Child of Light

She smiled with satisfaction. I knew that I had lost this round.

Mu Zi turned around, with her back facing me.She continued to say in a gentle and touching voice, “Zhang Gong, when I found out that you’d come to the Demon race to find me, my heart had already flown to your side. Do you know that when Big Brother Wa Leng told me that you’d died, my heart shattered?”

Her words moved my heart. “Princess, I’m not worthy of you.”

Mu Zi suddenly turned around with an angered expression. “Haven’t we settled that you’ll call me Mu Zi?” Faint, had I agreed to that?

“Zhang Gong, I know that you still love me, right?”

The topic had come so quickly that I didn’t know how to answer. I looked at her in a daze. Mu Zi continued, “I understand why you’re purposely pushing me away. It was only an excuse when you said that it would be impossible for a demon and a human to be together. The real reason is your scars, right? Zhang Gong, my beloved, could it be that in your heart, I, Mu Zi, am that shallow?” She looked straight into my eyes, not allowing me to dodge her gaze.

Mu Zi’s words had moved me tremendously. She still had such strong feelings towards me. I abruptly raised my head to look at her moving, lovable appearance. Just as I wanted to embrace her, my atrocious looks appeared in my mind. I grabbed onto my hair and hollered in agony, “No!!”

Mu Zi was shocked and quickly grabbed on my hand. “Zhang Gong, what’s wrong?”

I shook my head with all my might and huskily replied, “Mu Zi, forget about me. I’m no longer compatible with you. I can’t allow you to follow me, who is so ugly, all of your life. Forget about me! Ke Lun Duo should be the best choice for you.”

Tears constantly flowed down Mu Zi’s face.She replied choked with sobs, “No! Zhang Gong, I only have a sibling’s feelings towards Ke Lun Duo. The one I truly love is you. No matter how much your appearance changes, I’ll forever stay by your side, all of my life, and until the end of time.”

“I can prove Mu Zi’s words.” Ke Lun Duo moved out in a flash from the shadows by the thickets. “Even though Mu Zi and I grew up together, I had only treated her as a sister. I already have someone that I admire. Even though I don’t wish that Mu Zi would marry you, her feeling towards you are really too deep. Can’t you be more confident in yourself and accept her? You had initially thrown away your great future for Mu Zi. Why can’t you put aside your feelings and show your dedication for her again?”

I gradually calmed down and looked at Mu Zi and Ke Lun Duo. I tore my shirt, revealing the numerous scars on my chest, then chuckled mournfully. “Mu Zi have you seen clearly? This is me now. My body is filled with hideous scars. Do you want to spend your entire life with such a freak?” I prevented her from replying as I continued to say, “Even if you’re willing, I’m not. I definitely can’t ruin your great youth by my hands.” Upon saying that, after a flash of light, I disappeared from that place.

Mu Zi shouted behind me, “Zhang Gong!”

Just as she wanted to chase after me, Ke Lun Duo held her back and consoled her. “Mu Zi, don’t be too anxious. Zhang Gong’s disfiguration is something that has hurt him deeply. He can’t accept it in such a short while. You should give both him and yourself some time. After you two calm down and consider things objectively, perhaps, it’ll lead to a different outcome.”

Mu Zi looked at Ke Lun Duo and no longer insisted to chase after me. In tears, she said, “Zhang Gong, why do you want to run away? No matter how your appearance changes and no matter how determined you are, I’ll use all of my methods to soften your determination and love you all of my life. My heart is for you alone!”

I hadn’t gone far away; I simply teleported to a nearby tree, behind them. Hearing Mu Zi’s words, I painfully gripped onto the tree before me. How great would it have been if I heard them before I got injured? Without these hideous scars, even if the entire world objected, I would stay by your side without a second thought. But now, could I do that? I could only choose to evade her and hope that time could lessen our feelings toward each other. I only wished for Mu Zi’s happiness, but with my current looks, I couldn’t give that to her.

......

I didn’t dare to get into contact with her after that night. No matter the time, I evaded her. I was rather curious about Ke Lun Duo’s actions. He had talked so much when he previously impersonated Su He. Now, I rarely heard his voice the whole day long. He just silently stayed by Mu Zi’s side and dutifully protected her.

Ten days passed by quickly. We had returned to the cliff where we initially met Ke Lun Duo. The alliance troops still had high morale. From the orderly line up, I knew that in these few months, both sides hadn’t had any significant battles.

Zhan Hu asked me, “How are we getting across? The front path has been blocked by the alliance troops. Are we going to use long distance teleportation again?”

“No! I’m afraid. I’m more willing to rush in and kill the enemy than to teleport again. If it turns out badly, I won’t even know how I died,” Jian Shan voiced out from the back.

All smiles, Zhan Hu replied, “You brat, stop thinking that way. Zhang Gong has made a large breakthrough recently. There shouldn’t be any dangers.”

I shook my head. “Even with my power’s improvement, this time we have two more people, so the burden will be much larger. Moreover, I can’t set the location of the teleportation. If we were to be separated from each other, it would be really troublesome to regroup. I think it’s best not to teleport, for everyone’s safety.”

Zhan Hu was stunned. “Are we really going to kill our way through? There’s a few million troopers there.”

Mu Zi said, frowning, “You can’t use force. Firstly, I won’t stand by as you kill the Demon race, and secondly, even if we were able to make our way over to the Ström Fortress through killing, it may affect future peace talks. Let’s think of other ways.”

Dong Ri suggested, “Can’t we fly over?”

Ke Lun Duo replied smilingly, “Obviously, it wouldn’t work. Our Demon and beast races have numerous weapons specialized in attacking airborne objects. If not, how could we deal with you humans’ wind mages? If we were to fly through, we’d just become targets for both races’ artilleries.”

Dong Ri was stunned for a moment, before refuting, “We wouldn’t be discovered that easily if we were to wear nocturnal equipment and fly at a high altitude, right?”

Mu Zi shook her head and replied, “In order to prevent the enemies from attacking the back of the troops via flight, the Demon and beast races have special methods to detect high altitude objects. Moreover, their surveillance covers the entire sky, so our success rate would be extremely low.”