The Chance He Gave Them

The banquet was lively.

At Beibei and Tang Ya's heartfelt invitation, Xu Sanshi, Jiang Nannan, and Xiao Xiao all readily agreed to join the Tang Sect.

With these new companions, everyone was sincerely delighted. The long-declining Tang Sect seemed at last to have welcomed the dawn of its revival.

Laughter and conversation filled the table. Only Tang Ya, after her initial joy, had a hint of gloom quietly creep into the depths of her eyes.

Looking at these exceptionally talented companions, whose futures brimmed with promise, she was happy to see the Tang Sect grow stronger, yet also felt wave after wave of disappointment at her own stagnant strength.

As the Tang Sect's sect master, she had become the one left trailing behind.

"Keep chatting, everyone. I'll go help in the kitchen and bring out some freshly baked cakes!"

Tang Ya forced herself to perk up and squeezed out a smile. Using an excuse, she rose from her seat and headed toward the kitchen.

As she turned, Ji Jing lifted his eyes to look at her somewhat slender back.

He clearly caught the sorrow and unwillingness hidden beneath her smile.

He knew Tang Ya was grieving alone because she was falling farther and farther behind her companions.

Ji Jing said nothing and continued eating as though nothing were amiss, but he had already made up his mind.

Whatever else happened, Tang Ya was one of their own now.

He would never let her suffer the fate she had originally been destined for: being taken advantage of by the Holy Spirit Cult, abducted, brainwashed, and ultimately turned into that pitiful Saintess.

Night deepened, and Shrek Academy, which had been bustling all day, finally fell quiet.

In the Outer Court dormitory area, everyone had returned to their rooms. Some had drifted into sweet dreams, while others had begun their arduous cultivation.

Tang Ya and Jiang Nannan had also turned out the lights and gone to rest.

But in Ji Jing and Wang Dong's dormitory, Ji Jing had no intention of sleeping.

He walked to the window. Moonlight spilled across his handsome profile, casting a faint shadow.

With a turn of his hand, the Best Wine Cup in the Village appeared in his palm.

At the faintest stir of his thoughts, liquid in mingled shades of black and white welled up inside the cup from nowhere.

It was divine wine formed from his parents' divine power.

When he had descended into this world, his parents had left him this most powerful trump card. It could temporarily awaken his sealed divine power, divine consciousness, and divine body for a short time.

And the first time he used this power, it was neither to kill an enemy nor to protect himself.

Ji Jing glanced back at Wang Dong, who was already sound asleep in bed. After confirming she wouldn't be disturbed, he drained the divine wine in one gulp.

In an instant, an indescribably terrifying force awoke within him!

Black and white, red and blue light raced beneath his skin. It was his own divine power.

Deep in his eyes, it was as though universes were born and destroyed, and stars revolved through the heavens.

Yet the strange phenomena lasted less than a moment before he snuffed them out completely with absolute control, not allowing even the slightest trace to escape.

The one standing in Shrek Academy now was no longer a top genius, but an innate deity in his youth, whose combat strength rivaled that of a peak Second-Level God.

From a deity's perspective, everything mortal was as small as dust.

Ji Jing's divine soul found Tang Ya in an instant. At that moment, she was meditating on her dormitory bed.

Without the slightest hesitation, his divine soul turned into a streak of light and entered Tang Ya's Sea of Consciousness in an instant.

Just as Ji Jing's figure transformed into a hundred-meter-tall silhouette of light woven from four colors, preparing to appear in this mental space, a towering black figure a full thousand meters tall silently appeared in Tang Ya's Sea of Consciousness before him.

Ji Jing's figure halted. He looked up in astonishment at that familiar, imposing back.

"Dad?"

The black figure was none other than the Evil God King, Ji Dong.

He glanced back at his son's divine-soul projection and gave a calm, slight nod in greeting.

Then he turned his gaze to the center of the Sea of Consciousness, where Tang Ya's soul projection sat cross-legged with her eyes closed in meditation. His solemn yet gentle voice echoed through the entire space.

"Wake up, child."

Tang Ya's soul trembled violently. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around in confusion at the unfamiliar, dim space.

"Where is this?"

Ji Dong's vast voice rang out again.

"This is your Sea of Consciousness. And I am one of the Five Great God Kings of the Divine Realm, the God of Evil."

"A... a deity?"

Tang Ya was completely stunned, her face full of incredulous astonishment.

She had never imagined she would meet a true deity while meditating.

But...

She had only ever heard of the Tang Sect's ancestor, Sea God Tang San, in the records. What kind of deity was this God of Evil?

Ji Dong seemed to see through her thoughts and spoke calmly.

"Your Martial Soul possesses a quality of evil. Now, I can offer you two choices."

"First, become an Evil Soul Master. You will gain powerful strength quickly and take revenge on your enemies."

At the words "Evil Soul Master," Tang Ya's face turned deathly pale. She hurriedly shook her head, her expression filled with fear and turmoil, and said resolutely,

"No! I'll never become an Evil Soul Master!"

Ji Dong was unsurprised by her reaction. In an even tone, he continued with the second choice.

"Second, accept my test and explore your Martial Soul's true potential. If you do well enough, you may even have the chance to become a god in the future."

Standing off to one side, still shrouded in Ji Dong's immense divine aura, Ji Jing looked at his father in surprise.

He had only intended to quietly help Tang Ya resolve the backlash from her Martial Soul and, while he was at it, improve her potential. He had never expected his dad to descend in person and directly bring up something as earth-shattering as godhood.

Faced with two choices as different as heaven and earth, Tang Ya barely hesitated before choosing the latter.

After receiving her firm answer, Ji Dong said no more. With a slight movement of his divine consciousness, he left Tang Ya's Sea of Consciousness, taking Ji Jing's divine soul with him.

Throughout the entire process, Tang Ya's attention had been drawn completely to Ji Dong's towering divine manifestation. She never noticed the figure in the corner, several times smaller than Ji Dong's manifestation.

High above the clouds, ten thousand meters in the sky, Ji Jing had returned to the form of a boy and stood facing his father, Ji Dong.

"I was only planning to directly improve her Martial Soul."

Ji Jing looked at his father and asked,

"Dad, why did you come in person and give her a chance to undergo a test?"

Ji Dong stood with his hands behind his back, his deep gaze seeming to pierce through time and space. He explained calmly,

"Among the mortals around you, aside from Huo Yuhao, who has destiny's favor, none have the potential to inherit a God King's divine position."

"Even Huo Yuhao, in my opinion, will be limited to becoming a main god when he first ascends, with Tang San interfering."

"But if they can develop their talents to the fullest and work hard themselves, the others may yet inherit the divine position of a Second-Level God, or even a First-Level God."

He turned his gaze to Ji Jing and continued,

"Since you were going to help her anyway, I thought I might as well see just how far she could go."

Then Ji Dong changed the subject.

"This girl called Tang Ya is only one of them."

"The others around you have even greater potential than she does. Some of them are more promising even than the likes of Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun."

"I thought I'd give them a chance. Perhaps one day, they could become gods under your command as well."