In an inn in Shrek City, Qian Renxue stared blankly at the boy in the mirror, at a loss for a moment.
The boy in the mirror was eleven or twelve, with slightly messy short black hair and a pair of exceptionally clear, bright golden eyes.
I turned into a man?
Qian Renxue questioned her entire existence. Unwilling to believe it, he reached between his legs. Only then did she snap awake as if from a dream, her face flushing bright red.
She really had turned into a boy.
Even with the composure she had honed over years undercover, she was flustered and unable to calm herself for a long time.
She was merely used to disguising herself as a man. She had no desire to actually become one.
A moment later, Qian Renxue had no choice but to accept reality and examine her current situation.
It was an unfamiliar setting. She was in a small inn.
Then she examined this body.
She sensed fluctuations of Soul Power, roughly around level sixteen or seventeen.
Having only this much Soul Power at eleven or twelve meant poor talent. She had been level twenty as soon as she awakened her Martial Soul.
Qian Renxue released her Martial Soul. A white Soul Ring slowly rose beneath her feet, and a faint golden light shone in her already bright eyes.
Qian Renxue touched her eyes.
Are the eyes the Martial Soul?
She looked at the white Soul Ring beneath her feet, her feelings complicated.
Poor talent and a white First Soul Ring-this had practically sealed the upper limit of this body's future.
Just as Qian Renxue was about to test the Soul Skill, she froze again.
Qian Renxue was bewildered. Qian Renxue was puzzled. Qian Renxue questioned her entire existence.
Why could she sense four Soul Skills from a single white Soul Ring?
Is this still the Douluo Continent?
Qian Renxue tested it several more times before she was certain she had not sensed it wrong. The white Soul Ring really did have four Soul Skills.
Spiritual Detection-it could detect conditions and enemy movements within a hundred-meter radius, covering every direction without a blind spot.
Spiritual Sharing-it could establish a mental connection with others, allowing communication through spiritual power.
Mental Interference-it could slightly disrupt enemies and interrupt their Soul Skills.
Mental Simulation-it could use spiritual power to disguise the user and deceive an enemy's senses. Though not as powerful as her own Soul Bone Skill, it was still highly practical.
Qian Renxue had only one thought. This body is using cheats, right?
We're all on the Douluo Continent, so why can you have as many Soul Skills as you want?
Could a white Soul Ring be the meta?
While Qian Renxue was still wondering whether she was dreaming, someone knocked on the door, and a clear, melodious voice came from outside.
"Yuhao, are you up? It's time to go register at Shrek Academy! If you don't answer, I'm coming in."
The girl's voice carried a cheerful lilt, and before she had finished speaking, the door clicked open.
The girl first leaned in with her upper body. Her long golden hair fell naturally, swaying in the breeze. Her skin was fairer than snow, and her eyes were like clear springs.
She surveyed the room and saw that Qian Renxue was already up. A barely perceptible flicker of disappointment passed through her bright eyes before she brought her entire tall, well-proportioned figure into the room. Her dark green school uniform outlined her youthful figure.
Yuhao? Is that this body's name?
Qian Renxue had caught a useful piece of information. Looking into the girl's eyes, which seemed to hold an entire midsummer, she had a bad feeling.
Years of undercover work had honed her ability to read people's expressions.
The girl before her clearly had an unusual relationship with this body. The look in someone's eyes when they liked a person could not be hidden.
This girl's eyes were plainly filled with the owner of this body.
With a girl like her in front of her, could she really keep up the disguise when she knew absolutely nothing about this body's identity?
And besides-
Just the thought of being all lovey-dovey with another girl made goosebumps rise all over Qian Renxue's body.
The girl was named Jiang Nannan, and she gazed tenderly at the boy before her.
Even now, she still remembered the scene from two years ago, as clear as if it had happened yesterday.
It had been a gloomy morning. Her mother was gravely ill, and she had no way to find medical help. Just as despair took hold and she was preparing to sell herself to the Black Tortoise Sect in exchange for her mother's treatment, Huo Yuhao appeared.
He cured her mother.
That day, the sun shone brightly, and it was as though the long-delayed midsummer had suddenly arrived.
The boy was like a ray of light, filling her despairing life with sunshine from that day on.
Old memories were tucked away in her heart, and a new future between them was still being written.
Smiling, Jiang Nannan looked Qian Renxue up and down and blinked. "Yuhao, you feel a little different today."
Qian Renxue's heart tightened. She laughed it off. "How am I different?"
Jiang Nannan tilted her head. "You seem kind of dazed, like you've gotten a lot dumber."
The corner of Qian Renxue's mouth twitched, and she nearly lost her composure.
Seeing Qian Renxue's expression, Jiang Nannan's lips curved upward, and her pretty eyes bent into crescents. "All right, maybe I was wrong. Yuhao, you've always been smart!"
The girl walked over to Qian Renxue, linked arms with her, and pulled her outside.
"Come on, it's time to register!"
Feeling the girl's soft body, Qian Renxue went stiff all over and let herself be pulled along with the current.
After they left the inn, Jiang Nannan glanced sideways at Qian Renxue and could not help saying, "But Yuhao, you really are dazed today. Before, whenever I teased you like that, you'd always tease me back."
Qian Renxue forced a smile. "Maybe I didn't sleep well last night."
Concerned, Jiang Nannan checked on Qian Renxue as they hurried along.
It was the first day of the school year at Shrek Academy, and Shrek City was especially lively, with people coming and going in the streets.
Looking at this unfamiliar yet somehow familiar city, Qian Renxue could not help frowning.
She was certain there was no such city on the Douluo Continent.
Along the way, she also spotted Soul Tools from time to time, things she had never seen before.
It was as if an entire era separated her from this city.
Where on earth was she?
Qian Renxue felt lost.
Shrek Academy lay east of Shrek City and had a city gate all to itself.
To reach Shrek Academy from Shrek City, one first had to leave the city and go halfway around it to reach the academy's gates.
After leaving the city gate, Qian Renxue glanced back at Shrek City. A flash of inspiration suddenly struck her, and she spoke without thinking, her voice full of shock and disbelief.
"Is this Spirit City?"
That was right. Although the scenery before her had long since changed, she could never mistake it. This was Spirit City, the place she remembered.
But at the same time, countless more questions and an indescribable unease arose in her heart.
"Spirit City?"
Hearing this, Jiang Nannan also looked back at Shrek City. She tilted her head and gave Qian Renxue a couple of puzzled looks. "Shrek City really was rebuilt on the ruins of Spirit City."
Ruins...
Qian Renxue turned the word over and over in her mind.
So, was Spirit Hall destroyed in the end? Have I come to a later age?
For a moment, she had too many questions.
How was Spirit Hall destroyed?
In my era, even if I disappeared unexpectedly, with my grandfather, a Limit Douluo, there, and that woman too-
Spirit Hall should have been safe and sound.
So, were the later generations unworthy?
Probably.
I disappeared and came to a later age, breaking the line of succession for the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul. Surely Grandfather couldn't have made an old tree blossom anew for that?
In that case, although the other angel martial souls were powerful, they could not crush the other factions on the continent. It was understandable that Spirit Hall had been destroyed.
At that thought, Qian Renxue made a decision. If she could still return, she would make sure to urge her grandfather to train up another alt. Even if it meant ending up with a whole crowd of step-grandmothers over her head, she would ensure the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul's inheritance continued unbroken.
This was for Spirit Hall's future!