Toji left the palace and immediately met up with Di Qiu'er.
"It worked?"
Di Qiu'er looked at Toji, who was dressed in a black robe, and asked immediately.
"It's settled, Xu Tianran has agreed. Now we can enjoy the Sun Moon Empire's top-tier resources."
Toji took off his hood and breathed a sigh of relief.
With Xu Tianran's help, he will now be able to openly and legitimately contact Illustrious Virtue Hall and discuss business.
While we're at it, let's see if we can recruit some high-level Soul Engineer.
"However, I also disrupted Xu Tianran's cooperation with the Holy Spirit Cult, which should create a rift between them."
"Those three Evil Soul Master brothers were severely injured, they definitely won't swallow this insult, and Xu Tianran will have to take the blame for me then."
Toji laughed and said:
"Let's go, let's get out of the city. If we calculate the time carefully, it should be about right. Let's see if we can still catch up with him."
"Who?"
"The sole survivor of the emperor's entire family massacre, he can be considered a genius in the study of Soul Tool. Although not as good as Huo Yuhao, he is still a top genius after Huo Yuhao."
"We can't touch Huo Yuhao, but we can choose to recruit him."
Toji had barely finished speaking when the commotion around them grew louder and louder.
"Search it now!!"
"They're here, let's go." Toji grabbed Di Qiu'er's hand and led her out of the city smoothly.
Whether it was because of Di Qiu'er or not, they were very lucky. Not long after leaving the city, they encountered a boy of about nine years old who had just escaped from the secret passage.
Toji and Di Qiu'er exchanged a glance, and the latter raised her chin with a hint of smugness:
"How?"
"You're such a lucky little darling, I love you to death." Toji was overjoyed. Ever since Di Qiu'er came with him, everything he did had gone incredibly smoothly.
That's just luck.
Upon hearing Toji's words, Di Qiu'er lowered her head, a slight blush appearing on her pretty face, and whispered, "What are you saying...?"
Toji, not seeing Di Qiu'er's reaction, he quickly said:
"Come on, hurry up and keep up."
Di Qiu'er rolled her eyes as she watched Toji run over quickly.
"That guy... he's a real bastard."
Three days later, at the border of the Heaven Dou Empire.
Toji was speechless as he watched the little boy, who only had Soul Power level of a dozen or so, run all the way from Mingdu to the territory of the Heaven Dou Empire on his own.
Is this some kind of superhuman ability or something?
He was forced to run from the Mingdu of the Sun Moon Empire into the territory of the Heaven Dou Empire. Even though he was Soul Master, he was only at level ten or so.
"They're really resilient."
"Everything illogical can be explained by fate." Di Qiu'er, standing to the side, wasn't surprised. "If fate wants him to come here, it will force him here in a completely illogical way."
"If you don't continue to interfere, he'll be discovered by the teachers at the Shrek Academy, taken in, and become Huo Yuhao's partner, one of the Shrek Seven Devils."
"What a pity."
Toji chuckled.
"Next, he'll have to come and work for me."
"The original Shrek Seven Devils are gone."
When the boy awoke from his unconsciousness, the first thing he heard was the crackling of a campfire.
Then I smelled the aroma of roasted meat.
He instinctively curled up, only to find that his tattered clothes had been replaced with a clean cotton robe, and the wound on his foot was wrapped with a bandage that smelled of medicine.
"Woke up?"
Toji squatted by the campfire, slicing the hind leg meat of some kind of Soul Beast with a dagger in his hand.
The grease from the roasting meat dripped into the fire, sending up tiny sparks.
Di Qiu'er sat obediently cross-legged next to Toji, her golden hair shimmering like molten gold in the firelight, her crimson pupils fixed on the rotating grill in Toji's hands.
"Hey," she suddenly tugged at Toji's sleeve with her greasy hands, "Give me the crispy piece from the hind leg."
Toji rolled her eyes, and precisely sliced off a golden-brown piece of meat with her dagger.
Di Qiu'er grabbed it directly with her hand, refusing to let go even though it was scalding hot and she was panting for breath. When her sharp canine teeth tore open the charred crust, oil splattered onto her nose, and her crimson eyes, reflecting the firelight, immediately narrowed into crescent moons.
Eat slowly, no one's going to steal it.
"What do you know?" Di Qiu'er said indistinctly, her cheeks puffed out. "Well, your cooking is still the same, I never get tired of it, and it even seems to have the scent of your Qi and Blood on it, making me feel..."
At this point, she suddenly stopped, glanced at the awakened boy, and casually changed her words:
"It's just so delicious! I love it, give me more!"
"Okay, okay, bring more." Toji sighed and continued with her work. "Why didn't you come and help? I'm exhausted."
"You're just grilling meat and you're already exhausted? What about all the jobs that will make you even more tired in the future?" Di Qiu'er suddenly said.
Toji turned to look at her. "What job?"
Di Qiu'er silently looked away, not continuing the conversation. It was unclear what she was feeling guilty about, but her face flushed uncontrollably.
However, her exquisite face was completely obscured by the firelight.
"Hey, speak up! I hate it when people only say half of what they mean."
"Guess for yourself."
"I hate people who only say half of what they mean, making others guess." Toji was somewhat annoyed.
The boy huddled beside the tree trunk, his Adam's apple bobbing.
Three days on the run had left him with stomach cramps, but the bloody memory of the massacre still seemed etched on his retina. The man and woman before him were just as dangerous as the masked men in black who had slaughtered his family.
"Come over here when you're awake, and eat something quickly, or you'll starve to death." Toji tossed a water pouch at him without turning her head.
"If I starve to death, all my efforts will have been in vain."
The water bag hit the ground, and the splashed dirt stung the wound.
The boy's pupils contracted sharply, and he immediately stepped back warily, only to find his lower back pressed against cold metal.
That was a level-two handheld cannon brimming with Soul Power, which had somehow ended up within his reach.
"Your Xu He, and you are the current Crown Prince. Unfortunately, you won't be anymore." Toji's words made the boy freeze.
"Your elder brother Xu Tianran, successfully seized the crown prince position that should have been yours, and also massacred your entire family."
"Don't you want revenge?" Toji didn't even look up. " Xu Tianran is after you, but I can help you get your revenge."
Xu He suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse and unlike a child's. "When I become Level 9 Soul Engineer, I will personally stuff Xu Tianran into the barrel of the Soul Cannon and then launch him."
Toji paused in his cutting of the roasted meat, then suddenly burst into laughter.
"Just you alone?"
Xu He paused for a moment, then stared at Toji for a long time before saying in a deep voice:
Are you willing to help me?
"I can help you, but what benefits can you bring me?" Toji nodded.
"My life is yours. I'll do whatever you tell me to do," Xu He said through gritted teeth, his eyes burning with hatred for Xu Tianran.
"You're of no value to me now, but who knows what you'll be in the future."
Toji was very satisfied with his attitude, and he tossed Xu He a piece of roast meat:
"Fill your stomach, then come with me, and I'll help you become Level 9 Soul Engineer."
"Thanks..."
"Don't thank me yet. Once I realize that even if you grow stronger, you still can't bring me any more benefit, I'll just kick you out."
I simply gave you a chance, that's all.
After they had eaten and drunk their fill and left, Fan Yu, a teacher from the Soul Tool Department of the Shrek Academy, passed by the place.
But unlike before, he didn't encounter a boy covered in blood.