Come Up Here, You

Wang Dong called out Ji Jing's name in an incredibly serious tone, then... fell silent again. The blush on her cheeks only deepened, as if blood might drip from them.

Ji Jing watched her with interest, the corner of his mouth curling into an amused smile.

"Hmm? What is it?"

Of course, he'd already guessed what she wanted to say, but he wasn't in a hurry.

Some things meant more when she said them herself.

Wang Dong felt her cheeks burning hot, and her heart pounded wildly against her will.

She took another deep breath, as if summoning every last ounce of strength, and finally worked up the courage to say:

"I... I have a secret to tell you. Actually... I'm a girl!"

After saying that, she raised her slender hand and gently brushed it across her face.

The features that had been carefully disguised to look somewhat masculine instantly softened, revealing a flawless, delicate face.

At the same time, her neat, short pink-and-blue hair shed its disguise and cascaded down like a waterfall, reaching her waist in an instant. It shimmered with a dreamlike luster beneath the sunlight.

When she had finished, she met Ji Jing's gaze again. Her big, watery eyes blinked, their depths glimmering with nervousness and shyness. She looked both adorable and captivating.

However, Ji Jing didn't react with the shock she'd expected. He simply watched her quietly, still smiling.

"Y-you're not surprised at all?"

Wang Dong grew a little anxious.

Ji Jing smiled and finally spoke.

"Because I already knew."

"Huh?"

Wang Dong was utterly dumbfounded, her beautiful eyes widening into circles.

Ji Jing patiently explained:

"A Martial Soul like the Light Goddess Butterfly only appears in female Soul Masters. So, from the first day we met, I knew you were a girl."

That was a lie.

As the son of a god, how could he possibly fail to recognize his childhood sweetheart?

But that excuse sounded the most reasonable at the moment.

Wang Dong stood rooted to the spot, her mind completely blank.

After a long moment, she finally came to her senses, and her pretty face turned even redder than a ripe apple.

She stammered:

"Th-then... does that mean you've known all this time...?"

Thinking of all her clumsy attempts to pass herself off as a boy, and all those unguarded moments in the dormitory that he'd witnessed, Wang Dong was so embarrassed she wanted to crawl into a crack in the ground.

Watching her squirm, Ji Jing chuckled.

"You get embarrassed so easily, and your skin's so thin. If you really were a boy, I'd have run away long ago."

His joke eased Wang Dong's embarrassment, but it also gave rise to a new worry.

"Th-then... now that I'm a girl again, does that mean I can't... can't live in the same dorm as you or be with you anymore?"

"Why not just keep it from everyone else?"

Ji Jing reassured her.

"The Academy let you live with me in the first place, so they clearly don't intend to interfere. As long as we carry on as before, it'll be fine."

He paused, then changed the subject.

"And besides..."

Ji Jing suddenly stepped forward, moving closer to Wang Dong.

Wang Dong instinctively backed away, only for her back to hit the trunk of a thick tree. There was nowhere left to retreat.

Ji Jing followed through by stretching out an arm and bracing it against the tree beside her ear, pinning her between himself and the trunk.

The sudden intimacy turned Wang Dong's face crimson, and her breathing grew quick and shallow. She could clearly feel Ji Jing's scent, and her heart nearly leapt into her throat.

Ji Jing gazed into her shy, evasive eyes and spoke, word by word.

"I once said I'd cook for you for the rest of your life."

Wang Dong froze.

She raised her head and met his eyes, brilliant as the sun.

In that instant, all her unease, shyness, and worry vanished without a trace.

The next moment, Wang Dong stepped forward of her own accord, opened her arms, and wrapped them tightly around Ji Jing's waist.

She buried her face against his chest, listening to his strong heartbeat. A dazzling smile blossomed across her face, and her voice carried a hint of joyful emotion.

"Okay. I'm looking forward to it."

The Divine Realm, the Sea God Temple.

Inside the magnificent temple, azure divine power rippled through the air like flowing water.

Tang San sat in the seat of honor, but his handsome face was so gloomy it looked as if water might drip from it.

Through the curtain of water inside the Sea God Temple, he watched everything happening in the lower realm with perfect clarity.

From his daughter nervously confessing that she was a girl, to that boy Ji Jing taking the opportunity to pin her against a tree, to his daughter throwing herself into the boy's arms...

Every scene was like a needle, stabbing precisely into the old man's heart.

To be honest, Tang San couldn't find fault with Ji Jing as a prospective son-in-law.

He was exceptionally talented, levelheaded, and treated Tang San's daughter with the utmost care...

More importantly, there was the same sparkle in his daughter's eyes when she looked at him as there had been in Xiao Wu's eyes when she looked at Tang San.

As a father, he naturally hoped his daughter would find a happy love.

But hope was one thing, reason another. Emotionally, he just couldn't stand it.

How old was his daughter, anyway?

She'd already confessed she was a girl?

And now they were just going to keep living together without saying anything more?

What had that brat meant by pinning her against a tree?

And what was with that smug look, as if to say, "I already knew"?

An inexplicable fury blazed in Tang San's heart.

At first, he'd wanted to go straight to Ji Dong and pick a fight, give him a beating.

It would just be to vent his anger. As long as he didn't take it too far, Lie Yan wouldn't interfere.

Ji Dong and Lie Yan had inherited only part of their divine positions, and they didn't have a Super Divine Artifact. In a one-on-one fight, Tang San would win for sure.

Beating up that brat's father to "demand justice" for his daughter would feel incredibly satisfying.

However, an unexpected discovery not long ago had made him abandon the idea.

He'd met the First Generation God of Goodness.

Since she was there, the First Generation God of Evil had to be there too.

That old man was even more shameless than Tang San. If Tang San went to challenge Ji Dong one-on-one, there was a very good chance the old man would jump in, call it a "spar," and then team up with Ji Dong to beat Tang San.

Outnumbered two to one, against Ji Dong and a God King who had existed since the beginning of creation, Tang San had no intention of asking for trouble.

If he couldn't take it out on the old one, he'd just have to vent on the young one!

Tang San watched the water curtain. Night had fallen over Douluo Continent.

His daughter was walking back to the Clear Sky Sect alone, while Ji Jing had set off for Shrek Academy by himself.

His chance had come!

The more Tang San thought about it, the angrier he got. His resentment had reached its limit.

A sharp glint flashed in his eyes. Without hesitating, he thrust a hand toward the lower realm!

"Up you come!"

A dazzling golden beam of Sea God light pierced the barrier between the Divine Realm and the mortal world, locking precisely onto Ji Jing as he walked along the road in the night.