NOVPUB"Have you said this to many other girls before?" Lan Ke’er asked aloud.
"I’m not interested in other girls," Xu Zimei shook his head and replied.
Lan Ke’er pursed her lips, gave Xu Zimei a stunned look, and then turned her gaze away.
The conversation between the two of them suddenly became scarce along the way.
Xu Zimei arrived at the deepest part of the Fire Domain, where a sea of fire hung upside down in mid-air, dense magma emitting burning heat.
Beneath the sea of fire, space twisted, the air was almost completely melted, and crackling explosive noises burst forth inside.
Sparks tumbled within the sea of fire, and the fire spirits around it became denser. Countless animal visions formed by fire spirits ran about inside it.
Xu Zimei controlled Tyrant Shadow to float into the sea of fire and then devoted a part of his attention to telling Lan Ke’er stories.
The raging flames made Xu Zimei’s face glow red; Lan Ke’er took a handkerchief and gently wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Seeing Xu Zimei’s smiling eyes, she quickly explained, "Don’t get me wrong, this is just a reward for listening to your story."
Xu Zimei smiled, finding the girl similar to the one in his memory yet somewhat different.
A few days later, the Earth Fire’s attribute tempering was also fully completed. The Shadow Dragon engraved on the blade looked even more lifelike, with a faint dragon chant emanating from it.
Tyrant Shadow successfully advanced to a Heavenly Tier weapon.
Xu Zimei looked at the transformed Tyrant Shadow. Besides the pattern of the Shadow Dragon on the weapon’s surface, there were also symbols of lightning, torrential water, and flames.
After storing Tyrant Shadow away, Xu Zimei took Lan Ke’er by the hand and walked towards the Wind Domain.
This time, Lan Ke’er did not resist and let Xu Zimei lead her.
Apart from the stories between the two of them, Xu Zimei often told Lan Ke’er some of the strange and unusual tales of the Continent.
...…
A sky full of sand buried the world, with a distant sandstorm whipping up a mighty hurricane, rampaging through the flying sand.
This was not just a lone sandstorm, but a situation where countless sandstorms rampaged together.
When these sandstorms collided, they didn’t explode apart but merged into one, forming an even larger sandstorm.
This Wind Domain engulfed in a sky full of sand was recognized by all martial artists as the most dangerous of the four elemental domains and also the one that martial artists seldom visited.
The gales howled through the air, with space in many places even beginning to collapse, the "woowoo" sound of the wind seemed like the screams of demons from the underworld.
Xu Zimei tightened his clothes and firmly grabbed Lan Ke’er’s hand, heading towards the innermost part of the Wind Domain together.
The sandstorm blew so fiercely it was near impossible to open one’s eyes. They hadn’t walked long when they heard a voice not far away.
"Not until the moment I saw you did I believe that there are fairies in this world."
Xu Zimei turned his head, and through the blinding sand, he saw a man holding an Unforgettable Flower, loudly declaring his love.
The mad wind made his white robe flutter dramatically, with his long hair dancing in the wind as well.
Despite the disheveled look, he somehow managed to appear inexplicably handsome.
Xu Zimei took a closer look and realized that this man was none other than Su Chang’an, whom he had previously encountered in the Water Domain.
What "Eight Great Talented Disciples of the Green Wood Empire," "Scholar Swordsmen," and the like.
Yet the woman facing him was no longer the girl known as Yue’er from before, but rather a woman wearing a black robe who looked quite heroic and impressive.
"Damn, this guy must be a stud horse," Xu Zimei had quite an eye-opening experience, "A person can be this promiscuous, truly shameless.
How long has it been, and he’s already fallen in love with someone else."
Xu Zimei looked at Lan Ke’er, slightly raised his eyebrows, and said with a smile, "Take a good look, how can this kind of scum compare to me, back then you were moved by someone else’s poetry."
Lan Ke’er snorted coldly, then walked straight up.
In the midst of the raging sandstorm, the black-robed woman, hearing Su Chang’an’s words, chuckled lightly, "You must have said this to countless girls, I suppose."
