Got Hated by the Protagonist Without Doing Anything! She Xian: I'm Innocent!

Qian Renxue sheathed her sword and was about to lead She Xian onward.

The grass behind them suddenly rustled violently.

She Xian spun around instantly, his entire body on guard.

Again?

Were the soul beasts in this Soul Hunting Forest lined up to come at them wave after wave?

Yet what emerged from the grass was not a soul beast.

It was a person!

A plainly dressed middle-aged man appeared first.

His face was lean, and his refined bearing carried a hint of down-and-out weariness. He looked rather thin.

A little boy followed behind him.

He was six or seven years old, with an exceptionally calm pair of eyes.

He stood quietly behind the middle-aged man, neither flustered nor curious.

His entire body exuded a composed aura utterly unfitting for his age.

The middle-aged man had clearly not expected to encounter anyone here either.

His gaze first fell upon the Mandala Snake's severed corpse on the ground.

His pupils contracted slightly.

A four-hundred-year Mandala Snake, killed in a single blow, with a clean and decisive cut.

Such skill could only belong to a high-level soul master.

The middle-aged man's expression changed.

He quickly composed himself, subtly drawing the child behind him to his side. Without even raising his head, he cupped his hands in a standard soul master salute.

"Yu Xiaogang greets you, Senior. Please forgive this uninvited intrusion."

His tone was respectful, his posture humble, and every advance and retreat was handled flawlessly.

The instant She Xian heard that name, his mind exploded.

Yu Xiaogang!

His breath caught for half a beat.

Tang San's mentor in the original story, the strategist behind the Shrek Seven Monsters.

The instant the grass rustled, Qian Renxue had already moved.

Before She Xian could even process the three words "Yu Xiaogang," he caught a flash of white from Qian Renxue's left hand as it swept from her sleeve.

A white mask was precisely fastened over his face.

She had clearly carried the mask with her at all times.

Having impersonated the crown prince for years, Qian Renxue's vigilance toward the word "exposure" had long been carved into her bones.

Even in the wilderness, she allowed no room for the slightest oversight.

The mask concealed most of her face, leaving only those cold golden eyes exposed.

Then,

The aura of a Soul Emperor suddenly erupted.

Boom!!!

An invisible pressure swept out from Qian Renxue like a collapsing mountain, crushing down precisely upon the two people before her.

Yu Xiaogang's face instantly turned deathly pale.

His knees gave way, and he dropped to the ground with a thud.

He desperately circulated the scant soul power within him to resist, veins bulging on his forehead, but before a Soul Emperor, he was no more than an ant trying to shake a tree.

The six- or seven-year-old boy clenched his teeth and also fell to his knees in an instant.

Qian Renxue's golden eyes looked through the mask as she gazed down at the kneeling pair from above.

"Who are you?"

Two words, cold as tempered ice.

Yu Xiaogang struggled to raise his head under the pressure, cold sweat seeping from his forehead.

His assessment was swift.

The masked, golden-haired woman before him possessed at least Soul Emperor-level soul power.

For an expert of such a level to appear in the Soul Hunting Forest, her identity was certainly far from simple.

He could not afford to provoke her.

Absolutely could not.

Yu Xiaogang suppressed the shock in his heart and spoke in the most respectful tone he could manage without sacrificing his dignity.

"My name is Yu Xiaogang, a teacher at Nuoding Academy's Junior Soul Master Academy."

He tilted his head slightly, indicating Tang San behind him.

"This is my disciple, Tang San. I brought him here today to obtain his first soul ring. We had no intention of offending you, Senior. Please forgive us."

It was the standard survival rhetoric of the weak facing the strong—state your identity clearly, explain your purpose, and make your position known while admitting weakness.

Qian Renxue's golden eyes swept over Yu Xiaogang, then Tang San.

Nuoding Academy. A junior soul master academy teacher bringing his disciple to hunt for a soul ring.

Qian Renxue found nothing in that information worth being wary of.

She frowned, clearly having no interest whatsoever in people of their level.

She gave a cold snort.

Her pressure receded.

Yu Xiaogang and Tang San simultaneously felt the invisible mountain crushing them vanish, and they gasped heavily for breath.

Qian Renxue did not spare them another glance.

She turned, bent down to pick up She Xian, then tapped her toes against the ground. Her figure became a golden blur, vanishing into the depths of the forest after several flashes.

She came and went like the wind.

Cradled in her arms, She Xian's mind was still racing.

Yu Xiaogang... Tang San...

The master and disciple from the original story had appeared before him in the flesh.

Yet before he could even get a good look at Tang San's face, Qian Renxue had carried him away.

She Xian felt a wave of regret—at least let me look at him a little longer. That was the protagonist of the original story.

Little White's voice suddenly rang out in his mind.

"Husband."

Her tone carried an unusual trace of gravity.

"That human child just now had a very strange look in his eyes."

She Xian was taken aback. "Strange?"

Little White explained, "When your master released her pressure, that child was forced to kneel. I noticed the instant he raised his head to look at you..."

She carefully chose her words.

"His expression was neither fear nor curious confusion. I cannot describe what it was, but that gaze made me very uncomfortable."

She Xian's heart tightened.

He subconsciously turned back for a glance.

Qian Renxue was moving extremely fast, and they had already put a considerable distance between themselves and the others.

Yet amid the interwoven light and shadows deep in the forest, he vaguely caught sight of a small figure.

Tang San had already risen from the ground.

He raised his head, his gaze fixed on the direction they had departed.

The distance was too great for She Xian to see his expression clearly.

But that purple gaze passed through layer upon layer of tree shadows and vaguely fell upon him.

"It is resentment."

The Medusa Queen's voice cut in, cold yet carrying a hint of amusement.

A chill ran down She Xian's spine.

"That little brat's gaze was filled with resentment toward you."

The Medusa Queen's tone was certain and teasing. "A child crushed to the ground by a stronger person's pressure should ordinarily be afraid, but he was not. He has come to hate you. Tsk tsk, that is no small hidden danger."

Gasp!

She Xian's back went slightly cold.

He recalled Tang San from the original story—a transmigrator from the Tang Sect, arrogant to his very bones, who hated being oppressed more than anything in his life.

The words "a path to death" had appeared countless times in the original story.

Every time, it meant someone had crossed Tang San's extremely shallow bottom line.

And the scene just now had been Qian Renxue looking down from above at Tang San, who had been crushed to his knees by her pressure—a textbook case of crossing that line!

Fuck!

Having understood the reason, She Xian could not help cursing inwardly.

He had done nothing! He had not even said a single word! Just because he was with his master, the original story's protagonist had come to resent him?

Tang San's temperament—grudge-bearing, stubborn, vindictive, and stronger in the face of setbacks.

Once he marked you in his heart,

It meant long-term, relentless entanglement that would not end until the two of you had decisively settled things.

She Xian felt as though a ticking time bomb had appeared out of nowhere in his transmigrated life.

Little White comforted him gently, "Husband, do not worry. With me and Sister here, no one can hurt you."

The Medusa Queen snorted coldly. "A mere child is worth that expression?"

She Xian smiled bitterly inwardly—Your Majesty, you do not understand what kind of monster that child will grow into.

But he could not say that for now. All he could do was silently swallow down his vigilance.