A Choice of Fate

At dusk after training, the old banyan tree's shadow stretched long.

Yun Zhiyu called Zhang Yangzi, Wang Jinxi, and Wei Xiaofeng to a corner of the training field, away from everyone else's sight.

The sea breeze carried a salty tang from afar, blowing her jet-black hair back. Beneath her dark brown contacts, her violet eyes were as still as deep pools, reflecting the confused and nervous faces of the three boys.

"Class monitor!" Wei Xiaofeng could not help speaking. The afterimage of the Azure Shadow Serpent drifted restlessly around him. "What's so mysterious?"

Yun Zhiyu did not answer immediately. Her gaze fell on Wang Jinxi first. His grayish-white skin carried a stone-like texture beneath the sunset, while the bone patterns around his knuckles flickered in and out of sight. Then she looked at Zhang Yangzi, whose Dark Illusion Demon Eagle martial soul lay dormant in his eyes, hiding an almost imperceptible unease beneath his proud expression. Finally, she turned to Wei Xiaofeng, whose slender frame was like a willow branch, the Azure Shadow Serpent's afterimage nearly blending into the shadows of the trees at dusk.

"Jin Xi!" she said, her calm voice carrying a weight that made all three hold their breath.

"Has your Bone Dragon King changed recently?"

Wang Jinxi froze for a moment and instinctively clenched his fist. The bone patterns rose faintly beneath his skin, like some sleeping beast turning over in its dreams. "I often... have dreams. I dream that I'm underground, surrounded by bones—huge bones. Whenever I wake up, the Bone Dragon Claw appears on its own."

"A sign of bloodline unrest." Yun Zhiyu nodded. "The Bone Dragon King is a top-tier beast martial soul, but your bloodline is not pure. If you cultivate with Tang Wulin or remain under the influence of my bloodline for a long time, it will accelerate your awakening. In the future... the Bone Dragon King may evolve into a true draconic subspecies, or perhaps something even greater."

Wang Jinxi's pupils contracted sharply. He remembered the Class Advancement Tournament, when Tang Wulin's Golden Dragon Claw had gripped his Bone Dragon Claw. The trembling and submission that had risen from his very marrow—an instinctive reaction of a subject encountering his king—had been the irresistible longing of a lesser dragon bloodline before the Golden Dragon King.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Wei Xiaofeng interjected. "If Jin Xi gets stronger, Zero Class gets stronger too."

"There are advantages and disadvantages." Yun Zhiyu shook her head and looked toward Zhang Yangzi. "If Jin Xi's Bone Dragon King evolves into a higher-level dragon, his Martial Soul Fusion Skill with Yangzi... will disappear."

Zhang Yangzi's body stiffened.

The Dark Illusion Demon Eagle martial soul flickered violently in his eyes. Black Soul Power leaked out uncontrollably, forming a ring of distorted shadows around him.

He remembered the overwhelming power of Eagle-Dragon: Dark Bone Canopy during the Class Advancement Tournament. He remembered the perfect understanding when their Soul Powers merged, and the almost instinctive trust forged through countless battles they had fought side by side since childhood.

"Disappear..." His voice was as dry as sandpaper scraping against stone. "What do you mean?"

"The foundation of a Martial Soul Fusion Skill is the compatibility between martial souls." Yun Zhiyu's voice remained even, as if she were stating an icy theorem.

"The Bone Dragon King and the Dark Illusion Demon Eagle are both yin-aligned. One is of the earth and one of the sky; one is bone and one is shadow. Their compatibility creates perfect complementarity. But if the Bone Dragon King evolves into a true dragon, its bloodline rank will rise. The Dark Illusion Demon Eagle..."

She paused without finishing.

But Zhang Yangzi understood.

His talent had always been ordinary within Zero Class—Wei Xiaofeng had speed, Wu Nianbing had sword intent, Tang Wulin had the Golden Dragon King, Gu Yue had elemental control, Xie Xie had Twin Martial Souls, and Yun Zhiyu was unfathomable. His only advantage was his Martial Soul Fusion Skill with Wang Jinxi. If even that vanished...

"I'll be nothing," he muttered, his voice fractured by bitter self-mockery.

"Without Eagle-Dragon: Dark Bone Canopy, I'm just an ordinary control-system Soul Master. Level twenty-one. Dark Illusion Demon Eagles... the Federation has them everywhere."

Wang Jinxi's expression changed. He looked at Zhang Yangzi, at the close friend he had grown up with, at the despair gradually spreading through his eyes. It felt as if something had gripped his heart with brutal force.

"Yangzi..." he said hoarsely.

"Don't say it!" Zhang Yangzi cut him off, black Soul Power surging wildly around him.

"I know what you want to choose. Follow Tang Wulin, evolve your Bone Dragon King, become a true powerhouse. I... I understand."