"Why don’t you believe me," Su Chang’an sadly shook his head, then passionately said, "If possible, I would even be willing to take out my own heart for you to see just how much I love you."
"Alright then, I’ll help you with that," a voice suddenly sounded.
Su Chang’an was startled and quickly turned his head to look.
He saw Lan Ke’er’s momentum was overwhelming, with the peak energy of the Empty Vein Realm faintly stronger than the surrounding protective winds, step by step she walked out of the sandstorm.
"Who are you?" Su Chang’an asked warily.
"Just a kind passerby," Lan Ke’er said with a light chuckle, directly launching an attack on Su Chang’an.
With her hands clenched, the Spiritual Energy in her fists exploded, and deep blue Spiritual Energy enveloped her.
Su Chang’an hastily drew his sword to meet the attack, but with just one punch, he was sent flying backwards.
Su Chang’an stabilized his form, his gaze fixed on Lan Ke’er as black Spiritual Energy swirled around his longsword.
He took the initiative to attack, employing his most proficient Vein Skills, the "Ink-pointing Sword Technique."
This sword technique was not only powerful in attack but also unpredictable in its moves, and even the visual beauty of its execution was incredibly elegant.
It was as if he were painting a picture, his longsword filled with black Spiritual Energy, and each slash was like someone splashing ink across the sky with a brush.
The longsword traced through the heavens, at times like a soaring eagle, at times firm as a pine standing upon a cliff.
Under Su Chang’an’s onslaught, Lan Ke’er was actually suppressed, only able to defend passively.
Just as Xu Zimei was preparing to step forward to help, a profoundly mysterious aura began to radiate from Lan Ke’er.
The pale blue Spiritual Energy nearly solidified into Spiritual Liquid, and the surrounding currents of Spiritual Energy grew stronger and stronger.
A blue light flashed on Lan Ke’er’s body, and her skin quickly turned to a deep blue, not just her skin, but even her eyes and her voluminous black hair all turned deep blue.
As the blue light on Lan Ke’er grew stronger, Xu Zimei suddenly felt an unusual emotion unfurling at the bottom of his heart.
He did not know what it was, just an indistinct, strange feeling that was hard to describe.
Lan Ke’er’s body shone with intensified blue light, looking at Su Chang’an’s dense shadow of sword strikes.
She gently clenched her hands in the air, and then space itself collapsed, all the sword shadows dissipated, and even the longsword in Su Chang’an’s hand shattered into countless pieces.
Su Chang’an didn’t even have time to react before Lan Ke’er was already clutching his neck.
He looked pale with alarm, looking into Lan Ke’er’s eyes filled with intent to kill, and revealing what he thought was a very handsome smile, he slowly said, "Someone once told me there were fairies in this world, at that time I didn’t believe it."
"Crack," before Su Chang’an could finish speaking, his neck was directly twisted and broken by Lan Ke’er.
```
Then, Lan Ke’er picked up Su Chang’an’s longsword and directly cut open his belly.
With blood-drenched hands, Lan Ke’er dug out the heart, turned to the black-robed woman who was petrified with fear, and smiled, "I helped you dig out his heart. Do you think he was sincere?"
The woman swallowed hard, her face deathly pale.
Then Lan Ke’er turned around, covered in blood, with the bloody heart still dripping.
She gave Xu Zimei a sweet and innocent smile and said, "Zimo brother, look, his heart is fickle."
Xu Zimei gave a skin-deep smile and nodded slightly.
He could finally understand a saying, "Indeed, love can change a person."
"What about your heart, Zimo brother?" Lan Ke’er asked curiously.
"If you want to see, you can dig it out yourself," Xu Zimei said with a smile.
"Alright, I hope the words you told me weren’t a lie, Zimo brother," Lan Ke’er said as she stepped toward Xu Zimei.
In her left hand, she held the heart, and in her right was Su Chang’an’s matched sword.
When the sword touched his chest, Xu Zimei gently closed his eyes.
