Somewhere else in the forest, at Meng Yiran's temporary shelter.
Meng Yiran stepped out of the tent and took a deep breath of the cool, crisp air. Her violet eyes still held a trace of the dazed look that came with just waking up.
She hadn't been selected.
The notification was simple and direct, but it left her with far more complicated feelings.
A hint of disappointment brushed her heart like a feather. She really had looked forward to that mysterious reward.
But right after that came an even stronger surge of excitement.
"At least this proves beyond a doubt that the diary is real. The reward system, the lottery... it's all real."
Meng Yiran tightened her grip on the Serpent Cane. Its cold touch helped clear her head. "And I've figured out some of the rules."
So who had received that stroke of luck?
"Ning Rongrong? Xiao Wu? Zhu Zhuqing?"
She silently recited the three names that had appeared alongside hers in Yu Tiancheng's diary last night.
Going by the "spoilers" in Yu Tiancheng's diary, there was a good chance she would run into the people from Shrek Academy today.
If she'd thought about how she was destined to "lose" the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent two days ago, she would have been furious, stamping her foot in protest.
But her mindset had changed.
That "foresight" had given her a perspective beyond the situation at hand.
More than a temporary win or loss, she cared about the vast world revealed by that mysterious diary, and... the others who had one.
"When I meet them, I have to observe them carefully."
Meng Yiran made up her mind. "Their expressions, their movements, their auras... Any subtle abnormality could point to who got a reward, and in turn, who else might have a diary."
"Yiran, are you all packed? It's time to set out."
Dragon Duke Meng Shu's deep voice came from behind her, interrupting her thoughts.
Meng Yiran turned around, her face already set in its usual bright smile, touched with a hint of stubbornness. "I'm ready, Grandpa. We can leave whenever you are."
A barely perceptible glimmer of anticipation passed through her eyes.
Today, she would obtain her third Spirit Ring.
She was also looking forward to her "encounter" with Shrek Academy—and, even more, to...
Meeting the young man who had written the diary, Yu Tiancheng, somewhere in this vast forest. She had too many questions and wanted to ask him about them face-to-face.
At the edge of the Mixed Zone in Star Dou Great Forest.
The towering ancient trees stood in layered canopies, breaking the sky into fragments. Sunlight spilled through the gaps in slanted shafts, and countless motes of dust drifted through the air.
Yu Tiancheng stood at the forest's edge, giving his gear one last check.
He had already put on his dark gray cloak and pulled up the hood, hiding most of his face.
He drew a deep breath. The air was rich with the dark scent of humus, the mellow fragrance of century-old trees, and the mingled smells of countless creatures—vibrant with life, yet tinged with hidden danger.
He took a step forward and entered this ancient, mysterious, perilous realm of Spirit Beasts.
A thick layer of fallen leaves softened the ground beneath his feet. He walked over it without making a sound.
His newly acquired Spatial Perception Enhancement proved astonishingly useful.
It was as if his senses had been granted a new pair of "eyes."
He could not only "see," hear, and smell, but also "feel" the faintest ripples in space itself.
Fifty meters to his front left, a squirrel leaped from one branch to another. The lightness of its weight and the burst of force behind its jump sent an almost imperceptible ripple through space, which he caught with pinpoint accuracy.
A hundred meters to his rear right, a mottled venomous snake wound its way beneath the dense undergrowth. Its body slid close to the ground, and the disturbance it caused in space was like an undercurrent beneath the water—clear as day to him.
Farther away, some large creature seemed to be moving slowly. Each heavy step sent a more noticeable tremor through space. Its direction, distance, even its approximate weight, all sketched out a vague outline in Yu Tiancheng's perception.
"This ability... makes me feel right at home in the forest."
Yu Tiancheng was secretly delighted. He raised his guard to its highest level, yet moved with greater ease.
It meant he could spot lurking predators earlier, avoid the territories of certain Spirit Beasts more precisely, and track his target more effectively.
His chances of survival and success in the hunt had both increased dramatically.
He moved silently between giant trees and vines like a gray shadow, making full use of the terrain and shadows to avoid open ground.
His spatial perception spread around him like an invisible radar, relaying every disturbance in the space within a hundred meters in real time.
Time passed as he moved in tense silence. After about an hour—
Ahead, the steady, varied fluctuations of the natural world were suddenly shattered by a series of powerful, chaotic disturbances!
The roar of clashing Soul Power, the tremors of erupting energy, the shouts of human Spirit Masters, and the snarls of Spirit Beasts...
All of it mingled together and carried through the layers of dense forest.
Yu Tiancheng stopped at once and lowered his body, hiding himself completely behind a thick clump of ferns.
