That Kiss

Eleven months later.

Shrek City lay north of the Northern Star Dou Great Forest, in the triangular region between the Original Douluo Three Kingdoms.

This was the holy land that Spirit Masters across the entire continent flocked to, and it was also the location of the continent's top academy, Shrek Academy.

It was just past noon, and the blazing sun burned like fire.

The mild subtropical climate kept this place as warm as spring all year round.

From beneath a patch of shade outside the city, two young people, a boy and a girl, walked over.

They carried no luggage with them.

The boy was tall, and though his handsome face still looked somewhat youthful, he was already over 1.7 meters in height. He wore a Dark Outfit, making him look exceptionally neat and capable.

The girl beside him had a beautiful face, and her flowing hair fell like a waterfall behind her shoulders. Her top tightly wrapped around a figure that had already begun to develop, and that graceful shape just starting to show would make countless women envious.

Of course, if one had to name the most eye-catching part of her, it was undoubtedly her eyes.

Her bright pupils seemed to contain a pool of autumn water, as if stars dwelled within them, shining with extraordinary spirit.

The girl turned slightly and looked worriedly at the boy who had come with her.

"Brother, do you really not need me to go with you? That's the Star Dou Great Forest, full of danger everywhere. No matter what, I have the strength of Level 27 now..."

The boy gently hugged her and said with a smile, "What, you have that little faith in your brother? Others might not know, but you should know better than anyone. In all our sparring matches, when have you ever beaten me? Besides, when we hunted for your Second Soul Ring back then, I could already deal with hundred-year Soul Beasts easily."

The girl muttered softly, "Isn't that because your strength is way too abnormal, and you're fast too? I'm a spiritual-type Spirit Master. How am I supposed to beat you once you get close? And I can't even use the White Tiger Dagger."

The boy reached out and flicked the bridge of the girl's fair nose, unable to help laughing.

"All right, all right, hurry on in. Keep hold of the recommendation letter Grandpa left behind. With your current Soul Power Level, Shrek should be fighting to take you in. Don't be reluctant to spend money on food these next few days. Treat yourself better. If you spend it, I'll just earn more. I put all your daily necessities in your ring. Once you enter the dorm, clean it first."

A red mist rose across the girl's face. Listening to the boy's nagging instructions, she silently took a dagger out of her Storage Ring.

The dagger was about one foot and two inches long, and its sheath was dark green, made from tough Soul Beast leather.

The hilt was five inches long and had no ornate decorations, yet it gave off an ancient, simple feeling.

If someone knowledgeable were present, they would be able to recognize at a glance that this was an expensive Class 5 close-combat Soul Tool.

The boy froze, then declined, "Xiao Tong, you're a spiritual-type Spirit Master and lack self-protection. I heard Shrek's entrance test requires actual combat, and there's a high chance you'll have to fight Soul Beasts. I'm already used to using a long saber, so you should keep this White Tiger Dagger for yourself."

"Take it."

The girl's tone allowed no refusal. Her eyes held stubborn insistence as she stuffed the White Tiger Dagger into the boy's hand.

"If you were really that confident, you wouldn't have given me almost all the Gold Soul Coins."

"I'll wait for you at Shrek."

With that, she stood on tiptoe and, using the chance of their embrace, quickly pecked him on the cheek.

Before he could react, she had already disappeared into the stream of people entering the city.

The boy held the dagger in his left hand and stood there in a daze for quite a while.

"That little girl, honestly..."

This boy and girl were none other than Qian Chaoguang and Huo Yutong, who had come from the Star Luo Empire.

Nearly a year had passed, and they had finally reached the key turning point where the main plot of the original work erupted.

Huo Yutong's cultivation was already very close to Soul Elder. Her Level 27 Soul Power Level would absolutely let her dominate the current freshman class at Shrek.

If nothing had gone wrong, even the strongest, Wang Dong, should only be Level 21 right now.

During these ten-plus months, Qian Chaoguang had not continued studying forging and body tempering. Instead, he had placed the focus of his cultivation entirely on the Spirit Connection Art.

On the foundation of his original Mental Power, he cultivated madly once more, filling it until it reached the size of a basketball, then compressing it into a single point.

Then filling it again, and compressing it again.

