33 A lone grave. (2/2)

”So it really was the same volcanoes.”

Li Yang stood still for a few moments, taking deep breaths with his eyes closed. When he opened his eyes again, there was a gentle yet sad light within them. With slow steps, he made his way towards the cottage. He did not enter the cottage, it was just an empty home after all.

He walked past the cottage, to the area behind the cottage. The area behind the cottage was completely different from the other places around these emerald volcanoes. There was a small garden located behind the cottage, hidden perfectly by the front of the cottage.

The garden was completely untouched by the emerald lava and its corrosive properties. The lava could not even get close to the garden, an array set up to keep it out. Other than the green grass, there were only two other things in the small garden. A single apple tree, and a small grave.

The grave was marked with a beautiful blue jade rod, the tip carved in the shape of a soaring bird. If anyone else were to see this jade rod, they would be completely shocked. The jade rod was made entirely out of Ocean Jade, a type of jade that could only be found at the very depths of the ocean.

If one were to sell a strip that was the size of a person's finger, the most powerful cultivators of the world would gladly battle for it. To create a grave marker that was over one meter long using such jade, one could only imagine who was buried there.

Li Yang took another deep breath before he slowly walked over and sat down in front of the grave marker. Jinwu could tell that Li Yang's mood was fluctuating heavily, so it looked at the grave marker in silence. The grave marker was only engraved with two words, Fang Xue'er. Li Yang gently brushed the name as he spoke out.

”Sorry, Xue'er. Papa hasn't been able to visit you for a while. Once I find Mama, I will make sure that we come and visit you a lot.”

The girl buried here was the only child born between Li Yang and Fang Ying, their only daughter, Fang Xue'er. She had been conceived and born in the cottage right behind Li Yang, and the three of them spent almost ten years living in that cottage, enjoying every day.

But their happiness was not meant to last. Not long after Fang Xue'er turned ten, their enemies managed to find them and launched an attack. Li Yang and Fang Ying managed to kill all the attackers, sustaining grievous injuries while doing so. But they did not manage to protect Fang Xue'er, she had died shortly after the first barrage of attacks.

It was at that moment that the difference between Fang Ying and Li Yang became apparent. The first time Li Yang lost people he held dear was when his town was destroyed. That was also when he first came into contact with the laws of destruction, his rage towering towards and against the heavens.

He learned that as long as something has to follow the laws of heaven, it exists only to eventually vanish. So he wanted to destroy it, to smash those laws that dictated that everything existed only to vanish eventually. The death of Fang Xue'er only further solidified those thoughts.

But Fang Ying was different from Li Yang. Despite her sadness at the death of Fang Xue'er, she did not let sadness overtake her. Rather than feel sad that it had passed, she found happiness in the time they had gotten to spend together, solace in the memories of those ten peaceful years. Her thought process was that since they had made it possible once, they could create it again as many times as they wanted. That was when Fang Ying first came in contact with the laws of creation.

While Li Yang was lost in his memories, the entire area suddenly started shaking. The middle one of the three volcanoes burst open, sending rocks and lava flying throughout the entire area. A furious voice rang out from the broken volcano.

”Who dares touch the sanctuary?!”