"I... I let Grandma say goodnight to , but I didn’t go to sleep... Since Xiaxia can’t see, Grandma doesn’t know if I’m asleep or not."
As she said this, the little girl laughed happily. "But I know I’m not a bad kid deep down! Once I grow up, I’ll be a good kid!"
Once I grow up, I’ll be a good kid.
"Is that so..." Tang Yuan let out a breath. After hearing her words, he froze as if he’d been turned to stone.
His parents died young, and he had no grandparents, paternal or maternal. His relatives treated him like he was invisible, and he’d struggled his way to adulthood. Just when his life was finally getting on track, he was pushed out and frad for murder during the final phase of the Holy Ascension Selection Test.
’Lonely, treated like I was invisible, cast out, betrayed, forgotten... Ahh, when it cos down to it, I’m just a damn fool.’
But Tang Yuan still rembered how his parents, when he was little, had smilingly explained the origin of his na to him.
"This ’Yuan’ ans ’connection.’ When you grow up, Tang Yuan, you’ll definitely be a good kid who can make lots of friends and be happy!"
"Besides, Tang Yuan, like the sweet rice balls! Doesn’t that sound cute? Haha."
"—Son of a bitch!"
Tang Yuan suddenly clenched his fists, his face twisting in a snarl. In an instant, he underwent Spiritualization and roared in the Spirit Realm. Then he gritted his teeth and hissed, "—Why did it turn out like this!"
"The life I wanted wasn’t about fighting, killing, stealing, or doing these filthy things... Absolutely not!"
For a mont, Tang Yuan recalled that day many years ago when he’d fought so thugs for a friend. Back then, he really had been a complete and utter fool, but...
"I just thought... that was friendship..."
’I just wanted to preserve that friendship.’
With no family and no companions in his clan, Tang Yuan squeezed the last bit of air from his lungs, forcing out broken words. "I just wanted to live a good life... with friends and family... to be able to smile once in a while, and just live like that..."
’Then, are we friends now?’ Xiaxia’s earlier question seed to linger in his mind.
So, Tang Yuan raised his head. He chuckled softly and said gently, "...When Xiaxia grows up, she’ll definitely be a good kid."
"I am your friend."
[—Since Heaven and Earth will not grant it, I shall seize it from them. Life is but a cycle of seizing and being seized.]
Indeed, that was the truth. Life was just that bitter.
But still. One couldn’t forget.
Even between two people who had nothing, they could still ’give’ to each other.
A ’connection’ nad ’giving’ was being born.
Right now, the man who couldn’t offer any gifts could only give what he had: his ability.
Rembering what the little girl had said about always staying at ho, Tang Yuan took a deep breath and made up his mind. "Xiaxia, do you want to go play outside?"
Xiaxia hesitated. "Grandma says I can’t... but I want to!"
"But if I do, won’t that make even more of a bad kid?" she asked anxiously.
"It’s fine. So what if we’re bad kids?" Tang Yuan, having co to a realization, smiled. "This world always needs soone to be the bad kid. So why can’t it be us?"
"Let’s go."
With that, he put down the money pouch, then reached out and touched Xiaxia’s body with his spiritualized hand.
The next instant, they both underwent Spiritualization and vanished from the world of ordinary people.
"Whoaaa!"
A dozen or so seconds later, Xiaxia, carried through the air by Tang Yuan, let out a cry of pure delight. "So this is the outside? Wow, the wind is so strong, and so fresh!"
The little girl’s vocabulary wasn’t large enough for any profound observations, and Tang Yuan knew it. He flew in circles with her in midair, laughing loudly. "Of course it is! I’m flying with you, after all!"
"Ahh, what’s that?"
But suddenly, Xiaxia, cradled in Tang Yuan’s arms, pointed toward clusters of light drifting below the clouds. "Those sparkly blobs... what are they?" she asked in amazent.
Tang Yuan subconsciously followed her finger. He saw nurous pure white orbs with Ice Crystal wings—spiritual lifeforms called Ice Spirits, dancing and leaping in the wind along with the falling snowflakes. These little Elves, born from the pulsing of Spiritual Qi, appeared with the snow and vanished when the sun ca out, shimring with colors like an aurora.
The next mont, the little girl seed to discover sothing else. "Huh? This thing..." she exclaid.
The frail little girl was looking down at her own hand in astonishnt. She flexed her fingers, her mouth wide open. "Woah, is this... my hand?"
"What?"
For a mont, even Tang Yuan was stunned. "You can see?"
Now also spiritualized, Xiaxia nodded in confusion. "Is this what ’seeing’ is? So this is what my hand looks like!"
The child, blind from birth, didn’t even grasp the significance of being able to see. Only Tang Yuan was left, floating dumbfounded in place. For a mont, he didn’t even register Xiaxia’s cheers as she watched the snow drift by.
’Spiritualization... it can actually let this child see again?’
Holding Xiaxia with one arm, Tang Yuan started flying through the air again. He held his other hand up before his eyes, staring at it intently.
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