Three Dances of Love, Yuanen Yehui Appears!

The hazy morning light slipped quietly through the floor-to-ceiling windows, leaving scattered flecks of light across the dining table.

The sandwich rested on a jade-like plate. Its golden-brown toasted edges curled slightly upward, releasing a faint wheat fragrance, while the serrated cut revealed layer upon layer of filling within.

The yogurt sauce made from snow goat's milk was crystal-clear in texture, entwined with fresh green leaves. Slices of fruit tomatoes, fragrant with a sweet-and-tart freshness, nestled between richly scented ham slices, whose deep grain concealed a century's worth of energy.

White mist clouded the transparent glass. Every drop of the smooth hot milk could awaken a diner's taste buds.

"It should be ready." Looking at his masterpiece, Nan Liujing nodded in satisfaction. After eating Mu Ye's cooking for so long, he had surely learned something.

"You made these sandwiches?"

A gentle, graceful voice came from behind him. Nan Liujing turned around instinctively and found Leng Yaozhu standing there in a silk nightgown.

It was still a conservative style, but the nightgown was clearly rather thin, making the mature beauty's scorching figure stand out vividly. Her flaming red hair was pinned up, with several escaped strands hanging behind her ears and accentuating her moonlight-smooth neck.

Clearly, Leng Yaozhu still regarded Nan Liujing as a child, so she had not considered how much of an impact her appearance might have.

Nan Liujing shifted his gaze slightly aside. "I made two servings. Teacher, please give one a try."

Leng Yaozhu was intrigued. At her cultivation level, she did not need to eat at all.

"Then I really should try it."

Her slender, jade-white hand picked up the fragrant sandwich. Under Nan Liujing's expectant gaze, she parted her red lips and took a light bite.

Yet after chewing only a few times, she froze. A dreamy haze floated in her wine-red eyes, as though she had fallen into some special state.

Nan Liujing was somewhat puzzled.

No matter how delicious a sandwich was, it should not have this effect, right?

Besides, as a vice tower master of the Spirit Pagoda, could she possibly have eaten too few delicacies from around the world?

Leng Yaozhu seemed to have forgotten Nan Liujing's existence. After taking that bite, she stared at the gap in the sandwich for a long while without speaking.

Nan Liujing asked softly, "Is it not good?"

"No." Leng Yaozhu reacted quickly. She shook her head, her tone carrying both a sense of loss and the joy of recovering something once lost. "Can you make Teacher a sandwich every day from now on?"

Nan Liujing glanced at the black cloth bracelet around her snow-white wrist. He understood something and smiled. "Of course."

Leng Yaozhu smiled. "You should eat too. Afterward, I'll take you to the place where you'll cultivate."

"Yes."

Leng Yaozhu resumed tasting the sandwich. Every bite seemed to stir some memory.

Nan Liujing did not know that, in his teacher's memories, there had been a girl with extraordinary cultivation talent but absolutely no aptitude for everyday life. She had always stubbornly tried to make food herself, then used her elder sister as a test subject. Of all the things she made, sandwiches had been the most common.

They had gone from barely edible to devoured ravenously. But after that day, no familiar girl had ever again asked her sister to taste food she had made. Half a century separated the flavors, yet it felt like a reunion.

The fifty-fifth floor of the Spirit Pagoda.

Leng Yaozhu brought Nan Liujing to a rather special place. The moment he stepped inside, he saw many pods resembling the game cabins described in online gaming novels.

More than a dozen staff members dressed in white stood in the spacious room. Perhaps because it was still early, all the "game cabins" remained inactive.

"Vice Tower Master." The lead staff member walked over and greeted her respectfully.

Leng Yaozhu smiled faintly. "Prepare a Law Warehouse."

"Yes." The man immediately got to work.

Leng Yaozhu said to Nan Liujing, "The Law Warehouse connects to a virtual world, similar to a simulated cultivation environment. In a moment, you'll enter a very special setting. While enduring it, you must also focus on comprehending it."

After giving him those simple instructions, Leng Yaozhu had Nan Liujing choose a Law Warehouse and lie down inside.

As the pod door closed, wisps of energy flowed into it, and Nan Liujing's consciousness shifted instantly.

Rumble!

When he opened his eyes again, an immense waterfall of unknown height filled his vision.

The water seemed to pour down from the Milky Way, crashing madly against the bottom. Brilliant spray exploded outward as gusts rose from the surface and rippled through the air. Its impact was so powerful that even Nan Liujing could barely keep his footing.

In the room, Leng Yaozhu stood with her arms folded across her chest, calmly watching Nan Liujing study the waterfall on the screen.

The Unbending Staff Technique, created by the Qian Gu Family through its Coiled Dragon Staff Martial Soul, emphasized one word: breaking!

With the Essence of Breaking, one shattered the laws of the plane and then made them one's own. Thus, the world-shaking Unbending Staff Technique was born.

The Unbending Staff Technique was like defying heaven and earth themselves. The resistance and pressure encountered throughout the process were astonishing. Moreover, if one wished to break the laws, one first had to comprehend them. Otherwise, how could one speak of breaking them?

