"Brother Sky Dream, do you have any abilities that can control people?"
At Su Mo's question, Tian Meng immediately rolled his eyes.
"No! I'm a respectable soul beast. I don't dabble in those crooked tricks. Why are you asking? Planning to bring that little girl under your thumb?"
"That's the idea." Su Mo didn't deny it.
"Actually, the illusions from those eyes of yours should work, right? Plant an illusion in her, then use Emotion Control to amplify her fear."
As a spiritual-type soul beast, Tian Meng certainly had plenty of authority on the subject.
Su Mo nodded repeatedly as he listened.
He hadn't expected Illusion Eyes and Emotion Control to work together.
Lesson learned, lesson learned.
Although the effects of both abilities were only temporary, incapable of permanently controlling someone's emotions or changing their thoughts.
Once a seed was planted, however, it would sprout on its own.
After asking Tian Meng to remove the spiritual barrier, Su Mo walked up to Xiao Wu. She shrank back, her eyes filled with despair.
I'm going to die, I'm going to die...
Won't someone save this poor, weak, helpless little bunny?
"Xiao Wu, right? My name's Su Mo. Want to live? I can give you a chance."
As he spoke, Su Mo conjured a black pill with an illusion and held it out to Xiao Wu. "This is One-Day Death Powder. Once you take it, if you go a single day without seeing me, the poison will kill you. If you don't believe me, you're welcome to try running away."
Whoosh!
Without the slightest hesitation, Xiao Wu grabbed the pill and swallowed it.
She could still tell the difference between an immediate execution and a suspended death sentence.
She didn't want to die yet!
She still had to avenge her mother!
Even Su Mo was startled by the little girl's decisiveness.
After dispelling the illusion, he followed Tian Meng's instructions and used Emotion Control on her, amplifying the strange sensation she had felt when taking the pill until she truly believed she had swallowed some lethal poison.
Only then did he amplify her fear of One-Day Death Powder.
Sure enough, fear surfaced on Xiao Wu's pale face, while a trace of helpless resignation appeared in her eyes.
"That seals it." Tian Meng's smug voice sounded in his mind.
"One more step." Su Mo replied to Tian Meng, then reached out and pulled Xiao Wu to her feet under Tian Meng's puzzled gaze.
"Now that you've taken my medicine, you belong to me. I'm fair about rewards and punishments. Since you took it so readily, I can help conceal your soul beast aura."
He really does know!
Xiao Wu's pupils abruptly contracted, then regained their clarity a moment later as she thanked him repeatedly.
"All right, wait here for now."
Su Mo waved a hand, concealed his aura to make himself appear to be a rank-ten Soul Scholar, and vanished from the pocket dimension in a flash.
Inside his mind, Tian Meng couldn't help grumbling, "Why are you copying the way I talk? And since when did you suddenly become so kindhearted?"
Su Mo returned to his little house in the village and activated Spiritual Detection, scanning the surroundings. Only after confirming that no one was nearby did he explain, "It's called giving someone a sweet date after hitting them with a stick. It's a way of handling people that we humans developed over thousands of years."
"Does it actually do anything?" Tian Meng still didn't understand.
"The stick and the sweet date are essentially kindness and intimidation working together. The sweet date tells them they'll benefit from doing this, while the stick tells them they'll pay a price for doing that."
Su Mo left his house and headed toward Tang San's home.
Meanwhile, he continued explaining to Tian Meng, "Humans are creatures who seek benefits and avoid harm. Combining the stick and the sweet date makes people instinctively choose the safer, more stable, and more rewarding path."
Tian Meng fell silent for a moment, then muttered, "But Xiao Wu isn't human."
Su Mo: "..."
"Xiao Wu has already taken human form, so she'll unconsciously develop human ways of thinking. You, on the other hand, really aren't human. You know, only a soul beast with no sense of timing would nitpick right now."
Tian Meng: "???"
Soon, Su Mo arrived outside Tang San's home. Through the fence, he saw Tang San hard at work forging iron, hammering blow after blow. His heavily patched shirt was already soaked with sweat.
It was Tian Meng's first time seeing Tang San from inside the Sea of Consciousness, and his expression was rather complicated.
He really couldn't muster any fondness for the way Tang San had trained someone like a dog, but calling it disgust would have been going too far.
After all, little Yuhao himself hadn't said anything.
What right did Tian Meng have to take up the cudgels on his behalf?
"Yo, little San! Forging iron again?"
Slip!
Tang San's hand trembled, and he nearly lost his grip on the hammer.
Every day! He asks every single day!
It's always the same line. Can't he find another way to start a conversation?
So annoying!
Yet by the time Tang San turned around, a faint smile had already settled on his face, and he gave a polite, bashful "Mm."
For the sake of Grandpa Jack, who often brings us food, I'll put up with it.
Meanwhile, Su Mo discreetly used Spiritual Detection to scan Tang San's house inside and out. Once he confirmed that Tang Hao wasn't home, he struck up an idle conversation with Tang San.
In reality, he quietly used Spiritual Simulation to conceal his soul power fluctuations and anything unusual.
Then he summoned his Sharingan martial soul. The two tomoe in his right eye slowly rotated as he marked Tang San, before extending his spiritual power into the Frog House to mark Xiao Wu as well.
Next, he used Sacrifice the Plum to Save the Peach on the two of them.
He transferred every trace of Xiao Wu's soul beast aura onto Tang San.
Since the soul beast aura counted as a negative effect, Tang San was the one who suffered. Thus, he began to resent Xiao Wu before he had even met her.
Huh, does this count as breaking them up in a roundabout way? Su Mo wondered.
But now that he had achieved his goal, Su Mo didn't linger. All that remained was to wait for Tang Hao to come home and get the shock of his life.
Heh heh heh...
After bidding Tang San farewell, Su Mo headed out of the village.
Having dealt with Xiao Wu's soul beast aura, his next step was naturally to arrange an identity she could use openly.
He summoned Xiao Wu in a deserted spot outside the village, then brought her back in plain sight.
That made her presence official.
"Um... Big Brother, where are we?" Still a little frightened, Xiao Wu asked timidly.
"This is the village where I grew up. It's called Holy Soul Village."
"Are we going to your house next?"
Seeing that Su Mo seemed fairly easy to talk to, Xiao Wu grew a little bolder.
"No rush. We'll go to the village chief's house first and get you a martial soul certificate, and ask for a work-study student spot while we're at it."
"Oh, okay." Xiao Wu nodded.
She wanted to ask about her soul beast aura, but was afraid someone might overhear.
Noticing the little look of hesitation on Xiao Wu's face, Su Mo didn't keep her in suspense. "It's already taken care of. You can live without worrying from now on."
At his words, Xiao Wu's eyes lit up, sparkling like stars in the night sky.
Even Su Mo stared in a brief daze.
"Yo, little Jerry! Whose girl is that beside you? What a pretty little thing."
A woman carrying a basket came around the corner. Seeing a lovely little girl following beside Su Mo, she couldn't help growing curious.
"I picked her up outside. She's my little sister now."
Su Mo answered casually, though something about that "yo" grated on his ears.
"Picked her up? My, my, where can you pick up such a pretty girl? You didn't abduct her, did you?"
Su Mo: "..."
Where did this prophet come from? Drag her out and slay her.