Longevity Martial Arts: I have a Mysterious Water Snake Avatar-Chapter 697 - 478 Really Want to Continue On..._3

Even though she had prepared for anything, her success had come with great difficulty.

Suddenly, she recalled the unease she felt when she grasped the inheritance of the Dream Tao from her two masters.

If Heaven bestows a gift and it's not accepted, will one suffer the consequences...

Master Min, Master Qing harm me? No, absolutely impossible!

I never imagined that despite all my precautions, I would still fall to Shang Yaoqin's ultimate strategy.

The backlash from the Human Tao's momentum weakened Hua Menghuang's aura. Shang suddenly surpassed her progress towards becoming a saint.

Yet, she still did not give up and continued to chase after Shang Yaoqin.

However, hope became increasingly slim.

Time trickled away bit by bit, and the situation grew more irreversible. A vision of defeat was now apparent.

A poem flowed through Hua Menghuang's heart:

Who will awaken from the Great Dream first?

In this life, I am self-aware.

A full spring nap in the thatched cottage.

Outside the window, the day lingers on...

With a soft sigh, her past experiences emerged before her eyes like scattered fragments, a fleeting cavalcade.

She understood that her life was probably going to end here.

I truly hate to let go~

「...」

"Xiao Cao, you've done so well. Let Grandma take care of the remaining clothes," the old woman said.

"HEE HEE, don't worry, Grandma! I'm three years old this year and very strong, HEE HEE~"

The winter at the Southern Border was exceptionally cold. The Cold Wind was like a knife, chilling to the bone and marrow. Outside a shabby thatched hut, the Cold Wind howled, wildly proclaiming its fierce claws.

A withered old grandmother with a stooped back braved the cold, using a wooden club to vigorously wash the clothes of the students from the academy. Fortunately, today was clear, a good opportunity for chores. Yet even with the fair weather and slight warmth, the grandmother's hands were still cracked from the cold. The weather was too cold, utterly chilling.

Beside the grandmother, a small, thin, three-year-old girl dressed in coarse hemp and burlap took the initiative to roll up her sleeves and help. The little girl's face was flushed red from the wind. Each gust felt as if it were tearing her cheeks apart; the pain was intense. But she bit down hard, keeping her mouth firmly shut, refusing to complain.

I'm afraid Grandma will send me back to the hut!

The more she thought about it, the harder she worked on the clothes, helping her grandmother. She knew that if she didn't finish the laundry quickly, her grandmother would be late to bed. Her grandmother would suppress her voice all night long, quietly wailing in pain, afraid of disturbing her sleep. She didn't want, nor did she wish, to see her grandmother suffer so much.

I can contribute my own strength to this family, she thought. Because this year, I'm already a three-year-old little adult!

"HAHA, our Xiao Cao is so dexterous! You'll definitely marry into a good family when you grow up," the grandmother chuckled.

"Marry into a good family? What's that...? When I grow up? HEE HEE, Grandma, don't worry! When I grow up, I'll make sure you live in a tall bamboo house just like the Headmaster!"

"Yes, yes, of course. Grandma believes in you."

The old grandmother looked fondly at Xiao Cao, her eyes full of indulgence. Although Xiao Cao was a child she had found by the riverside while washing clothes, the grandmother had long since come to love her as her own. Regrettably, in the end, she couldn't place Xiao Cao with a good family, which led Xiao Cao to suffer.

「Three years later, in winter.」

This year was especially frosty and cold at the Southern Border.

"Grandma, Grandma~" Xiao Cao knelt on the ground, clutching her grandmother's hand tightly.

The grandmother had collapsed on the straw bed. Thin blankets mixed with dry grass were piled on her again and again, but still, she shook with cold, her face turning blue and purple.

The grandmother gazed at her granddaughter, refusing to close her eyes, fearful that if they closed, they would not reopen. Her lips, purple with cold, trembled uncontrollably as if trying to say something to Xiao Cao.

I don't want to die! I haven't raised Xiao Cao to adulthood yet, haven't seen her marry. I still want to take care of Xiao Cao's children...

I don't want to die! I don't want to die!

In a world so cold, only Xiao Cao, a six-year-old girl, remained, struggling to survive.

