-Obion World.
Bai Zemin finally reacted after hearing Meng Qi's voice. He abruptly stood up and his body flashed, disappearing from his position in an instant and appearing next to the enormous window that almost connected the floor to the ceiling.
"This is..." Bai Zemin muttered with wide eyes.
Although his memories from back then were not very clear since he was but a little child in the initial stages of his primary education at that time, Bai Zemin believed that even if his skin wrinkled and his hair turned white he would never forget what happened that day in the countryside.
"Big brother, what's going on?" Meng Qi approached and asked, her eyes fixed on the bright crimson stars.
Bai Zemin took a deep breath and explained what happened when he was still small, then he continued, "Back then I was really scared. Forget about the fact that I was just a kid who wasn't even 5 years old, I would probably be scared all the same regardless of my age. It's a pity that I can't remember accurately but I'm pretty sure that this time the occurrence in the sky is way stronger than back then."
Meng Qi only joined the family as Bai Zemin's adopted sister when he was a few months away from entering high school while Meng Qi herself was but a little girl of 9 or 10 years old. In other words, when Bai Zemin experienced his first "contact" with the stars in the sky they had practically no connection except occasional encounters when their mothers got together to recall old times.
"So there was such a thing..." Meng Qi was surprised and subconsciously looked up at the sky again. After a long silence, she carefully said, "That's the constellation of the Heavenly Wolf, isn't it? Big brother, this means that you are after all..."
"It's still not clear, but almost." Bai Zemin nodded slowly with a complicated expression on his face.
Suddenly, he felt someone holding his hand. Being taken by surprise, Bai Zemin looked at Meng Qi with a doubtful expression.
"It doesn't matter whether or not you're someone else's reincarnation... The fact that we are family will not change regardless of anything." Meng Qi nodded with a gentle smile on her face.
Bai Zemin was slightly stunned seeing the loving smile on her youthful and lovely face. What surprised him most, however, was the pure and sincere sparkle in her two black pearl-like eyes as clear as the stars in the sky.
"Of course." Bai Zemin also took her hand and while looking up at the sky said in a low voice, "No matter how low or high we have been and no matter how low or high we get in the future... nothing will change the fact that you, Meng Qi, are my family."
"And nothing will change the fact that you, Bai Zemin, are my family." The smile on Meng Qi's face was particularly bright when she said this.
There was something else that Meng Qi did not say out loud but did think in her heart. Perhaps someday and under other circumstances she would say what was in her heart, but right now it was not a good idea as it would unfortunately only have an adverse effect than the one she hoped for.
Lost in her own thoughts trying to measure losses and gains, Meng Qi did not notice that the glow in Bai Zemin's eyes had dimmed to the point where his gaze looked like a dead person's.
When Bai Zemin's eyes opened, everything around him was sheer darkness.
If it were someone else they probably would have been frightened at suddenly being "transported" to a place as dark and cold as this one. However, Bai Zemin was the only exception as not only was he familiar with this scene but the place itself gave him a strangely warm feeling as if he was returning home.
He had been here before; it happened not long after becoming a Second Order soul evolver and successfully obtaining his Blood Mystic class.
"You progressed faster than I expected, not bad."
With a calm expression on his face, Bai Zemin turned around. What greeted him were two pairs of eyes sharp as a beast's and golden like the flames of the sun. It looked very much like the scene of him opening his Wolf Emperor's Domain.
After a silent pause, Bai Zemin tentatively asked, "Are you really the Heavenly Wolf Sirius?"
"That's right," said the deep voice of what seemed to be a middle-aged man as the golden eyes gazed at him intently, making Bai Zemin feel as if all his secrets were exposed before those eyes.
"So..." Bai Zemin took a deep breath and asked in a serious voice, "Could it be that I really am your reincarnation after all?"
Bai Zemin wasn't quite sure if he was imagining things but for a brief moment he thought he heard a strange sound similar to someone surprised or dumbfounded in the dark space right after those words came out of his mouth.
"Hahahahaha!"
What Bai Zemin absolutely did not expect was that suddenly the serious Heavenly Wolf Sirius whose legend was heard even to this day would suddenly start laughing out loud like a lunatic.
Was his question really that funny or something? Even after almost 30 seconds that laughter still echoed loudly making his ears ring!
Perhaps noticing the increasingly black expression on Bai Zemin's face or feeling his bad mood, the laughter slowly stopped: "Hah... Let me apologize for that, it's just that I didn't expect such a question at all."
"Is it such a weird question to laugh like that?" Bai Zemin asked with a rotten face.
He didn't know why but he simply wasn't afraid towards that overwhelming presence he felt around him and fixed on him as if not wanting to miss even a second of their meeting. Quite the contrary, what Bai Zemin felt towards the presence behind those two sharp, golden eyes that shone like gold were feelings of closeness and friendliness.
