Watching Xue Jing pick up a hard stone slightly larger than his palm, and carefully dusting off the dirt on it, Miao Miao's mouth twitched as she spoke:
"Jing, why do you like throwing stones so much?"
Xue Jing weighed the smooth stone in his hand, smiled, and said, "Because the stone was just there."
Miao Miao retorted, "Are you a mountain climber or something... That's not a very auspicious thing to say."
The mountaineer George Mallory, who famously responded with "Because it's there" when asked why he wanted to climb, later died on Mount Everest.
Xue Jing looked towards the rapidly approaching figures in the distance and murmured softly:
"Don't worry, I've read my own fortune, and I'm in for a spell of great luck, tough as nails."
Miao Miao covered her face with her paw and sighed, "That's so unreliable..."
Skin, flesh, tendons, bones, and blood all coordinated as the spiral of the Essence of Mystery gathered Power in his right hand.
