Gossip

Eastsea City, Eastsea Academy.

The dormitory was quiet.

Gu Yue sat by the bed, holding a cup of water. Her expression was calm, as though nothing had happened.

Wu Zhangkong stood in the doorway, his face as blank as a poker card as he stared at her.

"Gu Yue."

Gu Yue raised her head.

Wu Zhangkong walked in and sat down across from her.

"Why did you attack the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear?"

Gu Yue said nothing.

Wu Zhangkong waited a few seconds. When she remained silent, he continued.

"I reviewed the Spirit Ascension Platform records. You encountered Xu Xiaoyu, and he demanded that you hand over your spirit power. Then the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear appeared, and you were the first to rush forward and attack it."

He paused.

"Why?"

Gu Yue lowered her head and looked at the cup in her hands.

"It was going to attack us."

"It was attacking that boy, not you."

Wu Zhangkong said, "You could have taken Tang Wulin and the others and left."

Gu Yue said nothing.

Wu Zhangkong stared at her.

"Were you protecting him?"

Gu Yue's fingers twitched slightly.

Wu Zhangkong continued.

"You didn't know that boy. You'd never even met him. Why did you protect him?"

Gu Yue was silent for a long time.

"I just thought... he needed help."

Gu Yue's voice was soft, as soft as a feather falling onto the surface of water.

Wu Zhangkong looked at her, but no emotion could be read from that poker face.

"Needed help?"

He repeated it. "There were so many people in the Spirit Ascension Platform. The little girl Xu Xiaoyu brought also needed help. Why didn't you help her?"

Gu Yue said nothing.

Wu Zhangkong continued questioning her. "Tang Wulin and the others were on your team. When they were being chased, why weren't you the first to rush in?"

Gu Yue's fingers tightened slightly.

Wu Zhangkong stared at her.

"You met that boy for the first time and immediately thought he needed help?"

Gu Yue was silent for a long time.

"A hundred-year Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear can pose a lethal threat to thousand-year soul beasts..."

Wu Zhangkong: "..."

Tell me something I don't know.

"I wanted to see how strong the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear was..."

Well, that really was something she would do.

Wu Zhangkong was silent for a long while before slowly forcing out a sentence. "Next time... protect your own people first."

Gu Yue nodded.

"Three days. Write me a three-thousand-word self-criticism."

"Yes..."

The next day.

Shrek City, a roadside newsstand.

A brand-new newspaper was slapped onto the counter, its front-page headline enormous—

<Was this moral depravity or the loss of humanity? The son of Shrek Sea God Pavilion's Pavilion Master viciously attacked?!>

The newspaper vendor shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Newspapers! Newspapers! Breaking news! The Sea God Pavilion Master's son was attacked at the Spirit Pagoda! He's still unconscious!"

"Spirit Pagoda insiders are suspected of acting deliberately! Qiangu Dongfeng and Yun Ming confronted each other face-to-face and nearly came to blows!"

"Details on page three! A complimentary high-definition side-profile photo of Deputy Pagoda Master Leng Yaozhu included!"

Passersby stopped in their tracks.

"What? The Pavilion Master's son?"

"Is that for real?"

"The Spirit Pagoda did it? Have they lost their minds?"

"Give me one!"

"I want one too!"

The newspapers sold out in an instant.

Inside the Sea God Pavilion.

Ya Li sat beside the bed, holding a freshly delivered newspaper. Her expression was rather subtle.

She read the headline and fell silent for three seconds.

Then she handed the newspaper to Yun Ming.

Yun Ming took it and glanced at it.

Then he looked again.

His brow slowly furrowed.

"'Viciously attacked'?"

His voice was calm, but Ya Li could hear what lay beneath that calmness.

"They do have quite the... vivid wording," Ya Li said.

Yun Ming continued reading.

Page two: <Exclusive Interview: Eyewitness Ye Xinglan recounts what happened—"He pushed me away and took the hit himself.">

Page three: <Qiangu Dongfeng and Yun Ming confront each other in the street! Spirit Pagoda Master repeatedly retreats, shouting, "Listen, let me explain!">

Page four: <Leng Yaozhu's side profile—so this is what the Deputy Pagoda Master looks like?>

After Yun Ming finished reading, he set the newspaper down.

