Purple Ghost

In the morning light, the scattered shadows of the woods stood still. The hum of the main arena's electronic screen drifted over from afar, while the announcement—"Contestants, please proceed to Area A for the draw"—looped twice.

Yun Ying was still half-reclining beside the overturned trash can, her spear laid across her knees. The energy ring on its tail ornament finally lit up with half a flicker of orange-blue light, then went dark again. She licked the corner of her mouth and tasted rust. She did not know whether she had bitten through her lip or been shaken by that punch.

Xie Xie's spiky yellow hair had completely collapsed. The way he looked at Gu Yue was even more stunned than when he had looked at Yun Ying's rainbow-glowing battle uniform yesterday—not in that way, but in the Is this thing even human? way. The Federation coins in his pocket had been crushed into a ball. Yogurt money, waist-rubbing fees, emotional damages for getting rammed into—every last one had become a joke. This girl had not dodged a slap, had swallowed a fireball, then teleported and punched Yun Ying straight into a trash can.

Tang Wulin slowly drew his stance back into place. The smile had vanished completely from his neat, black-haired good-student face. His fingers brushed his cuff as he assessed Gu Yue—assessed the level of her soul power fluctuations—and what he concluded made even him frown.

Gu Yue.

The instant the name landed, it was as if the corner of the training field had been stripped of sound. Yun Ying remembered saying at dinner yesterday, "One day, I'll make him roll around on the ground." Today, she had rolled around in a trash can first. Xie Xie remembered his fantasy of a "three-step counterkill," where Yun Ying lay on the ground calling his name. But now Yun Ying was the one on the ground, and the person who had put her there was named Gu Yue.

The wind began moving again, making Gu Yue's black-purple high ponytail sweep over her shoulders. The fire in her violet eyes had receded into a deep pool.

Gu Yue did not look at them again. She turned and headed down the path toward the arena, the name strip on the back of her training uniform showing halfway.

Yun Ying braced herself against the rim of the can and stood. Pain shot through her waist and sacrum again. She hissed but did not curse. Xie Xie glanced at her, opened his mouth, but did not say, "You deserve it, brown fuzz," because his own yellow hair was still trembling.

Tang Wulin finally spoke, his gentle voice carrying a note of caution. "Gu Yue... I've seen that name on the list of contestants."

Yun Ying slung her spear over her shoulder. Its butt struck the rim of the trash can with a ding. She lowered her head and brushed dust off her battle uniform, her brown ponytail hanging beside her face. Her voice was muffled. "A name on the list can punch me into a can and take the second layer of Citybreaker head-on... Xie Xie."

"What?" Xie Xie was still tense.

"Yesterday, I said I'd shave off your yellow hair in the singles match." Yun Ying raised her eyes, dust marks and red flush mixed across her cheeks. "I've changed my mind. Whoever fights Gu Yue will be the first one down."

Xie Xie snorted, but his laugh came out a little dry. "You've already been down. In a trash can."

"Lying in a trash can is still lying down." Yun Ying pointed at him. "Don't laugh, yellow hair. Her next punch might be for you."

The tuft of Xie Xie's yellow hair sprang up again. He said nothing. He touched his pocket, where the yogurt money had been kneaded into a ball, and suddenly felt that even the farmer and the snake would have been mild by comparison. Today, a farmer, a snake, and a violet-eyed ghost had crashed into one trash can.

Tang Wulin checked the time. "We'll be late for the draw."

The three of them headed for the main arena. Yun Ying's waist hurt, so she walked half a beat slower. Unusually, Xie Xie did not urge her on, while Tang Wulin walked between them.

Yun Ying looked back. The overturned trash can at the corner of the training field still lay by the grass, its mouth facing the sky like an open maw.

She thought: Gu Yue.

She had never heard that name before, but those violet eyes felt familiar—somewhere in Chang'an, perhaps, where old people said, "What was it again—one who guides the elements as though drawing a rope is not of human kind, but kin to dragons."

Yun Ying shook the thought away and cursed herself for imagining things because her waist hurt. But the bruise on her abdomen truly hurt.

Up ahead, Xie Xie suddenly spoke in a low voice through the morning breeze. "Tang Wulin."

"Mm."

"She said Gu Yue."

"I heard."

"Gu Yue... Is Gu her surname?"

"I don't know."

Yun Ying cut in from behind. "Yellow hair, are you scared?"

Xie Xie answered neither "not scared" nor "scared." After a pause, he touched the little upturned tuft over his forehead and murmured, "...The yogurt money was wasted."

Yun Ying laughed, but halfway through, her waist spasmed. She bared her teeth and hissed.

The closer they got to the main arena, the brighter its electronic screen became. The groupings scrolled past. Yun Ying, Xie Xie, and Tang Wulin were not in the same area, but Gu Yue—she was nowhere to be seen.

Yun Ying rubbed her stomach, her brown ponytail brushing the cloud-patterned ornament on her shoulder. She muttered softly, "Didn't even peel her skin off... Next time, I'll stack three layers."

Xie Xie heard her. He did not mock her, only said, "Stack three layers and she'll screw the lid onto your trash can."

Yun Ying said, "...Yellow hair, shut up."

Tang Wulin could not smile. He only said gently, "Draw first. We'll talk about Gu Yue later."

At the end of the path, the main arena opened before them, and the noise of the crowd surged out. The three stepped inside—yellow hair, brown hair, black hair—mixed with three different rhythms of aching waists, aching stomachs, and stunned fear.

The chill Gu Yue had left behind in the corner of the training field seemed to have been swept away by the morning wind, yet it also seemed never to have left at all.