Outcasts and Light

Shrek Academy's Wutong Avenue was carpeted with shattered gold in autumn, rustling beneath their feet.

Yun Zhiyu held Yun Zhishu's hand and, unusually, slowed her pace—ever since awakening her martial soul, her days had been packed with forging, meditation, sword practice, and reading. Taking a leisurely walk with her little sister like this had become a luxury.

"Big Sis, that tree!" Yun Zhishu pointed at a crooked parasol tree by the roadside, her amber-gold eyes sparkling. "Last time, you said it looked like Grandpa Zhuo Shi!"

Yun Zhiyu curved her lips. The trunk truly was thick and twisted, its branches sprawled crookedly, looking remarkably like Zhuo Shi when he blew his beard and glared. Just as she was about to tease her sister, a burst of laughter suddenly came from ahead, mixed with sharp mockery that pierced the autumn quiet like shattered glass.

"...Titan Giant Ape? A girl awakened a martial soul like that? Hahahaha, I'm dying!"

"Yuan En, does your dad look like that too? Covered in fur, beating his chest and howling?"

"Stop it, she's so ugly. Does she look even a little like a girl?"

"Exactly. She's as strong as a bear. Who'd ever dare marry her?"

Yun Zhiyu frowned and followed the voices. At the bend in Wutong Avenue, several boys and girls around seven or eight years old had gathered together, dressed in Shrek Academy Outer Court uniforms.

At the center of the crowd stood a small, frail figure with her head lowered, her shoulders trembling faintly.

She was a girl with an unusual appearance. She stood half a head shorter than children her age, but her skin was a pale grayish white, as though coated with the texture of stone. Her hair was an uncommon reddish brown, coarse and tied into a ponytail, with several stray locks hanging over her forehead and concealing her eyes. Most striking were her hands—her knuckles were thick, and fine fur covered her fingers. They were currently clenched tightly around the hem of her clothes, crumpling her brand-new uniform.

Yuanen Yehui.

Yun Zhiyu's heart jolted. The peerless genius with Twin Martial Souls from the original story, the future Titan Douluo and one of the Shrek Seven Monsters, was being bullied like this. She remembered even more clearly the hidden secret mentioned in the original story—Yuan En's Fallen Angel martial soul, the secret that had tormented her for half her life and caused her family's tragedy.

"Ugly freak, say something!" A girl with twin ponytails shrieked with laughter and reached out to shove Yuan En's shoulder. "Aren't you strong? Try pushing me!"

Yuan En staggered backward and slammed into a parasol tree trunk. She kept her head lowered, her grayish-white face expressionless, but Yun Zhiyu noticed that the hand hanging at her side was trembling. The fur on her knuckles stood on end, as though some beast was suppressing its instincts.

"Stop!"

A crisp shout rang out.

Before Yun Zhiyu could react, Yun Zhishu had already rushed forward. The five-year-old girl was like a cannonball, stumbling yet incredibly fast as she rammed her head into the twin-tailed girl's waist, knocking her back three steps before she landed hard in a pile of fallen leaves.

"Don't bully people!" Yun Zhishu planted her hands on her hips, her amber-gold eyes wide and round, her little chest heaving fiercely. "You're bad!"

The entire scene fell silent for a moment.

Then the boys and girls burst into even louder laughter. A tall boy pointed at Yun Zhishu and doubled over laughing. "Where'd this little runt come from? You haven't even awakened your martial soul yet, have you? Looking to die?"

"She's a freak just like her!" The twin-tailed girl climbed up from the ground, brushing leaves from her skirt, her face livid. "Yuan En, is she your friend? Birds of a feather really do flock together!"

She raised her hand, soul power gathering in her palm. This girl had actually already awakened her martial soul. Though she was only a one-ring Soul Master, she was more than capable of dealing with a five-year-old child.

Yun Zhiyu's pupils contracted sharply.

"You're courting death!"

Her figure vanished from where she stood, leaving only a streak of violet-gold lightning. When she reappeared, she was already standing in front of Yun Zhishu. Her right hand formed a sword gesture as her first soul skill, Yinglong: Lightning-Calling Sword Chime, activated instantly.

Before any sword energy was even released, the pressure of her soul power alone sent the twin-tailed girl stumbling several steps back, her face turning deathly pale.

"B-Big Sis..." Yun Zhishu was frightened by the display. Her little mouth trembled, and her eyes reddened.

Yun Zhiyu did not turn around, but her voice softened slightly. "Stand behind me. Don't move."

She looked at the group of boys and girls. The vertical slits in her violet eyes had fully opened, lightning patterns swirling deep within them like a gathering storm. She was not tall at six years old, yet the pressure she radiated made those seven- and eight-year-old children retreat in unison.

"Innate... Innate Full Soul Power?" The tall boy's voice trembled. "She, she's the one from the Inner Court..."

"Get lost." Yun Zhiyu said only one word.

