Chapter 97: Returning to the Room for a Little Research

When Su Yi heard that question from Moben, he was first startled, then he shook his head slightly. He may have once had such a thought, but it had flickered through his mind only once and vanished. After all, Meiya had once saved his life—that alone was enough. How could he be so greedy, and by what right would he ask Meiya to continue doing this and that for him?

To speak plainly, even if someone saves you and then steps away, that is only natural. And Meiya had even found him a guard’s post at the auction house, which was more than enough. Even when he suspected that Meiya’s background might not be simple, he had never once spoken of using her family’s influence to strengthen his own strength.

Besides, from Su Yi’s point of view, trying to lean on the Aobens household could, perhaps, bring trouble on Meiya. Even between great houses there are many hidden frictions and constraints; he did not know the specifics. Yet Meiya’s choice to leave the Imperial Capital and come all the way to Changling City clearly had a reason. With her beauty, talent, and power, she could have thrived in the capital—so why would she come here and sink into obscurity?

“If Meiya keeps helping me too much,” Su Yi said with a slight shrug, forcing a smile, “it might even bring out the jealousy of some would-be lovers.”

Moben silently shook his head inwardly at that. Meiya had many suitors in the Imperial Capital, he thought, though that boy from her clan...

“Right,” Su Yi said suddenly, as if remembering something. He tapped his forehead and added, “By the way, speaking of this, there’s something I wanted to tell Meiya-sister, but I just forgot to mention it earlier. If you can, Uncle Moben, could you tell her about it for me?”

“This can be done,” Moben nodded lightly. “But I don’t know what it is you want to say.”

“Honestly,” Su Yi sighed, “I had this idea already before the Martial Trial Tournament. I’m planning to leave Changling City after the tournament and go train elsewhere. Staying here forever is no solution.”

Moben was startled for a moment, then it became clear to him. Though Su Yi had decent talent, simply staying in Changling City was unlikely to bring a major breakthrough. Better to go out into the world—there might be fortune and rare opportunities waiting for him there. It was not impossible.

And more importantly, Su Yi’s battle qi had vanished, so he had turned to body cultivation. But in Changling City there was no environment or conditions suited to strengthening that kind of power. He would have to go outside to seek methods of training in a broader world.

“Su Yi,” Moben said after a pause, “when you broke through to become a Fighter, I had intended to train you a little more. I never expected your battle qi to disappear as cleanly as it did. I’m also not deeply versed in this path of cultivation, so all I could do was little.”

Su Yi nodded. He obviously expected this already, but Moben’s words made him inwardly surprised anyway. He knew methods of cultivation were rare now—almost impossible to find—and yet he had not imagined even usually enigmatic Moben knew so little about it. His road ahead would be a hard one.

The two walked on while speaking, and before long came to a fork. The road here split into two paths: one to the left, clearly heading toward a hidden, quiet area; one to the right, opening directly toward the auction-house quarter.

“Uncle Moben, I’ll return to the hut first.” Su Yi turned onto the left path, walked a few steps, and turned back to speak.

Moben looked at the dim lane, his face unreadable, and nodded. “Do not worry. I’ll mention what you said to Miss Meiya.”

After a quick breath, Su Yi bade him farewell and followed the narrow lane to his small room. He walked the path he knew so well, feeling that familiar steadiness underfoot, yet for no clear reason he felt a strange estrangement and sadness. A road he had walked for years now felt alien, as if he crossed it for the first time… and perhaps for the last.

How strange… was it only because he was about to leave?

He shook off the thought, and forced away the tangle of emotions. His mind returned to the mysterious white mask. He had planned to study it after the tournament anyway. Now the tournament had ended, and the preparations for seeking the Blood of Heaven had already been bought and prepared. He had, by any practical measure, nothing pressing left to do.

The day was still young. Why not use this time to investigate the white mask and its strange effect on that evil soul? He wondered what mystery clung to it.

With that idea, Su Yi felt a spark of excitement and quickened his pace back to the room.

When he returned, he closed the door behind him and swept a glance through the room. Nothing unusual. He exhaled with some relief. Since that uncanny black-clothed old man had slipped in before, he had carried a lingering wariness, fearing someone else might enter the same way. Now, with nothing obvious amiss, he was easier in mind.

He checked the doors and windows once more. Satisfied, he nodded, then walked to the bedside and sat down. From inside his robe he took out the mysterious white mask. It had originally been stored in his storage ring, but with his battle qi gone he could not retrieve it by himself; only with Lefei’s help had he been able to take it out.

Even after it was out, he could still not put it back into the storage ring, and he did not want to hide it elsewhere. So he kept it with him. In one respect this was also a precaution against the Void-Crushing Crossbow threat: if worn near his chest, at least it could offer some blocking protection.

Aobenshan’s hatred ran deep, and the fact that he had obtained the Void-Crushing Crossbow at auction meant it was no impossibility that he might use it against Su Yi in the tournament. Preparation was wise. But what still surprised Su Yi was that the Aobens competitor was in fact Aobenyu himself—and that he had suddenly leaped to the level of a Seventh-Grade Fighter.

Wielding a Void-Crushing Crossbow required substantial strength, but that did not mean such a weapon was a mere ornament for a Seventh-Grade Fighter; it still carried formidable force. At Su Yi’s present level, avoiding that danger was best. As he had suspected, Aobenyu had one hidden, though in the end Su Yi had still prevented him from using it.

He reached out and touched the white mask. A chill, almost grim and eerie, spread through his palm at once, like the rigid coldness of metal. Su Yi gave a slight involuntary shiver, then regarded the mask more gravely, considering whether to wear it on his face as before.

The last time, to uncover the mystery of that white mask, he had put it on and then activated his soul-perception to scan it. Unexpectedly, he had been thrown into a strange state—everything empty, nothing seeming to matter, an eerie and uncanny void of detachment. Looking back now, if that enigmatic old man in black had not interrupted him, he might have remained there, perhaps descending deeper until he could never escape.

Just thinking of that uncanny feeling made him shiver again. Even the vengeance buried deep in his heart had seemed able to vanish there without trace. Su Yi was not the sort to forget hatred easily, nor to return kindness for evil. If that man had ruined his battle qi circulation, he would settle that debt no matter what.

Yet that man’s talent was formidable. If Su Yi truly meant to seek revenge, he had to improve his power by every means possible. Most urgent of all, he could not afford any misfortune along the way. As things stood, the greatest threat to his life was the evil soul now hiding inside him. That was, undeniably, a terrifyingly unstable factor.

“At present there are still few ways to deal with this evil soul,” Su Yi muttered, frowning at the mask in his hands. “So I might as well test this mysterious mask first.”

“I scanned it only after putting it on last time… I wonder what direct scanning would do…”