It was a beautiful scene, but it was shocking at the same time.
Black smoke spurted from the crater and rose towards the sky, forming a large black cloud, covering all the light emitting from the stars, and there was not a single ray of light in Black Moon Island.
At the same time...
A ray of light fired out from the crater and broke through the impenetrable wall of the volcano. It was extremely fast and slid across the sky.
"Rumble..." Numerous gravels fell from the volcano and into the red magma beneath, creating flowers of flame upon impact.
"Big brother!" The two men rushed out from the light, clenching their fists, as they looked anxious and worried.
...
Five days later, early in the morning.
The warm and soft sunlight fell from the sky, and the red feathered bird flew down from the horizon. It stopped on a lush tree branch, chirping cheerfully.
Under the big tree, the green grass was stained with dew, and a faint cloud drifted across the sky. From time to time, a breeze blew through the leaves, and the branches shooked and rustled.
It was at the bottom of the Cang Ling Mountain, a piece of land in the Northern Mountain Village. Peaceful. It was ordinary just like the surrounding scenery, looking elegant and pleasing to the eye.
And just at the moment, the peaceful ground trembled vigorously, resulting in the branches to shift down.
"Chip!" The birds were frightened as they flapped their wings and soared up into the sky.
The silence had seemed to be broken, but after the tremor, everything was restored to its original state again, as though nothing had happened.
But there was another whole new world apart from this whole serenity.
The sound of the strings hung in the air. It was light and slow, flowing smoothly like a small river.
It seemed like there was a spell that was calming the surroundings.
The string instrument was playing a meditation song.
The song was obviously a meditation song.
The rhythm of the song, as well as the jade-like fingers on the purple guqin. A white snow dress slightly floated along with the blowing breeze, as her dark beautiful hair landed on the emerald green grass.
The song sounded like a fairyland.
It was coupled with the beautiful face of the woman, with crystal clear jade skin and bright black eyes. That scenery was indeed extremely stunning.
However, the young lad sitting opposite the woman did not seem to see the woman at all, as his eyes were not even opened.
Both his eyes were slightly closed.
It seemed like he was sleeping.
However, he wasn't lying down, instead he was sitting on the floor. His hands were laid flat on his knees, and it did not look like he was sleeping, in fact, it was like he was in his own state.
The Buddhists have an explanation for this state, it is called: meditation.
Fang Zhengzhi wasn't aware if he had already sunk into a meditating state, but he knew he was tired, extremely tired.
He had fought and attempted to escape multiple times after he knew that he was being trapped by Yun Qingwu using the Heavenly Dao Sage Tablet.
He was never so serious till now, where for half a month, he had only gotten an hour of sleep daily. When his eyes were open, he had been looking around.
Observing every details.
From the grains of sand on the ground, to the plants on the grass patch and the leaves on the trees. And finally to the mountains faraway, the rivers and the sky…..
He did not miss out on any part.
Look, observe, reflect.
Throughout this half month's duration, he had emptied every part of his body.
He had suffered for half a month.
Until 5 days ago...
Fang Zhengzhi could no longer tolerate his situation, and it was not because he could not endure his predicament anymore, but it was because he had insufficient time left.
It was because the Heavenly Dao Pavilion test was only a month away from now.
If he were not trapped, and such a situation did not happen, five days ago, he would have started setting off for the Northern Mountain Village. Then he would have met up with Yan Xiu at the Flame Capital City before heading for the Heavenly Dao Pavilion.
But, the situation now was all in a mess.
He had not moved a bit, since the Heavenly Dao Sage Tablets were still not unlocked. Hence, he had to stay trapped outside the Northern Mountain Village. He had resorted to all sorts of methods, but Yun Qingwu still remained relentless.
In fact even till recently, she even tried to not care, not listen and not answer to any negotiations.
Fang Zhengzhi was furious.
"Let me out, you crazy woman. Even if you want me to solve the Heavenly Dao Sage Tablet, there's no need for you to trap me here right? Human rights, do you know what are human rights?"
