Chapter Thirty-Three: To Go Or To Stay

  The second time I came here, the feeling of oppression was still so strong. I vaguely felt that something seemed to be going to happen this time.

  When I walked into the office of the elders again, I was stunned. As expected, there were people waiting for me. Because all the principals and deans from various schools who were on the viewing platform earlier were seated here. Of course, I wouldn't be foolish enough to think they wanted to reward me. The elder from the Dark Night Academy had a hint of malice in his eyes, although he was trying to conceal it, but I still detected it.

  "Greetings, elders." I bowed respectfully to them, this was a situation where I couldn't be rude.

  "Uh, Xi Meng, I'll be direct with you. The purpose of calling you here this time is to give you a chance to explain yourself. Although you didn't kill that student, you severely injured him. The principal of the Dark Night Academy insists on punishing you."

  "At that time I really couldn't control myself, I really didn't mean to."

  "Joke, you don't know what the consequences will be like! I won't make it difficult for you, as long as you abandon your own soul power, that's considered even." The spherical and sinister principal in front of him said with a magnanimous expression.

  "Hmph, weren't you all like that when you hurt my son in the first place? If it wasn't for this little girl, I'm afraid Senba would have died already. So to say, I still need to settle accounts with you." The speaker was the principal of Renhoku Academy, and I didn't expect him to help me, so I looked at him gratefully.

  "Isn't your son all right now? Alright, even if we were wrong, Kurosawa was punished and lost all his soul power. Shouldn't this little girl be the same?"

  "Alright, Xi Meng, let's just call it even. I think we can consider this matter closed." Grandpa Langda said with a nod and a smile, indicating that I shouldn't worry about it.

  "It's easy to say, but I won't give up on this matter." The principal of Dark Night Academy had a strong attitude. I definitely wouldn't let him abolish my soul power, otherwise everything would be in vain, but he was so determined, what should I do?

  "In my opinion, Xi Meng has indeed caused no small harm to the students of Dark Night Academy. If Xi Meng still chooses to stay in the academy, I will personally abolish her soul power. After all, she is a student of our academy, and I will spare her for five years, until graduation, when I will arrange for her to be taken away." The speaker was the Great Elder, isn't he clearly trying to kill me? Even if I can graduate from here, won't I still be nothing? When the time comes, my parents will come to pick me up, but what they'll see is a me who has accomplished nothing.

  "No, I disagree." I mustered up the courage, although I didn't have the right to speak here, but I absolutely wouldn't do that.

  "Don't be in a hurry, I haven't finished speaking yet." The elder shook his head and continued: "However, if Xi Meng chooses to leave the Academy, then we can no longer punish her. From now on, she will no longer belong here, nor will she belong to Dou Huang Silver Palace."

  It seems I have to leave this time, but I'm really reluctant to part with Xiaopu, Nian sister and many others.

  "I disagree! If she leaves, isn't that equivalent to no punishment?" The principal of Dark Night Academy still wouldn't let me off, strangely, did he have a grudge against me?

  "Hmph, you can't help it, if you still oppose, then we'll invite that gentleman over. How about you lose your soul power in front of him?" Lang Da said, he was referring to Qiu. The principal of the Dark Night Academy surprisingly shut his mouth and nodded in agreement with a difficult expression.

  "Alright, Ximeng, you go first and leave tomorrow," said the Great Elder. I looked at him, suddenly feeling a pang of sadness, was I really going to leave? I bowed again to the elders. Before leaving, however, I caught the Great Elder and Langda Grandfather exchanging a meaningful glance.

  "Even if Xi Meng is no longer a student of the Dou Huang Silver Palace, she will not leave our protection. Whoever dares to have evil intentions will be seeking death." The speaker was San Lao. The heads of various colleges and universities left one after another, leaving only three elders and Lang Da.

  "That old man from Dark Night Academy isn't usually the most sociable, so why is he being so tough today?" Landa said thoughtfully.

  "It seems there is still a high-ranking person behind him." The elder guessed.

  "Could it be her?" Second Elder said.

  "It's possible, it seems that Xi Meng's road won't be easy anymore." Landa sighed.

  "I'm watching that kid, besides she won't be traveling alone, didn't those little guys already have a plan? It seems everything is within your expectations, Big Brother." The Second Elder said with a smile, looking towards the Great Elder.

  "Sooner or later she will be destroyed." The three elders threw down these words and disappeared. The remaining three also shook their heads and left.

  Actually, I didn't feel much shock, it can be said that it was intuition, and the reversal of heaven seemed to help me. When the appointed time arrived, I came to that place again and leaned under the tree waiting for him.

  "Excuse me, are you Xi Meng?" I turned around to see a student who was probably one or two years older than me standing behind me. He looked ordinary, and I nodded at him.

  "Come with me, it's fate that brought me here to pick you up."

  "Thank you." I quietly followed behind him. The Dou Huang Yin Palace was very large, and for the most part, I only moved around a few small corners, so I wasn't clear on just how big it was. However, I could confirm that the path we were currently taking was very unfamiliar to me, and what's more, there wasn't even a shadow of any other disciples.

  "Where is this going?" I couldn't help but ask.

  "Further ahead is a restricted area for students, only a select few have access to this privilege." He then stopped in front of a large gate, which slowly opened to reveal another small estate. We walked up to a castle and the student stopped. He opened the door for me to enter before turning around and leaving.

