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Chapter 388: 388, [Speculation about the Foreign Race]
Chapter 388: 388, [Speculation about the Foreign Race]
Chapter 388: 388, [Speculation about the Foreign Race]
Inside Sword Casting City, there is a teahouse by the road.
Lu Xun and Ye Sui’an sit there, gazing at each other in silence.
He knows that Ye Sui’an’s mood isn’t very good at the moment.
Although Lu Xun’s arrival had delighted him, the oppression from the battle outside of the city continued to linger in his heart.
——Especially when it came to the death of Wu Shanshui.
This old man, although vulgar in speech, had caused Ye Sui’an much frustration during the course of their acquaintance. But revisiting those memories now evoked feelings of extraordinary sorrow.
Lu Xun looks at him, gently pats his shoulder, but remains silent.
He is adept at delivering cutting remarks, but when it comes to comforting others, he’s quite clueless… It could even be said that he is terrible at it.
Above the skies, a stream of lights frequently streaks across the horizon. Those are the flying swords, one after another.
In West State, sword cultivators flying on their swords is common. But a longsword flying alone in the sky has a completely different significance.
[When a person dies in West State, their sword returns to the Sword Tomb.]
Every streak of light in the sky represents the death of a sword cultivator.
[The Sword Qi is Near]along with the Sword Sheath did not stay by Lu Xun’s side, instead, they hovered above Sword Casting City, watching each of these streaks of light.
Lu Xun looks up, cannot help but sigh.
Just then, he notices an ageing man with a hunched back hurrying down the street. It’s not until he spots the ice sugar gourds at the corner of the street that he stops to breathe a sigh of relief.
When Lu Xun sees the old man, the old man also sees him and Ye Sui’an.
The hunched-back old man gives Lu Xun a slight smile, then from a distance, he bows in respect.
Ye Sui’an looks down at the teacup in his hand, lost in his thoughts, and pays no attention to the elderly man across the street.
Lu Xun stands up leaving Ye Sui’an at the teahouse alone, and walks alone towards the hunched-back old man.
Looking at Lu Xun, the old man chuckles, “I was rushing home to be with my grand-daughter and was about to enter my house, when I remembered that I hadn’t bought the ice sugar gourds I had promised her. Look at my memory!”
Upon hearing this, Lu Xun can also feel the warmth in his words, so he walks with the old man towards the vendor selling ice sugar gourds.
For some reason, this scene reminds him of a small poem, the title of which is “Waiting”:
[“At three, you told me to wait for you for five minutes;
At twenty-three, you still haven’t returned;
Dad, I no longer want the ice sugar gourd from across the street.”]
Only three lines, titled “Waiting”, though it does not explicitly say what happened, it still pierces the heart of the reader.
With this small poem in mind, Lu Xun suddenly feels somewhat relieved.
At least this old man can personally buy an ice sugar gourd for his grand-daughter.
The vendor selling the sugar gourds sees the hunched-back old man, instantly smiles and says, “Oh, Uncle Wu, are you buying ice sugar gourds for Ya Ya again!”
The hunched-back old man nods and picks the biggest one.
After some thought, Lu Xun also takes out some silver coins and buys two.
Looking at Lu Xun who’s wearing a bamboo hat, even though the vendor can’t see his face clearly, he still can sense that he is a distinguished customer.
He quickly picks two of the best, and hands them to Lu Xun.
At the same time, he glances towards the outside of Sword Casting City and says to the hunched-back old man, “Uncle Wu, you better take your ice sugar gourds and hurry back to be with Ya Ya. You must have heard the commotion just now, right? I guess some demon appeared and got slain by our cultivators in Sword Casting City.”
With that, the vendor looks proud and comments, “Humph! Doesn’t it know where this is? This is West State, the land of sword cultivators. I have no idea from where these impudent demons dare to cause trouble. Boldness of the highest order!”
Looking at the ice sugar gourds in his hand and listening to the vendor’s words, the old man straightens his back a little, responds, “Indeed, recklessness knows no bounds!”
Lu Xun watches, listens and feels everything silently on the side.
This embodies the longstanding pride and confidence of West State, palpable even in the persona a street vendor.
On the way back, Lu Xun parts ways with the hunched-back old man at an alley entrance.
The old man rushes home to see his granddaughter, while Lu Xun stands at the entrance of the alley and watches him leave.
He then turns to walk towards Ye Sui’an at the teahouse, holding the two strings of ice sugar gourds in his hands.
After settling down, Lu Xun says, “Here.”
Ye Sui’an looks at Lu Xun, then at the ice sugar gourd, pauses momentarily but still accepts it.
Lu Xun doesn’t speak any further and continues to eat his own.
“This tastes really good!” He can’t help but compliment.
