What Would You Have Me Do?

Zhu Zhuqing froze when she heard that.

The young man looked only a couple of years older than her. He wore an ordinary fitted azure outfit, and there was not even the slightest fluctuation of Soul Power around him. No matter how she looked at him, he did not seem capable of defeating a three-ringed Soul Elder.

Yet the certainty he exuded somehow made the nerves she had kept taut for days relax for a moment.

She had been fleeing for half a month, hunted all the way. Even while sleeping rough and eating in the open, she had not dared close her eyes.

Everyone had told her that, as a daughter of the Zhu family, she should return and serve as her elder sister's stepping stone. She should marry Dai Mubai and wait to be trampled beneath the feet of Dai Weisi and Zhu Zhuyun in the future.

Just as Zhu Zhuqing was about to speak.

The assassins beside her could no longer sit still and began mocking her one after another.

"No way. You're not pinning your hopes on this kid, are you?"

"What can he possibly do for you?"

The implication behind the assassins' words was obvious: whether Ning Yuan acted or not, she would not be leaving today.

Of course, neither would Ning Yuan.

Zhu Zhuqing hesitated.

That was right. He looked about the same age as her.

How could he possibly defeat three three-ringed Soul Masters?

She had suffered enough already. She could not drag someone else down with her.

Forget it. Her strength was inferior to her sister Zhu Zhuyun's anyway, and she had had enough of constantly hiding and running for her life.

Ignoring the assassins' mockery, Ning Yuan waited for Zhu Zhuqing's answer.

But after waiting for a long time, Zhu Zhuqing gave no response.

Ning Yuan was somewhat disappointed.

He jumped down from the boulder and prepared to leave.

[Little Ning Yuan, are you really not going to help her?]

Venom's confused voice sounded in his mind.

[I don't want to help someone who doesn't want to save herself. If someone has given up on themselves, then no matter how others try to help them, it will be futile.]

"Kid, did we say you could leave?"

"Second Miss, look at him. You still want to place your hopes on someone like that?"

The assassins' mocking laughter remained unceasing.

Ning Yuan ignored the assassins and merely glanced back at Zhu Zhuqing.

Zhu Zhuqing understood the meaning in Ning Yuan's eyes. It was disappointment.

In an instant, it felt as though she had been struck by lightning.

Scenes from the past surged through her mind.

Back when her talent had been lacking, her parents' eyes had been filled with disappointment.

Later, the sisters had turned against each other. Zhu Zhuyun crushed her at every turn, and everyone had already assumed that she was destined to lose.

Because she was not strong enough, her parents had also been deeply disappointed in her.

And that look was exactly the same as the one the young man before her had just given her.

That disappointed gaze struck straight into Zhu Zhuqing's heart. She had long since had enough of being looked down upon and disappointing others. She absolutely could not miss this only chance at survival. No matter how difficult it was, she had to seize the opportunity before her.

Just as Ning Yuan decided to leave, Zhu Zhuqing gathered her courage.

"Help me. Please, will you help me?"

Her voice was full of unwillingness.

Hearing Zhu Zhuqing's answer, Ning Yuan stopped. With his back to her, a gratified smile appeared on his face.

"Alright, no problem."

"Kid, you fucking want to die! How dare you ignore me!"

The lead assassin was completely enraged. The third soul ring beneath his feet suddenly lit up.

A gray-black leopard shadow burst forth.

"Third Soul Skill! Nether Leopard Shadow Kill!"

"Kill this meddlesome brat first, then take Zhu Zhuqing back!"

A palm strike that tore through the air shot straight for Ning Yuan's face, its force shredding even the leaves nearby into fragments across the ground.

At that moment, Ning Yuan simply shifted to the side and evaded the attack.

He leaped onto the boulder.

With his hands clasped behind his back.

He did not directly kill the assassins himself.

"Some grudges are only satisfying when you avenge them with your own hands."

Ning Yuan looked at Zhu Zhuqing, who lay off to one side.

He flicked his finger.

A pitch-black, jelly-like blob shot from his fingertip. It moved as swiftly as a black shadow and stuck to her body in the blink of an eye.

The warm fluid spread across her skin in an instant. Within seconds, it covered her in a form-fitting black battle armor. Even her cat ears and tail were wrapped in fine black fur, while the claws at her fingertips extended three inches with a swish.

A vast power unlike anything she had ever felt exploded through her meridians. Her depleted Soul Power instantly overflowed once more, and even the severe external injuries on her body visibly began healing.

Even her dormant Hell Spirit Cat Martial Soul trembled excitedly, letting out contented hums.

The sudden change filled Zhu Zhuqing with surprise and delight.

She could even clearly sense that this power was at least twice as strong as the incomplete Hell White Tiger Martial Soul Fusion Skill that she and Dai Mubai had barely managed to activate after three attempts at the Star Luo Imperial Palace half a year ago.

