Her hand continued to caress the sleeping dog, her tone indifferent as she replied,"But it was still within your calculations, Renxue."
A faint smile curved her lips.
"So," Julia continued, finally lifting her gaze, "how long are you going to roam around pretending to be me?"
The girl opposite her paused.
For a brief instant, the smile on her face twisted, as if pulled apart by invisible threads.
Qian Renxue's Sixth Soul Skill: Disguise faded away like peeling paint.
Golden hair lengthened and shimmered with divine brilliance. Her facial features sharpened into a beauty that seemed almost unreal—one that could cause men to lose reason and women to falter in envy with a single glance.
Yet the moment her true appearance emerged, she activated another layer.
Her Sixth Soul Skill: Illusion enveloped her once more, blurring her presence, dulling the sharp edges of her divinity, ensuring that no passerby would remember her face clearly even if they looked straight at her.
She glanced back at Julia and replied lightly,"What do you mean pretending to be you?"
Her lips curved upward.
"You are me."
Julia did not refute her, nor did she agree.
She simply watched in silence, her purple eyes calm and unreadable, waiting.
Qian Renxue turned away, her steps light as she began to walk off.
"Anyway," she said casually, her voice trailing behind her,"the reason I came here has already been fulfilled."
She paused for half a breath.
"Now," she added, "I only need to wait for the results."
Julia raised an eyebrow slightly as she watched Qian Renxue's figure fade into the distance, the illusion blurring her outline until she became indistinguishable from the crowd.
The sleeping dog stirred, then settled once more.
---
After walking for a long while, Qian Renxue arrived at a quiet lake on the outskirts of Spirit City.
The sun was sinking toward the horizon, dyeing the sky in hues of gold and crimson. The surface of the lake mirrored the heavens perfectly, as if the world above and below had momentarily overlapped.
She stopped at the water's edge.
A soft sigh escaped her lips.
"So many wishes left unfulfilled…" she murmured."…only four years left."
Before the seal of God Almighty will be rendered useless, she raised her hand and dismissed her illusion.
The reflection staring back at her was flawless.
Golden hair framed a face of divine symmetry, purple eyes shimmering with intelligence, authority, and something far deeper—something that did not belong to this world.
Yet beneath that perfection, the murmurs began and the Faint whispers.
Indistinct voices layered atop one another, crawling along the edges of her consciousness like insects beneath skin. A familiar distortion followed, subtle yet ever-present, as if reality itself bent slightly in her vicinity.
Qian Renxue leaned closer to the water, gazing into her own eyes.
Her voice dropped to a whisper, as if afraid the world might answer.
"Can I… bring light to this world?"
The surface of the lake trembled.
In the reflection—
Half of her face distorted.
The smooth skin rippled like liquid glass, and from beneath it, endless eyes emerged—some ancient, some curious, some cold, some filled with unfathomable intent.
They blinked hand stared outward, greedily drinking in the sight of the world beyond the water's surface.
Qian Renxue did not recoil.
She watched silently.
Her expression neither fearful nor reverent—only contemplative.
As if asking not the eyes—But herself.
----
Shrek Academy
The early morning when the sun had not risen up fully everything was quiet.
Inside the crude wooden dormitory, moonlight filtered through the gaps in the planks, falling in pale streaks across the floor. The air carried the faint scent of damp wood .
Sitting cross-legged on his bed, Tang San slowly opened his eyes as his soul power completed another full circulation through his meridians.
A faint ripple of energy dispersed around him before settling back into stillness.
'It's time', he thought calmly.'Oscar should reach Level 30 within the next few days.'
He turned his head and glanced toward the other bed.
Oscar sat in meditation, his face slightly flushed, sweat beading on his forehead as soul power surged rhythmically through his body. His brows were tightly furrowed, clearly standing at the threshold of a breakthrough.
Tang San withdrew his gaze.
'The next soul ring is crucial to me.'
His fingers unconsciously tightened.
'That moment… was when I obtained the External Soul Bone—Eight Spider Lances.'
Those black, blade-like appendages had once been a nightmare to his enemies and a cornerstone of his combat system. Even after ascending to godhood, Tang San had never discarded them—they had simply evolved alongside him.
'Without the Eight Spider Lances, my early combat strength will drop by at least thirty percent.'
His eyes darkened slightly.
'Man-Faced Demon Spider…'
An image surfaced in his mind: a grotesque, eight-legged creature with crimson markings and a murderous aura.
'You're an evil soul beast,' Tang San told himself coldly. Being hunted by me is a kind of salvation.'
The thought carried no guilt.
Tang San had deliberately concealed the fact that he had already reached Level 30. He had not reported it to Flender.
'According to the information I know, The Man-Faced Demon Spider doesn't stay in one place', he reasoned.' If I go with the academy's hunting party earlier, the probability of encountering it will be too low.'
As the sun had started to rise and the day was beginning , Tang San rose from his bed. He quietly pushed open the creaking door, stepping out to get cool morning air. He splashed water over his face at the basin outside, the chill sharpening his thoughts.
He straightened his clothes, his expression once again calm and gentle.
Then he turned and headed toward Xiao Wu's dormitory to wake her up.