Ever since that day Xiao Changge saved Wei Qinxue from the face of death, they hit it off. And Wei Qinxue, who had temporarily gotten over her issues, brought Xiao Changge around the entire West Capital. A strong friends.h.i.+p formed between them.However, after that, Xiao Changge left the West Capital. Wei Qinxue didn"t know where she went, or rather, even Xiao Changge didn"t know it herself. She only said that she wanted to tour around the four countries of the world and take a look at this new world.
However, just like that, Xiao Changge left for three years!
Three years later, when Wei Qinxue saw Xiao Changge once again, Xiao Changge had already become a mother. She brought a baby who was only a few months old and entrusted her to Wei Qinxue, or rather, the Wei Family…
"She came alone? How about my father?"
"Your mother came alone. I"d also asked about your father and she said that at that time, it was unknown if your father… was still alive. She was entrusting you to me precisely because she was going to look for him."
Unknown if he was still alive?
Although Zihou kept a straight face, torrents already arose in her eyes. At that time, it was unknown if her father was alive, and her mother had abandoned her to look for him? However, so many years had pa.s.sed and they had never returned—could it be that…
"Don"t think too much. Although I don"t know about your father, I dare to confirm that your mother is definitely still alive." As if she could read Zihou"s mind, Wei Qinxue patted Zihou"s shoulder and consoled her.
"Then, when your mother left, she left a physic jade to me, saying that the jade was presence was tied to life, without which it"d peris.h.!.+ The fact that this physic jade is still kept safely in one piece with me means that your mother is still alive!"
"Then why didn"t she return?" Zihou frowned as she asked the question in her heart. She couldn"t understand what exactly happened that year no matter how hard she tried.
"Hai…" Wei Qinxue sighed, remained silent for half a second, and continued, "Although I don"t know the exact background of your mother, I can already guess part of it. I think that your mother"s history isn"t simple and perhaps the trouble that she met with was beyond our imagination!" After dealing with her for a while, Wei Qinxue naturally could feel that Changge was exceptionally powerful. She had already accidentally shown things that were beyond anything that she had experienced!
"If it weren"t for the fact that I can cultivate, were you planning to keep this secret forever? Or rather, if I were to never be able to cultivate my whole life, my mother told you not to tell me anything about her forever?" Zihou"s tone was slightly harsh and cold. Now, she could cultivate and thus got to know about this secret. However, if she were the Wei Zihou in the past, she would probably have to live her entire life in lies and deceit!
"Yup…" Wei Qinxue hung her head, sighed, and continued, "Previously, I also thought that perhaps this secret would be secretly buried just like this. However, I was proven wrong eventually—how could Changge"s child not cultivate?"
"Why? Why wait till I"m able to cultivate before telling me?" Unless actually, her so-called biological parents were also those short-sighted and superficial people?
Shaking her head gently, Wei Qinxue said mildly, "I don"t know the reason behind this as well. However, I"m sure that your mother definitely had unspeakable difficulties! Hou-er, you must believe that your mother loves you!" She would never forget the reluctance on Changge"s face when she gave her the child and left then—it seemed as painful as losing her entire world!
Her mother loved her?
Perhaps…
"Besides these, is there really nothing else?" There wasn"t any information regarding Xiao Changge"s whereabouts—how could she go about looking for her?
"There is!" Wei Qinxue nodded firmly. "Your mother once said that if you can cultivate and wants to know your own background or look for them, you can go to the World City and look for an elder named Yin Xiu—he"ll tell you everything that you want to know!"
World City!
Zihou"s eyes lit up as if she found her way in the darkness.
The existence of the World City was known to all. It wasn"t as mysterious as the Faraway Shrine which was sheer and shapeless but actually existed.
The World City was situated at the edge of the Boundless Woods, after which was the vast, limitless, and extraordinarily dangerous Boundless Woods.
Its special geographical location conceived the uniqueness of the World City as well as its awe-inspiring powers.
