Wu Zhangkong, the tall silver-haired man, was a teacher at East Sea Academy Middle School and, of course, a strong soul master to qualify as a teacher.
But he had another hidden identity, and for some personal reasons he had become a teacher in this remote place despite his unique background.
After years as a teacher, he suddenly heard a title he hadn’t heard for years from a small, unknown child who looked like a barbarian and had appeared before him out of nowhere.
He quickly spread his mental power around and released pressure from himself as he scanned what was around him to check for enemies if they were found.
He found nothing as he had expected — and they were strong enemies.
Of course, perhaps the enemy was too strong for him to detect, but then what would be the point of sending a child?
He could have waited until he came out and followed him to an empty place before attacking.
So after some thought, he refocused on the child before him.
He could indeed feel he was a one-ring soul master.
Though special among humans, Wu Zhangkong could kill him with a slap now, so he calmed down and asked, “How do you know this title?” Mu Ji Wu replied calmly as usual, “Are you sure you want to talk here?” In truth, after feeling the pressure, Mu Ji Wu thought he was going to kill him, which pleased him a little, but it turned out he didn’t and calmed down instead.
That disappointed him slightly, but he expected it.
His eyes wouldn’t let him walk for a month just to die in the end in such a ridiculous way.
Wu Zhangkong looked around and noticed that because of his handsome face and Mu Ji Wu’s unusual appearance, they had already drawn attention, and some passersby had gathered to watch from afar.
“Come with me,” Wu Zhangkong said, then walked back to the academy.
Mu Ji Wu walked with him directly without asking anything else.
Wu Zhangkong watched him from the corner of his eye to make sure he didn’t run away or try anything funny, and when he saw him walking beside him calmly, he said nothing either.
But he noticed the strange calmness, the lack of emotion, and the child’s dead eyes.
It reminded him of himself a few years ago when his lover died and he felt the world had ended without her.
But the child’s eyes were much deeper than his own.
Even that calm, melancholic face was equally strange.
The two entered the academy, and this time the guards said nothing upon seeing him with a teacher from the academy.
After walking another five minutes, they reached a group of small houses that were clearly meant for the teachers.
Wu Zhangkong opened the door to his house, entered, and Mu Ji Wu followed silently behind him, then he closed the door after he entered.
Wu Zhangkong took off his shoes, and Mu Ji Wu did the same upon seeing Wu Zhangkong already taking his off.
Wu Zhangkong looked at him and said nothing except, “Please, make yourself comfortable,” then walked in from the entrance hall.
The house was a little small but didn’t lack amenities: a sofa, a TV, a small kitchen, a bedroom, and a bathroom.
Mu Ji Wu placed his leather shoes on the shoe rack before following Wu Zhangkong inside, where he found him already sitting on the sofa and gesturing for him to do the same.
Mu Ji Wu sat down, took off his bag, and placed it beside him, then turned toward Wu Zhangkong.
“So, how do you know the title of my battle armor?” Wu Zhangkong asked directly.
“Isn’t your name Sky of Ice?” Mu Ji Wu asked calmly, answering a question with another question.
“My name?
Of course not.
It’s the name of my battle armor.
I’m called Wu Zhangkong.” Wu Zhangkong replied with slight surprise on his face.
The child didn’t even know his name?
“Oh, battle armor?
What’s that?
So your name is Wu Zhangkong?
I’m Mu Ji Wu.” Half of Mu Ji Wu’s first words were out of curiosity before he returned to calmness again.
“Mu Ji Wu?
That’s your name?” Now Wu Zhangkong was shocked by this strange name.
“Yes, that’s me.” “Who gave you this strange name?” “I did.” “Yes?” “I named myself.” “Why give yourself such a name?” “I apologize, Wu Zhangkong, but those are personal details I cannot answer.” Mu Ji Wu said calmly and refused to answer this time.
Only after this refusal did Wu Zhangkong calm down, having been carried away by curiosity about the name.
He recalled Mu Ji Wu’s earlier replies before answering, “Battle armors are something for soul masters of the fifth ring and above.
It doesn’t concern you now.
Now tell me how you know my title but don’t even know my name.” “I don’t know your title.
