(A beautiful picture of Ning Rongrong)
Xiao Jue wrapped one arm tightly around Ning Rongrong's waist and gently pressed his other hand against the back of her head, gathering her into his embrace. His voice was low and tinged with laughter:
"Now that you're here~ don't even think about running away~"
With that, he suddenly kissed her.
Ning Rongrong's eyes widened, and her little hands pressed against his chest, but that bit of strength only scratched at Xiao Jue's heart, making it itch even more.
Before she knew it, Ning Rongrong's body softened. The fingers pressing against Xiao Jue's chest slowly relaxed, finally clutching his lapels.
After a long kiss, the two finally parted.
Ning Rongrong blushed and said with a coquettish reproach, "You're terrible."
Xiao Jue kept one arm around her waist, while his other hand had already wandered down to her lower back and gave it a gentle squeeze:
"Our Rongrong has quite a nice figure too."
Ning Rongrong's face grew even hotter, and her voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz:
"Do you like it?"
Xiao Jue smiled without the slightest shame. "Of course I do."
Ning Rongrong blushed, her gaze darting away. She bit her lip. "If you like it, why don't you hurry up and..."
Halfway through her sentence, her mind was already full of the contents of those little books she had secretly read before. The more she thought about them, the hotter her face grew, until even the tips of her ears were bright red.
A series of groggy footsteps came from outside the tent.
Oscar walked out with a yawn and rubbed his eyes:
"It's my turn to keep watch... Huh? Where's Rongrong?"
He looked around but couldn't see Ning Rongrong anywhere. His spirits sank at once:
"I thought this would be the perfect chance to spend some time alone with Rongrong. Has she already gone to sleep...?"
A long time passed...
Ning Rongrong's system panel popped up.
[Ding! Giving to a member of the opposite sex with a looks score of 100 has triggered a special rebate!] [The Tycoon System has unlocked a special function!] [Jewel Magecraft unlocked!] [Jewel Magecraft: A form of magecraft that turns jewels into a means of attack by infusing them with Soul Power! The higher the quality of the jewel, the better the effect!] [Obtained 1,000 emeralds, 1,000 sapphires, and 1,000 rubies!]
Xiao Jue's system also popped up.
[Ding! Obtained Ning Rongrong. Gained 5 Lust Points!] [Current Lust Points: 11] [Martial Soul bonus: Charm greatly increased! Looks greatly improved!] [The higher the Lust Points, the greater the bonus!] [Martial Soul Sin of Lust: Asmodeus has reached level 11. First Soul Ring obtained automatically!]
Xiao Jue was delighted, and the two fell asleep in each other's arms.
The next day, Xiao Jue woke up early.
Lying on his side with his head propped on his elbow, he looked down and pinched Ning Rongrong's smooth, rosy cheek. It was soft beneath the pad of his finger as he brushed it over her skin.
Ning Rongrong frowned, buried her face deeper in the pillow, and mumbled indistinctly, "Mm~ what are you doing? Let me sleep a little longer..."
Xiao Jue leaned close to her ear and lowered his voice, laughter in his tone:
"Better get up. If everyone else gets up first, they'll see you coming out of my tent."
Ning Rongrong's eyes flew open. Like a dying patient jolting upright in bed, she sat bolt upright and scrambled to straighten her clothes.
But her legs went weak, and she nearly failed to stand. Bracing a hand against her knee, she looked back and glared at Xiao Jue, her cheeks puffed out:
"It's all your fault! I'm practically falling apart!"
Xiao Jue spread his hands with an innocent look, though he couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from curling up.
Ning Rongrong had intended to scold him some more, but when she looked up, she found herself staring straight at Xiao Jue's face.
His brows were sharp as swords, his eyes bright as stars, and his skin was so pale it seemed to glow. He looked even more handsome than he had last night.
She froze for a moment, her heart pounding and skipping half a beat. She quickly looked away and muttered to herself:
What's going on...? Could it be that what happened last night made me love him even more?
Her face flushed and her heart racing, she lifted the tent flap and poked her head halfway out to look around. Fortunately, no one was outside.
She patted her chest, let out a long breath, and murmured, "Phew... Nobody saw me."
She had been so tired last night that she had fallen straight asleep without taking a close look at her Tycoon System's new function!
She slipped behind a tree and summoned her system space to take a look.
Red, green, and blue jewels glittered in piles like little mountains.
Ning Rongrong's eyes lit up. Jewels? Aren't these worth a lot more than Gold Soul Coins?
She rubbed her hands together and began absorbing the method for using Jewel Magecraft in her mind.
Since it was still early in the morning and no one else was up yet.
Ning Rongrong held out her palm, and three jewels-one red, one green, and one blue-appeared above it. She stared at them and took a deep breath, her voice tentative:
"The most basic use... infuse them with Soul Power, then... fire!"
She formed guns with both hands, aimed at a large tree in the distance, and fired the three jewels!
The three jewels flew from her hands and burst into flames in midair, transforming into elemental power of three colors and trailing three brilliant tails of fire.
Boom!
A large tree was blasted apart at the middle. Its crown came crashing down with a rustle, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Ning Rongrong remained frozen in her two-handed gun pose, her eyes wide and round. "Whoa! It's that powerful?"
She looked down at her hands, then at the broken tree, and put her hands on her hips with a proud laugh. "This young lady isn't a support Soul Master who can only hide behind others anymore!"
The moment the words left her mouth, the earth suddenly began to tremble.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Ning Rongrong's smile froze. The ground swayed beneath her feet, and she hurriedly grabbed the tree beside her, looking bewildered:
"No way. Is my Jewel Magecraft really that powerful? How did it even cause an earthquake?"
The tremors grew stronger and stronger, and sounds of frantic scrambling came from the tents.
"What's going on?!"
"An earthquake?!"
Everyone jolted awake in alarm and scrambled out of the tents.
Tang San clutched his waist, Ma Hongjun had only halfway pulled on his pants, Oscar looked utterly bewildered, and Dai Mubai had a bird's nest of hair he hadn't had time to comb.
Zhao Wuji charged out ahead of everyone, all seven of his Soul Rings shining. On full alert, he shouted, "Rongrong, what happened?!"
Ning Rongrong said, "This..."
She opened her mouth, then closed it again, her inner monologue going wild. How am I supposed to explain this?! Do I say I tried out a skill, blew up a tree, and then there was an earthquake? Who would believe that?!
At some point, Xiao Jue had appeared nearby with his arms folded. But he wasn't looking at Ning Rongrong; his gaze was fixed on Xiao Wu.
Xiao Wu stood at the back of the crowd, restless and uneasy. Both hands tightly clutched the hem of her clothes as she stared straight into the depths of the forest.
Xiao Jue narrowed his eyes.
An enormous figure was approaching!
So the tremors were caused by it walking!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
With every step it took, the ground shuddered three times, and the tent poles creaked.
The figure drew closer and closer, roughly pushing aside the treetops...
It was a creature like a mountain, its body covered in black fur that shimmered faintly.
At a glance, it resembled both an ape and a gorilla,
Its entire body was pitch-black, save for a pair of lantern-sized eyes that gleamed like yellow crystal.
"The king of the forest, the Titan Giant Ape?!" Tang San's voice rose to a squeak and cracked.