Chapter 45: Near Miss

Chapter 45: Near Miss
ดับเบิ้ลคลิกคำศัพท์ เพื่อดูคำแปลเป็นภาษาไทย,
คลิกที่ไอคอนรูปลำโพงเพื่อฟังเสียงอ่าน
[บางคำ อาจจะต้องตัด -d, -ed, -s, -es ออกเสียก่อน
จึงจะปรากฏคำแปลที่ถูกต้อง]

******

Li XunHuan said, "You know I have to go look for Guo SongYang right now. If I can make it back alive?"
LingLing cut him off, "Actually, I know that once you leave here, you'll never return. I'm just a kid. Why would a person like you care about a little girl like me?"

******

Blue Scorpion laughed and said, "What's the need? You have returned my debt the moment you raised your hand. Although I'm a woman, I still have my morals."

LingLing blinked her eyes and cut in, "But women don't have to be moral. It's within our rights. Because men are naturally stronger than women, they have to give in a bit to us."

Blue Scorpion said, "Who said this?"

LingLing said, "My lady."

Blue Scorpion said, "You listen to her a lot?"

LingLing said, "Of course, because she speaks up for women."

Blue Scorpion suddenly walked over to her, and slapped on her cheeks ten times.

LingLing froze.

Blue Scorpion said coldly, "Like you two, I'm also not a good person. But I still have to hit you, to teach you a lesson. Do you know what that is?"

LingLing bit her teeth and said, "Because you're a? you're a?"

Before she could finish, she began to cry.

Blue Scorpion said, "Because of women like you, men have always looked down upon us. Because they look down at us, I've always sought revenge, to have done those things I did."

Her voice became softer and softer, "But I did not know that when I was doing those things, I was not only destroying others, but also myself. This is how my life became destroyed."

Li XunHuan said caringly, "Let the past go away. You're still young. You can start over."

Blue Scorpion sighed, and said, "Perhaps you can think this way, but what of others?"

Li XunHuan said, "As long as your heart is content, why should you worry about how others feel? You should live for yourself, not others."

Blue Scorpion looked at him, and asked slowly, "Are you living for yourself?"

Li XunHuan said, "I?"

Blue Scorpion still stared at him, a smile appeared on the side of her mouth. She said, "No one would ever regret meeting someone like you. It's a shame we did not meet ten years ago?"

Then she left.

Only to hear her voice from afar, "Just leave Zhi ZunBao's body. I will take care of it. Don't worry, No one else ever have to worry about anything I do." She was long gone by the time she finished this sentence.

LingLing had been crying all this time, but now she raised her head, and said, "She's the one who made the mistakes, yet she had to take out her frustrations on me. Although she's a bad person, she still wants to act all heroic and brave. I absolutely abhor people like her."

Li XunHuan sighed, and said, "Actually, she's not like that at all."

LingLing said, "You think I don't know the things she had done?"

Li XunHuan said, "No matter what she has done, she is still a kind person at heart. As long as her heart is kind, then she's not evil."

LingLing bit her lips and said, "You must think that I'm innately evil, right?"

Li XunHuan said with a smile, "You're still a child. How could you at your age clearly differentiate between good and bad, right and wrong? As long as someone can teach you the right ways from now on, you'll turn out fine."

LingLing blinked her eyes and asked, "So can you teach me?"

Li XunHuan said, "Later, if I ever get the chance?"

LingLing said, "Later? What's wrong with now?"

Li XunHuan said, "You know I have to go look for Guo SongYang right now. If I can make it back alive?"

LingLing cut him off, "Actually, I know that once you leave here, you'll never return. I'm just a kid. Why would a person like you care about a little girl like me?"

She rubbed her eyes and continued, "Besides, we're strangers really. Even if I become bad, you still won't have to worry about me. Even if I become ten times worse than Blue Scorpion, it's still none of your business. Even if I die on the street, you still won't bother to give me a burial."

As she spoke, her voice became sadder and sadder, as if should she turn out bad, the culprit would be Li XunHuan.

