Zhu Zhuqing

She might have already awakened, just not shown it.

After all, even if a plant Soul Beast gained consciousness, it could not speak without a mouth.

Nezha stared at the lush Blue Silver Grass before him for a long while. The golden patterns on its leaves glimmered faintly beneath the sunlight, making it look especially lively, but there was no way to tell whether it truly possessed consciousness.

"Forget it."

After thinking about it for a moment, he temporarily put the matter out of his mind.

Plant-type Soul Beasts could not run around like animal-type Soul Beasts. Even if Ah Yin had regained consciousness, she could not escape.

Her roots were planted here. Where could she possibly run?

Unless she cultivated into a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast and took human form again, she could only obediently remain by the treehouse door as his potted plant.

But how could transforming after becoming a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast be so easy? It had taken her a hundred thousand years of cultivation to transform last time. Even with the Lake of Life's boost this time, she would not reach that threshold in a few decades.

So there was no rush.

Xiao Wu, on the other hand, crouched beside the Blue Silver Emperor, looking it over from side to side. She reached out and gently touched one of its leaves. The leaf trembled faintly, as if avoiding her finger.

"Is it hiding from me?" Xiao Wu's eyes widened.

"Maybe it just dislikes you."

"Nezha!"

A few days later, early morning.

Sunlight had yet to fully penetrate the forest, and a thin layer of mist drifted over the Lake of Life.

Xiao Wu had unusually risen early today and dragged Da Ming and Er Ming to pick fruit on the other side of the lake.

She said several new fruit trees had grown over there, and their fruit was especially sweet. She insisted on picking some herself for Da Ming and Er Ming to try.

Er Ming was so moved by this that he nearly smashed the bluestone by the lake to pieces.

Da Ming said nothing, merely following silently behind Xiao Wu, the tip of his tail swaying back and forth.

Nezha did not go with them.

"I'm going to take a look around the outskirts and find a few ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts to spar with." He waved at Xiao Wu and headed deeper into the forest.

"Don't kill them!" Xiao Wu shouted at his retreating back.

"Got it."

Nezha answered without turning his head.

Soul Beasts were valuable resources. Of course, he would not kill them carelessly.

It was just that he had grown used to sparring with Er Ming over the years. Fighting pure power types was far more satisfying.

Most of the ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts near the Lake of Life knew him. They held back when fighting him, which made it no fun.

He needed to go farther out and find ones he had not beaten up before.

The forest was dimly lit, and the rotting leaves beneath his feet felt soft and springy.

Every so often, a Soul Beast poked its head out from the bushes, only to pull back after recognizing Nezha.

After walking for less than half an hour, a furious roar suddenly came from ahead.

A massive black bear lumbered out from behind a tree. Its entire body was covered in black fur, with a patch of white fur on its chest. Two tusks curved up from its lower jaw, saliva dripping steadily from its mouth. Judging by its cultivation, it was at least twenty thousand years old.

The black bear spotted Nezha as well. It clearly did not recognize this human, so it rose onto its hind legs and brought both bear paws crashing down at Nezha's head with tremendous force.

Nezha's eyes lit up.

"Perfect timing."

He neither dodged nor evaded. Crossing his arms above his head, he took the blow head-on.

Bang!

The ground beneath him exploded into a deep pit more than ten feet wide, sending dirt and shattered stones flying in every direction.

Yet Nezha did not move an inch. He steadily blocked the black bear's full-force strike in midair.

A flicker of confusion passed through the black bear's eyes.

The next second, Nezha shook his arms and knocked the bear paws aside, then surged forward and drove a punch into the black bear's abdomen.

The punch made the black bear's entire body bend over. It staggered back seven or eight steps, crashing through two ancient trees thick enough for two people to wrap their arms around before finally stopping.

It shook its head, clearly dazed by the blow.

"Keep going." Nezha beckoned to it.

The black bear roared and pounced again.

Boom—boom—boom—

Deep in the forest, muffled impacts of flesh striking flesh and the roars of a beast rang out without end, startling flocks of birds into flight.

Meanwhile.

A slender figure raced through the forest.

She wore a fitted black outfit that outlined the curves of her body, which had already begun to develop.

Her long hair was blown into disarray by the wind as she ran, several strands sticking to her sweat-dampened cheeks. A few drops of blood had splashed across her cool, delicate face, and it was impossible to tell whether they were hers or someone else's.

She was Zhu Zhuqing.

The second daughter of the Zhu Family of the Star Luo Empire, and Dai Mubai's fiancée.

The Star Luo Empire's rules of succession were cold-blooded and cruel. Every generation of princes and their fiancées had to engage in a life-or-death struggle. The victors became the crown prince and crown princess, while the losers' lives and deaths were entirely at the victors' mercy.

Her elder sister, Zhu Zhuyun, had been betrothed to Dai Mubai's older brother, Dai Weisi. Together, they were already vastly stronger than Zhu Zhuqing and Dai Mubai.

Three years ago, Dai Mubai had been unable to bear the pressure and fled. He escaped all the way from the Star Luo Empire to the Heaven Dou Empire, vanishing without a trace.

To survive, Zhu Zhuqing had no choice but to leave the Star Luo Empire as well and set out alone to find Dai Mubai.

But only a few days after she crossed the Star Luo Empire's border, the assassins came for her.

There was no need to guess who had sent them. Her own elder sister, Zhu Zhuyun.

The battle for succession in the Star Luo Empire had never cared about sisterly affection. The losers had only one path: death.

After marrying Dai Weisi, Zhu Zhuyun became even more determined to eliminate her younger sister completely.

As long as Zhu Zhuqing remained alive, Zhu Zhuyun would never sleep peacefully.

Zhu Zhuqing had fought desperately to break through several times along the way before barely managing to escape into the Star Dou Forest.

She had intended to use the dense forest terrain to shake off her pursuers, but the two Soul Ancestor-level experts behind her clung to her like mad dogs and refused to let go.

She could not run any farther.

Zhu Zhuqing stopped with her back against an ancient tree, her chest heaving violently as her hand reached for her Soul Tool.

Two figures emerged from the forest, one to her left and one to her right, sealing off her escape routes.

They wore black and covered their faces, making their appearances impossible to discern, but the Soul Power fluctuations emanating from them were both at the Soul Ancestor level.

Zhu Zhuqing raised her head and stared at them fiercely.

"If you kill me, the Zhu Family won't let you off."

Her voice was cool, carrying a stubbornness that did not belong to a twelve-year-old girl.

The two Soul Ancestors exchanged glances but did not answer.

In truth, Zhu Zhuyun's order to them had not been to kill Zhu Zhuqing.

If Zhu Zhuqing died, Dai Mubai's fiancée position would become vacant. The imperial family would then assign Dai Mubai another, stronger fiancée, which would be even more disadvantageous to Zhu Zhuyun.

So the order from above was—cripple her.

Destroy her cultivation, or break her legs. As long as she remained alive yet could never rise again, that would be enough.

A crippled fiancée occupying the position was more valuable than a dead one.

The assassins withdrew their gazes and slowly closed in.

One of them produced a narrow-bladed dagger, its edge coated in dark green poison.

Watching the blade draw closer and closer, Zhu Zhuqing gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.

Just as she prepared to make a desperate final stand, footsteps sounded from within the woods.

They were light, rustling softly over the fallen leaves. They did not sound like a Soul Beast, but more like a human.

The two assassins halted at the same time and turned toward the source of the sound.

A young man walked out from behind a tree.