"You..." After shrieking hysterically, the woman suddenly looked up and pointed at He Li.
But He Li had already sidestepped her scream, ignoring her completely. He didn't want to get entangled with the woman or waste his breath.
She had bumped into him herself, and he didn't want to help her up, ask questions, or get involved in such baseless troubles.
Whether this world was real or illusory, it didn't matter to him. Perhaps, in this world, there was still Xiao Yue, Uncle Li, Xiao Xi, Hua'er, and Wei Luo.
He didn't deliberately search for them. Although He Li missed them dearly, they had their own lives, and disturbing them wouldn't be good. Meeting them might not be all that great either. It was better to keep his longing hidden in his heart.
Of course, there was a deeper consideration: Xi Ling Huang Zhu might also be monitoring him. If he deliberately searched for someone, it might bring them danger.
He Li washed his face and looked at his reflection in the mirror. His hair had grown long, falling over his back, tied with a silk ribbon. The roots of his hair had turned white, likely due to the passage of time in the spatial turbulence. His complexion was alright, but his eyes were weary, filled with the hardships of his journey.
"Heh heh..."
He Li chuckled softly and murmured to himself, "How am I still a young man? I'm clearly an old man."
After a moment of silence,
Looking at himself in the mirror, at those deep brown eyes, he could see his own face reflected in them. His gaze turned resolute, and he whispered, "You will win, won't you?"
With wings of one's own, why rely on ladders to the clouds?
He Li clenched his fist and smiled. Why ask himself such a question? He just had to do it.
Emerging from the restroom, the woman at the door was gone. He glanced left and right, then finally ambled down the path to his left, with no destination or goal. He simply waited quietly for the divine power within him to slowly regenerate, waiting for the spatial cube that stored his divine power to find him. He didn't need to do anything else.
Passing by a bar, he saw many fine wines through the glass window. He remembered he had quite a bit of wine in his sleeve and instinctively reached for it. His hand met empty air, and only then did he recall that his divine power was sealed. How could he possibly take it out? He smacked his lips, looking at the wine in the window, then turned back and spotted a small bench in the corner of the building, just large enough for three people to sit side by side.
He Li walked over and sat down. He looked up at the tall buildings, then lowered his head, closed his eyes, and pretended to doze, quietly waiting for his divine power to recover.
"So you ran to this place."
He Li looked up, blinked, and saw the screaming woman. He frowned slightly and sighed inwardly. He stood up, nodded gently, and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't bump into you; you bumped into me. If you're still angry, then I apologize."
He Li paused, then continued, "As you can see, I have nothing to compensate you with."
The woman wore tight jeans and a white shirt with a black vest. She wasn't beautiful, but she seemed to have some money. She crossed her arms, remaining silent, and scrutinized He Li from head to toe, finding him truly unique.
"It's alright. I was just a bit overwhelmed earlier. It wasn't directed at you," the woman nodded and said. Then she added, "Why are you sitting here?"
He Li answered honestly, "I have nowhere else to go. Or rather, I'm waiting to go home."
The woman hummed and said, "Then wait. I'm fine. I just happened to run into you and wanted to let you know that I wasn't targeting you. I'm very sorry if I scared you."
"Okay, I'm fine too," He Li replied.
"Alright then, I'm leaving."
He Li nodded, then watched the woman wave her handbag and walk into the bar.
He Li sat down again. A few hours passed, and his divine power had returned somewhat. He could clearly sense that in some time and space, the spatial cube storing his divine power was breaking through towards him.
Time and space could trap him, but they couldn't trap things without life or consciousness. However, the relative restraint was much smaller. It seemed that time also had a significant impact on space.
At this moment, He Li seemed to have a realization, like a thread in the sea, within reach but impossible to grasp.
In the evening, the bar became even livelier. The loud, jarring music, the people coming and going, carrying the mingled scents of alcohol, smoke, perfume, and sweat – an unpleasant aroma they called: hormones.
The woman also came out, leaning on her friends, a mix of men and women, all of them likely having drunk quite a bit, walking with a slight sway.
The woman glanced back at He Li, surprised to find him still there.
He Li sat there like a fool, with two strands of long hair falling down his cheeks, adding a touch of a swordsman's dashing demeanor. He sat obediently on the bench, holding his sword, with a small blade of grass stuck in the hilt, a traditional marker for a sword vendor in ancient times.
People of all sorts, always seeking troubles while simultaneously trying to forget them.
The woman smiled, pushed her friends aside, and swayed her way over to He Li. She sat down right beside him, leaned back against the building, casually crossed her legs, pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and then offered the pack to He Li, gesturing for him to smoke.
He Li wanted a cigarette, but seeing that the woman's cigarettes were ladies' cigarettes, with an orange flavor, he shook his head. Then, he shifted his body slightly to the other side.
He Li closed his eyes again, lowered his head slightly, waiting for the spatial cube.
The woman leaned to the side, her gaze somewhat vacant as she stared at the sky. Stars were rarely visible in the city; the night was always a hazy gray, and tonight was no different.
"Is your sword for sale?"
"What?"
He Li opened his eyes, looking at the woman in confusion.
The woman exhaled a puff of smoke towards the sky, the white mist dissipating in the wind, and said, "I feel very safe sitting next to you. I don't think it's because of you as a person, but because of this sword.
So, I wanted to ask, is this sword for sale? It's okay if you sell me the sword, right? It's probably a prop."
He Li looked at the sword, without nostalgia or reminiscence. He simply held it, gazing quietly at the plain blade, and gently shook his head.
"This sword is not for sale."
The woman nodded, let out a lazy sigh, and stood up to leave. Before she departed, she looked back at He Li deeply, then waved to hail a taxi and left.
He Li paid no mind. One encounters many people in a lifetime; why overthink it?
A few more hours passed.
He Li felt that his divine power could finally be used. The moment he activated his divine power, he stood up abruptly, turned west, looked up at the sky, plucked the blade of grass from the hilt, placed it in his embrace, re-hung the sword at his waist, his figure flickering, and vanished from the spot.
Beyond the heavens, thousands of miles away.
He Li's divinity suddenly appeared. He gazed at the thousands of荒族 (Huang Clan) soldiers before him. Ahead stood nine荒族 (Huang Clan) realm gods of the ninth or higher cosmic realm, with Xi Ling Huang Zhu, graceful and elegant, at the very front.
He Li pursed his lips, smiled slightly, raised his right hand, and placed it on the hilt of his sword.
...