Zhu Zhuqing

"Are you okay?"

Lu Shi walked over, his voice gentle as he took out a water flask and handed it to her. "Do you want some water?"

Zhu Zhuqing panted heavily. The fur on her cat ears stood fluffy, and her tail was tightly curled behind her. Her ample chest, wrapped in a tight outfit, heaved violently.

Judging by her expression, she had yet to recover.

She stared blankly at Lu Shi, forgetting to breathe, forgetting that she had just been in danger. In her cold eyes was reflected the instant he had descended from the treetops and brushed past her.

The pair of eyes that met hers were clear, yet they carried a depth vast enough to reflect the universe, as though countless stars were hidden within them.

Combined with Lu Shi's fair features, tall frame, long legs, perfect physique, and extraordinary bearing.

At that moment, it felt as though time itself had stopped.

Her heart thumped wildly.

"I..."

Zhu Zhuqing came back to herself. She truly was parched; the last time she had drunk water had been yesterday. She took the flask and hugged it as she gulped down its contents. Water spilled from the corners of her mouth, flowed down her smooth, pale neck, and dripped from her chest onto the verdant leaves below.

"Cough, cough, cough...!!"

Lu Shi sat down beside her. "No rush. Drink slowly."

Once Zhu Zhuqing had drained the flask, even her lower belly was slightly swollen. "It's dangerous to explore Star Dou Forest alone. Did you get separated from your group?"

Could he call her by name the moment they met? He definitely had to pretend he did not know the situation.

Zhu Zhuqing's expression immediately darkened. "I..."

She suddenly remembered that killers were still pursuing her and immediately tried to get up to leave. "Someone is hunting me. I can't drag you into this." Yet her legs were so weak and sore that she could not stand steadily at all.

No, she could not stop!

She gritted her teeth, stood up, and tried to leave.

Lu Shi reached out to support her by the shoulder and asked with a frown, "Who is chasing you?"

Perhaps because Lu Shi had saved her, Zhu Zhuqing had decided at first sight that he was someone she could trust completely.

"They're killers sent by my sister. My sister wants to kill me. They're two Five-Ring Soul Masters."

Her eyes reddened, and her aggrieved lips trembled. "My own sister wants to kill me!"

Why?

We're biological sisters!

I never wanted to compete with you!

Lu Shi sighed, gently stroking her back as he comforted her. "Cry. You'll feel better once you let it out."

At those words, Zhu Zhuqing, who had barely managed to hold herself together, could no longer stop her tears.

The Zhu Family was just like the Dai Family, playing the same game of siblings killing siblings. There was no need to think about what the atmosphere in those two families must have been like. Zhu Zhuqing had been lectured since childhood that crying was weakness, that only the weak cried. Even when someone comforted her, they only told her to stay strong, to become stronger, and the like.

No one had ever been like Lu Shi, allowing her to cry.

"Your sister wants to kill you because of the royal succession struggle?"

Zhu Zhuqing froze and looked up at him. Her long lashes, damp with tears, trembled as she blinked, giving her an utterly contrasting air.

"I saw your cat ears and tail earlier. Your Martial Soul should be a cat. You said you were being hunted by two Five-Ring Soul Masters sent by your sister, which means you come from a major family."

In an ordinary faction, Five-Ring Soul Masters would be honored guests. How could they possibly serve as someone else's subordinates?

"Putting that together, I can infer that your surname is Zhu, and that you come from the Zhu Family, which has married into the Star Luo Imperial Family for generations."

Zhu Zhuqing nodded deeply. "My name is Zhu Zhuqing, and my sister is Zhu Zhuyun. In order to become the Empire's Empress, she sent her subordinates to kill me."

Lu Shi sighed and looked at her.

"Then how did you escape from two Five-Ring Soul Masters, cross from Star Luo through the outer region of Star Dou Forest, and reach the Heaven Dou Empire?"

Star Luo City was in the southwestern part of the Star Luo Empire, while Star Dou Forest was in the northeastern part of the Star Luo Empire. That distance was close to half the continent from east to west.

"You're a level-twenty Soul Grandmaster. How did you escape from two Five-Ring Soul Kings?"

Zhu Zhuqing looked lost and explained instinctively, "Because I'm fast..."

Fast...

She suddenly froze, blinking as she realized that they all possessed the same Hell Spirit Cat Martial Soul...

Even with identical Martial Souls, no matter how fast she was, she could not outrun Soul Kings when their strength so thoroughly surpassed hers.

"You only have minor scrapes on you. I didn't see any other wounds."

"You escaped once through luck, but could you escape a second time? Why haven't you suffered any serious injuries along the way?"

Zhu Zhuqing did not know how to answer. The Third Prince of Star Luo, to whom she was betrothed, had successfully escaped, so she had believed that she could escape as well.

She had never considered any of this.

"What is your sister's Soul Power Level?"

Lu Shi guided her. If she kept harboring hatred in her heart, it could easily affect her state of mind. She had to resolve it.

Zhu Zhuqing seemed to realize something. "Level forty..."

Lu Shi plucked away the dead branches and leaves stuck to her body. "Would a level-forty Soul Master need to hire killers to deal with a level-twenty one? She could have done it herself."

This selection system was practically a joke. Had no one truly noticed the loophole?

Zhu Zhuqing was left speechless. She opened her mouth several times, yet did not know what to say.

That was right. The Third Prince had successfully escaped, but why had she been able to leave successfully as well? Had her sister not been on guard against it?

Had she never considered that I would do the same?

Her body trembled as she suddenly realized that every time, she had managed to shake off the two men at the most dangerous moment, without exception...

Were high-level Soul Masters really that useless?

Clearly, her sister had never wanted to kill her younger sister. She had only wanted her to leave this bloody Asura arena.

"This was the only way an elder sister could think of to protect her younger sister."

"She had no way to defy the family system that had been passed down for a thousand years."

"What you need to do now is live well and grow strong enough to one day return and tear apart those cruel rules."

Zhu Zhuqing finally understood everything. She looked blankly at Lu Shi as tears silently slid from the corners of her eyes.

The grievance, pain, and unwillingness that had accumulated over so many years all turned into tears and flowed down her face.