Fang Zhengzhi roared and threatened to commit suicide. As he had predicted that Yun Qingwu would never want him to die, and her goal was just for him to solve the Thirteen pieces of Heavenly Dao Sage Tablets.
Or maybe, that might be a win-win situation for both of them.
Yun Qingwu would know about the secrets of Heavenly Dao Sage Tablet, and he would be able to succeed in entering the Sage State.
But this method was really tough, since there was no space for negotiations at all and he was forced to do this. Is this really the best method?
Fang Zhengzhi's complants had attracted Yun Qingwu's attention.
But her response was, "If a person really wants to die, nobody else could save him."
Then...
There was nothing after that.
Fang Zhengzhi certainly wasn't thinking about suicide, so he came to the last resort which was to give up. He had used the self-harm method to force Yun Qingwu to let him out, which was not something he would usually do.
His heart was beating really fast, as though it was about to explode anytime.
After spending half a month trapped outside the Northern Mountain Village, he turned from a carefree and cheerful bird into an anxious ant.
His sudden disappearance had caused the people around to feel worried. Putting Wu Yuer aside, he could not help but think about Qin Xuelian and Fang Houde.
Moreover, Qin Xuelian's body condition had been deteriorating...
And then there was the promise he had made with Chi Guyan.
He was supposed to be at the Heavenly Dao Pavilion two years ago. But it had already been postponed for two years, was he supposed to delay it any longer?
He had no idea if he would still have another two more years to live.
And then there was Ping Yang...
The Ping Yang who had been waiting for him at the Ling Yun Tower.
Fang Zhengzhi had too many things to settle, and he could never be at ease to observe the Heavenly Dao Sage Tablets and wait patiently for him to get lucky and be a sage.
All these anxieties were pressing down on Fang Zhengzhi.
Therefore, he needed to vent his anger and frustration.
Yun Qingwu utilised all three "no" methods against Fang Zhengzhi's "words" and "strategies", but she did not ignore Fang Zhengzhi's vents and complaints.
On the other hand…....
She gave Fang Zhengzhi ample opportunities to vent out his anger.
Of course, such opportunities were not given by her out of nothing. It was only after cooking up a delicious array of food, that she had prepared few bottles of wines for him.
Moreover, the most important thing was that Yun Qingwu even accompanied him, as she had said out loudly, "Alright, not saying you don't have a chance, but if you have the ability, you can get me drunk and take your revenge?"
Thereafter, Fang Zhengzhi drank the wine.
He felt that there was some hidden meaning within Yun Qingwu's words, and it might even be a trap again. But he still drank it, because wanted to drink it.
That meal lasted for quite some while, and they drank for a very very long time.
Fang Zhengzhi wasn't aware of how much wine he had drank that day. But the fact was that up till now, he had yet to turn sober.
So was that even meditation?
Naturally, it wasn't.
To phrase it better, Fang Zhengzhi currently was still drink in unconsciousness, but his sitting stance was as firm as that of a meditation. As to why he would adopt such a stance to sleep, only Yun Qingwu would know the reason.
Fang Zhengzhi was only aware of one thing, which is that many thoughts were floating around in his mind. A while ago he was up flying around the tall mountains, and the next moment he would plunge down into the river.
As for why all these thoughts and imaginations were floating in his head, the main reason was that he had been chasing a particular girl in his mind the whole time.
A girl wearing a long white dress.
He had met this girl before, and they had met more than once.
Their first encounter was when he was with Yan Xiu, when they were in the Heavenly Treasure Hall Divine Constabulary. He saw this girl through its parallel dimension.
That time, the lady appeared at the lakeside, dancing elegantly, it was really beautiful. But he was not able to see her features clearly.
And there was the time at the Southern Region too, but he did not know if it could be counted, because his world then was looking purplish, a sort of splendid purple.
He had seen the same lady wearing the long white dress then too.
