An Encounter with Zhu Zhuqing, Ning Rongrong Gets Jealous!

Boom!

In a clearing deep within the dense forest, colliding Soul Power blasted dust and smoke into the sky.

"Damn it, you little bitch, you can really run!"

Three masked men in black formed a triangular formation around a slender figure.

The scar-faced man at their head flicked his dagger, his eyes filled with malice.

"Second Miss, stop struggling! You know Star Luo Empire's rules better than anyone. Nether Duke's Mansion has no room for a deserter like you! Come back with us and beg forgiveness from His Highness the First Prince and the First Princess. Maybe they'll even leave you an intact corpse!"

The girl surrounded in the middle was Zhu Zhuqing.

She looked somewhat disheveled. Several tears had been cut into her black leather outfit, exposing pale skin and seeping blood beneath.

Her delicate, cold little face was pale, and she breathed faintly. Beyond killing intent, her deep black eyes held only the will to die.

"Go back to die?"

Zhu Zhuqing bent her hands slightly, her ten fingers transforming into the claws of a Hell Spirit Cat. Two yellow hundred-year Soul Rings flickered around her body, and her voice was as cold as if it had been dredged up from the depths of hell.

"Even if I, Zhu Zhuqing, die in this forest or leap from a cliff, I will never go back with you to become a sacrifice to power!"

"Stubborn fool!"

The scar-faced man sneered. "Since you're seeking death, don't blame us brothers for showing no mercy to a beauty! Move! Break her limbs and bring her back!"

Before his words had even faded, the three assassins sprang into action at once.

They were all agility-type Soul Grandmasters above level twenty. They moved terrifyingly fast, their poisoned daggers becoming three cold flashes aimed directly at Zhu Zhuqing's joints.

Zhu Zhuqing gritted her teeth and forcibly squeezed the little Soul Power remaining in her body dry. Her figure turned into a black shadow as she tried to break through by force.

But she was badly injured and exhausted. She blocked only the blade coming from the front, leaving herself wide open on both sides.

"Got you!"

The two assassins grinned savagely, their claws reaching straight for Zhu Zhuqing's shoulders.

Watching the blades and claw shadows draw near, Zhu Zhuqing felt a deep helplessness rise within her.

Unwillingly, she closed her eyes.

Am I really... going to stop here?

At that moment, a clear yet somewhat casual voice rang out through the woods.

"Three grown men ganging up on a little girl. Are all people from the Star Luo Empire such sore losers?"

"Who?!"

The three assassins tensed, their movements freezing.

Before they could recover, a soft yet absurdly sacred pink-gold glow poured down from the treetops.

The glow was not dazzling. Instead, it carried a strange fragrance that made one's soul feel light and drifting.

A breeze swept through the woods, and a tall, upright young man descended, landing steadily in front of Zhu Zhuqing.

Ning Ze raised his right hand, and his martial soul, the God of Love, instantly possessed him.

A ball of pink-gold light condensed in his palm, while a Soul Ring rose beneath his feet—deep purple, completely unlike the white ten-year Soul Rings or yellow hundred-year Soul Rings.

"First Soul Skill—Love Arrow: Heartpiercer!"

Ning Ze curled his fingers and flicked them through the air.

Buzz—!

Three arrows of light shot forward, too fast for the naked eye to follow, carrying only a sharp force that struck straight at the heart.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

The three Soul Grandmaster assassins did not even have time to activate their martial soul defenses. Their chests turned cold, and when they looked down, divine light had pierced transparent holes through their hearts.

"You... who exactly..."

The scar-faced man's eyes widened as he stared at Ning Ze. A rattling sound came from his throat, but before he could finish a sentence, the three corpses thudded into pools of blood.

Instant kill.

Zhu Zhuqing slowly opened her eyes, completely stunned.

The mortal enemies who had pursued her for days had been instantly killed by a single move from this young man who had appeared out of nowhere?