I'm unwilling! So unwilling!

But until the very end, her body completely cold, her turbid eyes dry and frozen, remained unshut.

Dying with eyes wide open!

"GRANDMA!!!"

Xiao Cao wailed, dissolved in tears, the pain unbearable.

On a deep, snowy winter night, her grandmother departed from this world, leaving Xiao Cao alone.

「Two days later.」

"It's no good, Headmaster! Grandma Hua still won't close her eyes. Moreover, she's so heavy, I can't move her at all," a servant exclaimed. "Even the Martial Artists fled immediately after a single glance at Grandma Hua. What are we going to do now?"

The servant had originally planned to wrap Xiao Cao's grandmother in a straw mat and toss her into the Chaotic Burial Mound, thinking that would be the end of it. He hadn't expected such difficulty.

If Grandma Hua doesn't leave, how can we sell this grass hut to someone else? he thought. As for Xiao Cao? She had already been sold to the middleman. Killing two birds with one stone!

But now, everything had changed because of Grandma Hua.

The Headmaster, dressed in a scholar's robe and with a dignified appearance, turned pale upon hearing the news. As if he had realized something, he quickly sent for Xiao Cao to be brought back. Eventually, he personally came to the grass hut. He kowtowed heavily nine times before Grandma Hua's corpse and solemnly promised to let Xiao Cao inherit her grandmother's job and to raise her to adulthood in the academy.

Only then did Grandma Hua finally close her fully cracked eyes.

From that day forward, six-year-old Xiao Cao became the youngest servant at the academy, toiling day and night to earn her keep.

「...」

「It was another cold winter three years later.」

That year, Xiao Cao, now nine years old, had not grown robust, but she was still tenaciously alive. However, she was the size of a five-year-old child, emaciated and skinny; one glance at her could stir disgust.

「That day.」

As usual, she was carrying a gong, ready to wake the students in their dormitories. Halfway there, a figure descended from the sky like a fairy, her feet treading on a rainbow.

Butterfly Sword Martial Saint Ji Limin!

"Great Dream Seed? Hello, I am Ji Limin, the Martial Saint of the Ji Clan of the Four Great Families..."

Xiao Cao couldn't quite remember what the person in front of her was saying. She only thought that the person before her was dazzling, as beautiful as a fairy from heaven; she didn't know how to describe it. In the end, feeling inferior, Xiao Cao looked down at her straw shoes.

How wonderful it would be if I could one day be as strong and beautiful as the fairy before me, even if only for a single day, she thought. If so, Grandma would certainly be very happy~

"Xiao Cao? That's hardly a proper name," Ji Limin said. "How about this: you shall be called Menghuang. 'Great Dream Menghuang,' unstoppable!"

Menghuang? Great Dream Menghuang, unstoppable? Am I... Hua Menghuang? Xiao Cao wondered.

「...」

CLANG! The sword rang out, clear and resonant.

Endless brilliant flowers of sword dreams bloomed. A cascade of pure white petals danced in the sky, swirling around Hua Menghuang, overwhelming her, burying her. Her grace was unparalleled, like the Moon Fairy gracing the earth. But particles of light flew from her ivory-like, translucent white skin, gradually eroding her icy flesh and jade bones. She slowly became ethereal, fading from the world, her life approaching its conclusion.

Grandma, Master Min, Master Qing, I have failed, she thought. Defeated by fate, defeated by Shang Yaoqin.

Master Min, Master Qing, I'm sorry. I'm afraid I can't kill Xuan Guangqiao myself. I won't be able to help your younger disciples fortify their Martial Arts foundations either…

Hua Menghuang looked fondly towards the south, her smile beaming, filled with longing.

I truly, truly want to keep going...

In her final moments, Hua Menghuang willed her Life Holy Artifact, the Dream Sword, to shatter. It transformed into a sphere of light, securely protecting the peace charm. Within the peace charm, the Water Dragon Fire Phoenix appeared vivid, jointly supporting the White Sword. Though the peace charm was shattered and full of cracks, it still maintained its complete form.

And on her body, the last pure white petal dissipated, never to return to this world.

Hua Menghuang, thus, ceased to exist...