Vol.3-Chapter 10 – One Mound of Dirt, Two Lines of Tears

“That’s right, Xiaotian’s talent is very good. Even Elder Yang can’t stop praising him and accepted him as a direct disciple.”

Su Su laughed while explaining the situation. Even Su Su was a bit envious of Zhao Xiaotian’s talent, which wasn’t much worse than hers.

“Big Brother, if someone bullies you in the future, I’ll help you beat him up.”

Zhao Xiaotian said with a smile as he clenched his right hand into a first. His words even contained a little killing intent. It was fortunate that Xue Wuxing had left.

Zhao Xiaotian felt a sense of intimacy toward this man before him, though he didn’t know why. Back at the town of Qing Rong, he was so hungry that he was forced to steal to stay alive. Fortunately, he had been saved by Zhao Jiuge; otherwise, he would have lost his life that day.

Su Su looked at this scene with a smile. One was someone who she saw as a little brother and the other was her man. Both were important people in her life.

While they were talking, they didn’t notice that Elder Yang was looking at Zhao Jiuge with a complicated expression.

He had only found out about Zhao Xiaotian’s talent later on. His cultivation talent could only be described as monstrous, or else he wouldn't have accepted Zhao Xiaotian as his disciple. He remembered when this skinny, little fellow was brought back by Su Su. If it wasn’t for Su Su bringing him back, no one would have found his amazing talent for cultivation.

He was also wrong about Zhao Jiuge! Zhao Jiuge’s cultivation didn’t look that powerful, but he had to consider how long Zhao Jiuge had been cultivating!

When he was secretly following Su Su and saw Zhao Jiuge, he was disappointed that Su Su would like someone like this. He didn’t expect that Zhao Jiuge would appear before him again with such strength a few years later. At the same time, he felt regret. If he had known this would happen, he would have brought Zhao Jiuge back to the sect by force. Then the sect would have another talent.

Fate makes a fool of people. No one would’ve expected Zhao Jiuge to become the Chief Head Disciple of the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect.

Everyone in the Huaxia Dynasty knew about the sword immortals that came from the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect. During the peak of the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect, they had three sword immortals who ascended together.

After reaching the late stage of the Mahayana Realm, one would trigger Tribulation. After passing the Tribulation, one’s spirit force would change into immortal spirit force.

After that conversion was complete, they would naturally ascend, but during this period, they would remain in this world. It was more than enough time for them to help their sect sweep the other sects.

This was why the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect had remained above the other six holy lands. However, for some reason, there hadn’t been any news of people ascending in the last thousand years.

Zhao Jiuge smiled. Seeing Zhao Xiaotian’s smile, he knew that he was doing well with Su Su. Also, with someone as powerful as Elder Yang as a teacher, no one would be able to bully him.

Zhao Jiuge originally wanted to ask about Su Su’s identity and what sect she came from. However, when he saw that Su Su had no intention of bringing up this matter or inviting him to the sect, he could only temporarily give up on this thought.

“Grandpa Yang, I came to discuss a matter with you.” Su Su revealed a sweet smile and seemed to be acting spoiled toward Elder Yang.

However, before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted by Elder Yang with a smile. “Don’t think I can’t guess what you have planned. You just want to go out for a while, right? Go ahead.”

Su Su immediately laughed. What was better than traveling the world with your beloved?

Elder Yang looked serious and uneasily said, “However, there is one thing I want to tell you. The turmoil in the sect has been relatively large recently, so I won’t have time to secretly accompany you to protect you. Since this is training, you have to be careful. Your father has personally said not to protect you too much and to let you face some danger. After all, you have now reached a bottleneck that can only be passed by experiencing life or death battles. Do you understand?”

“I understand.” Thinking about the training, Su Su couldn’t be bothered to listen at all and quickly nodded.

“Teacher…”

Zhao Xiaotian’s weak voice suddenly echoed and he secretly glanced at his teacher’s expression.

“Hmph, don’t even think about it. Stay and patiently cultivate. I’ll take you to a place, so cultivate well and improve your strength.”

Before Zhao Xiaotian could speak, Elder Yang let out a snort.

He wanted to head out to play, but he knew how stern Elder Yang was. Seeing this reaction, he knew he had no chance.

“Cultivate well. Big Brother will come to see you next time. As long as you have strength, you can go anywhere you want to play,” Zhao Jiuge said softly to Zhao Xiaotian. Seeing Zhao Xiaotian’s current situation, he felt very relieved leaving him here.

Hearing this, Zhao Xiaotian had a face filled with grievance. He pouted but still obediently nodded.

Su Su stretched out her hand and stroked Zhao Xiaotian’s head. Then she said to Elder Yang, “Then, we’ll head out?”

“Go, just be careful.” Elder Yang nodded. “Jiuge, take good care of her.”

Zhao Jiuge quickly said, “I will, Elder Yang.”

Then Su Su and Zhao Jiuge together. After walking a few steps, both looked back at Elder Yang and Zhao Xiaotian.

