“Your lip…” Sakurai Mei’s mind started heading in a not-so-good direction.
Su Mo was stunned for a second, then touched his lip and realized it was bleeding.
Oh no, Qingyi must have been too rough and bit me till it bled.
What to do?
Su Mo’s mind raced, and he quickly decided to play along with it.
He immediately pursed his lips, putting on a pitiful look: “Sister Mei, it’s Su Mo, he bullied me…”
“Su Mo?” Sakurai Mei was confused. “Vice Leader Nishimura said they were from Goryeo.”
Su Mo shook his head. “They are from Goryeo, that’s right, but Su Mo was mixed in with them too, and Ye Qingyi as well. Their two sides cooperated: one wanted to assassinate Vice Leader Nishimura, the other wanted to capture me and take me back. When I fell into the water, I originally wanted to grab that jerk and drag him down with me, thinking it would make Ye Qingyi mad, since we’d die together. But I didn’t expect…”
He wiped at his reddened eyes, suddenly looking shy: “I didn’t expect him to start biting me…”
“Huh?” Sakurai Mei’s eyes widened in shock, her brain struggling to process this. “Biting… biting you… So you guys were making out underwater, is that it!?”
Su Mo hung his head low. “Sister Mei, do you think he might still like me? I mean, he looked so passionate at that moment.”
Sakurai Mei looked at him with a mix of frustration and pity. She grabbed Su Mo’s shoulders and shook him, advising earnestly: “Oh, my dear Chiba, what kind of love potion did that guy give you? After everything, you still can’t give up on him? I don’t believe you can’t see that he… he bit you just to make you feel sorry for him and let him go.”
She got more worked up as she spoke: “If you like handsome guys, I could introduce you to Kusanagi Kurenai… no, wait, he’s even more of a player… Anyway, there are so many men in the world, why are you so obsessed with just him?”
Su Mo stayed silent, head down, as if struggling with it, or maybe just being shy. Actually, he was thinking about how he was going to spin this story to Nishimura Koishi later.
Meanwhile, Ye Qingyi had also made it to the opposite shore. As soon as she got out, she burst out laughing, “Hahaha,” but strangely, tears kept streaming down her face.
“Aish…” The woman who tore off her veil was Ye Qingyu. She stared suspiciously at her sister’s face, not understanding how she could make that expression that was both crying and laughing.
In her mind, Ye Qingyi was replaying beating Su Mo up at least eight hundred times, not understanding where he got such a bizarre ability. It was just too ridiculously overpowered.
But because Su Mo had held back the power of the Jade Maiden Floating Finger technique, she returned to normal after a while.
Ye Qingyu and the others didn’t know the reason, but they figured it must have something to do with Su Mo, so they didn’t ask.
“Everyone acted really well today, especially Liao Yu. Your Goryeo was so fluent, really living up to your two and a half years as a trainee over there.” Ye Qingyu commented.
Liao Yu’s face stiffened. “It was two years, not two and a half.”
“Didn’t you also play basketball for half a year?”
“Alright…” Liao Yu accepted this fact bitterly.
“Sis, let’s stop chatting, or they might catch up,” Ye Qingyi reminded her at the right moment.
Ye Qingyu glanced at the other side of the bridge and smiled disdainfully. “As long as Satoe isn’t there, none of them are a threat.”
With that, she led the members of the Qingyu Society away.
…
“Vice Leader Nishimura, I’ve come to confess my faults and beg for your forgiveness!” Su Mo had blood at the corner of his mouth, and his whole body bore the marks of battle, clearly showing he’d been through a lot.
Nishimura Koishi looked puzzled. “You risked your life to save me, then single-handedly held off that group of Goryeo thugs. What fault could you possibly have?”
“First fault, my own strength is too weak, I failed to capture the thugs. Second fault, I was too soft-hearted… I let Su Mo go.”
“Su Mo?” Nishimura Koishi was startled. “Su Mo was among them?”
