Commanding Wind and Cloud

“You...” Wilfred felt like there was suddenly a big shadow beside him. He was shocked to see Qian Jin beside him. He stopped running as he tried to raise his hand and organize himself into a defensive position as he prepared himself for battle. However, he realized that Qian Jin didn’t even look at him; Qian Jin lowered his head and continued to run.

“Idiot!” Qian Jin swore in his mind; he didn’t look back at Wilfred who caused this avalanche. “Where can I find the time to take care of you? If you can run through this Four Season Valley’s entrance passage with me, I will just kill you then!”

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

The scope of this avalanche grew larger and larger. The silver-white snow had fully covered the sky above the portion of passage behind Qian Jin. Even the portion of the passage in front of him had becp,e dark since the blowing snow blocked off some of the sunlight. A cold chilling breeze blew into Qian Jin’s shirt.

“Help... help me... save me...”

Qian Jin heard Wilfred who wasn’t too far behind him yell intermittently. But after a few seconds, Wilfred was buried in the snow. Qian Jin was happy that Wilfred died, but he was surprised by the speed of the avalanche.

“Exit!” Qian Jin suddenly saw a big open field not too far from him. Although there was some accumulated snow, he could see some scarce plants and trees...

“A bit more! Just endure a bit more!” Qian Jin bit his teeth as he rushed forward with his tired legs. He approached the exit of the passage quickly. Ten meters, eight meters, six meters... five meters... three meters...

The snow from the avalanche fell on Qian Jin’s feet and lower half of his leg. To someone who had no stamina left, just a little snow would affect him. The snow was like a tough and powerful arm, and it grabbed onto his leg and feet.

“Damn! I’m really close!” Qian Jin tried hard to pull his legs out of the slow, but he felt that the snow from the avalanche had already covered up to his thigh and his butt.

“Unlucky!” Qian Jin looked at Sophia who was in his arms in front of his chest and bit on his teeth one more time. “Damn it! Even if I can’t get out of this, I can’t let them die with me! Although I don’t have any strength left in my legs, I still have a lot of strength in my arms!”

He grabbed onto Sophia with one hand and grabbed onto Gabriella, who was on his back, with the other hand. At the moment he threw the two girls away from the avalanche, it instantly buried him.

In a second, the passage to Four Season Valley was buried under the shiny white snow. Although the snow close to the exit of the passage and the open field was thinner than elsewhere, it was still enough to bury lives under it.

Sophia and Gabriella who were thrown by Qian Jin rolled several times on the ground before they reached a stop. When they looked up at the snow bluntly, Qian Jin was nowhere to be seen.

Snow was one of the lightest substances in the world; when it touched human skin, it would instantly melt. But when a lot of these light substances accumulated, it would become as heavy as mountains. Qian Jin felt like the bones in his body were being crushed into pieces by the snow in the avalanche. He felt like his back was being punched by powerful warriors hundreds of time; streams of blood were traveling up his throat and into his mouth. He couldn’t move his body, and his conscious began to blur as everything became unclear. Scenes and memories from his life flashed by in front of his eyes.

These scenes were very fragmented; they were like a series of pictures, but they weren’t continuous or connected at all. All these fragmented pictures suddenly disappeared, and the conscious world in his mind lightened up. Then, the old face of his father, Qian Cheng, appeared clearer and clearer under the yellow and dark light from the oil lamp.

“Dad, I will be leaving.”

“Eh, it’s very different out there. It’s very different from Qian Family. Be careful of everything when you are out there.”

“And...” Qian Jin wanted to say something, but he ended up holding it back after he looked at his father’s old face. His father had sacrificed a lot so he could leave the Qian Family. He already owed his father a lot since he couldn’t share the burden on his father back. How could he open his mouth and ask for more?

“Son,” Qian Cheng looked at Qian Jin quietly. He patted his son’s shoulder with his rough hand as he sighed, “It is dad’s fault. Dad couldn’t become a bloodline warrior, so you have to suffer with me.”

Qian Jin bit onto his lips and shook his head quietly. In the Qian Family, if someone was a bloodline warrior, then even if the person’s kids didn’t awaken their bloodlines, they would still be treated well. However, the same logic went the other way as well. If someone woke up their bloodline, even if the person’s parents were not bloodline warriors, they would be compensated greatly.

“Dad...” Qian Jin’s voice sounded a little hoarse. “It’s me... I’m useless...”

Under the dark yellow light from the oil lamp, Qian Cheng’s face looked even older. He lightly patted Qian Jin’s shoulder as he said, “Son, Luna grew up alongside you, so I understand the relationship between you guys. However, sometimes it’s really just up to fate.” It sounded like he was comforting Qian Jin, but it also sounded like he was comforting himself.

Qian Jin nodded quietly, but an unwilling expression flashed by his face.

“I know you like Luna, and Luna likes you back as well.” Qian Cheng lightly sighed desolately. “However, you know that Luna’s family agreed to your relationship because you had a chance to awaken the bloodline. You are a member of one of the three Ultimate Bloodline Families. Now, after you failed to awaken your bloodline, even if Luna still wants to be with you, her family won’t agree to it. Don’t forget, her family is a bloodline family as well...”

