Divine Realm
The Divine Realm.
The Forest of Life.
"Rongrong, isn't this a little much?"
Feng Yan gazed at the beautiful woman before him, dressed in a Nine-Colored divine outfit, his tone laced with helplessness.
"If you keep this up, won't Oscar come after me and fight to the death?"
Ning Rongrong tilted her head and smiled playfully. "Brother Feng, you're the God of Fire, one of the thirty-two gods of the Divine Realm."
"Are you really afraid of one God of Food? Besides, I haven't agreed to be with Xiao Ao yet."
At her words, alarm bells rang in Feng Yan's mind. He took half a step back.
This woman had come with trouble in mind!
"Brother Feng, did you seriously just take half a step back?"
Ning Rongrong narrowed her eyes, a hint of menace creeping into her voice.
"Am I, the dignified Nine-Colored Goddess, really that scary to you?"
"It's not that you're scary."
Feng Yan took another half-step back and added, "You're terrifying to gods."
After all these years since his transmigration, what kind of scene hadn't he seen?
Whenever he thought of his previous life, Feng Yan couldn't help sighing.
In his previous life, he'd been a corporate wage slave.
The kind who worked 996.
He'd worked overtime until late every day, and his only entertainment was sneaking a look at novels at his desk.
He'd read mostly prehistoric fantasy novels.
He especially loved the part with Red Boy: one puff of Samadhi True Fire, and even the Monkey King had to run.
Then he'd found himself on Douluo Continent ten thousand years in the past.
Like Tang San, he'd started out in Holy Soul Village.
And, like him, he'd had Innate Full Soul Power.
The only difference was that his Martial Soul was a wisp of flame that could evolve.
From a spark to a flame, from a flame to Ultimate Fire.
And then, at last, to Samadhi True Fire.
Though this Samadhi True Fire wasn't the same version that had nearly burned that monkey to death in his previous life.
It was still more than enough.
What did "more than enough" mean?
It meant he could use the fire to roast sweet potatoes, refine pills, and fight. Now and then, he could even warm Xiao Wu's bathwater...
"Brother Feng, you're spacing out."
Her sweet voice brought Feng Yan back to his senses.
At some point, Ning Rongrong had stepped back several paces. Nine-colored light slowly swirled in her hand.
Soon, a golden bead appeared.
The instant Feng Yan saw it, he felt his whole world collapse.
That golden liquid... Ahem!
That golden sheen, that familiar aura, that...
Wasn't that the Angel God's divine soul he'd kept in his collection?
How had it ended up in Ning Rongrong's hands?
"Rongrong, why is this in your hands? Does Tang San know?"
Ning Rongrong smiled like a flower in full bloom. "What do you think?"
Feng Yan didn't want to guess.
He didn't dare guess, either.
If Tang San found out he'd been keeping this thing, Feng Yan would be in serious trouble.
Tang San was the embodiment of two gods, wielded two Super Divine Artifacts, and was a God King!
And Feng Yan was merely a First-Level God without a Super Divine Artifact.
The gap between them was like that between a Soul Master who'd just awakened a Martial Soul and a Titled Douluo.
"Brother Feng, you wouldn't want Brother San to find out you've been keeping Qian Renxue's divine soul, would you?"
Ning Rongrong said with a teasing laugh.
Why did that sound so familiar?
Feng Yan was struck dumb.
How had those words come out of her mouth?
Had she learned them from him?
If things went as expected, she'd make a demand next!
Rongrong from across the sea, please calm down!
As if she'd seen right into Feng Yan's thoughts, Ning Rongrong covered her mouth and laughed.
"Brother Feng, what are you thinking? I was only joking. What did you think I was going to do?"
Feng Yan breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness. He'd been overthinking it.
This was the Douluo God Realm, and Ning Rongrong was a proper Nine-Colored Goddess. She wouldn't make any improper demands.
"That's good."
"But..."
Ning Rongrong suddenly stopped smiling and looked at him seriously.
Feng Yan's heart leapt into his throat again.
"But what?"
Ning Rongrong stepped closer, fixed her gaze on his, and enunciated every word.
"Brother Feng, if you come with me somewhere, I won't tell Brother San."
Feng Yan froze. "Go somewhere?"
"Mm."
"Where?"
Ning Rongrong didn't answer. Instead, she turned to look deeper into the woods.
