Buzz!
The moment Fusang's Great Buddha Slash was drawn.
At the desolate Gui Zhe Ruins, Ghost Buddha's sword cry rang out in unison, accompanied by an aberrant phenomenon that flashed past in an instant.
The cold wind howled, and heavy snow whirled through the air.
In the small town beneath Qingyuan Mountain, Cao Erzhu had long since returned to the smithy. As he forged refined iron, he suddenly stopped and turned to look out the window.
"Hua..."
Cao Erzhu hesitated, cut himself off, and changed his question. "Has he come?"
The smithy doors stood wide open. His old man sat at the entrance with his arms folded atop a large wine barrel. Even in such bitter cold, he merely wore a cloak slung loosely over one shoulder.
Snowflakes could not land on him. Once they came within three fingers' distance, they seemed to be vaporized by an immense heat, melting into drifting smoke that the cold wind carried away.
"Crackle..."
Purple lightning flickered through Kui Leihan's eyes. He withdrew his gaze and lowered his head, unconsciously reaching for the wine gourd at his waist.
After a pause, he remembered that he had removed all his drinking vessels long ago. He had been abstaining from alcohol for quite some time.
"Old man, what did you see?" Cao Erzhu set down his great hammer and walked over.
They both had only a pair of naked eyes, yet he believed that what he saw and what his old man saw were utterly different.
Perhaps even the worlds they saw through those eyes were completely different.
"Want to know?"
His old man turned his head.
In the past, he would not have spoken like this. At most, he would have said, "Shut up," or "Don't ask," before sending him back to practice his hammering.