“I know, dad...” Qian Jin never knew that saying one sentence could take all of someone’s soul. However, after he said that, he felt like a part of him had instantly vanished, as if it was sucked away by something.

“Okay, you should leave a bit earlier.” Qian Cheng stood up and pushed opened the door. He then bent his back as he walked out of the room.

Qian Jin looked at his father’s back as he felt a bit sad. His father didn’t bend his back intentionally; it was the heavy burden of survival that pushed and forced him into this situation

“Come on, go.”

With his hands at his back, Qian Cheng lightly bent his back as he led the way. From Qian Jin’s perspective, this man who should have been at his prime in his forties looked like an elder who was in his sixties from the back. His steps were a bit staggered, and he didn’t look or feel like a warrior.

Qian Jin’s conscious world suddenly lit up again, and the scene turned into an empty street.

Under the dark sky filled with bright stars, a young girl stood by the end of the street. Her long and smooth black hair fluttered in the breeze, and her light green dress outlined her long legs. Even the darkness couldn’t block off her lively eyes that were filled with stubbornness and resilience.

The wind was lightly blowing through the city.

Qian Jin stood by one end of the street, and Luna stood by the other. They just stood there quietly and stared at each other in the eyes.

No words were spoken, but Qian Jin saw numerous words in Luna’s eyes.

“I will wait for you! I will wait for you! It doesn’t matter what my family’s arrangement for me is. I will wait for you!”

“You will become a great and powerful warrior! I will wait for you to come back and marry me!”

“I will become powerful as well! I won’t let anyone close to me!”

“Just you wait! I will come back! Even if your family arranges a marriage for you and you are already a bloodline warrior’s wife, I will come and get you out of there and make you mine!”

Under the stars, Qian Jin shouted at the nightly sky with all of his lungs’ power. After that, he quickly turned around and walked into the darkness, leaving the beautiful figure standing alone by the other side of the street.

The blinding light shined in Qian Jin’s conscious world again, and Qian Cheng’s bent back and staggered steps were the only thing left in Qian Jin’s mind. But after viewing this scene for a few seconds, it changed into that of a lonely beautiful girl standing at one end of the street.

The two scenes twitched around in Qian Jin’s mind continuously, and Qian Jin’s body that was slowly freezing due to the snow on top of him started to recover some heat. The two extremely emotional scenes stimulated Qian Jin’s mind, blood, and warrior energy. In addition, the Forging Breath Technique started to operate in his body as if they were three burning fires.

“Death? I can’t let this happen! I haven’t become a great warrior that my dad can be proud of! I haven’t married Luna and made her mine yet! My dad has always seen Luna as his daughter-in-law, so how can I die before I make it a reality?”

The warrior energy was conducted from his hands into the Zhanmadao. His burning blood slowly melted the snow around his body. As his strength slowly recovered, his warrior energy also started to run through his body like a rapid current in a large river. His arms and shoulders that were trained by Blake for many days started to slowly lift through the snow!

The Zhanmadao shined and let out an unprecedented light under the snow. The heavy and hard snow was separated to two sides of the blade; but the snow above fell down again and covered the blade. Soon, the snow was separated again, and then covered...

Break! Break! Break! Open! Open! Open!

Gabriella’s eyes suddenly shined. She discovered that the snow, which was originally sitting quietly in front of her started to move. There was a spot where the snow was slowly collapsing; although it was very minimal, it was still noticeable.

“Could it be?” Gabriella looked at the accumulated snow tensely. The speed at which the snow was collapsing seemed to be faster than before.

It got even faster... and faster...

“Let me loose!”

An angry roar penetrated through the accumulated snow and shot up towards the sky as a shiny Zhanmadao poked through the snow! Qian Jin used his legs to kick the hard snow around him, and he used his arms to make more space for himself in the snow. He didn’t even touch the snow on his eyebrows. He blew hot air at the snow above his face and tried to get it to melt faster. Finally, he climbed out.

A loud roar! A weak rumble started to sound in this quiet Four Season Valley after the roar. Qian Jin raised his head and saw the accumulated snow on the mountains start to slide off again. He had no time to laugh out loud and celebrate his survival and show heroic side of himself. He rushed out of the snow and the passage to the valley with the help from both of his hands and feet and the Zhanmadao.

Just to break free from all the accumulated snow, Qian Jin had depleted all of his strength. He lied on the open field in Four Season Valley and looked up at the aftermath and catastrophe caused by the avalanche, as well as the tsunami-like snow that poured down from the mountains with devastating power. He felt extremely lucky; if he wasn’t buried by the softer snow at the very end of the avalanche, even if he had a strong will for survival, the Level 9 Warrior Energy, and the Zhanmadao, he would have died over a hundred times.

Gabriella and Sophia each hung onto one of Qian Jin’s arms and dragged him towards the center of Four Season Valley laboriously. Although they were in the inner part of Four Season Valley, they didn’t know if another avalanche was going to bury them if they stayed too close to the passageway.

After they dragged Qian Jin backward about fifty to sixty metres, they also sat onto the ground and took a rest. Gabriella was a mage apprentice, so she was physically weak in the first place. On the other hand, Sophia was a swordswoman and should have had enough strength, but after the huge amount of blood loss, she didn’t have much strength left either.