Li XunHuan could only laugh bitterly. He said, "I promise I'll return?"

LingLing covered her eyes and said, "But you're so busy. By the time you decide to actually come back, I might be long dead."

Li XunHuan said, "I'll be back very soon?"

Before he could finish this sentence, LingLing stopped crying, said, "Really? When? I'll wait for you."

Li XunHuan said, "As long as I am alive, I'll come back immediately after I see Guo SongYang."

LingLing jumped up and smiled. She said, "You really are a good person. For you, I'll become a good person too. But no matter what, you can't lie to me. If you do, I might become bad again."

Li XunHuan's burden was already heavy enough. It only became heavier.

Making sure LingLing turn out good apparently became his obligation. He can't possibly reject it now. Even he wasn't sure just how this problem dropped into his lap.

He could only laugh bitterly.

He had faced way too many problems in his life.

But there's only one thing on his mind right now!

He can only hope that Guo SongYang had not yet met ShangGuan JinHong and Jin WuMing.

He can only hope that he's not too late.

He's not terribly late.

* * *

The autumn sun still had not descended below the mountain. The water glittered like gold under the sunlight.

A piece of maple leaf floated in the golden-colored water, down the river, followed by a second one, and a third? until the river is filled with them.

It's still Autumn. Maple leaves should not be falling yet.

Could these have come from sword streams of Jin WuMing and Guo SongYang?

Li XunHuan's heart sank, because the battle had begun!

This must be an amazingly intense, heart-wrenching duel.

Guo SongYang must be in the fight of his life, which is why these leaves have been so devastated by sword streams.

How much longer can he last?

Li XunHuan can't wait to get there.

About sixty percent of the leaves in the forest have fallen. The atmosphere full of death, the falling leaves danced in the autumn wind, as if filling the sky with blood.

Is the battle over?

Who won?

There are no shadows within the forest. Even if the autumn wind could speak, it could not tell what Li XunHuan wanted to know. Only the flowing water cried out, as if mourning for the vanquished.

If Guo SongYang lost, then where is his body?

The leaves continued to flow down the river.

The Sun finally descended behind the mountain. He suddenly saw a streak of red flowing down the river.

Could it be the blood of the defeated?

Li XunHuan raised his head, headed towards the end of the river, only to see a geyser blowing out water from the side of a mountain.

By this geyser is a single person.

Even though the geyser continuously spurted out water onto this person, it still could not dislodge him from his place.

This person wore a black robe, laid there motionless.

Li XunHuan gasped, "Guo SongYang? Brother Guo?"

He flew towards the body, only to find water spraying all over his eyes.

He jumped into the geyser, and grabbed that person's hand.

He's right. This person is indeed Guo SongYang.

His body is now nearly frozen from the cold water, but he still held on to his sword, not letting go even in death.

That sword is the world famous Solar-Apex Iron Sword, its sheath had fallen into the river below, but the sword remained in the mountainside.

Why did he do this?

Li XunHuan moved the body to the ground nearby, only to hear someone yell from behind, "Why did he do this to himself?"

He didn't have to turn around to know that it was LingLing speaking. This girl, amazingly enough, actually followed him.

LingLing asked, "Why did he hang himself like that? Was he afraid that you couldn't find him? Did he want to give himself a shower?"

Li XunHuan sighed, said, "If a person comes into the world cleanly, why should he not depart the same way?"

LingLing asked, "What do you mean?"

Li XunHuan said, "He didn't want anyone to bury him, nor to take his body away."

LingLing said, "Why? Was he waiting for you?"

Li XunHuan said, "Exactly."

LingLing asked, "Why wait for you when he's already dead?"

Li XunHuan said, "Because he has something to tell me."

LingLing froze. After a while, she said, "Did you? you say that he wants to tell you something?"

Li XunHuan said, "Correct."

LingLing asked, "You mean you know what he wants to tell you?"

Li XunHuan said, "Yes."

LingLing asked, "He already told you?"

Li XunHuan said, "Yes."

LingLing said, "But? but when you arrived, he's already dead."