Holy Light Like Days of Old, Old Friends Separated by Ages

At the command, everyone lowered their heads to organize their martial souls, soul power, and travel supplies. The council hall fell silent once more.

Tang Wulin remained where he was, his gaze inadvertently falling on the plain white figure beside him.

Ye Guyi stood quietly in a corner, dressed in white as pure as snow, her features serene and tranquil. A faint layer of pure holy light constantly lingered around her. It was the unique aura of the Divine Angel Martial Soul—clear, solemn, and utterly pure, carrying a sacred rhythm that could judge all filth and evil. Gentle, yet inviolable.

The instant that incomparably familiar holy white light entered his sight, Tang Wulin's mind abruptly trembled.

A dazzling figure with arrogant, flamboyant golden hair flashed through his mind.

—Yue Zhengyu.

Ten thousand years later, one of the Shrek Seven Monsters, the young master of the Divine Angel Family. The same Divine Angel Martial Soul, the same pure and domineering holy light, the same innate sacred bearing.

In an instant, scenes from two lifetimes overlapped.

The white-clad girl before him was quiet and solemn, calm and resolute.

The Yue Zhengyu in his memories had been proud and sunny, passionate and righteous, daring to love and hate. He had always charged at the forefront, shielding his teammates at his side. He had been the most reliable holy-light bulwark of the Tang Sect and Shrek.

Zhengyu...

Tang Wulin sighed softly in his heart, a trace of complex melancholy passing through his eyes that no one else could understand.

That had been the brother who fought beside him ten thousand years later, the comrade who had purified darkness with the holy light of the Divine Angel time and again in deadly predicaments, protecting the entire team.

They had ventured into the Ascension Platform together, fought side by side, and endured the pain of Shrek's destruction together. He was no longer merely a friend, but... a brother.

Yue Zhengyu's holy light had illuminated his desperate moments on the verge of ruin countless times, and had supported the purest protection for the team countless times.

But now.

Everything had changed; the years had been severed.

That vibrant, passionate youth, forever wreathed in brilliant holy light, had long remained in the era ten thousand years later. He had remained at the end of that destruction wrought by the Level-12 Makeup Soul-Conducting Cannon, reduced to ashes scattered across the sky, never to be seen again.

Yet Ye Guyi stood before him in an era ten thousand years earlier.

Their martial souls shared the same origin, their holy light the same nature.

Their bearing was similar, their radiance was similar, their sacred aura was similar.

Only, she was not an old friend.

Tang Wulin quietly watched the holy radiance flowing around Ye Guyi, his gaze growing slightly distant.

Looking at her was like seeing the youthful Yue Zhengyu, seeing that old friend who had long vanished into the dust of time.

If Yue Zhengyu had been born in this era, he surely would have been like Ye Guyi—slaying evil with holy light, protecting the common people with his true heart, and charging without hesitation into Rising Sun City's tiger's den to rescue innocent strangers.

A faint ache rose in his heart.

Every companion from his previous life had disappeared.

Xie Xie, Xu Xiaoyan, Yue Zhengyu, Ye Xinglan, Xu Lizhi... one familiar name after another, names engraved into his very bones. Now, only he remained, drifting alone through the chaotic world of ten thousand years ago.

"Brother Tang?"

The soft call pulled Tang Wulin back from his thoughts.

Noticing the young man's gaze beside her, Ye Guyi turned her head slightly, her eyes holding a trace of confusion and polite inquiry.

Tang Wulin swiftly concealed all the weariness and loneliness that had crossed ten thousand years in his eyes. He gently shook his head, returning to his steady, indifferent expression.

"It's nothing."

He had merely... seen the holy light and remembered an old friend.

An old friend who would never return.

Ye Guyi's Divine Angel could purify the evil souls of the world, yet it alone could not cleanse the regret in his heart that spanned ten thousand years.

Tang Wulin silently clenched his fist.

Precisely because he had seen holy light fall, old friends vanish, prosperous ages collapse, and endings beyond salvation.

In this life, he could not lose again.

He would protect everything in this era.

He would protect these living people before him, protect these young men and women who still stepped forward for justice and for the common people.

Even if all his old friends were gone and he had to walk the road ahead alone.

As long as he remained standing, the same tragedy would never repeat itself a second time.

Tang Wulin withdrew his gaze. The last trace of softness faded from his eyes, leaving behind only rock-solid calm.

Depart.

Rising Sun City. Save them.