Digging out a heart? For someone who has merged with the Hundred Great Battle Bodies, the heart is no longer of vital importance.
But Xu Zimei understood that if Lan Ke’er really did dig out his heart, it would be the end for them both.
He was mentally prepared, yet the anticipated pain did not come. Instead, a warm body hugged him tightly.
Xu Zimei could even smell the scent of the girl’s blue hair; he slowly opened his eyes.
He saw the girl with her head buried in his chest, refusing to let go for a long time.
At that moment, both were silent. Xu Zimei did not know how long they embraced; the swirling sandstorm raged on around them.
It seemed as if the sun in the sky was witnessing it all.
......
Inside the Wind Domain, it had become difficult for martial artists to progress further, with massive dust storms everywhere.
Xu Zimei sat cross-legged, with Tyrant Shadow floating in midair, letting it be tempered by the storm as he continued to recount their story.
After a few days, the first phase of tempering Tyrant Shadow was completely finished. Heavenly Thunder and Torrent roamed along the front half of the blade, while Earth Fire and Hurricane rampaged on the lower half of the curved blade.
The Shadow Dragon coiled around the central area, its eyes slowly opening that had been tightly shut.
If one stared at the Shadow Dragon too long, it seemed as if the sound of dragon chants could echo in the back of one’s mind.
...…
"That day there was no wind, the sunset dyed the evening clouds incredibly beautiful, and I abandoned you and left.
That was our last meeting. Since then, till I awakened from my dreams, I never saw you again," Xu Zimei said slowly.
The story had reached its end.
Lan Ke’er looked at Xu Zimei and earnestly asked, "If one day I leave, will you come looking for me?"
"I don’t know."
"You must come."
"Alright!"
"When will you come?"
"I don’t know."
"I’ll wait for you."
"Alright!"
The sandstorm was still raging, and the sun in the sky was slowly setting in the west.
Lan Ke’er looked up at the pitch-black sky, devoid of starlight, her defiant gaze fixed on Xu Zimei as she said, "Hold me as I sleep."
Xu Zimei nodded, for at his level of cultivation, sleep had long since lost its importance to him.
The moonlight shone brightly in the sky as Xu Zimei found a relatively sheltered spot from the sand and held the girl as they slowly drifted into sleep.
He was reminded of a saying by a writer, "Some people want to sleep, not because they are tired but out of nostalgia for sleep."
...…
Without a word, the two of them embraced each other in tacit understanding, saying nothing, just quietly feeling the pounding of each other’s chests.
As the light of dawn rose from the horizon, the sky gradually brightened to a dim gray.
Lan Ke’er sat up and just quietly watched Xu Zimei.
She tied up her long hair, looked at Xu Zimei who was still in the land of dreams, leaned down to peck a kiss on his cheek like a dragonfly skimming the water, then turned and left.
"Last time you abandoned me and left, this time let me be the bad person," she said.
The Scholar Swordsmen, Happy and Sad, were waiting for her not far away.
The girl’s figure gradually disappeared in the freshly risen line between heaven and earth.
A few minutes after Lan Ke’er left, Xu Zimei slowly opened his eyes.
He chuckled softly, then stood up and quietly walked into the distance.
The world of children is always full of willfulness; they throw tantrums and use all means possible to get what they cannot have.
But in the world of adults, everyone knows that they should consider each other.
Lan Ke’er knew that Xu Zimei was not a person prone to romance. He had ambitions and dreams of his own on the Martial Path.
She could have stayed by Xu Zimei’s side, but doing so would only hinder his journey on the Martial Path.
So she left.
Xu Zimei also knew of Lan Ke’er’s departure but did not stop her, because he understood that cultivation was the most important thing for him at the moment. He would not have enough time to spend with Lan Ke’er.
Perhaps by stepping on the Heavenly Path, he had already chosen his destiny.
He would go to find Lan Ke’er, but certainly not now. 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝒑𝙪𝒃.𝒄𝒐𝙢
The Martial Path is one’s loneliness, and loneliness is the revelry of many.
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