"Naturally you will understand everything in due time," said the Heavenly Wolf after a long time of silence: "Who you really are, what your reincarnation is, who you once were... These are all secrets guarded by the Heavens that no one but you and you alone can someday unveil. The things I can tell you are not many. Even if I were to tell you that you are indeed my reincarnation, would it change anything? Are you able to change anything?"
Bai Zemin's expression changed repeatedly and both frustration and unwillingness could be seen in his eyes.
"I know that not knowing who you really are is causing you a lot of grief, I can understand that." Possibly realizing the pulsing emotions in Bai Zemin's heart, Sirius' voice became softer than before as he said, "But I believe you don't need to think too much about who you used to be at some point... I can only say that you were a really scary and decisive person to the point where you erased all your memories and everything about you willingly."
Erasing my memories and everything about me of my own free will? Bai Zemin was shocked.
What was that supposed to mean? On what grounds would anyone even want to erase their memories? Besides, what did this spirit left behind by Sirius mean when he said that Bai Zemin even erased everything about himself? The questions kept popping up one after another.
"You should stop thinking about a past that won't come back and focus on what you have right in front of you... You are you! Only you can decide who or what you will be tomorrow!" Bai Zemin was snapped out of his thoughts as the Heavenly Wolf's voice swept through bis entire body.
"I am me and only I can decide who or what I will be tomorrow..." Bai Zemin lowered his head and repeated these words over and over again.
The more he repeated that short sentence, the more he became convinced of the depth behind those seemingly simple and casual words.
That's right! Why should he look back so much now that he was so weak? It wasn't as if he could change anything anyway!
Bai Zemin still thought it was wrong to forget the past and the responsibilities it carried, however, the words of Sirius' spirit made him feel much lighter all of a sudden.
Instead of trying to look back and beyond a dark abyss that blocked his vision, it would be best to look ahead to choose those paths that would favor him and his loved ones the most. Looking back so intensely would eventually make us miss the details of our current lives after all.
Bai Zemin's expression suddenly became much calmer and the endless waves clashing under the cover of his indifferent eyes began to subside along with his heartbeat.
"You seem to have calmed down."
Bai Zemin believed that if this past Heavenly Wolf had a physical body he would probably be nodding with a satisfied expression on his face.
He bowed slightly and said in a sincere voice, "Thank you for your words. You have really helped me overcome a problem that has been haunting me for a while... And to think the answer was so simple."
"If my few words were helpful then that's good," Sirius sighed and said slowly, "Remember that easy and hard are relative, just like good and evil. What is easy for you might be hard for others while those things that are very challenging for you might be mundane things in the eyes and ears of others."
"I will keep that in mind." Bai Zemin nodded with a serious expression.
"Very well, I cannot stay here much longer so I will be brief."
Bai Zemin had already noticed that the golden eyes in the dark space were becoming more and more transparent as if they were about to disappear soon therefore he knew that the time of this meeting was coming to its destined end.
"I don't know what path you chose to walk in order to continue progressing, but whatever it is you probably didn't make a mistake in taking it as long as you listened to the voice in your heart."
The voice in my heart? Bai Zemin's heart suddenly skipped a beat as he remembered that practically supernatural, bestial instinct that was always there for him even long before the Soul Record appeared in his life.
"As I said back during our previous meeting, it's time for you to have the trace of the path I walked in the past... I think you call it 'Firmament Fragment' if I'm not mistaken."
"Will you really give me your Firmament Fragment?" Bai Zemin was already expecting it but he still couldn't help but get excited.
Ever since he held the Firmament Fragment left behind by the Ice Goddess in his hands and felt the power within, Bai Zemin always wanted to have his own. And apparently, that time was here!
"Everything that is mine naturally is or will be yours someday..." Bai Zemin heard a weak sigh that carried many emotions and vicissitudes he could not understand. The voice didn't give him time to think too much as Sirius continued, "In a year at the least and two years at the most, the sealed space of the Heavenly Wolf constellation will open for those courageous to venture in to defy the dangers there. I hope you will also appear there when the time comes; that will be our last meeting in a long time, probably."
"W-Wait a minute!" Bai Zemin realized that the eyes had practically disappeared completely so he quickly called out loudly, "Could you tell me something about the Golden Domain?"
The final invasion was just around the corner, and Bai Zemin hoped to get as much information as possible that could help him think more thoroughly about one or many life-saving plans that would increase his chances of success.
"Golden Domain, huh... That's the place you loved and hated the most..."
Eventually, Bai Zemin could only hear a few words before the voice became too weak to be heard even by his current self that was already quite powerful.
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