After midnight

Su Ziling woke up from his sleep, and the first thing he thought of was the quarrel last night. Last night, after he slammed the door and left, he had no memory of what he did next, how he turned off the lights, how he took off his sweater and autumn johns and went to bed.

But he still remembered clearly that he pulled the quilt to cover his head, and that many random thoughts flashed through his mind before he went to sleep. But when he recalled these random thoughts now, he couldn't remember any of the specific contents. During the day, the bright light shone into the room, and he tapped his head, regretting the quarrel with An Yan last night.

After sitting on the bed for a quarter of an hour, Su Ziling squinted his eyes and decided to pretend that nothing had happened. He got up as if nothing had happened, took his thick coat and walked out of the room. Fortunately, he was away from home almost all day. He knocked on Xiao Su's door and then walked down the stairs.

"Woke up?"

"Yeah." Su Ziling tried his best to straighten his face to appear cooler.

"Sit down." An Yan pulled out a chair next to the dining table.

Su Ziling looked away, not wanting to obey, but for some reason his body refused to obey. Su Ziling moved his butt and finally sat opposite An Yan, sticking his neck out to avoid An Yan's gaze.

"I didn't finish what I said yesterday, Zi Ling. I don't want you to limit yourself to the identity of 'Guardian'."

"What do you mean?" This time, Su Ziling looked at him.

"That is to say, if I am not the 'Son of God' and you are not the 'Guardian', then what is our most essential relationship?"

"Friend, brother." Su Ziling answered without hesitation.

"That's it. You are who you are now."

"I still do not get it."

An Yan licked his lips, as if he didn't know how to speak again. He took a deep breath and tried to say, "If you want to be my 'Guardian', then you should work hard. All your decisions depend on your own will, although I personally think that 'Guardian' is not a good job. I don't want you to get too involved because, after everything is over, you will still have to go back to school. You are still an ordinary person, and you are my friend, and this will not change. This has nothing to do with the identity of 'Son of God' and 'Guardian'. This is what I said last night."

When An Yan confessed, he was really honest. Su Ziling turned his head to the side again and put his hand on the corner of his mouth.

"Okay, I'll go cook." An Yan stood up.

"Wait a minute." Su Ziling grabbed his elbow. "An Yan, thank you. I thank you because you understand my thoughts and know that I want to go back, but not only that, I also want to be your 'guardian'. I will work hard, and you have to help me."

"it is good."

After getting the promise, Su Ziling let An Yan go into the kitchen and started to walk around the living room. He had never known that An Yan thought this way. It turned out that An Yan believed that he and he were not from the same world. How could he have such an idea? Is there any conflict between wanting to go back and wanting to be a qualified "guardian"? No, and after the war is over, An Yan will definitely go back with him. An Yan loves that world more than he does. So, as long as there is a slight possibility, An Yan will go with him.

How could I say that good word? An Yan stood in the kitchen and pinched his fingers.

I know that the deeper the bond, the more painful it is, but I still can't help it.

Maybe it will be over soon. An Yan stopped himself from thinking too much and started to prepare today's breakfast. What he had to do was simple, stir-fry some vegetables and cook some porridge. After Su Ziling finished a whole bowl of rice porridge, he put on his coat and went out contentedly.

"An Yan, Xiao Su. I won't wait for you." Su Ziling said, and went out excitedly. He ran all the way to his master, panting and his face flushed, but he didn't feel tired at all. He stood in front of the door to calm his breath, and then knocked hard on the door. As soon as he knocked, the door opened. Su Ziling pushed the door open and went in.

There was no one in the yard. Su Ziling strode into the house and quickly crossed the entire yard.

"Zi Ling!" Zhou Licheng's voice came from behind him.

"Master! Where have you been?" Su Ziling walked back and said dissatisfiedly.

"Your master, I'm going to have dinner. What happened to you? You even forgot to close the door."

"You forgot to turn it off. Why didn't you lock the door when you went out to eat? What if someone else came in?"

"Am I afraid of being stolen?"

"By the way, Master. I want to learn something new!" Su Ziling's eyes lit up.

"What to study?"

"Pure power, when can I control pure power?"

"Close your eyes and clench your fists." Zhou Licheng said.

Su Ziling did as he was told immediately. He stood in the courtyard, closed his eyes tightly, and slowly clenched his hands into fists.

"Feel anything?"

"I didn't feel anything." Su Ziling was a little discouraged.

“You feel the sun, you feel the wind, but you just don’t feel your own power, right?”

"Yes, that's right." Su Ziling nodded vigorously.

"That's right, you're still early."

"Master!"

"Don't be too impatient. You are already the most talented disciple I have ever had." Zhou Licheng smiled cheerfully.

"That's right. I'm the 'Guardian', isn't this necessary?"

"Hmph, you are so arrogant. Come on, make your move."

"Is it here?" Su Ziling looked around. Everything planted in this yard was Master's treasure. Although the roses had faded, a few wintersweets had quietly bloomed, and Master had just finished building the grape rack in the corner. He wanted to come back next year to steal some.

"Yes, come on. I promise you can't hurt them at all." Zhou Licheng saw Su Ziling's concerns and deliberately provoked him.

"Then here I come, Master."

