Cutting Off Wang Dong!

"Fool!" The God of Destruction snorted disdainfully.

"Of course you can't just strike up a conversation! If there's no opportunity, create one! Save the beauty, understand? Countless storybooks and legends throughout history have proven that while this trick is cliché, it really works! Especially on a little girl like this, who has barely seen the world and is full of curiosity and fantasies about the 'outside world'!"

"Save the beauty?" Zichuan raised a brow. "Does she need saving from me? She has twin top-tier martial souls, and who knows how many life-saving measures Tang San left on her. If she really encounters danger, it's hard to say who'll be saving whom."

"That's why you need to 'create' the opportunity!" The God of Destruction patiently coaxed him, looking every bit like an instigator.

"Find a few people who look like obvious villains and have them 'rob' her. They don't need to be too strong—just enough to force out a bit of her strength and make her nervous.

Then, at the crucial moment, you make a dazzling entrance, easily solve the problem, show off your formidable strength and... well, handsome looks, while casually revealing a trace of an aura that her martial soul feels close to.

The Heart of Life should also hold some appeal for the Light Goddess Butterfly. Wouldn't that make getting acquainted perfectly natural? Then you can slowly spend time with her. With that face of yours and all those cheats you have, are you really worried about winning over a little girl?"

The corners of Zichuan's mouth twitched. This plan... the more he listened, the more unreliable it sounded. It was also full of melodramatic clichés.

But on second thought, maybe... it wasn't entirely impossible? It was on the way anyway, and trying wouldn't cost him anything. What if it worked?

Wouldn't that mean stabbing Tang San right through the heart while also stealing his precious cabbage? That image... somehow felt rather exhilarating just thinking about it.

"Fine, fine..." Zichuan was ultimately persuaded by the God of Destruction's twisted nonsense. Throwing caution to the wind, he said,

"I'm already planning to steal his son-in-law's greatest opportunity. Getting acquainted with the wife he picked out for him while I'm at it... seems perfectly reasonable, right? Mine, mine, it's all mine!"

"Now that's more like it!" The God of Destruction praised. "That's bold! That's my child! Come on, let's find some 'actors' first!"

No sooner said than done. Zichuan swiftly put away the half-cooked meat pie, identified the direction from which Wang Dong's aura was coming, and silently made his way over.

With the Aromatic Silk Beauty amplifying it, his spiritual power was extraordinarily keen. Before long, he found a "suitable" target in a forest clearing not far from Wang Dong's path.

It was a young man with a gloomy face and short dark-purple hair. Judging by the fluctuations of his Soul Power, he was probably a Soul King. He carried an obvious air of brutality and greed; one glance was enough to tell that he was no decent person. He perfectly met the standard of "looking like a bad guy."

"This guy will do." Zichuan observed from behind a tree for a moment and nodded.

He straightened his clothes, swaggered out, and walked directly up to the man.

Facing the sinister purple-haired youth, he spoke bluntly.

"Hey, let's discuss something."

The purple-haired youth—Raven—lifted his eyelids. A faint, half-smiling expression appeared on his somewhat pale face, but a cold glint like that of a predator assessing prey flashed deep in his eyes.

He licked his slightly dry lips, his voice hoarse. "Kid, what is it?"

"I'll give you a thousand Gold Soul Coins." Zichuan held up one finger, speaking as casually as if he were buying groceries.

"Later, a good-looking young master with short blue-pink hair will pass by this road. Pretend to rob her, make some noise, and scare her a little. Don't actually go for the kill. When I show up to 'save' her, pretend you can't beat me and get the hell out. How about it? Pretty profitable deal, right?"

He thought his offer was perfectly fair. A thousand Gold Soul Coins just to put on an act and frighten someone—it should have been an unexpected windfall for desperadoes like these, who looked as though they lived by the blade.

Raven froze outright. He looked at Zichuan as though he were looking at a foolish deer that had walked into his trap and even cleaned itself up for him.