The Law Warehouse had been established by the Qian Gu Family despite overwhelming opposition, though that had been a thousand years ago. As the times developed, any outstanding talent who joined the Spirit Pagoda was granted one opportunity each week to come here and comprehend laws in different environments.

Even Leng Yaozhu herself had once comprehended laws for a long time within a volcano that constantly spewed magma. That was one reason her True Phoenix Fire was so powerful.

Nan Liujing's Coiled Dragon Staff Martial Soul was not the Evil-Breaking Dragon Soul and did not possess unyielding resolve. But the lightning corresponding to the Thunder Dragon Soul was tyrannical and righteous. It was only I who would strike you into submission—not you who would suppress me and force me to endure pressure.

It had been Qian Gu Qingfeng's idea to have Nan Liujing experience the Law Warehouse. The goal was for him to build a solid foundation now, so that in the future, he could use the Unbending Staff Technique to create a staff technique belonging to the Thunder Dragon Soul.

"What dense wind and water elements."

His gaze swept over the gusts skimming across the water's surface. Nan Liujing seemed to sense something. With the Plane Imprint's help, his initial experience with all kinds of elements had already made them quite familiar to him.

He was still nearly a hundred meters from the foot of the waterfall. Once he released his Spiritual Power, he could sense that for every ten meters he advanced, the elemental intensity would rise by an entire level, and the impact would grow stronger as well.

Nan Liujing took a deep breath and resolutely started forward.

The Plane Imprint was like an immovable foundation. It guaranteed one's lower limit, but never one's upper limit. A person still had to walk their own path into the future.

The difficulty of the first step had already exceeded Nan Liujing's expectations. The wind element was like an exclusionary wall, constantly squeezing him backward, while the water element was like a mischievous boy throwing secret elbows, striking his face and body from time to time.

Nan Liujing did not blindly charge forward. Instead, after stopping, he relaxed his entire body as if letting go completely. He spread his hands, allowing the wind and rain to wash over him.

It was as if he had made himself part of nature, experiencing the impact of the elements upon every part of his body.

The lightness of the wind, its rampage, its flow—opposite it were water's gentleness, tyranny, and balance of softness and strength.

This sight visibly relaxed Leng Yaozhu's delicate brows, and a trace of interest appeared in her wine-red eyes.

To be honest, she had accepted this disciple mainly because of the benefits Qian Gu Qingfeng had proposed.

But now, this child had truly piqued her interest.

Night fell.

Massive city walls divided Shrek Inner City from the outer city.

A lovely silver-haired girl stood beneath the walls. Her aura was like a pure lotus, otherworldly and refined, as she watched the boy walking toward her with a smile in her eyes.

"Have you eaten?" Nan Liujing walked up and habitually ruffled Na'er's hair.

Na'er narrowed her eyes slightly and wrapped herself around her brother's arm like a little cat.

"Not yet. I was waiting to eat with you."

"Order whatever you want later. Your brother's treating." Nan Liujing said indulgently.

Just as he had guessed, Na'er had successfully awakened her Martial Soul. It was still the Silver Dragon Spear. She had joined Shrek Academy as before and had even swiftly become Yun Ming's disciple.

He had no idea how Bi Ji had managed it, but she had actually concealed it from Yun Ming's senses.

"Senior brothers, I'm taking my brother into the Inner City. That won't be a problem, right?"

The city wall that had once been used to resist beast tide invasions ten thousand years ago had now become the boundary between the academy and the outer city. Students in dark green uniforms stood guard there.

"Of course there's no problem. Junior sister, would you like a guidebook to make sightseeing easier?" After accepting the identity card Na'er handed over, the eyes of the two boys, who looked fourteen or fifteen, instantly lit up.

They had seen Na'er standing beneath the wall for some time, as though waiting for someone. When a young punk showed up and seemed especially close to her, they had nearly wanted to roar, "Let go of that junior sister!" Yet who would have thought he was her brother?

What punk? He was clearly a handsome guy!

"No, thank you." Na'er declined politely.

After receiving permission, the two entered the quaint Inner City together.

Compared to the outer city, the entire Inner City was especially quiet. Its streets were broad and paved with green bricks. The visible architecture all leaned toward an ancient style, with even some wooden buildings among them.

Warm yellow lights drove back the darkness, leaving hazy shadows on the ground and surrounding vegetation.

Many shared bicycles were parked by the roadside for convenient scanning and riding. After all, in ancient times, the Inner City had held several million permanent residents. It was simply too large.

The wheels rolled over the ground. There were almost no gaps between the bricks, so there was no danger of puddles splashing their shoes and trouser legs.

The soft night breeze brushed past the hair hanging beside the girl's ears, like moonlight flowing through the darkness.

Neither Nan Liujing nor Na'er spoke. They simply enjoyed the tranquility in comfort.

Occasionally, someone inside a building would hear the wheels rolling and poke their head out to look, but all they could see was a fleeting flash of silver.

"There are quite a lot of people here."

