The sea breeze brought with it a fishy stench that spread out as it struck the reefs. It fused with the fragrance of the grass and turned into a scent unique to the sea. Those who were familiar with it would like it, but those who were unfamiliar with it would find it slightly unpleasant.
Fang Cang Lan was clearly already familiar with it. She stood beside Su Ming and helped him straighten his clothes before looking at the horizon in the distance. She did not speak.
She knew that Su Ming liked silence.
After a long while, Su Ming said languidly, "After this trip, I will go to the Alliance of the Western Region."
"Mm." Fang Cang Lan nodded softly.
Su Ming turned his head around and looked at Fang Cang Lan. This woman was not as beautiful as Yu Xuan, but her calmness gave others a very comfortable feeling. This was something that Yu Xuan did not have.
"Will you come back?" Fang Cang Lan's eyelashes fluttered lightly, and she also looked at Su Ming.
Su Ming remained silent for a moment before he answered calmly, "Perhaps, perhaps not."
"It doesn't matter whether you come back or not, I will still be here. If one day you are tired, you can come here to rest. If that day comes and I am no longer here, my soul will still be here to accompany you," Fang Cang Lan said softly. There was a persistence in her voice, along with a hint of carefreeness.
Her persistence was due to her existence in this place, and her carefreeness was due to her refusal to accompany Su Ming not out of love.
Su Ming did not speak, but instead looked at the world in the distance.
Yet this peace with Fang Cang Lan was broken a moment later … by a dog's bark that sounded like the roars of a dragon.
The mutt had run over to this place and was barking at the sky with an aggrieved and resigned look on its face. Yu Xuan had her hands behind her back and was standing there with a smile on her face. Occasionally, she would kick the mutt a few times, causing it to bark even louder.
When Su Ming and Fang Cang Lan turned their heads around to look, the girl stuck out her tongue with an embarrassed look on her face.
Yu Xuan blinked and looked at Su Ming and Fang Cang Lan. As she spoke, she kicked the mutt again. "Ah, I don't know what's wrong with this mutt. It won't listen to me and keeps barking. Did it bother you?"
Su Ming frowned. By his side, Fang Cang Lan smiled gently and looked at the girl before she spoke softly.
"Who is this sister?"
"Hello, senior. I am Yu Xuan. I am … Su Ming's fiancée." A shy look appeared on Yu Xuan's face.
Fang Cang Lan was momentarily stunned, but her smile did not change. She looked at Su Ming.
"Second senior brother is the one who will be his wedding witness. After some time, we'll be married. Senior, you must come and drink at our wedding. I've heard about you from my husband a long time ago, and now that we've met today …" Yu Xuan spoke softly with a bashful, innocent, and romantic tone, but before she could finish speaking, Su Ming had already brought out the strand of hair, causing Yu Xuan's words to immediately fall silent.
Fang Cang Lan smiled faintly and sized up Yu Xuan a few times before going forward to hold Su Ming's arm intimately. She turned her head to the side, and when she looked at Yu Xuan once again, her smile was like a blooming flower.
"Then, congratulations, Little Sister Yu Xuan. En, I will definitely attend your wedding. But right now, I have some private matters to discuss with your fiancé. Can you please leave?"
Su Ming smiled wryly. This was the first time he saw this sort of expression on Fang Cang Lan's face. She might be smiling, but there was a hint of sharpness in that smile.
As Yu Xuan and Fang Cang Lan exchanged words with each other and Su Ming laughed wryly, Zi Yan was holding back her tears from another mountain in the distance. A smile appeared on her face as she looked at her second senior brother.
The side of second senior brother's face was illuminated by the sun as he looked at Zi Yan, and a smile gradually appeared on his face as well.
However, there was a hint of melancholy in their smiles, along with a hint of memories that could not be described. It was as if they were good friends who had not seen each other for many years and were hiding away the beautiful memories of the past. When they met again, they were strangers who were no longer strangers.
"Did you really like me when we were in the ninth summit?" Zi Yan asked softly with a smile.
"I did indeed like you, but … when you saw me, you avoided me so quickly that I didn't even have the chance to confess." Second senior brother let out a fake cough and changed his position so that the sun would shine on the other side of his face.
When Zi Yan saw second senior brother acting this way, she covered her mouth and laughed. Her laughter was filled with joy, as if she had returned to the past.
"Honestly, I've always wanted to tell you … that when you let the sun shine on the side of your face … it's really ugly," Zi Yan said in the midst of her laughter.
Second senior brother touched his face and adjusted his angle before turning his head to look at Zi Yan.
"What about this?"
"It's still ugly."
"Then what about this?"
"It's still ugly."
"But youngest junior brother was the same in the past." Second senior brother changed his angle a few times before he finally sighed.
"Honestly, when you smile, your gentle expression and gentle gaze make you look much better than you did just now." Zi Yan looked at second senior brother and teased him with a laugh.
She had changed. She was no longer the little girl in the past. A mature charm could be seen on her body, and even her words were much more generous than before.
As he looked at the happy Zi Yan, a dazed look appeared in second senior brother's eyes. Vaguely, the image of the girl in the ninth summit and the current Zi Yan gradually overlapped with each other before slowly separating. There were similarities, but there were also changes.
