Echoes

Ye Xinglan waited in the rest area.

When she saw Yun Jingheng return, she handed him a bottle of water. "Why did you take so long?"

Yun Jingheng took the water. "I ran into someone and exchanged a few words."

Ye Xinglan did not ask who it was. She sat down beside him. "That Tang Wulin uses his Blue Silver Grass pretty well."

Yun Jingheng nodded. "Yeah."

"His Golden Dragon Claw is interesting too. It's powerful, but his control isn't refined enough."

Ye Xinglan paused. "Give him another two years, and he'll be troublesome."

Yun Jingheng looked at her. "You actually praise other people?"

Ye Xinglan shot him a glare. "I'm analyzing an opponent."

She rose to her feet. "Let's go. Time to get back and rest."

Yun Jingheng followed her out of the rest area.

Sunlight shone in from the sea, stretching their shadows long behind them.

Xu Xiaoyan sat on the bed in her hotel room, her hands spread over her knees.

She stared at her palms for a long time. There was nothing there.

She tried summoning her Star Wheel Ice Staff. The staff appeared, glowing with faint starlight in her hand.

Just like before, there was nothing unusual about it.

She frowned and put the staff away.

Her palm was empty again, but she kept feeling as though something was missing.

Not the staff. Something else.

She could not explain it.

She lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

In her mind was the image of Yun Jingheng standing on the field—his silver-white coat, three soul rings floating behind him, and the frosty white radiance on his Moonlight Sword.

She turned over and buried her face in her pillow.

The warmth in her palm surfaced again, faint and gentle.

She clenched her hand and told no one.

Gu Yue returned to her room and shut the door.

She did not turn on the lights. Instead, she stood before the window and looked at the sea outside.

The sea around Skysea City was blue and deep.

She held out her hand. A flame burned in her palm, small but bright.

She clenched her fist, and the flame went out.

She opened her hand again. A tiny, sharp ice spike rested in her palm.

The ice spike shattered into water and flowed away through her fingers.

She withdrew her hand and leaned against the window.

The moon had not risen yet. The sky was still bright.

She closed her eyes, and that silver-white mark appeared in her mind.

It was faint and cool, like moonlight.

She opened her eyes, turned, and walked back to sit on the bed.

Her communicator lit up. It was a message from Di Tian.

"Lord, arrangements have been made for that Soul Bone."

She glanced at it and set the communicator down. It was not time yet. She would wait until he grew a little stronger.

That evening, Yun Jingheng sat in his hotel room and took the Blue Pregnancy Copper from his Storage Soul Tool.

The palm-sized metal ingot gave off a blue sheen beneath the lamplight.

He turned it over in his hands for a long while, then pulled out several blueprints.

They were designs for Soul Guidance core circuits he had drawn earlier. Using Blue Pregnancy Copper as the conductive circuit would raise efficiency by thirty percent.

He picked up a pen and made several revisions on the blueprints.

Afterward, he looked them over again. Unsatisfied, he revised them once more.

After three revisions, he finally put down his pen.

Ya Li was reading beside him. She glanced at him. "Done working?"

Yun Jingheng put the Blue Pregnancy Copper away.

"I'll work on it after we get back. There isn't enough metal here."

Ya Li smiled. "Then time for bed? Tomorrow, we can check the Blacksmith Association and see whether they have what you need."

Yun Jingheng nodded and lay back down.

The moment Yun Jingheng lay down, he felt one side of the mattress sink.

Ya Li climbed over from her own bed and lay down beside him. Turning onto her side to look at him, her eyes curved with amusement.

"Do you want Mommy to hold you while you sleep?"

Yun Jingheng stared at the ceiling in silence for about three seconds.

"Mom, I'm ten."

"So what if you're ten? You're still Mommy's son."

Ya Li reached over and pulled his blanket up a little higher, her movements entirely natural. "When you were little, you needed me to hold you every night to sleep. If I didn't hold you, you wouldn't sleep. The second I put you down, you cried."

Yun Jingheng's mouth twitched. "That was when I was little."

"You're still little now." Ya Li was perfectly matter-of-fact.

Yun Jingheng stopped talking.

He turned over, giving Ya Li his back.

Ya Li chuckled and stopped teasing him. She merely tucked in the corner of his blanket, then lay back down and looked at the back of his head.

Moonlight streamed through a gap in the curtains, falling across the floor in a thin line. The room was very quiet.

"Mom," Yun Jingheng suddenly said.

"Hmm?"

"That Gu Yue today, her elemental control was incredible."

Ya Li said nothing.

Yun Jingheng continued.

"She can control four elements at once—ice, fire, wind, and earth—and switch between them quickly. The moment she finished launching an ice spike, a fireball came right after it. There was almost no delay."

He paused. "Her spiritual power is very strong."

Ya Li looked at him. Moonlight fell across his profile, and he looked very calm.

"You're interested in her?"

Yun Jingheng thought about it.

"She helped me."

Ya Li waited for him to continue.

Yun Jingheng fell silent for a while.

"Back in the Spirit Ascension Platform, the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear was chasing me. She helped block it, then got slapped away."

His voice was calm. "I owe her one."

Ya Li reached over and touched his hair.

"So that's why you kept watching her on the field today?"

Yun Jingheng did not answer.

It was not that he did not want to answer. He simply had not figured it out himself.

Why did his gaze always fall on her whenever he was on the field?

It was not because she was strong. It was something else.

He could not put it into words.

Ya Li did not press him. She only gently stroked his hair.

"Sleep. There's another match tomorrow."

Yun Jingheng gave a soft "Mm" and closed his eyes.

Moonlight streamed through the gap in the curtains and fell onto his pillow.

He turned over to face the window.

That ray of moonlight was thin and bright, like a silver thread.

He closed his eyes and slowly drifted off.

When Ya Li heard his breathing become even, she slowly sat up.

She looked down at his sleeping face for a long time.

Then she reached out and pulled the curtains shut more tightly, blocking out that beam of moonlight.

She lay back down and closed her eyes.

The next morning, Yun Jingheng was awakened by a knock at the door.

He opened his eyes and saw that Ya Li was already up, combing her hair.

He sat up and stretched his neck.

"Who is it?"

Ya Li went to open the door.

Ye Xinglan stood outside, her golden ponytail tied neatly in place.

"Elder Ya Li, Teacher Shen asked me to call you. Today's match schedule is out."

Yun Jingheng got out of bed and walked to the door.

"Who are we facing?"

Ye Xinglan looked at him.

"Crossing Sea Academy. Two power-type soul masters, both with bear martial souls."

Yun Jingheng nodded. "Easy?"

The corners of Ye Xinglan's lips lifted. "Easy."

Yun Jingheng smiled as well. "That's good."

Ya Li poked her head out from the room.

"Wait for me. I need to change."

Ye Xinglan and Yun Jingheng waited in the hallway.

Leaning against the wall, Ye Xinglan looked at Yun Jingheng. "Didn't sleep well last night?"

Yun Jingheng shook his head. "No. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing."

Ya Li came out wearing a pale blue long dress, her hair gathered behind her head. She looked very refreshed.

Ye Xinglan led the way, with Yun Jingheng and Ya Li following behind.

When they reached the elevator, Ye Xinglan suddenly stopped and turned to look at Yun Jingheng.

"For today's match, you take the front."

Yun Jingheng froze for a moment. "Why? Didn't we agree you'd take the front?"

Ye Xinglan glared at him. "You agreed yesterday."

Yun Jingheng thought about it, but could not remember whether such a thing had happened.

"Did I? Fine."

Ya Li listened from the side, the corners of her lips curling upward, but she said nothing.