Ye Sui’an gawks at the ice sugar gourd, then raises it slowly to his mouth and takes a bite, urged by Lu Xun’s gesture.
After biting into it, he thinks to himself:
“It’s really sweet.”
…
…
The battle outside of Sword Casting City was likely to be Elder Lu’s last confrontation with the Foreign Race in the near future.
The sudden attacks of the Foreign Race at the beginning covered the entire continent simultaneously. For Elder Lu, who managed to rush to two battlefields and participate in two group battles, it was a miracle.
Of course, this was all thanks to “The Sword Qi is Near”.
This sword was outrageously powerful and could directly overturn the situation on the battlefield.
“Speaking of which, ‘The Sword Qi is Near’ was nurtured to the limit by the eldest brother using the level-10 Great Perfection of the ‘Sword Cultivating Technique’. The strength of this sword is not inferior to the eldest brother before he closed himself off for cultivation, yet I still have no idea what level of sword cultivator the eldest brother is…” Elder Lu thought to himself.
Therefore, it was hard for him to gauge the exact combat power of “The Sword Qi is Near”.
However, considering the Eldest Brother was the world’s first sword cultivator, was it possible to consider “The Sword Qi is Near” to be equivalent to the world’s first sword cultivator?
So yes, what Elder Lu carried with him now was one of the top forces on Heavenly Dust Continent.
“With such a useful tool as this sword, it would be a real pity not to make full use of it.” Elder Lu narrowed his eyes and began to ponder.
At this moment, he cast a glance at Ye Sui’an, who was still struggling with a candy hawthorn stick.
Elder Lu watched, baffled for the first time by someone eating a candy hawthorn stick with such ferocity.
It seemed that Ye Sui’an was not enjoying the sweetness but venting his emotions.
“It’s better to vent it out than to keep it bottled up inside,” he thought.
So, he took on the role of a caring older brother. Seeing that Ye Sui’an was almost done eating, he asked, “Would you like me to buy you another one?”
Ye Sui’an shook his head, swallowed the last piece of candy hawthorn stick fiercely, and with a thump, he put the wooden stick on the table.
He looked at Elder Lu and said, “Elder Lu, I really can’t understand where the Foreign Race has come from and why they are invading Heavenly Dust.”
“How should I know?” Elder Lu thought.
He had transmigrated a little too early. At that time, it was the final battle between the Foreign Race and Heavenly Dust. Had he transmigrated after the battle, he would not be in such a predicament.
Now, at best, he could be considered half a prophet. It’s true that he had cheated, but the cheat wasn’t a major one.
Therefore, he just shook his head, indicating that he too was unable to figure it out.
Ironically, he was counting on Ye Sui’an, the ‘True World Protagonist’, to unearth all these secrets.
Because under the normal storyline, this was the job of the ‘World Protagonist’.
“Who would have thought that the ‘World Protagonist’, who used to be so difficult to meet, has now somewhat become my assistant…”
That said, he was curious about Ye Sui’an’s thoughts, and so he asked, “What’s your take on this?”
Ye Sui’an pondered for a moment, and then said, “Elder Lu, what if something has gone wrong in the world where the Foreign Race came from, and they need a new home?”
Elder Lu shook his head and said, “Does it look that way to you?”
Upon hearing this, Ye Sui’an fell silent.
Because it indeed didn’t look like that.
Imagine if the Heavenly Dust Continent were to face an irreversible catastrophe and cultivators were forced to migrate to another world. What would the situation be like?
Ye Sui’an couldn’t imagine, but it certainly wouldn’t be like the Foreign Race.
They seemed insanely destructive, like mad dogs who only knew how to ruin everything.
This was particularly evident in the lower-ranked members of the Foreign Race.
Furthermore, the Foreign Race had been repelled once in ancient times, and it had taken them so long to make a return.
If their original world was already in crisis, on the brink of doomsday, then… how had they survived all these years?
Why hadn’t they become extinct yet!
They seem to be thriving and doing well…
The male Foreign Race members were sinister, while the female ones were charming. Maybe they were living quite a lavish life.
Hence, this doomsday theory has been refuted by players long ago.
The Foreign Race’s inherent bloodthirsty and crazy nature gave off an odd vibe.
Rather than invaders, they seemed like destroyers of the world!
Yes, that was the feeling.
They didn’t seem to have come to colonize the Heavenly Dust Continent. It seemed as if they wanted to obliterate this land!
Based on his memory from his previous life and the performance of the Foreign Race, Elder Lu felt this assumption to be more plausible.
As for the reason… that was yet unclear.
He would have to figure it out gradually.
At this moment, Elder Lu could not help but recall the three slit-like pupils.
“Those three slit-like pupils might just be the key to the problem!” he said to himself.