Chapter 341 - 195: Dotting the Eyes

Chapter 341: Chapter 195: Dotting the Eyes

The swirling bloody aura was vividly life-like, its faint red glow creeping across the surface of the pool like tentacles.

"Bird Cage."

Zheng Xiu summoned the Luohe Brush. Using the pool water as ink, he easily released "Bird Cage," enclosing the entire oasis as if it were a prison.

A series of crisp cracks echoed from Zheng Xiu’s frame as his muscles bulged.

For a moment, Xie Luohe couldn’t resist. As if in a trance, she reached out and touched Zheng Xiu’s sculpted chest, pulling her hand back instantly.

’Heh. Women.’

Zheng Xiu grinned, then strode forward. He swung his arms, digging a deep pit in the oasis with his bare hands.

Next, Zheng Xiu lifted Xiaohe and Xiaomo in turn, leaped into the pit, and settled the camels securely. He then partially refilled the pit, leaving a gap large enough for him and Xie Luohe to take shelter.

By now, the sky had grown completely dark. In the distance, pitch-black storm clouds gathered like a colossal beast, its great maw yawning open, as if to swallow Heaven and Earth whole.

The sandstorm had yet to arrive, but a furious wind was rising from all directions. The ground began to vibrate, and the very air trembled.

The oppressive black clouds seemed close enough to touch. In the blink of an eye, they were bearing down upon the oasis.

"You should get in. I’ll hold it off for you. If I really can’t handle it, I’ll get in and hide too."

Although both Zheng Xiu and Xie Luohe were Mystics, Zheng Xiu dared not underestimate a cataclysm of this magnitude. But within the "prison," the Attributes of [Zheng Shan] and [Unbreakable] gave him complete confidence.

’My body should be able to handle it.’ His real fear was that the storm would be so immense it would sweep them all away. In the vast Great Desert, his greatest fear was losing his bearings. Once lost in the Great Desert, even a Mystic would face certain death.

Xie Luohe, however, quickly changed her clothes. She didn’t listen to Zheng Xiu and hide in the sand pit; instead, she sat down quietly at the edge of the oasis.

"It’s alright." Xie Luohe looked back with a faint smile. She patted the empty space beside her and shook her head at Zheng Xiu. "As long as you’re here, there’s nothing to be afraid of."

A tremor went through Zheng Xiu’s heart.

Head bowed and without a word, he sat down beside Xie Luohe.

WHOOSH... WHOOSH... WHOOSH...

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The wind howled, growing stronger. From the depths of the black desert emanated an even more intense, bizarre darkness. Sand and rocks, whipped up by the gale, hammered against Zheng Xiu’s "Bird Cage," raising a tremendous din.

Inside the "Bird Cage," Zheng Xiu and Xie Luohe sat quietly together, as if in another world entirely. The tranquility of the pair stood in stark contrast to the furious clamor outside.

The pressure grew heavier. In the pit, Xiaohe and Xiaomo began to bray uneasily.

"Shhh, don’t be afraid."

Xie Luohe whispered, raising an index finger to her lips.

The two camels soon fell quiet. They leaned against each other in the pit, legs firmly on the ground, their mouths moving back and forth as they exchanged saliva. It seemed that in this desperate situation, the sour stench of love was beginning to ferment between the male and female.

Xie Luohe gazed into the deep darkness and the clamoring dust, a smile on her face. "You once said that a person’s third death is when they are completely forgotten by the world."

Zheng Xiu nodded, though he didn’t know why Xie Luohe was bringing this up now.

"Is that why you’re a ’Painter’?" Xie Luohe tucked her long hair behind her ears, revealing her eyes. She no longer hid the strange characters in her right eye, completely exposing her vulnerability and anguish to Zheng Xiu.

Deep within her right eye, the two words "Ding Wei" were faintly visible.

Xie Luohe continued, "Why have you always refused to paint a Human? If you were to paint me—here, now—then as long as the scroll survives, someone in the world will know that a poor, pitiable woman named Xie Luohe once lived. Even if it’s just one person."

Amidst the gloom and chaos, Xie Luohe gave a radiant smile. She looked at Zheng Xiu and calmly spoke the words she had always wanted to say. "Gongsun Mo, will you... paint a picture of me?"

In that instant, Zheng Xiu found her smile devastatingly beautiful. He could no longer tell if the woman beside him was Xie Luohe or Feng Bei. He even forgot the "rule" he had always upheld.

He could not refuse her—not this Xie Luohe, who spoke the saddest of words in the calmest of tones.

"Alright."

Zheng Xiu’s mind was as calm as still water. He unrolled the scroll, took a few steps back, and used his own blood as ink.

SCRATCH... SCRATCH...

WHOOSH... WHOOSH...

In that moment, neither of them spoke. The only sounds were the roar of the wind, their own breathing, and the whisper of the brush on the scroll.

On the scroll: a gloomy sky over a vast, desolate landscape. A beautiful woman sat quietly in the Great Desert, facing the despairing sandstorm, facing Zheng Xiu, a faint smile on her lips.

The bleakness of the Great Desert, the fury of the sandstorm, the woman’s beauty, the poignant sorrow in her smile—everything Zheng Xiu saw was distilled onto that small scroll.

"Dotting the eyes."

It was the final step. Zheng Xiu hesitated for a moment, then dotted the eyes of the Xie Luohe on the scroll.

The eyes are the windows to the soul.

Before he painted the eyes, the woman on the scroll could have been either Xie Luohe or Feng Bei; it was impossible to distinguish between them. But when Zheng Xiu dotted the eyes, the "Xie Luohe" on the scroll instantly came to life. Xie Luohe was, unequivocally, Xie Luohe.

THUMP.

CREAK.

A door that was already loose on its hinges was pushed open with ease within the Path.

The door swung open with incredible speed, as though it had been waiting all along for Zheng Xiu to simply reach out and touch it.

The instant the painting was finished.

Outside the Bird Cage, the rampaging, howling black sandstorm froze for a single instant.

The next second.

The gale died down.

The sand, frozen in midair, cascaded down.

It was a rain of sand.