Chapter 5
Ghost in the past
The fighting continues, and Yuwen Yue's cold eyes follow the black ninja's movements.
The black ninja exudes arrogance, and the crowd loves it, as though he's already won, even though the contender hasn't truly lost yet. After a few blows and the sound of the contender's body hitting the ground, Yuwen Yue looks and finds the large, muscled man sleeping like a baby in the middle of the fighting ring.
They drag his body outside and throw him out of the area.
The first fight is over, but the host announces another call, signaling that the final event is about to begin.
The host opens the stage for people to show their support. Money starts flying down to the ground.
Back in the room, the black ninja acts as if nothing has happened.
There are no wounds or broken bones.
Suddenly, a short man enters the room, throws some money on the floor, and asks him to return for the final match.
Due to Yuwen Yue's compelling presence, another man pushes him into the fighting ring, turning him into an instant fighter and contender.
He has no idea who he'll be fighting.
"He narrows his brows, thinking about the black-masked ninja from earlier, and the crowd shouts out the ninja's name."Yuwen Yue realizes the black-masked ninja will be his next opponent.
In an unexpected turn of events, Yuwen Yue is forced into the fight. Fate has led him to this moment.
If the seventh Yue doesn't recognize him, Yuwen Yue will have to defend himself, but he won't harm his former bodyguard.
Yuwen Yue looks torn, his head lowered as the black-masked ninja approaches with arrogance.
A strange air of revenge surrounds the master of disguise. Sensing this, Yuwen Yue begins to draw on his inner strength to counter the feeling.
In the dimly lit center of the fighting ring, Yuwen Yue stands motionless, casting the perfect shadow, eyes closed, unmoving.
The black ninja senses that this contender is unlike the others he has fought before.
He grows wary, narrowing his eyes, but resists letting curiosity distract him from his goal.
Neither wants to make the first move, but the black ninja grows irritated by Yuwen Yue's unnerving calm.
Swish…
The black ninja tests the waters, but Yuwen Yue doesn't respond.
Yuwen Yue evades the first strike aimed at his left shoulder.
Just like that, the crowd erupts, then falls silent, awestruck.
After the initial attack, bets begin to change.
More money is thrown to the ground, and the crowd grows twice as wild as before. The two fighters lock eyes. Yuwen Yue studies his former bodyguard, the one he lost in the icy lake.
It pierces his heart because the emotional wounds are still fresh, though not visible.
The black ninja senses that his opponent is protecting his left shoulder, where he struck earlier, but Yuwen Yue fends him off.
Yuwen Yue knows this young man is focusing on his left shoulder, and he mustn't get defensive, or else the black ninja will target the still-healing wound.
Yuwen Yue must shift from defense to offense, and so he does.
For the first time since the frozen lake incident, Yuwen Yue uses his Gongfu martial arts, but he doesn't reveal his full power.
The black-masked ninja is caught by surprise when his nose suddenly starts bleeding. He raises an eyebrow in disbelief, how could this be happening now? He wonders if such a minor injury might cost him the fight and his career.
Hoping for something to interrupt the fight, the black ninja doesn't want to continue for much longer, fearing that like water trapped in a dam, once released, it will be impossible to stop.
The crowd might not be able to contain it.
Yuwen Yue shifts his approach as another attack comes from the black ninja.
Yuwen Yue takes control of the fight, transitioning from attack to counter-attack, pushing himself into a moral gray area, breaking his rules, yet staying true to them.
Almost in the blink of an eye, Yuwen Yue's fluid movements leave the black ninja scratching his head.
The crowd roars with laughter, placing bets back and forth.
Amused as they are, Yuwen Yue remains calm, composed like water, though his thoughts linger on the seventh Yue.
"How come he doesn't recognize me?" Yuwen Yue wonders from a distance.
The black-masked ninja, unfamiliar with this type of fight, is ridiculed by the crowd. His ego is bruised, and anger begins to take over. Soon, he touches Yuwen Yue's arm without realizing why his opponent allowed him to get so close.
Yuwen Yue pulls off the black ninja's mask, revealing his face to the crowd.
There's a brief moment of shock, jaws drop, and the once noisy crowd falls silent.
