[Immovable Heart (Fourth Order UNIQUE skill) Lvl 4: Having conquered the past completely to focus on today for the sake of a better tomorrow, your willpower and determination increase tremendously. Your current self knows what it wants and the likelihood of wavering towards what you want decreases. Self-confidence increases your charm enormously the longer you talk with people of the opposite sex.]
[First passive effect: Negatively focused side effects of the user's skills are weakened by half.]
[Second passive effect: The effects of active or passive skills launched by third parties that affect the mentality, rationality, or heart of the possessor of the skill Immovable Heart are automatically canceled with a maximum limit of up to three Orders above the possessor.]
Bai Zemin slowly opened his eyes and as the green letters disappeared from his retina to merge with his soul he faced with a carefree smile looking at the growing darker and starry sky.
More than feeling joy or surprise at the surprisingly strong effects of the skill Immovable Heart, what Bai Zemin felt most was liberation. Now, at this moment, he could say with complete confidence that the past for him was nothing more than a walked past; now, he could focus on the things that really mattered in the way he believed was right.
A strong gust of wind rushed through the area and the crimson red hair of Feng Tian Wu danced uncontrollably giving her the appearance of a beautiful goddess but also of a brave warrior. She stood silently as her beautiful eyes stared blankly at the young man a few feet ahead.
Feng Tian Wu really wanted to ask him how he could smile like that. She really wanted to know how he was able to show such a carefree and kind smile in front of the person who had once caused him so much pain.
Sun Jie had told her years ago that the person who had broken his legs had been Bai Zemin, and while no one had believed him back then because Bai Zemin was in a state of total depression, Feng Tian Wu who thought she was in love did believe him. She even despised Bai Zemin in her heart for being a person who did not wake up from his dream world.
But it was not until now that Feng Tian Wu finally understood that probably the reason why Bai Zemin broke Sun Jie's legs at that time was not because of her, not out of jealousy, but out of pain... Pain and anger after being betrayed by his best friend, the one he trusted with all his heart.
After several seconds, Bai Zemin took a deep breath and let out all that air he was holding in a single blow. He looked at the woman standing in front of him and said with a faint smile, "I guess now I should thank you once again."
Feng Tian Wu just looked at him silently. She was finding it difficult to understand the kind of person the young man in front of her was. The Bai Zemin in front of her was simply too different from the Bai Zemin in her memories; not only physically, but his attitude and personality were also completely different from what Feng Tian Wu could remember.
The Bai Zemin in front of her looked countless times more confident compared to his past self, confidence which like a magnet attracted the eyes of others and made them rely on him. Moreover, the young man in front of her also looked determined and assertive, far from that Bai Zemin who looked at the world with hesitant eyes just like a tiger that had been taken out of the forest he belonged to and thrown into the city.
"You... What are you?" Her brain was still trying to process what was going on when her mouth moved of its own accord.
Bai Zemin chuckled and shook his head slightly without saying anything at the woman's weird question before him.
While he did not hate Feng Tian Wu in any way and no longer held the slightest bit of resentment for the past, this did not mean that Bai Zemin had forgotten what she did to him; having no resentment or hatred was very different from forgetting. Therefore, Bai Zemin had no intention of befriending Feng Tian Wu.
As such, he naturally would not share any of his deepest secrets... Consequently, he would not tell her that in part because of her he now possessed a tremendously powerful skill.
Friendship was something that was earned with trust, and unfortunately or not, Feng Tian Wu was not someone Bai Zemin could trust no matter how much she seemed to have changed.
"Looks like the others finished with setting up the camp." Bai Zemin said suddenly, snapping Feng Tian Wu out of her daze. He jumped down from the large pile of rubble and as he walked towards the center of the town he looked over his shoulder and said with a faint smile, "We should go too."
Feng Tian Wu watched him walk further away and even though she wanted to move forward she for some reason could not take a step ahead and follow him. After several seconds, she called out, "Aren't you going to ask me anything?"
Bai Zemin stopped and still without turning around looked at her over his shoulder in confusion, "Ask you?"
Feng Tian Wu took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "About what happened after we each took our own paths. Don't you want to know?"
"Oh! You mean about what happened between you and Sun Jie?" Bai Zemin suddenly got enlightened. However, he shrugged his shoulders and said in a flat voice, "It's none of my business, and being honest with you, I don't have a hobby of sticking my nose into other people's relationships either."
Then, he turned and walked away leaving behind some last words:
"You apologized, I forgave you. You will go on with your life the same way you have been and I will go on with my life the way I think is best to live it. That's all, there is no more."
Feng Tian Wu watched as his back disappeared beyond the turn of the corner covered by debris that had been lifted as a means of partially blocking the wind and after almost two whole minutes of standing in silence she smiled bitterly and said under her breath, "For some reason, I now feel worse than I did before."
But Feng Tian Wu was not a weak-minded woman either. She soon gently smacked her face and her firm expression returned to it. Her footsteps never faltered again as she moved forward resolutely toward the central camp.
Immediately after returning to the center of what had once been Xingshou Town, a place where more than a hundred tents reinforced with all kinds of mutant animal hides had now been erected, Bai Zemin called several people and ordered them to inform the leaders of the respective guilds to meet him at his tent in twenty minutes.
