Wun Fan was exhausted, both physically and emotionally. Even the night of the tribulations did not weigh on him as heavily. Everything that happened today clashed strongly with his values from his past life.
The more he thought about it, the more numb he felt.
He was emotionally worn out.
Was it because he couldn’t cast aside the influence from his past life? Was his mentality still stuck in the past? At this moment, he really wanted someone to embrace him in this strange and foreign world, to make him feel just a little warmth.
He could hardly breathe with every step he took. It felt like there was a boulder on his chest. It was uncomfortable. He just wanted to go out for a quick walk. He went to No Hearts Drawn because he wanted to find a quiet place. He never expected to run into something so troublesome.
It wasn’t until he returned to Wun Mansion and saw the white silhouette at the gates that he felt his heart warm up again. He mumbled to himself, “That stupid girl.”
The girl in white had a faint connection to Wun Fan ever since that night. Was it a result of the heavenly tribulations?
She felt her mood turn melancholic and immediately knew that Wun Fan was not feeling good. She immediately went to wait at the gates of the mansion, even though she had stormed off this morning.
Just as she expected, he appeared soon.
The girl in white slowly took off her mask when she saw Wun Fan’s melancholic expression. The guards were surprised to see this. They had not seen the young mistress’ face in a very long time.
The girl smiled sweetly at Wun Fan. The air felt kinder and warmer and Wun Fan felt better already. Siu Lan slowly approached him. She lifted her head slightly to look at him and patted him on the head as she said, “You’re back.”
“Mm,” said Wun Fan as he tried his best to crack a smile.
However, Siu Lan felt her heart ache when she saw his pitiful smile. She could not hold back any longer and immediately threw herself into Wun Fan’s arms. She patted him on the back and said softly, “It’s okay, I’m here. I cooked your favorite black pepper pork bone hotpot. Put all your frustrations into the pot and cook it away. Let’s eat together.”
Wun Fan could no longer hold back. The sorrow he hid in his eyes was pried out by Siu Lan’s words. A string of tears streaked down his face and soaked Siu Lan’s head. He slowly hugged the girl with both arms, enjoying the warmth in his embrace.
“Let’s go in. It’s raining,” said Siu Lan as she hugged him back tightly.
“Mm, it’s pouring,” said Wun Fan.57Please respect copyright.PENANA0Q3qxWeqNg
Wun Fan’s whole body was sore. Even just slight movements caused pain to shoot through his muscles. He realized that he forgot to take off the mutesoul armor when he was fighting earlier. He was too distracted when walking home earlier to realize that his body was strained.
He immediately took off the armor without asking for permission from Old Lei. Old Lei seemed to sense his heavy emotions and said nothing.
Wun Fan ate his dinner in silence, his eyes red and puffy from crying.
The boy and the girl ate the hotpot in silence, cooking meat and vegetables for each other. One piece at a time, they finished everything. Wun Siu Lan did not ask a single time about what happened.
She knew that Wun Fan just needed someone by his side right now. Everything else was unnecessary.
“I made a set of poker cards. I’m thinking you know how to play as well, right?” said Siu Lan, who suddenly remembered what she had prepared earlier. Silver light flashed from her hands and a set of soft ivory cards appeared. She gently shuffled the deck of fifty-two cards, which had four suits of the numbers 1 to 10, as well as the royals.
Wun Fan couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw this. This was a toy from his previous life. It seemed like Siu Lan really did experience life on Earth during the inner demon tribulation. This also made Wun Fan even more certain that the two worlds were connected.
However, now was not the time to explore such mysteries.
“Let’s play Big Two, one silver coin for each card remaining! Double the payout if you have eight cards remaining, triple if you have ten cards and quadruple if you have all thirteen cards in hand!” said Siu Lan as she shuffled the cards from one hand to the other in a practiced fashion. She looked so professional that Wun Fan was speechless.
The two of them had a great time playing the game, and Siu Lan lost 356 silver coins in total.
“Hey hey, come on, isn’t that cheating?” said Wun Fan as he grabbed Siu Lan’s hand. He wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. Who would be so brazen in cheating? Siu Lan was looking at all three other hands before choosing which one she wanted.
“It’s not, Fan,” said Siu Lan. This was the first time she was acting cute toward Wun Fan. Wun Fan could hardly refuse her. This girl was really scary.
“I lost so I go first. Straight, 45678,” said Siu Lan. She ignored the fact that Wun Fan had won the last few games and immediately used a set, ignoring the rules of the game itself.
“Flush,” said Wun Fan as he played his cards. He was lucky to have the cards to beat her.
“Pass.”
“Quad eights.”
“Pass.”
“Hold on, I have quad eights. How did you play a straight with an eight?” said Wun Fan as he realized the problem. He quickly checked the cards that Siu Lan played earlier. It was 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9! The extent to which she was willing to cheat was completely at odds with her innocent appearance!
