After Heiyan Academy left, the Qingzhou Academy continued it's daily activity like usual. However, the previous bout between the students of these two academy already become a great talk inside Qingzhou Academy.
The most talked person is a certain youth who defeated a Mandate Sorcerer by inscribing his own spell during the battle. His reputation was even rised above Murong Qiu's fame.
At the same time many of the higher-ups in the academy tried their best to offer benefit to him, to make him their direct disciple. However, they were all rejected as this young man already have a master. Rumors says that that master is a guest elder of the academy.
On the other hand, the one who was crowned as the champion of the latest Quarter Examinations has been absent from the Qingzhou Academy for some time. No one knew where he has gone off to.
...
At the distance far from Qingzhou area, there are two youth entering a small village. These two are Ye Huang and Su Lingzhu.
After the Heiyan Academy got beaten and left Qingzhou Academy, Ye Huang asked Su Lingzhu about his problem. In her reply, she will tell him her problem if he is willing to visit his family.
Ye Huang was thinking that her problem might be related to her family. Out of curiosity, he accepted her condition and followed her to go to her village.
"We are here." Su Lingzhu smiled at Ye Huang. "Welcome to my village, Hong Se Village."
"Hong Se? As in red? That is...an interesting name." Ye Huang thought that the village name is certainly weird. Naming a village as red, that is really unusual.
"Weird right? My parents told be that long ago, underneath this village is the resting place of a big mythical beast that was shrouded in fire. It's colour is stunningly red. Therefore, the villagers took it's colour as the village name." Su Lingzhu explained to Ye Huang. "Let's go. We are almost at my house."
After walking for some distance, they arrived in front of a house made from woods.
"Mom, I'm home." Su Lingzhu knocking at the door.
A moment later, the door was opened and a lady who looked to be at the her late thirty appeared in their sight.
"Zhu Zhu, you are back." the lady's eye brightened when she saw Su Lingzhu. She approached Su Lingzhu, and hugged her. Su Lingzhu also embraced her happily.
A moment later, the lady let go of Su Lingzhu, and looked at Ye Huang with a thoughtful look. "This is..."
"I am Ye Huang. It's a pleasure to meet you." Ye Huang nodded and introduced his name.
"He is my friend from Qingzhou Academy." Su Lingzhu added, blushing a little when she saw her mother looking at her with a meaningful look.
"Well well well. I didn't expect my daugh...cough, my son to bring a friend to our house." The lady almost said 'her daughter'.
"Mom, actually...he can tell that I'm not your 'son'."
"What do you mean not my son?" the lady frowned when she heard Su Lingzhu. Suddenly, her expression changed. "Wait...do you mean..."
"He could see that I'm a girl."
The lady gaped when she understood the words of her daughter.
"That's impossible!" The lady was shocked that she could not believe what she just heard. She turned to look at Ye Huang and asked, "Do you really see her as a girl?"
Ye Huang nodded.
"Tell me how does she look like." the lady asked again.
Ye Huang was stunned. "Uh, this..."
"Is she beautiful?" The lady added a question. "Mom!" "Shh! I want to check whether he really could 'see' you." The lady stopped Su Lingzhu from interfering. "Tell me young man, is she beautiful?"
Ye Huang glanced at Su Lingzhu, causing her to blush in embarrassment. He nodded and said, "She is beautiful."
"Can you see her bossom? What can you tell?"
"It's...big." Ye Huang sweated profusely. However, the lady seems to not faze at all.
"I mean, it's still developing..."
"What about her buttocks?"
"It's well proportioned."
"Do you like it?"
"Yes. wait...that..."
"Alright. Welcome to the family." the lady showed a big smile at Ye Huang.
"Mom! What are you saying?" Su Lingzhu's face is already as red as it can be. She was so embarrassed that her mother asked Ye Huang to describe her appearance.
"Is not the reason for you to bring him here is as the 'candidate'?"
"That..."
"Do you not like him?"
Su Lingzhu did not answer. She just glanced at Ye Huang and blushed.
"See." The lady smirked at her daughter. As a mother, she understood her daughter very much. It was rare for her daughter to have a friend. It is even rarer, or almost ridiculous for her to suddenly brought a young man to their house. That's certainly a man to be her 'candidate'.
"Let not talk here. Come inside. Ye Huang, make yourself at home." the lady invited them in, and she herself directly entered into the kitchen.
"I'm sorry for what my mother just asked you." Su Lingzhu bowed in apology towards Ye Huang.
"No worries. Although those questions...are unique." Ye Huang smiled wryly when he thought of those embarrassing questions.
"Thanks for those compliments." Su Lingzhu turned around and said, "Actually, what my mom just said is true."
"Sister Lingzhu..."
Su Lingzhu did not say more and headed inside the house. Ye Huang followed her.
...
Ye Huang was invited to have a lunch together with the Su family. During the lunch, Su Lingzhu introduced her family to him.
Her mother's name is Chu Zhixue, and her father's name is Su Fuxi. They we're blessed by three children, one son and three daughters.
After the lunch, Ye Huang was then able to listen to Su Lingzhu's situation.
"My family is not a local residence of the Hong Se Village. We came to this village not too long ago." Su Lingzhu looked at the distance place with some melancholy on her face. "Have you ever heard of a place called a Solar Realm?"
"Solar Realm?" Ye Huang was surprised when he heard that name. However, he did not show it on his face, and just shook his head.
