Chapter 89: A Free Heart
Let's do it!
Yu Xian steeled himself and decided to go back and secretly place some spatial bubbles. Due to his excellent memory, he perfectly remembered the route from the crater to the restricted zone with the Extreme Dragon.
This had nothing to do with him being a vampire. His memory had been good since he was young. Even when he didn't study seriously, his grades would usually stay above average.
He first returned to the crater, then flew toward the restricted zone. Of course, he didn't dare enter the restricted zone. He planned to place a few bubbles around the perimeter and then manually control them, letting them drift slowly toward the Extreme Dragon.
Half an hour later, Yu Xian arrived at the very edge of the restricted zone. From where he was, he could not even see the lake where the Extreme Dragon resided. All he could see were layers upon layers of mountain peaks. He estimated that he would have to go several thousand meters deeper before he could see the lake.
But this was enough. He really did not dare get any closer. "Let's begin!"
Yu Xian extended his hand, and tiny bubbles quickly condensed in his palm. He controlled the bubbles and sent them toward the Extreme Dragon, hugging the ground as they sped forward.
At first, he could see the bubbles. Later, when he could no longer see them at all, he could only materialize a red spider lily seed and place it inside one of the bubbles.
After the red spider lily bloomed and its petals spread, he relied on that limited range of perception to control the spatial bubbles, moving them at an extremely slow speed. Yu Xian was extremely careful throughout the entire process, afraid of alarming the Extreme Dragon in the water.
Fortunately, although there were a few scares, nothing dangerous happened. The bubbles arrived close to the lake. The moment the red spider lily petals touched the water, he dispersed them.
For the final stretch, he was operating completely blind. Based on his calculations, the bubbles should have already entered the water. Only then did he stop interfering with them.
After that, he rode his spatial bubble into the sky and released many tiny bubbles. This time, it was much easier to manage, and eventually, the bubbles came to a halt in the sky above the lake.
In the future, if he encountered an enemy he could not defeat, then if they could fly, he would teleport them into the lake. If they could not fly, he would teleport them into the air.
If the enemy could fly, they would have to face the Extreme Dragon the moment they were teleported over. They most likely would have no chance of escaping.
If the enemy could not fly, that would be even more interesting. They would fall from the sky into the lake, and that kind of commotion was more than enough to alarm the Extreme Dragon.
Yu Xian was already looking forward to the sight of those enemies being teleported over and facing the Extreme Dragon. Hopefully, they would not despair too much!
After thinking for a moment, he immediately created quite a few more bubbles and placed them around the entire edge of the restricted zone. Some were placed on the ground, blending in with the dust and light, while others were placed in the sky, keeping company with the clouds.
Finally, done with the preparations, he turned and left.
***
Yu Xian did not sleep for the night. And without any other scares or danger, he covered another third of the journey. Along the way, he passed through Green City, Fruit City, and Emerald City, leaving spatial bubbles in each. In the future, if he wanted to visit any of these cities, he could just teleport to the bubbles. Traveling back and forth would be extremely convenient.
A little past six in the morning, Yu Xian teleported back home. By the time he took a shower and changed into his school uniform, Nora had already come bouncing up to his front door.
Yu Xian teleported to the front gate, opened it, and smiled. "Good morning!"
Nora seemed to be in an especially good mood today. She smiled back. "Mm. Good morning."
The two walked to school together. Now and then, Nora would break into a happy smile, which made Yu Xian glance at her again and again.
Nora did not keep him in suspense for long. "My dad transferred Roche away. My new guardian is a very easygoing older sister. She only took over last night, and we talked the whole night."
Yu Xian smiled warmly. "Congratulations. You must have a lot more freedom now."
He was not surprised that Marcus had transferred Roche away. After all, Roche coming to look for him that night had already been a very strange thing to do. Naturally, Marcus would become suspicious of Roche. Perhaps he had even begun to suspect Roche was harboring inappropriate thoughts about his daughter.
Yu Xian had always looked down on Roche. As he watched the happy Nora, he found it a little amusing. Once he reached Ice City tonight, Nora would definitely be even happier tomorrow.
Nora continued happily, "Oh, right. When my mom heard that Roche had been transferred away, she booked a flight for tonight. I’ll be able to see her tomorrow. This time, that annoying guy finally won’t be around to get in the way."
The smile on Yu Xian’s face froze for a moment. Then, he let out a dry laugh. "You said... your mother is coming?"
Nora nodded, her eyes full of anticipation. Her entire being seemed to radiate joy. "Mm. Her flight is tonight, so she should arrive tomorrow."
Yu Xian could only smile along with her. "Then congratulations. Tomorrow happens to be Saturday. You can spend some proper time with your mother."
Things had turned a little awkward for him. He had been planning to give Nora a surprise tomorrow, only to hear that Nora’s mother would arrive in Silver City first.
According to his original plan, he would set up spatial bubbles in Ice City tonight, head out to find Nora tomorrow, and use those same bubbles to bring her to Ice City. From there, they would visit Nora's mother together.
The mere thought of that scene brought a smile to his face. Yet, reality had gotten in the way of his plans. Roche's reassignment had set off a domino effect, causing his entire arrangement to fall completely through.
Nora saw that Yu Xian seemed a little down. "What’s wrong?"
Yu Xian forced a smile. "It's nothing. I'm just a little tired from last night. I'll be fine after sleeping a bit once we get to school."
In the classroom at school, Nora happily shared her joy with Chen Ling. The two girls huddled together, whispering.
Yu Xian did not eavesdrop. He propped his cheek up with one hand, wondering whether he still needed to go to Ice City.
He realized that although he could no longer surprise Nora and he did feel a little shaken, disappointed, and dejected, these past two nights of travel had made him fall in love with the feeling of adventuring through the wilderness, free and unrestrained. Once, setting out to roam the world had been nothing more than a dream. Now that the dream had become reality, he had no reason to walk away from it.
When a frog at the bottom of a well could see how vast the sky truly was, he would not willingly return to the bottom of the well and stare at a sky only as large as the mouth of the well. If Yu Xian had never gone out to explore, he would never have met the Dragon King Golden Toad, witnessed how strong the Extreme Dragon was, or understood just how wondrous and magnificent this world truly was.
Yu Xian took a deep breath. In his heart, he already had his answer. That settles it. Ice City, here I come!
Besides Ice City, there were also Buddha City, Stone City, Lion City, Dragon City, and Fragrance City. In the future, he would visit many, many more places, experience different local customs, taste the food of different cities, and encounter more interesting people and things.
And since he was no longer in a hurry to reach Ice City, his schedule had opened up, and he could spend more time in other cities along the way. He would also be passing through Yanjing. There, he could visit Jin Sheng, take a look around headquarters to broaden his horizons, and personally hand Zhong Wuliang's body over to Bat.
Yu Xian realized that things had not turned out so badly after all. At the very least, he had more freedom now.