Chapter 157 – Sages of the Abyss (I)

Chapter 157

Sages of the Abyss (I)

The poor thing conked out within a minute of crying so loudly that my eardrums burst. Before long, she was happily snoring as I picked her up.

The ‘world’, if you could even call it that, around us began to rapidly dissolve, like colors smeared across the canvas by water. Within moments, we were back in the orchard, though… it was different.

The strange, misty haze seemed to have been lifted, with colors suddenly bursting as though someone finally undid the ‘desaturate’ filter that the entire thing had going for itself.

It was then that the birds suddenly started appearing, which also made me realize that they weren’t there before. Kind of odd, isn’t it? To not notice something’s missing until it comes back?

They began to sing, hem and haw, and I enjoyed myself for a moment. The tiny fingers clutched at my robes and held so tightly I could see the seams of the fabric coming undone, and the birds sang a rather pleasant melody, and the winds began to blow, scattering with them the scent of plums and these odd grapes that somehow grow on trees.

By the time I reached the edge and the other kids, the orchard seemed to be almost in full bloom–there were flowers hanging off its branches, indicating a rather bountiful harvest to come.

“Master!”

“Master, you’re back.”

“Welcome back, Master!”

The kids greeted me–well, save for Long Tao, who seemed to already be half-asleep–rushing over and stopping a few feet away, jittery.

“I’m back,” I announced rather pointlessly, smiling.

“Oh, Venerable One! Thank you! Thank you so much!” The old man started bowing too, rather thick tears streaming out of his eyes.

… hey. It doesn’t feel that bad, you know?

I mean, I didn’t do anything–it was all done by the kids–but, somehow, he was thanking me. Oh well.

“Let’s go eat that meal, then.”

“Yes, let’s!”

I figured we’d stay for the night here and depart tomorrow. It was a nice little break (well, nice might be stretching it), but there were greater places to be, especially now that Dai Xiu and Xi Zhao were approaching the Foundation Establishment. The former had gotten to the eleventh stage, while the latter was at the peak of the tenth. Per my estimates, it should be about two to three months before they’ve both broken through.

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