Chapter 55
Zhu Zhuqing stood silently behind Lin Bai, her cold gaze sweeping across the monster horde gathered outside the market. The shadows under her feet stirred restlessly, the edges sharpening as though itching to strike.
"Beautiful lady, you look like you're alone. Want to team up with us? Safer in numbers,"
Dai Mubai's voice carried a confident, practiced warmth, his heterochromatic eyes gleaming with a dangerous sort of charm. He knew how to approach cold types like her. Start easy, break the distance, then close the gap. Seventy percent chance she'd at least be intrigued.
"Scram."
Zhu Zhuqing's reply was flat and sharp, her words like a knife. A faint, dark mist swirled around her brow, obscuring the external soul bone embedded there. The shadow beneath her feet twisted into clawed shapes, coiling menacingly. Her Shadow Elvis Martial Spirit growled low, a threatening sound barely heard over the noise of the restless market.
Dai Mubai froze.
He knew her. Of course he knew her. But this Zhu Zhuqing… felt different. Darker. Stronger. Colder.
Guilt flickered across his expression, only for a moment, before he forced a strained smile.
"Zhu Zhuqing?" he muttered awkwardly. "Word reached us your martial soul mutated. Congrats… on escaping your family's control."
It sounded casual. It wasn't. He had left. Ran from Xingluo City's brutal succession bloodbath. She hadn't. The Dai family already arranged another marriage alliance for him, pairing him with a different Zhu clan girl. In a year or two, she'd grow up by his side until the next power struggle began.
But things were different now. He wasn't that same cornered heir. After clearing an S-rank dungeon with Oscar and Ma Hongjun, he'd obtained the Nether Monk class. It elevated his White Tiger spirit and opened a future he could chase on his own terms.
His gaze flickered to Zhu Zhuqing's shadows again. Her level might be lower, but the pressure she gave off felt heavier. More dangerous. Her mutated spirit… perhaps even above his own.
"The past is past," he said stiffly, straightening. "I'm Dai Mubai, student of Shrek Academy. My teacher and friends are over there. If anything happens, find us. Teacher Zhao's a Qi Ring Soul Saint, adventurer level forty and up. He can keep you safe."
He didn't wait for her to answer, turning and walking off, trying to carry himself with the same confidence he always did.
Zhu Zhuqing's fists clenched by her sides.
Coward.
In her bleakest moments, he ran. And now he spoke to her as if nothing happened, without a hint of apology.
"Zhuqing, who was that?"
Xiao Wu, ever the one chasing gossip, sidled up to her with a curious look.
"Just a coward. Not worth remembering."
The conversation ended there. The monster roars outside the walls swallowed everything else.
Zhu Zhuqing's gaze turned back to the battlefield, her shadow curling around her feet. The surrounding soul masters instinctively gave her space. No one wanted to provoke a Shadow Master, especially one this cold.
The air grew heavy, tension thickening like a storm about to break.
Then it came.
A long, shrill warhorn cut through the sky.
The monsters charged.
Ghouls. Terrain dragons. Death birds. Abominations. Treemen. Gargoyles. Ice wolves. One after another, maddened beasts driven by demonic energy surged toward the defenses.
Poof! Poof!
Arrows fired from the walls, piercing flesh and wings. Most of the lower-level soul masters stayed back, bows in hand. No one wanted to engage these things up close unless they had no choice. Survival first. Glory later.
Lin Bai's Ruyi Qiankun Spear appeared in his grip with a flash of light. His Light and Dark Demonic Body activated, pupils shimmering between white brilliance and dark shadow. The weapon in his hand reflected the duality of his power, the very air around him warping.
"Stay close. Don't get reckless."
Zhu Zhuqing didn't need the reminder. The warning was mostly for Xiao Wu, who huffed in protest but activated her Soft-Bone Rabbit martial spirit all the same. White ears popped up, her soul power crackling.
The monsters trampled over the makeshift trenches, heedless of the corpses of their own kind. Blood quickly soaked the earth, and the scent of iron thickened the air.
From above, plague bats and death birds swooped. Arrows flew, but aerial targets were harder to strike. Most flying-type soul masters stayed grounded, unwilling to become easy prey.
Lin Bai noted the hesitation. The Soul Saint commander wouldn't intervene unless things got out of hand.
"Xiaotian—Dragon's Dive."
With a sharp whistle, his dragon mount descended. Lin Bai vaulted onto its back in one smooth motion, man and beast moving as one.
Twelve spears formed in his hands, light and dark swirling together.
He flung them skyward.
Tch-tch-tch-tch!
Twelve monsters fell from the air in perfect unison, each weapon piercing through a skull or chest.
The battle was just getting started.
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