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Faced with her deflection, Bai Chen gave a casual flick of his tail and said lightly:
"Alright, don't overthink it. From here on you're my partner — strengthening your abilities is the same as strengthening mine."
Yuan En Yeehui instinctively pushed back:
"Didn't Uncle Zang say so? We're not necessarily partners going forward — it depends on how the trial period goes and whether both of us agree."
"Oh?" Bai Chen tilted his head slightly, smiling. "I'm perfectly happy to keep working with you. What about you — are you saying you're not willing?"
"I..."
Faced with that open, utterly guileless smile, Yuan En Yeehui froze.
A warmth welled up from somewhere deep inside her. Ever since her mother's suicide and her father's ruin, it had been a very long time since she had felt anything like this.
Her entire family had been persecuting her, convinced they were a cursed household. Even at Shrek Academy, her peers had all looked at her with pitying, wary eyes the moment they learned about her second martial soul — instinctively wanting to keep their distance.
That was only natural. In the soul master world, it was common understanding that one should keep away from anyone with an evil martial soul. Even Yun Meng, who held absolute authority at Shrek Academy, couldn't possibly punish children simply for being afraid of her.
And as for the adults who looked at her with sympathy — she held no expectations of them either.
People wore masks. Her grandfather had once been so kind and loving toward her — and yet it was that same warm, gentle grandfather who had driven her mother to her death.
She would never trust these so-called powerful soul masters again. In her eyes, they were no different from her grandfather's accomplices.
Yuan En Yeehui was still young, after all. Faced with a sudden catastrophe, she couldn't process it with calm rationality — she could only instinctively come to resent everything around her, and shut out everything around her.
Perhaps when she was older, she would be able to see how childish her younger self had been. But she wasn't there yet. For now, this extreme self-isolation was the only way she knew how to protect herself.
So when Zang Xin had told her he was going to introduce her to a partner, she honestly hadn't cared much.
Whatever. Everyone was the same anyway — the moment they found out about her martial soul, they would pull away.
But in this moment, Yuan En Yeehui suddenly realized with a start just how close she was to being accepted.
Others might not accept her — but this person standing in front of her...
If it was him — someone who also carried an evil martial soul, and yet could smile so openly and brightly...
"I..."
Yuan En Yeehui opened her mouth, wanting to say something.
She couldn't let her guard down entirely yet. He still didn't know what her second martial soul was — she had to tell him that first.
But the words simply wouldn't come out right.
"I..."
She was scared. Genuinely scared.
What if everything he had said before was just a performance? What if he claimed he would never look down on someone for having an evil martial soul — but then turned around and discriminated against hers?
It was precisely because she had stopped expecting anything that she hadn't cared about being pushed away. But now that the possibility of acceptance had reappeared before her, the fear of being rejected had come rushing back.
She tried again and again to say the words, but couldn't overcome the terror lodged in her chest. Just as Yuan En Yeehui was on the verge of giving up entirely, a hand suddenly came to rest on her shoulder.
She looked up — and saw that gradually familiar smile.
"Hey, relax. Say whatever's on your mind. We're friends, aren't we?"
"..."
For some reason, looking at his smile, Yuan En Yeehui suddenly felt as though saying the words might not be so terrifying after all.
She took a deep breath, and asked like someone making a quiet prayer:
"My second martial soul is the Fallen Angel — just like yours, it's an evil martial soul. Even so, are you still willing to be my part... my friend?"
"Of course."
To that question, Bai Chen answered with his same sunny smile — giving her the response she had wanted most in her heart.
"I told you — I look at the person, not the martial soul. Since you're not a bad person, I have every reason in the world to be your friend."
"Thank... you..."
In that instant, Yuan En Yeehui felt as though all the strength had been drained from her body at once. Her legs went slightly weak beneath her.
After a full year, she had finally recovered a small piece of what it used to feel like.
Bai Chen said gently:
"Alright, hurry up and absorb this spirit energy while you can. As you've seen, I'm quite strong — if you're going to be my partner, you can't afford to hold me back."
"...Understood."
Hearing those words, the resolution returned to Yuan En Yeehui's eyes. She gave a firm nod, accepted the spirit energy Bai Chen passed over to her, and began absorbing it without delay.
Bai Chen watched her warmly, quietly exhaling in his heart.
In the time he had spent with her, he had already sensed something of why Zang Xin had placed her in his care.
He had no objection to it. Helping a child work through psychological wounds was something he had done many times in his previous life.
In this way, his mission could be considered satisfactorily complete.
He hadn't let that person's guidance go to waste.
Bai Chen silently offered a word of thanks to his mentor from his past life, then stood where he was and waited for Yuan En Yeehui to finish absorbing the spirit energy.
Outside the Spirit Ascension Platform, in the room where Bai Chen and Yuan En Yeehui's bodies lay, Zang Xin watched the two of them interacting on the screen and nodded with quiet satisfaction.
"Didn't expect things to move along this quickly. Entrusting her to this kid really was the right call."
As he said this, he pulled out his soul guidance communicator and dialed a number.
"Hey, Yun Meng? Yeah. Things are developing smoothly — those two kids are getting along well. You can rest easy leaving her in my hands."
After ending the call, Zang Xin let out a long breath and returned his attention to the large screen before him.