As time went by, Zhu Zhuqing became increasingly taciturn.
Except when she was forced to speak to Su Cheng, she almost never spoke to anyone else.
Even when teachers asked her questions, she remained silent.
After all, if she displeased Su Cheng, he might try to expel her from the academy.
Even if the teachers were unhappy, they wouldn't necessarily banish her.
However, the bullies clearly wouldn't stop because of her concessions; instead, their attacks became increasingly severe.
From initial isolation and indifference, it gradually escalated into verbal mockery and attacks.
Almost any student would casually say a few words to Zhu Zhuqing upon seeing her; it seemed to have become a habit.
They knew she never knew how to retaliate.
The conflict at the beginning of the semester had made her hesitant to act rashly.
Of course, no one was foolish enough to lay a hand on her.
These people knew exactly where the line was.
Zhu Zhuqing didn't dare to fight back because she was afraid of being expelled from the academy, not because she was less skilled.
With her talent and hard work, among the freshmen, apart from Su Cheng, whose strength remained unknown, no one could rival her.
Moreover, she was from the Zhu family, whose power and status in the Star Luo Empire were second only to the royal Dai family; other noble children couldn't afford to go too far.
Besides, the noble children closest to Su Cheng had secretly conveyed his message:
be careful in your actions, don't cause trouble, and avoid getting the academy teachers involved.
But even this usual cold violence and veiled sarcasm were incredibly damaging to a child.
Zhu Zhuqing's family environment was already extremely dysfunctional.
Since awakening her martial soul, her once close sister had become a completely different person. Gone was the warmth of their past relationship; instead, she was viewed with the eyes of an enemy.
The elders in the family not only didn't stop it, but seemed accustomed to it, even pleased.
After a brief period of confusion and sadness,
she was replaced by resentment, emptiness, and confusion.
The road ahead seemed shrouded in darkness.
She could only desperately search for any glimmer of hope.
However, after leaving her family, Zhu Zhuqing never expected to suffer such immense malice from her peers.
The darkness surrounding her almost crushed her completely.
Soon, more than a year passed, and Zhu Zhuqing became increasingly indifferent.
The only thing she could do was desperately cultivate to improve herself, even to numb herself.
She had no other options.
Her actions over the past year made Su Cheng shake his head inwardly.
Zhu Zhuqing still couldn't understand.
In this academy, no matter how fast one's cultivation improved, how much stronger could one be than others?
What use would it have for her situation?
At the lower levels of Soul Masters, the difference in strength between each other was actually extremely limited. Even if you could suppress someone by a whole realm, you would still be no match for three or five people working together.
Moreover, Zhu Zhuqing didn't dare to make a move in the academy.
The previous incident had already taught her a lesson.
Unless she really wanted to be expelled from the academy, using force was not an option.
Besides, even if she reigned supreme in this small academy, what good would it do?
A much bigger vortex awaited her.
With her current aptitude, no matter how hard she cultivated, she had no chance of escaping it all.
What she was doing now was nothing but a futile struggle.
However, Su Cheng himself hadn't been idle during this year.
Of course, he couldn't spend all his time bullying Zhu Zhuqing.
He could have others do those things; he had many other things to do,
such as improving his cultivation.
Su Cheng had already raised his soul power to level ten, added his first soul ring, and obtained the external soul bone from his talent—the Mask.
The skill effect was simple: after fully understanding a person's appearance, features, and aura, he could use this soul bone to create a corresponding disguise.
It was somewhat similar to the soul bone Qian Renxue used to disguise herself as Xue Qinghe.
However, it was clearly not as powerful as that soul bone at this moment.
The difference was that this soul bone's disguise in appearance and aura was almost flawless, but its weakness was that it could only fool those with similar or slightly higher strength.
If the opponent's soul power level is significantly higher than his own, it's easy to see through their disguise.
However, the most powerful aspect of an external soul bone is its ability to grow with the soul master's level.
As his cultivation improves, he can naturally use it to deceive even stronger opponents.
Besides his cultivation, Su Cheng's research on martial souls is also progressing rapidly.
This is different from his previous simulation.
Back then, he had just entered this world and lacked sufficient understanding of many basic concepts, his knowledge of soul masters was extremely limited, so he spent a lot of time solidifying his foundation.
But now, with his rich accumulation of knowledge and his ability to draw inferences from one instance to another, his learning efficiency is astonishing.
As his research into martial spirits deepened over this period, he discovered that his previous understanding of medicine was somewhat biased.
