Chapter 118: As Long As One's Skin Is Thick

"Lower back?"

Qin Jian subconsciously shifted his gaze downward...

First the undulating peaks, then the slender waist, and finally the rounded, jade-like curves...

The scenery was delightful, a feast for the eyes.

"You wait a moment, I'll go fetch some water..."

Qin Jian stood up and walked toward the lakeside, appearing cautious but actually swaggering.

Zhu Zhuqing watched his back with her beautiful eyes, as if there was something more in her gaze, yet it remained unclear.

Reaching the lake, Qin Jian took an empty bottle from his Soul Guidance Device and began to fill it with a gurgling sound...

"Splash..."

With a slight sound of water and gentle ripples, two large, lantern-like eyes appeared beneath the surface; looking closely, one could see a cow's head as massive as a small hill, looming in and out of sight.

Tianqing Niumang!

"Da Ming, cooperate, don't make a sound..."

Qin Jian smiled slightly at the lake surface.

As long as he returned here, his heart would become very calm.

Although his voice was very soft, Tianqing Niumang clearly heard it; it nodded gently, stirred up another wave, and then slowly sank down...

When Qin Jian finished filling the water and stood up to walk back, his mouth suddenly twitched, and his head was covered in black lines.

Because Taitan was standing like a small hill in a direction Zhu Zhuqing couldn't currently see, and there was even a large pink Rabbit on top of its head.

"Xiao Qing, why do you always bring pretty girls home every time you come back?"

A woman's slightly teasing voice appeared in Qin Jian's mind.

Qin Jian could not converse with her now, and even more so had to pretend he didn't see them, so he could only walk back without saying a word.

Then he noticed Taitan tiptoeing forward a few steps, arriving behind the tree Zhu Zhuqing was leaning against, and just like that, it and the pink Rabbit looked down at the area under the tree.

The corner of Qin Jian's eye twitched.

It was also his first time knowing that such a massive Taitan had such good micro-control, actually not making a single sound...

"Xiao Qing, this little girl doesn't look even fifteen yet, how is she so well-developed?" The woman's voice actually carried a hint of amazement.

Then Qin Jian's gaze also uncontrollably swept toward Zhu Zhuqing, tracing the beautiful scenery once more.

She only had level 27 soul power, not even as high as Shui Bing'er and Huo Wu; how was she stimulated by soul power to become like this? Her martial soul, the Nether Spirit Cat, didn't have this characteristic either... This was metaphysics...

"Should I help you clean it, or will you do it yourself?" Qin Jian squatted down beside Zhu Zhuqing and asked.

Zhu Zhuqing said in a low voice: "Thank you, I'll do it myself..."

Qin Jian handed over the water bottle, then turned around and said: "I'll be behind the tree; call me if you need anything."

Seeing that he had no intention of taking advantage of her, Zhu Zhuqing couldn't help but feel relieved.

She leaned against the tree trunk and sat up slowly, then struggled to take off her top, revealing her snow-white, jade-like skin...

And just at this moment, Taitan, who had originally turned away like Qin Jian and was not looking at Zhu Zhuqing, suddenly rolled its copper-bell-like eyes, then quietly reached its hand behind itself and touched the tree trunk Zhu Zhuqing was leaning against very lightly...

"Ah..."

The sudden tremor of the tree trunk startled Zhu Zhuqing, and it also made her hand unsteady; she let out a cry of surprise and her body tilted to one side.

"Whoosh!"

Qin Jian reacted extremely quickly, appearing beside Zhu Zhuqing almost instantly, and subconsciously caught her...

The skin was smooth and greasy, soft as if boneless...

Both of them were stunned...

Zhu Zhuqing had never imagined that one day she would be held by a young man while her upper body was bare; her entire brain was blank at this moment.

Qin Jian was slightly more experienced, after all... *cough*...

He quickly helped her sit upright as if nothing had happened, then took the bottle from her hand and said casually: "Your injuries are too severe; it's easy for something to go wrong if you clean them yourself. Let me do it."

Without waiting for Zhu Zhuqing to respond, he very naturally poured some clean water into his palm and then wiped it onto her smooth lower back...

Zhu Zhuqing widened her eyes; that little expression was already a sign that her soul had flown away.

Qin Jian was very calm, even giving a mental thumbs-up to Taitan, who hadn't turned its head to look but still managed to provide a perfect assist.

"Xiao Qing's thick skin now... is already so thick that even I, your aunt, can't break through it."

The woman's teasing voice continued to ring in his heart; Qin Jian's expression remained unchanged, still immersed in that ultimate tactile sensation...

The cleaning process was neither long nor short, but Qin Jian did not deliberately drag it out.

He then took out the Temporary Treatment Box, wrapped a bandage around Zhu Zhuqing's small waist, and only then helped her put her clothes back on, even carefully zipping the zipper and buttoning the buttons...

"Done..."

He very calmly helped Zhu Zhuqing lean back against the tree trunk again; the whole process took place while she was in a daze, very naturally.

"You... how could you..."

After her clothes were back on, Zhu Zhuqing finally regained some clarity, and then that originally cold and aloof expression could no longer be held together: "I don't even know who you are, how could you touch my body..."

"That's a really interesting thing to say. Xiao Qing, did you tell her that she could let you touch her if you told her your name?" The woman's voice rang in his mind again.

So Qin Jian smiled and said: "Then let me introduce myself. My name is Qin Jian, from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and I am the personal disciple of the Honorary Elder, Jian Douluo."

There was nothing to hide; he laid it all out directly.

"I came to the Star Dou Great Forest to obtain my Third Soul Ring, and then I met you." He spread his hands and said.

"Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect... Jian Douluo..."

Zhu Zhuqing looked at him intently: "You actually have such a powerful background..."

"What about you? Is your name Zhu Zhuqing?" Qin Jian asked.

"How do you know my name?" Zhu Zhuqing asked.

Qin Jian shrugged: "Of course, it was what those people called you when they were hunting you down."

"Hmm... I come from the Zhu Family, a noble family of the Star Luo Empire..." Zhu Zhuqing said in a low voice.

Qin Jian began to ask while knowing the answer: "Listening to what they said just now, why does it sound like your own family is hunting you down?"

Zhu Zhuqing's gaze became somewhat dim: "Yes... they were all sent by my older sister..."

"Your own sister?" Qin Jian pressed.

"My own sister."

Zhu Zhuqing nodded and said: "The Star Luo Empire is not quite the same as the Heaven Dou Empire; from the royal family down to the nobles, they all advocate the 'gu' cultivation theory, where every generation of heirs is the result of desperate fighting... and I am the thorn in my sister Zhu Zhuyun's side."

"Do you hate her?" Qin Jian asked.

"Of course I hate her..."

Zhu Zhuqing's eyes sank, and she quietly clenched her little cat claws: "I don't just hate her, I hate the entire family! A place that has had no warmth or care since childhood, only bloodshed, cannot be called a home at all!"

"I would rather have been born into an ordinary family..."

She said gloomily: "I don't want endless fighting, I don't want the family's arrangements; I only want to live well, to live for myself..."

Qin Jian looked at her, actually wanting to ask if she still wanted that marriage contract given by the family...

Progress 21/59

(End of this chapter)