Gu Mo also laughed softly.

For some reason, seeing the girl smiling at him, his mood quietly changed.

It was just like his breathing at this moment, long and tranquil, naturally calm... It's not that he wasn't overjoyed by the reunion; he just knew there was no need to be hurried.

Everything is still here, time is just right, just like the midday summer sun, so indulgent, so easy to capture.

"You finally came back..."

Opposite him, Minamoto no Yoshiie also turned to look back, frowning slightly. What's with this guy? It's not that she didn't know he had to leave for a while, but she was surprised that he returned without her noticing.

— Could it be that she was too absorbed just now, failing to notice immediately?

— Probably so, even this Demon Ghost didn't know when he arrived...

Looking at Hidechika across from her, Minamoto no Yoshiie thought that must be it, because it couldn't be that this boy perfected his skills after just leaving for a while, right? Of course, she speculated on the matter using her own logic and thought process.

"It's Master Raiko, it's been a long time, I've missed you..." Gu Mo said with a cheerful smile, raising his hand to wave enthusiastically.

"It's only been half a month; where's the 'long time'? Also, when you talk to me, could you look at me? It's very rude!" Minamoto no Yoshiie frowned, unable to help getting annoyed as he kept looking at the black-haired girl without glancing at her.

Though she didn't really care about such things, his greeting seemed to have a blatant air of perfunctoriness, didn't it?

Why does it feel like she was just a bystander?

"Really? It's only been half a month? I thought it was almost two years already..." Gu Mo chuckled, speaking his mind while turning his eyes to Master Raiko. Although he never pursued the path of a Martial Artist, only learning some basic skills.

Gu Mo was still very grateful to his spirited female mentor. Though she seemed to have some prejudice against him for some reasons, her attitude wasn't good, but aside from that, she withheld nothing when teaching, giving everything she had.

Whether her best Martial Arts, Ninjutsu, Yin Yang Talismans, or even Demon Ghost lore, all were shared without reservation.

"Two years, hehe... If that were the case, you'd have died out there already," Minamoto no Yoshiie smirked, mocking, "With your current level of mediocre skills, if it weren't for Ah Xiu protecting you, you couldn't even have left the village back then..."

Unlike Fujikichiro and others who held misconceptions, as one of Gu Mo's instructors, she knew his foundational skills inside out. There was no disguising strength with weakness; he was merely borrowing the power of others.

It was only through the dojo training that his body was tempered, his tendons stretched, and he gained some basic self-defense skills through mastering some Magical Talismans. It was enough to make people envious, let alone the Demon Ghost on the other side. Where did this boy's talent come from?

Both Martial Arts and Magical Talismans were mastered far quicker than normal, and that was when he had to sleep eight hours a day, with the remaining time divided to handle other affairs.

Minamoto no Yoshiie was somewhat disappointed in him, feeling he wasted his talent. Though she understood some matters might be unavoidable, she still hoped to urge him to work harder during his conscious hours to make up for time wasted.

However—

"Oh, yes, I think so too, it's all thanks to Ah Xiu..."

Gu Mo nodded repeatedly, sincerely acknowledging this, while smilingly looking at the quiet black-haired girl beside him.

If it weren't for Ah Xiu protecting him, he truly wouldn't have left the village, probably failing the mission and exiting the instance... Of course, he could rise again through other means, but that would be a different path, with no overlap with the current trajectory.

Hidechika, being stared at like this, shifted slightly uncomfortably.

She raised her young, fair hand, smoothing the stray hair by her ear while a hint of confusion arose within her. It seemed this person had become somewhat strange after returning, giving her a slightly unfamiliar feeling... But it wasn't estranged or distant, just something different.

"... Aren't you supposed to feel ashamed and then become courageous?"

Minamoto no Yoshiie stared wide-eyed at this guy across from her.

By rights, as a man, shouldn't he feel ashamed and then strive hard? Not that there's any machismo, but in this era, even an average man can hardly accept being sheltered by a woman.

But— "oh yes, yes"—what on earth is that?

"But Master Raiko, you said 'if', didn't you? Didn't Ah Xiu protect me?" Gu Mo replied without hesitation.

Minamoto no Yoshiie took a deep breath, seemingly trying to release the pressure in her head, suppressing her anger as she said, "But what about in the future? You can't have Ah Xiu protect you forever..."

