Chapter 382 - White Sky (1/2)
Ziyun couldn't sit still. Her foot tapped against the floor continuously, and her palms clutched her knees. With a worried expression, she looked towards her Aunt Yin. Xue Yin had barely walked out of the bath when Ziyun came running into her home, wheezing with her chest inflating and deflating. Instead of wearing her hair into a bun, Xue Yin let her hair flow freely with the tips of her hair still wet and a soft aroma lingering around her. Expecting Nik's challenge to Ye Zong was different than him actually doing it! Xue Yin felt bitter. But alongside the bitterness was a wave of sweetness that she could barely suppress due to Ziyun's presence.
Just the thought of someone challenging the CIty Lord for her sake made Yin feel special and comforted. She mattered to someone, and it wasn't due to the change in her outfit. Xue Yin's palms rested on her thighs as her gaze remained unfocused, and she couldn't help but visit the awkward memories of herself with Nik. Just the thought of Nik now glowed her face, making her eyes more glazed and reflective while her lips remained parted with a soft flush adorning her pale white skin tone.
”Aunt! What should I do?” Ziyun noted the apparent changes in her Ant's appearance, but her chaotic mind simply couldn't stop worrying about her father and her teacher. It felt extremely overwhelming to handle such helplessness boring and nailing down on her. Ziyun's gaze finally locked into Xue Yin's as the Master Inscriptionist failed to present her mature demeanor. Ziyun's worry eventually affected her, and the enamored lass finally realized what Nik had done.
He challenged the strongest person currently residing within the City!
If something happened to Nik... just because...
Xue Yin's lips trembled. The weight of eternal solitude failed to distress her in such an impactful manner when she realized the burden of another person's life on her shoulders. She couldn't brush this incident as Nik's own doing. He wasn't the only one interested in Xue. Even the master inscriptionist showed a gradual interest and did not bar his advances when she had the chance. Now, Xue Yin cannot merely state— Nik's interests became his undoing. Implications hit her harder than the impact of a Green-horned rhino ramming into her consciousness.
”What... you should do?” Xue iterated Ziyun's inquiry with a blank expression. What should Ziyun do? What else could she do besides standing on the sidelines and remain helpless? The same helplessness that clutched Xue's neck equally harshly. Squeezing on her throat, pulling all breath out and then making her head buzz in complicated thoughts.
”I am sorry, Ziyun, all—” Xue Yin's breathing grew ragged, and she gulped for her throat to moisten. Her body trembled, and Ziyun was finally forced to focus on Xue Yin instead of her own worries. With droplets of tears dripping out from the corner of her eyes, Xue Yin's armed moved up and curled around her body. Her stature grew weak and small. This was an image that Xue yin never exposed to anybody, but today, Ziyun witnessed the side of her Aunt that wasn't so different from her own. ”— is my fault. *hic* if I *snuu* if I just remained satisfied with what little I have—”
Xue Yin sniveled while her words slurred. Ziyun failed to understand the context, but out of the battle between two men who only taught her how to fight and the woman who nurtured her despite not a single drop of blood binding them, ZIyun quickly walked over to her Aunt's side. While Xue Yin's words turned into sniffing gibberish, Ziyun silently hugged her Aunt tightly. She didn't care whatever her Aunt might have done for her to feel as such. Ziyun still remembered the day when she broke her mother's keepsake and, in fear of her father's punishment, came running to her Aunt Xue's laps. Her little face marred with tears and snot as Xue Yin embraced little Ziyun lovingly.
Over the years, Xue Yin would embrace Ziyun wordlessly whenever she felt incomparably guilty and sad. Just like the time when Ning'er decided to stop being friends with her, or the time when her father slapped her because of continuous mistakes from her part. Every time, Xue Yin would lovingly wrap her arm around Ziyun and keep on hugging her until she stopped crying. The only thing that would leave Xue Yin's lips would then be— No matter what happens, I will always be there for you. And just like that, Ziyun would feel calm and light-hearted once again.
***
”No matter what happens, Aunt, I am here for you,” Ziyun whispered while letting Xue Yin bury her head into her young shoulder and cry her hearts out. Years and years of welled up frustrations broke into a flood of tears. Xue Yin's apparent hate for Ziyun's mother vaporized into thin air the moment Xue Yin heard Ziyun's words, and she finally hugged the little girl back. A significant part of Xue yin felt incomparably proud of Ziyun while the other half remained ashamed and bawling like a kid that Ziyun was in the past.
The mature woman felt comforted by Ziyun's stroke over her back, and even after her sobs ended, the duo remained in each other's arms until a deep tremor shook the Spatial Abode and made the pair hastily walk out of the hut to gaze upon the scene of sky whitening with a silent power that impacted against every citizen of the City.
Ziyun's and Yin's body trembled but soon, the energy dissipated. The two remained dazed while Xue Yin failed to notice the slight damages to the spatial inscriptions due to the barrage of energy. The pair looked at each other, and when both of them found the look of the need to go and check out the location of the fight, Xue yin frowned and focused on the battered figure dragging his body. His violet gaze filled with determination to accomplish the holy mission, and his breaths violent and ragged.