Am I Crazy?

Early the next morning, Lu Menge intercepted Wu Changkong by the edge of the track.

She was dressed perfectly normally today—a beige sweater, dark blue trousers, low-heeled ankle boots, and her hair tied in a low ponytail. It was the same outfit she had worn when she went to the training grounds to prove she had eight rings, but her expression was completely different. There was no lazy teasing in those amber fox eyes, nor any aggressive readiness to argue. There was only a seriousness that had settled after being suppressed all night.

"Teacher Wu, may I take a few minutes of your time?"

Wu Changkong had just finished his morning inspection and was still holding a training record board. He glanced at her, nodded, and followed her beneath the ginkgo tree at the edge of the field. Golden leaves rustled in the morning light, and several drifted down beside their feet.

"I want to talk about what Gu Yue said yesterday." Lu Menge did not beat around the bush. Her voice was steady, her pace unhurried. "First of all, none of it was true."

Wu Changkong's gaze tightened slightly. He did not interrupt, waiting for her to continue.

"Gu Yue told you I was being kept, that I wore skirts in subzero weather, that people pinned me to the ground—all of it was fabricated." She carefully laid out every lie Gu Yue had made up. Her pace remained measured; she did not rush to defend herself or avoid a single detail. When she reached the end, she paused, then revealed the most crucial part as well.

"My martial soul isn't an ordinary White Tiger. It's the Nine-Headed White Tiger. I've lived longer than anyone. You know Di Tian, right? The leader of the ferocious beasts? He's still over in the Star Dou Great Forest, obediently running errands for me. And Gu Yue isn't my cousin—she's the reincarnated half of the Silver Dragon King, an old friend of mine. I look after her as my cousin because an old acquaintance entrusted her to me."

Wu Changkong remained silent for quite a while. At first, his brows had been tightly furrowed. When he heard words like "Nine-Headed White Tiger" and "Silver Dragon King," they gradually loosened. Not because his confusion had been resolved, but because a deeper kind of concern had appeared. Once she finished, he nodded.

Lu Menge's brows relaxed as well. She thought he finally believed her.

Without saying anything more, Wu Changkong turned and left. After taking a few steps, he stopped, as though he wanted to turn back and say something. In the end, he said nothing and continued toward the teaching building.

Classes proceeded as usual that morning. The moment Lu Menge entered her office, she sensed that something was off—Wu Changkong's gaze had changed. Before, whenever he looked at her, it was either a cold, "Do not disturb," or a restrained concern that he thought he hid well but actually hid terribly. Today was different. When he passed her office door, he deliberately took a detour to look at her through the small glass window in it. Lu Menge understood that look: he was confirming that she was still alive. Just like after he had first learned of her "pitiful background," when he had been afraid she might shatter at any moment.

He said he believed her. But his eyes clearly said that his mind was now playing an entirely new tragic drama. And this time, its protagonist was even more miserable than before—so miserable that she had started talking nonsense.

Lu Menge narrowed her fox eyes slightly and leaned back against the rattan chair. Fine. At least he believed her on the surface.

She had not expected that Wu Changkong would contact Gu Yue directly after leaving her office.

At lunchtime, Gu Yue had just sat down in the cafeteria when she received a message. It was from Wu Changkong, and it was brief: [Under the ginkgo tree after lunch. We need to discuss something.]

Under the ginkgo tree. Gu Yue rolled those words over in her mind and remembered yesterday's glorious record of crying there for nearly fifteen minutes. Without changing her expression, she deleted the message, finished the last half cup of soy milk, and went to find him.

Wu Changkong was already standing there. White clothes, back ramrod straight, fingers unconsciously tapping the edge of the Heavenfrost Sword's scabbard. This was the first detail Gu Yue noticed—he was nervous. The second was that when she approached, he did not lower his head to look at her as usual. Instead, he looked away for several seconds first.

"Teacher Wu, what did you need me for?"

"About your sister." Wu Changkong kept his voice very low, as though he feared the wind might carry it somewhere it should not go. "She came to see me this morning."

"What did she say?"

"She told me everything."

Gu Yue's heart skipped a beat—everything? Lu Menge had not seriously revealed the identities of the Nine-Headed White Tiger and the Silver Dragon King, had she? Yet not a trace of disturbance appeared on her face. She merely tilted her head slightly. "What did she say?"

Wu Changkong repeated everything Lu Menge had said by the track that morning. As Gu Yue listened, she grew increasingly silent. The more she listened, the more the corners of her lips threatened to rise, but she forcibly held them down. Only after he had finished did she speak. "What do you think?"

Wu Changkong was silent for a long time. The wind stirred the black hair before his forehead a few times as he tightened his grip on the scabbard.

"She suffered enormous trauma in the past. She was already hurt, and what you said yesterday was only part of it. What she said today—'Nine-Headed White Tiger,' 'older than Di Tian,' 'alive longer than this plane has existed'—this isn't ordinary confusion."

He raised his head and looked at Gu Yue. In those cold blue eyes was the heaviest concern Gu Yue had ever seen.