The twin-tailed girl gritted her teeth unwillingly. "What gives you the right—"

"I'll say it one more time." Yun Zhiyu stepped forward, violet lightning crackling around her. "Get lost."

The group finally became afraid. They shoved and pulled one another as they fled, but still did not forget to leave behind a threat. "Just wait! We'll tell the teachers!"

Wutong Avenue became quiet again, leaving only the rustle of fallen leaves swept up by the wind.

Yun Zhiyu turned around, and the first thing she did was lift her sister from the ground and give her two hard smacks on the backside. She did not hit very hard, but Yun Zhishu immediately burst into tears, crying as though a string of pearls had snapped.

"Do you know what you did wrong?" Yun Zhiyu asked coldly.

"I-I was wrong..." Yun Zhishu sniffled, reaching for her sister's clothes with her little hand. "But they were bullying someone..."

"If someone is being bullied, you can call for me or find a teacher." Yun Zhiyu crouched down until she was level with her sister, the anger in her violet eyes not yet gone. "Why did you rush in? You haven't awakened your martial soul yet. You don't have soul power. Any one of them could hurt you!"

"I-I didn't think that much..." Yun Zhishu pursed her lips, tears flowing even harder. "I just got really angry seeing them bully someone..."

Yun Zhiyu looked at her sister's swollen, red-rimmed eyes, and the anger in her heart suddenly drained away by more than half. She remembered her previous life, when she had been just as impulsive, unable to stop herself from stepping forward whenever she saw injustice, only to suffer for it again and again. Yet as she looked at Yun Zhishu now, she could not bring herself to scold her—this pure sense of justice was precisely what she most wanted to protect through the long years ahead.

"Don't do that again," she said, pulling her sister into her arms, her voice softening. "If you want to protect others, protect yourself first. Promise Big Sis."

"...Okay."

After comforting her sister, Yun Zhiyu finally turned toward the silent figure. Yuanen Yehui still leaned against the parasol tree trunk, her head lowered, her grayish-white face utterly expressionless, as if none of what had happened had anything to do with her.

But Yun Zhiyu noticed that the hand clutching her clothes had turned white at the knuckles.

"Your name is Yuan En?" She walked over and stopped a step away. "Yuanen Yehui?"

Yuan En's entire body stiffened. She slowly raised her head, revealing a pair of unusual eyes—her pupils were a deep brownish black, yet their edges glimmered with a faint golden light. Like a beast's eyes, they held instinctive wariness and distance.

"...How do you know my name?"

"I guessed." Yun Zhiyu smiled and sat beside her without caring that fallen leaves dirtied her skirt. "A Titan Giant Ape martial soul, a genius specially recruited by Shrek Outer Court this year—who else could it be besides Yuanen Yehui?"

Yuan En's eyes flickered before lowering again. "A genius? They called me a monster."

"A monster?" Yun Zhiyu scoffed, catching a drifting parasol leaf in her hand. "The Titan Giant Ape, king of the forest, possessed of boundless strength and unparalleled defense. Do you know that among the first generation of Shrek Seven Monsters, there was a senior named Xiao Wu? Do you know what her martial soul was?"

Yuan En paused. "A Soft Bone Rabbit?"

"Right, a Soft Bone Rabbit." Yun Zhiyu offered her the leaf. "It sounds weak and harmless, doesn't it? Yet that senior eventually ascended to the God Realm. Martial souls are not strong or weak; only whether they suit their wielder. The Titan Giant Ape is a top-tier beast martial soul. Countless people could only dream of having one, yet you think it's ugly?"

Yuan En looked at the leaf but did not take it. Her voice was very low, carrying a hoarseness unbefitting her age. "Don't you think... I'm strange?"

"What's strange about you?"

"My skin." Yuan En raised her hand, revealing the grayish-white skin covered in fine fur. "My hair, my strength... I don't look like a girl. They're right. I'm an outcast."

Yun Zhiyu fell silent for a moment. She looked at Yuan En's profile, at the young face filled with self-loathing and the isolation of someone rejected by the world. Suddenly, she remembered how Yuanen Yehui in the original story had spent her entire life struggling against the label of "outcast" because of the secret of her Fallen Angel martial soul, searching for light within darkness for her entire life.

"Yuan En," she said softly, every word clear, "do you know why I have silver hair and violet eyes?"

Yuan En looked up, confusion flashing through her eyes.

"The day I awakened my martial soul, my hair changed from black to silver, and my eyes changed from black to violet." Yun Zhiyu pointed to her pupils. "In Shrek Academy's twenty thousand years of history, have you ever seen another person who changed so drastically after awakening a martial soul?"

"...No."

"Do you know my little sister?" Yun Zhiyu pulled Yun Zhishu over. The little girl was still sniffling. "Have you ever seen another pair of amber-gold eyes like hers?"

Yuan En shook her head.

"We're both 'outcasts,'" Yun Zhiyu said with a smile. "But so what if we are? Everyone in this world is unique. Some have black hair and black eyes, some have silver hair and violet eyes, some have grayish-white skin and reddish-brown hair—those differences are like the veins on leaves. No two are exactly alike, yet every single one has meaning."