"Let me tell you then." Su Lingzhu took a deep breath. She then said, "This place where we are staying right now is one of the many lower world that was under one of the realms of the 3,000 realms. However, there exist several realms that served as the absolute center of the 3,000 realms. These realms are called Nine Supreme Imperial Realms.
One of these Nine Supreme Imperial Realms is called Solar Realm. In Solar Realm, there exist a place called Blazing Fowl Shrine. This shrine was under the management of three clan, namely the Hong Clan, Huo Clan, and Su Clan. My family originated from this Su Clan."
Su Lingzhu stopped for a moment and waited for a moment for Ye Huang to take in all these new knowledge. She thought that Ye Huang will be shocked to hear so many new information.
She knew that this part of land that they are staying at right now is a very isolated place. This place is far away from the Upper World where those Nine Supreme Imperial Realms reside. Not mentioning the level of cultivation here, even the information or news in this area are far from being able to access the knowledge about the world above.
However, to her surprise, Ye Huang did not show any shock. He instead looked calm and just continue to look at Su Lingzhu, waiting for her to continue her story.
"Are you not shocked when you heard about these far places?" Su Lingzhu asked curiously.
"Not really. I believe there are too many places out there far away from here. So, it was not that shocking if there is such a place like the Upper World." Ye Huang said indifferently.
"I see." Su Lingzhu nodded. Ye Huang view of the world changed her way of thinking. It seems, she was somehow looking down him as he was a person of this backwater land. Somehow, she felt guilty. However, she also felt some admiration for him for being able to view the world like that. It's as if the different in world doesn't really matter to him.
Su Lingzhu continued her story again, "Back to the story about my Su Clan, my father is the Patriarch of the Su Clan, and that make me and my sibling a focus of eyes in the clan. As the children of the leader of the Su Clan, we did our best to prove ourselves in the clan, as to not shame our father's reputation. Whether in talent, cultivation, or conduct, we strived to be the best. This however, attracted the unwanted attention from the other clan that was also managing the Blazing Fowl Shrine.
Three years ago when I was twelve, there was a gathering of youth in the Blazing Fowl Shrine. All the youth from the three clans gathered there. In the gathering, there was this small competition to gauge the young talent of each clan. Then, there is my elder sister whose talent was very outstanding among all those youth there. She even defeated the most powerful member of the other two clan, which are also the children of the respective clan leader.
One of these children is named Huo Du, the son of the Huo Clan leader, Huo Baili. After Huo Du was defeated, he fell in love to my sister. He then asked his father to propose a marriage. However, my sister didn't have any feeling for him, and rejected the marriage proposal. Huo Du who got disheartened cannot cope with the rejection. He planned to inflict vengeance on my sister by destroying our Su Clan.
Some month after that gathering was the time to re-elect the new leader for the Su Clan. Before the time for that election, Huo Du conspired with one of the candidate to be the leader of Su Clan to harm my family. They hired several great assassins to ambush my father, and many sorcerers to harm my mother, and us children. It was then that one of the sorcerers has this power to put a curse. He managed to put a curse on me and my two sisters so that we are always seen as a musclehead-like man. This curse not only miraged our look, it also cursed us to live no longer than seven years after that."
Hearing that, Ye Huang frowned. She said that that event happened three years ago. That means she could only live for around four more years. That is really a cruel curse.
"My father managed to save us from their attack, with the cost of his cultivation being crippled. Before he lost his power, he brought us into an old teleportation matrix. He then activated the matrix to transport us away. However, an elder of the Hong Clan suddenly showed up at the last minute the matrix was activated. He attacked the vital point of the matrix, and caused a disturbance in the transportation process. In the end, my two sisters were teleported somewhere else, and we ended up teleported into this part of land."
Ending her story, there are several emotion showing up on Su Lingzhu's face. There are, anger, sadness, and helplessness shown in her face. She took a long breath and looked at Ye Huang. She said, "It was then that my father started to search for the whereabout of my sister's. However, he already lost his cultivation. Therefore, his search is very limited.
As for me, I know that I could not live for long. I was in despair for some time. In the end, I can only choose to increase my cultivation, in hope that it can prolong my life and find a way to overcome this curse. I also hope that I at least could meet someone who can be my companion to share the rest of my time."
Su Lingzhu showed a smile towards Ye Huang. Two drop of tears left the corner of her eyes. Seeing this, Ye Huang felt a pang on his heart. He was unable to say a word of comfort for her. He could only approached her and pulled her into his embrace.
"I'm sure you will be able to break those curse, and live long."
Hearing him, Su Lingzhu broke into tears and hugged him tightly. A distance away from them, Chu Zhixue was looking at those two. She also felt some tears flow down on her cheeks. It seems her daughter already found the candidate for her companion.
...
Ye Huang stayed for some days in Su family house. In these days, he discovered the new occupation of Su Lingzhu's parent. Su Lingzhu's father, Su Fuxi become merchant in Qingzhou area. That is how he managed find out about Qingzhou Academy and sent Su Lingzhu there to cultivate.
Chu Zhixue on the other hand is an Arcana Plane cultivator with a healing ability. She worked as a healer in the surrounding village. Ye Huang have seen her doing her job and copied her healing techniques.
Other than that, Ye Huang visited a certain place at the edge of the Hong Se Village. In this place, a big and tall totem was established firmly on the ground. This totem is the teleportation point which the Su family were teleported to.