Bie Chen took the wild vegetable soup and dry rations handed to him by Li Mingke and ate them in small bites.
Li Mingke sat down next to her and watched him eat slowly and deliberately.
"Which family's son are you?" she asked.
"Young master?" He sneered, still chewing on a wild vegetable stalk. "What kind of young master am I? I'm just a carefree wandering cultivator who roams the world."
"Then you must have come from a wealthy family when you were young. I noticed that you have very good manners when you eat, which is something that most families wouldn't raise you to be like." She rested one hand on her chin.
"Maybe so." He wiped his mouth haphazardly with his sleeve and put the bowl on the ground. "It was a long time ago, I can't remember clearly."
The two sat side by side, gazing up at the starry sky above.
"What are your thoughts on participating in this competition? Like achieving a good ranking? Or is there anything you want to do after leaving the island?" He lay down lazily and asked the person next to him.
Li Mingke gently shook his head, "I don't have any particular thoughts. I just think that as a disciple of Immortal Venerable Jinyun, I will be responsible for supporting the entire Li family in the future. There are some things that I should experience personally. As for rankings and such, I don't care."
She picked up a petal from the ground, held it in her hand, rubbed it carefully, and then blew it away in one breath.
“I don’t have any particularly lofty ambitions. I just hope that my family can always be together. My status is rather awkward, and I will probably grow old alone. But I can let Yue’er find a husband, have children, and inherit everything from the Li family.”
A happy scene appeared in her mind, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously curved into a smile.
"What a simple yet rare dream!" he said.
"And you?" she asked. "Since you are a rogue cultivator, are you here to seek some kind of opportunity?"
"Me? I don't have any ideas either." He stretched his hand out into the air.
The sky fell as dark sand, pouring down through his fingers.
He suddenly clenched his fist.
"Actually, I stated the purpose of my trip from the very beginning."
He stood up and looked directly at Li Mingke.
"I came here just to meet you."
"Li Mingke".
The girl remained seated on the ground, hugging her knees, her lips slightly parted, her eyes filled with surprise.
"I am a lonely person who has no choice in what I do, and so are you."
"You guessed right, I was indeed born into a rather wealthy family, but I am different from you. Your family resolutely chose to stand by your side, no matter what pressure they faced, they chose you without hesitation. However, the family members who used to say they loved me abandoned me for those illusory things."
He smiled bitterly, "We should have had the same fate, but because of different choices, we went down completely opposite paths."
“Li Mingke, you’re too famous,” he said. “Many years ago, when I first heard your name from that person, I wanted to see you. Later, you joined the immortal sect and followed Immortal Venerable Jinyun. After everything that happened after that, your name always echoed in my ears, and my desire to see you grew stronger and stronger.”
"Now, I finally have the opportunity."
"Actually, the moment I saw you, I felt that you and I were so similar, yet so different."
He reached out his hand to her.
"Unlike my brokenness, your soul is so whole, so bright."
She deeply attracted him, yet made him feel inferior.
"So, please let me go with you!"
He took her hand from her knees and stroked the Buddhist prayer beads around her wrist with his fingertips.
“This string of prayer beads is my only precious possession; I have nothing else to express my true feelings.”
"I am actually a penniless person."
He spoke with such sincerity, each word like a root deeply embedded in the soil, sprouting only after countless efforts.
It's so strange. We've only known each other for a short time, and after just a few words, she could feel an invisible suffocation and a bittersweet expectation emanating from him.
She gripped his hand in return.
"good."
It is not a romantic relationship between a man and a woman, but rather the intense collision of two souls, like duckweed, in the vast universe, after brushing past countless others, with a probability of one in a billion, producing an unparalleled and stirring resonance.
I promise you.
Light pierced the clouds, and the merciful god generously showered his parched and barren land with sweet dew.
Day after day, he waited for so long.
"You said it yourself."
You can't just abandon me like that.
Don't be like those people who personally send me from heaven to hell.
Li Mingke's heart swayed like a small boat. To her surprise, she found that her sea of consciousness was as bright as day, and the stars burst forth with dazzling light.
