Shrek Academy · Sea God Lake · Edge of the Woods
Dawn's first light shimmered, scattering flecks of gold across the lake.
A young man stood by the water, leaning forward to study his reflection. Strange-colored eyes glimmered with a mysterious light.
He gently touched his face and wiped away the tears at the corners of his eyes. His still-youthful, slightly immature features already hinted at an extraordinary, heroic bearing.
"Mm..."
He poked the water. Ripples spread, shattering the reflection of a face that was almost too handsome.
"Once time has carved me into shape... surely one day, I too will possess the peerless beauty and radiant elegance of all you readers beyond the screen, and make my name resound far and wide."
The words had barely left his lips when his innards felt as if they'd been tossed into a washing machine and put through another painful spin cycle.
He doubled over and sucked in a sharp breath.
"Damn it! Again?! System, you son of a—!"
The young man was named Long Jinyu, and he was a Transmigrator.
Just a second ago, he'd finished his college entrance exams and was thinking about how to reward himself.
Then, the next second...
A flood of information poured into his mind.
Long Jinyu instantly understood his situation—
He'd been lying at home watching a movie when he somehow transmigrated into the world of Peerless Tang Sect—and even became the Dragon God's successor!
[Beep! Nine Luminaries Dragon God Codex System activated—]
[This is the embodiment of the Dragon God's authority. Bound by the nine colors, it governs all dragons by law.]
[When the first drop of dragon blood stains the Codex, the conceptual ownership of all dragonkind throughout the myriad heavens and worlds will be eternally branded beneath your divine crown.]
Long Jinyu: ?!
[Current timeline: The day Huo Yuhao registers at Shrek Academy]
[Name: Long Jinyu]
[Age: 11]
[Level: 45]
[Martial Soul: Nine-Colored Dragon God]
[Soul Rings: Red, red, red, red]
[Talents: King of Concepts, Dragon God's Grace,...]
[Fortune: 99]
[Etc...]
[Points: 20250609]
[Task: Join Shrek Academy. Reward: 594945 points]
"Conceptual ownership? Nine-Colored Dragon God?"
Long Jinyu's pupils contracted. As a seasoned Douluo fan and a "top scholar" in the humanities (turtle✓), he immediately grasped both the weight and the absurdity of those keywords.
"Wait, that can't be right?"
"Wasn't it said in Douluo IV that..."
"That Dragon God fellow wasn't dead. His soul was still in his own remains, holed up in the Dragon Tomb and doing nothing, right?"
"Did he bring me here???"
"Whatever. Since I'm here, I might as well make the best of it."
His rational mind quickly pushed down his shock.
"The urgent thing is to get this power under control."
"Martial Soul Possession!"
At a thought, a vast, surging power burst awake! Nine-colored divine light poured from his body, a majestic dragon's roar resounded in his heart, and four blood-red Soul Rings rose like blazing suns!
Feeling the power coursing through him, as though it could tear the sky apart, Long Jinyu drew a deep breath and suppressed the thrill of "dreams coming true," along with his urge to act chūnibyō.
"Okay, it's definitely cool, but this start..."
He stared at his arm, covered in fine dragon scales and shimmering with nine-colored light, and furrowed his brow.
"It's a little too 'exciting.'"
Thirty minutes earlier.
When Long Jinyu entered Shrek Academy, he'd only meant to take a look around the campus.
He gazed up at the towering gates. Sunlight dappled the ground through the trees, and the laughter and playful shouts of students carried from afar. Everything looked just as it had in the original story...
But in the blink of an eye, the world began to spin.
First, his still-unstable Martial Soul energy suddenly went berserk, making his temples throb with pain.
Then, a white-haired old man appeared out of nowhere and clung to him, endlessly chattering.
The old man's eyes shone alarmingly bright, like a hungry wolf spotting a piece of meat. He kept saying things like "remarkable bones" and "destined for greatness."
