“Jin Zhi Bird is a species unique to the northern part of the Federation. The silk it spits from its mouth can be made into exquisite colorful garments, which is why many merchants breed them…”
On the podium, the Illusion Spirit Recognition teacher was spitting everywhere as he lectured.
Below the podium, the students, dressed in thick cotton clothes against the cold air, were dozing off.
Of course, not all the students were catching up on sleep during the first period this early morning.
At least four students were exchanging furtive glances, communicating something silently.
Su Xing: “Psst psst!”
(Let’s go, didn’t we just agree to skip class?)
Kui Yin: “Psst… pssst…”
(Are we really going to skip? Skipping class isn’t a good idea…)
Ka Ka: “Psst pssst!”
(The teacher just turned around!)
Evensel: “Psst—”
(Let’s go quickly.)
Finally, led by Su Xing, the group took advantage of the moment when the teacher turned his back to write on the blackboard and quietly waddled out of the classroom.
Ever since their last escapade of skipping class to explore the campus and getting reprimanded, Su Xing and the others hadn’t acted recklessly for a long time.
So why did they want to skip class this time?
That traced back to what Ai Wei’er had said yesterday.
“You’re saying Victor wants to snipe… snipe at us?”
After hearing Su Xing’s words, Kui Yin asked in shock, “How can they coincidentally line up against us in the midterms and our arena match at the same time?”
Su Xing’s expression was full of indignation: “I thought about it all night. Normally, the Spirit Domain Academy wouldn’t accept bribes, so the only explanation is…”
“You mean the teachers are doing this on purpose?”
Ka Ka also caught the implied meaning behind Su Xing’s words.
Widening his eyes, disbelief covered his face: “Why would they do such a thing?”
Evensel, on the other hand, had already figured it out and coldly explained, “The purpose of the midterm solo arena matches isn’t about winning or losing, but about how much strength we can demonstrate. So the teachers try their best to arrange evenly matched opponents.”
“Evenly matched?”
Ka Ka immediately brightened up, filled with fighting spirit: “The teachers actually have such high hopes for me? I won’t let them down!”
“You idiot!”
Su Xing lost his patience and smacked Ka Ka on the head.
“Think realistically before you say anything!”
Ka Ka hugged his head and cried out, then shut up with teary eyes.
The Feng Jun in Su Xing’s arms laughed wildly at this scene, only to receive a headbutt from Su Xing as well.
Evensel didn’t even glance at these two goofs and sneered, “If anyone tries to snipe me, I’ll make sure they regret it!”
Su Xing said solemnly, “Although your martial arts are impressive, Illusion Spirit power is ultimately your weakness. I think…”
At that moment, Su Xing suddenly recalled something and revealed a strange smile: “Speaking of which, you haven’t told me how you dealt with that thing that wiped out the Xisai Road in the Spirit Source Notebook space!”
Evensel and the others looked at each other.
It wasn’t that they didn’t want to say, they just forgot.
Judging by their expressions, Su Xing understood the situation and guessed, “That flash of white light I saw in the tornado must have been your Illusion Spirit, Evensel, right?”
This was the conclusion she had come to after thinking for a long time yesterday on the road.
That white light should be similar to Xisai Road’s — coming from Evensel’s body.
Though incredible, Su Xing couldn’t help but associate it with Evensel’s Illusion Spirit, Zero.
That little ghost was also white, which was suspicious.
Evensel’s expression stiffened for a moment, then he lowered his voice: “Let’s talk somewhere else.”
Su Xing nodded, knowing this matter was very secretive and unsuitable to discuss where anyone could walk in at any time.
Su Xing led the three to the girls’ dormitory, which was closer to the teaching building and less likely to be discovered.
The three boys weren’t interested in the girls’ dormitory; at most, Ka Ka was a little curious since it was his first time there, but he behaved and didn’t look around indiscriminately.
Once inside Su Xing’s dorm and the door closed, Evensel began to explain the situation.
After listening, Su Xing was inexplicably shocked: “You’re saying Zero can absorb people’s souls?”
Evensel nodded with a pale face: “For now, it can only absorb souls of those who recently died, or souls like Xisai Road’s that preserve themselves. But in the future…”
He hesitated for a moment: “I’m not sure if it can absorb living souls.”
Su Xing fell silent, finally understanding why Evensel hadn’t revealed this.
Absorbing souls—that’s such an evil word.
Even if he hadn’t done anything, it would be hard not to arouse fear and jealousy.
In fact, if it weren’t for everything they’d been through, Su Xing probably would have reported him as soon as she stepped out of the dorm.
Evensel obviously understood this too, and there was a rare cautiousness in his demeanor.
Su Xing’s long silence made Ka Ka and Kui Yin a bit anxious.
