Three months later, at the border region between millennium and ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest.
Tang Feng concealed himself in the canopy of a thousand-year ironwood tree like a wisp of cyan smoke, the Golden Cudgel held horizontally across his knees, his aura restrained to the absolute limit and even his breathing synchronized with the forest breeze.
Tang Feng was scanning a radius of a hundred zhang with his spiritual power to search for today's opponent, but he unexpectedly caught a string of hurried footsteps.
A person was fleeing for her life toward Tang Feng's side. Tang Feng opened his eyes to observe closely, and it was a young girl who looked to be about eleven or twelve years old.
The girl had shoulder-length black hair, two furry cat ears unexpectedly growing from the top of her head, and hands transformed into sharp cat claws. Two yellow soul rings flickered unceasingly on her body, and her figure was as nimble as lightning. She was precisely in the state of Martial Soul Possession.
Yet her clothes were tattered at this moment, with multiple bloodstains on her body and mud smudged on her face. Although she was extremely disheveled, it still failed to conceal that delicate, porcelain-doll-like visage.
The girl looked back in terror from time to time, her eyes filled with stubbornness and despair.
Three figures followed closely behind, the leader being a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor, and the other two also Three-Ring Soul Elders.
The three wore uniform black-bottomed, silver-patterned athletic garments, with the character "Zhu" embroidered on their cuffs, evidently private soldiers of some clan.
The girl was soon cornered under the tree where Tang Feng was located, her cat claws propping against the ground as she arched her back and hissed lowly, like a young beast driven to a desperate strait.
The three Soul Masters pressed forward step by step, cruel smiles like a cat toying with a mouse hanging on their faces.
"Second Miss, don't make it hard for us!" The leading Soulor Ancestor said in a harsh tone. "Come back with us, or don't blame us for being impolite! Eldest Miss did say, we want to see her alive or see her corpse if she's dead!"
"Dream on!" The girl's voice was crisp, yet tinged with resoluteness.
The Soul Ancestor sneered. "Even if you escape, what's the use of finding that playboy? He abandoned you long ago! I advise you to give up on that thought!"
Upon hearing this, the girl's complexion turned even paler, and she bit her lower lip hard until blood seeped out, but her gaze remained cold.
"Attack! Dead or alive, bring her back!" Seeing that the girl still did not give up her resistance, the Soul Ancestor waved his hand, and his soul rings shone brightly.
The two Soul Elders pounced from left and right. The girl dodged left and right, but her soul power was already near exhaustion. In an instant, she was swept by the claw wind, blood dyed her lapels red, and she staggered to the ground with her life hanging by a thread.
At the critical moment, a roar exploded like a thunderclap!
"Stop!"
Tang Feng leaped down from a height of more than ten meters, the Ruyi Jingu Bang spinning rapidly in his palm as his soul power erupted frantically. Like a meteor plunging to the earth, stick after stick of overlapping shadows smashed toward that Soul Ancestor with the force of a collapsing mountain!
"What!"
The Soul Ancestor was frightened out of his wits by the sudden attack, not knowing how to react for a moment. He only had time to raise his head, his pupils reflecting the rapidly enlarging Golden Cudgel, wanting to activate a soul skill for defense, but it was already too late.
"Bang!"
The sound of a skull shattering was like an exploding watermelon, and red and white matter splashed about. The leading Soul Ancestor collapsed to the ground limply without even letting out a scream, dying instantly.
The other two Soul Elders were scared stupid by Tang Feng's decisive and ruthless attack, turning around and wanting to flee.
"Can you run away?"
Tang Feng snorted coldly, and the Golden Cudgel swept horizontally, the stick's shadow transforming into a golden arc. The two Soul Elders urged their soul power to block, but they were shaken by the rolling wave of force until the webbing between their thumbs and forefingers split open, their sternums sunken, and they vomited blood as they flew backward.
Tang Feng's figure flashed with resolute killing intent, the tip of the stick precisely piercing and shattering the throat bones of both men, swiftly ending them.
The forest returned to silence, leaving only the girl's hurried panting.
Tang Feng put away his stick, turned and walked toward the girl, and asked indifferently, "You aren't hurt lightly, how do you feel?"
The girl had just come to her senses and opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but as the crisis was lifted and her mind relaxed, a tearing, agonizing pain surged throughout her entire body's injuries, and her soul power was completely exhausted. Suddenly, everything went black before her eyes, and she collapsed in a soft faint.
Tang Feng did not reach out to support her, his brow tightly furrowed as he fell into a dilemma.
Saving someone would expose the waterfall base, but if he let her die here, why bother making a move just now?
A moment later, Tang Feng sighed inwardly. "So be it. Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda."
Tang Feng looked around to confirm that there were no more pursuers, scooped up the girl by the waist, and upon contact felt she was as light as nothing, but the warmth and softness transmitting through the fabric made his heart skip a beat.
Tang Feng suppressed his distracting thoughts, unfolded the Flame Dragon Wings, and transformed into a crimson stream of light flying toward the waterfall.
Passing through the water curtain, Tang Feng placed the girl on the stone bed, and only then did he see her full appearance.
A beautiful, exquisite face with skin as white as snow, a uptight nose and cherry lips, exuding a trace of stubbornness even in unconsciousness.
The most astonishing thing was the figure, which completely mismatched the girl's age and face: the curve of her chest was exaggerated, her waist was as slender as a willow, and her legs were slender and straight, everywhere revealing a maturity and sexiness that transcended her age.