Rather, I don’t even know you.” Wu Zhangkong thought about his answers and analyzed whether he was mocking him or not, only to notice Mu Ji Wu in front of him calmly opening his bag and taking out an iron pipe.
“Can I smoke here?
Don’t worry, it’s healthy and the smell is pleasant, don’t worry.” Now Mu Ji Wu’s mystery deepened in Wu Zhangkong’s eyes.
A nine-year-old child smoking?
And from a pipe, even?
“Yes,” Wu Zhangkong answered tersely, to see Mu Ji Wu pull a tobacco pouch from his bag and fill the pipe professionally.
Wu Zhangkong smelled the mint and jasmine with his sharp sense of smell, then a match was struck and he lit the pipe, taking a deep breath as if he were in his own home, then exhaled a large cloud of smoke.
Here Wu Zhangkong asked, “You say you don’t know me and don’t know my title, yet you came straight to me as if you were waiting for me, then said it directly to my face.
How am I supposed to believe that?” “Indeed, I don’t know you, but it’s also true that I was waiting for you.” ‘Isn’t that a contradiction?’ Wu Zhangkong thought, and before he could ask again, Mu Ji Wu already spoke.
“I came to this city looking for someone I don’t know, but I could feel him from far away, and the attraction led me to this school.
I didn’t know who it was, but I knew he was in the school.
When I tried to enter to look for you, the guards stopped me.
When I went out, I sat waiting in front of the school in case you came out, and you did.
When I reached you and stood in front of you, I stood thinking about how to tell you this, but the title of your battle armor, as you say, appeared directly in my mind.” Continuing his words, Mu Ji Wu took a puff from the pipe after finishing his speech, leaving Wu Zhangkong to process his words.
‘Attraction to this city led him to me?
I don’t know him.
How did he know me?
Did my teacher send him?
No, he’s not that type, and he definitely wouldn’t send a child.
Most importantly, he said the name of my battle armor appeared in his mind while he doesn’t even know my name.
Attraction… attraction?
His surname is Mu, but I don’t know any family by that name.’ Wu Zhangkong analyzed before asking, “You said attraction led you to this city.
So where are you from, Mu Ji Wu?” “From Leaf Fire City.” “Leaf Fire City?
Where is it?” There was no idea of this city in Wu Zhangkong’s memory.
“I don’t know either.
I don’t memorize maps, but I walked for about a month and a half before I got here.” Mu Ji Wu thought a little, then answered.
“A month and a half?
Walking on foot?” “Yes and yes.” “What’s the reason you didn’t ride the soul train or the soul bus?” “I didn’t know where you were before I arrived or which city it was.
I couldn’t travel blindly, and I’m poor.
I couldn’t afford it.” “What about your family?” Mu Ji Wu took a deep puff from the pipe this time and didn’t answer immediately.
Wu Zhangkong didn’t push him either, because from his experience he noticed that all the previous answers were true without deception, even if they were terse.
Mu Ji Wu opened his mouth and a large cloud poured out, covering his face, and with it came the reply: “Dead.
Everyone’s dead.” By ‘everyone’ he meant his wife and his wife’s family at that time, since he had been an orphan before he married.
That family had welcomed him and been warm.
Wu Zhangkong felt a shiver from the calm, emotionless, melancholic voice and from the answer as well, as the smoke cloud dispersed from Mu Ji Wu’s face to reveal a few tears falling from his eyes.
“I apologize for this,” he apologized immediately for opening another person’s wounds.
“It’s alright.
It happened a long time ago.
I can say you lost someone important too.” This time shock appeared on Wu Zhangkong’s face from the steady, calm reply that revealed some of his past.
And now he could put his finger on that strange feeling he got from the child after this answer: what child speaks with such calm and has such composed, proper speech at the same time and can also analyze the feelings of those around him?
And the phrase ‘it happened a long time ago’ — how old was he, anyway?
Wu Zhangkong nodded and didn’t explain details himself either.
A minute passed before Wu Zhangkong decided to ask again, “So what attracted you, or how did you sense my presence?
Why me?” “First, I don’t know.
When I was lost, I felt I had to go east, and then here I am.
How did I sense you?
It’s my eyes.
