Half a year, for Soul Master, may be just a few Deep Meditation, a few Soul Hunting attempts, and a short-term retreat.
However, for some people in some places on the mainland, these six months have been as long as a lifetime.
Heaven Dou Empire Shrek Academy.
The bustling campus of the past does not seem to have changed much due to the passage of time. Young students are still sweating on the playground, absorbing knowledge in the classroom, and striving for the future. However, among some old students and between the brows of some instructors, there will occasionally be an imperceptible haze and sigh.
In the back hill of the college, there is a relatively quiet single-family dormitory with a small courtyard. This was originally a residence assigned to outstanding teachers or guest tutors, but now a special "guest" lives in it.
In the courtyard, under an old tree, there was a lounge chair covered with a soft blanket. A figure was quietly leaning on the lounge chair, covered with a thin blanket.
She had long, fiery red hair, but at this moment, the red hair seemed to have lost its previous blazing luster and looked a little dim. She was pulled back casually, with a few strands of hair hanging down beside her pale cheeks.
Her appearance was still beautiful, and even lost a bit of her girlishness due to pregnancy, and gained a bit more mature charm, but her eyes, which were always burning with unyielding flames, seemed to be covered with a layer of lingering haze at the moment, staring blankly at a small patch of sky above the yard, where drifting clouds were slowly drifting.
Huo Wu.
In her arms, she held a small swaddle wrapped in soft brocade. The baby in the swaddle was sleeping soundly. His face was pink and tender, and his father's outline could be vaguely seen in his eyebrows. He also inherited his mother's straight nose. This was a boy.
Huo Wu's eyes slowly retracted from the sky and fell on the sleeping face of the baby in his arms. In the empty eyes, there was finally a very weak, maternal soft light, but then, this soft light was overwhelmed by deeper pain and confusion.
It's been half a year.
It has been half a year since Feng Xiaotian, his brother Huo Wushuang, and Vice Dean Zhao Wuji led a team of elites to Sunset Forest to hunt for Soul Ring.
Before departure, Feng Xiaotian held her hand, with excitement and expectation in his eyes, and vowed that Soul Hunting would be back in a month or two at most. At that time, she felt sweet in her heart, but also a little inexplicably panicked. She only urged them to go back quickly and pay attention to safety.
She failed to tell them the news in person - just a few days after they set off, something strange happened to her body. After careful inspection by Ye Lingling, Nine Heart Begonia Martial Soul was shocked and shy to confirm that she was pregnant.
She wanted to wait for them to come back and tell them in person. Tell Feng Xiaotian that he was going to be a father. Tell her brother that he was going to be an uncle. She could even imagine Feng Xiaotian's silly and then ecstatic look, and her brother's look of pretending to be serious but actually couldn't hold back his laughter.
She waited and waited, one month, two months... Her belly began to swell slightly, and the symptoms of pregnancy began to become obvious. She endured the discomfort and went to the entrance of the college every day to check if there was any news about Sunset Forest from every instructor and student who came back from outside.
The replies I received ranged from the initial "everything went well, Soul Hunting needs time" to the later "maybe we encountered some troubles, but with the strength of Dean Zhao and the others, they will definitely be able to solve them", and then... all that was left was shaking their heads and comforting.
Three months, four months... The belly is already very obvious. The senior leaders of the college, especially the deputy dean Liu Erlong and the dean Flender, could not hide the seriousness on their faces. They sent several waves of people to Sunset Forest to inquire, and even alerted the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Ning Fengzhi sect leader to personally intervene, and also sent some people to assist in the search.
But the result was nothing.
Zhao Wuji, Feng Xiaotian, Huo Wushuang, and the elite Soul Hunting team composed of digital Titled Douluo and Soul Douluo, together with the target of their hunt, the Earth Dragon Lizard, seemed to have evaporated from the Sunset Forest, leaving no trace of the battle, no signal for help, and no... remains found.
No one can be seen alive, and no body can be seen dead.
There are only some sporadic and unverifiable rumors, saying that there seemed to be violent energy fluctuations in the depths of Sunset Forest near the poisonous miasma area, but they quickly subsided. No one knew what they were. Some people also mentioned that they seemed to have seen traces of senior Poison Douluo Dugu Bo in the vicinity, but it was also impossible to confirm.
Five months, six months... the child was born. The birth process was not very smooth, perhaps because she was depressed and overly worried. She exhausted all her strength and almost walked away from hell. It was Ye Lingling and Soul Master, several therapy departments at the college, who joined forces to pull her back from danger and save the child.
