His elder had left.
With an ancient air about him, he staggered a little and left into the distance on the other side of the river. Gradually, he disappeared into the spring on the other side of the river and could not be seen anymore. Su Ming's vision became blurry.
It was not because the figure in the distance was gradually moving further away, but because the tears in Su Ming's eyes had turned his world clouded by rain. He could not see the world clearly, and neither could he see the present clearly. Only the past was clearer because it was in his memories, and only the future was clearer because it was in his hopes. They were like the veins of autumn leaves. If he wanted to count them clearly, he had to.
In the blink of an eye, another ten years passed. Su Ming had already spent ninety something years in the world. He looked even older, and more wrinkles appeared on his face. The ancient air he exuded seemed to be able to compare to that of the wooden house.
At that moment, he was sitting under the eaves of the wooden house. The old man, the ancient house, and dusk.
The four seasons intersected with each other. Rain and snow appeared at different times before Su Ming's eyes. Autumn leaves and spring buds danced together, and heat and withered trees existed together.
The sun rose and set. Their eternity seemed to contain some sort of law that governed life and even the universe. As Su Ming watched them, he sensed signs that he was about to wake up.
But in the end, it was not time for him to wake up. Su Ming could not wake up either. The person he was waiting for had not arrived, and the boat he wanted to cross had not ended.
'The final thirty years …' Su Ming lifted his old face. On a dawn, he stared at the unchanging candlelight in front of him, and in that light, he seemed to be able to see his past.
His life of loneliness seemed to have become his destiny. The difficulties in his life were also bound to continue without his knowledge. When Su Ming looked at his past, he realized that what he had always hoped for was just an extravagant hope. Dark Mountain was destined to leave him, and Ninth Summit was also destined to be the same. It did not matter whether it was his women, his brothers, or even Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos and Harmonious Morus Alba … they were all destined to end up like this.
'I, Su Ming, do not believe in fate.' Determination appeared in Su Ming's eyes. When it shone from his ancient eyes, all those who saw him would instantly forget about his age and be attracted by his determined gaze. It was as if they were looking at a student who had just walked out of his home and was prepared to explore the world.
Countless people had admired the brief darkness before dawn and the final madness before dawn. These were all words used to describe the moment before dawn. But how many people knew what the darkest moment of the world before dawn was called?
Su Ming did not know this before, but he had been looking at the area before dawn for a long time, and gradually, he came to an understanding.
Before dawn, also known as the dark of dawn.
Dawn was originally a new beginning, the beginning of a new cycle of reincarnation. But in Su Ming's mind, there was a nine beside that word, and nine was a limit. It symbolized the end. Perhaps each day, it symbolized the end of night, and perhaps in each era, it symbolized the end of that era.
And it was precisely because of this nine that Su Ming felt that at the same time the word symbolized the beginning of the cycle of reincarnation, it had suppressed the sun, which symbolized the sun, and had become … the source of all darkness.
Dark of dawn … symbolized the darkest moment in the world. There was no other period of time that was darker than this moment. It was just like what Su Ming had come to understand in the past. He was the darkness that not even the night sky could taint.
When it was dark of dawn, even the candle flame before Su Ming looked incredibly weak. It was as if it wanted to struggle to shine light in the darkness of the world, but in the end, it gradually ran out of strength, and darkness engulfed it.
Su Ming smiled. That smile was filled with anguish. He looked at the gradually weakening candle flame before him and sighed softly.
'I can extinguish this candle flame, but I can't extinguish it … The dawn that is about to arrive seems to have to return light to day after dawn.' Su Ming shook his head. At that moment, a huge mouth suddenly appeared in the darkness beside the candlelight before Su Ming and swallowed the light from the candlelight in one gulp.
With the help of the light from the candle flame, Su Ming could see the huge mouth that had appeared in the darkness. It looked like the beak of a bird … When the candle flame disappeared, a sound that sounded like a burp traveled into his ears, and a crane appeared before Su Ming.
It was a crane that was completely bald and did not have a single feather on its body. There was a sleazy look on its face as it carefully walked out of the darkness. First, it cast Su Ming a disdainful glance.
"You scared me. So it's an old man here, and his combat abilities are only as great as a strand of my hair. Big dragon, come out." The bald crane came before Su Ming smugly and stared at him with a sneaky look on its face. There was a threatening look on its face.
At the same time, a huge dog ran over from behind the bald crane and stood beside it. It glared at Su Ming fiercely and let out threatening whines.
The dog was barking threateningly when the bald crane by its side rolled its eyes and instinctively lifted its claw to strike the dog's head.
With a howl, the dog immediately lay down on the ground and covered its head with its paws. It looked at the bald crane with an aggrieved expression, as if it did not understand why the bald crane still wanted to hit it this time.
"What were you doing just now?!" The bald crane glared at the dog.
"I … I was just scaring the old man …" the dog said with an incredibly aggrieved expression.