"Your sister may have a psychological problem. Dissociative identity disorder, or delusional disorder. She's using a vast, complete, internally consistent mythological system to cover up her real traumatic memories. Transforming her experiences of oppression into 'I am an ancient sacred beast, and no one can bully me'—that's a classic psychological defense mechanism. The trauma runs too deep, too deep for her rational mind to bear, so her subconscious created an identity stronger than everyone else. She said, 'Di Tian runs errands for me in the Star Dou Great Forest.' Di Tian is the Beast God, a being standing at the pinnacle of soul beasts. She chose the Beast God as her backdrop—the psychological implication is far too obvious. Yesterday, she overturned everything you said. She's begun putting herself in the role of the abuser because she never wants to be the victim again."

He paused and lowered his voice to its gentlest.

"We can't delay any longer. I know a seven-ring spiritual-element healer, recommended by Senior Zhenhua. Tomorrow, I want to take her to see him. But I need your cooperation—she trusts you the most."

Gu Yue stood there, still wearing her standard indifferent expression. Her purple eyes met Wu Changkong's steadily without evasion, while the muscles around her mouth faced the greatest trial of their lives. She summoned every shred of willpower she had to suppress the laughter rising to her throat, force down the corners of her lips, and straighten eyes that were nearly curving into crescents. She kept her voice steady.

"Make the arrangements. She'll cooperate—she trusts you."

Wu Changkong nodded and turned to leave. Gu Yue suddenly spoke. "Teacher Wu."

"Yes?"

"What if she isn't crazy? What if every word she said is true?"

Wu Changkong looked at her, then lowered his gaze.

"Then I'll accompany her to psychiatry," he said. "Whatever they find, I'll stay with her through the treatment."

Gu Yue stood alone beneath the ginkgo tree for a long time. Golden leaves fell onto her silver hair, but she did not brush them away. She took out her phone and sent Tang Wulin a message: [There's been a development. Teacher Wu now believes Teacher Lu has dissociative identity disorder with delusional symptoms, and he wants to take her to psychiatry tomorrow.]

Tang Wulin instantly replied with an entire line of exclamation marks, followed immediately by: [????????]

Gu Yue: [He took the truth Teacher Lu told him as a delusional episode. Because it was too absurd. Nine-Headed White Tiger, cousin reincarnated from the Silver Dragon King, Di Tian running errands for her—would you believe it if it were you?]

Tang Wulin was silent for a long time before replying: [...It really does sound hard to believe. But didn't he believe what you said yesterday? Gu Yue, I have a question. Which version of Teacher Lu does Teacher Wu believe now? The pitiful girl being kept, or the delusional patient with dissociative identity disorder?]

Gu Yue thought for a moment, then replied: [Both.]

Tang Wulin: [???]

Gu Yue: [Because both are more miserable than the Teacher Lu in his heart. At first, he thought her life was hard. Then he thought it was even harder. Now he thinks it was the hardest of all. In every version, he can find a reason to feel sorry for her. It isn't about the version—he never had the heart to let her go from the beginning. The worst part is that she told the truth, and he took it for an illness.]

Only after quite a while did Tang Wulin reply: [So will Teacher Lu really be taken to psychiatry tomorrow?]

Gu Yue looked at the line on the screen, her purple eyes reflecting the gold of the ginkgo leaves. She remembered the curve of Lu Menge curled beneath her blanket last night, the sound of her voice when she said, "Thank you," and the way her ears had turned red in the dark.

[No. Before she enters the consultation room, she'll find a way to get away. Or she'll just pin Teacher Wu against the wall and explain it again. If that doesn't work, there's still me. I had a hand in making things turn out like this.] She paused after typing that, then added: [But honestly—after living so long, no one ever dared call her crazy. Wu Changkong is the first. I'll remember this for the rest of my life.]

Tang Wulin replied: [I think if Teacher Lu finds out... she'll beat you up first, then Teacher Wu, then squat on the floor, cover her ears, and say, "I'm not listening, I'm not listening."]

Gu Yue looked at the message, and the corners of her lips finally rose without restraint. She slipped her phone into her pocket and headed toward the teaching building.

Tang Wulin was right. But he had left out one thing—Lu Menge could not bear to hit Wu Changkong either. He had just slapped his salary card onto her windowsill and told her there was no time limit. She had not even thrown that card away. Hit him? She could not even bring herself to say anything harsh. So tomorrow's psychiatry trip would most likely become another iconic scene where Wu Changkong got turned around and defeated.

Gu Yue pushed open the door to the teaching building and happened to run into Lu Menge coming out of her office with a thermos cup in hand. As they passed each other, Gu Yue lowered her voice and said, "Teacher Wu is taking you to psychiatry tomorrow."

Lu Menge stopped in her tracks. She turned to look at Gu Yue, her expression as if someone had smacked the back of her head with a brick. "...What did you say?"

"He took every truth you told him as delusional disorder. Nine-Headed White Tiger, cousin reincarnated from the Silver Dragon King, Di Tian running errands for you—he said those were classic symptoms of dissociative identity disorder."

"He's worried about you." Gu Yue left after saying those three words.

At the end of the corridor came Tang Wulin's voice, with half his head poking out from the stairwell as he greeted, "Hello, Teacher Lu." Lu Menge stood in the middle of the hall holding her thermos cup. The pupils in her fox eyes contracted for an instant. Then she slowly set the cup on the windowsill and took a deep breath. She could not hit him. She could not bear to hit him. But she had to explain this clearly.

She grabbed her thermos cup and headed back to her office. Tomorrow—she wanted to see exactly how he planned to drag her into a psychiatric consultation room.