Su Mo fell silent for a second.
Then he spoke.
"No."
Xiao Wu froze.
"No?"
"No."
Xiao Wu didn't believe him. "Then why can you grow bigger?"
Su Mo thought for a moment and decided to tell the truth. "Martial Soul."
"Martial Soul?"
"Mm. My Martial Soul is the Saintly Body of Confucius. When it grows bigger, it looks like this."
Xiao Wu tilted her head, digesting this information.
Then her expression turned serious.
"You're lying."
Su Mo: "...I'm not lying."
"Then why is there a Soul Beast by your side?" Xiao Wu pointed at the Big Black Ox. "It's clearly a Soul Beast. I can feel it! And it's so close to you, so you must be a Soul Beast too!"
The Big Black Ox nodded furiously beside them.
"Moo, moo, moo!" (That's right! He must be one! Otherwise, why would he treat me like emergency rations?)
Su Mo: "..."
He suddenly realized this might be impossible to explain.
Xiao Wu took his silence as confirmation and jumped up excitedly.
"I knew it! I knew it! You must be a Soul Beast! Maybe you're even from some powerful clan!"
She spun around the dormitory, her braids flying.
"This is wonderful! Wonderful! I've finally met one of my own!"
Wang Sheng and the others huddled in the corner, looking from one to another.
Gou Dan whispered, "Brother Wang Sheng, is our new dorm leader... a Soul Beast?"
Wang Sheng struggled to swallow. "I don't know... but that ox is definitely a Soul Beast."
"What should we do from now on?"
"..." Wang Sheng fell silent for a second. "Just do what we're told."
Gou Dan nodded, deeply convinced.
Tang San rubbed his forehead, looking at the excited Xiao Wu and then at his silent master, lost in thought.
The Big Black Ox lay on the floor, looking utterly hopeless.
It was clearly a six-hundred-year-old demon king, yet now people were treating it as "proof that Su Mo is a Soul Beast."
And it couldn't even argue back.
Su Mo looked at the little girl dancing around in front of him.
At that familiar face.
Whatever. Let's leave it at that.
Back to the present, Dorm Seven was a complete mess.
The tables had been overturned, the stools knocked over, and luggage was scattered everywhere. A few old-timers Xiao Wu had kicked away were still sprawled in the corner.
Su Mo had returned to his normal size and was crouching on the floor, tidying up the luggage.
Tang San was helping him. He had another bump on his forehead—the result of colliding with Xiao Wu during their fight just now.
Xiao Wu helped clean up too. She glanced at Su Mo, then at Tang San, and suddenly asked:
"What's your relationship?"
Tang San looked up, his face full of pride. "Su Mo is my master."
Xiao Wu's eyes lit up.
"Master? As in, the kind who teaches you skills?"
"Right."
"Then I want to be Su Mo's disciple too!"
Tang San's expression froze.
He put down the luggage in his hands, stood up, and shook his head solemnly. "No."
Xiao Wu put her hands on her hips. "Why not?"
"My master only has one disciple."
Xiao Wu tilted her head and thought for a moment, then asked, "Is there any position higher than yours?"
Tang San froze and began to think.
What came above a disciple?
Senior brother? No, that was someone of the same generation.
Apprentice? That was someone a master took in.
Grandmaster?
That didn't seem right either.
He thought for a long while, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
"There is."
Xiao Wu leaned closer. "What?"
Tang San answered with a straight face. "My master doesn't have a master's wife yet."
Xiao Wu's eyes lit up at once.
"Then I'm going to be your master's wife!"
Tang San: "..."
Su Mo: "???"
Looking at Su Mo's back, Xiao Wu remembered her mother's warning: "The human world is dangerous. You must find someone strong to protect you."
This person... although he looked about her age, there was something reassuring about him.
And that ox was so close to him, so he couldn't be a bad person. If she stayed with him, she probably wouldn't get bullied, right?
At the thought, Xiao Wu spun around excitedly, her braids flying.
"In our clan, you're supposed to find someone strong to be the head of the household! Your master is so powerful, he can definitely protect the whole clan! Being his wife would be so impressive!"
Tang San panicked. "No, no, no!"
Xiao Wu stopped and glared at him. "Why not?"
"Because... because..."
Tang San struggled for a long time before finally blurting out, "You're too young!"
Xiao Wu looked down at herself, then up at him. "Aren't you young too?"
Tang San was stumped. How was that the same?
Xiao Wu continued, "Besides, a master's wife is your master's partner, not yours. Why do you care whether I'm young or not?"
Tang San's brain couldn't keep up.
He was sure something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
In the end, he could only repeat, "Anyway, no! You should be my master's disciple instead!"
"No!" Xiao Wu shook her head firmly. "I want to be your master's wife!"
"No, be a disciple!"
"I want to be his wife!"
"No!"
"I do, I do, I do!"
They argued back and forth, neither willing to give in.
Su Mo crouched on the floor, holding a pair of trousers that had been trampled dirty, watching these two six-year-olds argue until they were red in the face over the title of "master's wife."
He fell silent.
There was no saving this disciple.
Just a few words, and he'd already been led around by the nose.
No wonder Yu Xiaogang had fooled him into ruin in his previous life.
Thinking of Yu Xiaogang, Su Mo suddenly grew curious—
What was that guy doing now?
Yu Xiaogang crouched in the corner, hugging his knees, looking utterly hopeless.
His clothes were smeared with mud, his hair was a mess, and there was a streak on his face. No, that was mud splashed up from a puddle he'd passed earlier.
In short, he looked miserable.
Absolutely miserable.
He was the dignified Grandmaster, the foremost authority on Martial Soul Theory, the man who had raised a god in his previous life.
Today, a six-year-old had left him speechless.
In front of all those people.
And they'd even called him "a stupid pig matched with a pig."
Yu Xiaogang sniffed, his eyes a little red.
But he was the Grandmaster, after all.
Before long, he pulled himself out of his dejected mood.
"Stay calm, stay calm," he muttered to himself. "I, Yu Xiaogang, have weathered plenty of storms."
He stood up, brushed the dirt off his clothes, and began to review what had happened.
Why had he lost today?
Because that little brat called Su Mo was too good with words.
But what was so impressive about him?
He was a six-year-old child. How much real ability could he have? Yu Xiaogang had never heard of him in his previous life!
At most, he was quick with his tongue.
And what did Yu Xiaogang have?
He had the memories of his previous life!
He knew the plot!
He understood Tang San better than anyone!
Yu Xiaogang's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
"That's right, Tang San," he murmured. "I was able to cultivate him into a god in my previous life. I can do it again in this one."
"Today, he was only misled for a while. In a few days, when he realizes that Su Mo has no real ability, he'll remember how good I was to him."
"Then I'll extend the olive branch again..."
A smile curled the corners of Yu Xiaogang's mouth.
As he kept smiling, the expression turned sinister.
"But then again..."
He narrowed his eyes, a cold glint flashing through them.
"Tang San, your master will forgive you once more. I'll still cultivate you into a god and lead you to the peak."
"But—"
He paused, lowering his voice, a vengeful thrill creeping into it.
"Once you've taken your master to the Divine Realm, I'll kick you to the curb! I'll make you understand the consequences of betraying your master! I'll make you regret it!"
"Kyahaha..."
His sinister laughter echoed through the corner.
After laughing a few times, Yu Xiaogang remembered something and composed himself.
"But before that, I still need to make Tang San utterly devoted to me."