A Maiden's Blush Outshines Every View

After an unknown amount of time—perhaps only an instant, perhaps a very long while—the blinding golden light finally began to fade.

Zhu Zhuqing lowered her arm and looked closely, only to freeze on the spot.

The once-level ground before her no longer showed any trace of Zhu Kai and his men. Even the soil where they had been standing had vanished without a trace.

In its place was a massive pit, roughly a hundred meters wide and seemingly bottomless.

The edges of the pit were smooth as a mirror, as though they had been instantly melted by an unimaginably high temperature before solidifying again.

The bottom was pitch-black, making it impossible to tell how deep it went. All she could vaguely sense was the heat rising from within and the stench of scorched earth.

They were... dealt with just like that?

Zhu Zhuqing stared blankly at the enormous pit, her mind completely empty.

Zhu Kai—the man who had chased her into countless dangers, driven her into a corner, and even made her consider dying to prove her resolve—the five-ringed Soul King, had... had simply been reduced to nothing by a single strike from Yang Jian?

Along with those five Soul Elder guards, he had vanished as well?

She felt as though her brain had completely crashed.

Every thought had come to a standstill. All that remained was the massive pit and that earth-shaking strike, replaying over and over in her mind.

"Hey, snap out of it."

A clear voice sounded beside her, pulling Zhu Zhuqing out of her daze.

"You're safe now."

Zhu Zhuqing suddenly came back to herself and realized that Yang Jian had somehow already walked up to her.

The Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear in his hand had disappeared, and the Soul Rings beneath his feet had long since faded. Moonlight once again fell upon him, making his calm expression especially clear.

At this moment, Yang Jian looked like nothing more than an ordinary young man—clean, bright, and utterly harmless.

If not for the huge pit before her still giving off heat, Zhu Zhuqing would have suspected that everything that had just happened had been a dream.

She looked at the young man before her again, and her eyes now held a trace of the look one reserved for a monster.

Was he really still human?

A twelve- or thirteen-year-old Quasi-Soul Ancestor, two ten-thousand-year Soul Rings, and the ability to kill a Soul King in one strike... with all these horrifying things gathered in one person, she truly could not think of a more fitting description than "monster."

Zhu Zhuqing took a deep breath and tried to calm her surging emotions.

After a long while, she finally found her voice. Her pink lips parted slightly.

"Thank you for saving me."

Her voice still trembled faintly, but her tone was especially sincere.

"I'll remember this debt of gratitude."

"You don't need to be so polite. It was just a small favor."

Yang Jian waved a hand, his tone casual, as though that earth-shaking strike really had been nothing more than a flick of the wrist.

He turned around, his gaze passing over the enormous pit and settling on the distant rolling mountains, as though lost in thought.

"It may have been a small favor to you, but to me, it was a life-saving grace."

Zhu Zhuqing's voice sounded from behind him, firmer than before.

"My name is Zhu Zhuqing. If I ever have the chance, I will definitely repay you."

She raised her head, her beautiful eyes fixed earnestly on Yang Jian's back. Her expression was solemn, without the slightest hint of perfunctory politeness.

Yang Jian turned back around. Seeing her serious expression, he could not help but pause slightly.

He could tell that this girl sincerely wished to repay him. She was not merely being courteous.

"Then I'll hold you to that."

Yang Jian smiled and did not argue further. He simply nodded and gave his name.

"My name is Yang Jian."

Yang Jian...

Zhu Zhuqing silently savored those two words, as though she wanted to chew them to pieces and brand them deep into her heart.

"I..."

Zhu Zhuqing opened her mouth, wanting to say something more, but her stomach—which had not eaten in three days—made a sound faster than she could.

"Grrrrumble~~"

The sound was especially loud in the quiet night, like a muffled clap of thunder exploding between them without warning.

It had already been four full days since she escaped from her family and was pursued.

Aside from hurriedly picking some wild fruit by the roadside on the first day, before she had been discovered, to barely fill her stomach, she had not eaten a single grain of rice or drunk a drop of water during the following three days.

She had focused solely on fleeing, her tense nerves making her completely forget about hunger.

But now that Zhu Kai was dead and the pursuers had been wiped out, the emotions she had kept taut for days finally relaxed, and her body mercilessly voiced its most honest protest.

Under Yang Jian's gaze, Zhu Zhuqing's usually cold face first went blank, as though she had not yet realized that the sound had come from her own body.

Then, at a visibly rapid pace, a rosy flush crept across her cheeks, spreading from her face to the tips of her ears. Even her fair, slender swanlike neck was dyed with an enticing crimson.

She opened her mouth as though to explain something, but it felt as if something had lodged itself in her throat, leaving her unable to make a sound.

In the end, the Third Miss, who was known in her family for being aloof and proud, could only turn her head away like a startled ostrich, biting her lower lip tightly and no longer daring to look Yang Jian in the eyes.

Her ears burned fiercely, and her heart beat so fast it felt as though it might leap from her chest.

Within her family, she had always been a graceful and proper young lady. When had she ever embarrassed herself like this in front of someone else?

What was more, that person was a young man close to her own age, the very one who had just saved her.

Yet Yang Jian seemed not to notice her embarrassment at all, and his expression did not change in the slightest.

He reached into the Soul Tool at his waist and searched through it as he spoke in an ordinary tone.

"I still have some dry food here. If you don't mind, have something to fill your stomach first."

There was not the slightest trace of mockery in his voice, nor any deliberate gentleness. It was simply calm and natural.

Yet it was precisely that calmness, carrying the warmth of a spring breeze, that made Zhu Zhuqing's tightly wound heart relax a little.

Though he phrased it as a question, before she could answer, Yang Jian had already taken her hand and placed several still-warm flatbreads, along with a packet of sliced soy-braised beef, gently into her palm.

Zhu Zhuqing lowered her head to look at the food in her hands. The flatbreads were golden and crisp, while the soy-braised beef had been sliced evenly. The sight alone whetted her appetite.

At that moment, cramping pain surged through her stomach, and saliva began secreting uncontrollably in her mouth. Only then did she realize that she truly had reached the limits of her hunger.

"I-I don't mind! Th-thank you."

Her voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz. After speaking, she immediately lowered her head, as though saying even one more word would exhaust all her strength.

She did not dare raise her head, because she knew her face had to be red beyond belief.