Zhu Zhuqing Gives Her Heart

Zhu Zhuqing could no longer keep up the pretense. She slowly opened her eyes.

Her gaze darted away, unable to meet Lu Chuan's, and a faint blush crept over her ears.

Half an hour earlier...

Zhu Zhuqing had woken in a daze, feeling light all over. The soreness and exhaustion from the medicinal bath had vanished, leaving warmth in every limb.

She sat up to look for Lu Chuan, but the moment she lifted the covers, a chill ran over her bare skin.

Her muddled mind snapped awake.

She had passed out right after absorbing the medicine. Yet now she was clean and lying in bed.

Which meant... Senior Lu Chuan had cleaned her himself, then carried her from the bathroom to the bedroom?

Her heart began pounding wildly. Burning embarrassment swept through her, turning her ears and cheeks bright red.

She wanted to get dressed, but remembered that all her clothes were still in the bathroom.

Senior Lu Chuan was still cultivating and absorbing the medicine. Wouldn't it be wrong to disturb him?

So she burrowed back under the covers and waited for a chance to retrieve her clothes.

About half an hour passed.

Click—

The bathroom door opened. Zhu Zhuqing hurriedly shut her eyes and pretended to be asleep.

But Senior Lu Chuan saw through her at a glance.

Lu Chuan smiled and pointed to the clothes beside the bed.

"I put your clothes here. Don't forget to get dressed."

"Mm. Senior, could you turn around?"

Zhu Zhuqing pulled the covers up over half her face, her ears burning red. Only her shy eyes remained visible.

Without hesitation, Lu Chuan turned his back to her.

"Don't worry. I won't peek."

The bedding rustled softly behind him as Zhu Zhuqing snatched up the clothes and hurriedly put them on.

"I'm done."

Lu Chuan slowly turned around. Zhu Zhuqing was fully dressed, though a faint blush still colored her cheeks.

"How do you feel after absorbing the Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid?"

Only then did Zhu Zhuqing think to check her condition. She quickly sat cross-legged and meditated.

A moment later, her eyes flew open, shining with delight.

"Senior, my Soul Power has risen quite a bit, and I can cultivate faster too."

No wonder she was so excited. For nearly ten thousand years on Douluo Continent, a person's talent had been considered fixed. Someone with low Innate Soul Power could never cultivate as quickly as someone with high Innate Soul Power.

There was no way to improve that speed. All one could do was put in the time.

But now her cultivation speed had increased considerably! And that was from just one drop of Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid. If she could use it a few more times, might she rival a genius with Innate Full Soul Power? She might even have the potential to become a Titled Douluo!

Yet she had no way to repay the cost of such a divine treasure. There was only...

She already had feelings for him. Becoming his woman would be more than she could have hoped for.

Resolve settled in Zhu Zhuqing's eyes.

"Senior, I've made up my mind."

"About what?"

Lu Chuan stared at her, utterly baffled.

Before he could say more, Zhu Zhuqing's pretty face, still soft with a trace of baby fat, came close.

Mwah~

Lu Chuan froze. Well, now. She had turned the tables on him?!

And she wasn't finished. In the next instant, a pair of slender hands rested against his chest.

The sudden touch caught Lu Chuan's breath. He opened his eyes and looked at Zhu Zhuqing, whose face was inches from his. Her cheeks burned, and shyness lurked in her eyes, but she showed no sign of retreating.

What followed left Lu Chuan trapped in a crushing embrace.

Plum blossoms drifted past the window~

After an hour of intimate conversation,

Zhu Zhuqing looked dazed, her face flushed and her body heavy with exhaustion.

Lu Chuan leaned lazily against the headboard and drew the limp Zhu Zhuqing into his arms.

Feeling her warmth against him, he looked down at the blushing girl, who had yet to recover her composure, and spoke softly.

"Zhu Qing, what made you so forward all of a sudden? Was it the Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid?"

Zhu Zhuqing nodded, then shook her head.

Leaning against his chest, she answered in a soft but earnest voice:

"That wasn't the only reason. I truly like you, Senior. If it were anyone else, no amount of cultivation resources would make me trade myself away. I'd rather die."

This time, she did not avoid his gaze. She met it directly.

She had always loved and hated without reservation. Beneath her cool exterior lay a stubbornness that ran deep.

Before, she had endured, restrained herself, and moved carefully. But after meeting Lu Chuan, feeling his gentleness and the special care he gave her, then experiencing how the Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid could change her fate, she had made her decision.

Once she chose someone, her heart would remain his for life. She would never hesitate or draw back again.

Lu Chuan's heart trembled.

He had lived two lives and met all kinds of people, but never a girl whose eyes held nothing but him.

Zhu Zhuqing's gaze was filled entirely with love for him.

To be loved so wholeheartedly and relied on so completely brought him a warmth and a flutter of emotion he had never known in his previous life.

He tightened his arms around the slender girl, holding her closer. Tenderness nearly overflowed from his eyes.

"Zhu Qing, today I'll follow Wu Song's example and wrestle a tiger!"

"No... let's rest first. I'm so tired."

While the two of them explored the mysteries of life,

in the Battle Through the Heavens World, at the Xiao Family residence,

Xun'er sat beside a stone table in the courtyard, eyes closed in thought. Ling Ying stood guard nearby.

After a long while, Xun'er opened her clear eyes and looked toward the horizon.

"Elder Ling, did those two really vanish into thin air?"

Ling Ying bowed. "Yes. There was no fluctuation of Dou Qi or space. After Young Master Xiao Yan left, the two of them disappeared, as though they'd vanished from this world altogether."

Xun'er was now certain that the two of them had come from another world.

Travelers who could cross between worlds, Douluo Continent, Martial Souls, a hundred-percent amplification... Everything she had heard today had overturned her understanding.

Lu Chuan had looked utterly ordinary, but the ability to cross worlds alone meant his strength could not be simple. He had to possess power at least on the level of a Dou Di.

Xun'er looked up at Ling Ying beside her and asked softly,

"Elder Ling, what price do you think we'd have to pay to obtain the opportunity to become a Dou Di that Senior Lu Chuan mentioned to Yao Chen?"

Ling Ying lowered his head and thought for a moment before shaking it.

"I don't know, but if it truly is an opportunity to become a Dou Di, the price won't be small. It would be enough to severely weaken the Gu Clan."

Xun'er sighed.

He was right. Breaking through to Dou Di was extraordinarily difficult. Information about such an opportunity was bound to be costly.

Hadn't Xiao Xuan, the former leader of the Xiao Clan, staked everything on that slim chance to break through to Dou Di, dragging the entire clan into decline?

Ah...

Then she thought of Xiao Yan, and her expression grew deeply conflicted.