The Eight Trigrams

Eastsea City, Eastsea Academy.

The dormitory was very quiet.

Gu Yue sat on the edge of the bed, holding a cup of water in her hands with a calm expression, as if nothing had happened at all.

Wu Zhangkong stood at the doorway, his face a mask of indifference, staring at her.

"Gu Yue."

Gu Yue looked up.

Wu Zhangkong walked in and sat down opposite her.

"Why did you attack the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear at that time?"

Gu Yue did not speak.

Wu Zhangkong waited for a few seconds, and seeing that she remained silent, he continued.

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

He paused.

"Why?"

Gu Yue lowered her head, looking at the water cup in her hands.

"It was going to attack us."

"It was attacking that boy, not you."

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

Gu Yue did not speak.

Wu Zhangkong stared at her.

"Were you protecting him?"

Gu Yue's fingers twitched slightly.

Wu Zhangkong continued.

"That boy—you didn't know him, you had never met him before—why would you protect him?"

Gu Yue remained silent for a long time.

"I just felt... he needed help."

Gu Yue's voice was very soft, as light as a feather landing on the surface of the water.

Wu Zhangkong looked at her, his poker face revealing no emotion.

"Needed help?"

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

Gu Yue did not speak.

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

Gu Yue's fingers tightened slightly.

Wu Zhangkong stared at her.

"That boy—you met him for the first time, and you immediately felt he needed help?"

Gu Yue remained silent for a long time.

"A century-old Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear can pose a fatal threat to a thousand-year spirit beast..."

Wu Zhangkong: "..."

Tell me something I don't know.

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

Fine, that was exactly the kind of thing she would do.

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

Gu Yue nodded.

"Three days. Write a three-thousand-word reflection and give it to me."

"Yes..."

The next day.

Shrek City, a street newsstand.

A brand-new newspaper was slapped onto the counter, the front-page headline shockingly large—

<Is this a distortion of morality or a loss of humanity? The son of the Sea God Pavilion Master of Shrek suffers a tragic fate?!>

The news vendor shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Extra, extra! Read all about it! Latest news! The son of the Sea God Pavilion Master was attacked at the Spirit Pagoda! He remains in a coma!"

"Spirit Pagoda insiders suspected of foul play! Qiangu Dongfeng and Yun Ming confront each other face-to-face! Nearly came to blows!"

"See page three for details! Includes a high-resolution profile photo of Vice Pagoda Master Leng Yaozhu!"

Passersby stopped in their tracks.

"What? The Pavilion Master's son?"

"Is this for real?"

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

"Give me a copy!"

"I want one too!"

The newspapers were snapped up in an instant.

Inside the Sea God Pavilion.

Ya Li sat by the bedside, holding a freshly delivered newspaper with a subtle expression on her face.

She finished reading the headline and remained silent for three seconds.

Then, she handed the paper to Yun Ming.

Yun Ming took it and glanced at it.

He glanced at it again.

Then, his brows furrowed.

"'Suffered a vicious attack'?"

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

"Their word choice is quite... vivid," Ya Li said.

Yun Ming continued reading.

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

Page three: <Qiangu Dongfeng and Yun Ming confront each other in the street! The Spirit Pagoda Master retreats repeatedly, shouting, "Listen to my explanation!">

Page four: <Leng Yaozhu profile photo—So this is what the Vice Pagoda Master looks like?>

Yun Ming finished reading and set the paper down.

"These reporters," he said, "are they too idle?"

Ya Li smiled.

"They are just too curious. Your son has always kept such a low profile; now, there is finally some news."

Yun Ming was silent for a moment.

"That still doesn't justify 'suffered a vicious attack'."

Ya Li nodded.

"Indeed. It should have been 'suspected of suffering a vicious attack'."

Yun Ming gave her a look.

Ya Li stood up with a smile.

"I'm going to check on Jingheng."

She walked into the inner chamber.

Yun Ming sat where he was, staring at the newspaper, silent.

Inside Shrek City, at a certain teahouse.

Several middle-aged soul masters sat around a table, each with a newspaper in hand.

"What do you think? Was this really the work of the Spirit Pagoda?"

"Need you ask? Definitely! That old guy Qiangu Dongfeng has been looking at us in Shrek with displeasure for a long time."

"But didn't the paper say that Leng Yaozhu was watching over things that day?"

"Leng Yaozhu? She's just a Vice Pagoda Master; can she really defy the Pagoda Master?"

"That makes sense..."

"I heard that the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear had been tampered with, which is why it was so violent."

"Tampered with? By whom?"

"Need you ask?"

The group exchanged glances, wearing expressions of mutual understanding.

Spirit Pagoda headquarters.

Qiangu Dongfeng sat in his office with a newspaper laid out before him.

His expression was hideous.

Truly hideous.

"Qiangu Dongfeng retreats repeatedly?"

He read the words aloud, his voice laced with a grinding, teeth-clenching bitterness.

"Shouting 'Listen to my explanation'?"

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

"Who wrote this?!"

The assistant beside him shrank back.

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

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

Qiangu Dongfeng cut him off. "I only want to know, which eye did he use to see me 'retreating repeatedly'?!"

The assistant dared not speak.

Qiangu Dongfeng stood up and paced back and forth across the office.

"That was a strategic retreat! A tactical maneuver!"

"That madman Yun Ming charged over with his Avatar of the Martial Soul active; was I supposed to stand there and wait to be skewered?!"

The assistant whispered, "But the paper says 'retreating repeatedly, completely devoid of momentum'..."

Qiangu Dongfeng glared at him.

The assistant quickly shut his mouth.

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

He stared at the newspaper, silent for several seconds.

Then he asked.

"That Yun Jingheng, has he woken up yet?"

The assistant shook his head.

"Haven't heard anything yet."

Qiangu Dongfeng furrowed his brows.

"Still not awake? He only fought one bear, didn't he? Is it really necessary to be in a coma for this long?"

The assistant thought for a moment.

"I heard that the bear was split open by a single strike of his sword."

Qiangu Dongfeng froze.

"A single strike?"

The assistant nodded.

"A single strike."

Qiangu Dongfeng fell silent.

"He's only eight, right?"

"Nine."

"Two rings?"

"Two rings."

Qiangu Dongfeng said nothing more.

He looked at the newspaper, his gaze turning somewhat complex.

Nine years old, two rings, splitting a century-old Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear with a single sword strike.

The more he heard, the more bizarre it sounded, and the critical issue was that he couldn't even lay a finger on the brat.

Judging by yesterday's situation, if I really tried to pull something, Yun Ming would genuinely be willing to blow himself up with me...

Eastsea City, Eastsea Academy.

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

She was writing a self-reflection.

Three thousand words.

She had only written three hundred words.

And she had been stuck for half an hour already.

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

She stared at this sentence, silent for a few seconds.

Then she crossed it out and rewrote it.

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

Crossed out again.

"I had a momentary lapse in judgment..."

Crossed out.

Gu Yue sighed.

She put down her pen and looked out the window.

The sunlight was lovely.

But her mood was not.

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

The kicker is, he's still sleeping soundly.

It's not fair at all...