Xiao Wu: This is what love feels like

Ma Hongjun licked his cracked lips and actually staggered a step closer to Xiao Wu!

"You! Bullshit!"

Xiao Wu trembled with rage, a surge of hot blood rushing straight to her head!

Humiliation and fury instantly overwhelmed her reason. Almost instinctively, she lowered her body slightly and poured soul power into her right leg.

Her long, straight jade-like leg shot up, slicing through the air with a sharp whistle, ready to deliver a vicious Waist Bow kick straight into that disgusting fat face!

The instant she raised her leg—

A figure appeared before her like a ghost, without warning. Broad shoulders and back instantly blocked her entire view,

and shielded the sight beneath the hem of her bathrobe from being exposed to the air!

"Xiao Wu, you don't need to do anything." Lin Jiang's voice was low and steady.

How could he allow Ma Hongjun's filthy eyes to defile whatever springtime scenery might be revealed beneath Xiao Wu's bathrobe?

Lin Jiang's gaze passed over his shoulder and stabbed at the swaying Ma Hongjun like icy awls.

"Ma Hongjun! You spout nonsense and bring humiliation upon yourself! Today, I'll help you vent that evil fire properly!"

"Lin Jiang!!"

Ma Hongjun's evil fire was thoroughly ignited—detonated—by the sudden obstruction and contempt!

His eyes turned bloodshot. Like a maddened beast, he roared,

"Pretty boy! I've wanted to kill you for ages! Martial Soul, activate!!"

Boom!

Purple-red evil flames erupted from his fat body in an instant!

Scorching waves of air rolled outward. Two yellow soul rings flashed madly beneath his feet, and the blazing heat began to warp the air in the corridor!

Yet Lin Jiang moved even faster!

At the exact instant Ma Hongjun's soul rings lit up, the deep purple soul ring beneath Lin Jiang's feet had already silently emerged, its radiance surging!

"First Soul Skill: Azure Vine Entanglement!"

Bzzz—!

Several Azure Divine Vines, emerald green from end to end and gleaming with a cold metallic luster, faint golden patterns flowing along their edges, burst through the floor like venomous serpents and giant pythons reaching up from the abyss of hell!

They ignored the scorching evil fire and lashed upward with precision and speed!

The thick vines moved like living creatures, instantly locking down Ma Hongjun's neck, arms, waist, abdomen, and leg joints!

A terrifying crushing force erupted without warning!

"Urgh—ah—!"

Ma Hongjun's swelling evil flames were strangled down by more than half in an instant. Painful choking sounds came from his throat, and his fat body looked like a tightly bound rice dumpling. Even struggling became extraordinarily difficult!

His Phoenix Evil Flame, which he had always been so proud of, seemed so powerless before the exceptionally resilient Azure Divine Vines, which contained immense vitality!

"Too much fire in you?"

Lin Jiang walked forward slowly and looked down at Ma Hongjun, who was pinned firmly to the ground by the vines like a fat pig awaiting slaughter.

A cold curve tugged at his lips. "Looks like I need to cool you down to the core!"

Before his words had faded, the vines wrapped around Ma Hongjun suddenly exploded with tremendous force!

"No—!" Ma Hongjun's terrified scream only made it halfway out.

Crash—!

The tightly shut window at the end of the corridor was brutally smashed open by the vines! Frigid night wind rushed in!

Amid the fat man's pig-slaughtering wails, his bulky body was ruthlessly swung up by the vines and hurled out the window as though he were a bag of garbage!

His scream cut through the night sky, rapidly fading until it was swallowed by the bustle of the street below.

"Serves you right!"

Xiao Wu clapped her hands, her bright eyes filled with delight. The fear from earlier had been swept away, leaving behind only admiration and gratitude for Lin Jiang.

"Thank you, Lin Jiang!"

"Just a small matter."

Lin Jiang withdrew his Martial Soul. The vines vanished as if they had never existed.

His gaze swept over Xiao Wu's loosened bathrobe, and he frowned slightly.

"Be careful of that guy from now on. It's late. I'll take you back to your room."

"N-No need!"

Xiao Wu reacted as though someone had stepped on her tail. She hurriedly waved her hands, an inexplicable flush rising to her cheeks as her eyes darted around.

"I... I still need to... take another walk..." Her voice grew softer and softer, until she practically swallowed the last part.

[Mission: Walk around the corridor once while wearing a bathrobe!]

The system prompt echoed in her mind like a curse.

"A walk?"

Lin Jiang raised a brow, his gaze meaningfully sweeping over the bathrobe that looked as if it might fall open at any moment.

"You're dressed like this... taking a 'walk' in the corridor in the middle of the night?"

He deliberately emphasized the last word, his tone carrying a hint of teasing. "It isn't safe. I'll go with you."

Xiao Wu's heart inexplicably skipped a beat.

The incredibly reassuring presence around Lin Jiang silently enveloped her like a warm tide.

It was a strange attraction created by the combination of beast affinity and Lin Jiang's own charm, making her instinctively want to draw closer to that warmth and protection.

"Oh... okay..."

She answered softly, somehow unable to refuse.

The two walked side by side in silence beneath the dim, flickering candlelight.

The hem of her bathrobe swayed gently with her steps, revealing her slender ankles and a small stretch of smooth calf. In the silence, the faint rustle of fabric could be heard.

Just as they were about to complete a lap and approach the shadow outside Xiao Wu's door—

Xiao Wu's fingertips, carrying a trace of attachment and probing that even she had not noticed, lightly and cautiously hooked around Lin Jiang's finger.

At that instant of contact!

Bzzz—!

An invisible ripple spread outward from where they touched!

The "Bewitching Touch" talent within Lin Jiang was like dry kindling struck by a spark, instantly ignited and detonated!

An indescribable spiritual wave, mixed with extreme attraction and a dreamy, bewildering aura, surged like the most violent tide. Through that tiny point of contact, it crashed mercilessly into Xiao Wu's completely unguarded heart!

"Boom—!"

Xiao Wu's mind went blank!

It was as if brilliant fireworks had exploded in the depths of her soul!

An unprecedented torrent of scorching, surging emotion instantly smashed through every dam of reason!

The fierce, direct, reckless instinct embedded deep within a Soft Bone Rabbit's bones was magnified to the extreme under the catalyst of Bewitching Touch!

What restraint? What concerns? What Tang San... all of it was torn to pieces by this overwhelming tide of emotion!

Only the person before her remained!

The person who had stood in front of her in a moment of danger, carrying the fresh scent of grass and trees, making her feel utterly safe even as her heart raced!

She abruptly raised her head. In those beautiful bright eyes, there was now only desperate passion and an utterly reckless impulse!

"Lin Jiang!"

She called his name with a trembling voice.

Before Lin Jiang could react to the stunned look in his eyes, Xiao Wu's hand, which had hooked onto the corner of his clothes, suddenly tugged hard!

The tremendous force caught Lin Jiang off guard and pulled him half a step forward!

The next moment—

The girl's body, carrying the sweet, fresh scent of her bath, crashed into his arms!

Two soft arms, yet filled with astonishing strength, locked tightly around his neck!

Then, a pair of warm, soft lips—slightly trembling, inexperienced, and recklessly bold—like a moth flying into flame, carrying lonely courage and utter resolve, pressed fiercely and precisely against his lips!