Su Ming looked at the picture for a long time before he picked up the drawing board and turned it over to keep the picture with him.
Before the person in the picture lifted his foot and shattered the gra.s.s, Su Ming would no longer draw on the face of the drawing board but on its back.
He still did not have clear thoughts on how he would fight against Si Ma Xin in this battle, or how he would dissolve the threat, and how… he would win! This battle might perhaps be the final battle between him and Si Ma Xin in Freezing Sky Clan before he joined Sky Mist Shaman Hunt!
The quiet night went by slowly just like that. This night Su Ming did not draw. He sat within his cave with his eyes closed slightly. As he breathed, the person in the snow from his memories would appear in his head.
Gradually, Su Ming gained a vague form of understanding in his heart. He had a feeling that the battle with Si Ma Xin this time was not what was important here. The key lay within the girl called Bai Su, and the main point was that she had Bai Ling’s wildness and her exact same face.
What was important was that if Su Ming did not prepare himself, then many a times he would mistake her for Bai Ling for a brief instant…
The main point was that his heart seemed to be about ready to experience a transformation. This transformation did not come suddenly. It would seem that it had been lying dormant since the beginning within him and was just building up, and now that it had acc.u.mulated enough power, that transformation needed to break through.
The morning sun scattered into the cave through the entrance and covered the area before Su Ming. Along with the sunlight was a girl’s voice that traveled in from outside the cave.
"Even if you chase me away today, I’ll still come, I’ll come every day!"
Once the voice reached the cave, it quickly fell silent. Su Ming knew that Zi Che had once again chased her out of the ninth summit.
Yet it did not last long before Bai Su’s voice appeared once again.
"Su Ming, if you don’t dare face me, then there will be something that will be forever lacking in your heart!"
The entire day pa.s.sed by slowly with incidents like this happening again and again, and it continued right up till the evening. When Bai Su was once again chased away by Zi Che, she found that she could barely withstand the attacks any longer and coughed out a mouthful of blood.
Zi Che hesitated.
He never expected that there would be someone who would be so persistent. Throughout the day, Bai Su had come up the mountain 17 times!
Only when she coughed up blood and was injured was she forced to leave… Zi Che looked at the blood on the ice, then turned his gaze towards Su Ming’s cave.
The cave was quiet, no sound coming from within. Zi Che remained silent for a moment and then sat down nearby.
The next day, Bai Su came once again.
On this day, she came up the mountain 19 times before she eventually coughed up blood and with a pale face found herself no longer be able to come up the mountain.
This continued right up to the evening of the third day. When Bai Su came to Su Ming’s cave the 20th time and stood before Zi Che, he lifted his right hand, but found himself unable to wave it.
The girl before his eyes was incredibly pale and her body swayed, but the persistence in her eyes and the tenacity in her bones made Zi Che hesitate.
Although they stood on different sides, Zi Che had grown to respect the Bai Su standing before him. During these three days, she had come up the mountain more than 50 times and was chased out more than 50 times, but she still persisted.
The more she was chased away, the stronger the persistence in her eyes became. Zi Che did not doubt for even a moment that if he chased her away again and, while she might find herself to possess no more strength to climb up the mountain again on this day, she would still come on the next day even though she was injured.
If this continued for a long period of time, no matter how good this girl’s body was, she would not be able to last. Besides, she was only at the Awakening Realm. By the looks of it, the girl had not even managed to draw her Awakened Berserker Mark yet.
Zi Che looked at Bai Su and asked with a bitter laugh, "Why..?"
"You can continue chasing me away, but I will persevere!"
Bai Su’s voice was very weak when she spoke. She turned her head around and glanced towards the direction where the first summit lay.
"The more times you go there, the more anxious he will be, and the more injured you are, the more hurt he will feel… He cannot become merciless and forget, of this, I am certain!
"But Bai Su, I don’t want you to do this, because my heart will hurt even more…"
Si Ma Xin’s gentle voice echoed within Bai Su’s heart.
The determination and tenacity within her eyes became stronger.
Zi Che let out a long sigh and lifted his right hand. He was Su Ming’s mountain guard and he had to obey Su Ming’s orders, he… did not dare disobey his words.
He was just about to chase this stubborn girl away again when a calm voice came from within the cave.
"What is the purpose of you coming up the mountain so many times? Let us hear it."
Once Su Ming’s words reached them, Zi Che let out a sigh of relief. He pitied this girl slightly. He might not know much, but he still knew that this girl must have come here because of Si Ma Xin.
Bai Su looked at the cave where Su Ming was and stated firmly, "I want to learn how to draw.
"If you don’t teach me, then I will come here every day. Either I will die, or you will agree to it someday!"
Bai Su’s voice may have been weak, but the determination in it did not leave room for doubt. She would do what she just said.
The cave was silent for a long time before Su Ming’s voice came in a manner as if he was speaking while sighing. "Is it worth it..? This has nothing to do with you."
Bai Su did not speak, but the determination in her eyes did not decrease even one bit.
