Refusal & Apology

Zhou You likewise understood why they had come to him for help.

By now, almost everyone in the academy knew Yan had accepted him as his boss. If Zhou You was willing to speak up, Yan would naturally give him face.

As long as Yan agreed, the Soul Saint leading the team probably wouldn't refuse either. When Zhou You had wanted to add himself to the Soul Hunting team, all it had taken was a word from Liu Suxin.

As for why they hadn't gone directly to Yan?

The answer was simple and frustrating: Yan looked down on them.

Although the boy acted very humble in front of Zhou You, he was proud to the bone and difficult to approach.

Back then, She Long had told Zhou You that taking a Titled Douluo as his teacher would bring many hidden benefits. Now those benefits were beginning to show.

He thought that Liu Suxin's willingness to indulge him probably wasn't just because he was enough of a "genius." His connection to She Long was also an important reason.

But this privilege wasn't unlimited, and he couldn't squander it at will.

Zhou You could exercise this privilege to satisfy his own needs, but why should he share it with others?

Surely he couldn't agree to every demand just because someone called him "boss," could he?

So after hearing Sun Chuantao out, his expression remained calm.

"Sorry, I can't help you."

The hot-tempered Li Kai sprang to his feet, his mouth opening to say something, but Xu Yu had seen it coming. He clapped a hand over Li Kai's mouth and forced him firmly back into his seat.

Sun Chuantao went rigid, his expression turning somewhat awkward.

He had considered that Zhou You might refuse, but he hadn't expected him to refuse so quickly and so decisively.

Generally speaking, shouldn't a child of his age be walking on air after being flattered by his peers, then thump his chest and promise to take care of everything? Besides, they were all quite a bit older than Zhou You.

Sun Chuantao figured that if he himself were fawned over like that, he would easily get carried away and agree to someone else's request.

After all, this was no trouble at all for Zhou You. All he had to do was open his mouth.

Was it because Li Kai had made a move?

Sun Chuantao felt he might have found the reason and silently cursed the boy for ruining things.

Zhang Ping, sitting beside him, was a little disappointed at first, but she soon breathed a sigh of relief, as though a burden had been lifted.

She hadn't really approved of Sun Chuantao and the others trying to hoodwink Zhou You this way in the first place. That was right, hoodwink him.

Of the four, Sun Chuantao was the oldest at twelve, Li Kai and Xu Yu were eleven, and she was ten. All of them were quite a bit older than Zhou You, so how could they sincerely accept him as their boss?

They had merely wanted to exploit a child's vanity, planning to butter him up first and then gloss over the matter once they got what they wanted.

To put it bluntly, they were taking advantage of Zhou You's youth and his ignorance of such twists and turns, hoping to use his privileges to get things done for themselves.

It was rather underhanded, really, which was also why Li Kai said one thing but showed little respect in his actions or attitude.

He hadn't been sincere in the first place, so of course he could say those things without a burden on his conscience.

Although Zhou You really was strong, even stronger than Xie Yue, competition between Soul Masters wasn't decided by a single victory or defeat.

Xie Yue now had a strong spirit of "revenge" and had been silently working hard at his cultivation.

Everyone had seen how desperately he had pushed himself lately. Compared with Zhou You, that deus ex machina of a genius, they were more inclined to believe that Xie Yue might one day wash away his humiliation and reclaim the position that belonged to him.

The main reason was that Zhou You's recent behavior had been hard to understand. Aside from his two matches upon entering the academy, no one had seen him appear in the arena again. Instead, people often saw him making trips to the library and the Angel Holy Church.

In many people's eyes, that was "neglecting his proper duties." Instead of working hard at cultivation and actively participating in combat training, he was burying himself in books and worshipping gods. Could that improve his strength?

That was also why some people who had wanted to get close to him after seeing him decisively defeat Xie Yue and Yan had recently begun quietly keeping their distance again, returning to a wait-and-see stance.

Competition in the elite class was fierce. Every student close to the elimination threshold was trying every possible way to climb higher. No matter what methods they used, the academy's instructors generally wouldn't interfere as long as they didn't cross the line.

So almost every student was doing everything possible to improve.

