Chapter 150: Simple and Uncomplicated (2/2)

She remembered the first time she saw Meng Hao [1. The first time Xu Qing met Meng Hao was in Chapter 1: Scholar Meng Hao]. She had been standing behind him as he searched for rattan vines. She watched him throw the vine down the cliff, and had heard him talking about Immortals to the people below.

At that time, she’d thought that this mortal scholar was very interesting. Thus, she’d taken him with her.

She thought about the stares of the crowd [2. The ”stares of the crowd” was from Chapter 5: This Kid isn't Bad] when Meng Hao had offered her the medicinal pill…. And she thought about how he had gazed back at her right before he entered the black door.

“It’s all over….” The streaming tears made her face seem very bleak. She couldn’t stop herself from shaking. She was scared. From the day she had left the Reliance Sect until now, she had not experienced any happiness. And now, it seemed everything was coming to an end.

When she was a little girl, she had realized that she wasn’t very intelligent, and in fact, sometimes very foolish. Therefore, she had mastered the ability to cover it up with a cold smile. She used coldness and silence to conceal her lack of intelligence, and to make the world a bit simpler.

She didn’t like complicated things, because she often didn’t understand them. She liked peace and quiet. She liked to practice Cultivation by herself. As she did so, she watched the years pass, observed the ebb and flow of life, and recalled beautiful memories from the past.

This was her. Xu Qing. A cold exterior, and a simple heart.

She tried hard not to cry. Her body shook, and she closed her eyes. She didn’t want to look at Zhao Shanhe and his overwhelming strength. She was simply a Qi Condensation Cultivator in a Sect where happiness was unachievable. She had no strength to resist… nor even the ability to die.

As she closed her eyes, Xue Yuncui laughed and then spoke into her ear, her voice cool and complex. “Hey, you can’t fight back, so just close your eyes. That’s what I did all those years back. If you want to blame something, blame your aloofness, and blame your Cultivation base. You’re just too weak….”

Zhao Shanhe’s laughter echoed out. He waved his right hand, and a pink glow spread out. It enveloped the entire area within a thirty meter radius, creating a glimmering, pink shield that concealed everything within. The three of them were completely hidden. From the outside, the area didn’t look unusual at all.

At the same time that the cloaking shield went up, a fiery beam of light shot across the sky nearby. It screamed through the air, a cold-faced Meng Hao in its middle.

He arrived in the blink of an eye, his gaze sweeping the land. He frowned. There didn’t seem to be anything unusual at all in the area. He was about to leave, when his eyes flashed. He took out the jade slip and examined it. It was then that he noticed that the white dot representing Xu Qing, as well as the two others, had vanished.

He wasn’t sure why, but a feeling of deep unrest rose up in his heart. He looked down at the ground, and then waved his hand. As he did, a thirty meter long Flame Dragon roared out, shooting downward. A boom sounded out, and dust rose up from the ground.

However, there was one area, about thirty meters in diameter, from which no dust rose up whatsoever. It was clearly different from its surroundings.

Zhao Shanhe was concealed inside the shield, looking pleased. He licked his lips and his eyes shone as he prepared to throw himself upon Xu Qing. Suddenly, a boom could be heard from outside. He frowned, looking up, his pupils constricting.

Xue Yuncui also looked up in astonishment. She reacted to the situation quickly. Almost reflexively, she pulled out a sharp sword and placed it against Xu Qing’s neck.

This was because she had seen a young man outside wearing a black scholar’s robe. His eyes glowed with killing intent, and as he lifted his hand, she could see that one of his fingers was coated with blood. He touched the surface of the shield, and an explosion shook everything. He opened his mouth, and a mist of lightning roiled out, slamming into the pink shield.

Another explosion rocked the earth and sky, echoing out. The shield couldn’t withstand the power, and collapsed in a boom. In the midst of her despair, Xu Qing opened her eyes. She stared blankly as the shield disintegrated. Beyond where the shield was breaking apart, she saw a person. Killing intent and murder boiled off of him. Behind his body writhed a mass of dark red vines!

He looked like a Death Immortal who had just emerged from the yellow springs of the underworld, filled with rage and insanity. As he approached, a massive wind kicked up that shook everything.

“Are you two … looking to die?!?!” It didn’t seem possible for Meng Hao’s voice to contain more fury than it did. It came out as a roar that filled their ears, as if it had been transmitted from hell itself!

“Meng Hao….” said Xu Qing, smiling. Her smile was beautiful, and didn’t contain any of her usual coldness. It was a simple smile.

Simple and happy.

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This chapter sponsored by Dante Madut, Rodrigo Ribeiro, Djaja Sukandar and Jacob Keaton