She paused and looked into Yuan En's eyes. "You say you don't look like a girl, but who decided what a girl is supposed to look like? Gentle? Quiet? Physically weak? Those are worldly prejudices, not truth. You have strength, talent, and a top-tier martial soul. Those are gifts countless people could only dream of. You should be proud, not ashamed."

Yuan En's pupils trembled faintly. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she merely lowered her head and clenched the parasol leaf tightly.

"I..." Her voice choked. "I'm scared!"

"Scared of what?"

"Scared they'll always be like this." Yuan En's voice grew quieter and quieter. "Scared that in the future, they'll still..."

"They won't." Yun Zhiyu interrupted her, her tone firm. "Because you're already at Shrek. This is not the outside world. This place welcomes monsters, welcomes outcasts, welcomes every extraordinary genius. Which of the Shrek Seven Monsters throughout history was not a monster? Which of Dean Flander, Grandmaster, and Dean Liu Erlong was not an outcast in the eyes of the world? Yet they created history."

She stood and extended her hand toward Yuan En. "My name is Yun Zhiyu. I'm the daughter of Yun Ming and Yali of Sea God's Pavilion. This is my little sister, Yun Zhishu. From today onward, we're friends. If anyone dares bully you, they'll have to get past me first."

Yuan En looked at that hand. It was pale and slender, with thin calluses on the knuckles left by forging, yet it remained steadily extended in the air like a promise.

She hesitated for a long time before finally reaching out and taking that hand.

Yun Zhiyu's hand was warm, carrying the distinctive metallic warmth of a forge, yet it strangely made Yuan En feel safe. Feeling that warmth, Yuan En's eyes suddenly stung. She remembered the look on her father's face when she left the family, as though he wanted to speak but stopped himself. She remembered the protective charm secretly slipped into her luggage by her family elders. She remembered the way everyone had looked at her along the journey—fear, disgust, rejection.

And now, someone was telling her, "We're friends."

"...Thank you," she said softly, her voice hoarse beyond recognition.

Yun Zhishu moved closer as well, taking Yuan En's other hand in her small one. "Big Sis's friend is my friend too! Big Sister Yuan En, you're so strong. Can you carry me from now on? Big Sis always says I'm heavy!"

Yuan En froze for a moment, then the corners of her lips slowly lifted. It was her first sincere smile since arriving at Shrek.

"Okay," she said. "I'll carry you."

Watching this scene, Yun Zhiyu felt complicated emotions rise in her heart. She knew just how difficult Yuan En's future would be—the awakening of her Fallen Angel martial soul, her family's tragedy, her entanglement with evil soul masters, a lifetime of self-doubt and redemption. But at this moment, on this autumn Wutong Avenue, she only wanted to light a small lamp for this gray-skinned girl.

"Yuan En," she suddenly said, "your martial soul is powerful. Truly powerful. One day, you'll become a very strong Soul Master, strong enough that the people mocking you today will have to look up to you. But more importantly—"

She crouched down until she was level with Yuan En, autumn sunlight reflected in her violet eyes.

"You need to learn to like yourself. Like your skin, like your hair, like your strength, like your Titan Giant Ape, because all of those things are you—the one and only you."

Yuan En stared at her blankly. Sunlight streamed through gaps in the parasol leaves, dancing into tiny golden glimmers across Yun Zhiyu's silver hair. Her violet eyes were clear to the bottom, like a lake holding an entire autumn.

Many years later, when Yuanen Yehui stood at the pinnacle of a Titled Douluo and faced the darkness of the Abyssal Plane, she would still remember this scene. She would remember the silver-haired, violet-eyed girl, the expression on her face when she said, "Like yourself," and that warm hand.

It was one of the few lights in her youth, carefully hidden in the deepest place in her heart and taken out for warmth on countless nights when she stood on the brink of collapse.

"I will," she said softly, clutching the parasol leaf tightly. "I'll... try to like myself."

Yun Zhiyu smiled. She stood, holding her sister's hand with one hand and her new friend's with the other. They slowly walked along Wutong Avenue, fallen leaves breaking crisply beneath their feet like a silent accompaniment.

"Big Sis," Yun Zhishu asked, looking up with her little face, "where are we going next?"

"To the forge," Yun Zhiyu said. "We'll let Big Sister Yuan En watch Big Sis forge."

"Huh? Forging again?" Yun Zhishu pulled a long face. "It's so boring!"

"Then you can draw beside us and design your Battle Armor." Yun Zhiyu pinched her nose. "Big Sister Yuan En is strong. She can hold up your drawing board."

"Yay!"

Yuan En watched the sisters interact, and a gentle softness gradually appeared on her grayish-white face. She lowered her head to look at her hands, at the parasol leaf warmed by her grip, and suddenly felt that Shrek Academy might not be as frightening as she had imagined.

At least, there was light here.