Chapter 36: 35. Zoe

35. Zoe

The young girl clasped her hands tightly in front of her chest, as if trying to find strength for herself.

"Dad's notes, the ruins from just now... I understand everything now, I know that I have a very crucial connection with the Star Soul.

"I'm scared, I'm really scared. The crying of those girls who felt so much like me keeps lingering in my mind...

"But,"

Zoe locked her gaze firmly with Li Ang's.

"What I'm more afraid of is eating alone, sleeping alone, walking through villages alone, wandering aimlessly across the grasslands alone, climbing mountains alone, practicing swordplay alone, waiting alone forever, and looking at the edge of the sky alone, not knowing what lies there.

"That ruin holds clues about my mom and dad; I don't want it to be destroyed.

"Li Ang, I don't want to see you get hurt, not even a little bit."

"What I'm truly afraid of is hiding behind you, and then, losing someone once again."

"Now, I shouldn't have anything to be afraid of anymore."

The young girl raised both hands, grabbed the edge of her helmet, lifted it up, and shook it from side to side, letting her slightly curly chestnut hair loosen and fall down.

"Hey, what are you doing!"

Removing the helmet meant that the spiritual barrier spell Li Ang had inscribed was rendered ineffective.

He reached out to press the helmet back onto her head, but the girl had already jumped to the ground a step ahead of him, not even taking her sword.

If he followed her, the magic he had gathered halfway through casting would dissipate, resulting in a significant loss, and it would be hard to say whether he could still unleash his ultimate technique by then.

"Come back, you idiot! You don't need to sacrifice yourself for others to take down this snake," Li Ang shouted in a hurry.

"It's not a sacrifice, and it's not for others."

The young girl turned around, her hair brushing against her cheeks, a gentle expression appearing on her face, which was beautiful to the point of being unreal.

"Li Ang, when it seemed like the whole world was about to be destroyed, you still smiled at me so gently. I felt a tingling sensation all over my body, it felt so warm.

"The battle happened too fast. I'm sorry, I haven't participated in many battles, and I never imagined things would become this dangerous."

Zoe walked toward the Earth Serpent.

"These five days have felt like a dream to me.

"If it weren't for Li Ang, I would still be misunderstanding my mom and dad. If it weren't for Li Ang, I wouldn't have dared to imagine the outside world at all, only thinking of myself as an unwanted child, a freak in the eyes of the villagers. I didn't know how long such days would go on.

"I am truly, truly, truly grateful. Because I wanted a friend, I took the initiative to find you, even if it was unreasonable to challenge you to a duel—I didn't know it was unreasonable back then.

"I want even more than that, to have Li Ang in my life; how could I ever bear to let myself die?"

Even though the ground had been torn apart by the earthquake and the debris of the crystal dome overhead had destroyed it further, making it completely impossible to walk, this could not stop the young girl's steps.

In Li Ang's eyes, Zoe's feet were not stepping on the ground, but rather as if she were treading on an invisible surface of water, each step triggering a ripple of spreading light.

Every few steps she took, she would turn back to look at Li Ang.

"Li Ang, do you know? I think I must have known you a long time ago.

"When I found the cabin in the woods, I was overjoyed. It turned out that there had been someone here just like me, someone who was all alone.

"That's why when I saw you had returned, I wanted to talk to you so much, to see what kind of person you were."

Each time she turned back, the light in her eyes grew a fraction brighter.

It was a divine radiance composed of countless tiny runes.

In the end, the light had spread over her entire body, supporting a faint glow outside her silhouette. This glow was so soft, so soft that it seemed to melt away all strife and trouble.

Zoe's whole body seemed to emanate endless light.

Li Ang could not see the specific light or colors, but he could simply feel that she was enveloped in light and energy.

Within the light, the locking buckles of the standard iron armor he had crafted for her were snapped by the energy and fell off her body.

And the heavy steel bracers and wild beast leather boots left by her parents also seemed unable to match her body, falling to the ground inexplicably.

She was as if she had "passed through" all matter.

In the end, she wore only that faded, old dress.

"Just now, in that ruin, I saw some things. I'm not good with words, so I can't explain it, but at that moment I already knew that I seem to be able to suppress the great snake; this is an ability I was born with.

