## AST 717 – I’ll Wait For You, Starting The Return Trip

The Ice City was the true heaven of ice. It was a world of ice, other than snow, it’s ice sculptures and mountains. Even Qing Shui was amazed with how sparkling and translucent the ice sculptures looked. To think that this place would look so beautiful, it caused people to worry if it would melt or break.

There were a lot of ice houses here with people travelling back and forth along the street. Basically, there would be people wherever you go. From time to time, noises of children falling down and giggling would be heard. Qing Shui felt unusually calm as he saw all of these.

It seemed like everyone was the same when it comes to relaxing regardless of their cultivation level . As long as it’s someone with concerns on their mind, they would be able to relieve it through this kind of method.

“Does it look good?” Hai Dongqing grabbed Qing Shui’s hand and smiled gently. Since the time when she raised her courage to grab Qing Shui’s hand, she hadn’t once let go of it.

“Yeah it does, but it doesn’t look as good as you.” Qing Shui smiled.

“So even you would tell lies.” Hai Dongqing retorted, but deep down, she felt really happy. She grabbed Qing Shui’s hand and went towards the herds of ice beasts.

There seemed to be more people here than other places. This place was filled with ice beast sculptures. They had sizes ranging from big to small with a variety of colors. Some were even made directly from frozen demonic beast’s blood.

These ice beast sculptures were first made by freezing the beasts into ice. Then, the carving masters would start to carve and polish them. It’s a bit more difficult to carve ice than to carve normal wood and stone. The success rate was also relatively lower.

Qing Shui loosened up his entire mind to enjoy this joyful feeling. He strolled around the ice forest, lake and mountain, the most popular places in Ice City with Hai Dongqing.

Hai Dongqing had a bright smile across her face. Her face which was originally beautiful looked even more like a proud and aloof ice lotus flower among the snows, drawing attention from Qing Shui and the people around her.

She was also aware that Qing Shui would look at her from time to time. Even though she felt a bit shy, she was also really happy deep inside. There’s a saying, a girl would doll herself up for the person she loved. The logic she had was that so long as Qing Shui liked her looks, she was happy already. She did not care if other men liked it or not.

Initially, people tend to build up a good opinion of someone based on their looks. Without first taking a liking to the person’s appearance, an affection wouldn’t be developed. The desire to look attractive was universal. As long as both sides began to fall for each other, they’d start to slowly overlook their partner’s appearance. For example, there once was a couple who loved each other. One day, the girl was disfigured. Nevertheless, the man still loved her. If she was already disfigured at the moment when they first met, it would be really hard for them to fall for each other. That’s the difference.

Every time Qing Shui looked at Hai Dongqing, she would glanced at him with eyes that looked like she was angry and happy. That expression however, caused Qing Shui to drool with desire.

He didn’t want to make her regret her decisions, so he wouldn’t do things that were overboard to her because if any problems were to arise, it would end up hurting her and that’s what Qing Shui didn’t want to happen.

In the blink of an eye, yet another five days passed. Both Qing Shui and Hai Dongqing have already visited the most popular places in Ice City. The most beautiful things in Cold Ice City were their ice, snow and their ice statues. Hence, Ice City was the place which represented Cold Ice City the most.

“You really can’t stay for a few more days?” Hai Dongqing asked Qing Shui while gently hugging him.

“I have a lot of things to do, I can’t stay here any longer.” Qing Shui was embracing Hai Dongqing’s waist.

“Yeah, I know that you are a busy man. It’s your destiny to be constantly on the move. Come find me when you have time.”Hai Dongqing smiled.

In the world of ice and snow, her smile was just like a blossomed snow flower, deeply engraved in Qing Shui’s brain.

“I will. I’ll send you back to Hai Clan.”

“Yeah!”

On their return trip this time, they rode on the Fire Bird. Even though Hai Dongqing constantly had a faint smile across her face, Qing Shui was still able to tell that she was a bit depressed and disappointed.