"Young friend, fate has brought us together. Would you be willing to take this old man as your master?" The old man beamed and held out a golden-patterned token.
Cold sweat beaded on Long Jinyu's forehead. His ears were ringing, and his vision was doubled. He could barely see straight, let alone worry about anything else.
Desperate to get away, he snatched the token and nodded at random. "Sure, sure, whatever you say..."
Then he turned and fled toward the woods on the outskirts of Sea God Lake, his mind fixed on suppressing his rampaging Soul Power as quickly as possible.
"Damn it! Transmigration is one thing, but why does my Martial Soul have to go berserk too? System, are you trying to screw me over?!"
[Task complete. Reward issued. Current points: 20845554]
"Wait a second! When did I register?!"
The only answer was the Soul Power exploding inside him.
By the time Long Jinyu stumbled into the woods, his arms had already begun transforming into dragons against his will, covered in scales of every color.
Every step he took seemed to stir the elemental forces between heaven and earth, kicking up waves of chaotic energy.
"What the hell is going on..."
Long Jinyu sniffled, ready to vent his frustration by punching a tree, but he couldn't bring himself to damage the towering ancient wood.
After finally getting a little relief, he panted at the lake and congratulated himself on making it through the crisis.
His reflection appeared on the water's surface. Looking at that familiar yet unfamiliar face, he couldn't help admiring himself, sinking into a pleasant daydream.
But another burst of pain dragged him back to reality, and the system naturally got another furious tongue-lashing.
Just then—
"Boom!"
"What's going on?"
Ignoring his pain, he looked up. The previously tranquil lake exploded, and a pillar of scarlet flame more than ten meters across shot into the sky.
"Ahhh—!"
Amid the billowing spray, a woman's heart-rending scream rang out.
A figure wreathed in flames plunged into the woods.
Wherever she passed, ancient trees caught fire and carbonized in an instant, reduced to ash.
Before Long Jinyu could react, he felt a grip tighten around his throat.
A red-haired woman had clamped one hand around his neck like a branding iron. In her other palm, out-of-control black-and-red flames churned.
"Hot, hot, hot! Let go, lady!"
Burn marks spread across Long Jinyu's neck. When he saw her face, he froze—those red eyes gone wild, that fiery hair... Wasn't she—
"Well, would you look at that? The classic scene is happening all over again!"
He grimaced in pain, but his mind was busy firing off sarcastic commentary.
"So this is how she grabbed Huo Gua back then? Only now I'm the one playing fire extinguisher..."
"Run... I... can't control it!" Beneath her trembling voice, a sliver of reason still remained.
But there was no doubt.
Her Evil Fire Phoenix Martial Soul had completely run amok.
"Run? Maybe let go of me first... Hey, hey, hey!"
Suddenly, as if something had set her off, she sprang up and hurled Long Jinyu more than ten meters away. The Sixth Soul Ring on her back blazed with dazzling light.
"Phoenix Meteor Shower—!"
Long Jinyu twisted in midair and managed to land, but before he could steady himself, he saw fireballs roaring down from the sky.
"Cough, cough... What a warm welcome..."
He coughed up blood. His gaze cut through the wild, blazing rain of fire and locked on the swaying scarlet figure, flickering like a candle in the wind, yet stubborn enough to break one's heart.
"In the original story... no one could truly save you from the torment of this infernal fire..."
The flames cast the girl's figure in a tragically beautiful glow. Long Jinyu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth as his rampaging Soul Power surged through his meridians—
"But since fate brought us together at this moment..."
His gaze grew unshakably resolute (chūnibyō✓). Deep within his eyes lay a total rejection of the tragedy fate had already set in motion!
"Then this time, I'll be the one to rewrite the final chapter of 'Tragedy of the Phoenix'!"
[Warning! Evil Fire Phoenix energy out of control!]
The system's alarm came embarrassingly late.
"Wow. Only reminding me now? Your girlfriend ran off, and now you know how to sweet-talk her, huh?"
