Come with Me

That figure stood motionless at the edge of the field, as though the surrounding clamor had nothing to do with him.

"And with him around, we can fight our way all the way up. That's a good thing."

Tang Wulin said.

His tone was calm, devoid of any discernible emotion.

Yet only he knew of the indescribable bitterness in his heart when he said those words.

It was inferiority.

It was resignation.

It was the helplessness of watching a vague affection he had only just developed for someone fade away as that person was drawn to someone else, while he could do nothing.

Xie Xie glanced at him, opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but ultimately said nothing.

He merely sighed and patted Tang Wulin on the shoulder.

"You really can take things in stride."

he said.

Tang Wulin smiled but did not answer.

He only looked at the golden figure in the distance, then at the black figure gradually approaching it.

Gu Yue.

From the moment the match ended, she had started walking in that direction.

She had now reached Zhong Shenxiu's side and stood there, her jet-black long hair fluttering gently in the breeze.

Tang Wulin watched that black figure, watched the way she stood beside that golden figure.

She stood slightly behind and to his side.

That position was very close.

Close enough that she could touch him with just a reach of her hand.

But she did not reach out.

She merely stood there quietly.

The wind lifted her long hair and brushed it across her cheeks.

Those black eyes were fixed on Zhong Shenxiu's profile, her gaze focused and complex.

Tang Wulin withdrew his gaze.

He took a deep breath, then slowly let it out.

Then he turned and walked toward Class Five's group.

Xie Xie watched his retreating back and shook his head.

"Idiot."

he muttered.

Then he turned as well and followed after him.

Gu Yue stood beside Zhong Shenxiu.

She did not speak, merely standing quietly.

The afterglow of the setting sun fell over them, stretching their shadows long and longer still.

Her gaze rested on Zhong Shenxiu's profile.

His sharply defined face was plated with a warm orange glow beneath the sunset. Those pale golden vertical pupils were watching the distant sky, though who knew what he was thinking about.

Gu Yue watched for a long time.

Then her thoughts began to drift.

Win him over.

Those three words surfaced in her mind.

As the Silver Dragon King, as the Lord of Soul Beasts, she had seen far too many humans.

Some of those humans were greedy, some hypocritical, some cowardly, some arrogant.

But the child before her was different.

His eyes, his presence, his fighting style—

Those were not things a nine-year-old child should possess.

They belonged to someone who had experienced countless brushes with death.

Gu Yue had seen many humans, but she had never seen one like this.

A nine-year-old child who possessed combat instincts more terrifying than those of most adult Soul Masters.

Such instincts could not be attained through training. They were carved into one's bones and fused into one's blood.

How had he done it?

And what sort of force stood behind him?

Gu Yue narrowed her black eyes slightly.

If she could bring someone like him over to her side...

No, not bring him over.

Win him over.

Make him one of her people.

Make him work for her.

With his potential, his combat instincts, and his terrifying rate of growth—

Given enough time, he would undoubtedly become one of the most powerful figures in the world of Soul Masters.

When that time came, with him at her side, whether she faced powerful humans or the factions eyeing Soul Beasts covetously, he would be a trump card.

If she could establish a better relationship with the Otherworld Dragon Clan behind him, perhaps there was a chance for the Dragon Clan to rise to greatness once again!

And besides...

Gu Yue's gaze fell upon Zhong Shenxiu's profile, upon those pale golden vertical pupils.

And besides, for some reason, whenever she was with him, she felt something strange.

That feeling was wondrous.

It was not the feeling of looking down upon all living things as the Silver Dragon King.

Nor was it the feeling of becoming ordinary and mundane as Gu Yue, of experiencing life.

It was something more primal, more instinctive... a sense of closeness.

As though there was something about him that drew her in.

Gu Yue did not know what it was.

But she knew that she wanted more.

More time spent with him.

More chances to observe him.

More... possibilities to understand him.

So she absolutely had to win him over.

Gu Yue silently plotted in her heart.

What method should she use?

Appeal to his interests?

What did he like?

Fighting?

Cultivation?

Or...

"Gu Yue."

A voice suddenly sounded beside her ear.

Gu Yue abruptly came back to her senses and found Zhong Shenxiu turning his head toward her, those pale golden vertical pupils looking directly at her.

Her heart gave a start, but her face remained expressionless.

"What is it?" she asked, her voice as cold and aloof as ever.

Zhong Shenxiu looked at her in silence for two seconds.

Then he withdrew his gaze and continued looking at the distant sky.

"Nothing."

he said.

Gu Yue looked at his profile and quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Good. He hadn't noticed.

But what she did not know was that a trace of complicated emotion had flashed through Zhong Shenxiu's pale golden vertical pupils.

He had sensed it.

He had sensed the strange... calculation in Gu Yue's gaze when she looked at him just now.

That was not the sort of look a nine-year-old girl should have.

It was more like a hunter looking at prey.

What the hell is wrong with her?

Why wasn't she going to find Tang Wulin? Why did she keep coming to find me every day?

In the distance, the crowd on the field gradually dispersed.

Xie Xie and Tang Wulin had already returned to Class Five's group and were saying something to their classmates.

On the match platform, Lu Feng and the triplets were finally helped to their feet and limped off the stage.

Ye Yingrong went up to meet them. She looked at her students with a complicated expression, but in the end, she merely sighed and said nothing.

By then, the sun had completely sunk beneath the horizon, leaving only a dark red glow at the edge of the sky.

The campus streetlights lit up one after another, casting clusters of dim yellow light into the twilight.

Zhong Shenxiu had just risen from the corner at the edge of the field, preparing to return to the dormitory to change clothes before heading to the cafeteria to deal with dinner.

Then a white figure appeared before him.

Wu Zhangkong.

As always, he wore spotless white clothes, and his sky-blue long hair was especially eye-catching in the dusk.

There was no expression on his indifferent face. Only those eyes, fixed on Zhong Shenxiu, held a complicated look.

"Zhong Shenxiu."

Wu Zhangkong spoke.

His voice was as cold and detached as ever, yet it carried an almost imperceptible... solemnity.

"Come with me."

Zhong Shenxiu stopped and raised his head to look at Wu Zhangkong.

Those pale golden vertical pupils glimmered faintly in the dusk, like two frozen flames. He looked at Wu Zhangkong in silence for two seconds.

Then he nodded.

He did not ask where they were going, nor did he ask why.

He simply nodded.

Because this was Wu Zhangkong.

His homeroom teacher.

The person who had helped him greatly over the past three months.

From the time Wu Zhangkong had taken him out of solitary confinement, to later helping him rent a soul tool workshop, to accompanying him in that insane training match early that morning.

Wu Zhangkong had never asked him anything.

He had not asked about his past, his secrets, or the questions he did not want to answer.

He had merely given him help, space, and what he needed—whether it was the right to use a soul tool workshop or an opponent who could make him feel the threat of death.

So Zhong Shenxiu did not ask.

He simply followed.