Book 4: Near Blood – Chapter 92: Separation 1
Boom!
The Lotus Platforms on his forehead shone brightly as light from them quickly congealed into a white lotus, blocking Gu Qingluo’s attack.
However, at the same moment that he defended himself, he heard Su Chen yell out, “Midsection!”
Gu Qingluo’s palm slammed into Zhou Yashan’s midsection.
Blood sprayed from Zhou Yashan’s body as he flew backwards. A slender, white hand reached out and snagged his body. This time, even seven Lotus Platforms wouldn’t be able to save him.
Five sharp fingers penetrated deeply into his body. Large amounts of Origin Energy flooded his body, paralyzing him and robbing him of any strength to fight.
Gu Qingluo’s voice boomed through the sky. “The situation now is simple. Either you die, or your son dies!”
“You……” Zhou Yashan howled with rage. “That’s not fair! If it weren’t for that brat interfering……”
“This isn’t a match with rules,” Gu Qingluo replied coolly as she tightened her group. Zhou Yashan’s vision blurred.
He was still trying to hold on, but Zhou Yunkeng spoke up from below, saying, “Forget about it. If Qingkuang was the one who stirred up this trouble, he needs to pay the price himself. Since you aren’t able to protect him, you can only chalk this up to fate.”
As he spoke, a person began to fly into the sky. It was Zhou Qingkuang.
A swath of clouds bore him up to Gu Qingluo. Zhou Qingkuang howled madly as he ascended, “Father, save me! Father, save me!!”
Unfortunately for him, Zhou Yashan himself had already fallen prey to Gu Qingluo and had no way of saving anybody. He could only close his eyes and say, “You must pay the price for the sins you have committed.”
He refused to watch any longer.
Zhou Qingkuang had arrived near Gu Qingluo.
Zhou Qingkuang felt a chill run up his spine when he saw Gu Qingluo’s expression, which was filled with killing intent. “Qingluo, I know I was wrong. I just suffered from a moment of confusion, a rush of blood to the brain. Please, spare me just this once. I won’t do anything like this ever again in the future……”
“You won’t have to worry about the future anymore,” Gu Qingluo replied coldly.
She didn’t say anything more to Zhou Qingkuang. Instead, she lifted her hand and placed it on Zhou Qingkuang’s forehead. His head trembled momentarily before exploding to bits.
The swath of clouds disappeared, and the headless corpse descended to the ground, landing in the Zhou Clan’s courtyard. The Zhou Clan’s ancestor harrumphed angrily.
Once she had taken care of this matter, Gu Qingluo felt her energy beginning to drain from her body, and she started trembling.
She released her grip on Zhou Yashan, who stared deeply at her for a moment. However, in the end, he did not say anything and merely turned around before leaving.
Gu Qingluo’s figure trembled as her muscles began to relax.
The feeling of fighting had been quite exhilarating, but it wasn’t until she had stopped that she realized that she had been attacking without reservation. Gu Qingluo’s bloodline had still only just awakened; if it weren’t for her rage supporting her and Su Chen’s help, she wouldn’t have been able to defeat Zhou Yashan.
Such was the power of true anger. She was able to squeeze out every last drop of power from her body, simultaneously unintentionally increasing her latent potential.
However, when compared to what she had lost, Gu Qingluo would rather that none of this had ever happened in the first place.
Su Chen flew over to Gu Qingluo on the Mountain-Beheading Blade and embraced her.
Gu Qingluo weakly said, “Let’s go.”
Su Chen carried Gu Qingluo on his back and returned, all the while Patelocke was complaining unhappily, as he was now bearing the weight of two people. Thankfully, Gu Yaoye sent over a cloud, stabilizing the wobbling Mountain-Beheading Blade.
They flew like this for an unknown amount of time before arriving at a nearby mountain.
Gu Qingluo said, “The scenery here is pretty good. I want to look around.”
Su Chen put Gu Qingluo down.
The scenery here was pretty good. Uneven mountain peaks loomed far off in the distance, while the slopes were covered in lush green pine trees. Clouds circled the peaks of the mountains, and the roars of a nearby waterfall completed the scene.
Su Chen and Gu Qingluo descended to a point right next to the waterfall.
Gu Qingluo lay in Su Chen’s embrace, watching the clouds float by and listening to the waterfall. “Do you remember the first time we met?”
“I remember. Back then, you were taking a bath near a waterfall, but that waterfall was much smaller.”
“Things were also much more peaceful,” Gu Qingluo said leisurely. “After we separated, I thought a lot about those days behind the Su Clan’s mountain. Things were…… really nice then.”
Su Chen gently stroked her hair. “Me too.”
Gu Qingluo continued, “Actually, I had already begun to like you back then, but I wasn’t sure at the time of how deep my feelings were. I just liked being with you, because you made me feel carefree and happy. But after the Three Mountains Region’s exam, everything changed. You poured out your heart, but I became afraid. I didn’t know what to do, and I was really worried that the matter between the two of us would anger my clan and get you killed. That’s why I could only leave abruptly……”
“I understand,” Su Chen consoled gently.
Gu Qingluo snuggled deeper into Su Chen’s embrace. “But I didn’t want to leave. Every day I was apart from you, I thought about you. But I could only suppress these feelings and hide them deep in my heart……”
Su Chen’s heart trembled as he felt a prick of pain.
Even though his relationship with Gu Qingluo had been restored, there were some things she had never said to him and that he had never wanted to ask for fear that he would make her uncomfortable.
However, Gu Qingluo had chosen to tell him all this of her own will.
She continued, saying, “It wasn’t until the Goldwater Ruins that we had an excuse to be openly seen together. However, at the time, my heart was filled with fear. I was worried that you wouldn’t be able to do what you had promised, and I didn’t want to be seen in public with you. Now that I think about it, I was really selfish and dumb.”
“That wasn’t your fault, Qingluo.”
Gu Qingluo shook her head repeatedly. “I missed too many opportunities and wasted too much time. If I had just trusted you a bit more and was a bit braver, we might not have landed in this situation.”
Su Chen comforted her. “Empty Mountain isn’t a death sentence; you don’t need to be like this. I promise you that we won’t separate again.”
“But I always feel like there is always some kind of malevolent power trying to separate us and keep us from being together,” Gu Qingluo said teary-eyed as she gazed at Su Chen.
She hugged Su Chen tightly. “I’m afraid that fate has something in store for us and won’t let us go to Empty Mountain together.”
“Silly girl.” Su Chen smiled slightly. “Nothing like that will happen.”
Gu Qingluo hugged Su Chen even tighter, unwilling to let go, as if she was afraid that Su Chen would fly off as soon as she released him.
She had once given up on Su Chen on her own, and for a long time she had wavered over her choice indecisively, but now her hesitant nature was nowhere to be found.
Her determination had manifested itself in love, and she refused to let go of Su Chen.
“Wherever I go, you will go,” she said.
“Wherever you go, I will go,” he said.
At that moment, Su Chen suddenly felt his wrist heat up.
He lowered his head to look at his hand. A strange symbol had appeared on the back of it.
“What is that?” Gu Qingluo asked.
“An emergency transmission from the Dreamrealm,” Su Chen replied, a strange expression on his face.
Emergency transmissions could only be sent by those at least at the Dream Officer rank or above. Su Chen had yet to met someone like that.
Who would send him an emergency transmission at this point in time?