[Task triggered: Help Ma Xiaotao suppress her Evil Fire. Reward: 5201314 points]
"Ma Xiaotao..."
"Big Sister Xiaotao..."
"Wait! Who gave you permission to release this..."
But the situation was dire. This was no time to argue with the system.
With a thought, the power of his "Ultimate Elements" burst forth!
"Ning!"
A cold, dusky-blue light gathered above his head, instantly forming a massive ice shield as freezing air billowed outward.
"Ah—help!!"
Suddenly, frightened screams came from behind him.
Three outer-court students had been caught up in the disaster and were fleeing in panic.
"Damn it!"
Long Jinyu's pupils contracted, and a resolute glint flashed in his eyes.
The dragon scales on his left arm lit up with brilliant blue light. The power of Ultimate Ice erupted, forming a hemispherical barrier that firmly shielded the three students.
At the same time, the ice shield overhead shattered and re-formed into a blue beam of light, which shot toward Ma Xiaotao like an arrow loosed from a bow.
"Still not enough!"
Golden light blazed across the scales on his right arm. He slammed his fist into the ground—
"Boom!!!"
Pure strength erupted into a shockwave that shot skyward, forcibly knocking the falling meteor shower off course!
In midair, Ultimate Ice and Phoenix Fire clashed violently.
Ice burst apart, scattering into a shower of crystals. Flames froze, congealing into red-and-blue crystal.
The two extreme energies intertwined, instantly unleashing a terrifying Elemental Storm!
"Rumble—!"
The shockwaves spread like raging waves. Ancient trees were ripped from the ground, and the earth cracked open into crisscrossing ravines!
Ma Xiaotao froze. The raging Evil Fire on her body had actually been suppressed for a moment by Long Jinyu's ice.
She staggered and could no longer hold herself up. She dropped heavily to her knees.
Through the swirling dust, she struggled to lift her head and looked toward the figure opposite her, also kneeling on one knee, amid the chaotic energy—
He was a slender young man, yet his features had a delicate, almost feminine refinement.
A few strands of platinum-white hair fluttered among his dark hair in the storm of energy.
His left eye gleamed with the chill of a northern glacier; his right shone like molten gold.
His fair skin was smudged with dust and blood, but nothing could conceal his almost bewitching handsomeness.
"Who... is that?"
Ma Xiaotao's mind was hazy, her vision blurred. The figure before her seemed unreal and dazzling amid the shifting light.
She blinked, trying to focus, but could only make out that heart-stirring silhouette...
"So pretty..."
She murmured without thinking, then tugged at the corner of her mouth in self-mockery.
"Heh... I must be... seeing things. I can't even tell if that's a boy or a girl..."
In the distance, outside the freshman dormitory, a white-haired old man sat in a wicker chair as the golden glow at his fingertips slowly faded.
"This little fellow..."
He rubbed the deep marks on the armrest—the ones left half an hour ago when Long Jinyu's Soul Power went berserk and he'd nearly crushed the chair's back.
"Good thing I insisted on taking him as my disciple."
The scene reflected by Spirit Detection made even this Dragon God Douluo, who had seen countless geniuses, sit up straight.
In the center of the woods, an ice-and-fire Taiji Diagram more than fifty meters across slowly revolved.
Two utterly opposite forces, extreme cold and scorching heat, had reached a delicate balance. Blue and red light mingled, bathing the entire forest in a dreamlike glow.
"I thought I'd picked up a gold ingot. I never expected... to find an untapped gold mine."
Ma Xiaotao clenched her teeth and forced herself to stand. She grabbed Long Jinyu by the collar and lifted him slightly—not roughly, but with an urgency that brooked no refusal.
"Little brat... you're my savior... Please, help me..."
Her voice was terribly hoarse. Her eyes were brighter than ever, yet filled with emotions more complicated than she had ever shown before.
Long Jinyu froze for a moment, then quickly collected himself.
"Greetings, Senior Ma Xiaotao. I'm Long Jinyu."
