The winds outside gradually grew stronger, and the blue robes of the girl started to flutter in the wind. Even her long silky hair flew up, making her seem as though she was a fairy descending from the heavens, incomparably exquisite and beautiful! She suddenly floated up with the wind, drifting to where Ling Tian was hidden in the tree.
Ling Tian clearly saw in her eyes a certain type of playful and mischievous expression. Unknowingly, he started to feel a sense of warmth in his heart. This was a result almost impossible to achieve, as Ling Tian would never have this sort of impression towards someone he just met. Then just why did he feel this way?!
The blue-robed girl stretched out her slim fingers, and gently rapped twice outside the tree, directly at the place where Ling Tian had filled in the hole of the tree. She acted as though she was a visitor coming up to a house, and knocking on the door while saying in a soft voice, "Is anyone home?"
Ling Tian was totally tongue-tied! This lass actually discovered him, how did she do it? This was borderline demonic! Ling Tian believed that even Justice would not be able to discover this hiding place, and so accurately!
"Are you still not coming out? Your house is too tiny, so I won't go in to visit. If you insist on staying there, I can only set this place on fire." The lady snorted before saying, "If young noble Ling turns into roasted pig Ling, then that would not be nice." As she spoke, she floated five feet away from where Ling Tian was, quietly standing there as though showing her lack of killing intent.
Ling Tian laughed helplessly to himself in the dark, before using a hand to lightly push out the piece of bark. As he floated out, he activated the Divine Bone Shrinking Art. With a few 'ka ka' sounds, his shrunken body recovered back to its original shape.
"I never thought that you would have actually succeeded in cultivating the Divine Bone Shrinking Formula, and even to such an advanced degree!" The soft whisper of the girl traveled over. She still stood with her back towards Ling Tian, but she gave off the feeling of being unmoved by everything, a feeling of lonesomeness and solitude. To think that such a young and pretty lass could give off such a feeling of isolation!
It was as though in this wide world, in the boundless mortal dust, she had already withstood endless generations of solitude!
Desolation and loneliness!
"Miss really has good eyesight! Just one look and you immediately saw through my hiding place, and can even tell the skill that I used at one glance. Ling Tian really bows down to you!" Ling Tian was originally very confident about his hiding place, thinking that it was a seamless plan, but to think that he got ferreted out. He touched his nose, feeling depressed as well as unwilling to concede his defeat, but suddenly was struck by his words. How did the girl recognize his own Divine Bone Shrinking Art?
"Hehe… are you at a loss for words?" The blue-robed girl lightly giggled as she slowly turned to face Ling Tian. Ling Tian failed to notice that, at the moment she turned, her body actually trembled a bit.
With eyes deep like the endless ocean, she gazed across Ling Tian's face, with countless thoughts flashing past her head. If Ling Tian had carefully looked into her eyes, he might have found out a fluctuation within her eyes, much like the revolving of a wheel of samsara!
Exceeding the boundaries of this world!
"How could I be at a loss for words? Haha… since Miss called me out from my humble abode, you must have something to instruct me about." Ling Tian smiled and spoke. "May I know what matter has caused you to invite me out?"
"Are you very satisfied with your hiding spot? Believing that it's seamless?" The blue-robed lass had settled down her turbulent feelings, and her tone became sharper all of a sudden. "Do you know that, in another few hours at most, if no one can find any traces of you, then this entire forest will turn into a firestorm? If by then you're still sitting self-satisfied in your tree hole, may I ask young noble Ling how he plans to escape?"
Ling Tian was immediately overwhelmed with shock! His whole body burst out in cold sweat, if what the lady before him said was true, then by the time he realized that the forest was burning, he would no longer have a chance to escape!
But thinking about it, Ling Tian felt as though something was wrong. Based on the haughty temperment of Justice, why would he lower himself to do something that would anger the heavens and earth? Furthermore, why would such a proud person use such methods in order to deal with him? If it were any other person, that might be the case, but Ling Tian believed that Justice would never do so!
Even if Justice were to give up on killing him, he would not use such an extreme method!
Then, could the lady be lying to him?!
As though she had seen through Ling Tian's thoughts, the blue-robed girl suddenly let out a faint smile as she spoke, "There's no need to overthink, this order was not set by your extremely frightening opponent, but instead a person called the Second Master of DongFang family."
