Ye Guyi

Ten thousand years had passed, life and death had turned in endless cycles, and many of Qian Renxue's sharp edges had long been worn away.

In the final battle of those days, her divine position had shattered, and her cultivation had been forever fixed at rank eighty-nine, Spirit Douluo. She could never advance another step.

The years that followed had been a long, hopeless existence. In a remote place, she had guarded her shattered pride and bone-deep regret, alone tasting the bitter fruit of dying in solitude.

Until the end of her life, that towering unwillingness and regret, her obsession with failing to lead Spirit Hall to glory and protect the honor of angels, had become the deepest imprint upon her soul.

It was precisely this "karma," so intense it reached the extreme, that had caused her to be chosen by the unseen True Blood of Myriad Karmas and pulled back from the dust of history, becoming a Nirvana Corpse.

Becoming a Nirvana Corpse had been both an irony and a release for her.

The irony was that the once sacred and noble Angel God had reappeared in the form of an undead being, neither alive nor dead.

The release was that the limits on her cultivation and the flaws in her body caused by the shattering of her divine position had vanished within this body reborn from death.

Though she had yet to recover the power of her former peak as a rank one hundred deity, her potential was no longer limited, and she possessed the possibility of climbing to the summit once more.

Having arrived in this era ten thousand years later, she had traveled the continent aimlessly with Ye Guyi.

She had seen a world without Spirit Hall. She had seen Soul Master clans and imperial nobles tightening their monopoly over resources. She had seen countless commoner children miss their chance to awaken their Martial Souls because they could not afford the fees, condemned to remain ants for their entire lives.

This era, written by Tang San and the two great empires—the "victors"—was far crueler and more unjust than the era in which Spirit Hall had attempted to establish order.

Witnessing all this, Qian Renxue felt no joy at being resurrected, only endless regret and pain.

Tang San, you won... but what have you and the empire you protected brought to this world?

She questioned herself countless times, but the answers chilled her heart.

The Sea God had won, yet the world had not become better. In some ways, it had even regressed.

What tore at her heart even more was that she had traveled across the continent, only to discover that the angel lineage, which had once intimidated the four seas and commanded widespread faith, had almost completely vanished.

The glorious Spirit Hall had become dust in history, while the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul had become something of legend.

After exhausting every effort, she had found only a handful of bloodlines possessing Angel Martial Souls. Among them, the one with the greatest talent and purest heart was the Ye Guyi before her.

Perhaps out of guilt toward the past, perhaps because she wanted to preserve the final core flame of the angel bloodline, she had taken Ye Guyi as her disciple, brought her along, taught her, and imparted all her understanding of the Angel Martial Soul without reservation.

This was her feeble compensation for departed glory, as well as the small comfort that supported her existence in this unfamiliar era.

After all, when her divine position had shattered, she had been utterly disheartened and withdrawn from the world, turning a blind eye to the decline of the angel clan.

She had come on this journey because Shrek Academy was recruiting students.

The name "Shrek" was also deeply significant to her.

Coupled with its reputation as the continent's foremost academy, Qian Renxue had decided to send Ye Guyi there.

She knew very well that, as a Nirvana Corpse, she was surrounded by an aura of death that ran contrary to sacred attributes.

Prolonged contact with her had already begun to invisibly affect Ye Guyi's cultivation speed. It might even cause her Holy Angel Martial Soul to mutate in an unpredictable direction.

That would be fatal to Ye Guyi's future.

Staying away from her was best for Ye Guyi. Qian Renxue could restrain her craving for life force and use the vitality of Soul Beasts and wild beasts to fill that endless devouring desire.

But she did not know whether, one day, she might lose her sanity and eat Ye Guyi.

After all, the power that had resurrected her exceeded her understanding. Even though she had once been a god, she could not resist that force, nor the instinct of this body to crave survival.

Qian Renxue looked at the lively girl beside her, and a trace of barely perceptible gentleness and loneliness flashed through her eyes.

Although she had been resurrected for some time now, she remained deeply lost.

She had been resurrected, and then what? Seek revenge against Tang San? Ten thousand years had passed; he had long ascended to the God Realm. What could she use to take revenge? Rebuild Spirit Hall? Easier said than done.

She was like a rootless duckweed drifting through the torrent of time, unable to find a direction.

Only when teaching Ye Guyi, when watching the light of the Angel Martial Soul shine anew in this child's hands, could she feel a trace of long-lost peace and the meaning of living.

"Let's go, Guyi."

Qian Renxue gathered her thoughts, and her voice returned to its usual calm.

"Shrek City is still some distance away."

"Mm."

Ye Guyi nodded vigorously and wrapped her arm around Qian Renxue's, utterly unaware of her complicated worries. She held only complete trust and dependence.

Even though she knew Qian Renxue was a Nirvana Corpse, Qian Renxue had saved her. Coupled with Qian Renxue's meticulous care and guidance, she believed Qian Renxue would never hurt her.

The Soul Guidance Carriage traveled steadily along the official road leading to Shrek City. Inside the carriage, the sisters Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo seemed somewhat tired and leaned against each other for a brief nap.

Yin Chen sat by the window, his gaze fixed on the scenery rushing past outside. He appeared to be admiring the view, but his thoughts had long drifted elsewhere.

That hair-raising chance encounter earlier had made him realize once again just how enormous and uncontrollable the variables brought by the True Blood of Myriad Karmas were.

But that was already an established fact. No amount of thinking would change anything.

His thoughts involuntarily turned in another direction—to the "protagonist" who, according to the original trajectory of fate, was about to make his appearance.

Judging by the time, Huo Yuhao... should already be at the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest, where he encountered that Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and obtained his ridiculously powerful first cheat. Perhaps even that remnant soul from another plane, Electrolux, the Holy Necromancer, should have entered his sea of consciousness by chance now.

Yin Chen's fingertips lightly tapped against his knee without conscious thought.

He knew the script well. He knew that child of destiny was about to begin a magnificent life filled with tragedy.

Huo Yuhao's experiences were undoubtedly legendary. Talent, perseverance, fortuitous opportunities—he had them all.

He would shine at Shrek Academy, temper himself through the Ultimate Soldier Project, establish the Spirit Pagoda, and become the God of Emotions...

Yet behind all that glory lay countless invisible threads.

What a pity. A life of brilliance, yet in the end, he was nothing more than a marionette in the palm of a God King.

A cold gleam flashed in Yin Chen's eyes.

From meeting Wang Dong, to the countless trials and hardships that followed, and even to his eventual ascension to godhood, every step had been within the calculations and control of that Sea God.

The God King's scheme had locked Huo Yuhao's fate tightly in place. All his struggles and efforts would ultimately serve only to achieve the ending Tang San desired.