First Meeting

Six years had passed. Yang Ming had grown from a little boy into a handsome youth. Now, Yang Ming had long eyelashes that would make any woman jealous, eyes as brilliant as stars, and a straight nose. Combined with his refined and gentle temperament, his appearance could only be called perfect. Add to that the broad shoulders, narrow waist, and long legs he had developed through years of spear practice, and he was the kind of man women would never forget after one glance.

Apart from the changes in his appearance, Yang Ming's cultivation as a Soul Master had also advanced greatly. He was currently a level-thirty-five Soul Elder. Given Yang Ming's talent and relentless efforts, he should not still have failed to reach Soul Ancestor. The reason his Soul Power cultivation had grown so slowly was because of "Absolute Dominance"!

In his previous life, Yang Ming had already possessed his first Soul Core when he began cultivating "Absolute Dominance." The Soul Core's ability to accelerate cultivation, combined with Shrek Academy's full supply of top-tier resources, had helped Yang Ming forcibly bypass the slow cultivation speed of "Absolute Dominance." But in this life, Yang Ming did not have the Soul Core from his previous life, and while the Breaking Clan was fairly well-off, its resource supply was certainly far inferior to that of his previous life. Under such objective circumstances, the cultivation speed of "Absolute Dominance" became the bottleneck limiting Yang Ming's Soul Power advancement.

However, Yang Wudi was quite satisfied with Yang Ming's cultivation speed—exceptionally satisfied, in fact. At this time, such speed was already fast enough.

This trip to the Star Dou Great Forest was because Yang Yi had broken through level thirty and needed to hunt for a Spirit Ring. Yang Ming had grown somewhat bored staying in Silver River City, and after being still for too long, he wanted to move around. He had tagged along to have some fun and hunt a few wild rabbits to eat. After all, although the food at home was nutritious, it was not easy to specify what kind of Soul Beast one wanted.

A quarter of an hour later, Yang Yi finished regulating his breathing and began absorbing the Mystic Spirit Python's Spirit Ring.

Yang Hong and Yang Ming stood guard beside him. But not long after, they heard a faint disturbance coming from the dense forest nearby: the cries of birds and beasts scattering in all directions, footsteps, and fine sounds of movement and fighting among the trees.

Hearing the sounds draw closer and closer to the three of them, Yang Ming spoke to Yang Hong to prevent Yang Yi from being disturbed while absorbing the Spirit Ring.

"Uncle Hong, I'll go see what happened."

The commotion did not sound particularly loud to Yang Hong. The people or beasts fighting over there probably were not very strong, and they were indeed heading in their direction. He agreed to Yang Ming's request and solemnly reminded him.

"Fine. Be careful!"

Yang Ming nodded at Yang Hong, then pushed off with his feet and dashed toward the source of the noise.

In the dense forest not far from Yang Ming, a black-clad young girl who looked eleven or twelve was moving through the trees like a nimble, agile black cat.

She was around one meter sixty-five tall, with long black hair draped over her shoulders and fair skin.

Her extremely full figure was truly at odds with her age. If one did not look at her face, one might easily mistake her for an adult young woman. Her impressive chest in particular would draw the eyes of every man.

In contrast to her fiery figure, the expression on the young girl's face was cold. It was a coldness from the depths of her heart, a pure coldness. Her black eyes did not even hold a trace of life, filled only with despair and unwillingness. It clashed somewhat with her originally beautiful face.

Judging from the wounds on her slender, well-proportioned limbs and the way she kept looking back to observe behind her, the young girl was being pursued.

"Whoosh—"

Just as the young girl turned her head back and looked ahead again, an arrow covered in cyan Soul Power shot out of the forest behind her, streaking toward her at tremendous speed. By the time she heard the sharp whistle of the arrow cutting through the air, she could already vaguely sense the sharp Soul Power edge behind it. She had no time to turn her head and could only twist her waist away from danger by instinct, trying to evade the attack.

"Bang—"

The arrow kicked up a cloud of Blood Mist.

After briefly overlapping with the young girl, the arrow passed by her and buried itself in a tree ahead with a dull thud. In the end, she had failed to completely evade the arrow. The attack had come too fast, and she had sensed it a little too late. Completely dodging it had been impossible. Fortunately, her Beast Spirit's instinct had saved her life. Though the arrow tore a large gash in her waist, it did not strike a vital point.

The young girl's face was pale from severe blood loss. But to survive, she could only cover the wound at her waist and keep running. Yet the injury severely affected her movements. In less than half a minute, the pursuers caught up and blocked her path.

There were not many pursuers, only four: one Soul Ancestor and three Soul Elders. Their leader was an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old woman. Her features bore a seventy percent resemblance to those of the pursued young girl, and she too was a great beauty. She was tall and wore a black skintight combat suit that outlined her proud curves. Though she was not as exceptionally endowed at such a young age as the young girl, she was still enough to look down on others her age.

Seeing the wound at the young girl's waist and the blood flowing without end, the leading beauty's eyes flashed with a trace of heartache. She frowned slightly without showing it, but when she thought of her family's circumstances, that faint heartache faded and became mockery and ridicule. Her red lips parted, and a sweet voice, like a nightingale singing in the night, rang out.

"My dear little sister, you left without saying goodbye so suddenly. Big Sister would be heartbroken. Hurry and come back with me!"

To outsiders, those were warm words of concern between sisters. But to the young girl, they were like the whispers of a demon. Emotion finally appeared in her lifeless eyes, but it was filled with anger, fear, hatred, and everything else except even the slightest positive feeling. Naturally so. This woman calling herself her "Big Sister" had tried to assassinate her countless times over the years. How could she possibly feel anything good toward her? The young girl's cold voice sounded out.

"Zhu Zhuyun, stop pretending here."

"Go back and keep playing your cat-and-mouse game with you?!!"

The beautiful woman in black, Zhu Zhuyun, was not angered by her sister's blunt retort. She merely said teasingly.

"If that's the case, then you—"

"Die!"

As she spoke those final three words, the atmosphere turned murderous. But before she could make a move, one of the Soul Elder guards beside her shouted.

"Who's there?"

Before his words had even faded, the guard's second Yellow Soul Ring lit up beneath his feet. He drew the Long Bow in his hand, and a swift arrow glowing cyan shot toward a large tree behind and to the side of the black-clad young girl.

"Whoosh—"

Yang Ming, who had been hiding behind the tree and observing the situation, was somewhat surprised to be discovered so quickly. It was not as though he had deliberately concealed his Soul Power fluctuations, but with his extraordinary control over Soul Power, even his usual fluctuations were extremely faint. For that guard to discover him so quickly meant he had some skill. Was he worthy of being a trusted guard of the Star Luo Zhu Family's eldest miss? As for how Yang Ming knew their identities, the young girl's Hell Spirit Cat Martial Soul and the name Zhu Zhuyun made it obvious. If he still could not guess, then all those years of continental studies had been for nothing.

So, judging from the age of the other black-clad young girl, she should be the Zhu Family Third Miss, Zhu Zhuqing.

While Yang Ming was considering the identities of the others present, the arrow was already before him. Sensing its fierce aura, he tapped off with the tip of his foot and flashed out from behind the tree. He evaded the arrow and appeared before the Zhu Family group.

P.S. Saving the beauty was not the goal. The goal was to connect Yang Ming with Shrek Academy and stir up internal conflict.

Zhu Zhuqing was not the female lead, and Yang Ming would not join Shrek Academy. He would stay for no more than ten days in total.

Please vote with monthly tickets and recommendations.