The trees there grew thick, the light dim. A narrow path wound away into the depths, barely visible.
Feng Yan followed her gaze, and his heart gave a jolt.
That was the depths of the Forest of Life.
Commonly known as... the woods.
An hour later.
Feng Yan, his clothes in disarray, held the golden bead as he saw off Ning Rongrong, whose face was flushed.
"Brother Feng, Brother San is hosting a family banquet tomorrow. You're the eighth of our Shrek Seven Devils, so make sure you don't miss it."
"Also, Xiao Wu asked me to pass on a message: Wutong misses you very much..."
Those were Ning Rongrong's last words.
Besides, nothing had actually happened just now.
There had only been honeyed words, a pillar standing tall, a bun stuffed with meat, and sixty-nine facing each other...
The golden bead flickered, as if laughing at his disheveled state.
"You're laughing at Nuwa!"
"If it weren't for you, would Ning Rongrong have had me in her clutches? Would I have gone into the woods with her?"
After Feng Yan finished cursing, the golden bead flashed even more merrily.
The pace, the rhythm—just one DJ booth short of a full-on dance party.
"Fine, laugh all you want."
Feng Yan swept his right hand through the air and opened his pocket space. "Tomorrow, I'll take you to see Tang San. Let's see if you can still laugh then."
With that, he casually tossed Qian Renxue inside.
As the entrance to the space closed, he thought he caught a resentful gaze shooting out from within.
But he didn't pay it any mind.
He was thinking about something else.
Something much more troublesome.
Tang San.
Xiao Wu.
And himself.
Feng Yan stood there for a while, then sighed and sat down on a rock.
Whenever he thought of Tang San, he felt a headache coming on.
And Xiao Wu...
That was even more trouble.
His relationship with Xiao Wu was far from simple.
Ten thousand years ago, back at Shrek Academy.
Back then, Xiao Wu had actually relied on him most. Tang San had been more like a lovesick puppy.
Unfortunately, Feng Yan hadn't had a cheat, and he'd also had to worry about Tang Hao.
He'd been afraid of getting smashed into meat paste by one swing of that hammer, so he'd rejected her without hesitation.
Back then...
"Brother Feng, can a human and a Soul Beast really be together?"
Feng Yan remembered it clearly. One evening, on the hill behind Shrek, Xiao Wu had suddenly asked him that question.
He'd been roasting sweet potatoes when a bone-chilling killing intent suddenly swept over him from behind.
Feng Yan understood at once.
Comrade Tang Hao was watching him from the shadows. The moment he agreed, that hammer would come crashing down on him.
"How could a human and a Soul Beast be together? Humans are humans, and Soul Beasts are Soul Beasts."
"There's a reproductive barrier!"
Xiao Wu: "..."
And just like that, the two of them came to nothing.
The killing intent behind him slowly faded away...
At the time, Feng Yan thought that was the end of it.
He went back to roasting sweet potatoes, and Tang San went back to pursuing his Xiao Wu.
Everything was perfect.
Until one day, after he'd become a god.
That day, Tang San went alone to a meeting at the God Realm Committee.
Xiao Wu came to find Feng Yan by herself, saying she wanted to thank him for what he'd done for her back then.
Feng Yan didn't think much of it and opened the "Drunken God Brew" that Ji Dong, the newly ascended Evil God King, had given him.
As they drank, Xiao Wu suddenly spoke. "Brother Feng, sometimes I wonder what things would be like now if you hadn't rejected me back then."
Before Feng Yan could answer, his head began to swim.
That wine had a powerful kick.
He remembered very little of what happened afterward.
Only the passion of bodies colliding...
When he woke up, Xiao Wu was already gone.
A note had been left on the table: Don't tell anyone.
Feng Yan casually burned the note and pretended nothing had happened.
Until Tang Wutong was born.
Those eyes, that nose, the way she smiled...
Then Feng Yan held Tang Wutong in his arms, his hands trembling.
Tang San laughed beside him. "Feng Yan, look at my daughter. Doesn't she look so much like Xiao Wu?"
Feng Yan silently nodded. "She does. She really does."
He didn't know what method Xiao Wu had used to hide it from a God King.
But he knew that if Tang San ever found out about this, he'd chop Feng Yan into a thousand pieces!
And then there was...
Would tomorrow's family banquet turn out to be a feast at Hongmen?