Second Case 04: “Certainty.”

It was raining after Liu Meifeng and others had reached Yangjiang inn. Luckily, none of them were drenched in the rain, so the four of them ordered a warm lunch.

"I told you most of the Xue Hu sect are looking down on other races.", Zhu You said as he was done drinking his green tea.

"If you hate to be looked down upon, why did you apply to this sect?", Feng Mingxu asked.

"That's because… there were no sects that accept me in my hometown.", Zhu You lowered his head, to others this kind of action seemed like he was feeling down, but to Liu Meifeng this guy clearly was lying.

But Liu Meifeng didn't want to expose his lie nor did she wants to know further. It had nothing to do with her, as long as he didn't hinder her main objective, she will let it slide. Liu Meifeng lifted her cup of tea and was about to take a sip, but she accidentally saw a figure in silhouette watching them from the window. The moment Liu Meifeng saw the figure, it immediately retreated. Liu Meifeng put down her cup in a haste and went over to the window.

Nothing…

There was clearly a person peeping on us through this window, how come there's no one here? Liu Meifeng had two guesses about this, either she's just imagining things, or this person was a skilled martial artist.

Seeing Liu Meifeng suddenly walking over to the window, Gu Yunxi asked, "Brother, what's wrong?",

Liu Meifeng smiled and shook her head, "Nothing, I just saw a person here. But I guess I'm just imagining things.", suddenly Feng Mingxu added, "That figure you saw perhaps was one of my father's shadow guards. Sometimes he ordered one or two to follow me behind to protect me even though I have already declined it.", he sighed as he took a sip of his tea.

If what Feng Mingxu said it's true, then perhaps someone from Qianghai kingdom might do the same to Liu Meifeng. Come to think of it Zhu You was from Qianghai kingdom, could it be he was tasked to be Liu Meifeng's secret guard? There is a possibility since he was lying about the reason to enter Xue Hu sect. But it's too early to judge with little proof…

While Liu Meifeng and her friends enjoyed their lunch, Zhao Yu who was hiding behind bamboo plants stepped out. It seems like this Xu Haoran was also able to sense other people's presence just like the Xu Haoran she once knew.

"Perhaps I should really test him…", said Zhao Yu quietly as she left the inn.

After finishing their lunch, Liu Meifeng and Gu Yunxi walked with Zhu You and Feng Mingxu to the village's meadow to practice martial arts together. After all, the result will be announced in less than three days and after that, they have to take the combat test. The four of them gathered in the center and decided to do a little contest.

Zhu You pumped up his fists excitedly, "I'm up for a small game!",

Feng Mingxu also rolled up his sleeves, "But what about Gu Yunxi? She's a girl.",

"Believe it or not, she's capable of fighting a hundred men with her eyes closed.", Liu Meifeng added. Both Zhu You and Feng Mingxu were surprised, Gu Yunxi laughed a little. Although what Liu Meifeng said is true but hearing it does sound a bit exaggerating.

"Brother is right, don't worry about me and don't hold back either.", Gu Yunxi said while cracking her fists making the two men a bit scared of her.

The four take turns to fight one on one, after all, someone has to take a good look at their stance and fighting strategy. The first round was Feng Mingxu versus Gu Yunxi, the two pulled their swords and fight. In the first thirty seconds, Gu Yunxi has been repeatedly throwing a rapid strike towards Feng Mingxu to destroy his defense. However, Feng Mingxu waited for an opportunity to counter Gu Yunxi's attack, the moment Gu Yunxi's rapid attack began to move slower, Feng Mingxu immediately avoided Gu Yunxi's sword and used the sword's handle to hit Gu Yunxi's stomach. However, Gu Yunxi was actually waiting for this, she knew that Feng Mingxu was waiting for an opening from her, so she deliberately decreased her speed movement and anticipated his attack at the same time. Turns out she could easily avoid Feng Mingxu's light attack by pulling her stomach behind. The two jumped behind and watch for each other's next movement…

"Turns out Miss Gu know how to fight well.", Feng Mingxu praised.

Gu Yunxi chuckled but didn't let her guards down, "Thanks for the praise, I've been training how to fight since I was a kid, so don't hold back.",

"Very well!", this time it's Feng Mingxu's turn to attack first.

Feng Mingxu throws various attacks towards Gu Yunxi, Gu Yunxi avoided all of his attacks skillfully like a rabbit jumping here and there. Feng Mingxu was amazed by Gu Yunxi, he had never seen someone who can easily avoid every strike like a wind. Gu Yunxi looked like she was dancing while throwing one or two strikes back in appropriate times. On the other hand, Zhu You was captivated by Gu Yunxi's straightforward movement. He hadn't been blinking since the two start fighting, Liu Meifeng smirked beside him.