He had only focused on the human body, but the core of this world lay in bloodlines, and the outward manifestation of bloodlines was the martial spirit.
This profound mystery could not be fully grasped through medicine alone.
Now, with his accumulated medical skills and talent in martial spirit research, he had gained a deeper understanding and awareness of the connection between the human body, bloodlines, and martial spirits.
He even believed that the power within bloodlines might be plunderable, although the conditions for doing so might be extremely demanding and complex, it was by no means impossible.
In fact, this made sense.
The genetic essence of humans wouldn't differ significantly, but the resulting differences in martial spirits were vast.
In fact, in the Douluo world, the differences between people were greater than those between humans and spirit beasts, which clearly indicated something was amiss.
Moreover, where did bloodlines originally come from?
The erosion of true dragon blood? The legacy of transformed spirit beasts? The world laws of Douluo Star?
There was definitely something more fundamental beyond bloodlines.
But what exactly it was, Su Cheng still didn't fully understand.
That day, Su Cheng entered the classroom as usual and sat down next to Zhu Zhuqing at the back.
Zhu Zhuqing was already used to this.
Her delicate and beautiful face was full of indifference, as if she didn't see him at all.
Compared to a year ago, she was now more physically developed, and her appearance was no longer as childish; her stunning beauty was beginning to emerge.
But at the same time, her expression had become even colder than before. Her
eyes were almost devoid of emotion.
If it weren't for her warmth and breath, she would almost look like a dead person.
Su Cheng even noticed that the essence of her martial soul seemed to have improved slightly, although the improvement was extremely minor.
"'Netherworld' Spirit Cat, interesting," Su Cheng thought to himself. "It's about time."
He looked at Zhu Zhuqing, who sat silently beside him as usual, and leaned back.
He said calmly, "Zhu Zhuqing, finals are almost here, and you'll have a few days off. We've known each other for so long, why don't you invite me to your home? I've long admired the renowned Youming Zhu family of the Star Luo Empire." "
?" Zhu Zhuqing was taken aback.
Then she frowned.
She rarely showed her emotions, and now her heart was completely frozen.
Yet, she revealed such obvious rejection.
This was enough to show how much she valued the word "family" and how deeply she disliked Su Cheng.
Seeing that Zhu Zhuqing didn't speak, Su Cheng smiled again, "No matter what, my family is a prestigious family in Star Luo. Even if it can't compare to your Youming Zhu family, it's not far off. If you invite me over, maybe I'll make those people stop targeting you like this in the future."
"I don't need it," Zhu Zhuqing said calmly, her eyes still unmoved.
"Don't rush me, I haven't finished speaking," Su Cheng continued, maintaining his languid posture, speaking softly.
"If you choose to refuse, it won't just be a matter of whether this is targeted at you or not. Actually, if nothing unexpected happened, you could have stayed in this academy for four or five years."
"..."
Zhu Zhuqing stared blankly at Su Cheng.
His face was full of that familiar, gentle smile.
She still remembered the special feeling she had when she first met him.
The resonance of their martial souls, his approachable demeanor, had once made her think that she could find a brief respite here.
Sure enough, fate never let her go.
No one ever let her go.
Her once towering and majestic father, whom she regarded as her pillar of support; her once kind and gentle older sister who had grown up with her; her fiancé with whom she was engaged, whom she thought she could face the future together...
In the end, Zhu Zhuqing sighed softly, her eyes slightly dimming.
"Su Cheng, please let me go."
"Let you go? What are you talking about? Have I done anything to you? Don't jump to conclusions; it sounds like I bullied you."
Su Cheng seemed not to understand her meaning, casually saying, "In my memory, the only time we ever clashed was when you injured me, right?"
He stared into Zhu Zhuqing's eyes, his fingers lightly tapping the desk in front of him.
"You only have a few days left. Think it over carefully. Don't worry, I'm just going to your house. The Zhu family is a prestigious family; what, you don't think I'd cause you any trouble there? You overestimate me." Zhu Zhuqing
gave him a deep look.
After a moment of silence, she said softly, "I understand."
She then stood up, preparing to leave the classroom.
Her face returned to its cold, almost deathly expression.
The brief moment of weakness seemed like an illusion.
Watching her departing figure, Su Cheng's expression turned cold, his fingers still lightly tapping the desk in front of him.
"Zhu Zhuqing, you'd better not let me see that expression on your face again."
...
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