Translated by Rachel of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
After Ling Xiao left, You XiaoMo's life became even more routined. After coming out from the transfiguration room, he began to lock himself in his room to digest what he had absorbed that day.
Low level beast transfiguration techniques and mid level ones had a huge difference between them. The most obvious one being the length of the contents. The low level techniques only had one sentence and although it was obscure and hard to understand, as long as one was skilled enough and familiar with it, one could easily grasp it. Where as for the mid level techniques, it had two to three sentences and every sentence was a step.
One day's time was simply not enough, that was why everyone tried to forcibly memorise everything they saw at the beginning before reorganising and learning what they gathered after they exited.
The Beast Transfiguration Technique that You XiaoMo chose was related to his contract demon beast. Take for example, Lan Qiu. He was the Bird of Pride so his main attribute was flight, but attributes such as attack and defence were the ones that had special attention. Flight was important but ultimately You XiaoMo felt that attack and defence were even more so. Furthermore, Lan Qiu's power was the strongest among all his contract beasts.
You XiaoMo ran through the information in his head before he finally finalised a few of the transfiguration techniques.
Speaking of which, You XiaoMo didn't really understand why people were doing this. The contract demon beasts were already capable of self-awareness, so why were mages doing something unnecessary by controlling them? He wanted to ask since a long time ago, but he kept forgetting. Now that Ling Xiao wasn't around, he had no one to ask.
You XiaoMo walked out of the room. He heard that every floor had a place that was similar to a library and there were many books in there. With the thought in mind, You XiaoMo's mood vastly improved.
He was about to round the corner when a hand suddenly covered his mouth and dragged him backwards.You XiaoMo was so shocked and just when he was about to struggle, he suddenly realised that the person holding him back had a familiar presence. Turning his head around, he saw Yan Hui's awkward face and he couldn't help but roll his eyes at him, signalling him to move his hand away.
Yan Hui quickly released him.
You XiaoMo rubbed his chin and asked not too nicely, "What are you doing?"
Yan Hui gestured at him to not speak before he pointed at the bend ahead.
You XiaoMo immediately pricked up his ears to listen. A few seconds later, he heard two voices talking to each other and he was astonished. The voices belonged to Qiao WuXing and TianXin whom he was familiar with.
"TianXin, I'm speaking to you. Can you not hear me?" Qiao WuXing grabbed her by the arm and forced her to turn around and face him.
A hint of annoyance appeared on TianXin's beautiful face. Hearing this, she jerked his hand away.
"I heard what you said. You've been nagging me so much these past two days my ears are going to start growing calluses. Brother WuXing, can you just leave me alone?" She said loudly.
"Leaving you alone is impossible. Before we entered XiaoYao Institution I promised Elder Shen to take good care of you. It's not up to you to tell me not to meddle in your affairs." Qiao WuXing forcefully pulled her back.
Tian Xin went silent for a moment before she she said, "If both of us don't say anything, the old man wouldn't know."
"TianXin, listen to me. Don't do meaningless things." Qiao WuXing tried to persuade her as patiently and earnestly as possible. He knew TianXin very well. At this point in time he knew he couldn't hurry her otherwise she might be driven to take desperate actions.
"I like him. How can this kind of feeling be considered a meaningless thing?" Tian Xin waved her hands around angrily. She didn't believe a thing he said. She liked him and that was it.
"He won't like you back." Qiao WuXing put her down mercilessly.
Tian Xin glared at him furiously, "You are not him. How would you know that he doesn't like me?"
Qiao WuXing sighed. He didn't expect Tian Xin to be so persistent about this. However, he could understand her feelings. After all, this was the first person she developed feelings for. It was also because of this reason that all the more he had to put and end to her feelings. Otherwise when these feelings deepened, the fall would only be harder for her.
Thinking of this, he hardened his heart and said, "Because he already has someone he likes."
Tian Xin's eyes widened as she stared at him. She only started to question him after a long time had passed.
"Impossible. From the moment I knew him till now, I haven't even seen a single female appear beside him. How can he have someone he likes? And also, how would you know?"
Qiao WuXing went silent, as if he didn't know how to answer her.
"You can't answer my questions right? I knew you were lying to me." Tian Xin laughed smugly.
Qiao WuXing was utterly helpless.
"Tian Xin, some people have people they like who aren't necessarily women. It could also be … err, men." He nearly couldn't say the last word.
Tian Xin stared at him incredulously.
"The world is so large there are all sorts of things. If you think about it carefully you'll know I'm not lying to you."
Qiao WuXing was afraid that this might be too big a blow for her, but if he didn't put an end to things right now it would spiral out of control in the future. It would still be better to be ruthless at the start.
