After Ju Zi said those words, both sides fell into silence.
The crimson-red firelight reflected in their pupils, leaving only the crackling sound of burning wood and the bubbling of the meat soup.
Because of the existence of that ten-thousand-year Nightmare Man-Eating Flower, basically, no soul beast dared to approach this area. It didn't feel like they were in a soul beast forest at all; it was more like an ancient forest isolated from the rest of the world.
The reason Xu Zihuang dared to light a fire in the Ming Dou Great Forest was, on one hand, the deterrent presence of the Nightmare Man-Eating Flower and, on the other, his confidence in his own strength.
Although the Ming Dou Great Forest was known for producing highly aggressive mutated soul beasts, both the overall quality and quantity of soul beasts were far inferior to those of the Star Dou Great Forest.
With his current strength, he could easily deal with even fifty-thousand-year soul beasts, and in this Ming Dou Great Forest, soul beasts of that cultivation level were absolutely rare. Moreover, the place they were currently in had only just passed the peripheral zone of the Ming Dou Great Forest.
Xu Zihuang poked the campfire with a wooden stick, stirring up sparks that gradually dissipated in mid-air.
From Ju Zi's earlier attitude and tone, he could tell that he had already occupied a certain place in her heart.
Although he knew that most of it was because the dishes he cooked carried the taste of her father, at the very least, his goal had been achieved.
Ju Zi kept her head lowered, her straight legs pressed together, sipping the fragrant meat soup in small mouthfuls. She deliberately avoided Xu Zihuang's gaze, seemingly trying her best to calm her emotions.
"Ah—!"
In this oppressive atmosphere, a sudden scream broke the silence.
Xu Zihuang didn't react much and merely looked toward the all-terrain detection soul tool. Ju Zi, who had been lost in thought, was so startled that the bowl resting on her knees nearly tipped over.
The crystal window of the all-terrain detection soul tool was pushed open, and Ke Ke crawled out from inside.
Her condition was similar to Ju Zi's—her limbs still felt weak. However, thanks to her innate divine strength, she wasn't as bad as Ju Zi, who had almost fallen.
At this moment, she clutched her chest with both hands, her pretty face flushed red, glaring at Xu Zihuang.
"What exactly did you do to me?!"
Although she was glaring, the majority of the emotion in her eyes was actually bashful embarrassment.
"Speak! Did you take off my clothes?!"
Ke Ke felt a surge of frustration in her heart.
Her physical constitution was much stronger than Ju Zi's. Although she and Ju Zi had both been poisoned by that Nightmare Man-Eating Flower's toxin, she had actually remained conscious for the initial period.
She also understood that Yu Tianhuang had saved both her and Ju Zi.
But that still wasn't a reason for this stinking brat to strip her clothes off! Nineteen years of purity, just gone like that?!
Of course, from her very first reaction, it was clear she held an extremely favorable impression of Yu Tianhuang.
If it had been anyone else, she wouldn't have just verbally questioned him—she would have attacked directly.
Ke Ke quickly walked to Ju Zi's side, grabbed Ju Zi's right arm, and hugged it tightly, her voice filled with grievance.
"Wuu wuu, Sister Ju Zi, I was seen completely naked."
As she spoke, she fiercely glared at Xu Zihuang again.
"You tell me, how are you going to take responsibility for this? This lady's nineteen years of purity!"
Xu Zihuang smiled helplessly and said, "Senior Ke Ke, all of this was due to unavoidable circumstances. I can guarantee I didn't do anything improper to you."
Ke Ke, this bold and straightforward girl, seemed to focus on completely different things from normal people. Upon hearing Xu Zihuang's words, she first froze, then immediately furrowed her delicate brows and angrily said,
"What kind of expression is that?! This lady is smart, clever, and cute—are you trying to say I have no charm at all?!"
It carried the distinct flavor of "beast or worse than a beast."
