13

It was another warm day, the blazing sun's rays beat down the earth with no mercy. Despite having let the curtains down, the rays still find a way to seep through and illuminate the room. 

Ruo Chen sat cross legged at the centre of the room with a frown on his face when he felt a warm ray of light land on his pale cheek. 

"This sun never let's me catch a break." He complained before deciding to end his training early today.

Another year went by in a flash and now the school admission trials were in 6 months time. He and Ye Ran have been training for the whole year in preparation for it as they will be competing against the very best from each region for a spot in the top schools.

Ye Ran, having the protagonist halo, was able to adapt to the resonance change in less than a year and was training diligently in the opposite room. Although he started later than Ruo Chen in training, his control over the dark energy grew exponentially day by day and he was now at the same level as him.

Ruo Chen could not help but feel shocked by this incredible growth rate. He was not slow by any means, it was just that Ye Ran was just too talented, he was a one in a million type of talent.

Throughout the year, he had been writing to his parents every now and then to ask for tips on how to improve as well as which schools to apply to. They had suggested them to go The Ink River school.

As he has no recollection of ever writing about this school, he had to ask his parents for all the information he could get.

So far, he learnt that this school was the foremost school for dark energy and has many great instructors there. Like the name suggest, it is near a river where its waters were as dark as the night. The school uses the river that is rich with dark energy to train their students which allows them to improve at an incredible rate due to the abundance of energy.

The parents also sent over a list of strong people that graduated from that school. Ruo Chen took out the list to see if he could find some familiar names. He quickly scanned through the list before quickly seeing a familiar name, Xiao Yuwei. 

"Xiao Yuwei... I remember him, he was one of the few people who could at least put up a fight against Ye Ran. So he was from this school?" Ruo Chen mumbled as he flipped to the next page.

This Xiao Yuwei was another one of those extraordinary talents. He was recognized as gifted since young and he never let those expectations down. Winning multiple interschool competitions and duels, he later became a lone wanderer, helping those in need.

So how did he become one of Ye Ran's enemies?

Simply put it, Ye Ran wanted to raze the world to the ground after all the injustices he suffered and he happened to cross paths with Xiao Yuwei in one of the villages he was going to burn.

Ye Ran was preparing one of his moves to burn the village when he was stopped by Xiao Yuwei. They were both evenly matched as Ye Ran was still young and not quite at the level he was at a few years later so they fought for 3 days and 3 nights. The fight ended with Xiao Yuwei winning as he had the aid of the night, yet he did not kill Ye Ran and instead let him go under the condition that Ye Ran let him place a position mark on him so that he would know where he was at all times.

Ye Ran obviously agreed before fleeing deep into the night. This did not teach him a lesson and instead only made his anger and hatred seep deeper into his heart. Why was there no one to protect me like that scoundrel who protected the village? Why was I the one that was thrown away and abused? Why?!

He cursed everyone and everything in his mind that day before vowing once again to get stronger to take revenge on this world. "Xiao Yuwei, this tracker on me will be your downfall!"

Ruo Chen snapped out of his memories which an uninterpretable look on his face when he heard a knock on the door.

"I'm busy, go away." He said while placing the list on his face, Ruo Chen felt tired and did not want to entertain anyone at the moment.

The person at the door did not listen and pushed open the door slowly. Their footsteps were unhurried and they soon stood directly in front of Ruo Chen who laid down on the chair. They stared at him in silence as if waiting for something.

Ruo Chen felt his eyebrow twitch at this person's annoying behaviour. If you have something to say, then say it! Don't just stand there like an idiot! After another minute of silence, Ruo Chen could not take it anymore and swiped the paper from his face before looking at the intruding guest.

He was met with a calm face and gentle reddish blue eyes staring at him. The boy's hair was tied into a neat ponytail with bangs that covered his forehead, if he hadn't know this person, his beauty might have tricked Ruo Chen to think it was a beautiful young maiden.

"Ye Ran?" Ruo Chen questioned. He had not expected it to be Ye Ran as he should still be training for another hour and thought it was just a new maid.

"Mn." Ye Ran hummed as he continued to stare unblinkingly into Ruo Chen's eyes.

Was there something wrong? Ruo Chen thought as he slowly got up from his seat.

Right. I forgot I basically locked myself in my room for a week, this guy must be worried shitless.

"I'm fine you know, so what do you want?" He said while stretching. Just what did this brat want?

"I've grown." Ye Ran replied while feigning calm, his excitement was clear in his clear eyes.

Ruo Chen's ear perked up at that and looked at Ye Ran properly. Oh, they were at eye level now. Maybe it was because Ruo Chen never really bothered about height that it was now that he saw Ye Ran again, he felt as if he just suddenly grew.

"Good job." Ruo Chen praised as he pat Ye Ran's head.

After having lived together for two years, Ruo Chen gradually got used to what Ye Ran wanted without him having to say it. He was also more immune to the fact that he was petting the same person that once razed the world to the ground.

Ye Ran leaned into the touch and felt his face heat up despite himself and he was not unlike a puppy getting pet. Ruo Chen did not notice this change in Ye Ran's expression as the curtains were still down and the light that seeped through illuminated the other half of the room, making the environment relatively dim.

Ruo Chen thought of Xiao Yuwei's brutal death and shut his eyes once again. In all honesty, he regretted writing about his death as he truly was a kind soul, always giving his all in helping others. However, it was due to his kindness that led to his death in the end. 

Now, having being transmigrated into this world, he wanted to give it his best shot at trying to save those he regretted killing off in the novel. It was just up to whether if this reborn Ye Ran still has grudges for them or if he could convince him not to kill them.

His head started to ache again at the thought of the future and he had to remind himself once again to take it slow and to not worry so much. Ye Ran felt Ruo Chen's hand stop, he raised his head to see the frown on Ruo Chen's face.

Ye Ran started to feel anger beginning to build up in his mind as he stared at Ruo Chen who seemed to have wandered off in his mind.

Just why won't you pay attention to me? I've already waited for a week...

He whined in his mind but decided to maintain his usual calm demeanour, locking away his thoughts within himself.

"Right its lunch time, let's go eat."

Ruo Chen beckoned before leaving the room with Ye Ran in toll. The gloom from earlier quickly dissipated before Ye Ran smiled lightly at him.

Yet when Ruo Chen turned to face the front, a scowl replaced the smile on Ye Ran's face as he looked out of the window.