Guesswork

It was late at night.

Sea God Island was quiet, with only the gentle sound of lake water lapping against the shore.

Yun Ming stood before the window, looking at the moonlight outside.

Ya Li emerged from the inner room and stopped beside him.

"Is he asleep?"

Yun Ming asked.

Ya Li nodded.

"He is. He's been tinkering with those parts every day this past month, and he spent the whole afternoon practicing swordsmanship today. He's exhausted."

Yun Ming fell silent for a moment.

"How is his research on those things going?"

Ya Li thought for a moment.

"I can't make sense of it. Yue'er said that even she couldn't understand some of the blueprints he drew."

Yun Ming said nothing.

Ya Li looked at him.

"What are you thinking about?"

Yun Ming was silent for a long time.

"That bear."

He said.

Ya Li froze for a moment.

Yun Ming continued.

"While he was unconscious, I went to check the Spirit Ascension Platform's records."

He paused.

"That Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear was split apart by a single strike of his sword."

Ya Li said nothing.

Yun Ming turned around and looked at her.

"From the top of its head to its abdomen, it was neatly divided into two halves. The cut was as smooth as a mirror."

His voice was calm, but Ya Li could hear what lay beneath that calmness.

"He's only nine," Ya Li said.

Yun Ming nodded.

"Nine years old, two rings, and one sword strike split open a hundred-year Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear."

He paused.

"Do you know what that means?"

Ya Li was silent for a moment.

"His martial soul is stronger than we thought."

Yun Ming shook his head.

"It isn't just strong."

He returned to the window and looked at the moonlight outside.

"In the Spirit Ascension Platform's records, the footage from his final stretch was blurry."

Ya Li froze for a moment.

"Blurry?"

Yun Ming nodded.

"It wasn't a problem with the recording device. Something interfered with it."

He turned and looked at Ya Li.

"During that period, his Soul Power fluctuations completely exceeded the normal range. It wasn't a change in quantity, but a transformation in quality."

Ya Li's expression changed slightly.

"You mean..."

Yun Ming was silent for a moment.

"His martial soul entered its final state."

He paused.

"I can't sense that state."

Ya Li fell silent.

"He's my son," she said.

"He's my son too."

Yun Ming looked at her.

"Then what do you mean by this?"

"I'm very worried..."

"Worried about what?"

"...I'm worried he'll become the next Pluto Douluo."

Ya Li's expression changed.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

Yun Ming shook his head.

"I'm not talking nonsense. I'm wondering what exactly his martial soul is."

He returned to the window and looked at the moonlight outside.

"Lunar Phase Flow, four realms of transformation. New Moon, Crescent Moon, Full Moon, Blood Moon. A martial soul with four states like this has never appeared in the continent's tens of thousands of years of history."

Ya Li said nothing.

Yun Ming continued.

"When his soul ring first fused, it was only a hundred-year ring, but its spirituality was stronger than even a hundred-thousand-year soul ring."

"Every one of his soul skills carries rules we cannot understand. Mark Pursuit from Crescent Slash, the pull and invincibility of Moonlight Protection, and Blood Moon..."

He paused.

"That power appeared on him once before. It lasted only an instant, but I felt it."

Ya Li asked softly.

"What did it feel like?"

Yun Ming was silent for a moment.

"Like facing an entire plane."

Ya Li was stunned.

Yun Ming turned and looked at her.

"Not facing a powerful person, but facing the whole world."

"That sense of oppression didn't come from any one direction. It came from all sides."

He paused.

"At that moment, he wasn't fighting. He was... declaring something."

Ya Li's hand tightened slightly.

"You mean his martial soul is connected to the plane?"

Yun Ming nodded.

"I'm wondering whether he might have been created by the plane itself."

Ya Li was stunned for a moment.

"What do you mean?"

Yun Ming said,

"Several thousand years ago, there was a legend. It said that the Plane Master, in order to resist the God Realm, once created a special lifeform."

"That lifeform possessed the purest martial soul and the greatest potential. It was the plane's final means of protecting itself."

He looked at Ya Li.

"But the legend had no ending. No one knew what became of that lifeform."

Ya Li was silent for a moment.

"You mean Jing Heng is that lifeform?"

Yun Ming shook his head.

"I don't know."

He paused.

"But if he is, then many things make sense."

"Why his martial soul is so unusual, why his soul skills carry rules, why he can draw blueprints none of us can understand..."

Ya Li suddenly said,

"But he has feelings."

Yun Ming looked at her.

Ya Li said,

"He cares about us. He cares about that girl Xing Lan. He cares about that little fox."

"He isn't a tool created by someone. He's a living, breathing person."

Yun Ming was silent for a moment.

"I know."

He paused.

"But that's exactly why I understand it even less."

He returned to the window and looked at the moonlight outside.

"When he first met that girl named Gu Yue, he lost control because of her."

Ya Li froze for a moment.

"Gu Yue?"

Yun Ming nodded.

"In the Spirit Ascension Platform's records, that girl blocked an attack for him and was then sent flying. That was the moment he began to lose control."

He looked at Ya Li.

"Had he heard of her before?"

Ya Li shook her head.

"No. Xing Lan said it was their first meeting."

Yun Ming was silent for a moment.

"Then why?"

Ya Li thought for a moment.

"Maybe... because that girl blocked an attack for him?"

Yun Ming shook his head.

"That's why I can't understand it. Ye Xinglan also blocked an attack for him, but that happened after the girl."

He paused.

Ya Li fell silent.

Yun Ming continued.

"That girl is called Gu Yue. She's from Eastsea City, and her martial soul is an Elemental Envoy. She seems ordinary, but I keep feeling that she isn't simple."

He looked out the window.

"Did he lose control because of her? Ye Xinglan? Or something else?"

Ya Li asked softly.

"You mean there is some connection between them?"

Yun Ming nodded.

"Perhaps."

He paused.

"Perhaps that girl is connected to the plane as well."

Ya Li was stunned.

Yun Ming turned and looked at her.

"I don't know whether this is a coincidence or whether something is arranging it all."

"Every time Ye Xinglan had sought him out to practice swordsmanship before, nothing like this had happened. And at the time, all of his Soul Power had been used to flee, so his lunar phase had only reached Crescent Moon..."

"But when he met her, the transition from Crescent Moon to Full Moon was forced open directly. Then, when Ye Xinglan was sent out of the Spirit Ascension Platform, Blood Moon appeared..."

He was silent for a moment.

"It was all too much of a coincidence."

Ya Li walked to his side and took his hand.

"No matter who he is, no matter who she is, he is our son."

Yun Ming looked at her.

Ya Li said,

"We promised that if we couldn't protect him, we would stay by his side."

Yun Ming was silent for several seconds.

Then he nodded.

"Mm."

He paused.

"But I wanted to understand."

Ya Li looked at him.

Yun Ming said,

"Not because he was dangerous, but because... he was worth it."

He turned his head and looked toward the inner chamber.

"That child was hiding many things in his heart. He did not say them, but we needed to know."

Ya Li fell silent for a moment.

"How did you want to find out?"

Yun Ming thought for a moment.

"First, we'll watch that Gu Yue."

He paused.

"If she truly was in contact with him, they would meet again eventually."

Outside the window, moonlight spilled down.

It was bright.

Bright enough to seem as though it was watching something.