Ji Ye's lips curled slightly.
His First Martial Soul, "Void," activated.
Transparent spatial power flowed around him, and his body turned ethereal.
His Second Martial Soul, "Time," activated.
Time stopped.
Everything within a hundred feet froze.
Leaves caught halfway through the wind hung in midair. A dog barking in the distant village fell silent, and the insects chirping in the grass vanished in an instant.
Even the air solidified.
Ji Ye passed through the girls' dormitory wall as if it were a thin veil.
It was easy.
He went up to the second floor, opened Xiao Wu's door, walked in, and closed it behind him.
Xiao Wu sat on her bed with her head bowed. She held a comb suspended in midair, a fallen strand of hair tangled in its teeth.
Time resumed.
"Who's there!"
Xiao Wu jerked her head up, and the comb fell onto the bed.
She saw Ji Ye standing before her, a hint of a smile on his lips.
Xiao Wu's pupils contracted sharply.
Her mouth fell open, but she quickly covered it and didn't scream.
"Ji Ye? How did you suddenly appear in my room?"
Ji Ye glanced at her, reached out, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her up from the bed.
Before Xiao Wu could react, Ji Ye was already dragging her through the wall and out the window. They landed in the open space outside the girls' dormitory.
Still holding her, Ji Ye kept moving, heading straight out of the academy.
They crossed the field, passed the crooked wooden sign, and walked out through the gates of Shrek Academy. They continued all the way to the old locust tree at the village entrance before stopping.
Ji Ye had dragged Xiao Wu the whole way. She hadn't even put on her shoes, and the chill of the muddy ground crept from her bare feet all the way to her head.
She yawned, then wrenched her hand free of Ji Ye's and glared at him.
"What are you doing? Why drag me out in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"
Ji Ye turned to look at her.
Ji Ye smiled faintly.
"Of course, I wanted to have a heart-to-heart with you, a transformed Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast."
Xiao Wu's drowsiness vanished instantly.
It was as if someone had doused her with a bucket of ice water, chilling her from head to toe.
Her pupils shrank to pinpricks. Her body instinctively took two steps back, and she raised her hands protectively to her chest. The sleepiness in her eyes turned to wariness, then to a trace of fear.
How did he know?
Apart from Tang San, no one else had heard what that Titled Douluo said that day about her being a transformed Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. (This has been revised.)
She had never told anyone, either.
Tang San wouldn't have said anything.
How did he know?
Xiao Wu's thoughts raced, then a scene suddenly flashed through her mind.
A few days ago, that Titled Douluo had fallen from the sky and pounded Flender again and again, beating the sleazy dean into a mummy.
The Titled Douluo had said he was there to settle a score for a child named Ji Ye.
Wait!
Ji Ye?!
So it was him.
Xiao Wu grew even more wary. She lowered herself slightly and took a defensive stance.
"You're that Ji Ye?"
Ji Ye's lips curled slightly.
"What? Remembered who I am?"
Xiao Wu didn't answer. She stared fixedly into his eyes, trying to figure out what he wanted.
But she couldn't.
His eyes were too calm, as still as a dead pond, without the slightest flicker of emotion.
Xiao Wu took a deep breath, her voice turning cold.
"What do you want? If you're looking for a fight, I'm not afraid of you!"
Ji Ye looked at her, his smile deepening.
He took a step forward.
Xiao Wu took a step back.
He took another step forward.
Xiao Wu took another step back.
Her back struck the trunk of the old locust tree. She had nowhere left to retreat.
Ji Ye walked up to her, reached out, and ruffled the top of her head.
His fingers ran through her hair and touched the invisible rabbit ears on her head.
Xiao Wu's body stiffened.
Those rabbit ears were her most sensitive spot. Normally, she wouldn't even let Tang San touch them.
"Under normal circumstances, I don't hit women."
Ji Ye's voice was casual.
"And for now, I'm not particularly interested in you, a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast."
He withdrew his hand and looked down at Xiao Wu, the smile on his lips taking on a different edge.
"How about we play a game?"
Xiao Wu watched him warily.
"What game?"
"Xiao Wu, you don't want everyone at Shrek to find out you're a Soul Beast, do you?"
Xiao Wu's expression changed instantly.
Her lips trembled, her fingers trembled, and her whole body shook.
She knew what Ji Ye meant.
She and Tang San had lived together for six years, and their bond was like that of real siblings. Tang San might not distance himself from her just because she was a Soul Beast.
But what about Ning Rongrong? Zhu Zhuqing? Oscar? Dai Mubai? Zhao Wuji?
How would they see her once they knew she was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?
A transformed Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast was a walking Soul Ring and Soul Bone in the human world.
She would be hunted down, imprisoned, and slaughtered like prey.
Could Tang San protect her?
Tang San couldn't even beat Dai Mubai.
Countless thoughts flashed through Xiao Wu's mind, each one sending a chill down her spine.
"You... what do you want?"
Ji Ye smiled.
His smile was warm, polite, and gentlemanly.
But looking at it, Xiao Wu felt a chill run down her back.
"It's simple." Ji Ye's voice was soft.
"I want you to fawn over me like a lovesick puppy, right in front of Tang San."
Xiao Wu's eyes widened.
"Impossible!"
She refused flatly, without the slightest hesitation.
In front of Xiao San?
Fawn over someone else like a lovesick puppy?
Dream on!
Ji Ye's smile didn't change, but his gaze turned a shade colder.
"Refusing?"
He turned and headed toward Shrek Academy.
"Then I'll just have to tell everyone."
His voice drifted back from ahead. It wasn't loud, but every word came through clearly.
"After all, living with a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, who knows? You might get eaten one day. Tang San might understand, but will the others?"
Xiao Wu's feet felt nailed to the ground. She couldn't take a single step.
Ji Ye walked a few paces, then slowed.
He was waiting.
He knew Xiao Wu would call out to him.
Three seconds.
Two seconds.
One second.
"Stop!"
Xiao Wu's voice came from behind him, trembling with tears, anger, and resentment, with an indescribable hurt.
Ji Ye stopped and turned around.
Xiao Wu stood where she was, clutching the hem of her clothes so tightly that her knuckles had gone white.
She bit her lip. As she kept biting down, tears began to fall.
Ji Ye looked at her without saying a word.
Xiao Wu cried for a long time.
At last, she raised her head, wiped away her tears with her sleeve, and spoke hoarsely.
"I... I agree."
Ji Ye's lips curled slightly.
He'd known all along it would come to this.
"Call me Master. Let me hear it."
Xiao Wu clenched her fingers tighter, her nails digging into her flesh until the pain made her frown.
Her lips parted, then closed, then parted again.
Her face was full of hesitation and inner turmoil. In her heart, she didn't want to do it ten thousand times over, a hundred thousand times over, a million times over.
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