They were not even on the same level.

He had said he could let her take revenge with her own hands?

"What the hell is that?!"

Watching such a horrifying sight.

The lead assassin's attack stalled for half a second, and an inexplicable chill ran through his heart.

In that half-second, Zhu Zhuqing vanished from where she stood.

Fast.

Too fast.

Before even she could react, her body had already dashed forward on instinct. Her first Soul Skill, Hell Thorn, and second Soul Skill, Hell Hundred Claws, activated at the same time. Afterimages enhanced by Venom instantly filled the forest clearing, while her claws were coated in a thin layer of black Venom that gleamed with an eerie chill beneath the sunlight.

Squelch—

The sound of claws piercing a throat was as crisp as tearing paper.

The lead assassin did not even see her move before his pupils went dull. Black Venom crawled up his neck from the wound, and before he could let out a scream, he fell stiffly to the ground.

Zhu Zhuqing stared at her own hands in surprise.

She had never expected Ning Yuan's enhancement to make her so powerful that she could fight opponents above her level.

In that case...

Zhu Zhuqing's gaze shifted toward the other two.

That one glance frightened the remaining two Soul Masters out of their wits.

Too terrifying! Zhu Zhuqing had actually killed their leader, a three-ringed Soul Elder!

Too strange! Run! They had to run!

The two immediately abandoned any thought of their mission and turned to flee.

Watching their retreating backs, Zhu Zhuqing gave a contemptuous smile.

"Trying to run?"

To the enhanced Zhu Zhuqing, their speed was as slow as snails. Two black shadows flashed past, followed by two muffled thuds. The men crashed heavily to the ground and made no further sound.

From beginning to end, the battle had taken less than ten seconds.

Ning Yuan still sat atop the boulder, watching the girl below him breathe lightly as the black fluid receded from her skin.

It condensed into a ball, flew back to his fingertip with a whoosh, and slowly circled there.

[See? The little kitty is amazing!]

[One claw per person! That was much more fun than possessing you to fight those useless trash! Let me possess her again next time!]

[Shut up. Don't scare her.]

Ning Yuan rebuked Venom in his mind before jumping down from the boulder and landing before Zhu Zhuqing.

The girl was still looking down at her fingertips, her shoulders trembling slightly.

Not from fear, but excitement.

She had personally killed the assassins who had pursued her for so long. The tangible feeling of holding that power in her hands was something she had never experienced in all her life.

She had imagined countless times that, once she found Dai Mubai and perfected the Hell White Tiger, she could return and defeat Zhu Zhuyun and Dai Weisi.

But she had never imagined that one day, without relying on Dai Mubai or a Martial Soul Fusion Skill partner, she could kill a level thirty-six Soul Elder in a single move all by herself.

And she owed all of it to the young man before her.

"Who are you?"

She raised her head. Her voice was still cold, though the tips of her ears quietly flushed red.

After all, asking someone for help like she had just done was truly the most presumptuous thing she had ever done in her life.

"Ning Yuan."

"That just now was..."

Zhu Zhuqing pointed at Ning Yuan's hand.

Her heart was full of doubt. How could that thing make her strength rise so dramatically after attaching itself to her?

Ning Yuan raised his hand, and a strand of symbiote instantly appeared at his fingertip, fluttering up and down.

"You mean him?"

"This is one of my Martial Soul's abilities: symbiosis. Whoever it attaches to, it can perfectly merge with that person's Martial Soul and enhance all their attributes."

"As for the effect... it's probably a little stronger than an ordinary Martial Soul Fusion Skill."

Ning Yuan spoke calmly.

A little stronger than an ordinary Martial Soul Fusion Skill?

Zhu Zhuqing's heart skipped a beat.

This was not merely a little stronger. It was countless times stronger than the Hell White Tiger she had looked forward to for an entire year.

She had fled to find Dai Mubai only because she had run out of options.

The Star Luo family rules were cruel. The heirs who failed in the struggle for succession, along with the spouses tied to them through Martial Soul fusion, would all have to die.

She felt not the slightest affection for the fiancé she had never met, whom she had only heard spent every day drinking in taverns and visiting brothels in Suotuo City. She had sought him out only to borrow a Martial Soul Fusion Skill as a chance to turn things around.

But with Ning Yuan's help, she might be able to fulfill that wish ahead of time.

After several seconds of silence, her fingers clenched the hem of her clothes, making her seem somewhat awkward.

The next moment, she raised her head and looked directly into Ning Yuan's eyes, asking bluntly.

"Can I follow you? I really need that ability of yours."

Perhaps feeling that her question was too presumptuous, she added at the end.

"I can work for you and follow your commands. What would you have me do? I'll do anything."