Meng Hongchen, the Child of Destiny

"Little Huo, did you run off to Mingdu to sell grilled fish?" Tang Yin greeted Huo Yuhao casually.

Huo Yuhao smiled with a hint of bitterness:

"Ah, poverty clips a man's ambitions. That's how it is."

"I finally got into the Sun Moon Empire Royal Soul Engineer Academy through connections, but it's still hard to get ahead."

"Tang Yin, this meeting was so unexpected that I haven't prepared a gift."

"I'll make it up to you next time."

Tang Yin smiled faintly. Would I care about those two grilled fish of yours?

Put it this way: even a Soul Bone wouldn't catch my eye unless it was a hundred thousand years old.

"Are these three your seniors, here to support your business?"

Huo Yuhao nodded and, keeping his expression natural, swept a glance over Wang Dong with his Telepathist ability.

What was that brilliant golden light over his Ether Body?

Wait!

An Ether Body with a pink base-Wang Dong was a girl?!

In an instant, Huo Yuhao thought of many things, but he decided to try reading Wang Dong's thoughts first.

Because of that layer of golden light, reading her thoughts consumed a great deal of spiritual power.

Anxiety, anger, and anticipation?

Heh, looking forward to finding me?

Huo Yuhao withdrew his gaze and introduced them to the Sun Moon trio:

"This is Tang Yin, an old acquaintance of mine. He's now a disciple of the dean of Shrek Academy, truly one of Heaven's Chosen."

"This is Wang Dong, a Soul Tool enthusiast."

When introducing the three to Tang Yin and Wang Dong, Huo Yuhao described their relationship simply as seniors he knew.

Xiao Hongchen nodded at Tang Yin with a hint of fighting spirit. A disciple of Shrek Academy's dean? Doesn't that mean we'll meet in the tournament?

Meng Hongchen was much gentler. She said politely:

"Shrek Academy? I wanted to apply there back then, too."

New customers! Wang Dong gazed eagerly at Meng Hongchen and the other two:

"I'm buying Soul Tools from your academy's students for one thousand Gold Soul Coins each. One per person, any level."

Here it comes!

Meng Hongchen drew her gaze away from Wang Dong's face and exchanged looks with Xiao Hongchen and Feng Tingting.

Although none of them needed that little bit of money, they all chose to follow Huo Yuhao's advice, each taking out a Level 1 Soul Tool and handing it to Wang Dong.

What Meng Hongchen picked up was a small, exquisite Level 1 Soul Guidance Ray Gun that Huo Yuhao had just given her.

Wang Dong first paid the three of them with three universal checks worth 1,000 Gold Soul Coins each, then accepted the Soul Tools one by one.

She was accepting the Soul Tools expressionlessly, enduring her discomfort as she put them into her Storage Soul Tool.

Suddenly, she froze.

The Level 1 Soul Guidance Ray Gun Meng Hongchen handed over hadn't caused her the slightest discomfort!

It felt exactly like the Soul Tool she had bought in Shrek City back then.

Smooth, ordinary, just like an everyday object.

Wang Dong was beside herself with excitement. She stammered, "D-do you have Soul Tools of other levels?"

Meng Hongchen casually took out a Level 2 Soul Tool and a Level 3 Soul Tool.

Wang Dong accepted them one by one. The Soul Tools still felt perfectly normal to her.

Found her!

Seeing Wang Dong weep with joy, how could Tang Yin not know what had happened?

Meng Hongchen was the Child of Destiny!

He'd done it! He understood!

All the clues had fallen into place!

Following the original course of events, Meng Hongchen, who admired Shrek Academy, should have gone there to apply.

But for some unknown reason, her fate had changed, so she hadn't made it!

The Level 1 Soul Tool Wang Dong had bought in Shrek City last time had come from a major trading company under the Illustrious Virtue Hall.

And Meng Hongchen happened to be a student of the Sun Moon Empire Royal Soul Engineer Academy.

Moreover, Tang Yin had also seen that Meng Hongchen already had Level 50 cultivation at just fifteen.

A true daughter favored by heaven.

Although he didn't know what her Martial Soul was, the Child of Destiny's Martial Soul could very likely evolve. He had a deep personal understanding of that.

Tang Yin had sold Hidden Weapons all the way to Mingdu, only for the buyers to mock them as garbage.

At the time, he had even declared, "The river flows east for thirty years, then west for thirty years. Don't bully a young man for being poor!"

Now that he had finally found the Child of Destiny, he rather felt that the bitterness was over and sweetness had come.