Tian Xin bit down hard on her lower lip but said nothing.
Qiao WuXing knew that his words finally got through to her and just as he was about to heave a sigh of relief, her following words left him at a loss for words.
"I understand but I don't want to give up just like that. It isn't easy for me to like a person and I just started to like him. If I give up just because of this, I will never be satisfied." Tian Xin clenched her fist and said with a steely gaze, "That person isn't beside him right now and now's my chance. I will take this opportunity to make my way into his heart."
"… What if you don't succeed in the end?" Qiao WuXing asked.
"Then I'll give up on him."
Qiao WuXing shook his head, "I understand."
He wouldn't try to stop her anymore. It was only way to make her give up completely.
Hearing this, Yan Hui cautiously looked at You XiaoMo's expression. Seeing that they already ended their conversation, You XiaoMo turned around and took his original path back, not showing any huge reaction from start to finish.
"Where are you going?"Yan Hui hurriedly caught up with him.
"To my room." You XiaoMo replied without even turning back.
Yan Hui smirked. "Don't tell me you are going back to your room to wait for a pretty lady to drop by? How lucky, how does it feel to be liked by a pretty lady?"
At his words, You XiaoMo stopped walking and tilted his to the side to look at him.
"Didn't you hear what Qiao WuXing said just now? Compared to women, I may prefer men even more." You XiaoMo smiled before looking him up and down with his eyes.
Yan Hui could feel the goosebumps forming on his arms and he waved his arms around frantically, "No, no, no, I don't swing that way."
You XiaoMo huffed. He walked into his room and turned around and said, "Oh yes, can I trouble you to tell everybody that I'm going to go into closed-door training and will only be out about a month or so later? If there's anything they need me for, we'll talk when I'm out. That's it."
Yan Hui had something to add but You XiaoMo had already shut the door. His nose almost got caught by the door and he quickly rubbed his nose as if he felt pain.
Cheng XiangRong, who was next door, heard the commotion and he immediately peeked his head out.
"Yan Hui, what happened?"
Yan Hui was about to answer when Tian Xin and Qiao WuXing returned. Seeing them standing outside You XiaoMo's room, Tian Xin jogged over to them and asked, "What are you guys doing here?"
Yan Hui saw the subject of their discussion approach and immediately smiled, "You've come at the right time. I just happened to have something to announce to all of you. It's regarding You XiaoHa."
"What is it?" Tian Xin spared no time to ask.
"XiaoHa just told me he is going to closed-door training and may only be out one plus month later. If you need him for anything, he said to discuss about it after he's out."
The smile immediately left Tian Xin's face.
"You're not lying to me, are you? How can he suddenly go into closed-door training?"
"How would I know? Probably because that man isn't here so he wanted to meditate in seclusion to pass time. Or maybe he wants to practise what he got from the Beast transfiguration room." Yan Hui shrugged.
Tian Xin's expression started to turn dark. Unlike Tian Xin, Qiao WuXing wasn't as affected and he asked, "Did something happen?"
Yan Hui gave him a stunned look before merrily saying, "Actually I'm not too sure, but he looked like he was heading to the Book Chamber. For some reason, he suddenly turned back halfway and said he was going into closed-door training."
Tian Xin's expression changed.
Qiao WuXing instantly understood what he was getting at.
"Brother WuXing, he wouldn't have heard our conversation right?" Tian Xin chewed on her lip.
Qiao WuXing sighed.
"He needs to pass through there to get to the Book Chamber. I think he must have heard it." Although his tone was regretful, in his heart he was silently thankful for this turn of event. It was such an obvious rejection that he doubted Tian Xin didn't get the message.
"What are you guys talking about?" Cheng XiangRong was left in a state of confusion.
"Nothing. Go back to your room." Tian Xin yelled at him frustratingly before stomping off to her room angrily and slammed the door.
Cheng XiangRong shook his head. As expected, it was difficult to deal with the Missy's tantrums.
"I'm sorry, she's in a bad mood. I'll apologise on her behalf." Qiao WuXing said.
"It's alright." Cheng XiangRong felt overwhelmed by the sudden apology and he immediately waved his hand to dismiss it.
Qiao WuXing didn't say anything after that. Before he left, he took a look at You XiaoMo's tightly closed door. He didn't go to find Tian Xin either. He didn't have to persuade her anymore, now it was all up to her to sort herself out.
Cheng XiangRong was still terribly confused. He turned towards a beaming Yan Hui who looked like he was there for the drama and asked, "Do you know what's going on?"
"You can say this is a story about two men and a woman, but it isn't a love triangle. Oh how fun this is, stuff like feelings are really the hardest to understand." Yan Hui smiled.