Tang Feng's Adam's apple bobbed as he hurriedly shifted his gaze away, cursing himself silently as a beast.
Taking a deep breath, he fetched hemostatic medicine and bandages from his Soul Tool. The girl had seven or eight wounds on her body that were bleeding incessantly, especially a claw mark on her left shoulder that was deep to the bone.
Tang Feng could not care about the boundaries between men and women, using a dagger to slice open the leather clothing near the wound to reveal her white, delicate skin. Sprinkling the hemostatic medicine powder, under the stimulation of the medicine's potency, the girl frowned and groaned in pain even though she was unconscious.
Tang Feng's movements were swift and professional, his bandaging technique neither too tight nor too loose.
When everything was finished, the girl had been wrapped up like half a "mummy", with all her wounds bound in white cloth.
Tang Feng breathed a sigh of relief, walked to the cave entrance, sat cross-legged, closed his eyes in meditation, and forcefully suppressed the inexplicable dry heat in his body just now.
Two days later, the girl's eyelashes fluttered and she woke up leisurely. Her first reaction was to check herself, but she discovered that her clothes had been torn to shreds and her body was wrapped in bandages. Her complexion immediately turned pale as she curled up in tension.
Tang Feng, who was roasting two Soft Bone Rabbits at the cave entrance, immediately noticed her movement and spoke in a calm voice: "You'd better not move around randomly lest you tear the wounds. You're not lightly injured and need emergency hemostasis, so I had no choice but to do as I did. I hope you won't blame me."
Tang Feng paused, then continued: "This is my personal cave dwelling and it's absolutely safe. You can recover here with peace of mind until your injuries heal."
The girl raised her eyes to look at Tang Feng's back at the cave entrance, where he was roasting rabbit meat. Sunlight filtered in from outside the water curtain, casting a faint glow over Tang Feng's entire body so that his features could not be seen clearly.
The girl bit her lip, her voice as thin as a mosquito's hum: "...Thank you."
Tang Feng did not turn back, merely uttering a faint "Mn".
The cave dwelling fell silent all at once, when suddenly a series of rumbling stomach growls broke the stillness. The girl's pretty face instantly flushed to the roots of her ears as she awkwardly averted her gaze.
Tang Feng took down a Soft Bone Rabbit roasted to a golden brown-crispy on the outside and tender on the inside-walked over to the side of the stone bed, and handed the rabbit meat over. "You haven't eaten for two days, eat a little so you can recover faster!"
The girl thanked him in a small voice, took the rabbit meat, and nibbled on it in small bites.
The aroma of the rabbit meat permeated the cave, and she secretly raised her eyes to size up Tang Feng, but Tang Feng had already turned and returned to the cave entrance.
Half a month flashed by in the blink of an eye. The girl's wounds were seventy percent healed, and the circulation of her soul power encountered no more stagnation. This early morning, she supported herself against the stone wall and walked slowly to the cave entrance.
Tang Feng was sitting cross-legged in meditation, his breathing long and steady, soul power lingering around his entire body and refusing to disperse.
Hearing the sound of footsteps, Tang Feng opened his eyes, a brilliant light flashing through his pupils and vanishing, causing the girl's heart to skip a beat.
"My name is Zhu Zhuqing." The girl's voice was light and cold, yet carried gratitude.
"My name is Tang Feng." Tang Feng nodded in response, his tone flat, and then prepared to close his eyes to continue cultivating.
Zhu Zhuqing clenched her fingertips, feeling somewhat at a loss. After a moment of silence, she asked softly, "Thank you for saving me. Where... is this?"
"It was just a casual effort. This is the Star Dou Great Forest, behind a waterfall." Tang Feng pointed toward the water curtain. "Outside is the boundary region between millennium and ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts. It's relatively safe; no one can find this place."
"Have you always lived here?" Zhu Zhuqing looked around the simple yet tidy stone room, her eyes full of curiosity.
"More or less." Tang Feng's voice was low. "I'm training here, and in another half month, I'll be leaving."
"Training?" Zhu Zhuqing's cat ears twitched slightly, recalling the bloody scene on the day she was hunted down. The ruthlessness of this person before her smashing a Soul Ancestor's head with a single stick overlapped with his calm appearance right now, stirring complex emotions deep within her heart.
Tang Feng spoke no more, continuing to circulate his soul power. Zhu Zhuqing stood to one side amidst the roaring of the water curtain, the morning light refracting into a rainbow falling between the two of them.
Half a month of time passed fleetingly. Tang Feng still went out to battle at sunrise and returned at sunset, occasionally bearing a body full of scars.
Inside the cave dwelling behind the waterfall, Zhu Zhuqing had changed into a new set of tight leather clothing. Sitting cross-legged on the stone bed, the last wisp of soul power completed a cycle within her body, and she slowly gathered her cultivation.
Zhu Zhuqing opened both eyes, the depths of her pupils clear and deep-hued. Her injuries had completely healed, and her aura was even a bit more solid than before she was injured.
On the other side, Tang Feng's soul power surged like a tide around him, a crimson light flashing across his skin and disappearing. Tang Feng opened both eyes, his aura having impressively stepped into level forty-eight.
Gaining six levels in a year and four months, Tang Feng felt extremely satisfied, and looking toward the outside of the cave with joy, he muttered to himself: "It's time to leave."