“Dongqing, stop thinking too much. Don’t you believe in destiny? I promise you that I’ll definitely come back to see you.” Qing Shui extended his hand and gently rubbed his nose.

“I’ll wait for you!”

It’s merely one short phrase and yet it was weighed heavily in Qing Shui’s heart. But he also felt quite helpless towards it.

She was a girl in the Portraits of Beauty. Qing Shui had always believed the women in the Portraits of Beauty to have their extraordinary features. Could it have only about their delicate and fine looks? Or could it have been that they could improve significantly through duo cultivation?

It’s only a short phrase, yet it managed to express her resolution. Qing Shui was aware that if she dared to make such a statement, she would definitely wait for him. This was also the thing that weighed heavily on his heart.

Qing Shui felt that after he left, she would forget about him after three to four years and find her true love. For now, he could only leave it to destiny to decide her fate. No matter the outcome, he still wished for her to be happy.

“Qing Shui, you have to take care of yourself.” Hai Dongqing stood in front of Qing Shui and told him gently.

Qing Shui took out a fox fur coat which was made of the skin of the immortal fox. It was made by Qing Shui while he was in Ice City. Even though its quality was nothing compared to the Luan Silver Battle Dress, he gave it to her as a gesture of goodwill.

“This is for you!”

Hai Dongqing took it over in joy. The glistening tears in her eyes were already beginning to show. The things that this man gave her were something which she could never imagine. The entire Hai Clan as well as her future… Without him, she could never imagine what would happen.

Qing Shui once again took out a bracelet. It was a light blue bracelet which raised destructive power. It’s forged by using that huge chunk of blue metal.

The Quad Colour Art of Forging was considered quite decent. Qing Shui stopped giving her anything. The Luan Silver Battle Dress came in a complete set. The reason why he gave her the bracelet was so that she could wear more than one of them. For example, Qing Shui gave her the bracelet that he made for her. If he was to include it with the bracelets that she had, she would have had two bracelets on each of her arms. But it seemed to look better like this.

The Fox Fur Coat could be worn outside of the Luan Silver Battle Dress like a wind breaker. Similarly, even though it helped make her look more pleasing to the eye, the effect of the fox fur coat would be neglected. This was normal because it was impossible for the effects to stack together if more layers were worn. Normally, among the armors that were worn, the strongest one would cover up the rest of the additional armors.

This time, Qing Shui took the initiative to hug Hai Dongqing. Some things are best left unsaid.

“Dongqing, I’m leaving now. Please help me say my goodbye to Old Man Hai.” Qing Shui whispered in Hai Dongqing’s ears. He didn’t plan to say his goodbye to Hai Clan in person.

“Yeah!”

Hai Dongqing raised her head gently and blushed yet again as soon as she saw Qing Shui. She worked up the courage and kissed Qing Shui.

There was a slight coldness behind her soft lips. The numb feelings in his heart made him absent-minded for a moment. However, it was only a momentary feeling.

His figure on the Fire Bird got further and further away. Eventually, Hai Dongqing left after she could no longer see him. She made her way to Hai Clan and at the same time, the redness on her face also slowly faded away.

Qing Shui rode on the Fire Bird and made his way back to Seven Stars City. The feeling of going back was totally different to the feeling he had when he came out. This was because this time, he was returning from a rewarding journey. Until now, Qing Shui was still uncertain if meeting Hai Dongqing was considered running into a life changer or a marriage predestined by fate.

The Immovable Mountains getting raised to the fourth grade was also one of the biggest gains on this trip. Among Qing Shui’s techniques, the Nature Energy and Immovable Mountains were considered to be the techniques which Qing Shui paid the most attention to. These two techniques were a kind of formidable aura and technique which could increase strength. It consumed very little energy, yet brought forth huge damage. Furthermore, there were yet to be any techniques which could counter the Nature Energy and Immovable Mountains.