"Phew... Thank you, Young Master, for saving my..."

She let out a breath and was about to bow in thanks when her gaze fell upon that Soul Ring. Her entire body froze, and her eyes suddenly widened.

"Pur... purple?! Your first Soul Ring... is actually a thousand-year one?!"

Zhu Zhuqing felt as though her entire understanding of the world had collapsed.

Wasn't the limit for a first Soul Ring just over four hundred years?

How could someone possibly have a thousand-year purple Soul Ring as their first?

This simply defied all reason!

Hearing her cry of shock, Ning Ze turned around and merely smiled faintly, his expression unfathomable.

Yet inwardly, he muttered to himself.

Easy there, girl. When I first absorbed it, it was also a normal yellow Soul Ring of a few hundred years...

That was right. His first Soul Ring had indeed originally been a yellow hundred-year Soul Ring.

But this was one of the absurdly powerful passive abilities of the God of Love martial soul—Love-Deepening Ring Growth.

The deeper a woman's love for him and the stronger her possessiveness, the more his Soul Rings would be nourished and evolve.

Over the past six years, Ning Rongrong had followed him around every day. Her love and possessiveness had long since reached the level of an obsessive yandere.

Under the day-and-night nourishment of that "love," Ning Ze's first Soul Ring had broken through its age limit half a year ago, rising from a few hundred years to its current age of over twelve hundred years—a thousand-year purple ring.

Sometimes, Ning Ze could not help pondering.

If I max out the affection of girls like Zhu Zhuqing, Xiao Wu, and Qian Renxue too, wouldn't my Soul Rings have a chance to evolve into ten-thousand-year black rings, or even hundred-thousand-year red rings?

Of course, those were only ideas for now.

Still, getting a thousand-year first Soul Ring for free was already enough to crush the so-called supreme geniuses of the continent beneath his feet.

Setting aside his thoughts, Ning Ze stepped forward and reached out to support Zhu Zhuqing by the arm.

"Miss, you're injured. Are you all right? My name is Ning Ze."

At such close range, the fatal charm bestowed upon him by the God of Love martial soul washed over her.

The young man had sharp brows and bright eyes, handsome beyond reason. That gentle smile of his seemed to burrow directly into her heart.

Having lived all her life in the cold, oppressive Zhu Family, when had Zhu Zhuqing ever seen such a gentle, handsome, and overwhelmingly powerful young man?

With a boom, two blushes rose on her pale cheeks. Her heartbeat skipped a beat, and it felt as though something had gently struck her frozen heart.

She lowered her head in fluster, her voice as faint as a mosquito's hum.

"I... I'm fine. Thank you, Young Master Ning Ze. I'm... Zhu Zhuqing."

A breeze passed through the forest. The young man and young woman looked into each other's eyes, and an inexplicable pink intimacy seemed to drift through the air.

That atmosphere had not lasted even two seconds before a furious feminine shout brimming with killing intent and jealousy exploded from behind them.

"Let go of that Ning Ze! Let me... Pah! You wild woman who came out of nowhere, who gave you permission to hold his hand?! Let go right now!"

Tap, tap, tap!

Amid hurried footsteps, Ning Rongrong came running over at full speed.

When she saw Ning Ze supporting Zhu Zhuqing by the waist, with the two of them even holding hands and "gazing deeply" at each other, Ning Rongrong's pretty face turned bright red. She exploded like a powder keg that had just been lit.

In one swift step, she rushed between them and brazenly slapped apart their clasped hands. Like a creature guarding its food, she tightly wrapped herself around Ning Ze's arm and dragged him several steps backward.

Panting heavily, she glared with eyes that seemed ready to breathe fire. She gave Zhu Zhuqing's voluptuous chest a vicious once-over, then stood before Ning Ze and gritted her teeth.

"Who are you? What are you trying to do to my Ning Ze?! This young lady is warning you: stay away from him, or I'll make you regret it!"