Chapter 3: Departure

Chapter 3: Departure

The little girl was staring blankly at everything unfolding before her with her mouth gaped open, seemingly still yet to recover from the shock of what she had just seen.

She inspected the remains of her three tormentors with a dazed expression, and all of a sudden, she collapsed onto her backside as tears began to flow down her face.

Initially, she was only sobbing quietly, but she quickly began to cry louder and louder, as if she had thought of something tragic.

Soon, the floodgates completely broke down, and her bawling once again broke the silence in this once-peaceful area. It was like a heart-wrenching song of grief and tragedy, expressing to the heavens the tribulations and injustice in the human world.

After an indeterminate period of time, the bawling drew to an abrupt halt.

The little girl had already risen to her feet again, and her hands were balled up into tight fists. The soot and blood on her face had already been washed away by her tears, revealing her delicate features once again, but this time, there seemed to be something in her eyes that wasn't there before.

All of a sudden, she rushed toward another huge gray rock that was up ahead not far away.

At the foot of the large rock was a mangled body laying in a pool of blood, and one could just barely make out that the body belonged to the burly man. At this point, he was already long dead. Several dozen feet away from the giant rock was a male corpse that resembled a pile of sludge, and it belonged to the long-faced man from before.

As for the daoist priest, his entire body had exploded in the face of the punch that the young man had thrown from afar, so there was nothing left of his remains aside from scraps of flesh and blood in the nearby area.

The little girl leaped over to the foot of the huge rock, then raised both of her hands, and azure nails that were several inches in length abruptly grew out of her fingers, using which she viciously ravaged the burly man's remains.

Her nails whistled through the air, releasing one azure claw projection after another, all of which struck the man's already severely mangled body.

Blood splattered in all directions, and the man's remains were instantly reduced to a pile of broken flesh.

However, the little girl seemed to have been yet to vent all of her resentment, and she blasted a burst of green flames out of her mouth to incinerate the man's remains into ashes.

Immediately thereafter, she did the exact same thing to the long-faced man's body, and only after that did she finally relent.

After doing all of that, her knees gave out from under her, and she fell onto her backside again as she panted heavily, having just exhausted all of the slight amount of magic power her body had just recovered.

The little girl took a moment to compose herself, then knelt down toward a certain direction as she murmured, "Dada, Mama, Big Brother, Big Sister, one of these foul bandits from the Blood Sword Sect is finally dead.

“I wasn't the one to kill him, but a tiny amount of justice has finally been served for what they did to you. Rest assured, so long as still draw breath, there will come a day when I will go to Bloodlight Mountain and erase the Blood Sword Sect from the face of this world!"

Tears began to well up in her eyes again as she spoke, but she forced them back, not allowing herself to shed them.

"I won't cry anymore. Dada always says that crybabies never grow up. I have to grow up faster!"

Only after a long while was the little girl able to suppress the sobs that were fighting to break out of her chest, and she stood up again before taking a glance at the storage bags left behind by her three deceased pursuers.

A hint of disgust surfaced in her eyes, but after a brief hesitation, she still decided to pick up all of the storage bags.

As the sun moved westward, the sky began to dim, and the wind also grew stronger, howling incessantly as the air temperature began to drop.

Looking at her barren surroundings, the little girl was becoming a little afraid, and she curled up slightly before reflexively sidling up closer to the only other living person in the area, the young man.

After throwing that punch to put an end to the daoist priest's life, the young man fell still again, standing on the spot in a wooden manner as he looked down blankly at his own feet, seemingly completely oblivious to what the little girl had just done.

"Brother Rock..." the little girl called out in a slightly hesitant voice, and she didn't dare to get too close to him.

The young man displayed no reaction.

"Brother Rock, my name is Liu Le'er. Thank you for killing those three bad people just now. Even though you're also a human, Dada told me that there are good people even in the human race," the little girl said in a slightly fearful voice.

The young man finally displayed a slight reaction to her voice, and he raised his head slightly to take a glance at her.

The reflection of the little girl appeared in his pupils, and a faint gleam seemed to have flashed through his dazed eyes, but they quickly became glazed over again. However, his eyes were still fixed on Liu Le'er.

Liu Le'er was quite startled by this, and she hurriedly took a few steps backward.

However, all the young man did was stare blankly at her without doing anything else, remaining as still as a statue.

Liu Le'er heaved an internal sigh of relief, and she became even more convinced that there was something wrong with the young man's head. She then gradually mustered up some courage and drew closer to the young man, examining him with a curious expression.

She had been in a state of panic before, so she didn't get a chance to take a close look, and only after approaching the young man was she able to catch a clearer glimpse of him.