"I'd long heard there was a 'Fire Phoenix Heavenly Maiden' in the inner court! Now that I've seen you, I finally understand the verse, 'Peach blossoms bloom in splendor, their radiance ablaze!' Your Soul Power is so formidable, even the 'Southern Bright Separation Fire' would pale beside it!"
He laid on the flattery thick.
"Save the pleasantries... for later..."
Ma Xiaotao's voice trembled, and fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.
"The Evil Fire inside me... I can barely keep it under control."
"That strike of yours just now made me feel a little better, but now..."
"This pain has returned... Can you... can you do it again..."
Long Jinyu had naturally noticed the black-red Soul Power faintly spilling out of her uncontrollably. "I understand. Leave it to—"
"Hold me tight!"
Ma Xiaotao blurted it out, then seemed to realize what she had said and lowered her voice.
"Use that chill from before... to cool me down... please..." The last three words were practically squeezed out through clenched teeth.
"Uh..."
Long Jinyu's Adam's apple bobbed, and the tips of his ears grew warm. He hadn't expected her to be so direct.
But seeing her curled up in pain, he immediately put on a serious expression. "Senior, you're in trouble. Of course I'll help."
"Hurry...!"
Ma Xiaotao's body suddenly began to tremble violently, her long legs going weak as if they could no longer support her.
She clutched Long Jinyu's collar tightly, her knuckles turning white, but still couldn't stop herself from sliding down.
"I... really can't hold on..." Before she could finish, her body pitched forward like a phoenix with broken wings.
Long Jinyu felt a burning mass crash into his arms—Ma Xiaotao's scorching forehead pressed hard against his collarbone, her searing breath washing over his neck.
"Forgive me, Senior." He didn't dare hesitate. His arms closed securely around her soft, feverish body.
The shocking heat beneath his hands made his heart sink.
This was no normal body temperature. It was like holding molten lava on the verge of erupting! What inhuman torment was she enduring?
At the same time, amid that scorching embrace, a strange warmth quietly swept through his heart.
The body in his arms was astonishingly hot, yet he felt none of the burning pain or revulsion he'd expected.
Instead... the Soul Power inside him, always restless and threatening to tear through his meridians, seemed to be soothed. Miraculously, it calmed a little.
"Strange..."
Long Jinyu's heart shuddered, and a thought flashed through his mind like lightning:
Could Senior Xiaotao's phoenix flame not only incinerate all things, but also... soothe and nourish my rampaging dragon soul?
He had no time to examine this unbelievable sensation. The suppressed groan of pain from the person in his arms drew his full attention back to her.
Now, only by giving everything he had could he help her through this ordeal.
"Mm..."
Ma Xiaotao let out a relieved moan, and her whole body went limp.
She could clearly feel that, as they held each other, the cool Ultimate Ice flowed into her body in an endless stream, suppressing the Evil Fire bit by bit. The relief felt so good that she unconsciously tightened her arms—
"Ahem, cough! Senior..." Long Jinyu's face flushed scarlet, and his voice trembled. "Are you... trying to murder your junior...?"
Only then did Ma Xiaotao realize she had been pinning him tightly against her chest.
She hurriedly loosened her hold a little, a flush spreading from her cheeks to the tips of her ears. "S-sorry! I was just..." She swallowed the rest of the sentence. She couldn't exactly say, "It felt too good," could she?
"It's all right." Long Jinyu silently adjusted his position and tightened his arms around her a little more. "Is this... okay?"
Ma Xiaotao nodded softly, her hair brushing his jaw.
After that, neither of them said another word. In the silence, the sound of their heartbeats, overlapping and out of sync, was especially clear.
Even though he'd nearly "lost his life" just moments before, Long Jinyu still couldn't help feeling a faint thrill.
After all, a lovely woman was in his arms, her delicate fragrance lingering beneath his nose.
It was an extraordinary feeling, impossible to put into words...
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