Annoyed Gu Yue

"Teacher Wu...?"

Tang Wulin woke from Su Mo's Illusion Technique, two tear tracks still on his face. Looking at the tall figure standing before him, he had no idea what had happened.

"We were caught in Su Mo's Illusion Technique!" After a long silence, Gu Yue rubbed her faintly aching snow-white neck and looked at Tang Wulin with a complicated expression.

"That's right. You were caught in his Illusion Technique!"

Wu Zhangkong nodded slightly, agreeing with Gu Yue's assessment.

"Your spiritual power is quite impressive!"

Seeing that Gu Yue had not been greatly affected by his Illusion Technique, Su Mo did not leave. Instead, he smiled and applauded her.

Only because Gu Yue's spiritual power was strong enough could she still move normally after experiencing the illusion he had specially crafted for her.

If it had been Tang Wulin or Xie Xie, the two of them would not have been able to get out of bed for two or three days.

Gu Yue ignored Su Mo and Wu Zhangkong's praise.

At that moment, Gu Yue was extremely irritated, her mind filled with what had just happened in the illusion.

It could not be helped. Su Mo's Illusion Technique had been too realistic.

Even though Gu Yue's spiritual power had reached the Spirit Connection Realm, she had still been significantly affected.

Of course, if it had merely been the effects of the illusion, Gu Yue would not have cared. What truly irritated her was what she had experienced within it.

In the illusion, amid humanity's cries of "Those not of our kind must harbor different intentions," Tang Wulin had beheaded her without hesitation and hung her head at the entrance to the Star Dou Forest.

Even though Gu Yue had known at the time that she was trapped in an illusion and that everything she saw was false—

That phrase, "Those not of our kind must harbor different intentions," lingered in her heart like a nightmare, refusing to fade for a long time.

"Where's Xie Xie?" Tang Wulin had not noticed anything unusual about Gu Yue. Turning his head, he found that Xie Xie, who had been standing beside them, had vanished at some point.

Looking again, he discovered that Xie Xie had already run over to Su Mo.

"Classmate Su Mo, please, let me see my mother one more time!"

Xie Xie desperately grabbed one of Su Mo's arms and pleaded bitterly.

"This is bad. The kid got a taste of it!"

Faced with Xie Xie's plea, Su Mo's mouth twitched unnaturally.

"It's not that I don't want to help you. What you see in an illusion isn't something I can decide."

Su Mo patted Xie Xie on the shoulder, consoling him with the air of someone earnestly trying to help.

Of course, that was a lie!

As a member of the Uchiha, how could Su Mo possibly be unable to control his own Illusion Technique? He had only said that specifically for Gu Yue to hear.

In the illusions Su Mo had cast, Tang Wulin and Xie Xie had both reunited with the family members they had longed to see. Gu Yue alone had received Su Mo's special treatment.

Su Mo had done this to test Gu Yue.

Of the three, Su Mo knew Tang Wulin and Xie Xie inside out.

Tang Wulin in particular—even how many times he had wet the bed or drunk milk growing up was clearly recorded on Su Mo's side.

Only Gu Yue, who had appeared not long ago and immediately shown an unusually high degree of affection for Tang Wulin, remained someone Su Mo knew very little about.

Su Mo had also sent people to investigate Gu Yue's background, but they had found none of the information he wanted.

At present, Su Mo only knew that Gu Yue was Leng Yaozhu's disciple.

As for Gu Yue's experiences before becoming Leng Yaozhu's disciple, Su Mo knew nothing at all.

It was not as if Su Mo had never considered digging deeper into Gu Yue's origins.

But considering that doing so might alert her, Su Mo weighed the matter repeatedly before choosing to give up.

Still, Su Mo had formed a rough guess regarding Gu Yue's identity.

Gu Yue. Gu Yuena. The two names differed by only one character: Na.

And Na'er was the name Gu Yuena had used while living in Tang Wulin's home.

