By the time Xiao Se and Qian Renxue emerged from the Great Soul Arena, the first round of the preliminary stage had concluded. The crowd was flowing outward through the exits in the unhurried mass movement of people who have witnessed something eventful and are still processing it.
Not far from the exit, they found themselves face to face with Ning Fengzhi and the Shrek Academy team.
Ning Rongrong spotted them first. Her gaze swept across the two figures, landed on Xiao Se, and her heart did something quick and involuntary that she decided not to examine too closely. She leaned toward her father and murmured a few words.
Ning Fengzhi's expression shifted — a flash of genuine surprise, contained immediately behind a smile as he looked toward Xiao Se and inclined his head in greeting.
The rest of the Shrek Academy team followed the direction of Ning Rongrong and Ning Fengzhi's gaze, and the reactions that followed were a study in variety.
Tai Long, Huang Yuan, Jiang Zhu, and Jing Ling — none of whom had a prior acquaintance with Xiao Se — looked at an unfamiliar young man and registered only that Ning Fengzhi was treating him as someone worth greeting.
Dai Mubai stiffened slightly, a complicated expression moving across his face.
Ma Hongjun's eyes widened.
Tang San went still in the particular way of someone whose composure is holding by choice rather than by absence of feeling. The front teeth that Xiao Se had knocked out two years ago had grown back, eventually, but the memory of losing them — and everything else that had gone wrong in that encounter — had not softened with time. If anything, it had sharpened into something harder. The resentment was as present as ever, clean and maintained like a blade that gets regular attention.
Xiao Wu, operating on the instinct that came with being a hundred-thousand-year soul beast in a human body, moved behind Tang San with the quiet efficiency of an animal that has correctly identified something in its environment and is putting appropriate distance between itself and that thing.
Oscar looked at Xiao Se, looked at the middle distance, looked at his own hands, and announced to no one and nothing in particular: "You didn't see me. I'm not here. This isn't happening."
Qian Renxue glanced at the Shrek contingent with the practiced assessment of someone who catalogues situations quickly. "Dad," she said, her voice low enough for only Xiao Se to catch, "Tang San genuinely hates you. Should we deal with him?"
Xiao Se shook his head. "That would be over too fast. The Soul Master Competition finals will be a much better venue." He was already moving toward Ning Fengzhi. "Come on — let's go say hello to the Sect Master."
They crossed the distance together, and greetings were exchanged with the easy formality of people who have met before and are operating in public.
"Teacher." Qian Renxue bowed slightly in Ning Fengzhi's direction.
"Sect Master Ning," Xiao Se said.
"Qinghe, no formalities needed." Ning Fengzhi's smile was warm, but his eyes, when they settled on Xiao Se, had the quality of someone who has been thinking about a conversation and is now having it. "Young friend Xiao Se — it's been nearly two years. Didn't Miss Little Fairy Doctor and Miss Zhu Qing come with you?"
"They're in seclusion," Xiao Se said.
"A pity." Ning Fengzhi's expression carried genuine regret, but the pleasant efficiency of a man who has a purpose and is arriving at it. "In that case, I would be honored if Qinghe and young friend Xiao Se would allow me to host you both for dinner this evening. A small banquet — nothing elaborate. Would you do me the honor?"
There was something in Ning Fengzhi's manner toward Xiao Se that had shifted from the collegial warmth he extended toward the Shrek Academy members — something more measured, more deliberate. The particular courtesy a person extends when they are speaking to someone whose strength they have assessed and found to be in an entirely different category from what they expected.
Xiao Se and Qian Renxue exchanged a brief, wordless consultation.
"Then Brother Xiao Se and I will respectfully accept your invitation, Teacher," Qian Renxue said.
Ning Fengzhi's smile deepened. He turned to the gathered Shrek students, who had been watching all of this with the wide-eyed attention of people trying to understand the relative positioning of unfamiliar important people.
"Let me make introductions," he said pleasantly. "This is Xue Qinghe, Crown Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire. And this—" his gaze moved to Xiao Se "—is Xiao Se. A remarkable talent. Sixteen years old, and already at the Soul Emperor level."
The Crown Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire.
Several Shrek students arrived at that realization with expressions of visible shock — a beat of silence, followed by the hasty, slightly panicked bow of people who realize they have been standing in front of royalty without the proper awareness. The Shrek Academy team assembled itself into respectful postures with varying degrees of grace.
The Soul Emperor revelation landed a beat later.
And that one was worse.
Sixteen years old. Soul Emperor. Several Shrek students did the math involuntarily, compared the result against Tang San — the person they had silently benchmarked as the ceiling of talent in their generation — and found that the comparison produced an uncomfortable result. The subsequent bowing was faster, more earnest.
Tang San and Xiao Wu bowed toward Qian Renxue. Only toward Qian Renxue.