He turned and walked toward the edge of the field, his back hunched like an eagle with broken wings.

"Yangzi!" Wang Jinxi chased after him. His Bone Dragon Claw tore through his skin and seized Zhang Yangzi's shoulder.

"I won't choose him! I choose you! We grew up together. You said we'd become Titled Douluo together, that we would..."

"And then what?" Zhang Yangzi spun around, his eyes red-rimmed.

"Watch me hold you back? Watch your Bone Dragon King stagnate because of me? Wang Jinxi, wake up! Without a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, I'm nothing!"

Their argument echoed through the dusk. Wei Xiaofeng stood off to the side, the Azure Shadow Serpent's afterimage listlessly withdrawing into his body. Watching them, he suddenly felt like an outsider—his talent was even worse than Zhang Yangzi's. The Azure Shadow Serpent was merely a mid-tier martial soul, and he had only ever been there to make up the numbers in Zero Class.

In the future, while the others climbed step by step toward their pedestals, he would probably be left far behind, becoming nothing more than a forgotten name.

Yun Zhiyu watched the three of them—Zhang Yangzi's despair, Wang Jinxi's struggle, Wei Xiaofeng's silence. She recalled their fate in the original story: Zhang Yangzi and Wang Jinxi had transferred schools because of bloodline suppression, ultimately fading into obscurity. Wei Xiaofeng had left because of family matters before he had even joined Zero Class, never to be heard from again. She had changed how Zero Class was formed, yet she had not changed the fundamental conflict. The disparity in talent was an abyss stretching before every one of them.

And she happened to possess a way to bridge that abyss.

"What if," she said softly, yet her words cleanly cut through their argument, "I had a way to let Yangzi evolve, let Xiaofeng evolve, and let you keep pace with us?"

All three froze at once.

Zhang Yangzi turned around. His black eyes held a hope he could scarcely believe in, but it was quickly smothered by self-mockery. "Class monitor, don't comfort me. Martial souls are innate. What we are born with determines what comes later. That's an iron law..."

"It isn't an iron law." Yun Zhiyu interrupted him. Beneath her dark brown contacts, the vertical slits in her violet eyes opened slightly, revealing a thread of ancient light. "Because I am an exception. An exception on Douluo Continent. An exception in this world."

She took a small bottle from her clothes. It was made of some transparent crystal, and within it was sealed a pill. The pill was golden all over, its surface flowing with fine dragon patterns. Under the sunset, it refracted an uncanny glow, like a compressed sun.

"A Martial Soul Evolution Pill," she said, her level voice carrying a weight that made all three hold their breath.

"Something never before seen on Douluo Continent. It can evolve a mid-tier martial soul into a high-tier one, allow a high-tier martial soul to touch the peak tier, and perhaps even..."

She paused and looked at Wang Jinxi. "Allow the Bone Dragon King to evolve into a true dragon."

The three of them stood dumbfounded.

Wang Jinxi's Bone Dragon Claw trembled uncontrollably, his grayish-white face filled with a shock that bordered on reverence. Wei Xiaofeng's Azure Shadow Serpent afterimage shot out from his body and writhed anxiously in the air, as though craving the pill's aura. The Dark Illusion Demon Eagle flickered violently in Zhang Yangzi's eyes, black Soul Power spilling from him uncontrollably and forming a twisted vortex around his body.

"...Really?" Zhang Yangzi's voice trembled, like a drowning man clutching at his last straw.

"Really." Yun Zhiyu put the pill away. Her gaze swept across the three of them, and her voice returned to icy calm. "But there are several conditions."

She raised one finger. "First, the evolution process is extremely painful. A martial soul is part of the soul itself. Evolution means tearing apart the soul and reshaping its origin. Zhang Yangzi, Wei Xiaofeng, you must endure that pain. You cannot give up halfway through, or else... your souls will scatter."

Zhang Yangzi and Wei Xiaofeng exchanged a glance and nodded at the same time. Zhang Yangzi's eyes blazed with a resolve to stake everything on one throw, while Wei Xiaofeng's slender body stood ramrod straight, like a willow branch that would rather break than bend.

"Second." Yun Zhiyu raised a second finger. "This matter must remain absolutely secret. You cannot tell your families, your friends, or anyone else, including... Teacher Wu and Teacher Shen."

The three nodded again. Wang Jinxi clenched his Bone Dragon Claw, solemnity filling his grayish-white face. "We swear it."

"Third." Yun Zhiyu raised her final finger. Her voice lowered, carrying a majesty so imposing that even the air seemed to congeal. "Your families must work for me."

She paused, watching their expressions change sharply, then continued. "This is not enslavement. It is cooperation. What I require is absolute loyalty—a force that, at some point in the future, can stand behind me and shield me from blades and spears. Wang Jinxi, your Bone Dragon King family has a foundation in Eastsea City. Zhang Yangzi, your family may not compare to the Wang Family, but it has connections throughout Eastsea City. Wei Xiaofeng, your family may be small, but it has unique strengths in intelligence networks."

