"Sis, don't cry... I really don't blame you."
Looking at the beautiful woman before him, crying so hard that her eyes were red and her cheeks were streaked with tears, Su Chen's heart softened in the end.
He let out a long sigh and helplessly reached out to gently wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes.
Su Chen felt absolutely miserable.
In the Simulation, wasn't he the one who risked life and limb for Shrek and for her, only to be misunderstood—the "victim," if you will?
So how had the script completely flipped in reality?
Seeing her so pitiful, it was as if he were the heartless cad.
"Honestly, I'm always getting myself into trouble for you."
Since things had already come to this, there was obviously no point in pretending not to understand.
He couldn't avoid this.
Now, all he could do was come clean.
The mess he'd made in the Simulation would ultimately have to be paid for by him in reality...
Then, Su Chen took Zhang Lexuan back to the hotel suite where they were staying.
As soon as they entered, the atmosphere grew a little peculiar.
The usually aloof and proud senior sister of the Shrek Inner Court was now like a clingy little shadow.
Wherever Su Chen went, she followed.
When Su Chen went to pour himself some water, she followed.
When Su Chen walked over to the window, she followed too.
Her beautiful eyes were fixed on your back, as if you might vanish into thin air like you had all those years ago the moment she blinked.
"Big Sis... It's just the two of us here. You don't have to be so nervous."
Su Chen didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He turned around and looked at her helplessly.
"Whatever you want to say, we can sit down and talk it through, okay?"
But Zhang Lexuan remained rooted to the spot, her hands gripping the hem of her clothes tightly. Her gaze was stubborn yet fragile, as if sitting down would make her lose some sense of security.
Su Chen sighed, walked over to the sofa, and sat down first. He patted the seat beside him.
Only then did Zhang Lexuan cautiously move over and sit right beside you.
They were close enough to hear each other breathing.
The moment she sat down, Zhang Lexuan's eyes turned red.
She reached out with a trembling hand and gently touched your cheek, her fingertips icy cold.
"Xiao Chen... where have you been all these years? Have you been all right?"
"Did anyone bully you? Have you been eating properly? Look at you—you've gotten so thin..."
"It's all Big Sis's fault. I didn't protect you back then, and I let you wander outside alone and suffer..."
As she spoke, her tears fell like pearls from a broken string, pouring down without pause.
"Stop, stop! Hold on!"
Su Chen's scalp tingled.
Not again! The older sister's "wailing dirge"! If he let her start crying, the hotel might be flooded with tears before the night was over.
You hurriedly raised your hand and forcibly interrupted Zhang Lexuan's "incantation."
"Big Sis, listen to me. It really wasn't as bad as you think."
You put on a relaxed, carefree expression and launched straight into it:
"After I got lost back then, I was lucky enough to be taken in by an old, lonely villager."
"That old man was really good to me. He had a bit of a strange temper, but he treated me like his own grandson. Look at all these muscles—I got them from eating and drinking well!"
Su Chen spun his tale without batting an eye.
"Really?"
Zhang Lexuan gazed at you through tear-filled eyes, seeming to check whether Su Chen was just telling her the good parts and hiding the bad.
"Truer than gold!"
Su Chen vowed solemnly.
As long as she stopped crying, he'd tell her anything—even that he'd been raised by immortals!
Facing Zhang Lexuan's beautiful eyes, brimming with worry and scrutiny, Su Chen remained calm and began weaving the story he'd prepared long ago.
Then he began to make up his own experiences.
Su Chen's story was seventy percent true and thirty percent false, with airtight logic. Zhang Lexuan listened, stunned.
She listened quietly, frowning at times and relaxing at others, never once taking her eyes off your face.
As the senior sister of Shrek Academy, she had seen plenty and wouldn't normally believe someone's story so readily.
Until—
"Talk is cheap, Big Sis. Look."
Su Chen smiled faintly and said no more. He simply activated the Soul Power within his body.
Hum—
The air trembled faintly as a deep, concentrated aura rose from beneath your feet.
Next, three pitch-black Soul Rings emerged, slowly pulsing with a suffocating pressure!
Black! Black! Black!
All of them were Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings!
No white ten-year Soul Ring, no yellow hundred-year one, not even a purple thousand-year one!
He started with ten-thousand-year Soul Rings!
At that moment, Zhang Lexuan's calm, lovely face finally changed.
Her red lips parted slightly, and her beautiful eyes filled with disbelief and shock.
An extreme Soul Ring Configuration represented an extreme level of physical fitness and mental strength!
That was enough to prove that all the "encounters" and "hardships" he'd just described were true.
"Phew..."
After a long while, Zhang Lexuan let out a breath, and her tense shoulders finally relaxed.
She looked at the young man before her, who had grown into a towering tree, and the worry in her eyes gave way to relief and warmth.
"As long as you're all right... You really have grown up, Xiao Chen."
She remembered that Xiao Chen was only eight this year, right? At eight, his cultivation had already reached the Soul Elder rank, and his first Soul Ring was already ten thousand years old.
This configuration was even more outrageous than in his previous life.
This wasn't just a genius. It defied all reason!
Although you had been astonishingly gifted in your previous life, you had never reached such an absurd level.
"Xiao Chen, in this life... you've given Big Sis so many surprises."
Zhang Lexuan's beautiful eyes shimmered, filled with both relief and astonishment.
The course of events in this life seemed destined to be different from the very beginning.
As the night deepened, the two sat and talked like old friends who hadn't seen each other in years.
Zhang Lexuan quietly told him how she had obtained her Eighth Soul Ring in this life.
Because she carried the memories of her previous life, she knew how disastrous that Soul Hunting Operation had been.
So this time, she had persistently persuaded Elder Song to follow along in secret.
Just as expected, when the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast went berserk, the elite Shrek disciples would have suffered the same fate again if Elder Song hadn't stepped in in time.
Fortunately, this time, everyone made it back safely.
She had personally set the wheels of fate back on course.
"As for Xuan Zi..."
At the mention of that name, Zhang Lexuan's expression turned a little strange.
"Because of his serious dereliction of duty, which nearly destroyed the future of the Inner Court, Mu En gave him a thorough scolding. He was not only stripped of his position as head of the Inspection Corps, but is also currently reflecting on his mistakes in the Sea God Pavilion."
"Pfft—"
Hearing that, Su Chen couldn't help laughing, the corners of his mouth twitching wildly.
Serves him right! Damn right it does!
No matter how many times he got another chance, Xuan Zi always managed to deliver the same performance. He was either eating chicken legs, slacking off, or showing up late.
The title of "Honorary Supreme Elder of the Holy Spirit Cult" was truly well deserved.
After the laughter died down, the atmosphere gradually grew heavy.
Zhang Lexuan looked at Su Chen's somewhat wickedly handsome face. After hesitating for a long time, she finally asked the question.
"Xiao Chen, where... are you planning to go next?"
She didn't mention "going back to Shrek."
The words had turned over and over in her throat a thousand times, but in the end she forced them back down.
She knew better than anyone how terrifying the evil aura emanating from Xiao Chen's Martial Soul, the Pluto Sword, was.
In the eyes of those stubborn Shrek elders, that made him a textbook Evil Soul Master in the making.
The tragedy of her previous life remained vivid in her mind: those so-called righteous judgments, those endless suspicions...
In this life, she would never let anyone hurt Xiao Chen again!
Even if that meant she had to send Su Chen away from her with her own hands.
Anywhere was fine, as long as it wasn't back to Shrek. Everywhere else was safe...
Before you continue