Bibi Dong's letter

Tang San raised his left hand, a pale blue halo spreading across his palm.

He explained unhurriedly, "For my first soul skill, I absorbed an eight-hundred-year-old Blue-Patterned Longevity Vine. It gave my Blue Silver Grass greater toughness, vitality, and the ability to absorb Earth Vein Power."

"Once my Blue Silver Grass traps someone, it automatically draws energy from the earth veins to replenish itself. As long as there's earth beneath our feet, it will never run dry."

He looked at Dai Mubai, who was nearly wrapped up like a rice dumpling, and said calmly, "You... have already lost."

Dai Mubai stood rigid, his arms bound so tightly he could not move them, his expression rather ugly.

He had started the fight, yet he had actually lost. His opponent looked younger than him, had a higher soul power level, and possessed a soul skill that was outrageously monstrous.

Still, Dai Mubai was not a sore loser.

He took a deep breath and immediately released his Martial Soul Possession. The white light dispersed, and his grayish-white hair turned golden again.

"I lost."

Dai Mubai said without hesitation, "You're strong."

Tang San also released his Martial Soul Possession, and the Blue Silver Grass withdrew into the ground. "There's no shame in your defeat. Once my Blue Silver Grass traps an opponent, a Soul Master at the same level has almost no chance of breaking free, let alone when I have the level advantage."

Dai Mubai looked at him and suddenly chuckled. "Heh, interesting. You're here for Shrek Academy's entrance exam, aren't you? I'm a student there. Once you reach the academy, if anyone gives you trouble, just tell them my name: Evil-Eyed White Tiger Dai Mubai. Though with your strength, I doubt anyone will give you trouble."

With that, he put his arms around the twins again and started to leave.

Xiao Wu called after him, "Hey, hey, hey! You haven't paid for the damage!"

Without looking back, Dai Mubai waved a hand. "Don't worry. I'll have someone send it over later."

The manager wiped the fine sweat from his forehead. Looking at the lobby, with half a wall smashed and porcelain shards strewn across the floor, he silently calculated how much Young Master Dai would have to fork out this time.

The attendant led Tang San and Xiao Wu to their room upstairs. The instant he opened the door, a rich fragrance of roses washed over them.

Red dominated the entire room. Dark red patterned wallpaper covered the walls, and a pink crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. Most striking of all was the enormous round bed in the very center, covered in scarlet silk sheets and scattered with a few rose petals.

"This is your room. It's called the Red Ocean."

The attendant stood at the doorway and bowed slightly.

"Please call me if you need anything."

With that, he closed the door and left.

"Wow! Big Brother, this room is so pretty!"

Xiao Wu dashed inside, spun around on the spot, then fixed her gaze on the large bed and flung herself onto it, rubbing against it vigorously.

"This bed is so big and soft!"

Tang San smiled and shook his head. He walked over to the table, sat down, and took the golden crystal from earlier out of his clothes.

Xiao Wu rolled over on the bed. Seeing what Tang San was holding, she came over curiously. "Isn't that the crystal? Big Brother, what's the use of spending so much money on such a poor-quality crystal?"

Tang San smiled and held the crystal up beneath the light, turning it. "Heh, this is no inferior crystal. Quite the opposite. It's the finest of the finest crystals. Look closely at those so-called 'cloudy impurities.' They're actually an essence that forms within crystals only with extreme difficulty, called crystal hair."

"A crystal with even a single strand of crystal hair counts as a treasure, but this piece..."

He hefted the crystal in his hand.

"I'm afraid even tens of thousands of gold soul coins couldn't buy it."

"What?!"

Xiao Wu's eyes went wide. "Then didn't we make a huge profit?"

"That's right."

Tang San nodded.

Then, beneath Xiao Wu's astonished gaze, Tang San took a small iron hammer out of Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges.

"Big Brother, what are you doing?!"

Bang!

The hammer struck, and the golden crystal shattered, scattering fragments across the table.

Tang San calmly brushed aside the fragments and precisely picked a golden particle as fine as a hair from the pile of glass shards. About the length of his little finger, it lay curled in his palm.

"This is crystal hair."

Tang San held the golden particle beneath the light and infused a little soul power into it. The curled golden filament instantly sprang straight, becoming exceptionally sharp and gleaming coldly beneath the light.

"Just infuse it with soul power, and it goes from curled to perfectly straight. It's sharp and tough, comparable to steel refined a hundred times."