Coupled with how especially attentive Gu Yue was toward Tang Wulin, it was hard for Su Mo not to connect the three of them.

"No—"

Before Xie Xie could finish speaking, Wu Zhangkong chopped him on the head with the edge of his hand.

Xie Xie winced in pain and was about to turn around and curse whoever lacked the sense to hit him. The moment he saw it was Wu Zhangkong, he immediately behaved himself.

Wu Zhangkong ignored Xie Xie and walked straight up to Su Mo. "You're a spiritual-type Soul Master, aren't you? Can you let me see your Martial Soul?"

Though it sounded like a request, Su Mo could hear an unmistakable command in his tone.

Su Mo had no intention of indulging Wu Zhangkong. He immediately shot back, "Before asking someone for something, shouldn't you introduce yourself first?"

"You... don't know me?" Wu Zhangkong froze, somewhat unable to believe it.

"You are?" Looking at Wu Zhangkong's inexplicable confidence, Su Mo frowned and put on a thoughtful expression.

Of course Su Mo knew Wu Zhangkong. But Wu Zhangkong's commanding tone had annoyed him, so he deliberately gave him a hard time.

Seeing that Su Mo seemed to genuinely not recognize him, Wu Zhangkong coldly stated his name. "Wu Zhangkong."

"Wu Zhangkong?" Su Mo repeated the name pretentiously, as though trying to commit it to memory.

"Can you show me your Martial Soul now?" Wu Zhangkong urged from the side.

Wu Zhangkong had not expected that in a little-known place like Eastsea Academy, there would be such an exceptionally rare spiritual-type Soul Master as Su Mo.

At Wu Zhangkong's urging, Su Mo, who had been smiling moments ago, suddenly changed expression and said sternly, "I refuse!"

After tossing out those words, Su Mo turned and left without caring how Wu Zhangkong might react.

As they watched Su Mo's carefree departing figure, Xie Xie and Tang Wulin, standing behind Wu Zhangkong, secretly gave him a thumbs-up.

Only after Su Mo had gone far away did Wu Zhangkong realize that Su Mo had played him.

With nowhere to vent his anger, Wu Zhangkong could only turn his sights on Tang Wulin and Xie Xie, who were enjoying his misfortune nearby.

With a dark expression, Wu Zhangkong turned and ordered them, "I'm leaving the matter of investigating Su Mo's Martial Soul to you two."

"By tomorrow, I want information on Su Mo's Martial Soul."

"Ahh~~!"

Tang Wulin and Xie Xie had not expected that merely watching the show would somehow bring the trouble down on their own heads.

The two wanted to refuse, but after seeing Wu Zhangkong's icy gaze, they nodded in agreement like pecking chickens.

Wu Zhangkong nodded in satisfaction. Just as he was about to say something more, Long Hengxu, the director of studies, suddenly interjected, "Teacher Wu, the principal wants to discuss something with you."

Hearing this, Wu Zhangkong instinctively wanted to refuse.

But considering the care the principal had shown him, he still nodded in agreement.

Besides, Wu Zhangkong himself had something he wanted to discuss with Yu Zhen.

"Oh, right. You two shouldn't disturb Gu Yue today. Let her have some time alone."

Before leaving, Wu Zhangkong seemed to recall something and turned back to instruct Tang Wulin and Xie Xie.

Wu Zhangkong had actually noticed Gu Yue's unusual behavior and quiet departure long ago.

Although he did not interact much with Gu Yue normally, Wu Zhangkong could tell from her subtle everyday movements that she was even prouder at heart than he was.

For some reason, throughout all of Eastsea Academy, Tang Wulin was the only person Gu Yue held in high regard and would yield to.

Yet such a proud person had now been defeated at a single glance.

Such an enormous gap would undoubtedly be difficult for Gu Yue to accept for the moment.

If someone rashly went up to comfort her now, it would likely have the opposite effect.

Only after Gu Yue accepted it herself could Wu Zhangkong gradually counsel her.