Then filling it again, and compressing it again.

Only after he had repeated this process three times did an abnormal change appear.

Within the compressed Mental Power, a speck of starlight appeared, as brilliant as a gemstone.

Compared with this speck of starlight, ordinary Mental Power was like the difference between fireflies and the bright moon.

For Mental Power of this level, the Spirit Connection Art had a specific term to define it.

Pseudo Divine Sense.

Looking in the direction where Huo Yutong had left, Qian Chaoguang put the White Tiger Dagger into his Storage Bracelet, then turned and ran back along the road they had come from.

Ten years of sharpening a sword was all for this moment!

Four days later.

Qian Chaoguang's figure appeared in a forest in the southern part of the continent, roughly seventy kilometers from the Star Dou Great Forest.

"A small roadside forest, where you can hear the gurgling of a stream from under the shade."

Qian Chaoguang recalled the description from the original work and drove the Pseudo Divine Sense in his mind to spread outward and sense his surroundings. He quickly confirmed the direction.

"Less than two hundred meters away. A stream about three meters wide and about two feet deep. That's right, this is the place."

He let out a long breath and sat down by the creek.

After several days of traveling at high intensity, even with his incredibly sturdy physique, he felt utterly exhausted.

He had reached the target location a few days earlier than scheduled. All he had to do now was wait where he was, waiting for Bei Bei and Tang Ya to arrive.

Three days later, as usual, Qian Chaoguang lit a fire by the creek and cooked.

Fat from the lamb skewers dripped onto the charcoal, bursting into a rich, intoxicating smoky aroma that drifted with the wind.

Although he did not have Huo Yutong's superb grilled fish skills, he had once helped out in the school cafeteria, so making things like meat skewers—foods with strong, penetrating flavors—was still within his ability.

No matter what, in his previous life he had lived in a paradise of gourmet food. Aside from an unreasonable, beyond-the-syllabus player like Huo Yutong, anything Qian Chaoguang casually threw together was pure dimensional suppression.

There were not many conditions in the wild, so he would skip making braised pork and caramelizing sugar.

Listening to the crackling pops, Qian Chaoguang sighed helplessly.

Bei Bei and Tang Ya still had not come.

Damn it, why couldn't a certain someone have been a little more precise and written the time clearly?

Was he going to wait for nothing again today?

He casually sprinkled a handful of cumin and chili over the skewers that were almost done roasting.

If he sprinkled them too early, the fire would scorch them black, and they would taste bitter.

He bit off a piece. Rich meat juices burst in his mouth, and the aromas of cumin, lamb, charcoal, and chili filled his nose all at once, giving him the most exquisite culinary experience.

As the old saying went: there was nothing a barbecue couldn't solve. If there was, then have two.

"Smells so good!"

Just then, a girl's voice rang out, clear and pleasant.

Qian Chaoguang's spirits jolted at once, and he almost sprang up from the rock.

After waiting bitterly here for so long, had the people who were supposed to come finally arrived?

He looked in the direction the voice had come from. A young man and a young woman were walking this way along the creek.

The girl was about fifteen or sixteen. Her long black hair was tied into a ponytail, and she wore a light-blue fitted outfit.

Right now, she was staring fixedly at the large handful of meat skewers in Qian Chaoguang's hand.

The young man behind her had short dark-blue hair and exuded a refined air.

After carefully comparing them in his mind with the descriptions from the original work, Qian Chaoguang was already certain that the newcomers were Tang Ya and Bei Bei, whom he had waited for bitterly for many days.

Tang Ya took a few quick steps and came bounding up to Qian Chaoguang, looking as if her mouth were about to water.

"Little brother, are you selling that roast meat? It smells amazing! I could smell it from way down the road!"

Qian Chaoguang smiled, split off half the skewers and handed them to Tang Ya, then took another handful of raw meat skewers from his storage bracelet and set them over the fire.

"What I'm eating isn't anything valuable. If you don't mind, then I'll treat you. There's chili on the lamb skewers. Can you handle spicy food, big sister?"

Thanks to the four bosses Good IDs Are All Gone, Ye Fengyang, Yu Xuanjian, and Bring Me a Bottle of 82 Year Mineral Water for the tips.