Chapter 222: …is to love…
Nothing seemed to happen for a full minute as Zhen Shi watched this vaunted genius of the Bai family just stand there, surrounded by unbloomed lotus flowers.
But then, she drew her sword.
“Whoa…”
The sheer amount of grace in that one single motion stole Zhen Shi’s attention and demanded he watched what would happen next. Once he saw the visible streams of a strangely verdant aether coming off of her, he knew it was going to be inter-#+_-breathtaking.
Bai Hua began to go through some type of sword form that Zhen Shi was unfamiliar with. He was more used to fighting with a spear or his fists, swords were too…self-inflicting for his tastes. But watching Bai Hua do her form made the blade she was holding look ike it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Huh…I guess she can use wood aether. Crazy,” Zhen Shi observed.
As she kept going through the form, he stream of verdant aether began to flow around her sword and gently merge with the surrounding lotus blossoms. When the aether merged with the lotus blossoms, they began to bloom in bright and brilliant colors that were decidedly out of the natural range for normal lotus flowers. Once it was fully suffused, the lotus flowers began to grow bigger.
Wood aether was a combination type of aether that was made via the combination of Earth, Water and Light aether. Wood aether was famed being one of the most balanced types of aether, able to heal and harm with equal power and efficiency, but in the right hands, could also cause plant life to grow in strange and unexpected ways.
Like some kind of martial arts fairy of the wood, Bai Hua began to use the now giant sized blooming lotus flowers as platforms for her forms. Whether she was willing the flowers to form a path for her or it was incredibly well-timed, Zhen Shi wasn’t sure. He just knew it was beautiful.
Eventually, the form/performance/practice came to an end once Bai Hua had sheathed her blade and stopped her flow of aether. Cut off from their supply of energy, the lotus flowers began to shrink back down to their original states, allowing Bai Hua to step off of the flowers, back to the platform, and off on her merry way. Zhen Shi wasn’t sure if she even noticed him, but he definitely noticed her.
With the point of his attention now gone, Zhen Shi proceeded to shake his head free of anymore distractions, and remembered that he was supposed to go get something to snack on.
‘Huh…wonder if she practices like this every day…,’ Zhen Shi wondered as he made his way to the kitchens.
The answer to that question, as he would soon find out, would be…yes.
________________________________________________
After that single moment, what else could be said?
She would practice in that same spot almost everyday, Zhen Shi would make it a habit of watching her from a distance.
Eventually, she would notice him.
“Alright, you have been watching me everyday for about a month now, are you a stalking or something?”
“No, I just thought the way you were doing your forms were…beautiful.”
“…oh. Thanks…I guess.”
‘Huh. The way she’s blushing, you’d think more people would have told her that more often than not.’
‘This wass the first time it was said with such…honesty.’
The two of them would eventually become friends.
“So how come you don’t seem as cultivation crazy as everyone else in your clan?”
“No big reason, just don’t see the point. I am merely a nobody in a sea of young scions trying to prove themselves anyways. I’d rather not participate in that rat race. Well, that and I prefer working with aether beasts.”
“Hmmm…”
She would motivate him to become greater.
“Well…if you want, I can give you a reason why you should get stronger, my little eel.”
“Eh?”
“If you manage to land a hit on me once…I’ll give you a kiss.”
“Eh?!”
He would undergo a drastic change of sorts.
“Hey, is that…Zhen Shi? What’s he doing training so late into the night?”
“I don’t know man, but it’s a hell of a faceturn from his usual demeanor. Even the teachers are impressed by his turnaround.”
“Maybe he got a secret tutor or something encouraging him?”
“That or he’s in love.”
He would end up impressing her.
“Wow. You have gotten stronger.”
“Thanks to you, I should say. Now…about that…kiss?”
“I did promise that,” she said coyly.
They would end up falling in love.
“My love for you is deeper than the seas and more unfathomable than the stars themselves.”
“…pfft! What was that? So cheesy and unlike you!”
“Yeah…I read it in a book on love poems. Guess I need to work on my delivery?”
They would try to end it because of extraneous circumstances.
“Esteemed warriors of the Blossoming Scale Kingdom, I am happy to declare that my daughter, Princess Bai Hua is now engaged!”
“Wooo!”
“Congrats young miss!”
“Yeah, wait… what’s with the fog?”
They would end up running away together.
“Are you sure you want to do this? There’ll be no turning back once we go through with this.”
“If my choices are a gilded cage or being free with you, I’d choose the latter every time.”
“In that case my fair Lilypad, let us be off. I’ve always wanted to visit another continent.
The two would end up running away to a new city, to a new land altogether, had many many children, and live happily ever after.
Well…almost ever after.
________________________________________________
“A whirlwind romance turned solid foundation for a glorious family. How beautiful,” the giant rumbled as Zhen Shi watched his own memories play out before him like a movie, complete with narration.
‘Movie? What the hell is a movie and why do I know that word?,’ Zhen Shi briefly thought for a second before refocusing on what was happening before him. Surprisingly, he didn’t even question the music playing the background despite being pretty sure he didn’t hear any of this music while he was living these moments.
“But as history played out, you and your Lilypad didn’t get a chance to live out the rest of your ‘ever after’ together, did you?”
“No…no we didn’t.”
The images before Zhen Shi’s eyes changed once more, many years into the future from when he and Bai Hua first met, but it was like only yesterday to the now elderly widower.
________________________________________________
“You know I can’t leave you alone in good consciousness like this, Lilypad,” Zhen Shi said as he sat by his wife’s bedside.
For the past week or so, Bai Hua, who was now Zhen Hua, had been dealing with a nasty illness of some kind that made it hard for her to breath and ghostly pale. It wasn’t too bad, but it was best not to exasperate it.
“It’s fine you old eel,” Zhen Hua said as she made a move to push Zhen Shi off the bed, “That wandering ruins won’t be here forever, and if you don’t go, then the other families might reap all the benefits and leave us in the dust. You know how precarious our position is.”
“Right…”
The two of them had ran all the way from the Roaring Tide continent to Stampeding Bison, settling in a frontier town away from practically everyone in order to get a fresh start.
Things were tricky at first, but now they had managed to become a pillar of the community.
“Besides, I got some medicine coming in from the best pharmacy in town. I’ll be right as rain when you get back,” Zhen Hua assured him.
“Then I’ll at least wait until it arrives.”
“Zhen Shi!”
The two of them playfully argued a bit more before Zhen Shi finally relented. He never could argue well against his own wife.
Before he crossed the threshold of their bedroom and into the hall, Zhen Shi decided to ask one more question, something that’s been on his mind as of late.
“Hey…I know it’s been years by now, but…do you…regret what we did? Do you regret that we ran all the way out here?”
“Hmm? Where did that come from?”
