An Encounter with Wang Dong

To Zichuan, a five-day journey was nothing more than a leisurely stroll.

He politely declined Du Busi's offer to send guards or elders with him, setting out alone for the Star Dou Great Forest with an enormous pack on his back that was nearly half his height.

The pack was stuffed full of preserved, high-calorie jerky, flatbread, smoked meat, and several large waterskins.

It could not be helped. The terrifying metabolism brought by his two hearts had turned him into a genuine "bottomless pit." He got hungry while walking, so if he did not bring enough provisions, he feared he might chew through a passing village's livestock pen halfway there.

There was nothing to say along the way. Aside from eating, he traveled.

The days were simple and tedious, yet Zichuan enjoyed them. His steadily improving strength and anticipation for the opportunities ahead made his steps feel lighter.

By the evening of the fifth day, the familiar, vast dark-green outline of the Star Dou Great Forest was already visible in the distance. The air had grown damp, carrying the earthy scent of vegetation and soil, along with the faint presence of soul beasts.

Zichuan estimated that, at his pace, he would enter the forest's outer region in no more than half a day.

He found an open patch beside a stream, removed the considerably lighter pack from his back, and prepared a fire. He intended to soften the last few rock-hard meat patties over the flames for dinner, then get a good night's sleep and restore his energy before officially entering the forest tomorrow to begin searching for the traces of that million-year-old Big Bug.

However, just as he skewered a meat patty on a branch and brought it close to the campfire—

"Wait! Stop!"

The God of Destruction's voice suddenly exploded in his mind. It no longer carried its usual lazy or teasing tone, but was filled with unprecedented shock, vigilance, and even... a trace of incredulous fury.

Zichuan froze, his heart tightening. "What is it, Old Zi? Did you find the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm? Or... is there danger?"

He instantly became alert, secretly gathering his Soul Power as his spiritual perception spread across the surroundings like spilled mercury.

For the God of Destruction to lose composure like this, had they encountered some extraordinary existence? Could he really be so unlucky as to run into Bear Lord again?

"No... not the bug, and not that old blind bear..."

The God of Destruction's voice carried an immensely complicated emotion, as though he were confirming something while suppressing surging rage. "It is... Tang San's aura!"

"What?!" Every hair on Zichuan's body stood on end. Both his hearts skipped a beat, and he nearly threw the meat patty in his hand into the fire.

"Tang San?! He came down to the lower realm?! He is nearby?! Old Zi, don't scare me!"

He only had level sixty Soul Power now. Although his combat strength far exceeded others of his level, against an existence at Tang San's God King level, even a clone or a fragment of divine sense would be like an ant trying to shake a tree—suicidal! He had not even begun stealing food, and the creditor had already come knocking?

"No, that is not right..." The God of Destruction's divine sense was like the most precise radar, carefully scanning the distant fluctuation of aura, which was extremely weak yet terrifyingly high in essence.

"The aura is weak, very weak, and... strange. It does not seem to be the main body, nor does it seem to be a complete descent of divine sense... It is more like..."

He fell silent for a moment, apparently distinguishing it carefully. Then Zichuan could "feel" the dark-red divine sense of destruction in his Sea of Consciousness abruptly fluctuate, radiating an emotion mixed with disgust, realization, and... even stronger revulsion.

"It is his daughter! Xiao Qi! Tang San and Xiao Wu's daughter! That little girl with the Light Goddess Butterfly and Clear Sky Hammer Twin Martial Souls!"

The God of Destruction's voice was icy to the bone, every word seemingly squeezed through clenched teeth.

"No, she should not be called Xiao Qi now... According to that hypocrite Tang San's arrangement, she is now called Wang Dong, or Wang Dong? She disguised her gender and headed to Shrek Academy as the Clear Sky Sect's young master to 'encounter' Huo Yuhao by chance!"

Zichuan was stunned, his mind racing. Wang Dong? Huo Yuhao's roommate in the original story, his future wife, whose true identity was Tang Wutong, Tang San's daughter and the little princess of the God Realm?

Why was she here? According to the timeline, she should indeed have been on her way to Shrek Academy...

"Tang San's aura... Is it a divine-sense imprint left on his daughter? Or the portion he split off..."

The God of Destruction seemed to be muttering to himself, the disgust in his tone nearly overflowing.

"Disgusting! Fucking disgusting! In order to completely bind the child of destiny to the Tang family's chariot, he viciously tore apart his own daughter's divine soul and split it in two. He even later came up with Wang Qiu'er... all to ensure that Huo Yuhao could never escape his daughter's grasp, no matter what! He could do something so cruel to his own flesh and blood, and he calls himself a father?!"

Listening to the God of Destruction's undisguised loathing and contempt, Zichuan's opinion of Tang San sank to a new low.

He had long known this part of the plot, but hearing it from the God of Destruction, a former colleague and victim, delivered with such intense emotion, felt entirely different.

This was no longer merely scheming. It was a spine-chilling absolute control and distortion of the fate of one's closest family.

"No wonder I found that aura strange. It was weak, yet its essence was incredibly high, and it carried those nauseating 'blessings' and 'shackles' belonging to Asura and the Sea God..."

The God of Destruction sneered repeatedly. "Tang San, Tang San, you truly went to great lengths!"

At that moment, the God of Destruction's emotions suddenly shifted. That overwhelming fury and revulsion strangely subsided somewhat, replaced by a familiar... excited feeling laced with malicious amusement.

"Kid!" The God of Destruction's voice rang in Zichuan's mind, carrying obvious teasing and instigation. "Let me ask you something."

A bad feeling rose in Zichuan's heart. "...What are you up to now?"

"Want a wife?" The God of Destruction's voice was full of temptation.

"This Wang Dong is Tang San and Xiao Wu's biological daughter, the little princess of the God Realm. In terms of looks, talent, and background... tsk tsk, she is absolutely among the best of the best! Although she is currently pretending to be a boy, she is a fresh, lovely girl at heart! So? Will you consider it? Put her on your list of potential wives too?"

Zichuan: "..."

He could feel the veins on his forehead cheerfully throbbing. Again?!

Just how obsessed was Old Zi with finding him a wife?! And who was the target this time? Tang San's daughter!

The little princess of the God Realm! Old Zi wanted him to poach Tang San's daughter and steal the wife Tang San had already chosen for his "son-in-law"?

This was no longer snatching food from a tiger's mouth. This was going to dig up Tang San's ancestral graves! Although it sounded thrilling, still...

"The question is, how am I supposed to do it?" Zichuan rubbed his forehead helplessly.

"Walk up and strike up a conversation? 'Hi, beautiful, I am the son of your father's enemy. I have my eye on you, so come with me'? Besides, she currently thinks she is a boy. If I went up and said that, she would think I was a pervert, wouldn't she?"