Under second senior brother's gaze, Zi Yan gradually lowered her head. No matter how brilliant her smile was, it was an expression that hid her heart. She did not want Su Ming's second senior brother to see her fragile heart.
Second senior brother fell into a rare moment of silence. With his personality, it was rare for him to be silent, but right then, as he looked at Zi Yan, for some unknown reason, his heart clenched in pain, and he fell silent.
There was no way he could not tell that what Zi Yan was trying to hide was the age of time, and there was no way he could not see the fatigue that came from the depths of her heart. In silence, second senior brother walked slowly towards Zi Yan.
Zi Yan bit her bottom lip and looked at the approaching man who looked like a flower. When he arrived before her and was so close to her, and when she smelled the scent of grass on his body, Zi Yan lowered her head.
She did not notice that Ya Mu was sitting on the rock wall far behind her, staring at her in a daze. His expression was filled with bitterness.
"Come with me." Second senior brother stretched out his hand and lifted Zi Yan's chin before kissing her forehead gently.
There was a dazed look on Zi Yan's face as she looked at second senior brother. After a long while, she lifted her hand and touched his face gently. Once she shook her head, she took a few steps back.
Second senior brother fell silent and looked at Zi Yan retreating. He sighed, and that gentle smile appeared on his face once again.
"Then, I wish you happiness." Once he finished speaking, he lifted his head and his gaze fell on Ya Mu, who was sitting on the wall in the distance. He cast a deep look at him, then turned around and left the mountain.
Once second senior brother left, Zi Yan staggered a few steps back as if she had lost all her strength. Tears fell from the corners of her eyes. During that instant just now, she had wanted to agree to him, but … she could not.
Zi Yan knew that the past in her memories had already become the past. All of this could only be said to be fate toying with people.
She and Su Ming's second senior brother had only fallen for each other, and that was because his heart had been moved. As for her … it was only through the series of experiences she went through during the change in South Morning that she slowly became aware of her second senior brother, and that was because of her memories.
In her memories, due to her helplessness in reality, she regretted it, but this … was no longer love.
She could not lie to herself, and neither could she lie to second senior brother.
As her tears fell, a familiar figure appeared beside Zi Yan. It was Ya Mu, the Ya Mu who had taken care of her without complaint or regret over the years, who had accommodated her, who had given his all without asking for anything in return.
"Ya Mu … let's go home." Zi Yan wiped away her tears and looked towards Ya Mu. What she saw was a gentle gaze. It was … so similar to her second senior brother's.
They did not stay in Southern Swamp Island for too long. On the second morning, Su Ming and the others left. When they left into the distance, Fang Cang Lan stood quietly on the spot and watched Su Ming disappear, just like she had done in the past. She did not know when they would meet again, and she did not know … whether she would still exist.
She knew that she was in Su Ming's heart, but that was all. That was not love, but a barrier she could not describe. It was as if there was always a ravine between her and Su Ming. That ravine was invisible, and it was like … life and death.
"He's a heartless person."
A calm voice came from beside Fang Cang Lan. It was Wan Qiu. She walked to Fang Cang Lan's side and was also looking at Su Ming leaving into the sky.
"Even he doesn't know that he's a heartless person … In this world, there is no woman who can truly walk into his heart, unless they are … dead people," Wan Qiu said flatly.
"Perhaps one day he will understand, and only once he understands will he be able to accommodate the existence of love in his heart." Wan Qiu's voice grew softer, and eventually, only she could hear it.
"You're wrong." Fang Cang Lan shook her head.
"He's not a heartless person. It's just that he has too many burdens on his shoulders, and they're pressing down on his heart, causing him to be unable to accommodate anything else, because his heart has always been lost."
Zi Yan and Ya Mu watched Su Ming and the others leave in the sky. There was a silent man standing behind them. He was Zi Che. During the years he was in the Candle Dragon's body, he had already regained his senses. Su Ming had promised Zi Yan that he would help her find Zi Che, and now that he had come, he had fulfilled his promise.
Zi Che wanted to continue following Su Ming, but when he saw his older sister, he chose to stay behind.
Yu Xuan rode on the mutt by Su Ming's side in the sky. She would occasionally look at Su Ming with slight smugness in her heart. Due to her actions, Su Ming and Fang Cang Lan no longer had any time to be alone. Yu Xuan had thought of all sorts of ways and changed her methods to follow them throughout the day.
Second senior brother had regained his gentle demeanor. No melancholy or unhappiness could be seen on him, but only he knew that during this trip, his heart was showing signs of changing for the third time, and it was all because of a woman and because he had been moved in the past.
"She doesn't like me, and neither does she like the man beside her right now. She likes … gentle gazes. She likes those gazes, because those gazes can give her warmth." Second senior brother sighed softly.
As the group flew through the Dead Sea, they arrived at the island where Freezing Sky Clan was located. Gradually, at the end of their line of sight, Su Ming and second senior brother saw a mountain in the middle of the sea. They saw a tall person standing on that mountain, and that person was … Hu Zi. (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian.Com and vote for me. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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