Zhu Zhuqing (2)

Jiang Che took a deep breath and shifted Zhu Zhuqing's clothes down just a tiny bit.

Jiang Che had no ill intentions. It was purely because he needed to use his first Soul Skill.

He used his first Soul Skill, Profusion, to treat Zhu Zhuqing's wounds while also clearing the toxins from her body. Partway through, he even removed the armor she wore underneath her clothes. There was no other reason; it was simply getting in the way of her treatment.

After clearing the toxins from Zhu Zhuqing's body, Jiang Che quickly straightened her clothes for her.

Zhu Zhuqing's long eyelashes fluttered a few times before she slowly opened her eyes.

Her vision was still a little blurry. The instant she regained consciousness, she felt the restraints around her body. Tough vines bound her tightly from head to toe.

Zhu Zhuqing's heart clenched. She instinctively struggled, only to hear a cool voice nearby. "If I were you, I wouldn't waste any more effort."

"The leaves on these vines of mine are very sharp. Don't accidentally cut yourself."

She looked toward the voice. A handsome, blue-haired boy sat before a fire. He was the very person who had attacked her earlier.

What made her heart sink was the cat's-eye necklace in his hand.

"You!" Zhu Zhuqing was both mortified and furious.

Jiang Che dangled the necklace in his hand, his tone indifferent. "This necklace... you're from the Zhu Family? And a core member, at that? Let me guess who you are."

"Zhu Zhuqing?"

Those words exploded through the cave like a thunderclap.

Zhu Zhuqing's pupils abruptly contracted, and shock appeared on her cold face for the first time. "You... who are you? Did my sister send you?"

Her family's cruel internal rules had hung over her entire life like a shadow. Now a stranger had called her by name, and her life was in this boy's hands.

Jiang Che calmly shook his head and dangled the cat's-eye necklace before Zhu Zhuqing. "I'm not interested in your Zhu Family's affairs."

He paused before continuing, "I just want some compensation. Never mind that you attacked me earlier for no reason; that Wind Ape you people angered caused me quite a bit of trouble too."

Jiang Che looked at Zhu Zhuqing, his tone as level as ever. "If I'm not mistaken, this necklace should be a Storage Soul Tool."

"Tell me how to open it. Whatever's inside will serve as my compensation, as well as payment for clearing your poison."

Although Zhu Zhuqing might have been able to clear the poison herself, Jiang Che had a thick skin.

At his words, Zhu Zhuqing's taut nerves relaxed a little, but a surge of humiliation immediately welled up in her heart.

She snorted coldly and turned her head away, pressing her lips together without a word. Her stubborn gaze plainly said, "Not a chance!"

Watching her bite her lip in mortified anger, Jiang Che's teasing smile deepened. "What? Can't accept losing to me?"

Jiang Che raised a hand and pointed at himself. "I didn't use my full strength against you, and before fighting you, I even took care of the Wind Ape outside while I was at it. Doesn't that alone deserve some payment?"

"If I'm not mistaken, this place should be that Wind Ape's den. You lured those assassins here and had the Wind Ape deal with them for you."

"If I hadn't dealt with that Wind Ape, you could have been attacked by it whether you stayed in the cave or left."

"You, kill that Wind Ape?"

Zhu Zhuqing did not believe him for a second. She had seen that Wind Ape's strength. There was no way a Soul Grandmaster could defeat it.

Faced with Zhu Zhuqing's doubts, Jiang Che said nothing and silently took the Wind Ape's pelt out of the System Storage.

The sight of the Wind Ape's pelt shook Zhu Zhuqing, but she still refused to believe a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster could kill a thousand-year Wind Ape. "You have companions."

"You don't need to concern yourself with that. You only need to understand one thing: I saved your life."

Zhu Zhuqing took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the emotions churning within her, and said coldly, "What exactly do you want?"

"Straight to the point!" Jiang Che snapped his fingers and raised an eyebrow. "Three thousand Gold Soul Coins. You hand over the money, and I let you go. Once I have it, you take your narrow wooden bridge, and I'll take my broad, sunlit road. We'll act as if we never met."

Three thousand Gold Soul Coins?

Zhu Zhuqing froze briefly, then inwardly breathed a sigh of relief instead.

For an ordinary Soul Master, this was an astronomical sum, but for the Zhu Family's second young lady, it was merely a month's allowance.

Without the slightest hesitation, she immediately nodded in agreement. "Fine! I agree! Open the necklace. There's a Gold Soul Coin card inside!"

Seeing Zhu Zhuqing agree so readily and without the slightest hesitation, it was now Jiang Che's turn to lose his composure.

She agreed just like that?

Damn! I asked for too little. Filthy rich bastard!

After all his years of hard work, Jiang Che only had one or two thousand Gold Soul Coins, yet she could casually produce three thousand?

Wasn't the gap between rich and poor in this world far too vast?

Jiang Che waved both hands, and the Blue Silver Vines wrapped around Zhu Zhuqing immediately vanished.

Zhu Zhuqing stood and moved her slightly numb wrists. For some reason, though, she felt something was wrong, but she could not put her finger on it.

It was probably because she had been tied up for so long. Her body felt light, as though a heavy burden had been removed.

Watching Jiang Che warily, Zhu Zhuqing cautiously retrieved her necklace and infused a trace of Soul Power into it through her fingertips.

The cat's-eye stone on the necklace flashed, and a thin golden card appeared in her hand.

"There are three thousand Gold Soul Coins on this." Zhu Zhuqing tossed the card to Jiang Che, her tone still icy.

She had expected him to be insatiably greedy or harbor some other filthy intentions. She had never imagined he would really let her go as soon as he received the money, or even be impatient to drive her away.

Jiang Che put the golden card into the System Space and waved a hand. "What are you still standing there for? Get going! Do you need me to see you off?"

Zhu Zhuqing gave Jiang Che a long look, snorted coldly, then turned and strode out of the cave that had left her feeling so humiliated.

As she stepped out of the cave, the dazzling sunlight forced Zhu Zhuqing to narrow her eyes. Before she had gone even a few hundred meters, she spotted the enormous Wind Ape corpse nearby.

"What...?" The sight of the Wind Ape's mangled remains made Zhu Zhuqing draw in a sharp breath.

The Wind Ape's entire corpse was so badly damaged that Zhu Zhuqing almost failed to recognize it.

If the boy really had killed this Wind Ape, as he claimed, just how terrifying was his strength?

Before Zhu Zhuqing could think further-

Crack!

The barely audible sound of a snapping branch rang out.

Roar!

A roar filled with boundless grief and towering fury erupted from the dense forest.