Douluo Dalu 3: Legend of the White Fox

Inside a small courtyard in Star Dou Forest near East Sea City, Gu Yue couldn't help but feel a sense of unease as she watched Xia Yi devour his food, still with his head down.

"Why did I listen to Xia Yi's advice?" Gu Yue thought to herself, the question gnawing at her. She had considered everything Xia Yi had suggested before, but she could never control her inner emotions.

And yet, this time, she had listened.

"Damn it, this is clearly the trick of giving a slap before a sweet date," Gu Yue, who was always sharp-witted, quickly realized what had happened. Xia Yi's methods were too powerful. From start to finish, he had been controlling her emotional shifts.

Or rather, he had been pushing her emotions in a certain direction step by step.

"Damn fox, using human manipulation techniques on me!" Gu Yue suddenly recalled a possibility, gritting her teeth. She never thought that a soul beast with only ten years of cultivation would use such human manipulation techniques on her.

To make matters worse, she had fallen for it. She knew it was a trick, and even though Xia Yi had previously insulted her with harsh words, he followed it up with a few seemingly nice remarks, and suddenly her resentment towards him had dissipated by more than half.

Gu Yue looked at Xia Yi again. He had set traps for her in Star Dou Forest, and now she realized he was not just capable of manipulation—he even understood the human arts of controlling others. If a human did this to her, it wouldn't have been strange, but Xia Yi was only a ten-year soul beast who had never left Star Dou Forest.

Had she not seen him transform a month ago, she would never have believed that Xia Yi was truly just a ten-year-old soul beast.

At this moment, she finally understood why Di Tian had said that Xia Yi was clever.

Perhaps Xia Yi's methods wouldn't be seen as particularly brilliant in the eyes of some wise humans, but he had learned them all by himself, without any teacher.

Gu Yue took a deep breath and turned her gaze to the soul communicator, now shattered on the floor, a reminder of Tang Wulin's situation.

"Don't look at it. If you hesitate, you'll only regret it more," Xia Yi, though still looking down, seemed to have eyes on the top of his head. As soon as Gu Yue glanced at the broken soul communicator, he spoke, "There are some things you can't put off for later. If you can't make a rational judgment now, you'll only fall deeper into this trap next time."

"I don't need your advice," Gu Yue snorted coldly. Despite hearing his words, they were like bitter medicine—unpleasant but necessary. She wouldn't give Xia Yi a pleasant response, at least not now.

Xia Yi shook his head, indifferent.

If their positions were switched, he wouldn't be giving Gu Yue any courtesy either.

Suddenly, Gu Yue's brow furrowed. She quickly looked up and gazed out the window.

"What's wrong?" Xia Yi asked, looking up.

"You eat, I'll go find Di Tian and the others," Gu Yue said, offering no further explanation. She pushed the food Xia Yi had bought her toward him and turned to leave without hesitation.

"Go ahead, it's something you'll have to face sooner or later. Di Tian and the others are loyal to you. Just apologize, and they won't take it to heart," Xia Yi said, watching her go. He knew that it would be awkward for Gu Yue to see Di Tian, Bi Ji, and Zi Ji after what had happened, but she couldn't keep avoiding them forever.

"I don't need your reminder," Gu Yue snorted again, her figure vanishing from the room without another word.

The small courtyard in Star Dou Forest near East Sea City was neither large nor small. The inner courtyard and outer courtyard were separated by a wall, and it took about ten minutes to walk from the main gate to the inner courtyard's living room.

After exiting the door, Gu Yue lightly pressed her feet against the ground. Her agile body leapt lightly into the air and swiftly cleared the wall that separated the inner and outer courtyards. As she descended, she grabbed the arm of Na'er, who had already released her soul beast form.

"What are you doing here?" Gu Yue asked angrily, looking at the silver dragon spear in Na'er's hand.

"Revenge," Na'er replied coldly, turning to face Gu Yue and sneering, "What, are you going to stop me?"

"You know already?" Gu Yue asked in a deep voice.

"Shouldn't I know?" Na'er yanked her arm free from Gu Yue's grip, her anger flaring as she questioned, "Why did you go against our agreement?"

"Which part of our agreement did I break?" Gu Yue asked nonchalantly.

"According to our agreement, neither you nor any other soul beasts should harm my brother before the bet ends. So why is my brother injured?" Na'er's purple eyes filled with killing intent, and the temperature around them seemed to drop sharply as she released her murderous aura fully.