“Yes, those thugs weren’t just from Goryeo. Su Mo, Ye Qingyi, and their people were there too. I originally wanted to drag Su Mo down with me, but we… we did love each other once. In the end, I was soft-hearted and let him go.”
Nishimura Koishi suddenly understood: So that’s why some were speaking Chinese, some Goryeo.
He then sighed to himself: This Chiba Masuka is pretty decisive when killing, but who knew she was such a love-struck fool.
But it didn’t matter; as long as she could be used, everything was fine.
He said with a smile: “As you said, you once loved each other. Letting him go actually shows you value loyalty and love. I remember there’s a book in the Xia Kingdom called ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms,’ and doesn’t it have a part about Guan Yu letting Cao Cao go for the sake of brotherhood?”
Su Mo’s eye twitched. He thought to himself, ‘That comparison isn’t quite right, seeing as we never actually loved each other…’
“Don’t feel guilty about this. Mei told me you were also the one who found Mad Dog Wang. Adding that to this, your merits far outweigh this small mistake. Just don’t let it happen again, and your credit remains intact.”
Su Mo said gratefully, “Thank you, Vice Leader Nishimura.”
Nishimura Koishi smiled, telling him not to stand on ceremony, that they were all on the same team.
This time, there was no mysterious phone call, and nothing else popped up to bother him. Taking advantage of his recent breakthrough, Su Mo successfully condensed his third Jade Seed in one go – the Wood Attribute Jade Seed.
Among the five internal organs, the liver represents wood, so Su Mo’s liver also underwent a significant evolution and improvement.
He was now a Snow Mountain Realm cultivator with four Snow Mountains. Just the number of Snow Mountains alone already surpassed most experts at the same level.
As for his physical constitution, that had always been his strong suit. Whether it was tearing a car apart with his bare hands or punching a hole in a bridge deck, everything showcased his dominance in physical ability. He was almost unmatched at the same level.
If he had to find a few opponents, it would probably be those Divine Chosen Ones in the Tianjiao Camp and maybe Ye Qingyu from back then.
“No, wait, my Qingyi counts too,” Su Mo muttered to himself, a sweet smile tugging at his lips.
He was now eager to test his strength and see what level he had reached. A rough estimate put him at early B-rank, and Sakurai Mei would be just perfect for a sparring partner.
Speak of the devil, and he doth appear. From outside the door came Sakurai Mei’s voice calling: “Chiba! Come out quickly, I’m taking you somewhere!”
“Coming, coming, hold your horses.” As soon as Su Mo opened the door, he saw Sakurai Mei strike a pose.
Today she was wearing a set of tight martial arts clothes that were both beautiful and sharp-looking. It was obvious they were going to fight again; Su Mo was already used to this.
“So, how do I look? Pretty?”
Su Mo replied flatly: “We’re just going to fight, why change outfits every day?”
Hearing this, Sakurai Mei immediately put on a stern face. “Chiba, sometimes I think you’re a really cute girl, but other times, you’re just like a guy. Not only are you uninterested in the things us girls like, but the way you talk has that straight-guy vibe too.”
Su Mo was taken aback: Is this considered ‘straight-guy’ talk?
Then she continued: “Of course, maybe it’s just my imagination. But I can clearly feel that lately, you’ve become more prone to crying. You tear up so easily, like a little sister next door.”
Su Mo stayed silent: What the heck, ‘little sister next door’? I’m a macho man! Please, call me macho!
Of course, with his current appearance, he definitely couldn’t act like a macho man. But being called a ‘little sister next door’ still made Su Mo feel pretty embarrassed.
Well, he’d been acting a bit intensely lately, and combined with his tendency to cry easily, it was natural for people’s perception of him to change.
Su Mo was taking it pretty philosophically now, without much discomfort.
It’s fine. In Xia Kingdom, I’m the elegant older sister type; what’s wrong with being the ‘little sister next door’ in the Island Nation?
Anyway, in front of Qingyi, I’m still the macho man!