299 If Life Could Be Like the Moment When We First Met Part Eleven

Xu Yourong said, "Your face is as pale as the snow, how could I not mind?" Chen Changsheng turned around to look at her and replied, "You're not muchbetter. Your face is as pale as the frost on the grass." Xu Yourong was a little at a loss and looked at her reflection in the water.Only then did she realize that her face was abnormally pale, and her handssubconsciously grabbed her cheeks. In Chen Changsheng's eyes, the subconscious action was really cute. "Thank you." She awoke from her daze, and then supported herself on hisshoulder and leaned against his back. "Excuse me." He placed a hand in the crook of her knees and slowly lifted herbody upwards. Just like this, they left that pile of grass. They stamped through the bloodysea of grass and left for some other, cleaner place. The water in this sea of grass was not all that deep. At its shallowest, itdid not pass the knees, whereas its deepest parts barely reached the waist. Itwas just that the sludge under the water was too soft. Chen Changsheng wascarrying a person on his back while his left hand had to hold up the umbrella,making walking rather difficult. Fortunately, the morning sun had already risensome time ago, and the temperature of the sea of grass had gradually grownwarmer, making it extremely comfortable. While they walked through the springwater in the spring light, as far as the eye could see was soft and tendergreen grass. Even if it were even more difficult to wade through, it was stillsomewhat consoling. If it were not for those noises, then it would seem evenmore like they were taking a stroll in the spring. Behind them in the plains, they could faintly hear whistling as something flewthrough the air. That whistling came from Nanke's two wings. Whether it wasChen Changsheng or Xu Yourong, after they had gotten a little understanding ofthese Plains of the Unsetting Sun, neither of them were worried that thosedemon experts would catch up to them quickly. Contrarily, what made them evenmore vigilant was the rustling noises around them. Those noises belonged to thenatives of the sea of grass—yesterday, Xu Yourong had slain many monsters, butshe had paid a heavy price. Simultaneously, she had also known that theseplains assuredly had even stronger monsters, even existences that were beyondeven Ethereal Opening cultivators. Chen Changsheng wielded the Yellow Paper Umbrella, sensing the position ofthat strand of sword intent as he continued forward. The sun had almost reachedhigh noon, but the light was not too harsh, rather it was warm and comfortablelike a spring day. Xu Yourong did not understand why he had been holding on tothe shabby umbrella and worriedly thought to herself, is he suffering fromheatstroke? Or maybe that young cultivator's black frost Qi is in conflict withthe sunlight? If this had something to with Snow Mountain Sect's secret cultivation method,it would naturally be difficult to talk about, but there was one matter thatshe absolutely had to be clear on. "Just where are we going?" Chen Changsheng replied, "To the Sword Pool." The sword intent pointed to a destination that, to his thinking, had a veryhigh chance of being the legendary Sword Pool. If the Garden of Zhou really did have a Sword Pool which had remainedundiscovered despite the efforts of so many people, then it was very obviousthat its most likely location was within these plains from which no one hadever emerged. Xu Yourong understood this point, but she did not understand how he was ableto be certain of the Sword Pool's location. Chen Changsheng did not answer this question. It was not because he did notwant to reveal the secrets of the Yellow Paper Umbrella to her, but rather thatin the end, the Sword Pool was no ordinary treasure. Having experienced thesetwo days and one night of escaping together, he could entrust his life to thisgirl and place a sufficient amount of trust in her. However, just because thiswas the case, was there any need to add on this gambling chip to once againtest her character? Character was not something that could be tested. For eachtest, there was a high chance that the relationship would take one stepbackwards. Similarly, trust was not something that could be used. Each use oftrust was to pare away at it. As they continued onward, the water beneath this sea of grass began to lessenand the ground began to grow more solid. Now this place was truly beginning tofeel like a plain. Walking through the dense grass and feeling his steps gradually grow moresteady, Chen Changsheng began to feel much more stable. However, the beeping'sounds coming from the plains around them had also increased in number. It wasclear that there were many more monsters concealed in the grass around themthan there had been on the wetland. These monsters could be even more fearsome. Xu Yourong took out the Tong Bow and calmly observed the surroundings, readyat any time to take action. Yet for some reason, as Chen Changsheng carried herfor dozens of li, none of those monsters ever launched an offensive or evenapproached them. There were even three times where she had clearly sensed theterrifying Qi of monsters that were observing them from the distance. They hadbeen so strong that even if she were at her peak, she would not have been theirmatch. Why did those powerful monsters not come and kill them? If this werebefore, she would have thought that it was the aura emitted by her true bloodof the Heavenly Phoenix directly suppressing these monsters' greed. But now shehad almost none of this blood left, so what were those monsters afraid of? The two continued to move forward. The ground grew increasingly dry, while thegrass grew shorter and sparser. Ultimately, they arrived at a patch of grass they had never walked across.This grass was ashen white, and yet it was not dead. It seemed just like an oldman's hair. In the verdant plains, this short and ashen white grass wasextremely striking. Moreover, it extended from under their feet to far off intothe depths of the plains, forming a very obvious path. They did not know where the path formed by the white grass went, nor whatdangers were concealed there. Xu Yourong said, "If… that person is really dead, this path most likely leadsto his grave." Chen Changsheng understood why she would make this conjecture. In the "Essay on the Origin of the Dao", in the "Classic on the Afterlife",there was a saying: With the white grass as a path, onwards to the sea of stars. If Zhou Dufu had really died, and his body had really been buried in thisworld, it was highly likely that his grave was in the depths of these plains.The White Grass Path represented a passage for the dead. There was anotherstrong indication for this to be true. Based on the trembling of the YellowPaper Umbrella, the strand of sword intent was far down the White Grass Path.If that sword intent indicated the position of the Sword Pool, it was extremelyin accordance with their logic—the millions of swords which rested in the SwordPool were Zhou Dufu's spoils of war. Of course, they would also serve as thefinest offerings for him. “The Garden of Zhou has no sea of stars, so the Sword Pool acts as the sea ofstars." He agreed with Xu Yourong's opinion and said, "It seems that we'll haveto walk to the end of this White Grass Path to know if what's at the end isdeath or something else." Xu Yourong did not think that he would so quickly recognize the origin of herconclusion, so she gave a him a glance of admiration. Whether going to the sea of stars or to death, they were both very far away,so this White Grass Path was also naturally very long. Chen Changsheng walkedon for a very long time, but it seemed like they had not moved a step. The sun of the Plains of the Unsetting Sun would rise and then fall, but itwould not disappear. It would make its way along the perimeter of the plainsand then rise once more. They walked and walked, and walked some more. When they were thirsty, theywould drink some clear water from some puddle by the road. When they werehungry, Chen Changsheng would prepare some monster meat to eat. When they couldno longer fend off sleep, he would sleep while she calmly sat on the side. Whenshe became exhausted, he would wake up and they would switch places. ChenChangsheng's injuries improved, but she remained as feeble as ever. On a particular day, when night fell once more—not a real night but just thelight growing gloomier—rain suddenly began to fall from the sky. Chen Changsheng carried her as he ran through the rain. At some point, she hadtaken up the umbrella in her hands and used it to block out the wind and rain. The rain that night was too violent. A single umbrella was incapable ofprotecting them. It was just that in this flat grassland, where would they finda place to take shelter from the rain?