Chapter 67: Mentor Hu Tu
Thousand-Charm Fox Lady Bai Lianrou? So this letter is meant for Si Ran?
Si Er stared curiously at the completely dead black butterfly.
This butterfly is huge—almost like a bat. But how does it deliver messages?
There doesn’t seem to be any letter or paper on it at all.
Another red-robed mentor walked over in the corridor. He formed a few hand seals over the black butterfly’s corpse, and a man’s voice emerged from it.
“Ranran, it’s me. I’m your third uncle—and also your biological father. You should already know that, right?”
“I didn’t clean things up properly. I failed to kill that little bastard, and that ended up hurting you. I hope you won’t blame me.”
“I did it all so you could have a better future. The City Lord’s Manor is far superior to our Third Branch in every way.”
“But don’t worry. I’ll make up for my mistake and kill that bastard who never should have existed.”
“Your mother is a very gentle and beautiful woman. She loves you just as much as I do.”
“Mentor Hu Tu of Black Tortoise Academy is one of your mother’s admirers. He’ll help you get rid of that bastard who shouldn’t exist.”
Hearing Third Master Si call him “bastard” over and over, Si Er wasn’t angry at all.
He was born to his real parents in a proper marriage—his identity couldn’t be more legitimate.
If anyone was a bastard, that would be Si Ran! The illegitimate child of a married playboy and an unmarried social butterfly. If his status weren’t shameful, would Si “Poker Face” have needed to swap him with Si Ran in the first place?
Si Er really didn’t know how that man’s brain worked. Wasn’t he afraid that every time he said “bastard,” he was stabbing straight into Si Ran’s heart?
And why would he even bring up Bai Lianrou asking her admirers for help? Is that something to be proud of?
Oh right—in the world of sea kings and sea queens, that is something worth boasting about.
How ridiculous. No wonder in that script Si Ran was also a sea king—runs in the family.
But what’s with this Mentor Hu Tu? Is he really as muddle-headed as his name suggests, agreeing to murder and silencing witnesses?
The other mentors found it strange as well. Black Tortoise Academy had very strict standards for selecting mentors—how could someone like that have been chosen?
Ohhh, the current Mentor Hu Tu isn’t the original Hu Tu anymore. He’s already been possessed by the Insect Clan.
The Insect Clan even knows the script laid down by the foreign Heavenly Dao. They’ll fully support Si Ran, waiting for his family of four to turn the Ten Thousand Beasts Continent upside down before swooping in to reap the benefits.
The mentors struggled to keep their expressions steady, doing their best not to reveal their shock, but inside their hearts, waves were crashing violently.
A mentor had already been possessed?
The original Mentor Hu Tu was an insect enthusiast. Most of his soul pets were insects—that’s how the Insect Clan found an opening.
Sigh… the ones capable of possession are mostly high-level Insect Clan members, and those are easily mistaken for high-grade soul pets.
On top of that, the foreign Heavenly Dao taught them a secret technique to simulate soul resonance. How many experts must have fallen for this?
After all, if someone takes a liking to a supposedly high-grade soul pet and the other side immediately resonates with them—who could resist that?
Those soul-pet masters who contracted with the Insect Clan probably all thought it was a match made in heaven.
Several mentors: …
Thinking about it that way, it really made sense. If they encountered a suspiciously high-grade soul pet and achieved instant soul resonance, they would also believe it was heaven-sent fate.
Let me think… is there a way to identify someone who’s been possessed?
The mentors focused completely, standing ready. If Si Er could come up with a method, that would be ideal. If not, they would have to figure it out themselves.
Si Er had already provided them with a great deal of information—they couldn’t rely on him for everything.
After complete possession, because a human cultivator’s body is fragile and still can’t contain baleful energy, the Insect Clan looks no different from a normal person.
They crave baleful energy mentally, but the body truly can’t absorb it.
Oh, right—their soul-power fluctuations are different from those of normal humans!
If you use a Soul-Testing Stone, you can detect it.
Too bad no one walks around carrying a Soul-Testing Stone all day. Otherwise, just passing by Mentor Hu Tu would expose the problem.
The Insect Clan’s soul-power fluctuations differ not only from humans, but also from beasts and plants—they’re actually very similar to baleful beasts!
Hearing this, the mentors’ eyes lit up. Heh—did that mean they could just treat the possessed ones as baleful beasts and beat them to death?
Of course, before acting, they still had to confirm whether Mentor Hu Tu’s original soul was still there. If it was, there might still be hope.
“All right, Student Si Er. Leave this to the other mentors for now. Let’s head back and continue class.”
Lin Zhihui brought Si Er back to the classroom and gave him several extra sets of materials for making talisman paper, each set different, telling him to try multiple approaches.
He had noticed that talismans Si Er drew on ordinary talisman paper were already very effective, but still not as good as those drawn on paper Si Er made himself.
As for why the talismans drawn on Lu Taiping’s talisman block were also exceptionally powerful, Lin Zhihui couldn’t figure it out.
He didn’t plan to figure it out either. That talisman block was simply too eye-searing—and probably hard to replicate. Lin Zhihui had no intention of letting Lu Taiping make another one like it.
But Lu Taiping was eager! Earlier, he had secretly run to the classroom window to watch Si Er’s experiments and had seen, with his own eyes, Si Er using that talisman block to smash a messenger butterfly to death from far away.
That messenger butterfly’s level wasn’t low at all!
Lu Taiping had never imagined that such a powerful talisman could be drawn on something he’d made that ugly. He wanted another one!
Near the end of class, Yu Beixuan completed three more defensive talismans, and Si Er drew two more of his own.
After further testing, Lin Zhihui discovered that only Yu Beixuan’s dark-attribute defensive talismans were usable—and only by him. Others couldn’t use them and might even suffer backlash.
Si Er’s defensive talismans, on the other hand, could be used by everyone—except those with dark attributes.
This left Yu Beixuan feeling extremely aggrieved.
“Is it going to be like this from now on—that I can’t use anything Iter makes?”
“Probably not…?” Si Er hesitated. “I can help clear negative states from Xuanxuan, can’t I?”
Yu Beixuan nodded. “The current situation is that when I don’t have any negative states, your light-attribute power treats my normal power as negative energy and clears it.”
“Ah… that…” Si Er was instantly embarrassed.
Si Xu was puzzled. “You don’t lack things to use. Why do you insist on using what Iter makes?”
“Iter has only been in class for a few days. What he can make is already limited. Aren’t you just adding to his burden?”
Si Xu felt that Yu Beixuan was not someone worth associating with. He wanted Iter to make more things for him, of all people!
Si Er quickly said, “Second Brother, you’re misunderstanding. Xuanxuan definitely doesn’t mean that.”
Yu Beixuan nodded heavily. “I can’t use what Iter makes, and Iter can’t use what I make.”
Yesterday, he’d thought they were a match made in heaven. Today, everything felt off again. It hurt—deeply.
Si Xu fell silent. He still didn’t understand what there was to be sad about.
Everyone had plenty of resources. Why not just each use their own?
Si Er didn’t really understand either, but he felt the same sense of regret as Yu Beixuan.
I think the talismans Xuanxuan draws must all be really interesting. It’s a pity I can’t use them.