Just as she was secretly delighted, Bie Chen suddenly pulled her into his arms with force, then rolled around a few times, and the two hid behind a boulder.
"What's wrong!" Li Mingke also noticed something was amiss.
"roar--"
The tiger's roar shook the heavens and the earth.
"Junior Brother Tianqing! Stop!" came Bai Tianshui's scream.
A giant white tiger roared and pounced on the resting group, with a man in brown standing on its head.
"Long time no see, Senior Sister Tianshui." He raised an eyebrow.
Xiao Cai transformed into a giant, its sharp claws viciously clawing at the white tiger's eyes. The bird and the beast began to fight.
Bai Tianshui stood on Xiao Cai's back, glaring angrily at his junior brother, "Tian Qing, what are you doing!"
Tian Qing's eyes were sharp as blades. "Naturally, I admire Senior Sister. In the past, when I sparred with Senior Sister in front of Master, I never went all out. Today, I want to have a showdown with Senior Sister!"
He spread his arms, and suddenly a pair of phantom wings shimmering with golden light extended from behind him. He gradually floated up, his feet leaving the white tiger's head, and he hovered in the air.
"What is that!" Maggege exclaimed.
"Ha, you guys don't know, this is my destiny!"
He stumbled upon this treasure in a crack in the rock; by placing it on his shoulder, he could fly. Later, he learned from elsewhere that it was a top-tier flying magic weapon—the Flying Feather.
"With this treasure, I'll be able to contend with my senior sister, right?"
"Tianqing, we are fellow disciples, why be so formal? Why not leave the island in half a month and compete for supremacy on the Heroes Ranking!"
"Senior sister, are you afraid?" he roared and charged toward Bai Tianshui.
Tian Qing's attack was reckless; he was serious this time!
During the day, Shui drew out his long whip, its blade covered in barbs.
"Senior Sister has actually brought out even the Heaven-Splitting Rift. It seems she's serious about having a real fight with me this time!"
As soon as he finished speaking, sand and stones flew, and birds cried and tigers roared.
With the help of Jingyu, Tianqing was as if divinely aided. He and his spirit beast, the white tiger, attacked Xiaocai and Baitianshui from both above and below, one on the ground and the other in the air. For a time, the two of them, one human and one bird, were actually at a disadvantage.
"Ma Gege, take the men and leave first!" Bai Tianshui shouted to Ma Gege during a break in the fight.
Ma Gege nodded, protecting Wang Jingyuan and Chen Zifeng. "Let's go first. Their situation is too intense; we could easily get hurt if we're not careful! Their fight is not something we can interfere with!"
At that moment, Li Pinyue threw a dart at Bie Chen, which landed right on a rock behind them. A piece of paper was stuck in the dart. Bie Chen took it, glanced at it, and then grabbed Li Mingke and ran.
"Your sister said she wants me to take you away first, and she'll come after us in a little while."
"But..." Before she could finish speaking, Bie Chen pulled her up and they ran quickly into the darkness behind them.
"Trying to leave?" A loud shout rang out, and a group of spirit beasts rushed in from all directions.
Bai Tianshui looked at his fellow disciples, his eyes practically bleeding, "Are you... going to rebel?"
Tian Qing laughed heartily, "Senior sister, as the grandson of the sect leader, you receive the best resources. We fellow disciples are all very envious!"
"But things are different now. On this island, without the sect leader backing you up, we can finally breathe a sigh of relief!"
"superior!"
The crowd and beasts quickly surrounded and attacked, and the sounds of fighting filled the air.
Blocking Li Mingke and Bie Chen's path was a two-headed deer. Bie Chen chopped off both heads, broke through the encirclement, and then dragged Li Mingke along as they ran.
Seeing that Bie Chen had already protected her brother from danger, Li Pinyue ran her fingertips along the cold gun barrel.
"Seal the light."
She slowly read out the name of the gun.
Feng Guang sensed its master's desolate fighting spirit and kept humming.
"Moonlight Surges - Devouring the Sky"
Li Mingke felt a sudden burst of light behind him, followed by darkness all around, as if the night had suddenly fallen, overwhelming everything in the world.
Life bursts forth with its final cry, then returns to utter silence.
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