Chance Encounter

"Do you understand now?" Long Jie said one last thing. The girl stopped crying, lowering her head so far it nearly touched the ground, ashamed and reflecting on her mistakes.

Thinking back, whenever anything happened, she had only ever let others manipulate her. Other than crying, she would look for her father. But this person was right—would Father always help me?

No!

Even Older Sister would abandon me. Naturally, Father would too. So the only person I could truly rely on was myself.

The girl stood up from the ground and wiped away her tears. Her eyes were red, yet she looked at Long Jie with great determination. "Thank you. I'll work hard. I want to control my own fate and stop being a weak girl who can only rely on others!"

The girl's gaze was resolute. Long Jie's scolding had woken her up. From this moment on, she had learned to change herself.

Seeing the change in her, Long Jie smiled. "It's good that you understand. Oh, right, you—"

He was just about to ask the little girl's name when the Soul Ancestor guard suddenly returned, blocking the cave entrance with the other two and glaring furiously at Long Jie.

"Heh, learning to deceive people at such a young age. Your methods are quite clever. You nearly fooled me!"

White, yellow, yellow, and purple soul rings lit up behind the old guard as he approached Long Jie menacingly. Long Jie frowned and instinctively shielded the girl behind him, using his small body to stand in front of her.

The girl froze for a moment, deeply moved. Clearly, he couldn't defeat him either, yet he stood against a Soul Ancestor to protect me.

"Thank you, Big Brother," the girl murmured. She stepped forward. This time, she did not want to hide. She wanted to change her own fate.

"Uncle Li, let him go. I'll go back with you!"

Uncle Li, the Soul Ancestor, frowned. Instinctively, he did not want to listen to her, but then the girl said, "If you don't let him go, then you can only take my corpse back with you!"

The girl looked at Uncle Li with determined eyes. At some point, a small dagger had appeared in her hand.

This time, not only was Uncle Li startled, but even Long Jie was stunned for a moment. Then he smiled. This girl was growing up quickly!

In the end, Uncle Li still compromised and let Long Jie go!

"Big Brother, when we meet again, I'll definitely become someone who doesn't cry and can control her own fate!"

The girl spoke resolutely. Under Long Jie's gaze, she disappeared from before him, taken away by the guards.

"I believe you can do it too," Long Jie murmured. In the end, he still had not learned that little girl's name.

He wondered if they would ever meet again.

After composing himself, Long Jie did not dwell on it. He left the cave. Now that he had obtained his soul ring, he needed to return to the academy, not linger in the dangerous Star Dou Great Forest.

"Three days. It's already been three days, and I still haven't left the Star Dou Great Forest?"

For three days, Long Jie had wandered around the Star Dou Great Forest, yet he still had not managed to leave.

Even with a map, it did not stop him from getting lost again.

"Ugh, what a pain. It'd be great if someone could show me the way!" Long Jie complained, only to actually spot people?

The figures swayed in the distance, and Long Jie could not tell whether they were truly human. He hurriedly leaped onto a tree and looked toward them from up high.

They really were a group of people.

"Hey! You people, wait for me!" Long Jie shouted. Using Gale Step, he reached the group in just a few breaths.

There were six people in total: one middle-aged man, one little girl, and the rest appeared to be guards.

"Who are you?" The moment Long Jie appeared, the four guards immediately drew their blades and stared at him warily.

"Don't misunderstand. I just got lost here and wanted to follow you out of the Star Dou Great Forest!" Long Jie tried his best to smile kindly. He truly meant them no harm.

"Hmph! This is the Star Dou Great Forest. You're just a child, yet you dared to come here alone?"

"I didn't come alone. I got separated from my group!" The lie came effortlessly. Long Jie pretended to be pitiful as he said, "You know, I'm just a child with no strength. In the Star Dou Great Forest, I could be killed by soul beasts at any moment. Please, have mercy and take me with you!"

The guards frowned. The child before them did not look pitiful in the slightest. His clothes were not expensive, but they were at least brand-new, and his little belly was slightly bulging from being too full.

What was more excessive was that he had not even wiped the grease from the corners of his mouth. It was obvious that he had just eaten a hearty meal.

With treatment like that, were you sure you were in the perilous Star Dou Great Forest and not at home?

After being stared at for a while, Long Jie began to feel uncomfortable too. He had merely changed into a new set of clothes from his Storage Ring, then grilled and eaten a Red-Eyed Groundhog. Was there any need to stare at him like that?

"You should leave, we—"

"Let him follow us!" Just as the guard was about to speak, the middle-aged man standing in the center spoke first. The guard hurriedly nodded respectfully in acknowledgment.

Seeing this, Long Jie could not help but look curiously at the man. The middle-aged man had a head of white hair, but it was not the pale white of old age. Rather, it was a vibrant white full of life.

A sword hung at his waist, displaying his identity as a swordsman.

Beside him stood a girl. She was as adorable as the girl Long Jie had met in the cave earlier, though this girl was clearly much more poised.

A sword-bearing man and a girl... Sword Douluo Chen Xin and Ning Rongrong?

Having guessed their identities, Long Jie did not reveal anything. He stepped forward, bowed to Sword Douluo, and said, "Thank you, boss, for saving my life!"

"Boss? Hahaha, that's quite an interesting form of address!" Sword Douluo burst into laughter, while Ning Rongrong beside him looked thoroughly disdainful.

"Tch, what a suck-up!" Ning Rongrong was straightforward by nature at this time and bluntly voiced what she was thinking.

Long Jie frowned. She dared to say that about him? Even with Sword Douluo here, he could not let her get away with saying that.

Forcing a smile, Long Jie walked up to Ning Rongrong and vigorously rubbed her head. In the blink of an eye, her little princess hairstyle had become a complete mess.

"Ah... How dare you? Chenxin Grandpa, hit him!" Ning Rongrong was furious. How was this person an even bigger demon king than she was?

"Hmph! Who told you to insult me? Nyah, nyah, nyah..." Long Jie made faces at Ning Rongrong, not caring in the least that Sword Douluo was beside her.

Sword Douluo could not possibly kill him over such a trivial matter, right?

"Hahaha, boy, you really have guts. Fine, since this is Rong Rong's command, then boy, hand over your life!" Chen Xin's smiling face abruptly changed. He formed a sword with his fingers and attacked Long Jie.

Long Jie was startled. Was he really going to kill him over this? Ning Rongrong was startled as well. She had only wanted him to hit Long Jie once as a warning. There was no need to kill him, was there?

"Boss, don't!"

"Chenxin Grandpa, don't!"

Both of them cried out, yet Sword Douluo showed no sign of stopping. His sword fingers aimed directly at Long Jie's vital point. If this strike landed, Long Jie would undoubtedly die.

Cold sweat streamed down Long Jie's body, and his heart pounded wildly. He hurriedly activated Gale Art, wind rising beneath his feet as he dodged to the left. But Chen Xin was a Titled Douluo—there was no way Long Jie could evade him so easily.

Whether he dodged left or right, he could not escape Chen Xin's sword fingers.

In his desperation, Long Jie had an idea. He looked at Ning Rongrong beside him and, without hesitation, pounced toward her!