18 Mysteries in the darkness

---tournament's field, hospital/healing room---

Morning,a new day has began but no light enters in the room due to the lack of windows. Yue Yang slowly opens his eyes and lightly stretches. he looks around himself and discovers that he is not in his usual room.

After moving around a bit he notices that his body is still in pain and he finally remembers what happened in the previous day

' damn it ! I have been way too carefree ! the fact that I have a system does not necessarily mean that I suddenly became strong. It only means that I have an advantage over the others, however, my body is still human ! '

after waking up and self reflecting Yue Yang finds himself unable to participate in the finals due to his injuries and is thus forced to remain in bed.

---Xue Wu Xia's P.O.V.---

Immediately after discovering the result of the match Wu Xia visits Yue Yang and finds him sitting on his bed, trying to stand up.

seeing him acting like that and knowing his condition, she immediately admonishes him

"what are you trying to do? don't you know in what state you are in right now?are you trying to die?"

he seems to be reflecting over her words

"I..no, that's not it"

her look lightly softens

"they already said that you have to remain in bed for at least two days in order to make a full recovery"

hearing her say such things, he pouts, looking annoyed, but he doesn't complain

Seeing his expression she looks away and as she does, she feels quite satisfied

'It seems he won't do anything dangerous until he recovers.That's good,I hope he won't hurt himself so much in the future'

after ordering him to remain in bed one last time she leaves the arena.

---path towards the Fourth branch---

Wu Xia is walking alone on the road towards the Yue residence, the walk is quiet and so she starts to observe her surroundings.

the trees of the forest, the sounds from the mansion and the bustling of the city.

everything is quieter now, as if dead or afraid of something.

As she is immersed in her musings, she notices a young girl of about her age.

The young girl has blonde hair, tied in a ponytail.

the girl turns her emerald eyes and looks at her

"oh?"

She seems surprised

"so it's you. good morning Wu Xia~"

the young girl seems to recognise her

"um..do we know each other?"

Wu Xia asks her, after all she has no recollection of the young girl in front of her

"well, not directly, but, Yue Yang talks a lot about you"

'he does? but he never mentioned her?'

"good morning..may I know who you are?"

"certainly, my name is Yue Ming~"

Wu Xia furrows her brows, she honestly doesn't like this girl

'she is way too... happy looking? does Yue Yang prefer this type of girls?'

then she looks at Yue Ming once more

'then again,she is suspicious, I shouldn't take her words for a given'

"Yue Ming, can you answer a question? I am curious about this"

"certainly, what is it?"

"who is the person Yue Yang cares about the most?"

hearing her question Yue Ming smiles

"you shouldn't worry, the most important person is you, is it not?"

"no, you are wrong about that, in fact if you even knew Yue Yang you should know that there are at least two people that he says to care about the most and while I am one of them, there are two more"

hearing her explain her errors, Yue Ming pouts

"I don't mean any harm,okay? I was just curious about my cousin"

"why did you lie then?"

"I thought you would accept me faster.."

"well, shall we go then?"

"Yay~"

---Yue residence,fourth branch---

"Yue Ming, have you heard anything about what has been happening recently?"

"honestly, I have heard many things"

"even about..Feng Lin's death?"

"the rumours about that event are not that many,but I heard a few of them"

"like what?"

Yue Ming looks around them as if to confirm that nobody could hear them

"some say that he was killed by an expert assassin, others say he was killed by a demon"

"a..demon? they are not in this continent anymore no?

"while I want to agree with you, you never know if someone secretly entered the continent,right?"

"I won't deny that it's a possibility but I don't think it's plausible"

"some rumours say that it was a sect of demon believers and they killed him as a sacrifice"

"if it really is a sect of demon believers shouldn't we advise the king of such a possibility?"

"I don't think they will believe a pair of young girls, in fact it's very possible they will accuse us"

"isn't there a way to obtain more solid evidence in order to show that such a possibility exists?"

Yue Ming looks down

"..."

"Yue Ming?"

"there is one, but it will not be pleasant, for the both of us"

"what is this way we can use?"

"we can...speak with Feng Lin and ask him directly"

"what? but Feng Lin is dead!"

"so long as his soul remains I can speak with him.."

"even if you can, how are we going to find his soul? don't all souls enter the circle of reincarnation?"

hearing her say that Yue Ming explains

"normally that is the case, but, strong souls and souls with lingering regrets last longer"

"does Feng Lin belong to one of this cases?"

"while his soul is really weak, he has regrets"

"he does?"

"think about it, you are peacefully sleeping after suffering a massive defeat, when suddenly you are dead"

"I don't really understand, it's too complex"

"well, one of his regrets is that he could not ask for a rematch against you and the other.. revenge against his killer"

"they don't seem like strong regrets to me?"

"while to you it may not seem like it, hatred is one of the strongest attachments for a soul"

"well, but could we not keep this thing as a last resort? I believe there are other things we can do"

"Um,tomorrow we will explore the forest"

"why?"

"have you noticed?the forest seems dead, I could be wrong but it may have something to do with this"

"yeah, perhaps you are right"