"Alright, Ke Ke. It was I who helped you take off your clothes; he stayed outside the whole time. The plant-type soul beast we encountered earlier is called a Nightmare Man-Eating Flower. You were poisoned by its nightmare toxin, and that toxin can penetrate through the skin. To detoxify it, we had to remove the clothes." Ju Zi comforted Ke Ke while explaining.
For some reason, Ju Zi felt very uncomfortable inside. That strange emotion from earlier surged up again.
Thinking that Ke Ke had indeed been completely seen by Yu Tianhuang, a feeling of oppression and breathlessness rose in her chest. It was jealousy, possessiveness, or perhaps both.
That was why she had said those words—she didn't want Ke Ke and Yu Tianhuang to have this kind of additional ambiguous relationship.
"Sister Ju Zi, is that true?" Ke Ke widened her eyes and looked at Ju Zi.
Ju Zi slowly nodded, returning to her usual demeanor, and said coquettishly,
"Would I have any reason to lie to you?"
Ke Ke pondered for a moment before giving an embarrassed smile and looking at Xu Zihuang.
"Um, sorry about that. I wrongly blamed you."
"It's fine, Senior Ke Ke." Xu Zihuang exchanged a meaningful glance with Ju Zi, then smiled warmly, scooped a bowl of meat soup from the pot, and handed it to Ke Ke.
"Senior Ke Ke, the nightmare toxin from that Man-Eating Flower is very potent. Although the toxin in your body has been cleared, you'll still feel weak for a while. Drink a bowl of meat soup first to recover some strength."
"Then I won't stand on ceremony!"
Ke Ke happily took the soup and drank it without caring about her image. However, neither Ju Zi beside her nor Xu Zihuang across from her noticed that, the instant the porcelain bowl blocked her big eyes, her lips moved slightly.
She was mouthing with lip language: As expected, something is going on between them.
Some of a girl's private undergarments are quite special to put on—she was certain that her clothes had definitely not been put back on by Ju Zi.
And for Ju Zi to deliberately hide that, it was hard not to overthink it.
Ke Ke had a simple personality, but that didn't mean she was stupid. In many cases, she was even more perceptive than Ju Zi.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind.
If that's the case, doesn't that mean Sister Ju Zi was also seen completely naked by him?
At that thought, her gaze toward Ju Zi carried a hint of ambiguous teasing.
"What's wrong?" Ju Zi, feeling guilty, became uncomfortable under Ke Ke's stare, but thinking that Ke Ke was usually very straightforward, she didn't dwell on it.
Ke Ke shook her head vigorously, putting on an innocent expression.
"Nothing, Sister Ju Zi. I was just thinking—this guy's cooking is so good; the meat soup he makes is even better than yours."
After saying that, her gaze fell back on Xu Zihuang, a strange light flickering in her beautiful eyes.
"Hmph, you got lucky this time, stinking brat. If you were just a few years older, this lady would definitely latch onto you no matter what. But for now, hehe, I'll leave him to Sister Ju Zi. You were the one teasing me earlier about an age gap of five years being like an old hen, but it seems Sister Ju Zi is the one who wants to play the role of the old hen."
After a few bowls of meat soup, both Ke Ke and Ju Zi felt warm all over, indescribably comfortable. Even the feeling of weakness in their bodies was greatly alleviated.
The two girls leaned against the campfire, warming themselves by the fire.
The Ming Dou Great Forest was located in the southern part of the continent, and it was currently summer, so logically, the night temperature shouldn't be too low. However, because their bodies were severely exhausted and blood circulation was poor, their limbs were ice-cold. Sitting by the fire helped alleviate it somewhat.
Xu Zihuang had clearly considered this, and all of these small details continued to subtly increase Ju Zi's and Ke Ke's favorable impression of him.
However, precisely because their bodies were so exhausted, for the next few days, Ju Zi and Ke Ke would be unable to use their martial souls or soul power to fight.
Night gradually deepened. The dense, lush trees blocked the light of the stars and the moon. The three people in the Ming Dou Great Forest felt as if they had fallen into endless darkness. Only the firelight from the campfire preserved the last piece of pure land.
