The journey from the heart of the Star Dou Great Forest to the borders of human civilization was a quiet affair. For ten days, Huo Yuhao and Jin Xi traveled on foot, their powerful bodies allowing them to move at a pace that would leave any normal traveler breathless. They moved through the dense outer forests and rolling hills like ghosts, their steps silent, their presence barely disturbing the leaves on the ground.
The wilderness that would have been a death trap for the boy who had fled the Duke's mansion months ago was now a tranquil park for the Soul Grandmaster he had become. They hunted for their food with ease, Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection making him an unparalleled tracker, and Jin Xi's raw power capable of felling any wandering Soul Beast that mistook them for easy prey.
But as they drew closer to the first signs of human civilization—a well-trodden road, a distant plume of smoke from a village chimney—a new kind of problem arose.
"We need to do something about your face," Huo Yuhao said one morning, trying very hard to look at the tree beside her rather than directly at her.
Jin Xi, who was elegantly perched on a large rock, combing her waterfall of blonde hair with her fingers, paused. She turned her ruby-red eyes to him, a playful arch to her perfect brow. "Oh? Is something wrong with it? I thought it turned out rather well."
Huo Yuhao's cheeks flushed. "No! I mean, it's… it's too good," he stammered, feeling his ears grow hot. "You'll attract too much attention. Unwanted attention. It will be… troublesome."
She laughed, a sound like a cascade of silver bells. "Are you saying I'm too beautiful, little Yuhao?"
"I'm not little," he muttered defensively, before clearing his throat. "I'm just saying, for the sake of a quiet journey, it might be better if you… covered it."
Jin Xi pouted, a theatrical expression of dismay on her flawless face. "But why should I hide? It's my face. Let them look. It's not as if any of them are worthy of my attention anyway."
"It's not about their worthiness," Huo Yuhao insisted, finally mustering the courage to meet her gaze. "It's about their foolishness. Men can be very foolish and very persistent when they see someone as… as beautiful as you. It will lead to fights, to challenges, to trouble we don't need."
She saw the genuine, earnest worry in his eyes, and her playful demeanor softened. She sighed dramatically. "Fine. You humans and your complicated social rituals. You're right, it would be a complete bore to have to constantly swat away annoying flies."
She pulled a simple, silk veil from the small pack Bi Ji had prepared for her. "I'll wear this," she said, fastening it so it covered the lower half of her face, leaving only her startling ruby eyes visible. "But you should know," she added, leaning closer to him, her voice dropping to a teasing whisper. "I'm only doing this because I don't want attention from any man other than you."
Huo Yuhao's brain short-circuited. He stumbled back a step, completely flustered, which only made her laugh again. Her transformation into a human had not diminished her mischievous, princely spirit in the slightest.
This dynamic continued throughout their journey. During the day, they traveled in a comfortable silence, two partners on a shared mission. But at night, her teasing became a new kind of trial for Huo Yuhao.
On their first night camping under the stars, he had laid out two separate bedrolls on opposite sides of the crackling campfire. He was just about to settle into his own when Jin Xi, with a casual grace, picked up her bedroll and laid it right next to his, their edges touching.
"What… what are you doing?" he asked, his heart starting to beat a little faster.
"It's warmer over here," she stated simply, lying down and making herself comfortable. "Besides, this is how we always slept in the forest. I would curl up next to you to keep you safe. What's the difference now?"
"The difference is… you're… you're a human woman now!" he sputtered. "It's… it's different!"
She turned her head, her veiled face tilted towards him, her ruby eyes gleaming in the firelight. "Am I? Am I still not your partner, your protector? Don't be silly, Yuhao. I'm not going to bite." She paused, a smirk evident in her voice. "Unless you want me to."
He dove into his bedroll and pulled the covers over his head, pretending to be asleep, his entire body rigid with a nervous energy that was completely new to him. He could hear her soft, knowing chuckle from the bedroll beside him. He was a Soul Grandmaster who had faced down Ferocious Beasts, but this beautiful, teasing woman beside him was, in many ways, far more terrifying.