“Su… Su Xing, Evensel has never done anything bad, you know that,” Kui Yin couldn’t help but say.
Ka Ka immediately agreed: “Yeah! Evensel wouldn’t use this ability for evil!”
Su Xing looked at them amusedly: “Did I say anything?”
Then she turned serious, looking at Evensel: “I’m touched you’re willing to tell me this, but I still need to evaluate Zero’s danger before making any decisions. After Zero absorbed Xisai Road’s soul, was there any change?”
Evensel nodded: “Yes. Zero awakened Death God Mode.”
He summoned Zero.
Zero looked the same as always—like a piece of white cloth with facial features cut out, draped over an invisible head.
Evensel commanded, “Death God Mode!”
The next second, Zero’s entire body was wrapped in a black, indescribable smoky mist, then transformed completely black, holding a simple little sickle in its hand.
The whole Illusion Spirit looked like an adorable Death God doll.
Su Xing: …
Just changed color, got a weapon, and… became even cuter?
“Pfft!” She couldn’t help but laugh.
Evensel immediately glared at her: “That’s just the initial form. Because Xisai Road’s soul was too weak, it only activated Zero’s new form but didn’t strengthen it.”
He paused, then continued sharing his discovery: “Zero’s Death God Mode can attack souls. Right now, it only causes some mental pain, but the damage in the future will definitely not be insignificant!”
Su Xing suppressed her smile and said bluntly: “But to let Zero advance further, it will need to absorb more souls, right?”
Evensel lowered his head, voice unusually low: “So be it.”
“No, no! What if there are other cases like Xisai Road?”
Ka Ka shouted.
“Shh—”
Kui Yin immediately covered Ka Ka’s mouth: “Q-quiet!”
Evensel shook his head calmly: “You said it yourself, it’s only ‘what if’.”
“Ah… then what do we do?”
Usually optimistic Ka Ka surprisingly fell into despair.
Evensel rolled his eyes: “I was strong before without an Illusion Spirit, right? If it’s useless, then it’s useless. I don’t need it.”
Though he said this, Su Xing clearly saw a trace of loss in his eyes.
Hearing their master say this, Zero became even more despondent, deactivating Death God Mode and drooping sadly on the desk.
Su Xing couldn’t help but pat Zero’s “head.”
Then Feng Jun angrily pulled her hand back and hugged her warmly.
Su Xing cleared her throat: “Cough, don’t be so pessimistic. No big deal. Someday, we’ll go to the Zhao Tomb or the Crematorium and see if we can find anything.”
“Right!”
Ka Ka suddenly enlightened: “We can do that!”
Light flickered in Evensel’s eyes as well.
However, Kui Yin thought of another problem: “If souls aren’t absorbed, do they dissipate into the heavens and earth, or… reincarnate? If it’s reincarnation, then forcibly absorbing someone else’s dead soul is no different from murder, right?”
This was a question no one had thought of before.
Once Kui Yin brought it up, the three immediately fell into a painful silence.
Ka Ka wailed: “What do we do? Should we ask the teachers how to solve this?”
“No…”
Kui Yin was about to say this shouldn’t be told to the teachers, but Su Xing agreed: “We can ask.”
“Huh?”
Kui Yin looked at Su Xing in surprise.
Su Xing explained: “I’m asking what happens to souls after death, not about Evensel’s Illusion Spirit.”
The four were in agreement and planned to ask the homeroom teacher, Aidra, after class.
Originally, Su Xing could have gone alone, but Ka Ka and the others didn’t feel at ease and followed her.
“What happens to souls after death?”
Aidra pushed up her square-framed glasses and scrutinized the four kids in front of her.
“Why do you want to ask this question?”
Su Xing took out a prepared excuse: “We got tricked by Xisai Road this time, right? He died long ago but his soul still remained, so we got curious.”
As the homeroom teacher, Aidra had already learned the details of the incident from Meini and Norman.
Although the students weren’t supposed to know about this, teachers had the right to know.
Though she understood the four were innocent victims, she was still annoyed they never thought to report the danger to the teachers.
Hearing this, Aidra immediately lost her temper: “You dare bring this up? Did you write your reflections? If not, add one thousand words each!”
Su Xing immediately took out the reflection she had hurriedly written last night and respectfully handed it to the teacher.
“Teacher, I have deeply realized my mistakes, so I stayed up late last night to finish a few reflections. I hope you won’t be angry. Next time, I will come to you first and won’t act so impulsively.”
Hearing such sincere apologies, plus Su Xing’s neat three-thousand-word reflection, Aidra visibly softened.
Kui Yin and Evensel seized the opportunity and respectfully submitted their reflections behind Su Xing.
Riding on Su Xing’s goodwill, Aidra didn’t make things difficult for them.
Finally, all four of their gazes turned toward Ka Ka.
Oh no!