Qian Renxue smiled with the warmth of someone who has won a roomful of people over without particularly trying. "No need to stand on ceremony — I'm not the Crown Prince right now, just Rongrong's older brother for the evening. Treat me accordingly."
The effect of this was immediate and positive. Several Shrek students visibly relaxed. The inaccessible royal figure had just declined to be inaccessible.
Even Tang San — who maintained a careful, cold distance from Xiao Se that he had no intention of reducing — found himself looking at Qian Renxue with something that was, against his better judgment, close to respect. That kind of magnanimity was not something he encountered often.
"Crown Prince Brother—" Ning Rongrong, who had been waiting for her moment with the patience of someone who has a question burning a hole in their composure, leaned forward with her most luminous smile. "Will Xiao Se be competing in the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament?"
The question had a ripple effect. Several Shrek students found themselves suddenly very interested in the answer. The tournament champion received three soul bones. If Xiao Se was competing—
"That depends on Brother Xiao Se," Qian Renxue said, turning to him.
"Not interested," Xiao Se said simply.
A flash of disappointment crossed Ning Rongrong's face before she assembled it back into its usual bright expression. Beside her, Ning Fengzhi, watching his daughter, thought something quiet and private and smiled slightly to himself.
The crowd around the arena exit was thickening as more people poured out. Ning Fengzhi made the practical assessment quickly.
"Shrek students — I'm very glad to have met such talented young people today. Safe travels back to the academy." He paused, with the deliberateness of someone issuing specific instructions. "Rongrong — you can come along with us a bit later."
Ning Rongrong's eyes lit up in a way that was not at all subtle. Her father was bringing her along. Her father was bringing her along to the dinner where Xiao Se would be. She arranged her expression into something more composed and less transparent with moderate success.
The other Shrek members said their goodbyes and peeled away. The remaining group — Ning Fengzhi, Xiao Se, Qian Renxue, Ning Rongrong — made their way into Heaven Dou City and toward Emperor Street, the city's most prestigious commercial avenue.
The Seven Treasures Hotel occupied one of the prime positions on Emperor Street — a building that wore the confidence of an establishment that had never needed to advertise its quality, the architecture and materials doing the work silently. They were led upstairs to a private room on the second floor, where the table had already been set with the unhurried precision of staff who had been notified in advance.
"This is the Qibao Hotel," Ning Fengzhi said, once they were seated and tea had been poured. His tone had the particular ease of a host who is proud of what he's offering without needing to perform that pride. "One of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School's properties. The kitchen is respectable — not the most elaborate in Heaven Dou City, but I'm comfortable vouching for it. I hope it serves adequately for His Highness and Brother Xiao Se."
"Teacher, you're being far too modest." Qian Renxue's smile was genuine, and her manner with Ning Fengzhi had the warmth of a long-standing relationship. "The entire city knows what this kitchen is capable of. The Imperial Palace's own chefs would have something to say about being compared unfavorably to it."
"Dad," Ning Rongrong interjected, with the slight pout of a daughter who has a procedural objection, "you're calling Brother Xiao Se Brother? Doesn't that make the seniority all confused?"
"In the Douluo Continent, strength sets the terms," Ning Fengzhi said, with the patient amusement of a man who has already thought this through. "With Brother Xiao Se's capabilities, he could handle a Title Douluo without difficulty." He glanced at Xiao Se as he said it, and his tone was even — not flattery, not hypothesis. Assessment.
Ning Rongrong's mouth opened. Closed. "A Title Douluo." She said it at low volume, both hands rising to cover her mouth.
"Sect Master Ning." Xiao Se set down his tea cup. His voice had the easy, direct quality of someone who prefers to skip the preamble. "You're very kind with your praise. Tell me what you actually want to discuss."
Ning Fengzhi nodded once — a small, acknowledging gesture, the expression of a man who has been recognized and is not displeased about it.
"I've heard from Rongrong," he said, his voice dropping into a more serious register, "that Tang San is a body-snatcher. A transmigrated soul in a native body."
"That's correct," Xiao Se said.
"I'd like to understand the mechanics of it, if you're willing." Ning Fengzhi's gaze was steady and genuinely curious — not the curiosity of gossip, but the focused interest of someone who has been sitting with a problem and believes he has found someone who knows more about it than most. "It bears on several things I've been trying to understand. I'm aware it may not be your information to give freely."
"It's not a sensitive matter," Xiao Se said, waving a hand. He leaned back slightly, adopting the relaxed posture of someone settling into a subject. "There is, as it goes, a cycle of reincarnation in this world. When a soul departs the body at death, as long as the soul itself hasn't been destroyed, it enters that cycle. The memories of the previous life are wiped clean, and the soul is reborn fresh — a new body, a new starting point, no continuity of identity." He paused. "Most of the time."
(End of Chapter)
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