Changes After Five Years

Changes After Five Years

The shock Ye Chen had brought the two elders today nearly rivaled all the shocks they had experienced in the latter half of their lives.

Ever since becoming Title Douluo, they had never encountered anyone who brought them as many surprises as Ye Chen.

With this First Soul Skill, Ye Chen had become a prized asset, someone every team would scramble to recruit.

Even if he were placed in the army, he would be capable of changing the outcome of an entire war!

This child Xiao Chen is worth the academy's full effort to nurture!

The two pillars of Shrek Academy both came to the same thought.

"Xiao Chen, what level is your Soul Power at now?" Mu En asked from his reclining chair.

"Level fourteen already," Ye Chen answered respectfully.

After witnessing so many astonishing things, the two elders seemed to have grown accustomed to them.

They were not surprised by this result. If he had absorbed a fifteen-hundred-year first soul ring yet failed to reach this level, that would have been surprising.

After leaving Sea God's Pavilion, Ye Chen walked along the academy paths when he sensed a faint, elusive voice calling to him from the direction of Star Dou Forest.

But when he focused and tried to sense it carefully, the voice vanished again.

After several fruitless attempts, he dismissed it as an illusion.

That night, Ye Chen lay on the small bed in his room, deep in thought.

"Why did that flame seem to contain such intense life force? It felt like Nirvana Fire, one of the Ten Great Primordial Fires of the Great Wilderness. But isn't the flame possessed by the Three-legged Golden Crow the number one True Sun Fire?"

Ye Chen recalled what had happened when he fused with his soul ring and muttered to himself.

He could not make sense of it no matter how hard he thought.

Logically speaking, if he remembered correctly, True Sun Fire was a flame born from the sun. It was an incomparably rigid, yang flame and should not possess that endless vitality.

With that thought, Ye Chen once again sensed the flame aura carried by the Three-legged Golden Crow on the Fusang Divine Tree martial soul within his sea of consciousness.

It truly did possess a powerful life force.

Unable to figure it out, he cast aside the jumbled thoughts in his mind and decided to deal with it later.

Ye Chen sat cross-legged and quickly entered a meditative state.

Ever since awakening his martial soul two months ago, he had spent every night meditating.

He did not want to abandon hard work simply because he possessed great talent. Seizing every moment to cultivate and grow stronger was the proper path.

Besides, he was like someone sitting atop a treasure mountain yet unable to enter it. He seemingly possessed an ultimate flame, yet did not know how to use it and could only stare at it helplessly.

Nothing could be more miserable than that.

At midnight, a burst of intense pain interrupted Ye Chen's meditation.

The source of the pain was still his gem-like eyes.

The river of time continued rushing onward, and in the blink of an eye, five years quietly passed.

Early in the morning, on the official road leading from Shrek Academy toward Star Dou Forest.

A girl who looked fifteen or sixteen years old skipped forward with a candied hawthorn skewer in her hand.

Her long black hair was tied into a ponytail that fell behind her, while her light-blue fitted outfit outlined her youthful energy.

Not far behind her followed a boy around the same age.

He was tall and straight, with short dark-blue hair. Though still young, he gave off an elegant and refined air.

With his hands clasped behind his head, a gentle smile rested on his handsome face.

"Bei Bei, hurry up! We won't make it there before noon otherwise!"

The girl wrinkled her delicate upturned nose and turned back with bright, lively eyes, urging him on.

"Got it, Xiao Ya!" Bei Bei replied, quickening his pace.

"What did you call me?" Xiao Ya widened her beautiful eyes in mock anger.

"Alright, alright, Teacher Xiao Ya!" Bei Bei flashed to her side and ingratiatingly began massaging her shoulders.

"Hmph! That's more like it. Remember, when we're outside, you have to call me Teacher Xiao Ya!"

Xiao Ya lifted her chin proudly and shot him a charming sidelong glance, leaving Bei Bei momentarily dazed.

Their names were Bei Bei and Tang Ya. They were a couple, both third-year students of Shrek Academy's Outer Court. Once the school year began, they would advance into their fourth year.

This trip to Star Dou Forest was to help Tang Ya obtain her third soul ring.

The young couple continued bickering and teasing each other as they traveled down the official road, getting farther and farther from Shrek City.

On a tall tree not far ahead of them, a boy lay lazily across a thick branch, a small twig picked up from the ground hanging from his mouth.

The boy appeared to be eleven or twelve years old. He wore a black fitted outfit, and his unusually black hair was streaked with a few strands of gold.

His face was so handsome that even girls would envy it. A sunny smile rested on his features, yet paired with those Twin Pupils, he carried an aura unlike that of an ordinary person.

If one had to describe him in a single sentence, it would be: a gentleman as radiant as jade, unmatched beneath the heavens.

This young man was none other than the now eleven-year-old Ye Chen.

Compared to five years ago, he had grown much taller and straighter, already reaching 1.7 meters in height. His muscles were firm, and he no longer looked as frail and delicate as he had in childhood.

There were also far more golden strands in his hair than before. He had wondered whether it was because his Fusang Divine Tree martial soul had gained its second soul ring.

He had another extremely secret change as well: his Twin Pupils had become much deeper than they had been five years ago.

Over the past five years, his eyes would ache every two months. Yet when he woke up the next day, he would be completely fine, as though nothing had happened.

Ye Chen had never told anyone about this. He was the only one who knew.

At first, he had worried that this periodic pain might cause some sort of harm. But as time passed, he gradually grew used to it.

The spot where Ye Chen lay was very high up, hidden by the branches and leaves. Unless someone looked carefully, they would never notice him.

Seeing the young man and woman approaching in the distance, a meaningful smile appeared at the corner of Ye Chen's lips.

"Bei Bei, are you planning to leave without greeting your elder? Is that how your teacher taught you?" Ye Chen closed his eyes and called out loudly.

As for why he had closed his eyes, it was naturally to put on an act.

The sudden voice rang out along the silent official road, startling Bei Bei and Tang Ya.

The two followed the sound and looked up, spotting the "upright and dignified" Ye Chen on a tall tree beside them.

The solemn expression on his face was so obviously fake that there was no need to think about it.

"Xiao Chen, what are you doing here? Does Dean Xian Lin'er know?" Bei Bei asked helplessly.

Ye Chen was the son of Xian Lin'er and Qian Duoduo, and he called Mu En Grandpa.

Mu En, meanwhile, was Bei Bei's great-grandfather. With all those connections, purely by seniority, Ye Chen was actually from Bei Bei's grandfather's generation.

However, since they were not related by blood, Ye Chen had reluctantly agreed to raise Bei Bei's standing by one generation after Bei Bei repeatedly complained.

"Bei Bei, what did you call me?" Ye Chen's eyes widened as he pretended to be angry, speaking in the tone of an elder addressing a junior.

"Uncle," Bei Bei said through a violently twitching mouth, utterly unwilling.

He suddenly realized that Ye Chen's expression and words were exactly the same as Tang Ya's from earlier!

The main storyline of Soul Land 2 had begun. What kind of story would unfold next?

The early part would follow the original work for a while, but it definitely would not blindly flatter the original protagonist. Some of the more frustrating elements had been revised, though certain parts were already difficult to change. Overall, things would probably begin to diverge from the original after the first school year.