"In the past, it was my mom and dad who fought the great snake for me; now, it is Li Ang.

"I should work harder and be bolder, then things wouldn't be so dangerous.

"Li Ang has a life he wants to control, and I'm thinking, I have one now too.

"I should be able to do it... no, I must do it!"

It was as if a breeze were blowing toward Zoe; her oversized, misshapen dress was reshaped by the wind, as if to show its affection for her, fluttering like the gown of a magnificent duelist.

Her exquisite face was stained with radiance. Li Ang could not tell if the warm color permeating her powder-snow skin was light, the color of her life, or both.

He almost stopped breathing.

Most territories have beauties of all kinds, and different races have their own gifts—for example, the Beast-Ear race is extremely enchanting, the Bull-Horn race has slender figures and ample assets, the Elves are elegant and noble, the Bean-People are cute and naive...

But Zoe at this very moment, even with her world-toppling beauty, did not need to be compared to them.

The radiance of her soul was enough to make this sky pale in comparison.

With slender, bare feet treading on thin air, the young girl opened her arms and stepped toward the Earth Serpent bit by bit.

The Star Soul beast stopped increasing the magnitude of the tremors; its gem-like snake eyes stared at the approaching girl, its entire body also shrouded in light.

As if being erased from the world, the holy snake's diamond-scaled body dissolved inch by inch in the light, spreading to its tail and head. After its crown vanished completely into the light, this mass of radiance surged toward the girl, merging with the light on her body.

In an instant, Zoe radiated a rainbow light like that of a seven-colored gemstone.

She floated slowly in the light, and the surrounding radiance condensed into mysterious runes. The runes formed rings, and multiple rings rotated continuously around her body.

The young girl's expression was one of struggle, her body curled up, as she contended with some kind of existence.

Not long after, the rune rings flashed and tightened around her, the light runes dissipated and merged into her body, and many precious gems scattered around were also pulled by an invisible force, disappearing into the light.

Then, she began to change.

Starting from the tips of her hair, a dark green color gradually dyed her shoulder-length, slightly curly hair.

Her fair skin became even more delicate and smooth, like cream. A lustrous emerald gem appeared in the center of her forehead. With it as the center, a crown made of gold scales passed through her hair and tightened at the back of her head. Then, gold-scaled armbands, leg rings, bracelets, and anklets appeared in sequence.

The right side of her pupils remained her own pigeon-blood red, but her left eye was like deep blue emerging from the sea. A divine light flashed, and a six-pointed star was branded into the deepest part of her eyes.

At the corners of her eyes, a malachite color extended along the direction of her eyelashes, and eyeshadow was applied between her brows and eyes; one could faintly see the colors meticulously prepared from ground stones of a brilliant ancient civilization, just to imprint beauty into eternity.

Her cute little face also seemed to be brushed with a very faint gold powder. These colors were elegant and mysterious, the kind of fleeting thoughts that are hard to grasp in one's heart even when admiring ancient paintings.

Under the hem of her dress, a gold-scaled snake tail curled and stretched, swaying from side to side.

The young girl, transformed into a brand-new form, lifted her chin slightly. Her expressionless, exquisite face seemed to be covered with a layer of divinity, just like a celestial maiden visiting the mortal world.

The rainbow light dissipated, and her cute, delicate feet landed on the invisible plane. In this world where heaven and earth were inverted, the fluorescent stones that once hung on the cave ceiling spread a carpet of light on the ground. She stepped on circles of light patterns above this carpet, dragging her long tail, and walked toward Li Ang step by step.

Star Soul, Star Soul Greenhouse...

Li Ang stared at the approaching girl. So, both sides could merge directly from a spiritual perspective. The magic flowing during this process operated in reverse; it dissolved the Star Soul's body and reshaped it onto the young girl.

Was she... Zoe or the Earth Serpent?

Li Ang watched the "young girl" with caution, sensing the state of "her" spirituality, wondering if he could find a way to separate the two spirits if the Star Soul were leading everything.

Her gaze also cast over, meeting his in the air.

The young girl stuck out her tongue, and her cold expression melted into the playfulness unique to Zoe.

"Hehe, it seems it worked."