Robbery? Pretending? Scaring someone? Saving her?

The curve of Raven's lips became increasingly bizarre. He slowly rose to his feet, standing half a head taller than Zichuan. His dark-purple hair looked strangely sinister in the evening light.

He looked Zichuan up and down, his gaze lingering for a moment on Zichuan's bulging bundle of rations before he drawled,

"A thousand Gold Soul Coins? Just to scare someone? It does sound... quite profitable."

"Fine. I agree."

Raven felt greatly amused. He had never expected that, as an Evil Soul Master, someone would one day ask him to do something like this.

Interesting.

As a reward for amusing him, Raven would let Zichuan die a little more quickly later. This fellow's blood also seemed rather delicious.

Zichuan relaxed, feeling that the matter was settled. Just as he thought—money could make even ghosts turn millstones.

On a forest path at the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, a figure walked along at an unhurried pace.

She looked around eleven or twelve years old, slender and upright, dressed in neat white martial attire with a light-blue short cloak over it.

The most eye-catching thing about her was her rare short blue-pink hair. The soft strands shimmered with an unusual luster beneath the dappled sunlight filtering through the leaves.

Her features were so exquisite that she hardly seemed mortal. Her skin was fair as jade, and her large pink-blue eyes shone like the finest gemstones. Yet at that moment, those beautiful eyes carried a trace of confusion and frustration that did not match her age.

Wang Dong stopped and leaned against a tree trunk, letting out a soft sigh.

Ever since leaving the Clear Sky Sect—or rather, ever since "awakening" and setting foot on this road to Shrek Academy—an inexplicable, lingering feeling had been clinging to her.

She always felt as though an invisible thread were guiding her life, as though every step had been arranged in advance.

Going to Shrek Academy, meeting someone, experiencing certain things... that sense of being "planned out" made her deeply uncomfortable, yet she could neither explain nor understand it.

It was as though a thin mist lay deep within her memories, concealing something important.

"F-Father said that going to Shrek would give me the best training and let me meet true friends..." Wang Dong murmured, confusion flickering in her pink-blue eyes.

"But why do I always feel... like that isn't all there is to it?"

She shook her head, as though trying to cast those distracting thoughts away. No matter what, she should go to Shrek Academy first.

It was the number one academy on the continent. Perhaps there, she could find answers—or... find the strength to break free from this inexplicable restraint?

However, before she could take another step, someone appeared soundlessly in the middle of the road ahead.

It was a pale young man with short dark-purple hair. He stood with his arms folded, leaning against a tree.

His eyes crawled over Wang Dong like maggots clinging to bone, lingering especially long on her incomparably exquisite, androgynous face. A grotesque smile mixing greed and lust curled at his lips, making her intensely uncomfortable.

It was Raven.

"Well, where did this little young master come from? You sure are... pretty."

Raven's voice was sticky and hoarse. He straightened up and took two steps toward Wang Dong, his gaze becoming even more brazen.

"All alone in this wilderness? That's dangerous. Come with big brother. I'll take you somewhere nice and make sure you feel... very comfortable."

The implication in his words and the nakedness of his gaze instantly filled Wang Dong with intense disgust and a chill. She was not ignorant of such matters; in an instant, she understood his revolting intentions!

The way this purple-haired man looked at her was not the way one looked at a "young master" at all!

Behind a nearby patch of bushes, Zichuan was closely watching the situation. Seeing Raven's performance, even the corners of his mouth twitched as he mentally gave the Evil Soul Master a thumbs-up.

Damn, professional! That look, that tone, that perverted aura... it's completely natural! I didn't even need to explain the details, and he improvised this perfectly? That thousand Gold Soul Coins was well spent... uh, wait, why do I feel like this guy actually has designs on Wang Dong?

Zichuan's relief at having found the right actor instantly turned into wariness and speechlessness. Was this fucking fake acting turning real, or had he accidentally hit the mark?