Zhu Zhuqing paused for a moment, as if engraving that vow deep into her soul. Then she spoke with absolute clarity and unwavering determination.
"I know how I should walk my path now."
Lin Xia looked at the stubborn flame burning in her eyes and finally slowly withdrew his hand, a faint, approving smile of true relief appearing on his face.
"Good."
The next few days of travel changed completely.
Lin Xia kept his promise and did not rush back to that suffocating cage.
The carriage no longer raced along the main official roads. Instead, it moved at a relaxed pace, wheels rolling slowly as it passed through small towns filled with everyday life and slightly larger cities along the way.
In the bustling market of Linshui Town, Zhu Zhuqing was handed a crystal sugar phoenix coated in amber syrup by Lin Xia.
At first, she only held it carefully, watching the lifelike wings refract rainbow light under the sun.
Only when Lin Xia smiled and nodded did she cautiously extend her small tongue and lick the tip of the hardened, sweet wing.
A pure, childlike sense of satisfaction instantly swept away the last trace of gloom between her brows. Those black obsidian-like eyes curved for the first time into bright crescents under the sunlight.
In an old teahouse in Windmill City, they sat by the second-floor window.
Below them, a storyteller's rhythmic voice narrated how, hundreds of years ago, a Soul Master turned the tide of a desperate battle and defeated a powerful enemy.
Zhu Zhuqing held her warm teacup of jasmine-scented tea, completely absorbed.
When she heard that the Soul Master, at the moment his Soul Power was exhausted, still unleashed a fatal strike driven purely by instinct and will, her fingers unconsciously tightened around the cup. Her knuckles turned pale, and the flame in her eyes quietly burned a little brighter.
Lin Xia noticed but did not point it out, only gently blowing away the steam from his teacup.
The most unforgettable moment was a quiet night by the Star luo River.
Countless lanterns of all shapes floated down the clear river, carrying different wishes and turning the entire river into a flowing band of light.
Lin Xia bought two simple lotus lanterns.
Zhu Zhuqing learned from him, crouching by the riverbank and carefully placing her own lantern lit with a small candle, into the water.
The flickering candlelight reflected on her focused little face. She watched her lantern sway and merge into the river of light, drifting toward an unknown future, as if her heavy, unbearable past was also being carried away by the current.
She stood up, night wind brushing her bangs. Under the reflection of stars and river lights, her gaze became clearer and more determined than ever before.
When the familiar, oppressive silhouette of Star Luo City finally rose before them, Zhu Zhuqing's carefree, childlike smile vanished like a flame plunged into ice water.
But this time, it was replaced not by fear or confusion, but by a calm almost bordering on indifference.
She straightened her small back, staring at the massive city gate like a soldier about to step onto a battlefield, silently inspecting her armor and blade.
The carriage rolled across the huge blue stone slabs, passed through the noisy streets, and finally stopped in front of the Zhu Clan's heavy black gates engraved with the ferocious Hell Spirit Cat emblem.
With a heavy creak, the gates slowly opened inward, revealing the familiar, dimly lit inner estate that seemed to never receive much sunlight.
An invisible, cold, and oppressive pressure immediately surged forward from the main hall, as if even the air had solidified.
In the Zhu Estate's main hall, the space was so empty that even the faint crackling of candle flames could be heard.
Light slanted in from high windows, but it could not dispel the chill filling the vast room.
The air was as dense as frozen mercury—each breath felt heavy and restrictive.
Zhu Zhan stood with his back to the entrance, facing a majestic painting of a tiger descending a mountain, hands behind his back.
He did not turn around. Yet his silent figure alone felt like an ancient block of ice, radiating a chilling pressure capable of freezing blood, making the entire hall feel lower and more suffocating.
Lin Xia and Zhu Zhuqing had just stepped over the unusually high threshold into this suffocating domain when a low, thunderous roar suddenly exploded in their ears.
"On your knees!"
The voice was not loud, but it carried the terrifying pressure of an Soul Douluo level pressure, crashing down like an invisible hammer.
The air trembled violently. Heavy curtains billowed outward.
The servants inside the hall were already pale with terror, wishing they could bury their heads into the cracks of the floor, their bodies shaking uncontrollably.
Under this overwhelming pressure, Zhu Zhuqing's body swayed violently. Her face instantly lost its last trace of color, pale as fragile paper.
A primal fear from deep within her soul almost forced her knees to buckle.
However, just as her knees were about to touch the cold black crystal floor, Lin Xia's earlier words—"climb to a height where they can only look up at you"—flashed through her mind like molten iron.
She bit down hard on her lower lip, using every ounce of strength in her body to suppress the urge to kneel!
Her small, still undeveloped chest rose and fell violently. She exerted herself so much that her lip broke, and a thin trail of blood with a faint metallic taste slowly ran down the corner of her mouth.
Yet she still forcibly straightened her slender frame, so thin it seemed like it could snap in half at any moment like a blade of grass stubbornly rooted in a storm. She lifted her chin slightly, her gaze unwavering, staring blankly yet directly at her father's back, which radiated bone-chilling coldness.
Tears spun wildly in her eyes, but were forcibly locked in place by an even stronger will, refusing to fall even a single drop.
Lin Xia stepped forward half a pace without changing expression, standing just in front of Zhu Zhuqing, subtly sharing part of the mountain-like pressure bearing down on her.
He lowered his head slightly, posture respectful, his voice steady and calm, carrying no discernible emotion.
"Patriarch Zhu, please calm your anger. Zhuqing is still young. It was my oversight, I brought her out of the residence. All responsibility lies with me."
Zhu Zhan finally turned around slowly.
That face, carved with sharp, blade-like lines, showed no expression at all, only a frozen, indifferent stillness.
However, in the depths of his sunken eyes, his gaze was as sharp as ice-coated venomous needles, filled with scrutiny, disappointment, and an undisguised, condescending anger. It stabbed fiercely into Lin Xia, then shifted to the small, stubborn figure standing behind him.
"Your responsibility?"
Zhu Zhan's voice was as cold as a breaking glacier.
"Lin Xia, don't blame me for speaking harshly. You are indeed talented, but your mission here is to assist His Majesty in repairing the imperial national artifact. Not to take my Zhu family's daughter, an already designated Star Luo Prince to leave the residence without permission, show disrespect to authority, and remain missing for nearly a month!"
His speech was unhurried, yet every word fell like an ice hailstone, heavy and piercing.
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