They’re my martial soul.
Why you?
I don’t know either.
I arrived hoping you might know, but it seems you don’t.” As he finished his words, his yellow soul ring rose, and at the same time his dead eyes glowed to become a calm dark blue.
Watching this, Wu Zhangkong’s sitting posture changed with shock on his face: “A body martial soul?
And eyes too?!
How weren’t you taken to the Soul Pagoda when you awakened?” The shock was clear in Wu Zhangkong’s questions.
Body martial souls were rare, especially this eye spirit that belonged to the legendary Huo Yuhao.
“Hmm, yes, a body martial soul, as you say.
As for the last question, that’s personal information and I’m sorry, I don’t trust you yet to tell you.” Mu Ji Wu answered directly, without lying or flattery in his words.
That wasn’t his nature.
“Hmm, I apologize for losing my composure now.
So your eyes led you to me?
I understand this probably relates to your personal secrets.
I won’t ask more about it.” Wu Zhangkong said after regaining his senses.
“But you can.
You’re the one my eyes led me to.
Right now I’m a homeless pauper with no clothes, as you see, and since I can’t die, we have to understand each other and get at least some initial trust.” Mu Ji Wu’s calm but logical reply, unsuitable for a child, shocked Wu Zhangkong, and indeed after analyzing Mu Ji Wu he found it was as he described himself.
But he didn’t focus on ‘I can’t die’ and understood it as ‘I don’t want to die’ instead of scrutinizing it.
“Alright then.
You said the name of my armor appeared directly in your mind when we met?
Was it from your eyes too?” Mu Ji Wu thought a little before answering, “That’s possible.
Your analysis is good.” Wu Zhangkong nodded when he noticed that even Mu Ji Wu didn’t know the answer before asking, “How did you get your first ring?
What is your first ability?” Wu Zhangkong knew it was rude to ask any soul master about this because the ability should be secret, otherwise he’d die faster in battle if exposed.
But at the same time, he was testing Mu Ji Wu’s information.
“How I got it is personal like before.
The ability is physical enhancement that makes me stronger.
I don’t know how much compared to a soul master, but yes, my body just becomes stronger.” “Physical enhancement with an eye spirit?” Wu Zhangkong asked directly with some confusion.
“Strange, right?
I don’t know either why, but partly it’s personal and I won’t reveal it.” Mu Ji Wu wouldn’t tell someone he’d just met about the inheritance and the cave, even if the eyes guided him.
Wu Zhangkong nodded and got a preliminary understanding of Mu Ji Wu before him, and felt any further progress had to come with time, so he decided to end the interrogation between them finally: “So what do you need now that I can help you with?
I’ll see what I can do, especially since you’re honest, particularly about the strange guidance.” “Hmm, I want a legal identity.
I have no civil records.
Maybe it’s difficult or easy, I don’t know.
Since I was guided to the school and you’re a teacher, help me become a student in the class you teach, but I don’t have what the guards called a recommendation.
So help me.
Finally, let me stay here until school starts and see the dormitory.” “I understand.
That’s all, then.
You can stay here.
I have some business outside, but you stopped me.
I’ll finish it and come back later, and I’ll see about the identity issue.
Don’t worry about entry either.
Leave that to me.” Wu Zhangkong didn’t want to miss the chance of a student with a mysterious eye spirit like this either, and he seized the opportunity.
The requests weren’t difficult, especially since he was a member of the powerful Tang Sect.
The identity issue was easy.
“Thank you, Wu Zhangkong.
No, Teacher Wu from now on, since you’re my homeroom teacher.” Mu Ji Wu said calmly.
True, he was an old man of 155 years, but respecting a teacher, no matter his age, was duty.
As long as he taught you something useful, you had to respect him.
“It’s rude to address an elder by his full name, Mu Ji Wu.” “How old are you, Teacher Wu?” “Twenty-nine this year.” He replied calmly.
“Then you’re still younger than me.
No need for me to be respectful when talking to someone younger than me.” “What?” Wu Zhangkong felt strangeness from his answer but left the strange child in the end because he needed to go out.
With his departure, Mu Ji Wu remained in the house.
At least he wouldn’t be alone for the coming days.