Looking at Lan Si's delicate, fair hand, Zhu Zhuqing hesitated. Since childhood, she had never had any physical contact with a man other than her father.
At the same time, because of her disgusting engagement and voluptuous figure, she often had to endure strange looks, which made her detest men.
But though this young man before her was someone she had just met, surprisingly, she didn't dislike him.
"Sorry, I was being presumptuous." Seeing her reaction, a trace of awkwardness appeared on Lan Si's face. He was about to withdraw his hand when Zhu Zhuqing, her face flushed, reached out with her slender, delicate hand.
Lan Si smiled gently and took Zhu Zhuqing's hand.
The wind swept past, the dark clouds scattered, and moonlight spilled across the ground, illuminating the handsome faces of Lan Si and Zhu Zhuqing.
Before long, an ambiguous atmosphere spread across the whole world.
The night passed in silence.
At dawn the next day, as the sky was just beginning to brighten, a pale strip of light appeared in the east.
When the first ray of sunlight fell across Lan Si's face, he slowly opened his eyes and emerged from his cultivation.
He glanced at the tent. Zhu Zhuqing was already awake and changing her clothes. In the sunlight, her alluring silhouette showed off her graceful curves.
Lan Si promptly covered his eyes. Peering through the gaps between his fingers, he admired the view as he murmured, "See no evil, see no evil. Form is emptiness, emptiness is form..."
"What are you muttering about so early in the morning?" Zhu Zhuqing emerged from the tent, holding her neatly folded clothes. She had already changed back into the black leather outfit she'd worn before.
"N-nothing." Lan Si shook his head, feeling a little guilty, and changed the subject. "How are your injuries?"
"Much better after using your medicine. Once I find a Support-type Soul Master to treat me, I should be healed in a few days." A Soul Master's body was different from an ordinary person's. Injuries that would leave an ordinary person with broken bones and torn muscles could heal several times, even more than ten times, faster with the aid of Soul Power.
"That's good. I'll take you to a nearby town in a bit. This place is close to the Star Dou Great Forest, so there should be plenty of places that treat Soul Masters injured while hunting Soul Beasts." Lan Si stood up and walked to the tent, speaking as he packed it away.
"Mm." Zhu Zhuqing answered softly, her pale fingers clutching the clothes in her hands.
"What's wrong, Zhuqing? Is something the matter?" Noticing that Zhu Zhuqing seemed a little out of sorts, Lan Si asked casually.
"A-Si, your clothes have my blood on them. I..."
"Hey, I thought it was something serious. It's just a piece of clothing. You can have it. If you really feel bad about it, wash it and give it back to me the next time we meet."
Zhu Zhuqing nodded and put the clothes into her Soul Tool. Then she asked seriously, "Where are you going? How will I find you next time?"
"This place is near the Star Dou Great Forest, so of course I'm going there to hunt for a Soul Ring. As for how you'll find me..." Lan Si smiled calmly, stepped in front of Zhu Zhuqing, and took her left hand.
Zhu Zhuqing shivered and instinctively tried to pull away, but Lan Si gave her no chance. He took a jade bottle from his Soul Tool and pressed it into her hand.
He smiled. "If we're fated to meet, we'll meet again. If one day you feel you have nowhere left to go, you can come find me at Blue Tyrant Academy in Heaven Dou City. This bottle contains the Golden Wound Medicine I made—the same kind you've been using. If you get hurt again, you can use it in an emergency."
"I..." A blush spread across Zhu Zhuqing's cheeks. She understood what Lan Si meant, but she didn't have the courage to answer him.
To be honest, she couldn't say she liked Lan Si, but she certainly felt some affection for him. At the very least, if not for her engagement, she would have tried getting to know him. If they turned out to be right for each other, perhaps they might even have married.
But there were no ifs in this world. If she did that, she wouldn't just have to face Zhu Zhuyun's pursuit. She would have to face the entire Star Luo Imperial Family.
The Star Luo Royal Family had zero tolerance for traitors.
When that time came, it wouldn't just be her who was dragged into it. Lan Si would suffer too, and they would only end up hurting each other.
Unless the two of them grew powerful enough to fear no assassination attempt from the Star Luo Royal Family.
"You don't have to answer right away. Just keep striving and be the best version of yourself. Even if you fail, it'll be all right." Lan Si shook his head fearlessly and gave her a reassuring look. "Because..."
A breeze swept by, and the white clouds drifted away. Lan Si's loose hair fluttered in the wind, while warm sunlight fell across his fair, handsome face. He parted his lips slightly and spoke, word by word—
The view pulled back. Branches swayed in the breeze, and the rustling of leaves echoed through the forest.
No one but Zhu Zhuqing heard what Lan Si said. From a distance, though, one could make out two long shadows beneath the rising sun, slowly merging until they became one.
At that moment, the two of them seemed to have been granted a new life.
After seeing Zhu Zhuqing off, Lan Si resumed his journey to the Star Dou Great Forest.
Perhaps it was because of Zhu Zhuqing, or perhaps for some other reason. Usually, he treated his daily training as nothing more than a task.
Now, he was so eager to grow stronger.
As he walked through the outer reaches of the Star Dou Great Forest, Lan Si relied on his powerful dynamic vision and keen speed to easily avoid one Soul Beast after another. Standing on the trunk of a large tree, he rubbed his slightly warm cheek and thought to himself:
Is this what it feels like to fall for someone? No, no. I must just be lusting after her body. How could I fall for someone I've known for less than two days? But this feeling in my heart...
Lan Si shook his head, putting his distracting thoughts aside and focusing on searching for Soul Beasts.
His First Soul Skill was Cyan Lotus Assault, a Power Attack System skill that also granted his Martial Soul the ability to fly.
His Second Soul Skill was Clone. With his current number of Soul Rings, he could split into four Cyan Lotuses.
Apart from the blades' formidable offensive power, the flight and clone abilities of these two skills were more suited to supporting combat and strengthening the Martial Soul itself.
His attacks were simply too one-dimensional.
So for his Third Soul Skill, Lan Si had decided to add a control skill.
Spider-type Soul Beasts were undoubtedly the best choice.
Lan Si's First Soul Ring came from a Red Feather Eagle and was between 410 and 430 years old—extremely close to the limit for a First Soul Ring, as Yu Xiaogang had calculated from Spirit Hall's records. It might even have surpassed it.
His Second Soul Ring came from a Shadow-Splitting Beast that was over 900 years old, already far beyond the limit for a Second Soul Ring.
So for his Third Soul Ring, he planned to find a spider-type Soul Beast over 2,000 years old.
Something like a Man Faced Demon Spider, a Death Demon Spider—the predecessor of a Death Spider Emperor, which could only be called an emperor once it had lived over 50,000 years—or a Soul-Eater Demon Spider, the predecessor of a Soul-Eater Spider Emperor. Any of them would do.
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