But a new problem had arisen.

Meng Hongchen, the Child of Destiny, was female!

Xiao Qi was female too!

Like repelled like. How was he supposed to fasten the leash securely?

After a little thought, Tang Yin came up with a solution.

The Qiankun Asking Love Valley-he thought of the Qiankun Asking Love Valley!

That place had originally been prepared for training dogs, but it also had plenty of little functions, such as changing someone's sex.

Altering Xiao Qi's soul and sex again was something he was all too skilled at. He was extremely confident.

Tang Yin felt the road ahead suddenly open wide.

Now that he had found the Child of Destiny, he only needed to let Wang Dong act naturally.

Fate would bring the two of them together.

With him there to correct any deviations in time, nothing would go wrong.

Of course, it wasn't that he didn't want to intervene by force. The main issue was that, apart from a wisp of Divine Sense, this incarnation actually only had Soul Elder cultivation.

By the time Tang Yin finished his brainstorming, Meng Hongchen was already expressing sympathy for Wang Dong's situation:

"It's fine. If there are any Soul Tools you want to use in the future, you can contact me. I'll sell them to you at a markup."

"Uh." Wang Dong blinked her large pink-and-blue eyes.

Ever since she had started dressing as a boy, no girl had ever failed to show her at least a little favor.

Who would have thought Meng Hongchen wouldn't fall for it, and would even charge me extra?

Meng Hongchen admitted that Wang Dong's looks were outstanding among boys, but she now said with an unchanged expression:

"No handsome guy is going to make me earn less. That's one of my principles."

After saying this, her thoughts inexplicably turned to Huo Yuhao.

Except for that Level 6 Carving Knife Soul Tool, Ice Edge.

Within the Sea of Consciousness, the Ice Empress listened as the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm explained the whole story. Brimming with killing intent, she said:

"Tian Meng, back then, your foothold in Shrek City was shaky and the situation was urgent. You couldn't go too far."

"My guess is that even if this Tang Yin isn't the person behind the scenes, he must have extremely deep ties to whoever is."

"Now that Yuhao is so highly valued here, why not use that backing to kill him once and for all?"

"Killing a person is easy, but destroying a strand of Divine Sense is not." The little gray sphere beside the Sea of Consciousness trembled, and Electrolux's aged voice rang out:

"I sensed a strand of Divine Sense on Tang Yin. If we rashly kill him and let that strand escape..."

"I fear there will be no end to the trouble."

"Divine Sense?" The Ice Empress's expression shifted slightly before she said reluctantly, "Then are we just going to let him swagger away?"

Electrolux smiled. "Trust Yuhao. He knows what he's doing. We've known him for so long-when has he ever been cowardly?"

Wang Dong had found the maker of Soul Tools that didn't nauseate her, obtained her contact information, and reached an understanding with her.

Tang Yin had learned that Meng Hongchen was the Child of Destiny, completing a small part of this incarnation's mission.

Next, while ensuring the Child of Destiny was securely leashed, disciplined, and then refined, it was time to gather all the world's opportunities and strive for the third Divine Position.

They had both achieved the purpose of this trip.

Wang Dong even seriously considered whether she could transfer to the Sun Moon Empire Royal Soul Engineer Academy.

After all, she didn't feel much attachment to Shrek Academy, and Zhou Yi had even thoroughly disgusted her.

But the moment this thought arose, her head hurt as though needles were stabbing into it. The pain turned her face white and sent cold sweat pouring down her skin.

Elsewhere, Wang Shaojie, who had left the academy to stroll around and clear his mind, came across Huo Yuhao grilling fish for everyone by the roadside.

Seeing Meng Hongchen chatting and laughing with Wang Dong, he started imagining things again.

That person with the pink-and-blue hair, whose back was facing him, seemed to be the filthy rich fellow who had spent several million Gold Soul Coins over the past few days buying a huge pile of low-level Soul Tools.

Unless his family had tens of millions or hundreds of millions in assets, how could they let him squander money like that?

Was he one of Meng Hongchen's suitors too?

Wait, could a man really be that beautiful?

Having caught sight of Wang Dong's profile, Wang Shaojie immediately felt a sense of shared suffering with Huo Yuhao:

God Huo had picked far too difficult a person to fawn over.

The target herself was already incredibly difficult, and his rival was not only rich but outrageously good-looking.

Even if God Huo's repertoire of fawning techniques had expanded to making delicious food, it probably wouldn't help much, would it?