Although Zhao Jiuge was a bit reluctant to leave right away, he couldn’t help it. Su Su had no intention of asking him to stay for a few days and couldn’t wait to pull him to leave. This made Zhao Jiuge feel like something was a bit strange.

Elder Yang looked at the two of them and sighed gently. He was not worried about Su Su’s safety. With her noble identity and that pseudo immortal treasure, she would naturally not encounter any great danger outside.

He was worried about the fate between the two of them. When everything was made clear and Zhao Jiuge knew the truth, would their relationship still be the same? Fate likes to toy with people; no one knows what the future will be like.

After the two of them left Green Jade Mountain, they didn’t blade soar but slowly and leisurely enjoyed their time.

“Su Su, I actually…”

Before Zhao Jiuge could finish speaking, Su Su spoke as well.

“Blockhead, where are we going? I have been cultivating nonstop and now we can finally have some fun for two years.”

Zhao Jiuge suddenly stopped talking. The courage he had built up was broken in an instant. He wanted to come clean about the matter with Ling Bo Re but was unsuccessful again.

“Let us take a trip home first, I want to see my grandpa.” Zhao Jiuge’s voice contained sadness and a sense of loss.

Su Su immediately grasped Zhao Jiuge’s palm. She could only comfort Zhao Jiuge like this. She had already heard about Zhao Jiuge’s past last time, so she didn’t speak. Instead, she let Zhao Jiuge make the decision.

“I’ll go wherever you want to go, you make the decisions,” Su Su said softly, one hand grasping Zhao Jiuge’s hand, the other playing with her silk-like hair.

Soon, their tightly grasped hands separated and the bright cyan and golden spirit force interweaved together.

Zhao Jiuge’s Cold Underworld Sword and Su Su’s Jade Light Sword floated in the air and the two of them immediately flew off on their swords.

The two of them left trails of light as they flew toward the village Zhao Jiuge had grown up in.

The black robe and cyan robe fluttered in the air. With the two of them flying side by side, it felt like they were an immortal couple, which caused Zhao Jiuge’s feelings to stir. However, he couldn’t immerse himself in it, because Su Su wasn’t the only person in his heart. He mostly felt guilt and didn’t know how to face the days to come.

Compared to Zhao Jiuge’s somewhat complicated mood, Su Su had a happy smile on her face. She was very easy to satisfy.

Zhao Jiuge flew toward the Yan Province based on his memory. After reaching the border, he checked his directions and then flew toward the village where he once lived.

The closer he got to the village, the more unstable Zhao Jiuge’s mood became. Memories of his time living in the village surfaced in his mind.

Soon, the two of them appeared in the air outside the village. As Zhao Jiuge looked at the familiar village in the distance, his heart stirred.

The mountain in the early morning was covered by mist, and one could only vaguely see smoke rising from the village. The dawn light shined on the earth.

Su Su looked at the pondering Zhao Jiuge and softly asked, “Blockhead, we going to head back to your home first?”

“Home? Only a place with family can be called home. Now that the people are gone, how can I still call it home? The Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect is my home,” Zhao Jiuge muttered to himself.

Su Su’s beautiful eyes contained an inexplicable sense of heartache. She had grown up in a powerful family and had always been loved by the people around her. She could never understand Zhao Jiuge’s feelings. However, looking at how sad Zhao Jiuge looked, she could experience some of his feelings.

“If you want, you can also consider me your family,” Su Su muttered in a strange tone. Zhao Jiuge was shocked and didn’t say more.

“Su Su, I’ll take you directly to see my grandpa.” After a while, Zhao Jiuge made his decision.

In order not to shock the people of the village, they decided to walk from here on out because blade soaring would be too shocking of a sight.

Following the memory of that night when he escaped up the mountain in a panic, the two of them soon arrived at a hill.

At a glance, Zhao Jiuge could see a mound of dirt that was the grave. There was no gravestone, and it was covered in grass already. This scene caused Zhao Jiuge’s eyes to turn red. People always say men should not cry so easily, but this hit his sorrow spot.

The old man that had raised him was now just a mound of dirt, and thinking of this old man made two lines of tears flow down his cheeks.

Su Su had a sorrowful expression and silently stood beside Zhao Jiuge.

Looking at the grave, Zhao Jiuge felt endless gratitude. If it wasn’t for this old man who picked him up along the official road, he might not be here today.

While feeling grateful, Zhao Jiuge felt a complicated and contradictory feeling. If it wasn’t for the old man’s sudden death, he would not have done the thing that forced him to flee into the depths of the mountains, where he had his fortunate encounter.

If the old man was still alive, he would still be a common man in the village. He would not have made the same achievements he had today.

One small difference would have brought about a drastically different fate.

Zhao Jiuge could only remove all the grass on the grave. Perhaps he would rarely have a chance to come back here, but he would never forget this old man.

A gentle breeze blew by, adding a bit of sadness to this depressed atmosphere. Zhao Jiuge saw Su Su standing there from the corner of his eye. He thought that if the old man were still alive, he would’ve been very happy to meet Su Su.