Wen Ruan ran toward Lin Yan.
With the butterfly wings on her back, she looked just like a beautiful butterfly.
"You... you're bleeding so much."
As she looked at the boy before her, a mist gradually clouded her beautiful eyes.
He was only a little boy who had just awakened his Martial Soul. She was so much older than him, and yet... in the end, she was the one who had been protected.
Was it really all because of that one night? Wasn't he afraid he might die at the jaws of a Soul Beast?
Lin Yan understood what was on the girl's mind. His tender little face was smeared with blood. One moment he was enduring the pain; the next, he grinned.
"I'm fine. This is what I promised you, after all~"
At his words, Wen Ruan's heart clenched.
She bit down hard on her lower lip. The tears in her eyes could no longer be held back and burst forth like a dam.
"Thank you, Lin Yan."
Wen Ruan suddenly hugged the boy, who barely reached her waist, and wept bitterly.
What she didn't know was that after absorbing the Soul Ring, Lin Yan had grown a whole head taller. He now reached her chest...
Half an hour later.
When all the surrounding ice-attributed energy had finally settled, Wen Ruan completed her Soul Ring absorption.
[Second Soul Skill: Ice Flying Blade!]
The girl let out a low cry. Then, several slender ice spikes appeared around the butterfly wings of her Martial Soul Possession, gleaming in the sunlight.
Clearly, it was a sustained-damage skill suited to attacking groups, and it could strike several different targets at once.
For a Hundred-Year Soul Skill, this was already an exceptionally advanced mechanic.
Wen Ruan was overjoyed. A brilliant smile bloomed across her face as she spoke to Lin Yan.
"Lin Yan, this skill deals extra damage to enemies marked by Ice Ring."
"Hmm? So, in a way, your first Soul Skill counts as a buff skill too!"
"Right! I never expected a dragon-type Soul Beast's Soul Ring to be this powerful. Before, I was practically adding Soul Rings at random."
The two stood beside the Ice Armor Dragon's corpse and smiled at each other, seeing the same joy in each other's eyes.
Ice Armor Dragon: ...
"Thank you, Lin Yan!"
"I never thought I'd become a Battle Spirit Master one day, too."
Wen Ruan lowered her head and thanked him again. Just then, Zhao Wuji and Ma Hongjun came over as well.
Zhao Wuji clapped Lin Yan on the shoulder with his big hand. "You little brat. I didn't think you'd actually pull it off."
Not many people throughout history could defeat a seven-hundred-year Soul Beast with the strength of a Level 15 Soul Master. Shrek Academy had truly struck gold.
Ma Hongjun walked over to Lin Yan, looking a little awkward.
"Sorry, Lin Yan. I didn't mean to do that just now."
"It's fine. Just practice your Soul Skills more from now on. Stop missing your shots."
At his words, their expressions froze. Lin Yan hadn't meant it that way, but somehow, they all quickly took it that way.
The air fell silent for an instant. Then everyone burst into laughter.
Sunlight spilled over them. Wen Ruan stood beside Lin Yan with her butterfly wings on her back, while Lin Yan simply leaned his tired body against her. Zhao Wuji laughed heartily, and Ma Hongjun awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
It was all so warm and beautiful.
Several days later.
They rode back to Shrek Academy in a carriage.
During the trip, Zhao Wuji found a healing Soul Master to treat Lin Yan's wounds, and he had fully recovered.
At six years old and Level 15, Lin Yan became the center of attention for Flender and all the teachers. Flender even paid out of his own pocket to treat everyone to a celebratory feast.
The days passed at a brisk pace.
Lin Yan trained his body during the day and practiced his combat skills with Zhao Wuji and Flender. At night, he replaced sleep with meditation and quietly cultivated.
He grew, little by little.
Until this night.
The moon hung high in the sky, illuminating the earth as brightly as day.
Lin Yan stopped in front of the girls' dormitory. After hesitating for a long while, he knocked on Wen Ruan's door.
"Senior Sister, are you there?"
Before long, he heard the rustling of someone getting dressed inside, followed by her reply.
"Mm, come in."
With her permission, Lin Yan pushed open the door and entered.
The girl was wearing a cute white bear-print nightgown. Her hair was slightly messy, and it was clear she hadn't expected Lin Yan to come by at this hour.
"What are you doing here so late?"
"I..."
Lin Yan furrowed his brow slightly, his expression hesitant.
In truth, he had come to say goodbye to Wen Ruan. He no longer wanted to stay at Shrek Academy. Flender and Zhao Wuji's combat skills were mediocre; most of the time, they simply relied on Soul Skills and Soul Power Levels to crush their opponents.
Put simply, against someone of a higher level, they were bound to lose; against someone of a lower level, they were bound to win.
Lin Yan didn't want to waste any more time following a path whose end he could already see. He wanted to grow stronger and do what others couldn't.
That was why he had come to say goodbye.
But when he actually saw Wen Ruan's sleepy smile, he no longer knew how to bring it up.
Across from him, Wen Ruan saw how he hesitated as if he were struggling to say something, and spoke first.
"I told my family about what happened before. They want to meet you."
"Huh?"
Lin Yan raised his lowered eyes, looking at the girl in disbelief.
Wen Ruan smiled gently, her expression full of sweetness.
"Well? You're happy, aren't you?"
"My parents are ordinary people, and they're very conservative."
"But I told them that you're very talented, even if there's the matter of your age..."
When she brought up the matter of age, the girl lowered her head, looking a little bashful. But after a brief pause, she raised her voice again.
"We can make a betrothal for now. You can be my child husband."
With that, she shyly turned her head away.
Just before Lin Yan had knocked, Wen Ruan had already been turning the matter over in her mind.
During the day, she had taken leave to go home and confessed their relationship to her parents. After hearing that Lin Yan was talented and had helped their daughter hunt a Soul Ring in Star Dou Forest, they hadn't objected.
After all, they were ordinary people. Though they had a certain desire to control their child, the status of a Soul Master still inspired awe in them without their even realizing it.
When Wen Ruan saw Lin Yan hesitating and struggling to speak just now, she thought he had come to confess his feelings. Unable to keep her own thoughts to herself, she decided to lay everything out first. She was older, after all.
Under the moonlight, the two looked at each other.
Wen Ruan's eyes were full of hope and anticipation for the future. She had fallen for Lin Yan: she liked that he was willing to get hurt for her, and that he made better choices for her sake.
In this feudal era, where men were valued over women, she had felt her first kindness in Lin Yan.
So she was willing to stay by Lin Yan's side as he grew up, and willing to give herself to him.
Lin Yan's pupils trembled as he looked at the girl before him, lost in a beautiful dream of their future. His feelings were a tangled mess.
"Senior Sister..."
"Shh! Am I beautiful?"
Lin Yan wanted to explain something, but Wen Ruan pressed a slender finger to his lips.
Then her nightgown slipped away, revealing a glimpse of pure white beneath the moonlight.
"Beautiful!"