Xiao Wu leaned closer to look. "What is it used for?"

"Heh, making hidden weapons."

Tang San carefully put away the golden particle.

"A treasure I wouldn't trade for a thousand pieces of gold."

"All right, Xiao Wu, help me gather those scattered fragments. Don't miss any."

"Okay!"

"Oh, right, Big Brother, there's only one bed. Let's sleep together tonight?"

"Xiao Wu, have you ever heard the saying that men and women shouldn't touch casually?"

"Nope. Anyway, you're my big brother. What does it matter?"

"I'll sleep on the floor."

"Oh, come on, the bed is so big. There's more than enough room for two!"

"I'll sleep on the floor."

"Why are you so stubborn?!"

In the end, Tang San could not win against Xiao Wu, and she pulled him onto the bed.

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

Inside the Pope's Palace in Spirit City.

Deep into the quiet night, only a few lamps burned in the vast, empty hall.

Bibi Dong sat upright in the seat of honor, her magnificent papal robes trailing to the floor and the Nine-Curved Purple Gold Crown upon her head. With her phoenix eyes slightly lowered, she radiated a stern majesty that needed no anger to inspire awe.

Yet at that moment, she held a letter, her fingertips pressing slightly harder and pinching several fine creases into the edge of the envelope.

On the back of the letter was only a single character.

Yu.

Bibi Dong gazed at that familiar handwriting for a long time.

He had written it himself. She recognized every stroke.

After all these years, she had thought she would never see his handwriting again.

Xiaogang... have you started contacting me again?

Her brows lowered slightly, and scenes from that year flashed uncontrollably through her mind. That thin, stubborn young man stood before her as she gritted her teeth and spoke the cruelest words. He turned away in silence, his retreating figure vanishing into the curtain of rain.

She had stood where she was without chasing him, because she had pushed him away with her own hands. So many years had passed, and she was no longer that helpless young girl.

She was the reigning pope, commanding the continent's most powerful force, turning her hand to summon clouds and overturning it to bring rain.

Yet as she held this letter, she discovered she was still that girl whose heart would soften.

Bibi Dong let out a long breath, slowly slipped a fingertip beneath the seal, and drew out the thin sheet of paper inside.

Yu Xiaogang's handwriting lay upon the page, neat and elegant.

"Dong'er..."

At the mere sight of that name, Bibi Dong could not stop her heart from trembling. How many years had it been? How many years since she had last heard that familiar form of address?

Forcing down the emotions within her, Bibi Dong continued reading.

"As I write this letter, it happens to be raining outside my window. It reminds me of a rainy night many years ago. The weather was just like this. You stood before me and said those things, and then I turned and left without looking back.

In the years that followed, I would sometimes wonder whether, if I had looked back that day, I would have seen you crying. But I never looked back, so I will never know the answer.

I thought I would hate you for a long time, hate you for speaking so heartlessly, hate you for pushing me away.

But later, I slowly came to understand. You aren't that kind of person. You never were. You cared about me more than anyone, so how could you have said those things without a reason?

Recently, I finally learned the answer, some of the truth. I learned why you stood in the rain that night, what lay hidden in your eyes then, and what you bore alone. You never told me any of it. You always gritted your teeth and held on by yourself.

I should have understood long ago, but back then, I was too young, too stubborn, too burdened by my own inferiority. I left without asking anything.

Dong'er, when I think of those years you spent bearing all that alone, I feel I owe you that backward glance.

I missed the rain that night all those years ago. From now on, no matter what rain comes, I won't leave again.

In a little while, I will come to Spirit City.

There are things I want to tell you face-to-face. I've stored up so many words over the years that I don't know where to begin. Then let's leave them until we meet.

Wait for me.

-Xiaogang."

Drip.

A tear fell onto the letter, bleeding the ink into a small blot.

Bibi Dong stared blankly at that line, her vision blurring, clearing, then blurring again.

"I learned... what you bore alone..."

She lowered her head slightly, and more tears slipped down soundlessly.

"Xiaogang..."

The hand clutching the letter trembled slightly. That fool. After all these years, he's still the same as before. Even his apology is written so clumsily.

Yet it was precisely those clumsy words that made her heart ache and burn, a feeling she could not describe.

"I was the one in the wrong... I was the one who wronged you. I'm the one... who doesn't deserve to stand beside you anymore."