Wang Qiu'er Appeared at Shrek, Her Target Set on Huo Yuhao

Morning mist still lingered by Sea God Lake.

Huo Yuhao walked along the lakeshore toward the training grounds, his mind occupied with the soul tool formation diagram he had failed to finish revising last night. He Caitou had said the stability of the third-layer flow-guiding pattern was thirty percent too poor. Huo Yuhao had tried four different solutions, yet none had satisfied him. Technical problems like these had never bothered him—the harder they were, the more deeply he could immerse himself in them.

But today, he could not focus.

From the moment he left the dormitory, his Spirit Eyes had been faintly twitching. It was not the sharp stab of a danger warning, nor the heavy pressure that came with mental exhaustion. It felt more as though someone had lightly brushed the edge of his consciousness with a fingertip—so lightly that he could not tell whether it was merely his imagination.

Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's lazy voice sounded within his sea of consciousness. "Little Yuhao, what's going on? Why is your heart beating so fast this early in the morning?"

Huo Yuhao did not answer. He stopped walking, instinctively spreading out his spiritual detection—soul power fluctuations were normal, there were no hostile responses nearby, and students heading out for early training were making their way toward the training grounds in twos and threes. Everything was as usual.

Yet that stirred sensation remained.

It was not coming from outside. It welled up from the depths of his own Spirit Eyes, as though something lying at the bottom of a pool had been disturbed and was slowly rising to the surface.

Whispers suddenly came from ahead.

"Who is that? A newcomer?"

"She looks way too much like Wang Dong'er..."

"More than similar—they're practically identical. I almost cried out just now."

Huo Yuhao's heart sank. He looked up. The morning mist was pushed apart by the lake breeze, and pale golden light slanted down through a gap in the clouds. A young woman emerged from the far end of the fog, her long hair outlined by the morning light in a soft, radiant glow. Beneath her blue outer robe, her figure was sleek and slender, while the tips of her hair shimmered with faint specks of gold in the sunlight.

That face.

Huo Yuhao's pupils abruptly contracted.

Her brows, the bridge of her nose, the curve of her chin—every line had been engraved in his heart. He could trace them even with his eyes closed. It was Dong'er. The one who had stood by his side since Sea God Lake. The one who hid her shyness behind pride whenever her hair ribbon came loose. The one whose eyes curved into crescent moons whenever she smiled.

But she was not Dong'er.

Huo Yuhao knew that from the very first glance. She had a face almost exactly like Dong'er's, but her eyes were entirely different. Whenever Dong'er looked at someone, there was always an unconcealable softness and brightness in her gaze. But the girl before him looked directly at him, coldly, like a soul beast that had just emerged from the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest, carrying undisguised wildness and focus. She was not looking at a fellow student. She was confirming that she had finally found her prey.

Huo Yuhao's spiritual detection instinctively spread out, yet when it came within three feet of her, it was gently repelled by a strange force. It was not a soul power barrier, but a more ancient, deeper aura, carrying the scent of vegetation, wildness, and destiny itself.

The girl stopped in front of him. Only a few steps separated them, and the surrounding murmurs instantly quieted.

"Who are you?" Huo Yuhao's voice tightened slightly.

"Wang Qiu'er." The girl answered calmly, but the name struck his heart like a heavy hammer.

She did not bother with any extra pleasantries. Instead, she took a step forward. It was an extremely light step, yet Huo Yuhao's Eye of Destiny began violently twitching again. "You're Huo Yuhao?"

"Yes."

"I've been looking for you for a long time."

The lakeshore fell completely silent the moment those words left her mouth. Huo Yuhao's gaze sharpened. He was certain he had never met this girl, nor did he remember having any connection with someone who looked exactly like Dong'er. Yet deep within his sea of consciousness, that inexplicable sense of familiarity grew stronger and stronger, as though a memory that did not belong to him was quietly awakening in the darkness.

Ice Empress's voice turned cold. "She has the aura of a soul beast, and it is highly unusual." Tianmeng Ice Silkworm also dropped his playful tone. "Little Yuhao, stay steady. This girl is no simple matter."

At that moment, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind him. "Yuhao."

Wang Dong'er had arrived in a hurry, her hair ribbon not yet fully tied and the loose strands before her forehead tousled by the wind. The smile on her face froze bit by bit the instant she saw Wang Qiu'er clearly. Dong'er walked to Huo Yuhao's side and asked softly, "Who is she?"

Huo Yuhao opened his mouth, only to realize that he could not explain it for the moment. He had only just learned her name, only just learned that she had come for him, and had only just realized that the moment he saw that face, an odd feeling had arisen in his heart.

But Wang Qiu'er did not yield in the slightest. She glanced at Dong'er, then turned her gaze back to Huo Yuhao, her bluntness almost sharp. "Wang Qiu'er. I came to find Huo Yuhao."

Dong'er pressed her lips together. "I wasn't asking you."

Wang Qiu'er's eyes shifted slightly, as though she were only now seriously examining her. "Then who were you asking?"

Dong'er looked at him, with no anger in her eyes. "Yuhao, why did she say she came to find you?"

Wang Qiu'er said evenly, "Because I came to Shrek for him." She took another step forward, drawing closer to Huo Yuhao, and spoke with direct, stubborn certainty. "There is something on you that I need to confirm."

She raised her hand. Her fingertips stopped before Huo Yuhao's brow without touching him, yet his Eye of Destiny suddenly burned fiercely. In an instant, his sea of consciousness churned violently, and platinum light flashed from deep within his forehead. A strange golden gleam also appeared in Wang Qiu'er's eyes. The two auras met through the air, and the mist by Sea God Lake was violently swept away by an invisible force.

Dong'er raised her chin, every word clear and forceful. "He is not someone you can touch whenever you please."

The inner courtyard disciples around them all gasped. Huo Yuhao's scalp tingled. He suddenly realized that this was far from an ordinary encounter. Wang Qiu'er's appearance was like a sharp blade, instantly cutting through everything that had once seemed clear between Dong'er and him—and cutting through the threads of fate he had never seen clearly.

Wang Qiu'er fell silent for a moment, seeming to finally understand something. "You like him."

Dong'er's gaze trembled, but Qiu'er sounded as though she were stating the most ordinary fact in the world, her tone calm and direct. "Then I also want to know why I came for him. And why, when I see you, I feel both familiar... and uncomfortable."

The morning wind swept across Sea God Lake, scattering the mist completely as sunlight poured down. Standing between the two of them, Huo Yuhao suddenly had an absurd premonition—starting today, everything familiar to him would change.

And from the direction of Sea God Pavilion, the bell marking the start of a new day rang leisurely. Behind a soul tool lamp in the distance, a tiny black rune flickered to life for an instant, unnoticed by anyone.