She danced like a angel, beside the river of Heavenly Dao Sage Tablet.
Fang Zhengzhi had came in contact with lots of secrets in these two years. Just like how he knew about the black squarish stone real name, which was called The Vast World.
And how there's a piece of "pure land" within The Vast World.
The lake was calm, and the green meadow, quiet and peaceful. It was pure and not contaminated with even a trace of dust. The "pure land" was indeed called the Heavenly Dao Sage Tablet.
But he had never had another chance to meet the white long dress lady again.
He even attempted to search around The Vast World, but failed to find any items or things related to the lady.
Initially, he thought it was something related to the bead which he had picked up along the lakeside in the Heavenly Treasure Hall.
But after...
Fang Zhengzhi rejected the idea, since the bead was not in the boundaries of the The Vast World.
Or so to say, when Fang Zhengzhi had been attacked by the half sage Can Yang of the Demon Race, the bead had been discarded along with many other useless items, and abandoned at the Southern Region.
Why would there then still be the white long dress lady when there was no bead left?
The most important point was that since he could control the whole Vast World, there was nothing that could escape his sight anymore.
"What was that?" Fang Zhengzhi had asked that question repeatedly, but he didn't manage to solve the whole question since the lady had not appeared again.
But now...
The lady had appeared once again.
And she was just standing in front of him, he could not help but proceed to seek and find out the real identity and appearance of the lady.
Only this time round, the lady wasn't dancing in front of him anymore.
Instead, like a traveler, she brought him around as they stepped across a series of grasslands, past pools of clear lakes, and crossed over a bunch of consecutive mountains.
Started at sunrise and stopped at sunset.
That felt strange as the lady seemed like she was admiring the whole scenery across the mountains and rivers, appreciating the picturesque surroundings.
Fang Zhengzhi had also seen the scenery, but only so because he was following behind the lady. He felt like a tourist following a tour guide.
He had tried to catch up to her, and even shouted and yelled at her.
But the lady did not pay any attention to him, and the distance was always 20 feet away from each other. Even if he tried to hasten his steps, the distance between them remained the same.
Just like that, both of them walked together for a very long time.
Until the lady finally stopped in front of a piece of dried up land. The trees were all withered up and there were countless cracks everywhere on the ground.
The wind was caressing on her cheeks gently.
It was certainly not a desert, but it looked barren and deserted. It had a dying atmosphere lingering in the air.
Of course...
Fang Zhengzhi didn't feel uncomfortable from looking at the scenery, as the lady had brought him to a worse environment before.
Such as dark caves, swamps filled with mud, as well as cold glaciers and extremely hot subterranean. They even looked at the boiling magma up close.
This place was nothing compared to the other places that he had been to. It was just a bit more deserted and scary.
But the lady paused there and had no intention of moving forward.
After all the following and pursuit, Fang Zhengzhi had given up trying to go up close to the lady. Hence, he intentionally stopped in his tracks too and waited patiently.
This wait had turned out to be an hour long.
But there was no movement made, and the lady continued standing on the same spot, resembling a statue clothed in a white long dress.
Fang Zhengzhi could not endure any longer and took one step forward.
According to what had happened earlier, Fang Zhengzhi thought that if he were to step forward, the lady would also make a step forward.
But reality was that...
The lady stayed in the same place, motionless.
Fang Zhengzhi felt complexed, and it brought out a little excitement in him. Since the lady did not move from her place, it also meant that he was able to walk in front of her and catch a glimpse of how she looked like.
Harbouring this hope, Fang Zhengzhi started walking again.
Step by step towards her.
And the lady continued staying in her position, as the wind blew onto her white dress, and her black hair swaying freely. She did not seem to realise Fang Zhengzhi was approaching her.
Closer, he was closer.
As Fang Zhengzhi hastened his steps, the distance between the lady and him became closer. Quickly, Fang Zhengzhi reached the back of where the lady was standing at.