"Why not?" The young man across from her rubbed his chin, seriously pondering, as if finding no issue with that idea.

"..."

"..."

"Hehe..." Minamoto no Yoshiie took a deep breath, looking at him with a face full of disdain, while waving his hand forcefully as if to shoo away a pesky fly.

"Forget it, do whatever you want, anyway I can't do anything about it... Qingming's not in town right now, he was just invited up the mountain by the old man yesterday, saying he wanted him to help set up a barrier within the mountain. He might come back soon, I'm not sure. If you have anything to talk to him about, head up the mountain."

There's no need to get into a quarrel with this guy, anyway from what I've observed, sooner or later he'll embark on the same path.

There's no point in saying more now, he needs to come to his own realization.

"Up the mountain?" Gu Mo's expression became slightly subtle, then he forced a cheerful smile, "Actually, I don't have anything in particular, let's wait till Qingming comes back."

"Hehe, you're afraid of being caught by the old man, aren't you... Speaking of which, you're truly something, at least you're bold—um, or should I say foolhardy?" Minamoto no Yoshiie's eyes showed a hint of disdain, as she had also heard about the recent happenings.

"Hey, Master Raiko, please don't talk nonsense, I haven't done anything, alright..." Gu Mo tugged at the corner of his mouth, and quickly glanced at the black-haired girl beside him.

Hidechika, who had always been quiet, couldn't help raising an eyebrow slightly upon hearing this topic.

Minamoto no Yoshiie said nothing more and turned away with flair.

Gu Mo's gaze only returned after the valiant female warrior disappeared from sight; once he couldn't understand and see through, now he saw more—about her current essence of existence, the well-refined paper figure, the precise technique inscribed on it, and most importantly..."spirit."

Even in his current perspective, these are profound techniques worth marveling at, especially valuable references for himself now.

Just like the summoned servant in a summoning ceremony, borrowing intelligence from the Seat of Heroic Spirits, or downloading data, then packaging the downloaded data into the "Spirit Base" framework, allowing the software to run smoothly on the hardware, is a successful summoning of a heroic spirit clone, i.e., servant.

Minamoto no Yoshiie's current form is similar—

The paper figure's vessel is equivalent to the same framework container, with a changing Yin Yang Technique added to simulate the human body's circulation and operation, creating a familiar body...

While enabling actions and exertion of power, it also serves to protect the "spirit" as intelligence from direct exposure to the external environment...

Thinking like this, it's possible to identify similar key nodes like "Spirit Base" and "Spirit Core." Perhaps it's the principles of techniques or the manifold laws of the world, always with commonality, or maybe it's just a coincidence, where similar techniques share creation ideas in some aspects, which is understandable.

Of course, to Gu Mo, there's no difference; he just wants to draw inspiration, extract the essence, to perfect his current Incarnation Walking Technique.

After all, it's something he explored bit by bit, organized himself, explored on his own, combined with special skills and particular inspiration, and modified from existing techniques, recently tinkered out, naturally with many aspects not quite perfected, with great room for improvement.

"Interesting, seems like I still need to have a conversation with Qingming..."

He muttered this, turned around, and looked at the quiet black-haired girl, seriously saying, "Ah Xiu, I'm back."

"?"

Hidechika tilted her head slightly, seemingly not quite getting it, though she obviously knew he was back.

"I've got something to tell you... um, let me think where to start." The person before her pinched his chin, as if pondering something, then struck his hand with a fist, a ripple-like wave appearing on him, like refreshing an illustration.

He dispelled the illusion technique on himself.

The black-haired girl was momentarily stunned, almost failing to react, instinctively taking a slight step back, seemingly startled by the change, nearly reaching for her dual blades at her waist, almost thinking it was some demon's trick.

"No need to be so excited, I'm still me..."

A gentle voice came forth, the person before her indeed seemed to be him, just with long hair cascading past the waist, wearing a cyan Daoist robe, with a fresh and natural aura. He spread his hands and smiled, "As you can see, this is it. If you want to know why, it's the thing I'm going to talk to you about next..."

The black-haired girl raised her eyebrow gently again.

"This isn't the place to talk, let's change the place to chat." Gu Mo surveyed the dojo, though generally undisturbed, there were people who could come and go, though he could detect in advance, trouble was still possible.

"If you don't say anything, I'll take it as a yes, follow me, Ah Xiu."

He withdrew his gaze and said to the girl with a smile.