Chapter 87 - The Art of Air Explosion
[Translator’s Notes] Dear Readers, thank you for waiting patiently for the update of our story. As of today, all the delay is caused by me and me alone. I hope you can continue to like this story and our cute hero Shi Mu despite my fault. Actually there is a reason that I hope some of you would be so kind as to understand. My dearest cat died one month ago, falling from my balcony. I searched for her for a whole night, only to find her lying amid newly sprouted grass leaves quietly the next morning, as beautiful as she had ever been. She was so little when I found her deserted at a subway station, tied by a rope to a bar where a board said, “Bu Yao Le”, in English it means “the cat is no longer needed by us.” I took her home, all the way she clang to my chest with those trusting eyes, and I named her “Flower”. Flower accompanied me every day since then, following me everywhere in my flat. She would sit by the fishbowl for hours staring at the swimming little creatures, and tried to get them with her cute paws. She would welcome me, meowing, whenever I came back from outside. Sitting on the floor, looking up at me, she seemed to say “where have you been all this time?” She never complained in bad times when I could only offer her dry cat food. She rubbed my legs when I was sad. So I wept and wept and spent almost a month recovering from this irretrievable loss. Before I knew it, my world was drained of color. Yesterday I finished reading Ci’Xin Liu’s Three Body Problem and Haruki Murakami’s Sputnik Sweetheart, somehow the absolute loneliness of the universe struck me as a comfort. I wonder if you have experienced such a feeling. In the end of Murakami’s book, the hero questioned the world where we exist, “why do people have to be this lonely? What’s the point of it all? Millions of people in this world, all of them yearning, looking to others to satisfy them, yet isolating themselves. Why? Was the Earth put here just to nourish human loneliness?” The questions got me. For some time I cannot give an answer, but I know there must be a way out. Like now, writing to you, whom I barely know and most probably would not have the chance to see, I feel connected. I feel a giant hand connecting us, and thinking that hundreds of you are waiting for me to relate the story, I feel somewhat consoled.I know I will never see my Flower again. But I know somewhere we’re living together as before. The universe is far greater than we have known. Sorry to have wasted your time writing such things. Anyway, I’ve been trying to make up the chapters that I have failed to update, and I hope you could give me some support, and forgive me if I have disappointed you by the previous slow update. May God bless us all.
For a period of time, Shi Mu’s small yard rang with the clashes of metal on metal. Of course, the sounds did not reach Shi Mu’s ears. Bright Jin floated in mid-air, both feet wrapped in a thin layer of golden fog formed by his Qi. By their looks, his feet seemed to be made of refined iron, solid and impenetrable, bumping against Qu Kun’s sword without getting wounded. The two collided for at least a dozen times in as short as three breaths, but both were moving really fast that the details eluded everyone’s eyes.
Just then, Bright Jin shouted, like an exasperated animal aiming for its final blow, his feet simultaneously stood on the sword. The next moment, he bounced skyward, flipped in midair, then swooped down in Qu Kun’s direction, one finger pointed toward Qu Kun’s heart.
This was a rather weird movement - pointing out a finger, like an Adept would do when performing some dark magic - though not performed with a fast speed, the action made gave his attack an eerie feeling. Qu Kun was reminded of the Powerful Leg Art that Jin Huan had displayed before, but, before he had more time to think about this mysterious skill, the finger had broken through his shield of sword shadows, all the way to Qu Kun’s cheek. Before he knew it, blood was gushing out from a wound on his face. Profoundly shocked, he stumbled back several steps.
Meanwhile, Jin Huan had landed steadily and lightly like a bird alighting on a twig.
“Well done, brother Qu!” Bright Jin regained his nonchalant air, his face curved in a sarcastic smile.
Qu Kun, on the other hand, was filled with anger and humiliation. He slipped his sword into its sheath. “Humph!” He snorted, turning his back and walking away. The other Blood Dragon members followed their leader.
The surrounding disciples burst into a fit of passion, that had been suppressed the entire time, and showered Bright Jin with praises. The fight fascinated the audience, who had not been exposed to such a thrilling scene in a long time. Stone Bai smiled as he walked up to Bright Jin, “Senior Jin has really reached the Consummate stage in his Forceful Leg Art and Mysterious Finger Art!”
“Eh, not yet, I’ve only reached the Advanced stage, not the Consummate. I still have a lot to practice.” Bright Jin shook his head, for someone who was being showered with eager praises and great reverence, he did not seem to be in good spirits. Actually, his two arts, especially his Mysterious Finger Art, are the fruit of several painful years of training. He had planned to give the two dazzling skills a much more official debut in the annual competition, but now that the “bride” had come out of her room before her “wedding”, the effects would be much less surprising. Will the ‘bride’ still able to mesmerize her ‘groom’? Stone Bai sensed the strange despondency in Bright Jin, so he did not pursue the question.
The four of them waited for another hour before a figure, of large stature, finally made its presence, walking along the mountain road in their direction. The newcomer was none other than Shi Mu. The excited crowd seemed to have caught him unprepared. With knit brows he threw them questioning looks that said, why are you here? Am I important enough to have a guard of honor welcoming me home?
Bright Jin immediately walked up and gave him a broad smile, which deepened his doubt even more, “Brother Shi, we’ve been waiting for you for a long time...”
“Sorry to have kept you waiting! I had some errands I had to run.” Shi Mu smiled, quite embarrassed.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login