"DongFang JingLei? He's actually here?" This was out of Ling Tian's expectations!
"Not only DongFang JingLei, but the experts from his, the Yu, Xiao and BeiMing Family are all present. Practically almost all of the major powers from Heavenly Star are nearby within the circumference of 300 miles, all watching this place for you! It's not that I want to insult you, but oh great noble Ling, to be able to cause the entire world to turn into your enemies, this is really unprecedented in the past, and will never happen again in the future! You should be proud of this! I'm filled with admiration for you!" Her mouth twitched. "You really did not let down this name 'Ling Tian'. Everywhere you go, the place turns into an angered hornet's nest!"
"This still isn't right!" Ling Tian let out an embarrassed smile and threw out a question. "The fact that you had sensed me here, or even if Justice had found me, all those could be explained. But how did the others get any news of me? To the point that all the pugilistic experts of this world have rushed over here like a shopping spree during the new year's? This isn't a coincidence, right?"
Hearing the words shopping spree during the new year's, the lady let out a burst of laughter before continuing, "This is of course not a coincidence! On the foot of this mountain there's a boulder placed with the writing, 'The Martial Order Medallion owner is battling Ling Tian within this 300 miles! The first one who comes out of this place loses!' The words seemed to be carved by a finger, and the moment this note was seen, all your enemies rushed here like bees flocking to honey!" The lady seemed to find this extremely funny, and seeing Ling Tian's deflated look, she laughed out loud.
"Justice! This crap must have been thought out by him… f**k!" Ling Tian jumped around in fury. "To think that the high and mighty Martial Order Medallion owner actually resorted to such a method in order to deal with me! What sort of number one expert title, he's in fact..."
"In fact what?" The lady snorted, "The person is pursuing you with the intention to kill, do you think that only you are allowed to scheme against the other, and not the other way round? What nonsense!"
Ling Tian was startled, and could not help but sink into contemplation. That's right, he had always been the one playing all sorts of dirty tricks on Justice, and it was rare that Justice would ever scheme against him, so what was he unhappy about? If he maintained his attitude of only allowing the officials to raze but not allowing the citizens to fire up their lamps, he would definitely suffer greatly in the future!
Both were not saints. If you want to play with fire, you have to be prepared to be burned!
To this, he could not help but bow towards the lady, saying, "Many thanks for this lesson! Ling Tian will carve your words in my heart, lest I forget and grow complacent."
"There's no need to be so formal, so long as you're aware of this point." The lady's eyes turned into slits as she smiled, before asking in a teasing manner, "Dare I ask young noble Ling, what is this 'shopping spree during the new year's'?"
Oops! Ling Tian scratched his head, only remembering now that this world did not have such a saying, before answering with a sheepish look, "It means everyone going to buy things together, umm, roughly that meaning."
"Oh, I see! Young Noble Ling is indeed erudite." The lady smiled and praised in return, however, her words gave Ling Tian a sense of sarcasm. She then continued, "Then, how about the meaning of f**k that you said just now?"
"Cough cough cough…" Ling Tian began to cough profusely, his entire face turning red.
A hidden expression of laughter obtained from teasing someone flashed past her eyes, however her words were completely different, "What happened? Why has young noble Ling suddenly started coughing? Have you caught a cold, this little sister here is still considered pretty well versed in medical skills, should I help you take your pulse and see?"
"Cough… no, it's alright. I'm fine." Ling Tian took this chance to change the topic. "By the way, I've seen Miss twice so far and could be considered to have some sort of fate with you. May I know your honored name?"
The lady laughed, "This sister here is a lass from the wild, what sort of honored name do I have? My surname is Li, named Xue. If young noble doesn't mind, you may call me Xue'er."
Xue'er!! A bolt struck Ling Tian's mind, and his face revealed a sort of pain. The suppressed pain from his previous life seemed to have flashed past in one compressed instant. 1 He took in a deep breath, and forced out a smile, "Xue'er, haha, it's a good name! Then I'll call you Xue'er from now on!"
The lady had been observing Ling Tian all this while, and clearly saw the pain flash past in his eyes. Her body trembled, and a layer of wetness surfaced in her eyes. In the depths of her heart, a deeply hidden heartstring seemed to have been plucked at this moment!
Xue'er was the name of Ling Tian's younger sister who betrayed him but then later reconciled after death back in chapters 1-3.