As it was rare for Di Fuyi to be away, Gu Xijiu took the opportunity to chat with her son under the quilt. She checked his little hand and found that his injured palm had healed entirely. There was not even a scar left behind. Finally, Gu Xijiu was very relieved. She comfortably chatted along with her son and wanted to ask him more about the future. However, Di Hao looked very sleepy and even yawned a few times during their conversation. He looked a bit pale, so she could not bear to keep him up with any further questions.
Di Hao rolled into her arms and said, "Mother, can you hug me to sleep? You have never put me to sleep before." The boy sounded rather pitiful, which made Gu Xijiu feel bad as well. She had ignored her son too long!
This son was rarely so clingy, so Gu Xijiu did not want to reject him. She hugged him in her arms and replied, "Sure, I will hug you to sleep."
Perhaps, it was because she was hugging her son, but Gu Xijiu actually fell asleep very soon after she hugged him. Her breathing grew heavier, and she lost consciousness.
Meanwhile, Di Hao slowly opened his eyes while in her arms and quietly looked at her for a moment. Then, he gradually extended his small hand to pinch a strange spell. There was a pale purple light at his fingertips all of a sudden, and he put his soft fingers on Gu Xijiu"s temple. Swiftly, the purple light glowed around her body and covered it entirely.
Gu Xijiu had a dream. The earth that she envisioned in her dream was strange and desolate, with hardly any life. There were many deep trenches on the ground that did not seem to exist naturally but looked as though a strong force created them. Seeing the barren land made Gu Xijiu sad as many living things seemed to have perished.
The sound on a thunderous battle could be heard somewhere in the distance in front of Gu Xijiu. The sky was flas.h.i.+ng with lights while the sound of thunder was raging through the air. The ground was shaking as if an earthquake with a magnitude of ten occurred.
The scarce fragile vegetation that Gu Xijiu saw had been uprooted, making the land even more desolate. She squinted her eyes to focus her vision and noticed that there was a group of people who were killing each other somewhere ahead of her.
To be precise, three people were being chased by a group of orcs. These three people seemed to be a couple and a child, and the child was about three or four years old. When Gu Xijiu arrived, the couple had been seriously injured and were dying. Nonetheless, the child seemed to be safe - there was only a split wound on the child"s small arm, and it was not serious.
Gu Xijiu frowned as she magically retrieved a white sword in her palm. She attacked the group of orcs at once. She was skilled at wielding a sword, and her attacks could typically destroy an entire mountain. Hence, those orcs did not have any chance to fight back. After a few were killed, the leader shrieked and commanded the rest of his clan to run away.
The couple survived. They struggled to get up to thank Gu Xijiu as they could not even summon the strength to do so. The two of them seemed to be on the verge of dying, and Gu Xijiu could not save them. The couple seemed to know this too. They only desperately stared at their child and said, "Please… Please take care..."
He pointed his finger at the child when he died. The woman seemed to want to say something, but she was too weak to talk. Her eyes rolled upward; then, she went along with her husband. The child got out from under the woman"s arms and looked at the dead couple. Then, he looked back at Gu Xijiu. He did not cry but just stood there awkwardly.
Gu Xijiu looked at the boy - he was a lovely boy, and his talent was excellent! She immediately thought of taking him as her apprentice. She looked down at him and asked, "What"s your name? Are you willing to recognize me as your teacher?"