16 THE MARTIAL WAYS OF XIAO (2/2)
But I really was the one who wrote...
The boy sighed but then also chuckled bitterly.
Oh well, never mind… it simply means I'll have to find an even cooler moment to reveal it to her!
He looked at her for a while. Then, with a bitter smile and a loud sigh, he said, ”Ah, my dear sister Wu… I thought I had told you that lies wouldn't bring you far in a relationship like ours?”
”Have yet to sense the Qi? That demonstration from earlier is more than enough for me to determine you HAVE! And not just any Qi! You sensed a Qi so rare and powerful it might almost rival the 'Golden Gates of Old', the Sensed Qi of the Evil Saint himself!” Cheng Hao raised his hand and moved his index and thumb close. ”Almost” He winked.
Xiao Wu smiled powerlessly. Indeed, she HAD sensed something.
The Qi of the members of the Xiao Clan would usually fall into three major categories, and most would sense one and join a Hall that corresponded to a certain Qi. Some however, were special, like her father, and sensed two Qi at once! There was once a theory that this was possible because the Xiao Clan had a powerful bloodline that descended from ancient times, and that the Qi had once been only one and then split into three afterwards. It was speculated that, were a Triple Wielder of the three different attributes of the 'Xiao Qi' appear, that person would wield the true might of the Xiao Qi!
This notion however had been quickly dispelled when Xiao Lan first appeared and, despite having sensed all the three Qi at once, had been unable to cultivate even a single scripture from the Xiao Clan! Thus, his growth had been extremely slow... later on, him and the Evil Saint had thought this problem through and had created a Scripture especially for him, modifying those the Xiao Clan had created in their thousands of years of history and merging them together! First, he had bound together two. Then, he had repeated the process with the two that had been fused and the remaining one, making three scriptures into a single one: the Triple Xiao Qi Scripture!
After this, Xiao Lan's cultivation speed had skyrocketed, to the point he even stepped into the Immortal Realm at the age of fifty-nine. This had even surpassed the previous record held by Xu Ling himself by five years! However, this scripture was regarded as the greatest trump card of their clan: as long as they could produce a Triple Wielder, the recovery of the Xiao Clan was assured! For that however, they'd have to wait for the esteemed Xiao Lan to awaken from his deep slumber of a thousand years down in the Clan's Scared Grounds and hand over the scripture.
Just as she had thought up to here, Cheng Hao's words shook Xiao Wu awake, ”Also, somebody has already aided you! I'm one hundred percent certain that it was that old fellow Lan, but it was probably done without you knowing. Calm down and breath as this might seem shocking”
Xiao Wu skeptically followed the instructions without asking for an explanation. Seeing that, Cheng Hao inwardly praised the trust she put in him. He smiled warmly and resumed. He said nine simple words. Those words shook Xiao Wu's mind and, as she understood their meaning, she unconsciously went and grabbed her head
He had said…
”You have a Martial Way concealed inside your consciousness!”
Those shocking words had come out so smoothly that it seemed as if Cheng Hao was just telling her that his favorite color was scarlet red.
”Brother Cheng... Is that true?” Xiao Wu's emerald eyes glowed and she was extremely shocked as well as excited. As if to answer her, Cheng Hao approached and touched her forehead. Once again, the invisible barrage slammed into him. Had somebody else thought of pressing on, that person would have most likely died. Unfortunately, Cheng Hao wasn't just 'somebody' and he easily pulled through once again!
In the girl's sea of consciousness, he once again gazed upon the scene that had bewildered him a while ago.
A gorgeous white tree as tall as the heavens stood proud and a black dragon thousands of feet long entwined around its branches. Up in a nonexistent sky, a purple moon shone down eerily...
The whole scene looked like something straight out of a fairy tale and it was just as scary and shocking as it was enticing and stunning. The scene was encased into what looked like a crystal ball, and it was so soul-crushingly powerful that had it been left free, it would have created enough pressure on what was located outside that Xiao Wu's mind could have as well shattered! Fortunately though, the glass sphere blocked that pressure, allowing Cheng Hao's consciousness to approach.
With the wave of the consciousness' hands, the glass ball and thus the scene as well shrank and fit into the small palm... With a smile, Cheng Hao removed the finger from Xiao Wu's forehead and, when he opened his palm, a glass ball was there.
”Shatter” He blew upon the crystalline surface and the glass ball indeed... Shattered! As soon as it did, the tree, the dragon and the moon appeared above his hand. The child let go and the whole thing began hovering in midair. Cheng Hao sat back on the chair and made a sign towards Xiao Wu to take the Martial Way in front of her. The boy's face was pale, while the girl's was so red from excitement that even an apple would be jealous.
She poked the tree with her finger and, sure enough, she felt a familiar pressure: the pressure of a Martial Way! It was extremely weak when compared to Cheng Hao's golden tower, but it was there anyway! Without thinking, Xiao Wu flew at Cheng Hao and embraced him as tightly as he could. Tears poured out like water during a flood as the girl spoke, ”Thank you brother… Thank you!!! Just... Thank you for everything!”
Cheng Hao smiled weakly. ”Hey, hey now… What happened to that fierce attitude of yours?”
Xiao Wu blushed but embraced him even tighter, ”You really DO make it hard for people to care for you, don't you?”
Cheng Hao laughed.