Chapitre 4: Depending on Each Other
Éditeur: Atlas Studios
In a bleak and wild mountain forest.
The icy cold wind howled as the fresh snow fell covering everything in a blanket of white.
The sun had not completely set, but the snow-covered mountain forest appeared dark and gloomy.
An inconspicuous mountain road that meandered about was almost indistinguishable under the thick layer of snow. At the end of the road, there was a light from a fire, providing a little warmth against the ice and snow.
High above the fire was the only Mountain God Temple in the forest for hundreds of miles.
Due to the lack of visitors, this Mountain God Temple had long lost its worshippers. It had been abandoned for many years and the buildings and walls of the outer courtyard had long collapsed, leaving only one ruined main hall still standing.
The door of the main hall had long decayed and a shabby straw mat half hung on the door frame, barely keeping the snow outside the hall.
The empty hall could be seen through the holes in the straw mat. Apart from some withered grass and bricks, there was also a figure sitting cross-legged in the middle of the hall.
It was a tall youth dressed in blue. Even though he was sitting on the ground, his body looked very abnormally upright. However, his face was expressionless and blank, just like the dilapidated clay statue behind him—rigid, dull and lifeless.
In front of the tall youth's chest, between the crook of his arms was a slender girl. It was the little fox demon, Liu Le'er.
"Ugh…"
At this moment, a moan sounded from the youth's arms.
Liu Le'er's small head arched over the youth's arm and her cheek that was buried in his chest moved outwards a little and peeked out from his arms.
That beautiful and lovely face was now abnormally ruddy. She was still in a deep sleep, but her eyebrows were knitted together and under her closed eyelids, her eyes rolled around as if she was experiencing a terrible nightmare.
"No… Don't… Uh…"
Accompanied by some sleep talking, Liu Le'er's hands that were wrapped around the youth's arms subconsciously tightened.
Half of her calf had also kicked out from the youth's arms and her body wriggled about, as if she felt very uneasy. Her face that had moved out from the youth's arms buried back into his chest.
The youth, who was looking forward, seemed to feel something. He looked down at the girl in his arms and there was a slight change to his blank gaze. It seemed to be a little confused, but more to being at a loss.
"Brother… Stone…"
There was some more indistinct mumbling coming from the youth's arms and like the sound of mosquitoes and flies, it was incomprehensible.
Perhaps it was the fire, but the expression of the tall youth seemed to have softened and his blank eyes also had some brightness to it.
He continued sitting on the ground and used half of his body to block the cold wind that was blowing in. Moving his arm slightly, he scooped the girl's calf back into his arms and tightened his cradling of her.
The girl's body moved around in his arms as she snuggled her head further towards his chest and as her actions gradually stopped, her breathing also became more stable.
The sky outside the hall was already dark, and the great wind and snow that was blowing and falling gradually lessened.
…
Halfway up a green mountain peak that was 1000 feet high and at the mouth of a cave that was 30 feet tall, a tall youth was standing with his back to the cave.
Liu Le'er stood beside the youth, one hand holding on to the corner of the youth's clothes, the other holding on to his thigh, looking forward with half of her face out. Her face was slightly pale because of nervousness.
In front of them was a gray bear that was as tall as two grown humans, standing there with its front paws raised.
There was a horn on its head that was as white as bone. Its protruding big mouth curled up, revealing its sharp teeth. It bared its teeth and roared, a line of foul and slightly sticky saliva flowing out from the corner of its mouth.
The youth, who was tall, looked like a malnourished child in front of this giant bear.
But there was no expression on his face. He fixed his gaze at the giant bear, his dark eyes like ink without any luster.
That giant bear stared at the tall youth and froze for a moment. For some reason, there was fear on its face and after a loud roar, it stepped back and lowered its forelimbs, running away on all fours.
When Liu Le'er saw this, her face relaxed and she breathed a sigh of relief. She then scratched her head in doubt and walked to the front of the tall youth and looked up at him.
She stared at the youth's blank face for sometime, but saw nothing different and could not help but show some disappointment.
"Brother Stone, I know you're not an ordinary person. It's a pity you can't speak, if not you can talk to me…" Liu Le'er sighed like an adult. She held the youth's hand and turned to walk back to the cave on the mountainside.
