Astral Odyssey: Dying Ember

World 3.8: BaiXue

Erm... BaiXue, he's angry right? Why's he so angry at us? 

How'd I know?

That's LongFei, isn't it? 

He matches the description.

He didn't sound like a grumpy man in the book!

"What were you doing in the cave for so long?!" His voice was low but his tone revealed his uncontrollable rage.

BaiXue frowned. How did he know how long she spent in the cave?

I was paying full attention! I really didn't see him! BaoBao defended himself.

"Shocked that I knew? Of course I would know everything that happens in my garden. I saw how you lured her out. Were you challenging her? Did you think you'd win?!" His anger was not yet appeased.

BaiXue felt no obligation to reply him, so she dashed off. However, a few meters away, she suddenly felt weak as if something drained her body of her energy. Her sight became hazy and her limp body tumbled onto the floor roughly and skidded from the speed she had dashed off in. Her breathing became erratic and her body heated up.

LongFei appeared by her side in a split second and saw a small scratch wound on her back.

Tsk! She still got injured! LongFei blamed himself and the person who caused the scratch. He changed into a silver dragon with his body wrapped gently around BaiXue. He set the basilisk's body aflame with his ice flames then carried BaiXue back to his home at the peak of the tallest mountain.

LongFei had been flying around in the sky as usual. He started this habit around a year ago when an unsettling feeling appeared in his heart. He felt very restless at home so constantly flew around in a bid to get rid of the restlessness.

Being a dragon, he had superb eyesight that could see the smallest details from high up in the sky. So it was easy for him to spot an injured woman on one of the mountains entering a small cave then collapsing inside. Although the woman dazzled in his eyes, his heart did not feel moved nor was he worried for the woman in the least. He was still preoccupied with feelings of unease. Yet he felt an unexplainable compulsion to check on the woman. He gave into the compulsion since he had nothing better to occupy his time with anyway.

This was how he got acquainted with the woman called FengJiao and spent the next 1 month nursing her back to health then the following months looking out for her. However, she did not seem very appreciative of his help and seemed to even find him annoying. She mentioned something about him being too arrogant and domineering but he did not understand nor care. He was brought up being told that he was the strongest and was meant to stand above anyone else in the world. So he did not see anything wrong with those qualities.

A few months later, it was during one his flights that he noticed someone new in his garden. 

This girl's looks did not dazzle him like FengJiao's did however he could not seem to peel his eyes off of her. The things that this girl occupied herself with made it entertaining to watch her. It seemed to cure the unease in his heart and resolve the restlessness he felt. As a result, he stayed on the mountain peaks to keep watch over her.

Weirdly, the compulsion he felt to check on FengJiao did not go away. Finding that he had the time to do so, he would still satisfy the compulsion to make it go away whenever he felt that it was getting unbearably irritating. 

LongFei gradually realised that the girl that had his rapt attention was actually systematically scouring through every inch of the mountains. He wondered what she seemed to be looking for and what about her made him unable to keep his eyes off her. She was no beauty nor the most adorable by people's standards. However, he liked the way she determinedly looked for whatever she was looking for, her gestures, and her every move. Before he knew it, he began to value this unassuming beauty and charm.