Yet, as the nights passed, he slowly grew accustomed to her presence. He started to see past the breathtaking woman and see the familiar, steady soul of his friend, his partner. He realized she wasn't treating him like a small, flustered boy. She was treating him as an equal, a man, and her teasing was her own strange, unique way of showing affection and closing the new, physical distance between them. The nervousness slowly faded, replaced by a comfortable, quiet intimacy that was more profound than any he had ever known.
After ten days of travel, they crested a final hill, and the city lay before them.
Heaven Dou City.
It was a sprawling leviathan of stone and wood, a testament to a thousand years of human ingenuity and ambition. The sheer scale of it was breathtaking. A great wall, thirty meters high, encircled the city, and within, the rooftops of countless buildings stretched as far as the eye could see. The air hummed with the distant, chaotic symphony of a hundred thousand lives being lived all at once.
Jin Xi, standing beside him, let out a soft gasp. Her veiled face was turned towards the city, her ruby eyes wide with a pure, unadulterated wonder. She had seen glimpses of it in his memories, but to witness it herself… it was something else entirely. The sheer density of life, the ordered chaos, the towering structures—it was a world so alien and so fascinating it stole her breath.
Huo Yuhao's feelings were more complex. He looked at the city, a place he had only ever dreamed of seeing, and felt a strange mixture of excitement and detachment. This was the world he had once longed to be a part of. Now, it felt like a foreign land. His home was a quiet cave by a lake, his family a group of monstrously powerful beasts.
As they joined the long, slow-moving queue of merchants, farmers, and travelers waiting to enter the city gates, he felt a sudden, cold jolt of realization. A practical, mundane detail that, in all his grand planning, he had completely, utterly forgotten.
He turned to Jin Xi, his face pale.
"Xi'er," he whispered, his voice laced with a newfound panic. "We have a problem."
"A problem?" she asked, her attention still captivated by the sight of the city guards in their polished armor. "What is it? A powerful human? A threat?"
"No," he said, his voice dropping even lower. "Worse. We don't have any money."
Jin Xi blinked, her ruby eyes turning from the city to his panicked face. "Money?" The word sounded strange on her tongue.
And then, her mind delved into the well of memories she had absorbed from him. Flashes of coppers, silvers, and gold coins being exchanged for food, for lodging, for goods. The fundamental, inescapable currency of the human world.
"Ah," she said, a look of dawning understanding on her face. "That. The shiny metal circles humans are so fond of. I recall them from your thoughts. They seem… important."
"They're essential!" Huo Yuhao hissed, his mind racing. "We can't get a room at an inn, we can't buy food, we can't even buy a map to the North without money! What are we going to do?" He felt a wave of foolishness wash over him. All his power, all his knowledge, and he was about to be defeated by a lack of loose change.
He wracked his brain. They couldn't steal. They couldn't use their immense power to intimidate people for money; that would draw exactly the kind of attention they were trying to avoid. What could they do? What skill did he possess that was valuable in the human world?
Forging tools required a workshop but he couldn't have access to it readily here without drawing any attention. Alchemy required rare herbs and a controlled environment. But there was one skill… one simple, humble skill that had served him well before. The one that had earned him the initial acceptance of his first friends, Tang Ya and Beibei, and had broken the ice with the Ferocious Beasts.
A slow smile spread across his face. "I have an idea."
The next day, in a bustling market square in one of the outer districts of Heaven Dou City, a new stall appeared. It was simple, rustic, and clearly built by hand from freshly cut wood. A hand-painted sign, written in surprisingly neat characters, hung from the front: "Heavenly Grilled Fish - 10 Copper Coins."
Behind the stall stood a young, handsome boy with deep blue eyes and a quiet, serious demeanor, expertly grilling plump, fresh Green Fish over a charcoal brazier. Beside him, a tall, stunningly beautiful woman with brilliant blonde hair and a veil covering her face assisted, her ruby eyes sparkling with amusement as she handed wrapped fish to the growing line of customers.