Her gaze passed over the three of them. The vertical slits in her violet eyes opened fully beneath her contacts. In the depths of her pupils, the dragon shadow of the Torch Dragon intertwined with the serpent shadow of the Black Tortoise, forming a totem that made all three tremble. "I want you to persuade your families to form an alliance with me. In return, I can provide the means of Martial Soul Evolution and allow the martial souls of your families' core members to rise as a whole."

"This..." Wang Jinxi's voice was dry. "Family matters aren't something I can decide alone."

"I know." Yun Zhiyu nodded. "That is why I am giving you time. One month. Persuade the people in charge of your families and bring them to meet me. I will show them sufficient sincerity, and I will also..."

She paused, the corner of her lips curving faintly. "Show them sufficient strength."

Zhang Yangzi remained silent for a long time. He looked at Yun Zhiyu, at this ten-year-old girl. In those eyes that seemed to bear the vicissitudes of countless ages flickered a childlike cunning and depth. He suddenly realized that he had never truly understood this class monitor—her origins, her purpose, and why she possessed a "Martial Soul Evolution Pill" that perhaps even Shrek Academy did not know about.

"Class monitor," he said, his voice carrying a gravity beyond his age, "who exactly are you?"

Yun Zhiyu smiled but did not answer. She turned and looked out at the distant sea. The sun was sinking beyond the horizon, staining the water molten gold. The sea breeze swept her jet-black hair behind her, like the tail of a fish swimming into the deep ocean.

"I am Yun Zhiyu," she said, so softly it was as though she were speaking to herself. "Someone who wants everyone around me to survive."

She paused, then added, "And someone who wants this continent not to sink completely into ruin when that day comes."

The three looked at one another, seeing confusion and shock in each other's eyes. They did not understand what "sink completely into ruin" meant, nor did they understand where the profound worry in Yun Zhiyu's eyes came from. But they could feel it—the almost obsessive desire to protect others that came from the depths of her being.

"...I agree." Wang Jinxi spoke first. His Bone Dragon Claw smashed into the ground, leaving a deep mark. "One month. I'll persuade my family. If they refuse, I... I'll leave the family and follow you as an individual."

"I agree too," Zhang Yangzi said. A rekindled light burned in his black eyes. "One month. If my family refuses, I'll follow you as well."

Wei Xiaofeng looked at the two of them, then at Yun Zhiyu. The Azure Shadow Serpent's afterimage drifted around him before finally condensing into a distinct, nearly resolute phantom. "My... my family is small. My father is the one in charge. Three days—no, one day! I'll write him tonight and go back to persuade him tomorrow!"

Yun Zhiyu turned to look at them. A faint curve appeared on her lips, with no pride or calculation in it—only relieved, almost weary gratification.

"Good," she said. "I'll wait."

She put away the pill and walked out of the training field, her dark figure gradually lengthening beneath the setting sun. The three watched her back and suddenly felt that it was lonelier and heavier than they had imagined, like a sword shouldering an entire mountain alone.

"Class monitor!" Zhang Yangzi suddenly called out. "Why are you helping us?"

Yun Zhiyu stopped but did not turn around.

"Because..." Her voice drifted back on the wind, carrying a gentleness that moved all three of them, "I don't want to see... anyone leave. And I want to fight for a future for those who deserve one."

She continued onward and vanished among the shadows of the trees at dusk. The three remained where they were for a long while, unmoving. The sea breeze tangled their hair together, like an oath not yet born but already beginning to take root.

Meanwhile, Yun Zhiyu walked alone toward the dormitories. Her spiritual power sank into the system space as she looked at the Martial Soul Evolution Pill glowing gold in the darkness.

Plans, she murmured inwardly. Zhang Yangzi's family, Wang Jinxi's family, Wei Xiaofeng's family... Eastsea City's forces, its connections and resources, the reach of its intelligence networks...

She recalled the future of the original story—the destruction of Shrek Academy, the fall of Tang Sect headquarters, the frenzy for war after the Federation's Hawk Faction seized power, and the invasion and slaughter brought by the Abyssal Plane.

She recalled Yun Ming and Yali's deaths, Yuanen Yehui's loneliness, Ye Xinglan's stars, Xu Lizhi's buns, Wu Changkong's frozen seal...

One step at a time, she warned herself. Steady and sure.

The Tang Sect Bracelet on her wrist glimmered faintly, while Zhen Hua's Star Ring flowed with deep light around her finger. She raised her head toward Eastsea City's sky. The first star had already appeared, like some ancient prophecy—or fate's gentlest gift.

"Wait for me," she whispered, her voice scattering in the sea breeze. "I'll change all of this."