Xu Zihuang took out the two skull soul bones from the Double-Headed Nether Wolf from his storage soul tool.
The semi-transparent, crystal-like small bones emitted a faint greenish glow, instantly attracting Ju Zi's and Ke Ke's attention.
"These are skull soul bones?! And two of them?!" Ke Ke couldn't help exclaiming.
Ju Zi was also surprised: "These two soul bones couldn't have come from that Double-Headed Nether Wolf, right?"
The greenish glow emitted by the soul bones felt very similar to the sensation given off when that Double-Headed Nether Wolf used its Light of Nothingness, making it easy to connect the three.
"Senior Ju Zi is correct. These two soul bones indeed came from that Double-Headed Nether Wolf. Perhaps because it was a mutated soul beast, by some stroke of luck, it dropped these two identical skull soul bones. I can confirm that the soul skills attached to these two soul bones are the same virtualization skill that the Double-Headed Nether Wolf used, and they can be absorbed by soul masters with any martial soul without causing rejection. Since we came out to train together, Senior Ju Zi and Senior Ke Ke naturally have a share as well."
As he spoke, Xu Zihuang used his soul power to guide the two soul bones, floating them in front of the two girls, hovering in the air and pulsing gently.
Even if he fused these two soul bones into a higher-quality one, it still wouldn't catch his eye, so he had no intention of secretly keeping them for himself—he wouldn't stoop to that, nor did he need to.
"Soul bones, ah…" Ke Ke cupped one of the soul bones with both hands, her eyes filled with fascination.
In the Sun Moon Empire, soul beast resources were far inferior to the original three empires of the Douluo Continent, and circulating soul bones on the market were even rarer.
Coming from a commoner background, this was actually the first time Ke Ke had been in such close contact with a soul bone. After all, even a relatively low-quality thousand-year soul bone could sell for hundreds of thousands or nearly a million gold soul coins.
They were always in high demand and short supply at major auction houses.
However, her gaze didn't linger on it for long. She pushed the soul bone back to Xu Zihuang and said in an old-fashioned tone,
"That Double-Headed Nether Wolf was killed by you, so these two soul bones have nothing to do with me. Besides, I'm a mid-to-long-range burst-type soul mentor; fusing a virtualization skill wouldn't be very useful for me. I appreciate your kindness, but this lady can't just accept your benefits for free."
"Ke Ke is right; these two soul bones should rightfully be yours." Ju Zi gave the same response.
"I've heard that on your original Douluo Continent side, there is a method to synthesize soul bones. It would be best to synthesize these two soul bones first and then absorb the result to maximize their effect. You might want to find an opportunity to fuse them—Shrek Academy should have control over such a method."
"Soul bone synthesis?" Ke Ke looked blankly at Ju Zi, not expecting Ju Zi to know such a secret.
Ju Zi could only give Ke Ke a brief explanation.
Just like the most advanced soul tools researched by the Illustrious Virtue Hall of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy, the soul bone synthesis technology on the original Douluo Continent side was also highly confidential. Ordinary people didn't even know that soul bones of the same type could be fused.
Since both Ju Zi and Ke Ke had said so, Xu Zihuang naturally didn't refuse further and stored the two soul bones back into his storage soul tool.
At that moment, a series of piercing "chirp chirp" sounds suddenly rang out, and shadows leaped toward them from the nearby mountain range.
They seemed organized, surrounding Xu Zihuang's group of three but not daring to approach rashly.
Shadows could be seen among the tree crowns and treetops.
"Soul beasts are approaching."
Ju Zi and Ke Ke immediately became alert, while Xu Zihuang signaled them to remain calm. His brilliant golden eyes flashed with golden light.
"It's a group of Blazing Fire Monkeys that came down from the mountain range where those Nether Wolves lived earlier. They should be here to seize territory."
Blazing Fire Monkeys were a very common type of soul beast—fire attribute, lived in groups, had extremely explosive tempers, and held grudges fiercely. If classified like soul masters, they belonged to the agility-attack system and were especially skilled at long-range fire attribute attacks.
