"..."

"..."

The air seemed a bit stagnant.

Gu Mo glanced up and saw, on the corridor outside the broken wall, an old man blowing his nose and glaring at him, along with Abe no Seimei, who was holding his forehead with a somewhat headache expression. This onmyoji was smiling wryly and sighing, waving his hand repeatedly at him, with a large group of people following behind them.

The entire room had turned into a mess of debris after the recent burst of Demonic Power...

Even the walls had been blasted down, not to mention the delicate screens, elegant porcelain, and so on—all torn to shreds in the chaotic torrent...

After all, it was the same blood as Hidechika's. Even if it was just Saito Yoshitaka's instinctual leakage of Demon Qi, a bit of it spilling out was enough to become a fierce wind tearing everything here apart. However, both he and Hidechika were extraordinary people, so they emerged unscathed.

Moreover, on his side were two people, while on the other side, there was only Saito Yoshitaka.

Even if the latter was somehow bewitched by Layman Guoxin, she still couldn't possibly create any waves. After all, she was completely unprepared and didn't expect to be easily seen through by someone who was different from before, even though she had just come to say hello...

—The outcome was naturally predictable.

Just like that, in the midst of this silence, under Saito Dosan's murderous gaze, everyone saw that young man look around the surroundings and clear his throat:

"Ahem, um... have you all eaten?"

A very cheerful smile, a friendly and distinctive way of greeting, as if he was completely unaware of the current situation.

He didn't even get up, nor did he intend to lift the arm pressing down on the girl beneath him. As for the ominous gleam in his eyes, it faded away. The kimono-clad girl he had pinned down blinked her dark eyes, appearing somewhat confused and astonished.

With the evil thoughts in her heart suppressed, regaining her clarity of mind, she seemed completely unaware of the situation and had no memory of what had just happened.

—How did I end up here? What happened?

—Am I dreaming?

Wait, wait, why is this dream so intense this time! Previously, at most, it was a replay of that scene, where he mistook her for his sister and spoke those words that made her blush. Perhaps that scene was too impactful for her innocent self to forget...

But, but, but, but! But! How did it escalate to such a level today!

Lying on the ground, she blankly stared at the young man pressing her down...

Slightly turning her head, she saw a crowded hallway outside the broken wall, a massive crowd making the corridor cramped...

After several breaths, she seemed to comprehend the situation, and the cheeks of the kimono girl instantly turned red, her eyes wavering violently, as if steam might comically burst from her head at any moment.

"..."

"..."

"You all... you all stand down!"

With his old face twitching a few times, Saito Dosan gritted his teeth and shouted angrily, glaring at someone as if he was about to shoot flames from his eyes. He barely suppressed some vicious impulse, managing to squeeze out these words through clenched teeth,

"Yes!"

The guards behind him stiffened and quickly complied, retreating like a tide, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye.

Saito Dosan strode into the shattered room, standing amid the rubble and frowning as he glanced around. His gaze lingered slightly on Hidechika before withdrawing. He seemed very angry and asked in a deep voice, "What's going on here? What happened exactly?"

He held back his frustration and anger, avoiding rash actions because he sensed something was amiss.

At least Ah Xiu wouldn't help this detestable brat bully her own sister, and it looked like Yoshitaka was problematic too, suggesting there was more to the story.

"Um, there's actually a very deep reason for this..."

Gu Mo said earnestly.

But before he could finish his sentence, the old man, blowing his nose and glaring, interrupted him and angrily waved his hand, his tone full of gritted-teeth fury, "You brat, get up first before you speak! This is completely inappropriate!!"

Gu Mo blinked but said nothing, simply complying and releasing the girl's wrists. As his hands left, an ominous aura simultaneously erupted from the girl, whose face had just been flushed. Suddenly, her expression turned dark, a terrifying Demon Qi surging—

Hmm, the terrifying surge had just begun and then abruptly stopped.

Gu Mo placed one hand back on the girl's forehead and shrugged.

He looked at the elder whose face had turned almost entirely black, and calmly said, "That's how it is. We need to find a way to suppress her first; otherwise, the moment I let go, she'll probably lose control immediately..."

Although he was relying on strong Spiritual Power to forcibly suppress that bizarre evil thought, he couldn't directly dispel it because he only realized after making contact that it wasn't some powerful external evil thought. That troublesome Wild Soul hadn't directly possessed Saito Yoshitaka either.

In other words, the evil thought indeed belonged to her, it was a psyche that had grown within her...

Since it wasn't an external evil thought, something rootless like duckweed, it naturally couldn't be easily dispelled. After all, you can't just scatter her Spirit.