Under these circumstances, Zhou You's leisurely behavior made onlookers shake their heads again and again, convinced that he was wasting his talent.

After a moment's silence, Sun Chuantao spoke again. "Is there no room for accommodation? Li Kai does have a bit of a foul mouth, and he's somewhat impulsive, but he wasn't deliberately targeting you."

Behind him, Li Kai, still firmly restrained by Xu Yu, seemed to realize something and nodded repeatedly, as though saying Sun Chuantao was right.

The sight made Zhou You want to laugh, but he still shook his head firmly. "I'm not refusing you because he offended me."

"Then why?" Sun Chuantao sounded a little anxious. "This would take hardly any effort for you, but it really is important to Xiao Ping."

Unmoved, Zhou You merely said calmly, "I'm refusing you because you're not sincere."

"Your claim that you want to accept me as your 'boss' is false, and your claim that you want to be my friends is false too." Zhou You laid bare the cold calculations in their hearts.

"You just want to use me. And after you've used me? I imagine you'd probably keep up appearances. We are classmates, after all, bound to run into each other sooner or later. But I don't think there'd be anything more than that."

Seeing Sun Chuantao fall silent, Zhou You turned to Zhang Ping. "I was willing to hear them out because you had at least a tiny bit of sincerity, unlike them."

"But when it comes down to it, you're not really that different. Whatever you thought in your heart, objectively speaking, you were their accomplice in this. You're a little better, perhaps, but not by much."

Zhang Ping's face had gone deathly pale. She pressed her lips tightly together, unable to say a word in rebuttal.

"This would take hardly any effort for me, but I'm under no obligation to do anything for you." Zhou You's words rang with conviction.

"You don't respect me. Even if we really were friends, that 'friendship' would be based on self-interest, and I don't think it's worth exercising my privilege for."

Sun Chuantao's shoulders sagged, and only a dejected expression remained on his face.

He knew he had screwed up.

Zhang Ping's eyes reddened slightly, and she lowered her head so no one would see.

Xu Yu held Li Kai down even harder, his jaw muscles straining. If he relaxed his grip even a little, that idiot could make things even worse.

The four of them knew that if Zhou You was unwilling, they had no way to force him. Whether in background or strength, they were inferior to Zhou You. Otherwise, why would they have come here acting like groveling grandsons?

In the entire elite class, he belonged to the same circle as Xie Yue and the others, one of the true "Celestial Dragons."

They had originally agreed beforehand that as long as Zhou You was willing to help, they would even be willing to serve as his followers for a time, satisfying his vanity until Zhang Ping hunted down a Sonic Bird.

They had convinced themselves it was only a temporary expedient.

Now that Zhou You had exposed their scheme, all four were left feeling embarrassed, unable to say anything else.

Seeing this, Zhou You shook his head and suddenly felt a little bored.

The schemes of these few could be said to be a microcosm of Soul Master society as a whole. In the struggle for resources to advance, deception and backstabbing were the norm. Even blood relatives could become mortal enemies.

Take the Dai Family and Zhu Family of the Star Luo Empire, for example. They actually raised gu within their own families. Dai Weisi and Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuyun and Zhu Zhuqing, were several years apart in age, and there were also considerable gaps in their cultivation. Under normal circumstances, the younger ones couldn't possibly defeat the older ones.

What use was that system of raising gu, then? It could only be called raising gu when the contestants were evenly matched. When the gap was that huge, it was called murder. If they were going to do that, they might as well have drowned the two younger ones at birth and been done with it. Why go to all that fucking trouble...

There was no way the old farts of the Dai Family and Zhu Family could have foreseen that these two unlucky children would later meet Tang San and be carried to greatness by the Son of Destiny, so what was the point of doing it?

Was it to make Dai Weisi and Zhu Zhuyun kill their own kin with their own hands and use that to erase their humanity?

Zhou You no longer wanted to stay, so he got up and prepared to leave.

"Please wait." Just then, Sun Chuantao suddenly spoke up. He raised his head and looked at Zhou You with a resolute gaze.

He stood up and faced Zhou You.

Then Sun Chuantao did something unexpected. He bent forward, bowing to Zhou You at almost ninety degrees.

"I apologize to you for my arrogance and that of my friends."