“Oops,” said Siu Lan as she dropped her cards into the pile and shrugged, “Sorry, I must have slipped and played the wrong cards.”
Siu Lan won the next game and Wun Fan threw down his remaining seven cards. She smiled brightly, revealing her canine teeth as she said, “Seven cards remaining, which means you pay seventeen times more. I will give you a discount, which means it comes out to 199 gold coins!”
“Seventeen times more? No matter how you count that it shouldn’t come out to 199! And gold coins? Really?” shouted Wun Fan. Siu Lan couldn’t stop laughing. The two of them looked at each other and felt warm.
“Hahahaha…” laughed Wun Fan.
“It’s nice to hear you laugh,” said Siu Lan as she tilted her head and smiled. The warmth of her smile filled the depth of Wun Fan’s heart. The comfortable sensation almost seemed to overflow and spread out throughout his blood vessels.
“Siu Lan,” said Wun Fan.
“Mm?”
“It’s nice to have you,” said Wun Fan as he rubbed her head and smiled.
Resigned to loneliness in a different world, if not for that one and only girl.57Please respect copyright.PENANAFUbfrY3aGI
“Old Lei,” said a voice. The night was dark as ink. The moon’s bright brush painted a tiny figure on a tree behind a mountain. He looked sad.
“Mm?” said Old Lei. He finally had a chance to leave the Spiritstartler Ring. He floated beside Wun Fan and stared at the moon with him, enjoying the peace and quiet.
“What does it mean to cultivate strength?” asked Wun Fan as he stared at the moon in the sky. He couldn’t help but wonder if someone controls everything in Heaven’s Martial World, writing the script for everything that happens. Why is Earth different from Heaven’s Martial World, and yet both have one sun and one moon? If the Spiritstartler Ring is something that came from Heaven’s Martial World, why is there a map of Earth inside it?
Many questions bounced about the inside of Wun Fan’s head, but he had no answers for any of them. This made him very restless.
“I don’t know,” said Old Lei. He did not give Wun Fan an answer. He simply looked at him. After a dozen seconds, he sighed and said, “You are excellent, kid. Much more so than most people. Not because of your talent, but because of your ideas and your conviction?”
“Mm?” asked Wun Fan. It was his turn to be confused. He was the one who asked a question, so why did he have even more questions now that Old Lei answered him?
“Recover your aether first,” said Old Lei as he rapped his knuckle on Wun Fan’s head. They did need aether badly. He had exhausted a lot of the aether in the Spiritstartler Ring after the fight with Hung Yun Zak today and it needed to be replenished.
“Alright,” said Wun Fan. He was too exhausted to press the issue. However, his questions were like seeds in his heart. One day, they would grow into something big.
That would be the time to search for the truth.
The night air in the mountains was cold and fresh. The space was filled with silence. Only Wun Fan’s long and deep breathing could be heard.
Just like that, time passed. The moon in the sky was tired after a full night’s work. It put down its bright brush stroke, lit the sun’s candle, and went to rest. Wun Fan had no other plans after capturing the purple energy. He quickly went home for breakfast.
He had then walked to the training grounds.
There, he ran into Wun Ping.
“M-Morning, Wun Fan,” said Wun Ping, stuttering as he spoke. He looked awkward and unsure of how to act. He always used to insult Wun Fan at every turn. Now that things have changed, he didn’t know how to talk to him.
“Morning, Wun Ping,” said Wun Fan. He, on the other hand, wasn’t thinking too much. Wun Ping was just a passerby in his life. Wun Ping had thought of himself as invincible two months ago when he was just a tenth-level Martial Disciple. He had improved quite quickly in the past two months and was an intermediate Martial Mortal already.
However, that was still a far cry from Wun Fan himself, who was an intermediate Martial Vassal.
There was no need to cling to the past. It was better to treat their conflict as a mere misunderstanding. At any rate, Wun Ping’s treatment of him was a training of sorts as well: it taught him how to endure and be patient.
Old Lei suddenly spoke in Wun Fan’s mind, “This kid’s aura is odd. It’s unstable and loose. Moreover, he smells like the ingredients of the Mortalmaker Pill. He must have bought it from the Chan Clan and used it.”
“Oh, no wonder he improved so quickly,” said Wun Fan. He wasn’t too surprised by this. The second elder was able to purchase several Pills of Meridian Fortification. He definitely had the money to spare.
“I-I’m sorry about what happened before,” said Wun Ping suddenly. It seemed like it took a lot of courage for him to say that. Wun Fan thought it was a little weird.
“Let me tell you a story,” said Wun Fan in response. He wasn’t in a hurry to reply to Wun Ping. He stared at the center of the training grounds calmly.
“Another story?” said Wun Ping as he scratched his head. Why was Wun Fan just like the clan leader? Both of them loved telling him stories.
“Once upon a time, there was a monk,” said Wun Fan.
“A monk?” asked Wun Ping. This was the first time he heard this word. It was unfamiliar to him.57Please respect copyright.PENANA8KoTOXIfX0