Fourth Grade Immovable Mountains raised the user’s raw strength by 10%. Even though it wasn’t considered anything much now, it could be raised slowly following the increase in strength.

This was what was formidable about Qing Shui’s techniques, let alone the Immovable Mountains, they could raise his aura. One may be inferior to another in terms of abilities but they cannot be inferior in terms of aura. If he lost in terms of aura, then it would be difficult for him to win, especially when their abilities were roughly equal. For when one’s aura is weaker, they would be suppressed by the pressure of the aura.

Four days later, Seven Stars City was within sight. Qing Shui planned to visit Village of Longevity once since they promised to treat each other like friends and with sincerity. After returning to Di Clan, he would have to head back to Green Cloud Continent, so naturally, he would need to inform them. He wouldn’t mind spending one or two more days before leaving, let alone he still needed to bid farewell to the others.

He would most likely only come back after a long time upon leaving Central Continent this time.

He arrived at the foot of the mountain. This time, before going up, he already saw a pair of young couple coming down. The man was precisely the third young master of Ying Clan, Ying Shaoqing,

The person beside him was a young woman. She had light makeup on her brows. Her eyes looked lucid and elegant, free from vulgarity. Standing beside Ying Shaoqing with her tall and slender body, they looked like an ideal couple.

“”Hmm, Qing Shui.” Upon seeing Qing Shui, Ying Shaoqing greeted him in surprise. After all, it was quite shocking to see Qing Shui here.

The third Ying Clan Young Master from Village of Longevity had an arrogant attitude and didn’t mix with the crowds well. However, he seemed to get along with Qing Shui. Qing Shui was very familiar with they way this type of person worked, it’s just that without an extremely powerful cultivation or the protection from his clan, it would be very hard for him to survive. They had great talent, yet they had pure and innocent hearts, like newborns. There’re lots of things that would get on their nerves and they tend to offend people very easily.

“What are you two…” Qing Shui smiled and said.

“Hehe, today, grandpa finally let me out for a few days. Who would have thought that I’d run into you. Come, I’ll bring you up there.” Ying Shaoqing smiled and asked Qing Shui to go up with him.

The Village of Longevity looked just like before. There were hardly any noticeable changes.

Upon seeing Qing Shui, Old Man Ying’s eyes turned bright: “Did you find the Three-tailed Immortal Fox’s blood?”

“Yeah, thanks to you, I didn’t end up going on a wild-goose chase.” Qing Shui was also feeling particularly happy. He could find a bit of familiar feeling here. Added on that he has stayed here before, there weren’t many people who shared such a friendly relation like this with Qing Shui, hence, he had to cherish it.

One day, Qing Shi stayed here for one day which made Old Man Ying really happy. He was already happy enough that Qing Shui could come here because it meant that he cared about this place. Upon seeing Qing Shui taking yet another huge leap in his strength, Old Man Ying knew that Qing Shui has finally grown up. Very quickly, he would be able to rocket up to a high position.

Unfortunately, Village of Longevity was located far from the city. Actually, the things which Qing Shui did in Cold Ice City had long since been spread around the country. From the question which Old Man Ying asked, he could already tell that the news hadn’t been spread around here.

He felt that it was really good this way because it helped save him a lot of trouble.

He stayed over for one night. On the second day, he prepared to leave after eating his breakfast. Old Man Ying and a few other Ying Clan members sent Qing Shui all the way to the foot of Mountain of Longevity

The trip back to Seven Stars Country was really fast. With the Nine Continents Step Effect, it only took him a day or so to arrive in Seven Stars City. This made Qing Shui feel really happy. The Nine Continents Step Effects was quite strong. The Shrinking Ruler and Time Travelling Box were things that only existed in legends. Hence, Qing Shui didn’t have much expectations for it. Those were only unreal stuffs.

During his journey, he wouldn’t delay his training to cultivate the skills that have to be cultivated. He arrived in Seven Stars Country at noon on the next day. It has only been about three months since he left here.