The child was healthy, cried loudly, had eyebrows and eyes like his, and lips like her own. But she held this soft little life, but there was no ecstasy in her heart as she imagined, only boundless emptiness and coldness. The person she was waiting for did not come back. The person she wanted to share her joy with did not come back. The shoulder she wanted to rely on did not come back.
Feng Xiaotian, you bastard... you promised me that you would come back soon.
Huo Wushuang, you idiot brother... you said you wanted to protect me... where are you now?
The tears have long since dried up, leaving only the dry pain imprinted in the bottom of my heart. The college and Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect have basically given up hope and characterized this incident as "an extremely unfortunate accident with unknown causes". They may have encountered a powerful enemy that they could not resist, or they may have triggered some ancient prohibition. Only a few people, such as Liu Erlong, still insist on using their personal relationships to secretly investigate, but there is little hope.
Huo Wu knew that she had to accept this reality. She also had to be strong for the sake of the child in her arms. However, every time the child cried in the dead of night, she would rush to coax her. Looking at the expression on that little face that was similar to Feng Xiaotian, the heart-piercing pain would hit her again, almost drowning her.
"Xiao Wu, it's time to take medicine." A cold and soft voice sounded at the door of the hospital.
Ye Lingling walked in gently carrying a bowl of warm medicinal soup. She was still dressed in black, with a beautiful face, but there was lingering fatigue and worry in her eyebrows. In the past six months, she had almost become Huo Wu's most solid support, taking care of her body, soothing her emotions, and helping her take care of her children.
Huo Wu forced a smile that was uglier than crying, and whispered, "Lingling, I'm troubling you again."
"Between you and me, there is no need to talk about this." Ye Lingling handed her the medicine bowl and watched her mechanically drink it in one gulp, with a trace of distress in her eyes. She walked to the recliner, leaned over and looked at the swaddled baby, and her cold face softened a little, "Nian'er is very good today."
"Nian'er..." Huo Wu murmured and repeated the name, her fingertips gently brushing the baby's delicate cheek. This was the name she gave her child, Feng Nian. The thought of longing for the person who may never come back.
"Is there any news from the academy...?" Huo Wu raised her head, with a faint hope in her eyes that even she was unwilling to admit.
Ye Lingling was silent for a moment and shook her head slightly. "Dean Liu and Dean Flender have rarely mentioned it recently. Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Sect Master Ning seems to have... more important things to deal with." She paused and whispered, "Xiao Wu, there are some things, maybe we have to..."
"I know." Huo Wu interrupted her, his voice was very soft, but with a heartbreaking calmness, "I know. It's just... I just sometimes wonder if there will be a miracle..."
Ye Lingling pursed her lips and said nothing, but gently put her hands on Huo Wu's somewhat cold shoulders. She knew that any words of comfort seemed feeble at this moment.
"I plan to take Nian'er out of the academy after a while." Huo Wu suddenly said, looking at the spire of the academy castle in the distance, "Go back to Blazing Fire City, or go somewhere else. There... there are too many memories there."
She didn't want her Nian'er to grow up in a place filled with the shadow of her father and uncle's "disappearance". She needed a new environment, a place where she could temporarily forget her pain and concentrate on raising her child.
Ye Lingling didn't object, just said, "Okay, I'll accompany you. When you get better, we'll go together. Blazing Fire City I can take care of you over there."
Huo Wu glanced at his friend gratefully without saying thank you. There is some friendship that needs no words.
At this moment, there was a rush of footsteps outside the hospital, and a young teacher Shrek Academy walked in quickly with an unusual look on his face.
"Miss Huo Wu, Miss Ye," the young teacher nodded to the two of them, and then said to Huo Wu, "Dean Flender asked me to come over and let me know that Sect Master Ning of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect has just arrived at the college and seems to have important matters to discuss. The dean said that maybe... maybe he will mention some... follow-up situations about Sunset Forest."
Huo Wu's body trembled almost unnoticeably, and an extremely sharp light suddenly burst out from his originally empty eyes. The arms holding Feng Nian tightened unconsciously, causing the sleeping baby to squeak dissatisfiedly.
Ye Lingling quickly patted Huo Wu on the back and said to the young teacher, "We understand, thank you."
After the young teacher left, the courtyard fell into silence again. But in this silence, a heavier and more disturbing atmosphere filled the air.
Ning Fengzhi came in person, but it was "follow-up information" rather than "good news"...
Huo Wu slowly lowered his head, gently pressed his cheek against his son's warm and soft face, and closed his eyes. His long eyelashes trembled slightly, like butterflies in the wind.
What was due was still a request after all. No matter what the result was, no matter how cruel the truth was, she had to listen and face it.