"There is indeed a girl in my memories that looks incredibly like you… You appear time and again and tear apart the wounds in my memories. Is this what you are doing to help Si Ma Xin..?" Su Ming’s murmurs floated out of the cave.
Bai Su fell silent. The determined look within her eyes was tainted slightly by hesitance, but soon, that hesitation disappeared.
"You were the one who s.n.a.t.c.hed big brother Si Ma’s treasure away first…"
Bai Su gritted her teeth, but before she finished speaking, a huge gust of wind gushed out of the cave and swept her away from the mountain.
Su Ming stared at the drawing board before him in his cave and lowered his right hand calmly.
The sky outside gradually darkened until night came. During this night, the ninth summit was enveloped in silence. Perhaps Su Ming’s second senior brother was walking around the mountain like a ghost and looking for the person he thought was stealing his plants.
Perhaps his third senior brother was hiding in a corner with a mysterious grin as he peaked at something and thought of himself as the smartest person around.
Perhaps his eldest senior brother was still within the ice river, unable to tell whether it was day or night. In this quiet, he would silently meditate in isolation.
Su Ming closed his eyes and brought out the broken xun made of bone from the storage bag he kept in his bosom. This xun was very difficult to repair and could no longer form any sound. It was placed beside Su Ming’s mouth and he quietly blew into it.
Silence.
Yet in his own ears, Su Ming could still hear that moaning melody. The sound surrounded his body and enveloped his heart, and lingered there for a long time.
He did not know how much time pa.s.sed by. The moon beyond the cave shone with a gentle light, illuminating the ice mountain, and the mountain shone with a mult.i.tude of colors due to the refraction of light. In this quiet night, Su Ming blew into the soundless xun and silently let himself experience the peace that was different from drawing.
When he finished playing a song, an old voice reached his ears.
"Not bad."
The moment he heard the voice, Su Ming opened his eyes quickly and his heart instantly started racing against his chest. A person had entered his cave at some unknown point of time, and he had no knowledge about this!
This person wore a long purple robe and stood with his back facing Su Ming. Some rays of moonlight shone on him and seemed to be causing the purplish color on his robes to evaporate. It formed a strange sort of pressure that not only shrouded the entire cave, but also dyed Su Ming’s pupils with that color.
Purple long robes, purple hair, a purple figure, but with a familiar voice!
"Greetings, Master."
Su Ming immediately stood up and bowed towards the person who still had his back turned towards him.
Su Ming may have acted like how he usually would and nothing unusual could be seen from his actions, but there was already a raging storm within his heart. That storm was not due to Tian Xie Zi’s sudden arrival, neither was it because Su Ming had not noticed him sooner.
Instead, it was because Tian Xie Zi was wearing purple robes!
Su Ming had never seen Tian Xie Zi in this state before. The words his second senior brother had said that day appeared in his head as if Su Ming was listening to him talk about Master in purple robes once again. He also remembered the grave expression on his second senior brother’s face that day.
This was not the only thing that shocked Su Ming. There was also the matter of the xun. It was originally soundless, and that sound only existed within his memories, yet Tian Xie Zi’s words from before came right at the instant the melody within Su Ming’s heart and memories disappeared.
Was this a coincidence, or was it…
Su Ming looked at the back of his purple robed Master and instinctively took one step backwards.
"Are you afraid?"
The purple robed Tian Xie Zi still had not turned around. His voice sounded old, but at the same time, it held a b.l.o.o.d.y quality to it. Su Ming could instantly sense it clearly.
This bloodiness was that of a feeling of blood that had coagulated on the robes since a long time ago, but also… of blood that had just stained his robes!
There was a b.l.o.o.d.y stench coming from a spot at the hem of his Master’s purple robes. This b.l.o.o.d.y stench was not a feeling. Su Ming could smell it from the start!
This was not Tian Xie Zi’s blood. It was clear that before Tian Xie Zi came here, he… spilled someone’s blood!
Su Ming was silent for a moment before he answered honestly, "Master, I’ve never seen you wear long purple robes before. I’m just a little unused to it…"
"Do not be afraid, you’ll get used to it."
The bloodiness in Tian Xie Zi’s voice became stronger abruptly. He turned around slowly and with eyes that looked like burning torches, he looked at Su Ming.
At the moment he turned around, Su Ming immediately saw clearly that Tian Xie Zi’s originally kindly face now looked like ice. His expression was chilling and his face somber, but there was no ill will in his eyes.
Su Ming thought he saw an illusionary sea of blood behind his Master. Within that sea of blood was a stone statue. That stone statue had its arms wrapped around its chest. Its eyes were opened, and it was similarly looking at Su Ming without ill will.
"My fourth disciple, do you know how to fight against others with Arts?" Tian Xie Zi asked in a hoa.r.s.e voice, looking at Su Ming. As he spoke, a hint of brutality appeared on the corners of his lips.
That brutality was not aimed towards Su Ming. It was as if that sentence affected Tian Xie Zi’s heart and caused his emotions to fluctuate.