The young man was tall and broad with long and slim fingers. His body wasn't particularly muscular, but it struck the beholder with the sense that it contained limitless power.

Even though his eyes were dazed and soulless, his pupils were incredibly black, almost as if they were capable of sucking in one's soul if they were to look into his eyes for too long. His exposed skin was slightly dark in complexion and extremely smooth. Despite the fierce battle that he had just endured, not a single scratch had been inflicted onto his body.

His azure clothes appeared to be completely unremarkable, but they had also managed to remain unscathed in the wake of the attacks that he had been struck by.

All of this, in addition to the fact that the young man had just devoured that cloud of blood mist like it was nothing, indicated that he was definitely no ordinary person, and he certainly wasn't a mortal.

How could a mortal possibly have killed three cultivators wielding magic tools with such ridiculous ease?

The little girl sized up the young man with an absentminded expression, and she became more and more relaxed as the young man continued to display no reaction. Having just survived that grueling ordeal, her childish curiosity seemed to have returned, and she walked around the young man in a circle.

The young man's gaze remained fixed on Liu Le'er the entire time, as if there were something about her that attracted his attention.

Perhaps it was because the young man had saved her life and killed her three tormentors for her, but the more she looked at him, the closer and more intimate she felt with him.

All of a sudden, Liu Le'er caught sight of a small dark green accessory that was peeking out from behind the young man's collar. The accessory was glittering and translucent, and she couldn't figure out what it was.

She wanted to peel back his robe slightly to take a closer look, but she didn't dare to do so.

Right at this moment, the wind suddenly grew a lot stronger, and a thick blanket of dark clouds appeared in the sky, causing the surrounding area to become even darker.

A thick bolt of lightning tore through the dark clouds, illuminating the entire sky, and this was followed closely by a deafening thunderclap and the arrival of a heavy storm.

"Argh!"

Liu Le'er let loose an alarmed yelp as she reflexively sought shelter from the young man's body, throwing her arms around his leg as she trembled delicately.

She was a demonic fox, and she had an innate sense of fear toward natural lightning.

Another faint gleam surfaced in the young man's eyes, but once again, it quickly faded, he bent over slightly, using his large frame to cover Liu Le'er. It was unclear whether this was an intentional gesture or not, but in doing so, he was keeping out the rain and wind for her.

A hint of warmth welled up in the little girl's heart, and she no longer feared the rain, wind, and lightning. Instead, she was struck by a sense of warm serenity, much like the feeling of being in her father's arms.

The storm left just as quickly as it arrived, and it didn't take long before the dark clouds faded, and the refreshing scent of petrichor began to spread through the air.

Liu Le'er shook off the rain on her body, then giggled as she latched onto the young man's hand and brushed off the water that had gathered on his clothes.

She didn't know what material the young man's azure clothes were made from, but the rainwater that fell upon it formed a series of beads that were completely unable to seep into his clothes, much like one would expect to see on a lotus leaf.

As always, the young man displayed no reaction to what the little girl was doing, allowing her to do as she pleased with him.

"Brother Rock, you still haven't told me your name yet," Liu Le'er said as she tugged gently on his arm, trying to get him to sit down.

The young man slowly obliged and sat down, but he was still as silent as ever.

"Why are you here, Brother Rock?"

"Brother Rock, that punch you threw at the end was so strong! Can you teach me?"

"Brother Rock..."

Liu Le'er was determined to break the young man's silence, and she tried several different ways to communicate with him, but the young man displayed no reaction no matter what she said, and she was left feeling rather disappointed.

The little girl was silent for a moment before making up her mind, and she grabbed onto one of the young man's large hands as she implored, "Brother Rock, I don't know who you are, but you've killed someone from the Blood Sword Sect, so it's best for you to leave this place with me."

The young man was still as dazed and disoriented as ever, but with Liu Le'er making a series of gestures to illustrate what she was saying, he seemed to have understood what was being told, and he finally departed with the little girl.

Dusk slowly fell, and the dying sun basked the sky in a blood-red hue.

With the sun casting its final rays of light upon the landscape, the barren plains were bathed in resplendent golden light.

Two figures, one tall and one short, were making their way toward the setting sun, getting further and further away. The wind was picking up the sound of Liu Le'er's cheerful voice and carrying it into the distance.

"Brother Rock, I know you're really strong, but there are a lot more bad people in the Blood Sword Sect!"

"It's getting late, you must be hungry, right?"

"Once we get out of here, I'll catch a few wild birds that roast them for you. My cooking skills are pretty good!"

"Brother Rock, I'm going to treat you as my real brother from now on!"