Winning Ye Guyi Over

The two walked into the teahouse one after the other and sat down in a secluded corner by the window.

Only after the server had brought them tea and left did Xiao Hongchen finally breathe a sigh of relief.

He looked at the cool, golden-haired girl across from him, put his earlier awkwardness aside, and said seriously:

"Nice to meet you. My name is Xiao Hongchen, and I'm a student at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy."

"I know." Ye Guyi picked up her teacup, her tone flat. "You're wearing the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy uniform."

...Fair enough.

"I came to see you today because I'd like to invite you to join my family."

The teacup in Ye Guyi's hand paused slightly. At last, her pale golden eyes turned attentive as she quietly studied him, saying nothing at first.

"Miss Ye, you wouldn't want anyone finding out that you have the Holy Angel Martial Soul, would you?" Xiao Hongchen had really wanted to say it like that... He'd have to try it that way if he got the chance.

Instead, Xiao Hongchen put on a serious expression and said:

"I know your Martial Soul is the Holy Angel, and I know you've always fought using only Soul Tools to keep it hidden."

The teahouse fell quiet, with only the faint clamor of the street outside the window remaining.

Ye Guyi set down her teacup and looked straight at Xiao Hongchen with a guarded expression.

"You investigated me?"

Xiao Hongchen didn't avert his gaze. Instead, he smiled faintly, a trace of confidence flashing in his mismatched eyes.

"'Investigated' would be putting it strongly. It's just... I'm rather interested in you."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he cursed himself inwardly.

Damn it. I said what I really thought.

He paused, quickly adjusted his expression, and spoke with sincerity and composure.

"Ye Guyi, I mean you no harm. On the contrary, I genuinely want to work with you."

"You understand better than I do what the Holy Angel Martial Soul means in the Sun Moon Empire. Your ability to counter Evil Soul Masters will make you the most valuable pawn in some people's eyes, and a threat that others will want eliminated above all else." He paused. "Whichever it is, once your identity is exposed, your fate will no longer be in your own hands."

Ye Guyi said nothing. Her eyelashes fluttered lightly, like ripples skimming across the water in the wind, then vanished in an instant.

"So what?" Her tone was still flat, but there was less coldness in it and more seriousness. "What can you offer me?"

"I can give you a future where you no longer have to hide," Xiao Hongchen said. "There aren't many places in the Sun Moon Empire where the Holy Angel Martial Soul can exist openly and fulfill its purpose. My family is one of them."

"Jing Hongchen, the Master of Mingde Hall, is my grandfather."

Ye Guyi's fingers tightened slightly around her teacup. Not because she was surprised—her expression remained calm—but something in her pale golden eyes seemed to come into focus anew.

She lifted her teacup and took a sip, using the gesture to buy herself time to think.

"Of course, I won't force you. You can refuse me right now. Walk out that door and pretend we never met today. Keep your Martial Soul hidden, and carry on with your life as usual."

Xiao Hongchen picked up his teacup and took a sip. "I just think someone with the Holy Angel Martial Soul shouldn't waste her time hiding it."

As if she had come to a decision, Ye Guyi raised her head.

"I need time to think about it."

The moment she said it, Ye Guyi knew she was lying.

Six years. She had kept it hidden for six years.

Her parents were immigrants to the Sun Moon Empire. They had moved from the Star Luo Empire with all their belongings and hopes for a new life, opening a small Soul Tool parts workshop in Ming Capital.

They weren't well off, but life was steady. Her father had said that the Sun Moon Empire was the land of Soul Tools, and that as long as you had good skills, you could always earn a living here. Her mother had smiled and said that once they'd saved enough money, they would send her to the best Soul Engineer Academy.

When she was seven, that steady life shattered.

She had come home from school that day and pushed open the workshop door. What she saw were two husks drained of all life.

There was no blood, no wounds. Her parents had no external injuries at all.

But they lay beside the workbench, their faces withered, their eye sockets sunken, their skin gray-white like old paper faded by time. Her father's hand still rested on an unfinished Soul Tool core, while her mother's fingertips pointed toward the door, as if she had tried to crawl over to her.

Ye Guyi stood in the doorway, her schoolbag slipping from her shoulder.

She couldn't remember how long she stood there. She only remembered that the law enforcement squad came later. Someone carried her away, someone told her, "Don't look," and people spoke in hushed voices, their words heavy with something she couldn't understand at the time.

"Evil Soul Masters again."

"Drained of their life force... This looks like the work of an Evil Soul Master."

"Poor child..."

She became an orphan.

With what little savings her parents had left and a scholarship from Fire Phoenix Academy, she survived. Year after year, she advanced from the junior classes to the fourth year. Her Soul Tool grades stayed among the top three in her year, and a few days ago, she had just reached level forty, becoming a Quasi-Soul Ancestor.

No one knew what her Martial Soul was. They only knew that the quiet, golden-haired girl had astonishing talent for making Soul Tools. Her teachers described her as "focused, restrained, and never makes a mistake."

Only she knew that it wasn't restraint. It was hatred forged into composure.

For six years, she had attended school while secretly searching for clues about the case. That was also when she had come into contact with the Ordinary Alliance. Its intelligence network had helped her piece together fragments of the truth: the Evil Soul Master was still alive. He had changed his identity, but he was still in Ming Capital.

But that was all. She had no name, no face, no whereabouts.

And today, a silver-haired boy she had never met sat across from her, revealed the secret she had kept hidden for six years, and then offered her a way forward.

She had to seize what might be the only chance she would ever get.

She wanted to live differently.

Xiao Hongchen didn't press her for an answer. He simply reached to his waist, took out a token, and placed it on the table.

The token was dark silver all over. The Hongchen Family crest—a toad—was on the back, and the front bore a single character: Xiao.

"If you decide, you can come find me at Red Dust Manor anytime." He rose and set the tea money beneath his cup. "There's no rush."

Ye Guyi lowered her gaze to the token. She didn't reach for it, but neither did she push it back.

Xiao Hongchen turned and walked out of the teahouse without looking back. But he knew full well that the fish had taken the bait.

The moment she said, "I need time to think about it," he had known.

People who truly needed to think it over didn't say so. Those who did had often already made their choice in their hearts; they just needed a little time to accept it.

Ye Guyi was one of them.

He walked down the stairs, and the afternoon sunlight fell across his face. He swung onto his Soul Tool Motorcycle, its engine's low rumble vibrating between his legs. He glanced up at the teahouse's second-floor window. The curtains were half drawn, and he couldn't see the person inside.

Xiao Hongchen twisted the throttle. The Soul Tool Motorcycle joined the flow of traffic, the wind blowing his short silver hair back.

A question suddenly occurred to him.

In the original story, Ye Guyi eventually sided with Shrek. Why? Because no one in the Sun Moon Empire had offered her this path. A girl with the Holy Angel Martial Soul could only hide it in the Sun Moon Empire's system, keep out of sight, and struggle to get by on her own in underground organizations. Shrek, on the other hand, gave her the chance to use her Martial Soul openly.

So she didn't choose the Sun Moon Empire out of betrayal. The Sun Moon Empire had failed her first.

This time, it would be different.

Xiao Hongchen parked the Soul Tool Motorcycle in the shed by the side entrance to the manor and turned off the engine.

He was about to begin his grueling training again.