"Is brother Zhu enamored by my sister's movement or brother Feng's?",

"Of course, it's Miss Yunxi!", Zhu You immediately covered his mouth, "Ah…",

Liu Meifeng laughed and patted Zhu You's back, then, she whispered, "It won't be easy to charm my sister, she likes beautiful men.",

"Eh, aren't I beautiful?", Zhu You said with full of confidence.

Liu Meifeng showed a straight face, "No.", then she continues, "But brother Zhu is handsome and manly, however, my sister here liked a scholarly man. So, if you want to flirt with my sister you have to own the scholarly aura.",

"But… I'm bad at studying.",

"Then, I guess you can try to charm my sister in a different way, perhaps she will eventually like you(?)",

Hearing such a positive comment, Zhu You held Liu Meifeng's hands, "Thank you for your support, my brother Xu!",

Another 11 minutes had passed, Gu Yunxi won the match and both her and Feng Mingxu had learned a new skill and battle tactics from facing each other earlier. Now it's Liu Meifeng's turn to face Zhu You, although her body has no upgrade like Zhu You's body and she had no six-packs like him either. But Liu Meifeng is certain that victory will be hers.

"Please teach me.",

"Please take care of me.",

After the two exchanged battle greetings, they immediately turned into a ready-stance.

"Brother Zhu can go first.",

"No no, brother Xu can go first.",

"Haha, okay. I shall go first.", Liu Meifeng began to walk sideways while focusing her attention on Zhu You, then she slowly shortened the distance between them and began to throw her palm towards Zhu You's breast.

Zhu You caught Liu Meifeng's fist and throw his fist towards Liu Meifeng's stomach. After landing that punch, Zhu You took two steps behind, as expected from a general's son. His battle skills are very great, but Liu Meifeng still being optimistic to win this match. Next step, Liu Meifeng once again shortened their distance, then spin her body and moved her right foot to kick Zhu You's back from behind. Zhu You was taken aback and had his back getting kicked by Liu Meifeng, although the kick landed heavily, however it wasn't enough to make Zhu You succumbed to the ground. Seeing this, Liu Meifeng resonates with her Qi energy and accumulate a wind blast on her palm, and quickly throw it on Zhu You. Zhu You was surprised and protected his body with both of his arms, however, the wind was strong enough and send him flying. Thus, the match was won by Liu Meifeng.

The two saluted to each other, "Brother Xu sure is very skillful, I hope brother Xu could teach me how to throw a wind like that.",

"It's nothing hard, you just have to resonate your body with your Qi energy, after that let the Qi energy flow into your arm and accumulate the wind element into your palm.", actually, Liu Meifeng hadn't learned this skill from this world. During her practicing Qi energy, she had creativity and tried to accumulate the wind energy using her Qi force, who knows that it would work out well. If it works then it is not stupid, Liu Meifeng secretly thanked her previous life experience from being a nerdy detective, and Naruto.

Zhu You nodded his head and saluted Liu Meifeng once again, "Thanks for brother Xu's wisdom. I shall practice what I have learned today.",

"Brother Zhu doesn't need to be so formal, the purpose of this match is to learn each other's battle tactics.",

"Yes, and—", before Zhu You spoke any further, his stomach had grumbled.

"Didn't we just have lunch like a few hours ago?", Gu Yunxi chuckled.

Zhu You patted his head in embarrassment, "I… have the tendency to eat a lot.",

The three of them laughed at Zhu You's funny confession. Due to Zhu You's aggressive appetite, the four of them headed to a bun's stand and eat meat buns together.

…

...

...…

Three days have passed, Liu Meifeng and the others came to Xue Hu's temple to see the test result. As usual, Gu Yunxi struggled to see her scores when she's being loomed over by other participants.

"Ugh, darn. I can't see anything.", Gu Yunxi complained.

Liu Meifeng chuckled and said, "I shall look for you.",

Gu Yunxi stopped struggling and smiled, "Yes, thanks brother!",

Liu Meifeng nodded and tilted her head towards the announcement board, there was only 21 participant that had passed the test, it was only half the people who have passed, this result made Liu Meifeng a bit uneasy, after a few seconds she found Gu Yunxi's name placed 11th rank on the score test. Liu Meifeng secretly let out a relieved sigh and told Gu Yunxi about it.

"Wow, I didn't think I would be in the 11th place! What about you brother?",

Liu Meifeng saw her name in the 1st place on the board, she had expected it but seeing it by herself made her actually proud of herself.

"I'm in the first place.",

"Wow, as expected!", Gu Yunxi applauded.

Suddenly the people who had flooding the announcement board dispersed, Liu Meifeng and Gu Yunxi turned around and saw Zhao Yu slowly approaching them.

"Good morning, Xu Haoran and Gu Yunxi. Have you seen your own scores yet?", Zhao Yu greeted the two of them with a smile which made the crowd jealous over the two of them.