As they rode, the siblings reached a brightly lit street. Quite a few young people walked nearby, along with ordinary residents who had received the academy's permission to live in the Inner City.

Nan Liujing swept his gaze over the many storefronts. "Na'er, what do you want to eat?"

Na'er was indeed a little hungry. Blinking her eyes, she worked hard to lock onto tonight's target.

A milk tea shop named "Three Dances of Love" caught her attention, because it had the most customers and was quite lively.

"Brother, how about we get something to drink first?"

"Sure."

Nan Liujing was not picky. He followed Na'er's gaze, and his expression froze.

"Three Dances of Love... Drinking that won't turn us into lovesick idiots, will it?"

After parking the shared bicycles, the two charged into the milk tea shop.

There really were many customers inside, mainly students wearing the dark green uniforms of Shrek Outer Court. Servers constantly moved through the shop, delivering the drinks customers had ordered.

Oddly enough, the milk tea shop even had a resident singer. Not outstandingly skilled, perhaps, but their voice suited the shop's atmosphere very well.

Na'er impatiently pulled Nan Liujing over to choose drinks.

One look at the prices made them gasp. Even the cheapest lemonade cost five hundred Federation Coins. If Little Xue were here, she would slaughter them all.

However, that high price was exclusive to students. They could also use contribution points, exchanged at a rate of one to a hundred.

Na'er had difficulty choosing and was still hesitating. Nan Liujing casually picked a lemonade, then swept his gaze around the room.

No wonder this place had such good business. The servers were all pretty girls. They were not wearing JK uniforms, but their matching black skirts and white vests had their own distinctive charm without being revealing.

As he looked around, one server caught Nan Liujing's attention.

Her skin was exceptionally pale, and paired with her dark red short hair, the contrast made her look as though she had just recovered from a serious illness. It inexplicably added a touch of fragility. Yet this girl was also the most beautiful among them, though her eyes were hollow, like a machine devoid of any emotion.

A name suddenly sprang into his mind.

Yuanen Yehui!

In terms of age, Yuanen Yehui was only a little more than a year older than him. She had merely enrolled early, so in the original timeline, she had been one grade above Tang Wulin and the others.

Nan Liujing's gaze shifted slightly as he began carefully recalling memories from his past life.

Yuanen Yehui had likely left home at around eight years old and been sent to Shrek Academy. It had all originated from her mother's Fallen Angel Martial Soul going berserk. After losing control, she had summoned the Demon Gate, from which countless demons emerged and inflicted immense damage upon the Yuanen Family. Thirty-seven people had died in battle.

Later, Yuanen Yehui's mother had blamed herself and chosen suicide. Her father had also tried to kill himself to follow his wife, but Yuanen Yehui's grandfather, Yuanen Zhentian, and Yun Ming had joined forces to stop and seal him.

Afterward, everyone in the Yuanen Family acted as if they had no mouths. Aside from sending her to Shrek Academy, they stubbornly refused to explain anything, causing Yuanen Yehui to hate them for many years before the misunderstanding was finally resolved.

Just as Nan Liujing was thinking this, Yuanen Yehui's expression suddenly tightened. After delivering the drink in her hands, she hurried to the front counter and found the manager wearing a nameplate on his chest.

They exchanged a few brief words, and Yuanen Yehui almost immediately turned and left the milk tea shop. Through the glass window, Nan Liujing soon could not even see her back.

Nan Liujing frowned. With his Spiritual Power, it was not difficult to sense that Yuanen Yehui's mental fluctuations were abnormal at this moment.

But the original timeline had not described much about her at this age, so he could not guess the exact reason.

"Brother."

A cool touch landed on his arm. Nan Liujing quickly snapped back to attention and saw Na'er tilting her head while obediently holding up the packaged lemonade.

Nan Liujing smiled and took it, suppressing the doubts in his heart. They were in Shrek Academy, after all. Nothing could possibly happen to Yuanen Yehui.

Na'er held his arm. Though still young, she already gave a glimpse of the peerless beauty she would become, drawing sidelong glances and secret looks from many students.

Under the envious gazes of the male students, Nan Liujing chose a hotpot restaurant, similar to the beef hotpot from Guangdong in his past life.

If the surrounding people had initially been amazed by the girl's beauty, then by the time the meal neared its end and the stack of plates stood taller than two adults, their amazement had turned into terror.

"That hit the spot!"

As she put down her plate, Na'er licked her rosy lips in utter satisfaction.

Even if she had not inherited astonishing wisdom, having an extraordinary appetite was still pretty good.

Being able to eat was a blessing!

Yuanen Yehui's age setting had several versions in the original work. I used the version where she was a little more than a year older than the male lead.

In fact, the setting for Yuanen Yehui entering Shrek conflicted between the early and later parts of the original work. The early part said she entered at twelve and had stayed for three years, making her fifteen. Yet later, Yuanen Zhentian stated at the Yuanen Family that when she was seven, the family suffered a great calamity because of the Demon Plane incident, and she was sent to Shrek not long afterward.