The room was brightly lit by candlelight.
Tang Yu sat in a broad rosewood chair, idly turning a white jade wine cup in his hand. He had been waiting for quite some time.
Zhu Zhuyun raised her head, her gaze falling on the figure before her. She froze, momentarily lost in a daze.
Rumor had it that Marquis of Wuyang was ruthless and decisive, a fiend with a hideous face.
But the young man before her was devastatingly handsome, with slanted sword-shaped brows and a flawless profile.
Above all, his unruffled composure carried a fatal allure.
At the same time, Tang Yu was sizing her up.
She truly was the pride of the Star Luo Zhu Family.
Her beauty was cool and breathtaking, her features exquisite and sharply defined.
Her figure was even more striking. Even her loose cloak could not conceal her voluptuous curves, as if they might spill out at any moment.
Beneath the cloak, a pair of long, shapely legs was tightly wrapped in alluring black stockings, outlining a breathtaking blend of softness and beauty.
She wore a pair of delicate high heels, lifting the arches of her jade feet into a beautiful curve.
"Come here."
Tang Yu set down his wine cup, his tone even.
"Sit."
Zhu Zhuyun's body trembled faintly as she strode over to his side and sat down stiffly.
"Take it off yourself."
At those three words, Zhu Zhuyun bit her red lip until she tasted blood.
She closed her eyes and, with trembling hands, untied her cloak.
One garment after another slipped to the floor.
In the dim candlelight, the whole room was filled with spring.
The night deepened, and the bed curtains swayed gently.
Between the sheets, the two even managed a sporadic conversation.
"You're calmer than I expected," Tang Yu remarked casually.
Zhu Zhuyun leaned against his broad chest, still catching her breath.
"If I resisted, my family would be wiped off the face of the earth, wouldn't they?"
Tang Yu chuckled and twirled a lock of her hair around his finger.
"Being with me is far better than being with that spineless Star Luo prince."
Several hours later.
Dawn broke.
Tang Yu rose from the bed and threw on his robe.
As expected, the system's notification rang out in his mind.
[Issuing rewards...]
[Reward 1: All of the host's Soul Ring ages increased by ten thousand years!]
[Reward 2: Obtained a million-year, ultimate divine Soul Bone—Nirvana Nether Bone (left arm bone)!]
As soon as the system's voice faded, an unprecedentedly vast energy surged through Tang Yu's body.
Then his body and Martial Soul both underwent a frenzied transformation.
Tang Yu focused his thoughts, and light blazed beneath his feet.
Two entirely different Blue Silver Grass phantoms intertwined behind him.
Next, his Soul Rings rose one by one.
His Soul Ring Configuration, once a riot of colors, underwent a complete transformation as their ages surged by ten thousand years.
Black! Black! Black! Black! Black! Black! Black! Black!
Every single Soul Ring was pure black, each one ten thousand years old!
The sheer visual impact would have terrified several Titled Douluo senseless if anyone outside had seen it.
Tang Yu drew a deep breath, tamped down his excitement, and immediately examined his other reward.
A bone radiating boundless darkness floated in his sea of consciousness.
This was the Nirvana Nether Bone.
Information flooded into his mind.
This treasure had been left behind when the ancient primordial beast, the Nether Nirvana Spirit Cat, perished.
It contained pure laws of darkness, as well as an overbearing power to cleave through the void.
As a million-year divine Soul Bone, it came with four heaven-defying Soul Skills.
The first was the Nether Void-Rending Claw.
When used, it could attack directly through cracks in the void, ignoring spatial distance. It could take an enemy's head from ten thousand miles away, leaving no chance to defend.
The second was Nirvana Nether Shadow.
By activating the laws of darkness, the user could split into ten million shadow doubles.
Each double possessed a portion of the original's combat strength, making it impossible to tell truth from illusion. It was an outstanding skill for survival and mass attacks.
The third was Nirvana Heaven-Imprisoning Cage.
This was the Soul Bone's ultimate art.
Once unleashed, it could draw upon the laws of the netherworld between heaven and earth, forcibly condensing them into an absolute barrier prison.
Anyone trapped inside would have the life force in their body drained at a terrifying rate, until they became a withered skeleton.
The last was a domain skill.
"What overbearing attributes."
Tang Yu didn't hesitate. He immediately activated the Soul Bone.
The dark-black bone turned into a streak of light and shot straight into his left arm.
The fusion brought no pain at all, only boundless pleasure.
The instant the Soul Bone had fused with him, Tang Yu clearly felt his physical strength and Soul Power reserves multiply several times over!
If he faced an ordinary Titled Douluo now, one punch would blast the opponent into a cloud of blood.
With his strength greatly increased, Tang Yu stood by the window and gazed toward the Star Luo Imperial Palace.
As someone familiar with the original story, he knew the current timeline very well.
He had already taken Zhu Zhuyun.
But that pure and chaste Zhu Zhuqing was still at Shrek Academy.
Dai Mubai was a good-for-nothing who had abandoned his fiancée to indulge in pleasure. He didn't deserve her.
Besides, Zhu Zhuqing was also an excellent trigger for rewards.
He couldn't let Dai Mubai defile her.
Having made up his mind,
Tang Yu issued his military orders early the next morning.
The Blue Silver Army set out, leaving Star Luo City and returning to the capital.
The mighty army marched along the main road.
At the center of the formation was a luxurious, spacious carriage.
Zhu Zhuyun sat quietly inside, wrapped in an expensive fur blanket.
The previous night's frenzy had left her limbs weak even now.
Through a gap in the window, where the wind had lifted the curtain, she watched the man at the head of the procession.
Tang Yu rode a fine steed, his posture straight, his back radiating utter aloofness and strength.
Zhu Zhuyun looked dazed for a moment.
Strange.
He was Star Luo's enemy, the villain who had taken her by force.
She should have hated him to the bone.
So why, as she watched his retreating figure now, did she feel no desire for revenge?
Instead, after witnessing his suffocating strength and the stormy passion of the previous night, tempered by a certain tenderness,
she found herself feeling a sense of security she had never known before.
Inside Shrek Academy in Suotuo City,
Zhu Zhuqing sat alone on a stone bench beneath the trees, clutching an urgent letter sealed with the Star Luo Imperial Family's secret wax stamp.
She wore a tight black leather outfit that accentuated her already stunning figure, far beyond that of other girls her age.
Most striking of all was her pair of long, shapely legs crossed one over the other.
Encased in black pants and knee-high boots, her rounded, firm legs radiated breathtaking softness and deadly allure.
The letter had been written by the Star Luo Emperor himself. Even the handwriting on the page betrayed a hint of panic and despair.
Zhu Zhuqing slowly unfolded the letter with her pale fingers. Her gaze had barely swept over the first few lines when she froze in place.
The letter stated plainly that the Star Luo Empire's front lines had collapsed and ten great cities had fallen.
To preserve the last vestiges of its fortune, the Imperial Family had already surrendered to the Heaven Dou Empire.
And as part of the price of peace, the Imperial Family and the Zhu Family's senior leaders had made their decision together.
They would offer her and her older sister, Zhu Zhuyun, as bargaining chips to the all-powerful, god-of-death-like Marquis of Wuyang, Tang Yu.
Those few short lines struck her like a bolt from the blue.