"My master went with the Sect Master to Sea God Island for a meeting about the campaign against the Overseas Alliance, so naturally, he isn't here with me."
"Besides... I suppose I sneaked out."
A trace of dejection flashed through Li Shaobai's eyes, but he explained with a smile.
"But you... you said you graduated from West Sea Academy, so why are you mixed up with Sea Soul Masters?"
"And what that man said just now..." Li Shaobai narrowed his eyes, a sharp glint flashing in their depths.
"You seem to have some connection to the Sea Soul Masters' so-called Alliance Leader."
The atmosphere immediately turned awkward.
Xiao Wu's tender pink face showed a hint of nervousness. There really was something wrong with her identity, but it had nothing to do with Sea Soul Masters!
Even she knew that six years ago, the Sea Soul Masters had launched surprise attacks, striking at talented Soul Masters from the continent's major powers on a massive scale.
The various continental powers had made enemies of the Sea Soul Masters. Being connected to them at a time like this would mean big trouble.
Xiao Wu! Think!
Fighting him was out of the question. She was only a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster; she stood no chance against a Soul Ancestor like him.
Good grief, how did these humans cultivate? Shouldn't they be Soul Elders at most at this age?
Quick, use that clever bunny brain of yours! How could she bluff her way through this without bringing her real identity into it?
"How should I know?!"
Suddenly, Xiao Wu stiffened her delicate neck and shouted.
"I've had enough bad luck already! I finally graduated and was going to find my little brothers. I was just eating carrots and singing when those Sea Soul Masters kidnapped me!"
"I'm a helpless girl, and an orphan at that! It was hard enough for me to survive, and now you're suspecting me!"
"You're such a... such a huge jerk, a big villain, a turtle-spawn bastard!"
"I thought you read Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng's novels too, and I wanted to share a few books with you! Waaaah!"
This time, she really cried.
Watching Xiao Wu bawl at the top of her lungs, her tear-streaked face like pear blossoms in the rain, Li Shaobai's lips twitched slightly, but he was thinking:
Were Yu Tiansheng's novels... really that appealing?
She even had to mention them while crying.
As a fellow disciple of the Upper Three Sects, he often heard his Sect Master chanting the slogan, "The Upper Three Sects share one breath, branches of the same tree."
Naturally, Li Shaobai knew the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's twin geniuses and was on fairly good terms with them. He also knew about Yu Tiansheng's little hobby.
He even had a few "signed editions" himself.
"Forget it. You can go."
As a swordsman, Li Shaobai had his own pride. He had little interest in a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster like Xiao Wu.
"Really, great genius?!" Xiao Wu looked at Li Shaobai with delighted surprise.
Had she bluffed her way through?!
"Yes. I hope we won't be enemies the next time we meet."
Li Shaobai waved, signaling for Xiao Wu to leave quickly.
"...Hmph!"
Xiao Wu had intended to leave straight away, but those words instantly displeased her.
Sister Xiao Wu could be accused of not being human, but she absolutely could not be accused of colluding with that bunch of Sea Soul Master scum.
Besides, even when facing someone stronger, Sister Xiao Wu still had the right to hiss!
"My name is Xiao Wu, and I originally came from a small village near Nuoding City. If Nuoding Academy hadn't suffered a plague six years ago, you might never even have met me!"
"Look! I have a Soul Master certificate issued by Spirit Hall! I even collected a Soul Master allowance from Spirit Hall every month!"
"How could I possibly have anything to do with those stinking Sea Soul Masters?!"
"Since you saved Sister Xiao Wu, Sister Xiao Wu won't hold this against you!"
Having tossed out those words, Xiao Wu walked away, her ponytail swinging.
"..."
"I suppose that makes us even."
Watching the pink figure leave, Li Shaobai fell silent for a moment before chuckling.
If she really had nothing to do with the Sea Soul Masters, helping her and suspecting her canceled each other out.
They probably would not meet again.
"But a great genius?"
Turning over the term he had heard all his life, Li Shaobai gave a bitter smile.
"Compared to that person from Spirit Hall, I hardly count as a genius."
"Right! I should have asked whether she'd heard anything about that Soul Master skilled in sword control!"
Li Shaobai slapped his thigh. Remembering why he had come to Phanos Province gave him something of a headache.
"But judging by his trail, he seems to be heading to Star Dou Great Forest. Oh well, I'll go try my luck."
"A Soul Elder skilled in sword control. If I can gain insight into his swordsmanship, perhaps I can find a breakthrough on my own path of swordsmanship."
"Just wait, Dugu Feng. The next time we fight, I'll definitely make you draw your sword!"
A short while later, at a carriage service in a nearby town.
Li Shaobai and Xiao Wu looked at each other, both speechless.
"Owner, I want to charter a carriage! I need to get to Star Dou Great Forest as fast as possible!"
Carrying bags of snacks, large and small, with a carrot between her lips, Xiao Wu spoke to the owner with a disgruntled expression.
"..." Looking at the girl's furious expression, Li Shaobai was speechless too.
He had thought they wouldn't meet again.
"Um... Miss Wu, are you going to Star Dou Great Forest too? You don't seem to have broken through to level thirty."
"Can't I go find my little brothers?"
After some thought, Li Shaobai took a book with an ornate cover from his Storage Soul Tool and said:
"Uh, speaking of which, I have a novel personally signed by Yu... Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng that I'm planning to sell."
"I wonder if anyone in this town would be interested?"
Li Shaobai had intended to turn the page on today's encounter with the Sea Soul Masters, but since they had run into each other and happened to share a destination, he might as well investigate more thoroughly.
After all, this concerned that mysterious Alliance Leader.
They say that back then, Dugu Feng's master, Spirit Hall's Great Enshrined Qian Daoliu, personally went to Sea God Island, the Sea Soul Masters' holy land.
He demanded that Sea God Island's High Priest answer for the Sea Soul Masters' mass attacks on the continent's geniuses, though the matter ultimately came to nothing.
But the investigation still uncovered a particular faction among the overseas Soul Masters that called itself the Alliance, was hostile to the continent, and intended to provoke conflict between sea and land.
Yet even with Spirit Hall and the Upper Three Sects working together, they found no trace of the Alliance Leader those Sea Soul Masters spoke of. They didn't even have a portrait.
Perhaps I can find some information about that Alliance Leader through this Miss Xiao Wu and her mysterious background.
The black-robed Sea Soul Master's words flashed through Li Shaobai's mind. Casually leafing through the book in his hand, he silently apologized to Yu Tiansheng.
After all, if he could find information about the Alliance Leader, that would count as avenging Yu Tiansheng's older male cousin, Yu Tianxin.
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