Xu Zihuang guessed correctly. The Nether Wolf pack, led by the Double-Headed Nether Wolf, had clashed several times with this Blazing Fire Monkey group over territory. The overall strength of the two groups was roughly equal.
However, because the individual strength of the Double-Headed Nether Wolf slightly surpassed that of the Blazing Fire Monkey group's leader—a four-thousand-year Blazing Fire Monkey King—the monkey group hadn't gained much advantage in previous confrontations.
Now that the Double-Headed Nether Wolf had fallen to Xu Zihuang, and sensing that the leader's aura had vanished, the Blazing Fire Monkey group immediately came looking for trouble.
People say wolf-type soul beasts are cunning and vindictive, but ape-type soul beasts weren't much better.
"Senior Ju Zi, Senior Ke Ke, leave it to me." Xu Zihuang stood up calmly. A tangible wave of spiritual undulation, centered on his body, instantly enveloped a two-kilometer radius.
A flash of brilliant golden spiritual light passed by, the dazzling golden radiance carrying the majesty of one who ruled over the world.
Then Ju Zi and Ke Ke heard the "thump thump" sounds of the Blazing Fire Monkeys falling from the treetops and crowns to the ground, as well as the terrified cries of the leading Blazing Fire Monkey King.
The one most shocked and doubtful was none other than the Blazing Fire Monkey King itself.
It was horrifying to discover that nearly two hundred of its subordinates had lost consciousness without exception, even including three thousand-year-old Blazing Fire Monkeys.
And it, too, under that terrifying spiritual pressure, became dispirited and fled in panic.
This was naturally Xu Zihuang's doing.
What he had used was precisely the "Overlord's Presence" taught to him by Old Mu, but executed purely through spiritual power.
It possessed the effect of shocking and impacting the spiritual sea and mind.
It could be incorporated into any of his spiritual-attribute soul skills.
For example, his fifth soul skill, Mental Storm, after integrating Overlord's Presence, would gain the special effect of Overlord's Presence.
This was also why he had decided to attach only spiritual-attribute soul rings to the remaining positions of his Golden Pupil martial soul in the future.
Xu Zihuang had still shown mercy; otherwise, with his spiritual strength, this entire group of Blazing Fire Monkeys would have perished here.
"Was that a soul skill you just used?" Ju Zi and Ke Ke asked, dumbfounded.
Instantly defeating an entire soul beast group with one move completely surpassed their understanding.
Was this really just Soul King level? As fellow Soul Kings, they were more than just a little behind Yu Tianhuang.
Xu Zihuang calmly sat back down.
"It wasn't a soul skill; it was merely a method of applying spiritual power. You can think of it as a special combat technique."
Ju Zi and Ke Ke exchanged glances but didn't embarrass themselves by asking further questions.
The three sat around the campfire chatting, and the night passed just like that.
Because Ju Zi and Ke Ke were in poor physical condition, they stayed in this spot for a full seven days.
The responsibility of protecting them naturally fell on Xu Zihuang. During those seven days, however, they encountered soul beasts only a handful of times. The few that occasionally approached seemed to fear this place greatly—perhaps aware of the Nightmare Man-Eating Flower's presence—and only watched from the periphery.
Those few soul beasts were all driven away by Xu Zihuang in the same manner as the Blazing Fire Monkey group.
Other than that, Xu Zihuang also took care of all three meals each day.
If not for the ambiguous relationship between Ju Zi and Yu Tianhuang, Ke Ke—whose stomach had long been conquered by Xu Zihuang—might have wavered and decided to throw herself at him.
Only after seven full days did the three finally continue moving along the periphery of the Ming Dou Great Forest, testing the performance of the all-terrain detection soul tool. Heading south, they could clearly feel the temperature rising.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are the chapters for today (づ￣3￣)づ╭～
"Don't forget there are 40 early chapters available on Patreon
[email protected]/facficmax10--------(@→a)