Departure

The sudden turn of events caught Huo Yuhao off guard. Gu Yuena looked petite, but she was incredibly strong—after all, she was the ruler of soul beasts. Huo Yuhao tried to break free, but he was powerless to do so.

A seven-colored tear condensed in Gu Yuena's eyes and fell into Huo Yuhao's eyes. His sea of spirit became incomparably dazzling as the seven-colored tear dyed it in brilliant hues, like the chaos at the dawn of creation—beautiful and mysterious.

Huo Yuhao felt his spiritual power rise by a tremendous amount. His senses immediately became sharper; not only had the quantity of his spiritual power increased, but its quality had improved drastically as well.

"Take in this power properly. You should leave now." Gu Yuena's expression suddenly turned somewhat indifferent.

"Mm."

"Wait." Gu Yuena suddenly grabbed Huo Yuhao's hand and held out her pinky with the other.

"Pinky promise."

Huo Yuhao obediently held out his own pinky as well.

"Pinky promise, hang ourselves by the hook. One hundred years, no changing."

Gu Yuena's expression suddenly fell. "One hundred years is so little."

"One hundred years is a very long time for humans. If it isn't enough, we can make the same promise again for the next hundred years."

Gu Yuena looked at him.

"Oh, right. Did Qiu'er's soul also come from another world?" Huo Yuhao recalled the words, "the one chosen by the Auspicious Beast," and began to wonder.

"No, but she received your memories," Gu Yuena said. "That Wang Dong'er isn't either. Only her 'soul' came from another world."

Soul?

"Go."

The glow in the air vanished, and the world sank into darkness once more. Countless vines parted, sending Huo Yuhao back into the light.

Huo Yuhao felt a gentle force lift him into the air and carry him to the core of the Star Dou Great Forest, the legendary Great Ferocious Land. He landed beside the feet of a tall man in black, and the two stared at each other.

The man in black hesitantly asked, "What did my lord say to you?"

At that moment, Gu Yuena's voice returned to its deep tone, so low that it was impossible to tell whether it was male or female.

"Di Tian, do your own job properly."

Di Tian hurriedly replied, "Yes, my lord."

Huo Yuhao bowed to Di Tian. "Thank you for helping me, Senior."

"These are all my lord's orders." Di Tian's tone was respectful and somewhat flustered. He did not understand why such a tiny human had earned his lord's attention, but that was his lord.

"Yu Tong! Are you alright..." Wang Qiu'er rushed over with tears in her eyes. Just as she was about to hug Huo Yuhao, he grabbed one of her cheeks with a hand.

"You little liar, Wang Qiu'er. You received my memories and didn't tell me." Huo Yuhao spoke viciously as he tugged her little face back and forth.

Mm, it really did feel good.

"What, mmmph?" Wang Qiu'er was momentarily stunned.

"Still pretending." Huo Yuhao let go, and Wang Qiu'er's cheek bounced back, jiggling a few times with elasticity. "So you weren't a transmigrator after all."

"No, I wasn't. You never asked, and how was I supposed to know the memories I received were yours?" Wang Qiu'er rubbed her face aggrievedly. "Wait, you're a transmigrator?"

"I am."

"Then why didn't you say so?"

"You never asked. Hehe." Huo Yuhao made a face.

"You!" Wang Qiu'er raised her hand as if to hit him. Huo Yuhao had just lifted a hand to block when he discovered that Wang Qiu'er had hugged him.

Wang Qiu'er smelled like sunlight, and her body was soft and springy.

"W-what are you doing?" Huo Yuhao blushed slightly.

"Mm, nothing." Wang Qiu'er released him. "Let's go find Dong'er."

"Isn't she here?" Huo Yuhao asked in confusion.

"Well, her situation is rather special. When she first arrived, she immediately said that she didn't have that person's divine sense on her, so everyone didn't need to worry." Wang Qiu'er scratched her head. "Then everyone started worrying..."

"I really can't sympathize at all..."

"Yeah..."

"By the way, when did you receive my memories?" Huo Yuhao asked curiously.

"I don't know. It suddenly happened twelve years ago... Maybe I've had them since you were born." Wang Qiu'er recalled.

"Twelve years ago..." Huo Yuhao said thoughtfully.

After the two walked a little farther, they heard Wang Dong'er's voice in the distance.

"I told you, there isn't any! Let me in! Hurry up and give Yu Tong back to me!"

"What do you mean, 'who knows if there is or not'? Even if there were, what could I do? Go back and let that guy chop my soul into minced meat?"

"I'm so mad!"

"Dong'er! We're here!" Wang Qiu'er and Huo Yuhao hurried over.

"Great, you're finally here. This guy called Scarlet King is completely unreasonable. He absolutely refused to let me through." Wang Dong'er spoke indignantly.

"I..." Scarlet King was practically about to reveal his Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Mastiff true form. Who would dare let her in? If she truly had divine sense and discovered his lord, it would be over.

"Alright, alright. Didn't I come out?" Huo Yuhao mediated. "Lord Scarlet King, we'll stay here. We won't go in again."

Scarlet King nodded, then turned and returned to the Great Ferocious Land.

"Ah, right. My name is Huo Yuhao." Huo Yuhao was the first to speak. Finally no longer needing to use a false name, he felt especially relieved.

"Huh?" Wang Dong'er froze for a moment. "Then why did you..."

"You might not believe this, but when I was heading to the academy, I ran into Xu Tianyao..." Huo Yuhao said gloomily. "He scared me into giving a fake name."

"Wait, you're a transmigrator?" Only then did Wang Dong'er realize.

"Mm."

Wang Dong'er was confused for several seconds, only to hear Wang Qiu'er continue, "I'm not actually a transmigrator. I merely received his memories."

"Huh?" Wang Dong'er's mind could not quite process it.

"Your turn. Is there anything you want to say?" Huo Yuhao probed, pretending to joke.

"No!" Wang Dong'er finally sorted everything out and said irritably, "So everyone has a layer inside a layer, huh."

Huo Yuhao recalled what Gu Yuena had said about her soul. Perhaps Wang Dong'er herself did not even know what had happened to her.

Better talk about it later.

"So where should we go next?" Wang Dong'er asked.

They could no longer return to Shrek. There was no need to mention Wang Qiu'er; her identity as a soul beast had already been exposed. Even if Wang Dong'er went back, she would ultimately have to return to the Clear Sky Sect from time to time—that was even more impossible, unless she really wanted Tang San to finely chop her soul into minced meat... The same went for Huo Yuhao. Shrek could not tolerate someone who had just caused trouble there.

Of course, there was also the option of staying in the Star Dou Great Forest, but no one considered it. Soul Tools were developing too quickly, and with other transmigrators around, they could not allow themselves to be left behind by the times.

This time, they had formed a grudge with Xu Tianyao. When they met again in the future, only life and death would decide the outcome.

"As for that..." Huo Yuhao already had a plan in mind. "Since Shrek can't accommodate us, we'll go to their rival."

"You mean..." Wang Qiu'er had guessed part of it too.

"The Holy Spirit Cult?" Wang Dong'er immediately objected. "No, no. I absolutely refuse to be with those evil soul masters."

"The Sun Moon Empire!" Huo Yuhao rubbed his temples. "Come on, let's set off..."

"...for the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy!"