"These reporters," he said, "do they have too much time on their hands?"

Ya Li smiled.

"They're too curious. Your son has kept himself hidden so well. Now there's finally news about him."

Yun Ming fell silent for a moment.

"But they can't call it 'viciously attacked.'"

Ya Li nodded.

"That's true. They should say, 'suspected of being viciously attacked.'"

Yun Ming glanced at her.

Ya Li rose with a smile.

"I'll go check on Jing Heng."

She walked into the inner room.

Yun Ming remained where he was, staring at the newspaper in silence.

Inside Shrek City, at a certain teahouse.

Several middle-aged soul masters sat around a table, each holding a newspaper.

"Tell me, was this really done by the Spirit Pagoda?"

"Is there even a question? Of course it was! That old Qiangu Dongfeng has hated Shrek for ages."

"But doesn't the paper say Leng Yaozhu was overseeing things that day?"

"Leng Yaozhu? She's only a Deputy Pagoda Master. Could she really disobey the Pagoda Master?"

"That makes sense..."

"I heard someone tampered with that Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear, which was why it became so violent."

"Tampered with it? Who did that?"

"Do you even need to ask?"

The men exchanged glances, wearing knowing smiles.

Spirit Pagoda headquarters.

Qiangu Dongfeng sat in his office with a newspaper in front of him as well.

His expression was ugly.

Extremely ugly.

"Qiangu Dongfeng repeatedly retreats?"

He read it aloud, his voice gritted with rage.

"Shouting, 'Listen, let me explain!'?"

He took a deep breath and slammed the newspaper onto the desk.

"Who wrote this?!"

The assistant beside him shrank back.

"It was... it was a reporter from World Affairs, named..."

"I don't want to hear his name!"

Qiangu Dongfeng cut him off. "I only want to know which eye of his saw me 'repeatedly retreating'?!"

The assistant did not dare speak.

Qiangu Dongfeng rose and paced around the office.

"That was a strategic retreat! Tactical avoidance!"

"Yun Ming charged at me with his Martial Soul Avatar active. Should I have stood there and waited for him to stab me?!"

The assistant said quietly, "But the newspaper says, 'repeatedly retreating, all momentum lost'..."

Qiangu Dongfeng shot him a glare.

The assistant quickly shut his mouth.

After pacing for a while, Qiangu Dongfeng sat back down.

He stared at the newspaper in silence for several seconds.

Then he asked.

"Has that Yun Jingheng woken up yet?"

The assistant shook his head.

"Nothing yet."

Qiangu Dongfeng frowned.

"Still not awake? He only fought a bear. Did he really need to be unconscious for this long?"

The assistant thought for a moment.

"I heard he split that bear apart with a single sword strike."

Qiangu Dongfeng froze.

"One strike?"

The assistant nodded.

"One strike."

Qiangu Dongfeng fell silent.

"He's only eight, right?"

"Nine."

"Two rings?"

"Two rings."

Qiangu Dongfeng said nothing further.

He looked at the newspaper, his gaze growing complicated.

Nine years old, two rings, and he split a hundred-year Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear in two with a single strike.

The more he thought about it, the stranger it sounded. The key was that he couldn't lay a hand on that kid.

From what happened yesterday, if I really try anything, Yun Ming would genuinely dare to go all out against me...

Eastsea City, Eastsea Academy.

Gu Yue sat in her dormitory with a stack of blank paper spread out before her.

She was writing her self-criticism.

Three thousand words.

She had only written three hundred words.

And she had been stuck for half an hour already.

"I wanted to see how strong the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear was..."

She stared at that sentence in silence for several seconds.

Then she crossed it out and started over.

"Out of curiosity, I launched a probing attack on the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear..."

She crossed that out too.

"I got carried away in the moment..."

Crossed out.

Gu Yue sighed.

She set down her pen and looked out the window.

The sunlight was lovely.

But she was not in a very good mood.

I saved him, so why am I the one stuck here writing a self-criticism?

The key was, he was still sleeping soundly.

It was completely unfair...