Three hours later, Qian Renxue lay panting in Ye Yuan's arms.
She felt as though her jaw no longer belonged to her.
She did not want to move her mouth at all.
She pinched Ye Yuan's face. "I really suspect you weren't asleep, A-Yuan."
He had already fallen asleep, yet he was still holding her head...
She had not lied to Ye Yuan. This medicinal bath had indeed been hard to obtain. It was special; unlike the first time, she did not need to deliberately absorb it.
She only needed to sit quietly in it, and her body would absorb it on its own.
Leaning against Ye Yuan's chest, Qian Renxue fell into a deep sleep.
Her exhaustion from earlier quickly carried her into dreamland.
This dream was the same as before. Once again, she dreamed of the time when the two of them had first met.
In the dream, in her previous life, at the former site of Spirit Hall on Douluo Continent.
At this time, the Shrek Seven Devils had already ascended to the God Realm.
"My lord, quite a few people have arrived from outside this time. Are we still taking them in?" The speaker was his personal attendant, Wuneng.
Ye Yuan had given him that name when he had saved him. Seeing that he was honest and sturdy, Ye Yuan had named him Wuneng.
In this life, Ye Yuan had not met Qian Renxue ahead of time.
After many twists and turns, he had joined Shrek Academy. However, because of his relationship with Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing, Tang San and the others had always targeted him.
Ye Yuan had been suppressing his strength all along. He was different from Tang San and the others.
His martial soul, the Candle Dragon Emperor, could break through and become a god within a hundred years without needing a divine inheritance.
If he dared to become a god now, Tang San would immediately lead people here to kill him.
"Of course. After all, when we established the Heavenly Court at Spirit Hall's former site, our goal was to help these people."
The people Ye Yuan referred to were naturally ordinary citizens oppressed by the two great empires.
"Yes, understood, my lord."
"By the way, my lord, the matter of taking in a disciple that you mentioned last time has been prepared. We are only waiting for you now."
"I know." Ye Yuan rose and slowly walked out of the hall.
Watching his back, Wuneng suddenly called out, "My lord!"
"What is it?"
"Do you really have to go? Isn't our life now quite good?"
"Why are you still planning to seek out Tang San?"
Ye Yuan did not answer. He merely walked away at an unhurried pace.
After all seven of Tang San's group ascended to the God Realm, Tang San had once descended to the lower realm to warn Ye Yuan. So long as Ye Yuan dared ascend, Tang San would immediately bring people to suppress him.
Dai Mubai was still alive. Ye Yuan was unwilling to let that stand.
Besides, now that he had come to this world, why not try to climb higher?
He planned to take in someone exceptionally gifted as his disciple, teach him everything he knew, then pass the position of Heavenly Court Lord to him.
The Heavenly Court was the only utopia for ordinary people that Ye Yuan had created on Douluo Continent.
Over the years, people had joined in an endless stream.
In a sense, it was another continuation of Spirit Hall.
Once he had done all that, he wanted to go up and see the skies of the God Realm, to meet that lofty God King.
"A person cannot live a lifetime in humiliation. There must always be something worth pursuing."
"Dai Mubai, you will not have to wait much longer."
At that moment, the plaza before the Heavenly Court Kingdom's sacred hall was packed with people.
They were Soul Masters who had come because of his reputation, along with many ordinary people.
On Douluo Continent, such a sight simply did not exist.
Soul Masters were actually lining up alongside ordinary people.
Though these ordinary people had no Soul Power, they still wanted to try their luck. After all, the master of the Heavenly Court had not said that ordinary people could not participate.
"Look, it's the master of the Heavenly Court!"
"So this is Ye Yuan, the strongest person on Douluo Continent today!"
"Lord of the Heavenly Court, please bless us!"
"..."
Over the years, Ye Yuan's reputation had resounded throughout the entire continent.
Not only was he immensely powerful, but he also lacked the arrogance of nobles.
In the Heavenly Court, everyone was an ordinary person. There was no distinction between nobles and commoners.
Ye Yuan had long prepared the trials. Anyone who passed them could become his disciple.
And become the next master of the Heavenly Court.
"I hereby announce that the assessment to recruit the Heavenly Court Lord's disciple has officially begun!"
At the chief examiner's command, the assessment officially began.
Watching the candidates be eliminated one after another, Ye Yuan could not help shaking his head.
The trials he had set did not merely test cultivation talent. Intelligence, character, and temperament were all indispensable.
If the candidate was not outstanding enough, he would not be able to keep the Clear Sky Sect and the two great empires in check.
After Tang San's departure, the Clear Sky Sect had become the strongest sect on the continent, followed by the Tang Sect.
The third major power was Shrek Academy.
Before Tang San left, he had left Shrek with considerable foundations.
It had turned the academy into a colossal force. No, it should be called a nation within a nation.
"Looks like it will take quite some time to choose one."
The more Ye Yuan watched, the less interested he became, so he went down the mountain alone to clear his head.
The withered yellow grass had frozen stiff, snapping crisply beneath one's feet.
A little girl with golden hair walked through the snow.
She wore thin clothes and had a frail, tiny frame.
Walking alone in the mountains, she had just been eliminated from the selection.
