Qian Renxue, Intimately Close! Angelic Allure!

Tang Shuo sensed something unusual beneath him as well.

An astonishing softness and warmth seeped through their mud-soaked clothes.

Qian Renxue's figure was far more voluptuous than it appeared.

"Go, now!!"

Qian Renxue reacted first. She cried out softly, her voice carrying urgency and barely suppressed weakness.

"There are too many poisonous creatures here. We can't kill them all!"

Hearing this, Tang Shuo immediately flipped to his feet. With a thought, he withdrew the phantom of the Eastern Emperor Bell.

Qian Renxue struggled, bracing both hands against the mud as she tried to stand.

The backlash from exhausting her soul power erupted in full at that moment. Her vision went dark, her legs gave out, and she staggered, nearly falling into the swamp again.

Just as Qian Renxue was about to tumble back into the mire, a strong, powerful arm reached out from the side and caught her smoothly behind the knees.

Another hand steadily supported her back.

The next instant, the world spun.

Qian Renxue felt her body grow light as Tang Shuo effortlessly lifted her into a standard princess carry.

"Hold on tight."

Tang Shuo spoke in a low voice. His soul power circulated, and his figure became a streak of light as he raced toward the outskirts of the swamp.

They could not stay here for long.

Although he had cleared out one wave with the Solar Corona Divine Wheel, the poisonous creatures in the Corrosive Poison Marsh were endless. No one knew what even more terrifying thing might emerge from some corner the next moment.

Qian Renxue instinctively wrapped her slender arms around Tang Shuo's neck.

She gently rested her head against his chest. Feeling his strong, steady heartbeat and the scorching warmth passing through his clothes, she unexpectedly felt a long-lost sense of peace.

Just as they were about to completely leave the core region of poisonous miasma.

The corner of Qian Renxue's pale golden eyes suddenly caught sight of something.

It was that Nine-Heart Toad.

It had not been reduced to charcoal by the Solar Corona Divine Wheel. It had merely been blasted to the edge of the swamp, where it now lay motionless atop a black rock, dead or alive unknown.

A small, inconspicuous clump of mud clung to its back.

Upon that mud, a tiny flower, crystalline from stem to petal and radiating faint moonlight, quietly bloomed amid the miasma.

Its petals were like glazed glass, its stamen like moonlight.

Moonlight Glazed Flower!

The target of her journey!

"Wait!" Qian Renxue hurriedly called out.

But Tang Shuo was too fast. In the blink of an eye, he had carried her more than a hundred meters away, completely leaving that perilous poisonous swamp behind.

The light around them brightened.

The nauseating stench of blood and decay in the air gradually faded as well.

Only then did Tang Shuo slowly reduce his speed.

He lowered his head and glanced at Qian Renxue in his arms.

At that moment, she no longer possessed even a trace of her former sacred, noble, untouchable appearance.

Her smooth golden hair was covered in black mud, clinging messily to her cheeks and neck.

The magnificent and imposing Angel Saint Armor on her body had long since dimmed, covered in filth.

She looked like an exquisite statue pulled from a mud pit—dirty and disheveled, yet carrying a shattered, breathtaking beauty all her own.

Tang Shuo could clearly feel it through the arm holding her.

Though a layer of soaked clothing separated them, the touch beneath his hand remained astonishingly smooth and delicate.

Especially the palm supporting the inside of her thigh. The sensation was slick, warm as jade, and exceptionally supple.

In the quiet forest, it felt intensely seductive.

Perhaps sensing something unusual in Tang Shuo's gaze, a faint blush appeared on Qian Renxue's cheeks. She struggled, wanting to get down.

"This place... should be relatively safe."

Her voice remained weak, but some of its usual coolness had returned.

"You can put me down now."

Tang Shuo complied and slowly set her down onto a patch of grass.

The moment her feet touched the ground, Qian Renxue staggered again. This time, however, she caught hold of a nearby tree trunk and finally steadied herself.

She did not immediately tidy her disheveled appearance. Instead, she turned around and looked seriously at Tang Shuo with her golden eyes.

Recalling what had just happened, lingering fear still filled her heart.

If Tang Shuo had not suddenly appeared and used that overwhelmingly domineering soul skill to clear the field, then after she was ambushed by the giant serpent while gathering her ultimate attack, she would have been severely injured even if she survived.

If he had not used that mysterious great bell to protect her at the end, the Serpent Emperor's Venom would likely have already corroded her into a puddle of pus and blood.

Not to mention that when her soul power had been exhausted and she was on the verge of fainting, he had carried her out of that death trap.

"You..."

Qian Renxue's thin lips parted. Her usually cool voice carried a trace of concern that even she herself had not noticed.

"Are you all right?"

"Do you feel unwell anywhere? Were you poisoned?"

Seeing the anxious expression on her face, Tang Shuo could not help but laugh.

He casually spread his hands.

"Don't worry. I'm fine."

"Since I dared to rush in under those circumstances, I naturally had complete preparations."

Tang Shuo pointed at his chest and spoke calmly.

"When the Eastern Emperor Bell is activated, all laws are barred and all evils repelled."

"Mere poison cannot come near me."

All laws barred, all evils repelled?

What arrogance.

Yet he truly had the right to say it.

Remembering that heart-stopping scene, Qian Renxue was still somewhat dazed.

After that golden-red ring of light swept across the area, she had only seen a gigantic bell shadow engraved with ancient runes descend from the sky, enveloping both her and Tang Shuo.

Within the bell shadow, there was a world of its own.

The highly toxic miasma outside, enough to corrode even a Soul Saint, had been completely blocked out.

Within it, there had been only one feeling.

Absolute safety.

And Tang Shuo, who had unleashed such an overbearing soul skill, had only just reached level twenty.

His first soul skill, called the "Solar Corona Divine Wheel," was so powerful that even the fourth and fifth soul skills of many Soul Kings likely fell far short of it.

Not to mention that this Solar Corona Divine Wheel was not inferior to her own first soul skill in the slightest.

Qian Renxue's gaze grew increasingly profound.

She had infiltrated the Heaven Dou Empire for years under the identity of its crown prince, and she believed she knew every genius within the empire, even across the entire continent.

Yet this young man named Tang Shuo had appeared out of nowhere.

The first time she had noticed him was at the largest herbal shop in Heaven Dou City.

He had bought more than ten thousand varieties of auxiliary poisonous materials in one go. Even she had found that list alarming.

At the time, she had merely assumed he was a poison soul master with a mysterious background.

She had never imagined that his talent would be this terrifying.

It was simply terrifying beyond belief!

Had there been a serious problem with her intelligence work?

For the first time, Qian Renxue doubted the intelligence network she had cultivated for years.

If someone like him could be used by me...