute look in his eyes, tenderly smoothing the strands of hair the wind had tousled.
"Mmm~" Zhu Zhuqing murmured in reply. She had never doubted that.
Mu Qian hadn't expected Zhu Zhuqing to be so understanding.
Didn't she want to know about his past?
Of course she did. She simply didn't hold it against him. No matter what Mu Qian's past was like, she didn't care.
The only thing she cared about was Mu Qian himself.
However...
Alas, I'd meant to tell Zhuqing about the Snow Maiden. Never mind, I'll find another chance later. For now... let things take their course. Mu Qian shook his head with a bitter smile.
Whether it was Snow Maiden or Zhuqing, anyone he cared about was someone he would protect at all costs, even if it cost him his life.
The passersby were all drawn to the dreamlike scene. Some stopped to watch, while others felt envious.
Mu Qian and Zhu Zhuqing didn't mind at all. At that moment, they had eyes only for each other...
"Hm?"
Suddenly, Mu Qian let out a startled exclamation and looked sharply up at the top of the Clock Tower ahead.
He had just sensed someone watching him...
Meanwhile, beneath the Clock Tower on the other side, a graceful golden figure let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Even from over a thousand meters away, she had nearly been discovered...
"How can there be no one there?" Mu Qian said, his expression uncertain.
That gaze had been unlike those of the passersby. It had held a measure of scrutiny and appraisal, mingled with a hint of struggle and unwillingness.
Mu Qian hadn't believed before that one person's gaze could be so complex. But the Spiritual Power that had transformed to its utmost after merging with the Amethyst Imperial Epiphyllum told him that it had indeed been real—and had happened just moments ago.
"What's wrong?" Zhu Zhuqing noticed something was off and looked up at him.
Mu Qian pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "It's nothing, Zhuqing. Let's go to the hotel we saw earlier and see if they have any rooms available."
Zhu Zhuqing naturally didn't object. She was still immersed in a powerful sense of happiness.
Mu Qian had accepted her confession. From now on, she would no longer be alone and without support.
Mu Qian had always been someone she could rely on, but until they had made things official, she had always been anxious and uncertain.
After today, Zhu Zhuqing had finally found a haven of peace in her heart.
The two of them naturally intertwined their fingers. The street ahead was the same as before, but now it seemed a little brighter.
The enormous Full Moon in the sky was now nothing more than a backdrop for them.
"Ah! Run! The monster's killing people!"
As Mu Qian and Zhu Zhuqing approached the central hotel in Spirit City, the crowd ahead suddenly erupted into panic.
"A-Mu... what's going on up ahead?" Zhu Zhuqing asked, looking puzzled.
A-Mu was Mu Qian's childhood nickname from his previous life. He had asked Zhu Zhuqing to call him that because it sounded more affectionate.
Mu Qian didn't answer. His Spiritual Power rippled faintly and surged forward like ocean waves, passing through the panicked crowd without obstruction.
By the bright moonlight, Mu Qian soon found the source of the commotion—the "monster" the people were talking about.
It was an unremarkable-looking man. Judging by his clothes, he seemed to be an ordinary resident of Spirit City.
But he appeared to have lost his mind, biting frantically at the people around him.
His teeth curved outward in a way that defied all reason, like sharp blades. Saliva mixed with blood dripped from his mouth, and an intense aura of death emanated from him.
Even more bizarrely, his eyes had turned completely black, without a trace of white.
"Zhuqing, be careful. Something's wrong." Mu Qian warned her, stepping in front of her to shield her.
"What... what happened to that man?" As the crowd fled, Zhu Zhuqing could see what was happening up ahead.
"I don't know. Judging by the people here, he must have changed suddenly in the middle of the crowd. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many people packed together."
Mu Qian's brow furrowed deeper, and his gaze grew grave.
"And this aura... it feels familiar somehow..."
He thought back to what he had seen more than a year ago, just after leaving the Far North: the scene outside Guja City, on the outskirts of the Star Luo Empire.
The man's condition was completely different from what he had seen back then, but the aura around him was identical to that strange energy that had appeared so suddenly.
There was no mistaking it. That incident had been so shocking that even after a year, it remained vivid in his memory. Mu Qian couldn't have mistaken it!
And with his Spiritual Power having grown stronger, he could sense it even more clearly now.
It wasn't merely an evil attribute. It was something strange that gathered every kind of negative aura into one!
It was so uncanny that it sent chills down his spine. Just remembering that scene made his whole body go cold.
"Why?" A powerful question rose in Mu Qian's heart.
He couldn't understand where this aura came from, or why it was taking the lives of ordinary people.
A year had passed, and he hadn't seen anything like what happened outside Guja City again during that time. He had nearly forgotten his questions.
But what he had witnessed today brought all those buried questions back to the surface.
Not far away, the people who had been bitten soon began showing almost the same symptoms. It spread at a terrifying speed, like a zombie virus.
Mu Qian didn't dare stand by and watch any longer. Otherwise, the continent's largest city, Spirit City, might suffer the same fate as Guja City.
Even though the city had a considerable number of powerful Soul Masters, the ordinary people would suffer enormous losses before the crisis was finally resolved.
A sacred blue-gold light spread rapidly outward from Mu Qian.
He didn't know the details of that strange energy, or what had caused it, but that didn't stop him from dealing with the immediate danger.
The Yinglong Martial Soul's source power could suppress all strange and evil forces. As the blue-gold light enveloped them, the frenzied, transformed residents quickly calmed down.
The madness in their expressions rapidly faded, and their strange eyes gradually returned to normal, the whites showing once more.
Unfortunately, their twisted, misshapen teeth seemed to have changed permanently. They could no longer return to their original state.
Mu Qian shook his head. There was nothing he could do about that.
"Let's go, Zhuqing. Now that this has happened, someone from Spirit Hall will come deal with it."
Fortunately, they had caught it in time, before things had reached the point of no return. If it had really gotten out of hand, even Mu Qian would have been powerless to stop it.
There was no need for them to stay. They should go into the hotel and see if there were any rooms available...
Five days later.
It was another stuffy morning that woke him up. Mu Qian wiped the sweat from his forehead, then carefully got out of bed and tucked the covers around Zhu Zhuqing, who was sound asleep.
Since the two of them had made their relationship official, Zhu Zhuqing had grown even more clingy. Every night, she insisted on falling asleep in Mu Qian's arms.
Mu Qian hadn't done anything improper with her during that time. He planned to wait until she was older.
Before you continue