"Why don't you come and greet me, Yao Yun?"
Chang Xiuying felt a gust of wind appeared in front of her. The little boy looked like he's 6 years old already.
"I… I was just… uh… passing through… yeah."
She smirked at the boy, thinking how bad he was at lying. Decided to ignore his remarks, she gasped rather unexcited, "You broke through?"
"Yes. I just broke through at the middle of the night. Uh… why are you here?"
"Just strolling after a hearty meal."
"But why here? Far away from the village?" He inwardly hoped that she came for him.
"I love the greenery here." She grinned widely.
"Oh…"
Chang Xiuying chuckled evilly in her heart, but she's not that ruthless that he will lead the boy on and suddenly abandon him. True, because she knew that she will still leave this place and go to another one. She still has to find that place that she saw in her long and realistic dream at that time.
Long silence overcame the two as the rustle of the leaves calmed their erratic heart, later Yao Yun felt uncomfortable with the long silence.
He fidgeted trying to look for the words to start up another conversation with Chang Xiuying but she beat him into it.
"How's your family?"
Yao Yun's mouth agape and smiled, "They're good. They keep on saying that we don't really need the humans in order to survive. The only thing we need is the beasts' side of the Central Marsh. Though I'm hoping that I can leave here and venture to see how wide the place outside of this wrecked home."
Chang Xiuying lips turned into a straight line as she nodded. "Is that why you want to breakthrough fast into Gold-level?"
"Yes. I already said it to my dear mother and to my siblings. They said that if I did get out of here, my mother will raise my siblings and venture the world once they're strong enough. She said that we will meet again, someday."
"Train hard. I'll try to wait for you too."
Yao Yun's eyes widened as he frantically looked towards Chang Xiuying, "You what?"
"I'll wait for you," She arched an eyebrow as she looked over Yao Yun with confused eyes.
"You'll really wait for me?"
Her face became blank and didn't speak for a long time. Yao Yun snapped back and fought back the smile that's creeping out of his mouth.
"You're going to leave here too? But why wait when we can leave together?" Just by the thought of it, Yao Yun felt giddy and fluffy inside knowing that his crush will be with him even outside of the Central Marsh.
"Yeah. I am leaving someday. I do believe that I will breakthrough before you." She grinned as she turned her heel around. She inwardly laughed as she knew that she already broke through to it and was waiting for an opportunity to leave.
"Wait!"
"Hm?" Chang Xiuying stopped in her track and looked back.
"Uh… do you… perhaps uh… want to walk around more?" Yao Yun nervously played with his fingers. "I-It's not like I'm forcing-"
"Sure. Lead me to it."
"Really?" Yao Yun's eyes sparkled.
"What are you waiting for? Lead the way." She chuckled as she followed Yao Yun behind that is happily skipping.
…
Later that night, she walked on the bridge towards the South Garden Pagoda.
The walk with Yao Yun was quite fun as she never got tired teasing the young boy while they explore the other part of the forest, especially the border. She admired how tiny lightning streaks formed in it and how the thick fog enveloped the trees. Though she was careful to it because Xue warned her if she ever accidentally entered the fog, there's no going back now.
They can't risk the teleportation just because Yao Yun was excited about how he entered the fog and suddenly sees Chang Xiuying again. Xue said that she still has unfinished business here that needed to be fulfilled no matter what.
The dark night consumed her entire being as no light was illuminated inside the Pagoda.
"Maybe they're sleeping?" She contemplated but it's strange since, in this time, the light should still be on.
She stopped her track on a small pavilion at the middle of the bridge. The green lake was awfully calm too despite the wind blowing rather harshly. She rested her hands on the railing as she looked over the green lake for anything suspicious.
Then there it happened, a blinding white light appeared again.
Her reflection was seen on the surface of the green lake, but her figure was not that of her current face. It was her appearance back on Earth. Her eyes widened in surprise when she tried looking closer to see if her eyes were not playing tricks on her.
A sudden disturbance erupted in her reflection. A long skeleton hand emerged out of the lake as it burst forth into Chang Xiuying.
She slapped the hand away with such force that it looked like a supersonic bomb in the village. People started to scream and run outside of their houses.
Chang Xiuying stood dumbfounded as she looked at her hand, "Oops… AH!"
The next thing she knew, she's underwater. When she was under her trance, the skeleton hand slowly crept towards Chang Xiuying's feet.
She rolled her eyes in irritation then she started to wreak havoc underwater to stop the skeleton hand for pulling her down. After she successfully got out of its firm grasp, she quickly swam towards the surface but was pulled again by countless skeletons.
Chang Xiuying just crossed her arms out of irritation. 'What a pain in the ass. Screw it.'
Her body was pulled into the pile of bones at the bottom of the lake. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt her. Considering how the hard bones keep on hitting her. Nope, she never felt a thing…
Suddenly, what seems like forever, she suddenly felt the water leaving her feet as her body crashed down on the hard ground, butt first. She groaned annoyingly as she rubbed her hips, cursing under her breath.
Just as she started to recover, she felt a tug on her feet then grumbled more. Her head bumped onto something as she hissed more irritatingly.
Before she knew it, she was dangled upside down in front of a stone platform. A tall man stood there as his red eyes shone with ferocity, though Chang Xiuying really doesn't mind. She has the same eyes when she was on Earth, just a daily occurrence to her.
She huffed angrily, "Put me down!"
As her words left her mouth, she felt floating on the air without the help of something. She backflipped and landed on the ground as she pointed with a pout at the guy, "You frick frack! How can you just treat a child like that?! Be gentler next time! Wait; there will be no more next time, frick!"
The man raised his eyebrow as he looked amused at the little girl. So sassy.
Chang Xiuying watched the man walked towards her with a huge grin, "Welcome to the Lake Immortal's Temple, successor."
"Sorry, what?"
"Successor."
"What? Me?"
"Yeah? Who else is here besides you?"
"You?"
"No…"
"No, you."
"…"
"…"
The man awkwardly cleared his throat, "You are chosen as the successor for the Legacy of the Lake Immortal."
"No, you."
"… Please, enough..."
Chang Xiuying raised her hands and inwardly chuckles. Fun.
"Okay, okay. Why me though?"
There's suddenly a surprised glint appeared on the man's eyes, "It happened once the lake sensed your presence when you first arrived here, though I, as the guardian, just awakened from my slumber once the lake accumulated enough energy to keep me awake for a short time."
Chang Xiuying hummed.
"Then I felt attraction at you-"
"Pedo."
"Excuse me, what?"
"Yes? Why?" She tilted her head at the man with confusion like she doesn't have any idea why he suddenly asked. The male remained silent, but still continued, "As the keeper of the Legacy, I felt the strong attraction towards you."
"I knew it."
"That's why I pulled you into here to present the Legacy," The man decided to ignore the little voice in front of him.
"I refuse."
"Excuse me, what?"
This time, Chang Xiuying took it seriously, "I refuse it. It's not like I'll be the only one who can inherit the Legacy."
"What the?! Hey, you understand that I waited for almost thousands of years for you and you're going to make me wait for thousands of years again?! Do not make fun of this! Do you know how eager I am to let this responsibility go?! I want freedom already!"
He observed the child's eyes as his eyes got drowned deeper in it. It doesn't hold any emotions and as deep as the abyss. He cannot fathom what the child thinks as it's unreadable. He shook his head as he tried to read the memory of the child without her permission. He's suddenly too curious as to why her eyes were like that, emotionless and cold.