Su Ziling took a few steps back and took a stance towards his master. He stretched out his fist, and a bright red flame immediately burst out, dazzling. However, before Su Ziling could be proud of his smooth action for a second, the flame turned around and rushed straight towards him. How could this happen? What on earth did the master do? Su Ziling thought as he rolled on the ground.

"Get up." Su Ziling brushed the dust off his clothes and stood up.

"Do you know what happened just now?" Su Ziling shook his head.

"Don't you want pure power? Your fire isn't pure enough."

"I understand, Master!" Su Ziling said with sudden enlightenment.

Zhou Licheng knew that Su Ziling had only understood one of them, so he ignored Su Ziling's cheers and continued, "Let me ask you, if your fire and An Yan's water collide, which one will be better? Will the fire burn up the water, or will the water swallow up the fire?"

Su Ziling fell silent. He didn't know. He had never tried it nor thought about it, but he had a bad feeling.

"Don't think about it. If An Yan is serious, his water will definitely extinguish your fire. Let's change the hypothesis. Song Yu's ability is earth. Will he rush out, or will you burn him? Song Nan's ability is even more difficult to defend against. Can you prevent those metals, swords, spears, halberds, or anything else, from passing through the sea of ​​fire and piercing your forehead?"

"Master, I really understand this time." Su Ziling thought about it and said seriously: "If you want to cultivate pure ability, your original ability must reach a higher level."

"That's right. You have mastered the power, intensity and even accuracy quite well, but it's not good enough, not to mention the purity that comes next. This is a huge threshold, and many people have failed here and have been unable to move forward. It's very difficult for you to climb over it. Do you have the confidence?"

"Of course! I can try harder."

"Okay. But from now on, your training will still focus on the current training." Zhou Licheng changed the subject and said seriously, "I want you to engrave them into your bones and blood. No matter what happens on the battlefield, you will never forget them. You must lay a solid foundation for me."

"Yes! Master!"

"Zi Ling, I know what you are thinking. If you really want to cultivate pure abilities, you will find your own way." Zhou Licheng said after his brows softened.

Su Ziling's eyes immediately lit up when he understood his master's hidden meaning.

"Let's go and start today's training."

Zhou Licheng said as he led Su Ziling out of the house. Su Ziling was gifted and made rapid progress. In the past six months, the place where he practiced changed again and again, from the basement at the beginning to the practice field and now to the forest not far away. After taking off and landing through the hanging window, the two of them went into the valley east of Xindu.

At eight o'clock in the evening, Su Ziling returned home. He did not take off his shoes, and immediately pulled An Yan out as soon as he entered the house.

"What's wrong? It's cold outside."

"An Yan, do you still remember what you promised me this morning?"

"Remember, what happened?"

"Come on then."

"Here?" An Yan looked at the small garden. He didn't have the habit of doing anything at home.

"Yes, right here. You use water, I use fire. You are not allowed to use pure energy!" Su Ziling said as he ran. An Yan stood there helplessly watching Su Ziling run to the place farthest from him.

"Watch out!" As soon as Su Ziling finished speaking, the flames came fiercely. An Yan raised his hand and white smoke suddenly rose.

"It doesn't count this time. An Yan, be serious!" Su Ziling said quickly as he looked at the thick smoke rising from the two forces.

"Okay!" After the smoke cleared, Su Ziling clenched his fists and used all his strength to attack An Yan. With An Yan around, he was not afraid of anything. An Yan frowned, and the flood instantly put out the fire.

Su Ziling didn't see clearly how the fire died down. He only saw the water pouring down. As expected, what the master said was right. After figuring it out, Su Ziling didn't lose heart. He walked back.

"An Yan, you made the garden full of mud, how can I walk back?"

An Yan tilted his head, his fingertips lightly jumped a few times, and the blue light fell from his fingertips and quickly spread to Su Ziling's feet before disappearing into thin air. Su Ziling watched the mud freeze into sharp edges, the puddles reflecting white light, and stepped on it expressionlessly.

"What were you doing just now?" After returning home and the food was on the table, An Yan asked him while holding chopsticks.

"Ah, nothing. I just verified what Master said. Master said that your water can suppress my fire, and it turned out to be true. By the way, Master controlled my fire today. Although I roughly understand that it is because Master is too strong, I still don't understand how he did it."

"Same ability suppression."

"what is that?"

"It's the suppression of the weak by the strong one with the same abilities. But this situation can only happen between two people with a huge gap. If it's you and He, it won't work. He can't suppress you."

"So, my master is just showing off his skills?" Su Ziling pounded the table, filled with grief and indignation.

Xiao Su, who had been eating silently, could no longer hold back her laughter and burst into laughter at Su Ziling's amusement. She asked An Yan, "Then, Dad, how can we suppress the same ability?"

"It's also very simple. The dividing line is pure ability. Or..." An Yan thought for a moment and then said vaguely: "In short, everything depends on the development of ability."

Is pure ability the dividing line? Su Ziling bit his chopsticks. It seemed difficult.

"Zi Ling, did you see how I put out your fire just now?"

"...No." Su Ziling felt a little guilty.

"I surrounded it, not by dousing it from above, but by strangling it." Su Ziling was stunned.

"Why can't you let the fire spread from the ground when you punch?" An Yan continued.

"Ah! I understand."

"Okay, let's eat quickly."

Su Ziling picked up the mushroom and put it into his mouth. The refreshing taste made Su Ziling squint his eyes.