  As soon as I entered, I saw several familiar figures: Yin Yue, Ye Gui, and Ni Tian. There was also a very delicate-looking girl who looked older than me. Another one I didn't know, he had his back to me. Indeed, things were not that simple after all.

  "You're here, Ximeng." Yin Yue greeted me first. I sighed and made mental preparations before walking towards them.

  "Sit down, ask whatever you want to ask." The speaker was Ni Tian. He pointed to the seat next to him. I didn't sit down.

  "Would you mind introducing me then?" I said helplessly.

  "Yes, that's Hualei." Nì Tiān said to the girl. She smiled slightly, looking very weak. Maybe it was her name or maybe it was her appearance, but she seemed to have a faint sadness.

  "This is Bai Hun, Hua Lei and they have been together since childhood." The front of that back figure was like this, he had white hair and white clothes, even his lips were pale. He closed his eyes and didn't make a sound, there was only one word: floating like an immortal. I was embarrassed and didn't know what to say.

  "Don't mind him, Bai Hun usually doesn't open his eyes and rarely speaks. As you get to know him slowly, you'll find he's not difficult to get along with," Yin Yue said.

  "I have many questions. How did you all gather together? Why did the Reverse Heaven concede defeat during the competition? What kind of plan are you guys running?" These are my most pressing concerns.

  "It's complicated, sit down and we'll explain it to you slowly." Yin Yue said. I nodded and sat down beside Ni Tian.

  I don't know how long it's been, but I'm still in a state of confusion. Yin Yue explained things very clearly, but I really need some time to digest everything.

  They planned something big. The general idea is to overthrow the current ruler - Sui Mo. The underworld is not as calm as I have been in contact with for some time, and Sui Mo is Silver Moon's aunt. Silver Moon's mother was the daughter of the previous ghost king, and after marrying Silver Moon's father, she passed on her position to him. However, it wasn't long before Silver Moon's favorite aunt changed, secretly gathering power and plotting in the shadows. By the time Silver Moon's father discovered this, it was too late. At that time, Silver Moon's parents decided to pass the throne to their eldest son, Silver Moon's older brother, but Sui Mo assassinated him. Silver Moon's parents were also imprisoned, announcing to the outside world that they had abdicated, and all matters of the ghost tribe would be handled by Sui Mo. Since the ghost tribe holds a dominant position in the underworld, the entire underworld is likely to fall into chaos, and no one knows what Sui Mo will do. Silver Moon's existence was only to temporarily appease those elders who were unaware of the situation, loyal to Silver Moon's father. However, Silver Moon found out about it, and from then on, he pretended not to know anything on the surface but secretly searched for his partners in the prophecy.

  "One of my father's friends once told us that he had foreseen a great calamity in the underworld, and the only hope was to find the partner destined for me. This ring on my hand is what he left behind, it will heat up when I meet you. I have been waiting for a very, very long time."

  "I just want to cultivate myself well and return home quickly." My responsibility is to save humanity. Now, I'm being asked to stop the crisis in the underworld, which is unbearable for me.

  "Ximeng, listen to me. Do you think my aunt's plan is just to be the ruler of the underworld? No, her ambition is to expand the underworld, she wants to devour all living things in the mortal world. Can you still think you can stay out of this? She wants to destroy the mortal world!"

  What should I do? Prisoner, does he know? I wish he were by my side to tell me what to do.

  "What are we going to do now? Our strength is too weak." I said bitterly.

  "So we decided to go out, the outside world is where true growth can happen, in a place filled with slaughter and crisis."

  "Alright, I understand."

  "You must remember, once you've chosen, there's no turning back. Outside, the world will offer no protection, and the only ones we can trust are ourselves." The wild ghost sitting in the corner suddenly spoke up, this being his first words since entering.

  "I understand, so against the heavens, why did you admit defeat that day?"

  "It seems you're really curious, so I'll tell you. I'm not here to compete, but to declare war. My tribe protected me too well in the past, and our hatred for the Siyi demons runs too deep. That's why the dragon tribe is like this now, all thanks to her. But I've decided not to hide anymore, I want revenge." At this moment, Ni Tian lost his elegance, his whole body filled with killing intent. I don't know what happened between them in the past, but I didn't ask, and it seems he doesn't want to say either.

  "You come out alone, aren't you afraid that those greedy people will take advantage of you? I don't believe you haven't seen the way they look at you."

  "They won't lay a hand on me for the time being, their greed knows no bounds, as long as they want more, they absolutely won't do anything to me. Besides, if I couldn't protect myself, I wouldn't have appeared like this."

  "Now we're so blatant, don't you have any concerns? Siyima will find out sooner or later, right?" I'm not afraid, Siyima's informants won't notice our little movements.

  "So that's why we need to buy time, Siyi Mo has already reached the high level of Mingzun, and I got the news that she is in seclusion, making a final sprint. If successful, then there will be no one in the underworld who can match her, her soul power is very evil, nobody has ever seen her make a move, so basically nobody knows her weakness."

  She was originally so strong. I couldn't even see the hope of us winning, but thinking back to what Xue Que had said to me: You must get stronger, later when you meet a ghost named Siyi Mo, you must kill her, as long as she is in prison, the knot will never be untied. But if I really killed her, would Qiu's heart ache? Would he hate me? Thinking of this, my heart felt a bit strange.