It was noon, and the sunlight blazed brilliantly. Yet the moment the hooded figure in a heavy robe stepped out from the shade of the trees, the forest immediately grew gloomy.
Not because clouds had appeared overhead—the sky was still clear for miles, and a few wisps of cloud could not possibly block the sun. Rather, the moment that person appeared, "shadows" spread through the woods like mist.
If Sui Xiong had wished, he could easily have dispersed those shadows. But he did nothing. He simply hovered quietly in the air, watching the figure.
The figure walked very slowly. Almost every step was dragged out: he would slowly move one foot forward, wait for it to touch the ground and steady himself, pause a while longer, and only then lift the other foot to take another step. As he walked, his body occasionally shuddered, as though he were feeble and powerless, or perhaps convulsing in pain.
The distance from the trees' shade to Sui Xiong was no more than twenty meters, yet it took him over five minutes to cross.
Only when he had reached him did Sui Xiong sigh and say, "I truly never expected it to be you. And I never expected you to end up like this."
The man fell silent for a moment, then gave a hoarse, dry laugh. "I never expected to be reduced to this either. Still less did I expect that, when the mountains were exhausted and the rivers ran dry, the only one I could entrust my final affairs to would not be an old friend, but a newcomer who had only recently emerged—and who had once even been my enemy."
Hearing him mention "final affairs," Sui Xiong was somewhat surprised. "Is your condition really that serious?"
"If it weren't, do you