"Zhu Qing's" Question

Good times always seem fleeting, and soon three days had passed.

Our friend Zuzong and the girl "Zhu Qing" had become quite familiar with each other. Every day, Zuzong either used the Nine Yang Divine Skill to treat Zhu Qing's damaged meridians or prepared delicious food for her, sharing interesting stories from the past about Blue Star. This made Zhu Qing, who initially had a cold persona, soften into a gluttonous, story-loving little girl.

At first, Zhu Qing had resisted.

However, Zuzong wasn't one to force things. He casually mentioned that there would be scars left in the future (a lie), and immediately, the little girl quieted down.

According to Zhu Qing, since she had already been examined, it would be a huge loss if there were scars left. But don't misunderstand; he had only exposed the injured area on her abdomen.

Taking a bite of a freshly picked wild fruit, Zuzong asked, "Zhu Qing, how is your injury healing?"

"Hmm! It's almost healed," Zhu Qing nodded in response.

Initially, Zhu Qing had thought that Zuzong was taking advantage of her when he used his special soul power to heal her. But as time passed, the speed at which her injuries healed was remarkably fast.

Even with high-grade medicines provided by Zuzong, without a healing soul master, it would have taken ten days to half a month to recover. Yet, she had nearly healed completely in just two to three days.

This made her increasingly curious about this very good-looking boy.

As she got to know him better, excluding odd terms like "nani" , she learned an important piece of information: he was an orphan, and his trip to the Star Dou Forest was to hunt for soul rings.

This made her think about herself.

Comparing herself to him, was she lucky or unlucky? No matter how cold the Zhu family was, she still had a mother who loved her.

What did he have?

Why could he remain so optimistic?

With these questions on her mind, Zhu Qing fell into deep thought, even forgetting the wild fruit she was eating.

"After we finish eating, I'll take you out of the Star Dou Forest and see if you can contact your other 'elders'!"

As he spoke, Zuzong set up a grill for today's main course—steak, thanks to the selfless donation of a ten-year-old soul beast, the Azure Bull.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Qing's body shivered, and the wild fruit she was eating slipped from her hand and fell to the ground. "Are you leaving?"

These three days had been the happiest for Zhu Qing—free from the fear of being assassinated by her sister, no worries about training, and no thoughts about her degenerate "fiancé." She had started to enjoy her life here until Zuzong mentioned sending her back, and only then did she realise how much she would miss it.

"Yes, my third soul ring is still unclaimed! My goal is to hunt a thousand-year-old Pit Spider and I plan to try my luck in the Sunset Forest."

Zhu Qing was no longer surprised that Zuzong was hunting for his third soul ring. After all, he was someone who could easily kill a Soul Venerable.

Zhu Qing said: "Then be careful!"

Leaving here meant returning to a life full of anxiety and fear.

With these mixed feelings, Zhu Qing asked a question that had puzzled her for years, "Zuzong, do you think fate really can't be changed?"

Fate ?

Zuzong was taken aback by the question.

"Whoosh—" He casually threw the remaining fruit pit like a shuriken, embedding it into the cave wall.

"It seems this girl, despite coming from a noble family, has a lot of schemes regarding fate!"

"If I tell this girl the answer she wants to hear, she will definitely try to change her so-called fate!"

Zuzong thought to himself.

But unfortunately, he wouldn't do that. Arbitrarily agreeing or disagreeing with someone's efforts was arrogant.

Picking up a piece of dry wood, Zuzong stirred the fire and said seriously, "Actually, often, ordinary people can't change their fate, just like this kindling, which is weak and easily manipulated. It's pushed around until it burns out. At that point, I think, while being controlled, I try to find ways to change things. If I can't, then so be it. I'll see where I can be pushed to, how far I can go. Even if the result is bad, I've at least enjoyed the scenery along the way."

As he said this, Zuzong couldn't help but think.

If he hadn't activated the "stealing system" before awakening his martial soul, or if his luck had been bad and he had only stolen the Body Transformation Pill from Gu He, he might be a useless person or even dead by now!

Upon hearing this, Zhu Qing fell silent.

Since birth, she had been burdened with a cruel fate, forced to kill her own sister. Even though she had never wanted to harm her sister, the sister would still harm her out of self-preservation. This was everything the children of the Zhu family of the Star Luo Empire had to endure.

This struggle had lasted for countless generations.

"But I'm not an ordinary person." With a change of tone, Zuzong gathered his soul power. The Blue Silver Emperor transformed into a blazing state, enveloping the fire pit. Zuzong picked up a piece of dry wood and tried to stir the fire, but before it could even touch the fire pit, it was incinerated by the Blue Silver Emperor's intense heat.

"What's this?" Zhu Qing's eyes sparkled with bright light. "Your martial soul? A fire attribute plant-type martial soul."

Putting away the Blue Silver Emperor, Zuzong first nodded, then shook his head. He countered with a question, "Do you still believe that people can change their fate?"

"I think I understand what path I should take in the future."

Zuzong (confused): What did you understand? I was just showing off, hey!

As he said this, Zhu Qing walked to the fire pit and took the grill from Zuzong.

"Hey, really? You can still grill meat?" Zuzong widened his eyes in disbelief. Wasn't she supposed to be a young lady from a rich family, completely inexperienced with such things?

Glancing at Zuzong, Zhu Qing pouted and said, "I've watched you grill meat every day for the past few days, and I learned a bit. Since we're parting ways, I don't know when we'll meet again, so let me show you my cooking skills."

Though she said that, Zhu Qing was still unsure. After all, she rarely had time to practice cooking at home, and grilling meat was even more unfamiliar to her. She simply thought that putting the meat near the fire for a while and then adding some seasoning would be enough.

Ten minutes later, the cave was filled with the smell of burnt steak. 

Taking the steak Zhu Qing handed over, Zuzong found it turned into a piece of dried meat. Swallowing, he took a bite under Zhu Qing's eager gaze.

It was terrible, extremely terrible. The outside was burnt while the inside was still raw, with blood oozing out. Don't talk to him about myoglobin; he couldn't care less.

But who is Zuzong? Even if it was bad, he culdn't hurt Zhu Qing's confidence! So he ate it with gusto and even encouraged her to eat more.

As Zuzong put it: It's burnt, but it's crunchy and crispy!

Zhu Qing, believing him, naturally took a bite.

As the steak entered her mouth, Zhu Qing's face turned pale. "Pfft!"

"Hahaha," seeing Zhu Qing's embarrassed expression, Zuzong couldn't help but laugh heartily.

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