Then, he made sure that the food preparations went smoothly before finally making a quick inspection of the traps and alarms that had been set up in a 1-kilometer perimeter.
The traps that had been set consisted mostly of a series of mines in irregular patterns but whose locations were carefully thought out in such a way that even an existence with the ability to detect them would have trouble avoiding a safe path in or out.
As for the "alarms," they were actually several glass bottles held together by wires placed at ground level so that a small hitch was all that was needed for the bottles to fall from high above and explode against the ground, acting as an emergency alarm clock in the event of an ambush.
In addition, there would be patrols constantly changing shifts every two hours in order that the security guards would always be at their maximum possible strength.
About ten minutes later, Bai Zemin went into his tent which had been set up in the center, right next to Sun Ling's tent since they were both leader and deputy leader in this operation.
There, Bai Zemin met his little sister Meng Qi, Shangguan Bing Xue, Wu Yijun, Chen He, Zhong De, Sun Ling, Nangong Lingxin, and Cai Jingyi.
"Big brother..." Meng Qi stood up when she saw him but suddenly hesitated and stopped herself from what she was going to say.
She really wanted to ask how everything had gone but with so many people present maybe it wasn't the best idea so, in the end, she looked at him hoping he would understand her questioning. Of course, having spent so much time together in the past it was impossible for him not to understand something so simple.
"Everything turned out fine... In fact, you were right." Bai Zemin chuckled and sat down on a cut tree trunk next to the large makeshift table that had been built using part of a mutant tree.
They hadn't brought many luxuries on this operation as it was meant to last only two or three days at most and then they would return to base to report whatever it was they had found.
Meng Qi sighed in relief and a beautiful smile naturally bloomed on her face, brightening the atmosphere tremendously.
Bai Zemin walked over and under everyone's surprised eyes gently kissed the top of her head. "Thank you, Meng Qi. If not for you, if anything happened to her before I could clear all this up it's probable that I would never have been able to make it."
The very thought made Bai Zemin tremble with fear but also wonder at how mysterious destiny was sometimes.
Meng Qi just smiled sweetly and said nothing even though she felt proud that she could help her big brother grow stronger. However, the same could not be said for the people inside the tent.
Hearing the words "she and her", everyone realized that Bai Zemin seemed to have met with a woman and somehow or other this woman was clearly someone important to him. However, no one understood what was going on since other than those present Bai Zemin should be unfamiliar with any of the other soul evolvers or soldiers who came to this operation.
Only Shangguan Bing Xue frowned slightly as she recalled what happened a few minutes ago. However, despite her curiosity, she restrained herself from asking anything since like Meng Qi, she also believed that it was not right to ask too personal questions when there were so many people present.
Bai Zemin chatted with the people inside his tent for about five minutes when suddenly Sun Ling looked at him somewhat puzzled and said in confusion, "Little Brother Zemin, is it just me, or has something in you changed recently?"
In fact, it was not only Wu Yijun's mother who noticed the small but noticeable change in him. The past Bai Zemin talked and looked at practically everyone with a certain indifference and wariness, but the present him talked and looked at people with confidence and pride that seemed to come from his very soul and as if he feared nothing and no one.
"This madam, could you please stop using the term little brother on my husband?" Lilith said suddenly and a pout formed on her charming face as she said with hidden bitterness, "Only I can call him little brother after all!"
Of course, no one but Bai Zemin himself could hear Lilith so he didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he heard her complaints. Moreover, it seemed to be that Lilith was really happy at this moment since she even dared to refer to him as "my husband" even though she was usually quite shy about this matter.
Consequently, Bai Zemin smiled happily as the happier his beloved the happier he would naturally be.
"Indeed, aunt Sun." He did not deny it and said confidently. "You could say that after freeing myself from a certain minor burden I am now something like a new man."
"... So I see." Sun Ling nodded and suddenly smiled like a little fox as she said in a joking tone, "Your current aura is really attractive, you know? Now even I feel like I could contend against my daughter for your future affection."
"Mom!" Wu Yijun looked at her mother in shock and embarrassedly kicked her under the table making her jump slightly.
"Girl, I fed you as a little girl and even raised you in the best possible way. Is it so hard for you to share your man with me?" Sun Ling said with fake tears in her eyes. Her personality was really mischievous as she suddenly sighed dreamily and said in a whispering voice, "I still remember when my little Yijun used to sleep with me in the same bed. But since she grew up she no longer wanted to share a bed with me, embarrassed by her father..."
"Mother, stop it or I'll get mad at you!"
Wu Yijun kicked her again with an apple-red face from under the table but Sun Ling clearly wasn't going to stop just like that as she suddenly took Bai Zemin's hands between hers and said in a pleading voice:
"Little brother Zemin... No, big brother! It's up to you to let me sleep in the same bed with my daughter again. Since she won't sleep with me because of her father, then I have no choice but to sleep with you so that she won't refuse anymore!"
Bai Zemin, like everyone else inside the tent, was dumbfounded as he stared at the beautiful and seductive face of the woman in front of him who was looking at him with shining black fox-like eyes as if he was her only hope.
What the fuck was going on here, he wondered quietly in silence. Then, Lilith's funny voice sounded next to him:
"It's really interesting. Stone Heart practically made your attitude drive women away somehow, but after evolving into Immovable Heart, your attitude seems to attract women very naturally."

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