Although, the smile was very beautiful but Gu Yunxi still didn't like her, "Yes, we just passed the test, how about you, sister Zhao?",

"Let me see.",

Zhao Yu observed the board and saw that she had placed 3rd rank, the 2nd rank was prince Feng Mingxu, and lastly, the 1st rank was this handsome man, Xu Haoran.

Seeing the familiar scores on the board, Zhao Yu was even more convinced that this is the Xu Haoran she knew in her previous life. So, he did get reincarnated as well, it's fortunate that she had reborn as a girl, so this time she could be his girlfriend in this life.

"Xu Haoran, I saw you have placed first in the test. Congratulations, it's amazing.", Zhao Yu deliberately praised to see Xu Haoran's reaction.

Liu Meifeng shyly rubbed her nose and lowered her head, "No, I just got lucky."

Bingo!

It's the exact same reaction as the Xu Haoran in her previous life!

In the previous life, whenever someone praises Xu Haoran, he will rub his nose while trying to hide his shyness desperately. It was the exact same reaction and habit, Zhao Yu won't get mistaken for a small detail about a man named Xu Haoran.

Zhao Yu immediately celebrate inside her heart, but then she suddenly remembers about Duan Meifeng her sweet childhood friend. How could this happen? She had fallen in love with both people, one is her former dead friend, and one is her dearest childhood friend. Although her love for Xu Haoran never fades but she had found a new love. Then, thinking about it again, Duan Meifeng is a girl while Xu Haoran is a boy, since she had reincarnated into a girl's body, shouldn't she begin a healthy relationship with the opposite gender? After all, same-sex love isn't always good, and she knew it more than anyone in both worlds.

Seeing Zhao Yu was absentminded, Liu Meifeng flicked her fingers, "Lady Zhao? Are you okay?",

Zhao Yu immediately returned to her sense and smiled wryly, "Ah, yes I'm fine… just too bad I ranked third in the test.",

As the owner sect's daughter, Liu Meifeng understood Zhao Yu's burden. After all, she was also like that in her previous life. Her former parents would hit her and starve her for a day if she didn't score in the first place. That's why Liu Meifeng had no favorite and hated subjects, everything is the same, all must be in full perfect scores.

"I see, if you want to study together just come to Yangjiang inn, me and Gu Yunxi won't mind studying together, right?", Liu Meifeng looked at Gu Yunxi.

"Yes, of course. Just come sister Zhao.", Gu Yunxi smiled wryly, of course she minds, after all, she just dislikes this beautiful woman in front of hers, she had always a bad premonition about this Zhao Yu girl, even she just doesn't know why.

Zhao Yu's face immediately brightened, she held Xu Haoran's hand gratefully, "Thank you very much, Haoran.",

Zhao Yu called her name sweetly while intertwining their hands together, although Liu Meifeng could hear Zhao Yu's voice from the heart, but she was too nervous and preoccupied with the surroundings, so she didn't exactly hear what it says.

The crowds immediately gasped, some men throw a murderous glare towards Liu Meifeng while the girls began to understand why Zhao Yu liked such a man. He was scored in the first place, his figure was tall, have beautiful Turquoise eyes, and good manners. Who wouldn't fall in love with such a man?

Liu Meifeng began sweating, she didn't know what to do, it's been a while since she had contact with Zhao Yu, moreover, Zhao Yu has grown into a stunning woman, how could her heart be at ease?

The bad premonition was right, Gu Yunxi immediately pulled Liu Meifeng's hand and said defensively, "Sister Zhao, please don't touch a man's hand in public it's inappropriate.",

Zhao Yu frowned and disliked Gu Yunxi even more, however what she said makes sense, she had observed the crowd had all their jaws on the floor, so she backed away.

"Sister Gu is right, brother Xu please forgive my rudeness.",

"N-no it's fine, just don't hold any man's hand again in the future.", Liu Meifeng softly reprimanded.

Zhao Yu almost replied 'I won't hold anyone's hand but you', but she swallowed it down and nodded obediently. Now that she's sure that the man who stood before her is her former dead friend, she couldn't be happier and wanted to spend more time with him.

"Where are you going after this? Can I go with you?",

"Um, after this—", before Liu Meifeng finished, Gu Yunxi had butted right in and answered it for her.

"Today we promised brother Zhu You and prince Feng Mingxu to train together. Aren't sister Zhao busy training at home too?",

Zhao Yu faked her smile and said, "Oh, yes. But I had done enough training, so perhaps I could teach some of my skills to you?",

"Ohoho, that would be unnecessary.", Gu Yunxi also faked her smile.

For some reason, Liu Meifeng could feel thunder scattered between these two women. She felt a chill run down her spine and for some reason, she just wanted to escape. Although, she had been born into a girl's body, but as she expected… women are still scary.