The Seed Sprouts

Chapter: The Seed Sprouts

With the departure of Tang Wulin, the students in the class erupted into an uproar, the sound of their discussions ringing incessantly in the air.

Lin Ximeng furrowed her brows tightly, her scrutinizing gaze fixed upon Qiangu Wuji.

"What exactly is going on here? Did some conflict arise between you two that I am unaware of?"

As a teacher, the fact that she hadn't even realized a conflict had broken out between her students made her feel like she had failed in her duties.

"Teacher Lin, Wulin might just have some misunderstandings about me."

Qiangu Wuji shrugged, appearing completely indifferent.

"Besides, Teacher Lin, do I look like the kind of person who would do something like that?"

Hearing this, Lin Ximeng was stunned. She looked at Qiangu Wuji carefully and was instantly rendered speechless.

Indeed, even by her standards, Qiangu Wuji was an exemplary student with both good character and academic performance.

It was truly difficult for her to imagine such a student being linked to something like kidnapping.

After watching him for a moment longer, Lin Ximeng nodded.

"I understand. I will report this matter truthfully to Principal Lu. As for the specifics, we will wait for the Federation to finish their investigation before drawing any conclusions."

She paused, her gaze sweeping across the students in the classroom.

"Now, let us begin the lesson."

At her words, the murmurs in the classroom died down.

The day's lessons began quickly.

Because his desk had been smashed to pieces, Qiangu Wuji had no choice but to squeeze in with Gu Yue.

Gu Yue looked at him with indifference.

"I have confirmed it once again: your personality is quite terrible."

"Huh? Why would you say that?"

Qiangu Wuji feigned surprise, appearing as if he couldn't accept such an evaluation.

Gu Yue curled the corner of her lips.

"When you were comforting Tang Wulin earlier, I actually thought you were genuinely concerned for him."

"Isn't that the case?" Qiangu Wuji blinked. "He is our classmate, isn't it only natural for classmates to encourage one another?"

"Heh."

To this, Gu Yue only offered a silent laugh, her mind suddenly drifting to a novel she had happened to read recently.

In that story, there was a character who left a deep impression on her, and that person's personality was much like Qiangu Wuji's.

She remembered how others evaluated that character: a white lotus, a green tea bitch.

She hadn't understood what those terms meant at first, but after witnessing Qiangu Wuji's actions, she thought that perhaps this so-called "green tea" was exactly what he was.

Previously, she had thought Qiangu Wuji was just a pushover; after Tang Wulin took the initiative to provoke him and lost, he had actually comforted him instead. Now, she realized he must have had an ulterior motive back then.

Take, for example, a few days ago when she had beaten Tang Wulin, yet he still insisted on fawning over him and actively approaching his family.

If he wasn't doing it with some hidden agenda in mind, Gu Yue wouldn't believe it for a second.

And then there was today's incident. Qiangu Wuji could have clearly explained everything, yet he never offered a single word of explanation, playing the part of the innocent, pitiful victim from start to finish.

Gu Yue was not stupid; she knew exactly what such behavior from Qiangu Wuji would incite.

By doing this, he would only intensify Tang Wulin's hatred toward him.

And as the "goody-two-shoes" in the eyes of teachers and students, by putting on this act, everyone would surely side with him first.

In other words, the more hostile Tang Wulin became toward him, the more he would eventually find himself isolated and abandoned by everyone.

Gu Yue didn't know why Qiangu Wuji would do this—perhaps he had other motives, or perhaps, as she suspected, he was just a natural-born "green tea," and it was simply his nature.

In fact, was Qiangu Wuji being "tea-like"?

Hmm~

Thinking about it carefully, he also felt that his actions were indeed quite "tea-like."

But what could he do about it?

He was simply afraid that Tang Wulin would lose his motivation to move forward and become a waste.

If he became a waste, how could he become Tang Aotian, and how could he awaken the power of the Golden Dragon King?

If he couldn't awaken the power of the Golden Dragon King, he would kick the bucket, and then he wouldn't be able to save the couple Tang Ziran and his wife.

To go through such trouble and labor for the sake of his own opponent—why couldn't Gu Yue understand such breadth of mind and spirit?

If she didn't understand, so be it, but she even misunderstood his character.

Sigh!

Qiangu Wuji looked up at the ceiling at a forty-five-degree angle, a hint of melancholy appearing in his eyes.

The strong are always misunderstood.

Ever since that day, Tang Wulin had vanished, never appearing at Hongshan Academy again.

The disappearance of a student from the soul master class was not necessarily a massive scandal, but it certainly wasn't a trivial matter either.

In the end, the authorities of Aolai City had no choice but to step in, personally bringing people to the school to go through the motions.

They mostly asked questions about whether he had made any enemies at school or anything of that nature.

This matter naturally implicated Qiangu Wuji, but just as those officials were preparing to question him, Lu Renjia stepped forward and spoke a few words to the captain of the team, causing the man to leave silently.

Before leaving, the captain kept insisting that this matter had nothing to do with Qiangu Wuji.

In truth, Qiangu Wuji didn't need to ask to know what Lu Renjia had said to the man; he had likely revealed his identity.

With the conclusion of this incident, everything in the school returned to normal, and it was as if everyone had forgotten about Tang Wulin's disappearance.

Qiangu Wuji continued his daily routine of moving between three points.

Eating, coming to school, and going to find Mu Ye to train.

The only thing he was somewhat dissatisfied with was that because the pressure from the Golden Dragon King was gone, the system had gone quiet, barely speaking at all.

This resulted in his strength progressing very slowly.

However, Qiangu Wuji was not worried, because he believed that the seed of hatred he had planted in Tang Wulin was about to sprout.

When they met again, the other party would surely bring him an unexpected surprise.

Just like that, a year flashed by.

In a relatively primitive forest in Donghai City.

A youth shrouded in a black cloak sat cross-legged on the ground, and a circle of golden dragon scales could be seen emerging on his body.

After a long while, the youth opened his eyes, a flash of golden light passing through his pupils as he stared into the distance, coldness swirling within.

"Old Tang, what else is needed to break the third seal?"

"The third seal? You only just broke the second seal not long ago, and you already want the third? Do you not want to live anymore?"

Tang Wulin pressed his lips together, his eyes filled with monstrous hatred.

At this moment, the events of a year ago couldn't help but surface in his mind.

It was precisely because of the arrival of those two people that his once happy life had changed.

His loving parents had gone missing because of them.

If it could be said that his questioning of Qiangu Wuji back then was merely out of anger and lacked concrete evidence, then after a year of traveling across the continent and experiencing these events, he had completely confirmed that those two were the culprits behind his parents' disappearance.

Qiangu Wuji, the son of the Spirit Pagoda master.

The most mysterious one was Gu Yue; according to Old Tang, that woman possessed power similar to his own.

The reason she had targeted him back then was likely because of this very reason.

As for why they didn't capture him directly at the time, according to Old Tang's speculation, it seemed that those two might have known that breaking the seal was difficult, so they intended to wait for him to break through before swooping in to reap the rewards.

Of course, this was only Old Tang's guess.

However, Tang Wulin felt that this was likely the case; otherwise, there was no way to explain why those two hadn't captured him.

And after figuring out the cause of the matter, Tang Wulin knew what he had to do.

Since Gu Yue could target him, he could also target Gu Yue!

Kill Gu Yue, and seize her power!!