First Encounter with Wang Dong'er, the Puppet on Strings

Wang Dong'er, who was disguised as a boy—the future Tang Wutong.

At that moment, she was panting slightly as she stared at a plant drifting along in the stream.

It was a little grass that was emerald green all over, with golden patterns on its leaves, desperately trying to escape with the current.

"Humph, trying to run?"

Wang Dong'er gave a soft snort, a little girl's smugness appearing on her face.

She raised her right hand, and a pair of dazzling butterfly wings instantly spread open behind her as the Light Goddess Butterfly martial soul possessed her.

A yellow century-old soul ring rose beneath her feet.

"Butterfly God's Light!"

With a sweet cry, she shot a golden ray from her fingertips, accurately binding the little grass trying to flee.

Only after doing all that did she clap her hands in satisfaction. Then, her gaze casually swept around and spotted the black-clad boy sitting cross-legged on the other side of the stream.

Wang Dong'er froze for a moment.

Why was there a child even younger than her in this remote wilderness?

And he actually dared to sit here alone with his eyes closed, resting? Wasn't he afraid of soul beasts?

Driven by some innate pride—or perhaps because she wanted to feel important in front of someone weaker than herself—she planted her hands on her hips and called across the stream in a childish voice, "Hey! You, the little kid over there!"

Yu Chen slowly opened his eyes.

His calm gaze fell upon Wang Dong'er. There was no curiosity, no surprise, as though he were looking at a stone by the roadside.

Wang Dong'er inexplicably felt annoyed under that gaze.

She knitted her pretty brows and continued, "This is the Star Dou Great Forest. It's very dangerous! Aren't you afraid of being eaten by soul beasts, staying here alone? Seeing as you're so young, this young master is in a good mood today, so I'll protect you."

After saying that, she even lifted her chin, wearing an expression that plainly said, "Hurry up and thank me."

She had grown up in the Divine Realm, doted upon by Tang San and the gods. After descending to the mortal world, she had come from an illustrious family and possessed extraordinary talent. The pride in her bones was something she had been born with.

Watching her put on that grown-up act, Yu Chen's lips suddenly curled upward, forming a half-smile.

"Protect me?"

He rose to his feet and dusted the dirt from his clothes.

"A puppet on strings who can't even protect herself dares to say she'll protect someone else?"

"Y-You... what did you say?!"

Wang Dong'er instantly bristled!

A puppet on strings?

Those words were like a needle, viciously stabbing into her heart!

She hated it most when people called her a puppet, when they said she had no freedom!

"You bastard, what nonsense are you spouting? Apologize to me!"

She glared furiously at Yu Chen. The Light Goddess Butterfly wings behind her shone brilliantly, and the imposing aura of an assault-type battle soul master pressed toward him.

Yet that pitiful aura vanished without a trace as soon as it came within three meters of Yu Chen, like a clay ox sinking into the sea.

Yu Chen did not pay any attention to her clamor.

His gaze passed over Wang Dong'er's shoulder, looking at the empty space behind her. His eyes held undisguised contempt and mockery.

It was as though he were looking through her at some existence from a higher dimension.

"Tang San, is this the good daughter you raised?"

"Ripping her soul in two, keeping one half by your side as a pet and throwing the other half into the lower realm as surveillance. Then using a divine sense seal to lock away her memories and nature, making her live like a fool according to the script you wrote, making her fall in love with the person you chose."

"Tut, tut. What truly moving fatherly love."

Boom!

Every word Yu Chen spoke was like a thunderbolt from the heavens, exploding wildly in Wang Dong'er's mind!

She did not understand the specific meaning of those words at all.

What soul splitting? What divine sense seal? What prewritten script?

Yet the divine soul source within her resonated violently because of them!

She felt as if her head were about to split apart. Countless fragmented, blurry, golden images flashed before her eyes!

"Ah!"

Wang Dong'er clutched her head in agony and staggered back two steps, her pretty face instantly turning pale.

The divine sense seal Tang San had personally placed within her showed signs of instability under Yu Chen's heart-piercing words, as well as the impact of the faint, leaked transcendent light aura originating from the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!

"Shut up! You're not allowed to talk nonsense! You're not allowed to slander my father!"

With tears in her eyes, Wang Dong'er screamed at Yu Chen with all her strength.

This was the instinct deep within her soul, defending the "greatest" father in her memories.

"Slander?"

Yu Chen sneered and slowly raised his right hand.

"Since you don't believe me, then I'll let you see with your own eyes your pitiful fate."

As his words fell, the second soul ring behind him—the black ten-thousand-year soul ring branded with sacred bright-golden patterns—suddenly lit up!

"Second Soul Skill, Destructive White-Light Blast!"

Blinding white light exploded above the stream.

It was not ordinary light.

There was not a trace of warmth, not the slightest bit of gentleness.

It was a law of destruction, suspended above all things, pure to the utmost extreme.

Before Wang Dong'er could even make a defensive move, the beam powered by Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's origin and branded with the sacred aura of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon had completely enveloped her.

She closed her eyes in despair.

A thought flashed through her mind: her brief and inexplicable life was about to end in this remote wilderness.

Yet the excruciating pain she had expected never came.

Like an insubstantial phantom, the white light passed through her skin and bones without obstruction, then crashed directly and violently into her sea of spirit.

Wang Dong'er's eyes flew wide open, and her body froze where she stood.

Deep within her sea of spirit had originally been a tranquil pale-golden lake.

But at that moment, monstrous waves surged across it!

At the very center of the lake, an incomparably complex blue divine pattern radiated a gentle yet irresistible pressure.

It was a trident mark belonging to the Sea God.

Like a precise lock, it tightly sealed away the most fundamental portion of Wang Dong'er's memories, while silently releasing a certain guiding ripple.

The instant the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's destructive white light entered her sea of spirit, the Sea God mark seemed to have suffered an immense provocation and instantly erupted with boundless blue light.

A towering phantom dressed in a luxurious blue robe and holding a golden trident slowly appeared within her sea of spirit.

His face was indistinct, but his voice carried a lofty mixture of compassion and coldness.

"Insolence."

"An ant from the lower realm dares to touch this god's taboo."

The voice trembled with divine power, attempting to crush the invading white light directly.

Standing on the other side of the stream, Yu Chen's gaze was cold and utterly still.

"A false god who hides in the Divine Realm and toys with his own daughter dares to bark before me?"

A mocking curve formed on Yu Chen's lips.

He did not increase his soul power output at all.

The Blue-Eyes White Dragon's status did not need numbers to make up for anything.