But she was just fine half a month ago, how did she suddenly become so extreme? Gu Mo couldn't help but ponder seriously. He dared not claim all, but most people's hearts indeed have a dark side, which is normal.

It's just that the dark side of the heart varies in size, and not everyone will lean towards extreme obsessions, fully immersed in the dark side of life... Saito Yoshitaka shouldn't have reached this point, at least as far as Gu Mo saw, she shouldn't have. After all, she didn't hold much resentment, nor any significant grudges.

Moreover, she had no strong thoughts about Mino, and Saito Dosan's decisions were made with respect to her intentions, not disregarding her thoughts, so she shouldn't harbor any resentment. Thus, with harmonious family relations and no major setbacks in life, how could she fall for Layman Guoxin's manipulation?

Or perhaps...

Is it still due to the demonic nature in her bloodline?

After all, even Ah Xiu almost got lost in her demonic nature initially, and this young lady, sharing the exact same bloodline, naturally faces the same issues. And compared to Ah Xiu, she probably hadn't undergone the coming-of-age ritual for demonic blood, hadn't truly subdued the demonic nature of the Demon Blood.

Perhaps this became the spiritual gap that Layman Guoxin could exploit...

With this speculation in mind, Gu Mo examined Saito Yoshitaka, who was still somewhat dazed, this Kimono-clad girl who bore a striking resemblance to Hidechika, seemed even more confused about the situation.

......

...

About half an hour later.

Still in that broken room, the group didn't mind and didn't move to another place, instead discussing on-site how to resolve the issue.

However, progress was evidently minimal, with Saito Dosan looking increasingly grim. This elder struggled to suppress his anger and killing intent towards the mastermind, earnestly looking at the Onmyoji clad in dark blue hunting robes, asking gravely, "Even Lord Qingming can't do anything?"

As the saying goes, a great man's name echoes through the ages. Compared to Gu Mo, the old man naturally had more faith in Abe no Seimei, the legendary Child of the White Fox and the famous Great Onmyoji of the Heian Era.

"Not entirely hopeless, but Lord Yoshitaka's case is somewhat complicated..." Abe no Seimei also shook his head, "As Lord Gu Mo said, the inherited drawbacks of her Demon Blood have been exploited by someone. Right now, blocking it is worse than venting it; I could attempt to create some items to temporarily suppress it..."

As he said this, he glanced at the Kimono-clad girl sitting upright across from him.

Her face flushed red, sitting there seemingly flustered, while the young man beside her held a teacup calmly, pressing his other palm against her forehead. Maintaining this strange posture was a major reason for the odd atmosphere in the room.

And another black-haired girl, seemingly a spitting image, clad in a dojo training uniform, sat on the other side, equally awkward-looking.

"It's really infuriating!!" Saito Dosan said furiously, slamming his fist on the floor, "I will not let that bastard hiding behind the scenes get away!"

"This foe is likely extraordinary, or it may be the demon eyeing the Spirit Stone in the mountain during this period..." Abe no Seimei said seriously, "Fortunately, Lord Gu Mo noticed Lord Yoshitaka's anomaly in time, otherwise disaster might have ensued..."

The Onmyoji also cast a very peculiar glance at Gu Mo across from him.

Come to think of it, he had only left for about half a month, yet how did he suddenly progress so rapidly, even having the opportunity to directly intervene in the sisters' battle?

Even though the sisters were still growing and hadn't fully tapped into all the potential of the Demon Blood, it was still startling — what exactly did he do...

Abe no Seimei, with his exceptionally discerning eyes, immediately pinpointed the issue. During the brief battle just after restraining Saito Yoshitaka, it was clear Gu Mo also played an important role, not solely due to Hidechika's efforts.

This was indeed the case—

Ah Xiu didn't fully comprehend, and considering the opponent was her sister, she naturally couldn't be as decisive. Though her reactions were quick too, her moves were just to constrain; ultimately, it was Gu Mo who seized the opportunity to conclude the fight.

After all, he had to ensure not to harm her, so despite the brief battle, the exchanges were ruthless, resulting in the entire room and a surrounding large area being utterly demolished...

But there was no other choice; Ah Xiu hadn't grown to the heights of her future self yet, and Gu Mo was presently just a manifestation, with nothing, not even basic attributes could be proportionately replicated. Though as a manifestation, he couldn't use system functions, not even the item menu, nor could he see corresponding attribute values.

However, he could still more or less feel it, each attribute approximately only about seventy percent of his true self's level—

For example, strength, agility, and other ability values...

His true personal body had 18 Points, hence the manifestation had around 17 Points.