"I didn't injure Tang Wulin," Gu Yue said calmly.

"But it was a soul beast from Star Dou Forest, right? Are you going to say it wasn't you who instructed them?" Na'er's voice was icy.

Though the King of All Demons and Red King had always been lurking around Shrek City to protect Na'er, Shrek City was not the same as East Sea City. Even when they left, the King of All Demons and Red King had to be extremely cautious.

Additionally, Na'er had been staying at Sea God Island, so they had no chance to inform her about Xia Yi. Before coming to East Sea City, Na'er had no knowledge of Xia Yi's existence.

Only recently, she had learned from Wu Chang Kong and Xie Xie that Xia Yi had appeared alongside Gu Yue. Naturally, she assumed Xia Yi was a hundred-thousand-year soul beast.

Na'er had already learned about Xia Yi's encounter with Tang Wulin. In her mind, a hundred-thousand-year soul beast could never be as shameless as Xia Yi. She had concluded that Xia Yi must have been ordered by Gu Yue to attack Tang Wulin, targeting his lower body to destroy her hopes.

If it weren't for this, why didn't Gu Yue let Bi Ji go and rescue Tang Wulin?

Na'er couldn't have guessed that from the start, it had been Xia Yi who was orchestrating everything. Instead, she directed all her anger at Gu Yue.

But since she couldn't vent her rage on Gu Yue, she had prepared to unleash all her fury on Xia Yi.

"Think about your identity. Do you really think this is appropriate? Di Tian and the others are watching from the shadows," Gu Yue said in a low voice, trying to remind her.

"So what? Does Di Tian dare to stop me?" Na'er sneered. "Today, I'll use the life of Xia Yi, this hundred-thousand-year soul beast, to show you that there's a price to be paid for breaking the agreement. Don't think that just because you're the main body and I'm the auxiliary, I'll be afraid of you."

Na'er was convinced that Di Tian would never offend her for the sake of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast.

"Xia Yi is not a hundred-thousand-year soul beast," Gu Yue took a deep breath, feeling a sense of helplessness as she gazed at the murderous Na'er.

Somehow, she couldn't help but remember the scene when she had to take a "wounded" Bi Ji away.

"Is this what Di Tian and the others must have felt at that time?" Gu Yue thought with a bitter smile in her heart. She never imagined she would experience their feelings so soon.

"You expect me to believe that?" Na'er coldly scoffed. "If he's not a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, how could he possibly be in this courtyard?"

"I have no need to lie to you." Gu Yue spoke in a low, firm voice.

"Then just say he's not a hundred-thousand-year soul beast. If that's the case, you have no reason to stop me," Na'er sneered. She didn't believe a word Gu Yue said. If Xia Yi weren't a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, how could Gu Yue be so concerned about him?

"Is a mere Tang Wulin really worth all this?" Gu Yue asked again. She couldn't help but blush slightly at her own words because, not long ago, she wasn't much better than Na'er in her obsession.

As she looked at Na'er, filled with murderous intent, Gu Yue suddenly realized how absurd her previous actions had been.

She desperately wanted to take out all her frustration from Xia Yi on Na'er, but Xia Yi's words had been so vulgar that she couldn't bring herself to say them.

"If you're going to stop me, I suggest you defeat me first. I want to see how much stronger you, the main body, are compared to me, the auxiliary," Na'er said coldly. After being tangled up with Gu Yue for so long, she was now irritated. With the Silver Dragon Spear in her hand, she wasn't afraid of Gu Yue. If a fight broke out, she felt she could hold her own.

Looking at Na'er's bloodthirsty face, determined to kill Xia Yi, Gu Yue could only shake her head. "Fine, do as you will. But I guarantee you that if you keep going down this path, you will regret it."

"Hmph, I don't need you to worry about me," Na'er retorted nonchalantly as she strode toward the inner courtyard.

Na'er thought that Gu Yue was referring to her regretting her actions in the future. She never considered that Gu Yue's warning was about her soon-to-be regret.

She didn't even notice that as she stepped into the inner courtyard, a faint smile of schadenfreude appeared on Gu Yue's face.

The more Gu Yue learned about Xia Yi, the more she realized just how clever his mind was.

Xia Yi had defeated her in Star Dou Forest and had managed to defeat Tang Wulin at East Sea Academy. Was it truly because they were careless?

No, it was never that simple.

To be precise, Xia Yi was able to instantly identify his opponents' weaknesses and amplify them, defeating them in one blow.

(End of Chapter)