"Something's happening." His gaze sharpened as his spatial perception reached out cautiously, like a feeler, toward the area of conflict.
The group from Shrek Academy was facing off against an elderly woman holding a snake-headed cane.
Between them, a serpentine Spirit Beast several meters long, with a bright red crest atop its head and colorful wings, lay gravely injured and gasping for breath. It was the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent.
And standing beside the old woman, gripping a Serpent Cane with a fierce look on her lovely face, was a violet-eyed girl. Who else could it be but Meng Yiran?
"So this is the power of 'the plot' after all?"
Yu Tiancheng sighed to himself, feeling as though he were watching a painting of history slowly unfurl before his eyes.
He hid deep in the shadows, his gaze sweeping calmly over everyone in the clearing like the lens of a camera:
Zhao Wuji, his expression grave, keeping his Soul Power concealed; Snake Dowager Chao Tianxiang, her sharp eyes and aura faintly linked to the surrounding environment.
The Shrek students, nervous yet excited; and Meng Yiran, her face full of indignation, fighting spirit burning in her violet eyes.
His gaze lingered a little longer on the girls. Ning Rongrong looked composed, but her fingers were slightly curled; Zhu Zhuqing was as cool and aloof as ever, though her stance seemed more guarded than usual; Xiao Wu stood close to Tang San, her big eyes darting around curiously. Her aura... for some reason, felt fainter than usual, blending more into the background.
But these subtle details didn't particularly alarm Yu Tiancheng.
At that moment, he was more like a passerby who had chanced upon the scene and didn't want to get involved.
After all, according to the "story" he knew, the conflict would have its twists and turns, but there would be no real malice or danger to anyone's life. The outcome had already been decided.
"So this is the path fate has set in stone..."
He repeated the thought to himself. He had no intention of doing anything that might interfere with the "plot." He would simply watch quietly and see how it matched the scenes in the diary and his memories.
The tension in the clearing was taut as a bowstring, and the dispute had reached its crucial point.
Chao Tianxiang proposed that Oscar and Meng Yiran fight to decide who would claim the Spirit Beast. Zhao Wuji refused on the grounds that Oscar was a food-type Spirit Master. In the end, Tang San stepped forward to fight on Oscar's behalf.
Yu Tiancheng saw Meng Yiran draw a deep breath, tighten her grip on the Serpent Cane, and step forward.
The light of defiance in her violet eyes almost spilled over, though on closer inspection, it seemed to be mixed with a complicated curiosity that went beyond the simple desire to win.
"The main event is starting." Yu Tiancheng focused on the fight.
The match began in a flash.
Tang San struck first. Blue Silver Grass vines burst from the ground and instantly coiled toward Meng Yiran.
Meng Yiran reacted swiftly. A Spirit Ring lit up around her as she swung her Serpent Cane, breaking the restraint with a deft combination of force and Soul Power. Then the cane shot out like a venomous dragon, stabbing back at him.
But Tang San's Purple Demon Eye struck her mind, and Meng Yiran faltered for an instant.
A moment later, Tang San caught her Snake Blade strike with his jade-colored palm.
Finally, their Soul Power clashed head-on, without any tricks. Meng Yiran grunted and staggered backward. The winner was clear.
Meng Yiran clenched her lips, nearly biting through her lower lip. Her eyes brimmed with frustration and defeat, but more than that, a complicated gloom that seemed to say, "I knew it."
She kept her promise, readily gave up her claim to the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent, and turned to walk over to her grandmother.
At the very moment she turned, her gaze swept quickly and carefully over the people from Shrek Academy, seemingly without thinking.
She lingered just a moment longer on Ning Rongrong, Xiao Wu, and Zhu Zhuqing—their faces and their figures.
That look didn't seem like the simple resentful scrutiny of someone who had lost. It was more as if she were... confirming something, observing something.
"Hm?" Yu Tiancheng frowned slightly in the shadows. "What's she looking at? Looking for comfort? Or..."
But he immediately shook his head, dismissing his suspicions as the complicated scrutiny of an inevitably proud girl examining her opponent after a defeat.
"She's proud and ambitious. It's only natural for her to take a few extra looks at her opponent." He convinced himself.
Seeing that the conflict had died down and neither side seemed likely to attack again, Yu Tiancheng decided not to linger.
He retreated slowly, inch by inch, preparing to slip away from the area without a sound and continue his hunt for a Spirit Ring.
But just as he turned slightly, his gaze about to leave the clearing entirely—
Meng Yiran, who had reached her grandmother's side, suddenly whipped around without warning. Her gaze shot straight toward the dense patch of ferns where he was hiding!
Her violet eyes were so sharp in that instant that they seemed capable of piercing through layer upon layer of branches and leaves!
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