Dugu Feng's unfathomable methods left everyone shaken.
But this was exactly the style of the Dugu Clan—
Killing without a trace.
Zhu Zhuyun could no longer fight. Zhu Zhuqing immediately stepped onto the stage and supported her sister down.
Zhu Zhuyun's face was blank, still unable to process the enormity of her defeat.
Zhu Zhuqing didn't know how to comfort her.
She hadn't expected her sister to lose so miserably—so completely. She could only sigh inwardly, Dugu Feng was simply too strong.
After her own defeat last time, she had sworn to surpass Dugu Feng one day. Now, that oath felt laughable. The gap wasn't shrinking—it was widening.
But Zhu Zhuqing wasn't someone who gave up easily.
She would reach the rank of Titled Douluo and then challenge him again!
A long while later, the sisters returned to their room.
"Zhuqing, go back to the academy. Let me be alone." Zhu Zhuyun said calmly.
Zhu Zhuqing hesitated, but eventually left.Before the battle, her sister had been far too confident but the higher the expectation, the greater the fall.
This wound was one Zhu Zhuyun had to overcome herself.
Zhu Zhuyun sat cross-legged and began restoring her spirit power.
As her meditation deepened, strength gradually returned.
"I wasn't poisoned. During Zhuqing's fight with Dugu Feng, she was clearly poisoned and he treated her afterward.
But after my defeat, he didn't treat me at all.
From the moment I stepped onto the stage, I had used spirit power to seal my senses and protect my entire body. There was no way I could've been poisoned.
And I lost my spirit power without any pain. Why?"
Zhu Zhuyun couldn't figure it out.
Why had her spirit power suddenly vanished during the fight?
"If you want to know why, come find me."
Suddenly, Dugu Feng's voice echoed in her mind.
Zhu Zhuyun froze, glancing around and found nothing.
But that voice… unmistakably his.
She slowly calmed.
There was no doubt that her sudden loss of spirit power had been Dugu Feng's doing.
The Dugu Clan truly was unpredictable.
Fine! she would go see what he wanted.
Zhu Zhuyun didn't rush. She cultivated for another two hours, fully restoring her spirit power and state.
Only then did she change into a tight black leather outfit and walk out.
Dugu Feng's room was close.
She walked straight up and knocked onlu to realize that the door wasn't locked.
"Come in."
His voice drifted out.
Zhu Zhuyun bit her lip and pushed the door open.
Dugu Feng stood by the window, back facing her.
"Dugu Feng, how did you do it?"
Her expression had returned to her usual seductive calm—her voice soft, her gaze gentle.
This alluring charm had once completely ensnared Davis.
"Heh."
Dugu Feng chuckled and turned to face her.
"You want to know how? After all—I'm the one who made you a genius. What do you think I did?"
Zhu Zhuyun blinked, not understanding what he meant.
"Since six years ago, haven't your meridians toughened? Haven't you been able to train longer each day? Hasn't your body grown stronger by the day?"
His tone was cryptic.
Zhu Zhuyun finally reacted.
"That pill you fed me and Zhuqing...on the arena back then?"
Her face paled instantly.
After eating it, she'd undergone dramatic changes, like awakening her martial spirit a second time.
She and her sister had assumed they were prodigies.
But now… it was Dugu Feng's doing.
"Come out, Poison Pearl"
Dugu Feng lifted his hand.
Zhu Zhuyun's body churned and before she could react, her mouth opened on its own.
A jade-green bead flew out, landing in Dugu Feng's palm.
"This… what is this?"
Shock overwhelmed her. Her seductive eyes locked on the bead.
A bead—just a bead—that could transform a person's physique?
What kind of treasure was this?
And it had been inside her for six whole years, all without her knowing.
"This bead is miraculous. One bead is enough to forge a top-tier genius."
Zhu Zhuyun's expression shifted rapidly.
And in her heart deep disappointment bloomed.
So… she wasn't truly that gifted.
"Why did you help us sisters?" she asked quietly, her confidence cracked.
"Help?" Dugu Feng laughed softly. "This bead in your body means I control everything about you.
I can drain your spirit power anytime. I can release poison anytime… and turn you into a skeleton."
He tossed the bead upward.
It floated in the air between them. It was both radiant and ominous.
Zhu Zhuyun stared at it, lips trembling—not knowing what to say.
But strangely enough...she did not feel fear.
Instead, her mind replayed the intoxicating sensation of rapid cultivation over the past few years… all thanks to that bead.
If she lost it—her cultivation speed would return to normal. Davis would surpass her.
And she would become just another "failed" genius in the eyes of the Star Luo nobility.
Her heart wavered.
Suddenly—she smiled seductively.
"Little brother… you gave me that bead when you were seven. Was it because you already liked big sister then?"
She pushed her chest forward, swaying her body, charm on full display.
Dugu Feng glanced at her coldly and sat on the sofa.
"Serve me tonight," he said calmly. "Then you'll remain the number-one genius of the Star Luo Empire. And the one with the best hope of becoming a Titled Douluo."
Her smile froze.
Her face flushed red and green with humiliation.
She felt utterly insulted.
She was the future Empress of Star Luo! A woman destined to become a Titled Douluo—
And he dared treat her like… a common SLUT?
"You… shameless…" Zhu Zhuyun's chest heaved violently. "What do you take me for!?"
Dugu Feng's gaze did not waver. "Zhu Zhuyun...you're a woman of ambition and vanity. But ambition and vanity…" He rose, picked up the bead, and walked toward the bed—"…often require selling yourself to fulfill."
Zhu Zhuyun stiffened.
She looked at him, stunned.
He spoke straight to her soul.
Six years ago, even as she trained hard, she also indulged in the glamorous noble life of Star Luo City.
She loved being admired.
After discovering her "talent," she trained obsessively, justto stand above all others. To be worshipped. To be the strongest.
She dreamed countless times of the day she would become a female Titled Douluo and all of Star Luo would bow before her.
If Bibi Dong could become Pope, then with her talent, why couldn't she?
But today her pride had been shattered.
Zhu Zhuyun turned to leave.
"Sell yourself to achieve your desires…"
"Sell yourself…"
The demonic whisper echoed in her mind, over and over—tempting her and slowing her steps.