The youth said nothing and his gaze fell on the fair hand of the girl that held his and followed the girl as she pulled him along.
…
A vast, nameless grassland bloomed with life as it basked in the glory of the spring sun. It was here that the grass was tall and the orioles in flight. The entire grassland was filled with the unique and fresh fragrance of grass.
A girl of eight or nine years old was carrying a bunch of thin vines with small pale-yellow flowers around and was riding on the shoulders of a tall and strong youth, who confidently strode forward.
Compared with two years ago, the youth had not changed at all. He was still wearing the same blue clothes, but Liu Le'er was clearly different from before.
The girl had grown taller, the childish features had faded from her face and there was a touch of gentleness between her eyes—one commonly seen on an adolescent girl's face. It was clear that she was a rare beauty and it was still unknown if she would become even more beautiful in the future.
Her fingers flew as she weaved the yellow flower vines while humming a light tune. Her voice was clear and pleasant to hear, like an oriole singing.
"It's done!"
Before the end of the song, Liu Le'er's movements stopped and a beautiful garland of flowers was formed.
Holding the garland in her hands, she turned it around and looked at it, nodding with satisfaction. Then, she happily put it on the youth's head.
The garland was just the right size and the part where the flowers were the closest to his head was right above the youth's forehead.
The tall youth seemed to have felt something and raised his hand, touching the garland lightly before slowly drawing his hand back.
Liu Le'er was used to the indifferent responses of the tall youth. Looking down at the thin, green string around his neck, she smiled and reached out her hand playfully, as if she wanted to lift the string.
The youth under her seemed to react instinctively, grasping the dark green ornament tied to the end of the string and refused to let go for a long time.
"Brother Stone is so mean. You're like this every time. I'm just curious and wanted to see…" Liu Le'er puffed up her cheeks.
Although she said this, she was not really angry. In the past two years, this Brother Stone had never spoken to her. Other than rarely responding to the outside world, he would take the initiative to respond every time it involved the ornament in his arms.
Because of this, Liu Le'er would use this to tease the youth from time to time.
…
Time flew past like a galloping horse, and another several years had passed.
A beautiful girl of about thirteen to fourteen in a white dress, with waist-length black hair cascading down her back was walking at a brisk pace with her pale, pinkish-gray ankle boots. Her hands were behind her back as she walked on a road paved with yellow sand.
Behind her, a tall youth in blue clothes followed, his expression blank and pace slow.
The speed they were walking at were different but because of the size of their footsteps, where one was small and the other large, there was not much distance between them.
Liu Le'er who was walking in front, spotted a majestic blue city at the end of the road. At the city gates, there were many people that were as small as sparrows milling about.
She frowned slightly and stopped.
"Ming… yuan City…" Liu Le'er slowly said after looking at the city in the distance with her eyes squinted.
The tall youth walked to her side, stopped and, just like her, looked at the city.
"It looks like a big city full of humans…" Liu Le'er mumbled, her expression hesitant.
For the past five years, in order to cure the tall youth's condition, the two of them had entered some towns of the human race, but they had never come too close to cities as large as this.
"Brother Stone, if you are cured, can you help me take revenge?" Liu Le'er looked up at the youth and said in a low voice, not knowing whether she was asking him or herself.
When the youth heard this, he seemed to respond. His eyes that were looking far away slowly moved back and looked at the girl, but he still said nothing.
What nonsense am I talking about? Even if Brother Stone is powerful, how can he be able to beat up so many bad people? Liu Le'er seemed to have thought of something and she lowered her head sadly, tears falling from her eyes as it seeped through the yellow sand on the ground.
At this moment, she suddenly felt a weight on the top of her head and a warm touch passed over.
She raised her head slightly and saw her 'Brother Stone' stroking her head lightly, his eyes gentle.
Liu Le'er did not know why, but she felt at ease at this moment. There was an indescribable courage in her body, as if she was no longer afraid of any difficulties.
She lifted the back of her hand to wipe away the tears on her face and grabbed the youth's thick palm with the other hand and strode towards the gate in the distance with great determination.
-- Cadeau
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