The forest fell silent once more, as if everything that had just happened had been nothing but a dream, as if it had never happened at all.
Zhang Lexuan stood rooted to the spot, stunned. It was a long while before she came back to her senses.
Though she had no idea who the old man and the young man were,
one thing was certain: they meant her no harm.
Otherwise, they would never have saved her in that moment of crisis or helped her deal with the Silver Moon Divine Wolf.
Besides, if they had meant her harm, she would never have made it out alive.
What was more, that senior had deliberately left the Silver Moon Divine Wolf with its last breath.
Clearly, he intended to gift her this opportunity.
At the thought, Zhang Lexuan took a deep breath, suppressing the shock in her heart as she raised the Silver Moon in her hand once more.
"Since that's the case..."
"Lexuan won't let senior's kindness go to waste."
She drew on the last traces of Soul Power in her body. Fueled by her boundless hatred, several brilliant silver moons came crashing down.
With one final howl, the Silver Moon Divine Wolf's massive body toppled to the ground, its life force fading away completely.
A bizarre and magnificent blood-red Soul Ring slowly rose from its corpse.
The terrifying pressure of a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring instantly spread across the entire forest.
Zhang Lexuan gazed at the Soul Ring, her eyes complicated. Her dead companions, the mysterious old man, the young man whose bloodline was so similar to hers—all those tangled emotions eventually became a sigh whose meaning was hard to discern.
On the other side of the forest, atop an ancient tree that towered into the sky, a disheveled old man with unkempt hair seemed to have just woken from a nap.
His flushed face and greasy mouth suggested that he had just enjoyed a fine meal, a fine drink, and a fine nap.
"Mm... ah~" The old man yawned and stretched, rubbing his bleary eyes as he gazed around without much thought.
"Is it morning already? What? It's morning?"
Senior Xuan Zi was still every bit the authority, still coming to Star Dou Forest for an extra meal and a nap.
The old man looked at the glaring sunlight overhead. He paused briefly, then seemed to remember something. His eyes instantly cleared, and all traces of sleepiness vanished.
"Damn it, how is it morning already? Did I sleep through the whole night? This is bad—Lexuan and the others!"
A bad feeling welled up in Xuan Zi's heart. He hurriedly summoned his Soul Power and leaped into the air, his terrifying spiritual power sweeping across the forest as he tried to find Zhang Lexuan and the others.
Before long, he found the three of them fleeing toward the edge of the forest.
Judging by their expressions and injuries, his worst fears had likely come true: they really had encountered some grave danger.
Xuan Zi was so frantic that he plunged down from the sky without holding back at all. The gale from his descent directly blocked Han Ruoruo and the other two from escaping.
The three were badly startled. They thought the senior sister had been defeated and that the Silver Moon Divine Wolf had caught up with them.
But when Wu Ming took a closer look, she realized it was Xuan Zi, who had been missing for ages. She first breathed a sigh of relief, but soon her face filled with anger, and she demanded, "Elder Xuan? What are you doing here? Where have you been all night?"
"Do you have any idea what kind of danger we were in? Wait, we need to save senior sister first. She's farther back."
Wu Ming could barely contain her fury, but after saying just one sentence, she remembered that Zhang Lexuan was still struggling behind them. She quickly changed her tune and urged him on.
Looking at the three who were left, Xuan Zi's heart clenched. He had even wondered if these were the only three who had survived.
Zhang Lexuan in particular was one of the Sea God Pavilion successors whom Mu En had placed great hopes in, and one of Shrek's own. If she really perished in Star Dou Forest,
it would be a tremendous blow to Shrek Academy, and Mu En would never let him off the hook.
Fortunately, from Wu Ming's words, he learned that Lexuan was probably still alive. There was still a chance she could survive, so there was time to make it.
As long as he brought Lexuan back in one piece, he could at least give Mu En and the academy an explanation.
As for the other students, it was a pity, but he couldn't even remember their names. The academy could compensate their families with some Gold Soul Coins later. Surely their parents would understand.
After all, becoming a Soul Master was never easy. As students of Shrek, they had to be capable of facing all kinds of danger at any moment.
At the thought, his expression eased somewhat. Still, he looked anxiously at Wu Ming and urged her, "Wu Ming, lead the way. I'd like to see what kind of beast dares lay a hand on our Shrek Academy students!"
With Wu Ming leading the way, Xuan Zi used Martial Soul Possession. A pair of horns sprouted from his head, and he flew toward Zhang Lexuan with an imposing air.
Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy.
"Man, I'm finally back. That trip took months, and I'm dead tired."
As soon as Xu Tianyao returned to his private dormitory, he eagerly flopped onto his soft bed and let out a blissful sigh.
In his room, Snow Maiden was examining all the various fixtures.
Though Snow Maiden had entered the human world before, this was her first time in a relatively industrialized place like the Sun Moon Empire, and she found it quite novel.
Especially after seeing how powerful those metal devices were, she couldn't help but marvel at human ingenuity.
Xu Tianyao sat up on the bed. After spending this time together, he and Snow Maiden had grown fairly familiar with each other.
And for convenience in daily life, Xu Tianyao had suggested that she simply use the name Snow Maiden. Snow Empress had readily agreed; to her, a name was nothing more than a form of address.
"By the way, Snow Maiden, do you want to go to school with me, or cultivate on your own?"
"If you want to go to school with me, I can help you get your identification sorted out in a bit."
"If you'd rather cultivate by yourself, this private dormitory of mine is spacious—several hundred square meters—and nobody usually comes by. You can stay here. Just tell me if you need anything. It's safe here, too."
Xu Tianyao walked over to Snow Maiden and poured her a human-made soda, asking curiously.
Snow Maiden took the bottle of fruit juice and took a small sip. The sweet-and-sour taste amazed her.
After thinking it over, she realized she was quite curious about human Soul Tools and wanted to learn about them. Now that she had taken human form, of course she wanted to try fitting into human society.
As for her aura, there was no need to worry. The Ice Soul Necklace she had received when she transformed could conceal her Soul Beast aura.
"I want to enroll. I want to see how you humans study and cultivate. And that thing of yours, what was it called? Soul Tools. I want to learn about those, too."
Xu Tianyao gladly agreed to all of Snow Maiden's requests.
"Then stay here for now. I'll go take care of the enrollment paperwork."
Xu Tianyao smiled as he headed for the door, still secretly pleased at the thought of living with a beautiful girl.
He never expected that someone would already be standing outside the door—and that she would be glaring at him with clenched teeth, fuming with anger.
Before you continue