A Honeyed Little Mouth

"Or are you just too sensitive, getting furious over the slightest thing and losing all your composure when you start fighting?"

He leaned forward, a hint of mockery in his narrow eyes, his tone flippant and sarcastic. "Come on, with your strength, the only reason I'm sitting here waiting for you to wake up is because of your teacher. Be honest and grateful. If it were anyone else who got beaten up like that yesterday, they would have been crying in a corner by now, not asking any questions."

Gu Yue pursed her lips, her fingertips tightening slightly.

She admitted that Bai Yushan's words yesterday had indeed struck a chord with her. She had been deliberately suppressing her own power, carefully concealing the Silver Dragon King's essence, and not daring to use her full strength in controlling the elements, for fear of revealing a flaw.

But yesterday, when Bai Yushan dominated her and berated her for "wasting her talent" and "hiding her secrets like a thief," the pride that had been dormant for millennia was actually stirred up.

You can't beat them in a fight, and you can't win an argument with them.

Bai Yushan's words are harder and more venomous than his fists.

But she knew perfectly well that this guy was very careful with his strength. Although she looked injured and disheveled, they were all superficial wounds. Even if there were serious injuries, they would be easily repaired by Leng Yaozhu.

Gu Yue suppressed the complex emotions in her heart and looked up at him. "Yesterday... did you do it on purpose?"

"Intentionally what?" Bai Yushan raised an eyebrow, looking completely matter-of-fact. "Intentionally beat you up? What else would I do? Play house with you, give you a couple of light taps, like tickling you?"

He scoffed, his tone full of disdain. "Your combat awareness is like that of a toddler learning to walk. You use your elements haphazardly, and even though you have a treasure in your hand, you just throw it around randomly. Is your brain just there to make up the numbers?"

"Seriously, Gu Yue," Bai Yushan's tone turned serious for half a second, then he put on that smug smile again, "If this is all you're capable of, don't go out and say you're my senior sister. You'll be too embarrassed. People who don't know better will think our teacher taught you terribly."

Gu Yue took a deep breath and told herself not to bother with this madman.

She stood up, stretched her limbs, and circulated her Soul Power throughout her body. It was indeed much smoother than before, and even her elemental perception had become more acute. The exhilarating battle yesterday had actually brought her more improvement than she had in just half a month of intensive cultivation.

"Let's do it again." Gu Yue looked at Bai Yushan, her eyes serious.

Bai Yushan chuckled as if he'd heard a joke, "Another round? You just woke up and you're already looking for a beating? You're that addicted?"

"What, you don't dare?" Gu Yue deliberately provoked him.

Bai Yushan laughed as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world. He crossed his arms and laughed louder and louder, his eyes almost overflowing with mockery.

"Don't dare? I'm afraid I won't know my own strength and knock you out again, and then the teacher will nag me for bullying someone."

He glanced at Gu Yue from head to toe, his gaze sweeping from her pale lips to her trembling fingertips. He slowly shook his head. "You too, couldn't you have just woken up and been quiet for a while? Why did you have to come here looking for a beating? Did you enjoy being beaten up yesterday and get addicted? I really didn't expect you to be a masochist? Does your teacher know about this?"

As soon as she finished speaking, a cold glint appeared in Gu Yue's eyes. Without uttering a single word, she raised her right hand, and the wind element in her palm instantly compressed and condensed, the pale blue air currents spinning at high speed, emitting a sharp whistling sound.

"Wind Cannon."

As the two cold words fell, a wind column half a meter thick shot out with a roar, so fast that it left only a blur, heading straight for Bai Yushan's face.

Bai Yushan raised an eyebrow, clearly not expecting her to attack so suddenly. He subconsciously activated his Wave-Skimming Mist-Treading Steps, sliding half a foot to the side and back. The wind grazed his shoulder, whipping his black hair into a frenzy. But the Wind Cannon continued its momentum, crashing straight into the wooden door of the lounge.

"Bang--!"

The solid wood door was blasted into pieces, with wood chips flying everywhere. Bai Yushan was also pushed back two steps by the aftershock, landing right on the balcony outside the door.

"Tsk, are you serious?" He patted the sawdust off his shoulder, not annoyed at all, but with an even more smug grin. "Getting all worked up over a few words, you're really sensitive. Fine, fine, I'll go out, okay?"

Gu Yue's face was cold, wind elements still swirling around her fingertips, her eyes clearly saying "Get lost."

Bai Yushan shrugged, didn't take the stairs, turned around, grabbed the balcony railing, and jumped. After landing, he looked up once more and shouted at Gu Yue at the balcony entrance, "With such a temper, you'll never get married!"

His response was a whistling wind Wind Blade that grazed his ear and embedded itself in the tree trunk.

Bai Yushan chuckled, hands in his pockets, and swaggered towards the main dining room of the manor, muttering, "Can't even make a joke? Really..."

Lunch was a nutritious meal specially arranged by Leng Yaozhu, with ingredients mixed with mild natural herbs, just enough to replenish the energy and blood consumed by the two of them in yesterday's battle.

Gu Yue sat at the dining table with a tense expression throughout, picking at the rice in her bowl with her chopsticks, her eyes occasionally glancing at Bai Yushan across from her, who was wolfing down his food, a hint of unspoken frustration in her eyes.

Bai Yushan, however, ate with relish, as if he hadn't just been kicked out of the room. He gnawed on a piece of animal leg meat and mumbled, "Teacher, what's the special training this afternoon? I can't possibly fight her again, can I? Beating up weaklings doesn't help me improve."

Leng Yaozhu put down her soup spoon, wiped her lips with a napkin, and said calmly, "This afternoon, we'll go to the underground training ground and arrange targeted training for each of you."

Bai Yushan's eyes lit up. "A fight?"

"Yes," Leng Yaozhu glanced at him, "But not at me, nor at Yue'er."

Gu Yue raised her head, a hint of curiosity in her eyes.

After finishing their meal and resting for half an hour, Leng Yaozhu led the two deeper into the manor. Passing through a neatly manicured garden, they pushed open a hidden alloy gate, descended three flights of stairs, and a heavy metal gate appeared before them.

Leng Yaozhu flicked a wisp of golden-red flame from her fingertip, which landed on the sensor area of the gate. The gate emitted a low hum and slowly slid open to both sides.

Leng Yaozhu stopped in front of a huge light screen and turned to look at Gu Yue: "Yue'er, your Martial Soul is the Elementalist, which controls six elements. You are exceptionally talented. However, your current use of the elements is still at the level of 'manipulation,' far from 'fusion' and 'transformation.'"

She raised her hand and lightly tapped the screen, and countless streams of data swept across it, quickly displaying thumbnails of hundreds of battle videos.

"Since its establishment, the Spirit Pagoda has collected countless combat records of Soul Master across the continent. Every Soul Master who enters the Spirit Ascension Platform or the Soul Spirit Tower has their combat habits, move combinations, and elemental application skills recorded and archived by the system. These records include the combat records of all renowned elemental Soul Master from the past thousand years."