The World City was situated beyond the four countries, or rather, above the four countries. In contrast to the four countries, there were countless cultivators there—it was a cultivator"s haven. The people there were powerful, there were numerous cultivators of the black aura and the likes, and it even held most of the legends of the world. Its powers were frighteningly strong! However, it was also precisely because of this that the World City attracted all of the world"s cultivators to flock to it…
World City…
Zihou murmured these words, her eyes filled with determination.
Perhaps because they hadn"t met in more than ten years, Wei Qinxue couldn"t bear to let Zihou leave and chatted with her for a long time.
Perhaps Wei Qinxue sincerely cared for her from the bottom of her heart, or perhaps she really liked this aunt, Wei Qinxue, not only was Zihou not turned off by her, instead, she genuinely liked the closeness with this aunt.
From her mother, Xiao Changge, to Zihou"s childhood and even Wei Ziyu"s past, the two of them chatted about everything. However, no matter what, regarding her own experiences, Wei Qinxue instead chose to simply skim through, seemingly not intending to talk about them.
Night fell and the new moon rose.
After bidding Wei Qinxue goodbye, Zihou was walking alone on the road back to the estate.
Along the way, she thought about many things.
Firstly, it was regarding her mother, Xiao Changge. She vaguely understood that her mother"s ident.i.ty wasn"t simple and was even more determined to head over to the World City. Regardless of looking for Xiao Changge or to upgrade her own cultivation, the trip to the World City was inevitable.
Besides this, her father, whom it was unknown if he was still alive, was probably even more mysterious than her mother. She suddenly felt that this world was much more complicated than what she was seeing now. Perhaps the World City was merely a start, the Faraway Shrine really existed, and even the four countries of the world were but the tip of the iceberg of the Vast Lands!
There were still too many unknowns in this world…
Zihou took a deep breath, feeling that the wind tonight was especially bone-piercingly cold. She daren"t think too far in the future—what she needed to do now was to make sense of everything that had happened that year and upgrade her own cultivation and capabilities!
The night sky was like a piece of dark, smooth velvet with countless stars scattered across.
Walking on the streets, pedestrians were far and few between. As she walked, melodious flute music suddenly rang in Zihou"s ears…
In this quiet and lonely night, the deep flute music had a tinge of loneliness, and that rising and falling tune seemed to speak of a deep yearning which, paired with the solitude of the dark sky, caused one to feel depressed. However, this melodious music also encompa.s.sed vicissitude, each of its notes radiating indescribable gravity and dreamlike ethereality…
This piece of music seemed to be describing a sad love story, of unfulfilled hopes and an unhappy ending. Thus, onward in this vast world, one could only age in solitude and face the snow mountains alone.
This piece of music seemed to present a painting before her—a painting of a scene so extraordinarily sophisticated and extremely beautiful, yet the lines drawn were cold, lonely, desolated, and full of loneliness…
Within Zihou"s consciousness, those so-called dramatic love stories were mostly flashy and couldn"t withstand the test of time. However, this piece of music today inadvertently tugged at her heartstrings.
She actually could hear an unforgettable love from it—one that was unrelenting in spite of the time pa.s.sed, aged glory, and to the end of the world and one"s life!
Could there really be such a deep love in this world?
In this moment, she couldn"t help but feel dreamy…
Following the flute music, Zihou walked towards its source with a doubtful mind.
Turning at the end of the street, when Zihou finally saw the owner of that music, she couldn"t help but feel deeply shocked.
Among the extravagantly decorated pavilions and paG.o.das, at the top of the highest building, a figure stood tall against the night wind.
His blue-gray cotton robe was worn-out and a black cloak ran from the top of his head, covering his looks and making him appear extremely mysterious.
The black sash around his waist held an extremely long—up to a person"s height—ancient sword. A flute made of black jade, positioned under the cloak, played gently.
Situated among the buildings, his robe and cloak flew in the wind. Above him were the stars in the sky and the jade-like moon was beside him, just a touch away…
From afar, bathing in the moonlight, it seemed like that person moved within the moon…
At this moment, a few phrases gushed unexpectedly into Zihou"s mind.