"Grandfather, this human world is so bitter."
"Angel, your blessing is truly bitter."
She was Qian Renxue, who had died after her great battle with Tang San.
The Angel's blessing had granted Qian Renxue a second life, but this time, her talent was mediocre.
Without noble status, without Spirit Hall, and without her grandfather's help, every step in this world was difficult.
She wanted to die, yet she was unwilling to accept it. But Tang San and the others had already left Douluo Continent.
No matter how extraordinary her talent was in this life, she could no longer take revenge.
"I'm so tired, Grandfather. Little Xue is a little sleepy."
"I want to sleep."
"Little Xue misses home a little."
Unconsciously, she walked toward the Heavenly Court's main hall, where Ye Yuan lived and where Spirit Hall had once stood.
She carried a steamed bun in her arms. Taking it out with hands covered in frostbite, she said, "No, this is my last ration. I have to save it."
She tucked the bun back into her clothes and kept walking, not knowing how long she had walked.
In the end, she collapsed onto the ground. "Grandfather, Little Xue is about to come see you."
Suddenly, a man appeared in her field of vision.
Qian Renxue recognized him. He had participated in the battle at Jiayu Pass.
He had saved Qian Renxue's life then, but before Tang San ascended to the God Realm, he had found her again and killed her.
Looking at the girl before him, Ye Yuan could not help thinking of when he had first transmigrated to Douluo Continent.
Back then, Ye Yuan had been in exactly the same situation as the Qian Renxue before him, and it had also been winter.
If not for that woman, he might have died.
A glimmer appeared in Qian Renxue's eyes—a light called the will to live.
"No, I can't die."
"Grandfather's instructions have not been fulfilled, and Spirit Hall's destruction has not been avenged."
"I have to live!"
Qian Renxue struggled to her feet with all her strength, her thin body trembling violently.
"Hall... Lord..."
"Please, take me as your disciple." With that, Qian Renxue knelt down.
In Qian Renxue's worldview, every relationship came with a transaction.
She pulled the steamed bun from her clothes. The bun clutched in her dark little hand was somewhat blackened.
She looked at the only thing on her that she considered valuable.
A trace of bitterness rose in her heart.
She had snatched this bun from a bun shop when she had been starving.
Unable to endure it any longer, she had stolen it.
She had been discovered and nearly beaten to death.
That memory had already become somewhat hazy. She only knew that her entire body hurt now.
"I... I don't have anything else precious."
The man before her was one of the most respected people on Douluo Continent. In Qian Renxue's eyes, he would surely not want this.
But she still did not want to die, so she remained kneeling on the ground.
As long as she lived, there would be hope for revenge. She could not die.
Ye Yuan looked at the young girl before him as a faint trace of Soul Power flickered at his fingertips.
The Soul Power at his fingertips split the bun in two.
"For the rest of your life, you will be my, Ye Yuan's, disciple. You and I shall each hold half a bun."
"If you truly wish to become my disciple, then eat that half."
"On the path of cultivation ahead, Ye Yuan will protect you for the rest of my life and bear your karma."
The girl stared blankly at the handsome, tall man before her, and something else appeared in her gaze.
Qian Renxue had seen the powerful Angel God, but at this moment, her own Angel God had appeared...
She said nothing. She only felt her face become itchy, wet, and warm.
It turned out that she was crying. She no longer knew how long it had been since she had last cried.
She had not cried when her grandfather scolded her, nor when she was injured in training, nor when Tang San killed her. Yet now, tears streamed down her face.
She immediately stuffed the bun in her hand into her mouth, swallowing it in large bites.
Ye Yuan stared at the black handprint on the bun in his hand. How long had it been since he had eaten a steamed bun? He did not know.
Just as Qian Renxue thought Ye Yuan was disgusted by the black handprint on the bun.
Ye Yuan directly stuffed half the bun into his mouth.
The bun itself was not large, and it had been cut in half, so naturally it could be swallowed in one bite.
"What is your name?" Ye Yuan asked.
Qian Renxue did not answer. She merely shook her head.
Ye Yuan removed his outer robe and draped it over Qian Renxue's thin body.
It was the warmest garment in Qian Renxue's memories.
"Then you shall take my surname."
"You and I formed this bond on this snowy day. I will give you the name Xue. From now on, you will be called Ye Xue."
"From now on, I will call you Little Xue."
Qian Renxue murmured, "Ye Xue, Little Xue..."
From that day onward, she was no longer called Qian Renxue. She had a new name: Ye Xue.
Ye Yuan did not know why he had taken this girl as his disciple.
She did not possess astonishing talent, astonishing beauty, or immense wealth.
In short, there was not a single thing about her that met his requirements for taking in a disciple.
Perhaps that was simply what people were like.
It was like going to a pet store to buy a cat. You thought you would choose a cute, well-behaved one.
But then, by the roadside, you saw a stray kitten that had suffered terribly.
That kitten was pitiful and frightened of people.
Yet when it saw you, it walked toward your feet and lingered around you for a long time.
Even you, who pursued beauty to the utmost, would still take in that little stray cat.
No one would have expected it, including yourself.
Just like Ye Yuan and Qian Renxue now—no, it should be Ye Xue...
Before you continue