"Idiot!" When the bald crane lifted its paw to strike the dog again, it glared at it, and the dog released its grip on its head in resignation, allowing the bald crane's paw to successfully strike its head.
"Just scaring people. Don't just whine. Look at me." The bald crane's expression was stern, as if it was a master lecturing his disciple. It moved and turned into a big black dog. It bared its teeth at Su Ming and even intentionally squeezed out a lot of saliva from the corners of its mouth. Its eyes were dull, and it looked like a mad dog at first glance …
"See? This is what I look like." The black dog that was the bald crane cast a smug glance at the dog that was the Abyss Dragon. Under the other's admiring gaze, it turned back into the bald crane.
"Hey, old man, do you have any silver on you? Do you have any shiny stones? I'm telling you, I haven't even opened my shop today. If you dare to scam me, heh heh. " The bald crane stared at Su Ming with its head held high. Once it finished speaking, it let out a fake cough. The Abyss Dragon immediately glared at Su Ming and bared its teeth. Saliva flowed out of its mouth, and its eyes were dull, as if it would pounce on him the moment the bald crane gave the order.
"No." Su Ming looked at the bald crane, then at the Abyss Dragon, and a smile appeared on his face.
"Hey, you're still smiling?" Anger immediately appeared on the bald crane's face. It lifted its claw and pointed at Su Ming, looking as if it was saying that it was very powerful and that even if Su Ming was an old man, it would still bully him.
"Heh heh, oh well, I don't think this old man has anything good. I'll just treat it as me being unlucky today … Hmm?" As the bald crane spoke, it suddenly saw Su Ming's boat at the riverbank of the River of Forgetfulness.
"That boat isn't bad. How about this, old man? You should be able to tell, right? We're monsters. You know, monsters eat people, right? But since you're old, I won't make things difficult for you. We'll take this boat. Row it to the other side of the river, and then you can swim back yourself." As the bald crane spoke, it stepped onto the boat. It looked around, then put on a satisfied look.
"I think I can sell it for some silver." As it mumbled, the Abyss Dragon rushed over, then immediately turned around and bared its teeth. Saliva dripped down its face as it stared at Su Ming.
The smile on Su Ming's face grew wider. He did not mind the bald crane and the Abyss Dragon's current expressions. He got up and slowly walked to the back of the boat, picked up the oars, and had the boat head to the other side of the River of Forgetfulness.
"See? If you follow your Grandpa Crane, you'll have food and drink in the future. It's better than eating birds in the forest, right? See? Aren't we starting our business now? Heh heh. "The bald crane stood at the bow of the boat with a smug look on its face as it reprimanded the Abyss Dragon.
The Abyss Dragon stared at the bald crane with a worshipful expression and nodded repeatedly. Occasionally, it would even turn around and continue baring its teeth and drooling. This action told Su Ming that it was very fierce …
"When we reach the other side of the river, I'll bring you to eat and drink well, and we'll make the Dual Fiends of Black and Yellow rise to power there!" The bald crane had a smug look on its face. It lifted its right claw as if it was pointing at the world, causing the Abyss Dragon to idolize it even more, but after a moment of hesitation, it still could not help but speak.
"Boss … I … I don't like spicy food …"
The bald crane fell silent. During that instant, its high spirits seemed to have been enraged because it had been disturbed. It turned around slowly and stared at the innocent looking Abyss Dragon. Suddenly, it lifted its claw, and as it growled, it continuously patted the dog's head.
"I told you not to drink spicy food!"
"I told you not to listen to me!"
"I told you …"
On the way, Su Ming's smile remained on his face. The conversation between the bald crane and the Abyss Dragon echoed in the River of Forgetfulness. When they reached the riverbank, the bald crane lifted its hand while panting slightly, then glared at the Abyss Dragon fiercely.
"Why aren't you going down to check whether there's any danger around you? You have to know that we're monsters. Monsters, you know? As monsters, we have to be constantly on guard. We have to be on high alert, especially when we're in an unfamiliar place. We have to be the first to check everything around us.
"Only by doing this will we fit our status as monsters. Only by doing this will we be able to run away at the first instant when we run into those damn villagers who want to eat us." The bald crane's earnest words made the Abyss Dragon immediately nod. With a single move, it rushed out. Once it reached the riverbank, it immediately looked around with a wary expression. After running a few rounds back and forth, it returned to the riverbank and spoke happily to the bald crane on the boat.
"Boss, there are no villagers, no enemies, but there's no Da Hua either …" The Abyss Dragon said, then sighed.
"Honestly, Da Hua is very pretty. Its fur is pretty good. I actually like it a lot …"
"Damn it, you're a dragon! You're a dragon! Y-y-you … I think Xiao Hua is sexier than Da Hua." As the bald crane spoke, it let out a few fake coughs.
'Fifth place in the monthly votes! Thank you, everyone, but I … am still not satisfied! 'I beg for monthly votes to help me fight! It's fine if your blood hasn't been completely ignited, but I'll be the first to do so!
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