Yuwen Yue stares, realizing the black-masked ninja resembles Yue Qi.
Yuwen Yue is somewhat surprised to find himself face to face with him. Yet the black-masked ninja quickly puts his mask back on, jumps onto a wooden post, climbs to the balcony, and escapes through a window.
Yuwen Yue, left alone in the fighting ring, ignores the money the crowd throws in celebration of their new champion.
Although he could use the money to survive, Yuwen Yue is only interested in receiving payment for his services and moving on.
Deep in thought, Yuwen Yue realizes that exposing the black ninja might have caused Yue Qi to recognize him. He wonders if the black ninja will return to him eventually, and if so, how?
The lodge keeper is ecstatic, having made more profit from this final fight than in the entire past year.
Yuwen Yue is thrown out of the place like a useless man after the fight ends. A small man throws him some of the hard-earned money, and Yuwen Yue has no choice but to pick it up, coin by coin, from the ground.
It's not much, but it will buy him food for a few weeks.
Though he won by default, the fight ended in a draw when the crowd's favorite disappeared after losing his mask.
Yuwen Yue never intended to expose him.
However, he needed to end the fight before it exhausted him.
Too much publicity could put him in danger.
Yuwen Yue realized that diverting attention from himself to the question, "Who's behind the mask?" was necessary.
As he had hoped, the fight turned into a spectacle for the crowd's amusement.
Even after the fight, while walking down the street, Yuwen Yue hears gossip spreading like wildfire.
Some people ask for the contender's name.
Yuwen Yue hurries, hoping to avoid attracting more attention.
Pulling his hood over his head, Yuwen Yue walks tall, much like a monk in a Gregorian chant procession.
By the time Yuwen Yue returns to his room, he's utterly exhausted. Stashing away the money he earned from the fight, he plans to buy a weapon for his journey into the unknown. Perhaps all roads will lead to Xinger.
Yuwen Yue finds peace when he thinks about Xinger. He keeps her alive in his thoughts and his heart.
A familiar bird in a rusty cage suddenly speaks like a person, calling out, "Xinger, Xinger..."
It's cut off when Yuwen Yue wrinkled his brow, and the bird stops.
Yes, it's the Yuwen parrot.
Flashing back to a time when Yuwen Yue was hunting in the forest, he recalls seeing hunters taking down a deer. Hungry and with only two spears left, Yuwen Yue couldn't find food.
His left arm, still injured, made hunting difficult.
A young boy and his father were camping nearby. Yuwen Yue watched them from a distance, nearly losing consciousness from starvation.
Thankfully, the father and son found him and helped him.
They took Yuwen Yue in, feeding him and healing his shoulder wound.
Yuwen Yue, too weak to speak, stayed with them for weeks, unable to explain his past.
One day, while walking through the market, Yuwen Yue passed by a bird vendor and heard a familiar sound, the word "Xinger" spoken by a bird.
Yuwen Yue, curious, sought out the source of the sound and discovered the Yuwen parrot.
Delighted to see the bird, Yuwen Yue almost forgot about the vendor, who pushed him away because he had no money.
Yuwen Yue realized that in this new place, he wasn't the master of the Yuwen household. He couldn't demand or take anything as he once could.
Here, nobody knew him, and nobody cared.
Determined to buy the bird, Yuwen Yue found work to earn money.
He returned to the bird vendor every week, paying little by little until he could finally take the bird home.
Yuwen Yue treated the bird like gold, unaware of its true value until this moment. The bird had become his only connection to Xinger, the one thing keeping him going.
When Yuwen Yue finally brought the bird home, he noticed that it had some wounds, signs that it had suffered since leaving the Yuwen household.
Yuwen Yue knew that chaos must have ensued after his departure. This bird was the only clue.
Though cold by nature, Yuwen Yue understood what his bird was going through.
The bird remained silent for days, but after receiving Yuwen Yue's care, it slowly returned to its lively self, chirping and teasing Yuwen Yue like before.
The bird's familiar antics sometimes annoyed him.
Exhausted, Yuwen Yue slept soundly, with the bird as his only companion. The bird, his alarm, guide, and constant companion, twinkled its eyes before resting.
Then, suddenly, the bird let out a loud, unexpected "quack!"
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