Huo Yuhao's plan had been simple. They had left the city, found a nearby river teeming with fish, and he had used his nascent Soul Power to build a small, functional stall. His cooking technique, honed over months of practice, was flawless. The fish were grilled to perfection, the skin crispy and golden, the flesh tender and juicy. But there was something else, an X-factor that made his fish irresistible.
The aroma alone was enough to draw a crowd. The first few curious customers took a bite and were instantly hooked. Word of mouth spread like wildfire. By noon, their stall had the longest queue in the entire market square.
"Another two, please!" a portly merchant called out, wiping grease from his chin. "By the heavens, boy, what do you put in this? It's the best fish I've had in my life!"
"Just a family recipe, sir," Huo Yuhao would reply with a shy, polite smile, his hands a blur as he seasoned, grilled, and served.
Jin Xi, watching the parade of human faces, found the entire experience endlessly fascinating. The way they haggled over vegetables at the next stall, the way children cried for sweets, the way lovers shared a single piece of fruit. It was a chaotic, vibrant, and beautiful tapestry. And she and Yuhao were a part of it, a small, functioning piece of this great human machine.
For the next few days, this became their routine. They would spend their mornings by the river, their afternoons running the wildly successful fish stall, and their evenings exploring the city, their pockets now jingling with a growing collection of coins. They tasted street foods, browsed shops filled with colorful silks and strange trinkets, and listened to storytellers spinning tales in crowded teahouses.
For Jin Xi, it was a wondrous discovery. For Huo Yuhao, it was a gentle, peaceful re-acclimation to a world he had left behind.
It was on their fourth day in the city that she appeared.
The line at the stall was as long as ever. Huo Yuhao was focused on his grill, his senses attuned to the sizzle of the fish.
"One grilled fish, please."
The voice was soft, clear, and pleasant to the ear. Huo Yuhao looked up from his work to see a young woman standing before him. She was perhaps a few years older than him, with a slender, graceful figure. She had long, dark hair tied back in a simple but elegant style with two rabbit ear accessory on top of her head, and a face that could be described as beautifully gentle. She possessed a quiet, almost melancholic grace, but there was an underlying toughness in her dark, intelligent eyes.
Huo Yuhao's mind registered her as just another customer. He smiled politely, wrapped a fresh, hot fish in a lotus leaf, and handed it to her. "That will be ten copper coins, Miss."
She reached into her purse and handed him money for the grilled fish.
And then, he heard one of the people in the line behind her greet her.
"Senior Sister Jiang Nannan! Fancy seeing you here! Is the fish really as good as they say?"
The name hit him like a physical blow.
Jiang Nannan. Martial Soul: Soft-Boned Rabbit.
The words from the book of fate, the guide from his future self, flashed in his mind with perfect clarity. He stared at her, truly seeing her for the first time. The book's description fit perfectly. It had mentioned her, a student at Shrek, a key member of the future generation. It had detailed her abilities, her eventual relationship with a senior named Xu Sanshi…
This was a piece of his old destiny, standing right in front of him, ordering a fish.
A strange, complex wave of emotions washed over him. There was a sense of surreal dislocation, of seeing a character from a story walk into his real life. There was a faint, ghostly echo of a path not taken, a life he could have lived, a group of comrades he could have known.
But there was no longing. There was no regret.
He looked at Jiang Nannan, at her gentle beauty and the quiet strength in her eyes. And he felt… nothing. A polite detachment. She was a stranger. A customer.
His gaze flickered to the side, to where Jin Xi stood, her veiled face turned towards him, her ruby eyes watching him with a quiet, knowing intensity. His real partner was right here. His family was waiting for him in the forest. His path was a new one, forged by his own hands, leading North.
Jiang Nannan paid her coins, took her fish, and gave him a small, polite nod of thanks before disappearing into the crowd.
She was gone. A piece of his past, a ghost of a different timeline, had brushed past him and vanished, leaving no trace.
Huo Yuhao turned back to his grill, the sizzle of the fish a familiar, comforting sound. He felt Jin Xi's hand gently touch his arm, a silent question.
He looked at her and gave her a small, reassuring smile.