My Name Is Na'er!

Golden streaks carved dazzling arcs through the air. Like four swords that could change direction, they battered the thousand-year Mandala Snake like a loach flung onto the shore. Its body thrashed and twisted violently, its tail smashing two nearby saplings as thick as bowls.

It had taken no more than three breaths.

The four golden dragons circled once in the air before dispersing at the same time, turning into countless tiny motes of golden light that drifted down slowly.

The thousand-year Mandala Snake lay limply sprawled on the ground. More than half its scales had shattered, its head hung crookedly to one side, and after twitching twice, it went completely still. Only its last breath kept it from dying.

Tang Wulin withdrew his foot, grinding his boot over the cracks that had been shaken into the ground. He glanced down at the half-dead snake and nodded in satisfaction.

"Not bad."

Tang Wulin muttered, lowering his gaze to the Mandala Snake sprawled on the ground with only a breath left in it.

"It isn't shattered. It's still breathing."

He turned and waved toward those behind him.

"Xiaoya, come over. Kill it quickly. If you don't act now, it's really going to breathe its last."

Tang Ya answered and hurried forward, drawing a short dagger from her waist.

She crouched down, found the right spot, and viciously drove the dagger into the center of the snake's head.

The Mandala Snake's body spasmed sharply before going completely rigid.

A purple soul ring slowly rose from the corpse, hovering in midair as it gently rotated.

Tang Ya let out a breath of relief and turned back to give Tang Wulin a grateful smile.

Tang Wulin nodded, then walked over to Bei Bei and patted him on the shoulder.

His tone was unusually serious.

"I'll go on alone from here. If I run into a ten-thousand-year soul beast, you might hold me back."

Bei Bei opened his mouth to say something, but Tang Wulin silenced him with a look.

He could only nod glumly.

"Be careful."

In the end, those were the only two words Bei Bei managed to force out.

Tang Wulin smiled and said nothing more.

With a light push from his feet, he floated onto the branch of a large nearby tree.

After a few leaps through the branches, his figure quickly vanished into the dense canopy.

Only a few leaves shaken loose drifted slowly down, spinning through the air.

He traveled through the forest for a while, considering which direction to search for a suitable ten-thousand-year soul beast.

Then, a white figure suddenly burst from the bushes ahead and to the side, crashing straight into his arms.

Tang Wulin took half a step back from the impact before steadying himself.

Looking down, he found a little girl with silver hair and purple eyes in his arms.

She looked about his age, and her violet eyes were glistening with tears.

She looked up at him, her small hands clutching tightly at the corner of his clothes, unwilling to let go.

"Big brother."

The little girl's voice was timid and soft, like a lost little beast that had finally encountered someone after wandering for a long time.

"I want to study at Shrek Academy, but I got lost when I reached this place. Could you... help me?"

Tang Wulin looked down at those clear purple eyes and paused slightly.

Her gaze was utterly clean, filled only with confusion and helplessness. It did not seem fake.

Her long silver-white hair was slightly disheveled, and her skirt was stained with grass clippings and dirt.

Her slender little feet were bare, with several fine scratches around her ankles.

She had clearly been stumbling through the forest in panic for quite some time.

"What's your name?"

Tang Wulin unconsciously softened his voice as he asked warmly.

The little girl blinked, as though struggling to recall her past.

After several breaths of silence, she finally spoke timidly.

"I... My name is Na'er."

"I don't remember anything else."

"When I woke up, I was already here. There were trees all around me. I walked for so long, but I could never get out. Luckily, luckily, there was a letter saying it was going to Shrek Academy..."

Her voice grew quieter and quieter, the tip of her nose turning slightly red as tears threatened to fall.

Tang Wulin quietly stared into her eyes for two breaths.

The confusion in them was pure and genuine, without the slightest hint of pretense.

Amnesia?

His thoughts raced.

With such distinctive silver hair and purple eyes, there was no way he could mistake her.

The person before him was none other than the Silver Dragon King, Gu Yuena.

He had long expected his Golden Dragon King bloodline to draw her out, but he had not expected her to appear before him in such a bewildered state.

Still, this amnesia act did fit her usual style rather well.

Of course, it might not have been an act.

After the Dragon God war ended, she had suffered grievous injuries and slept for hundreds of millions of years.

With her origin damaged and her memories in disarray, it was only natural.

Tang Wulin's thoughts turned endlessly, but his expression remained unchanged.

He put on what he believed was a gentle smile.

Yet paired with the youthful immaturity of his face, that composure instead carried a hint of slyness, like he was coaxing a child.

"My name is Tang Wulin. I'm also a student of Shrek Academy."

"If you have nowhere to go, come with me."

"I'm heading back to the academy anyway, so I can take you along."

"Really?"

Na'er's eyes lit up at once. Her little hands clenched the corner of his clothes even tighter, afraid he might change his mind.

"Thank you, big brother!"

Tang Wulin smiled and raised a hand to rub the top of her head, his peripheral vision casually sweeping upward at an angle.

On a thick branch more than twenty feet behind and above them.

A gaunt middle-aged man with an ashen-green face was crouching there.

With both hands on his knees, he gazed down with a kind, gratified expression and murmured quietly to himself.

"Her Majesty truly is wise. Finding a Shrek student to lead the way is exceptionally safe. Brilliant!"

Lost in his emotion, he had not noticed at all that Tang Wulin's gaze had already passed over Na'er's head and locked precisely onto his hiding place.

"Sir."

Tang Wulin's tone suddenly rose slightly. His smile remained gentle, but there was no politeness in it.

"Since you've been crouching in that tree for so long, why not come down for a chat?"

Myriad Demon King's body abruptly stiffened.

Tang Wulin tilted his head up slightly, one hand still resting gently atop Na'er's hair, his tone relaxed and casual.

"Why not give me a hundred-thousand-year plant-type soul beast, Senior?"

"After all, you came all this way."

Myriad Demon King's expression changed several times.

He had intended to make a move and teach this arrogant, ignorant boy a lesson.

His right hand had already risen, a dense mass of dark-green energy gathering in his palm.

But the moment his hand reached midair, his entire body froze as though struck by lightning.

As he carefully sensed that faint, ethereal aura surrounding Tang Wulin, the anger in his eyes vanished instantly, replaced by extreme terror.

"Holy shit! The Child of Nature!"

Myriad Demon King cried out in shock.

He abruptly pulled back his hand, his face changing faster than a page being turned.

In an instant, he plastered on an oily, fawning smile, his tone shifting from fierce to utterly obsequious.

"A hundred-thousand-year soul beast is simply unworthy of someone as noble as you!"

"How about... this subordinate?"

Tang Wulin raised a hand to cover his eyes, feeling a faint ache in his head.

"No."

His voice was muffled behind his palm, his disgust entirely undisguised.

This man was steeped in the decaying aura of rotten wood, completely at odds with the Blue Silver Emperor origin blessed by the Goddess of Life that he possessed.

If he absorbed Myriad Demon King, his martial soul would likely reject it outright.

What he needed were compatible attributes and soul skills. To him, there was little difference between a hundred-thousand-year and a two-hundred-thousand-year soul beast.