The ancient ways of the sword, a traveling swordsman, with a flute and a sword, settling scores decisively!
Despite the fact that his flute music encompa.s.sed endless yearning and loneliness and that his silhouette had been in solitude for years, Zihou had no doubts that the carefree and unrestrained aura around him, characteristic of a swordsman, reflected the real him!
He was obviously a free and unrestricted righteous swordsman, but he was shackled by the so-called love. This scene made her think of Qi Hao uncontrollably. It seemed like he was also such a person…
As if he felt someone"s presence, that person"s flute music stopped suddenly. He turned around slowly. The black cloak covered that person"s looks, however, the image that came through the cloak actually made Zihou feel an unexplained closeness for just a moment…
However, that person only glanced at Zihou before carefully keeping the black jade flute in his hands and, in a flash, disappeared in the dark of the night like a gust of wind.
If it weren"t for the fact that the flute music still reverberated by her ears, Zihou even felt that everything that just happened was but a dream…
But who was that person and why did he give her an odd sense of familiarity?
When Zihou got back to the Wei Estate, before she reached the entrance, she could already see Yer"s figure pacing up and down by the entrance from far away. The black leopard, Xiaohei, was laying beside her.
Zihou saw Yer at the same time that Yer also saw Zihou. Thus, she dashed towards Zihou.
"Young Mistress, bad news…" Yer shouted in haste as she ran.
"What happened?" Hearing Yer"s hastened voice, Zihou"s heart sank slightly with a bad premonition as she asked with a frown.
"Young Mistress, bad news. Old Master went to the Qi Estate, saying that he wanted to fight it out with Old Master Qi!" Although Yer didn"t know why the Old Master was going to fight it out with Old Master Qi, she knew that things were definitely serious when she saw the looks of panic on General and Madam"s faces.
Hearing this, Zihou was slightly stunned. Her face darkened slightly as her eyes flashed for a slight moment. "When did he go?"
"Not long ago!"
The Qi Estate.
"Wei Guoting, you old foggy, why are you making a din here again?" With an angry face, Qi Mengde roared uncontrollably at Wei Guoting, who came with a murderous and overbearing aura.
He really had enough. It had been more than twenty years—from he was thirty-years-old to fifty-years-old currently—and Wei Guoting always looked for him hysterically and turned physical without saying much!
Did he think that he was the only one who had suffered from the incident that year?
"Qi Mengde, I"ll fight it out with you today!" Wei Guoting"s face was murderous with bloodshot eyes, looking as if he had gone mad.
"I don"t have the time to entertain your madness today. You better quickly scram out of my Qi Estate!" Qi Mengde flung his sleeves in anger and looked away as if he had no wish to continue being entangled with Wei Guoting.
"I can scram—just hand over your beast of a son, Qi Hao!"
This statement seemed to strike Qi Mengde on his tender spot. His face changed instantly as his eyes filled up with a look of complication while behind him, Qi Ran, the eldest son of Qi Mengde, felt his heart sink.
The entire Qi Estate knew that his brother, Qi Hao, had never returned to the Qi Estate for the past twenty-odd years. General Wei obviously knew this and still said that—wasn"t he intentionally infuriating his father?
Indeed, after half a second of silence, Qi Mengde turned all his emotions into a rage as he turned around, stared at Wei Guoting in anger, ferocity spreading through his body, and shouted in a deep voice, "Wei Guoting, I"ll make you go to h.e.l.l today!"
"Go ahead—I"m not afraid of you!" Wei Guoting replied fearlessly. Instantly, two extremely strong auras emitted from their bodies and attacked each other. The powerful auras clashed and exploded in the middle, spreading an aftershock that destroyed everything in their surroundings!
Before the aftershock was over, the two of them flew up and got entangled with each other in the blink of an eye.
After taking the Moxuan Gra.s.s, Wei Guoting already had the power of a black aura Level 2 pract.i.tioner. Additionally, after taking Zihou"s Grave 5 transformation cutting pills, he was already now at black aura Level 4!
Unexpectedly, Qi Mengde"s power was also actually at black aura Level 4!