Su Ling'er

Green grass, the sound of a running river in the distance, and trees of various height and width were unevenly distributed everywhere. This was the scene that Mesa saw after he opened his eyes. This scene that couldn't be any more ordinary, was extremely precious right now. He breathed out a long sigh of relief, and then carefully lowered a sleeping Xia Qingyue from his arms.

'This must be the Azure Cloud Continent. It was about time I came here.' Thought Mesa to himself as he immediately went to work marking nearby trees with the Flying Raijin mark.

"Someone! Please help me! Help!"

Whilst Mesa was busy burying a Flying Raijin kunai, he heard the voice of a girl in distress, followed by the sounds chaotic footsteps coming closer. Looking towards the source of the sound, Mesa saw a little girl in a yellow dress fleeing his way. Behind her, three man in black chased after her unhurriedly as they laughed at her menacingly: "Run little piggy! Run! Let's see how far you can go once you have run out of strength!"

"Plop!"

The exhausted little girl fell on the ground. She struggled for a bit, but she couldn't get up. Her tears already filled her eyes and clenched her teeth and still tried desperately to get up.

Behind her, three men in black calmly and unhurriedly walked over. The man in the middle extended his hand, grabbed towards her and laughed recklessly: "Su Ling'er, run again, keep running…. hahahaha…"

'So, that's Su Ling'er as a child. This means I really am on the Azure Cloud Continent. Good, very good indeed.' Thought Mesa as he looked at the child Su Ling'er. She had chestnut brown hair, tied in a braid, that extended down to past her shoulder and large green eyes.

One of men chasing her grabbed onto the Su Ling'er clothes, easily picking her up, and said with a sinister smile: "This sure is a stubborn little brat, to actually be able to run so far. Hehe, now that his daughter has landed in our hands, I really want to see if old man Su Huangshan will still be as obstinate!"

"You… You bad people! Papa will definitely save me, and then beat all of you down!" Even though Su Ling'er eyes were filled with fear, she did not cry. Stubbornly holding back her tears, she struggled and shouted in the black-clothed man's hands.

"Hahahaha!" The black-clothed man laughed out wildly. "Then that will really be the best outcome, I really hope to have him here! I really want to see if that Su Huangshan…"

But before he could finish his sentence, Su Ling'er was suddenly pulled out of his hands by some unknown force and flew screaming through the air, right into the awaiting arms of Mesa.

"There, there little girl. No need to be afraid. I will take care of these bad men and make sure you get back to your papa." Said Mesa with a consoling smile, putting Su Ling'er a little at ease. Putting her down on the ground, he hid her behind his leg and looked at the three men chasing her.

"Where did this random brat come from? To actually dare to step into our Blackwood Stronghold's business, I think you're tired of living!!" Said one the men as he looked at Su Ling'er hiding behind Mesa.

"Sorry about that gentlemen, but I can't let you take this girl with you. So I suggest you leave, while you still have the chance…NOW!" Said Mesa coldly.

Instead of taking his words seriously, the three men start laughing out loud after hearing Mesa's threat.

"He's telling us to scram! He's actually telling us to scram!? Ahahahaha!"

"Yo! This kid is actually at level 1 Spirit Profound Realm at such a young age, it's no wonder he's so arrogant…"

"His talent is pretty good, but as for his brain, he's basically not even comparable to an idiot. Death is at his footsteps, yet he's actually telling us to scram, hahahaha…!

The black-clothed man on the left cracked the knuckles on his hands and stepped towards Mesa. His eyes were filled with scorn: "Come! Let this granddaddy teach you a lesson you'll never forget!"

As the man was coming towards him, Su Ling'er was clamping on to his leg more tightly. Just a few feet away from Mesa, the man looked behind him and saw Xia Qingyue sleeping there on the ground behind him. Seeing the beautiful Xia Qingyue lying on the ground defenselessly, made the man smile with a predatory grin on his face.

"Yo, kid! This granddaddy will forgive you just this once for daring to speak to us like that. But only if you go away and leave the brat and that hot piece of ass behind you here." Said the man with a smile of disdain and arrogance on his face.

"Very well then. It would seem like you have made your choice." Mumbled Mesa as he unleashed his full power, making the three men go pale with fear. The man that was coming to him was stumbling backwards and fell down on ass as he felt Mesa's level 7 Emperor Profound Realm strength.

"Run! That brat was hiding his real strength!" Yelled on of the three men and they desperately tried to run away in different directions, in the hopes that one of them could get away. Less than 10 seconds after they started to run, they suddenly lost control of their bodies. To their horror, their bodies started moving on their own and back towards Mesa. No matter how hard they tried to resist, their bodies just didn't listen to them anymore and eventually they were in front of Mesa.

"Where do you three dipshits think you're going." Said Mesa to three men that were back in front of him.

Knowing that they have messed up, big time, the three desperately tried to plead with Mesa to let them go.

"Please, don't kill me! I was only being paid to chase that brat! I will never do this again!"

"Please don't kill me! I will tell you everything! I will tell you who paid us to kidnap that brat!"

"Please! I don't know these people! I was give you everything I have! Please! I don't wanna die!"

Using the String-String Fruit to sow their mouths shut, Mesa turned to Su Ling'er and took out a pair of ear mufflers: "Hey there little girl. I need you to close your eyes and put these on your ears. Do not open your eyes or take these off until I tell you to do so, ok?"

"What are you going to do?" Said Su Ling'er a little fearful.

"I am just going a little talk with them and make sure they will never hurt you again." Said Mesa as he put on the ear mufflers on Su Ling'er ears and made her close her eyes.

Turning around to the three men, he could see the fear in their eyes and the tears and snot on their faces. Approaching them, he went to one of the men and… gave him a slap on his head.

"Bad man! You have been a very, very bad man! Do you promise to never be a bad man again and hurt Su Ling'er! And that goes for all three of you!" Said Mesa to the three men. After a moment where they were thoroughly confused at what was happening, all three of them quickly nodded to Mesa.

"Good then. Now I can tell Su Ling'er that I had a talk with you three and you will never hurt her again. Now scram!" Said Mesa as he released the three men of his control of their bodies. After regaining control of their bodies, the three men started running for their lives as fast as they could.

After running for a few minutes and being far away from Mesa, they had thought they were safe and rested up against a tree. But what they didn't notice was that the tree against which they were resting against, had its vines slither down towards them quietly. As they were resting against the tree with their eyes closed, they didn't notice the vines carefully wrapping around parts of their bodies, like their necks and torsos and arms. After a minute, the vines suddenly tightened around them and lifted them into the canopy. They were desperately fighting against the vines that were chocking them to death, but to no avail. The last thing they saw was Mesa standing on a branch, looking at them with hands in a Snake hand seal.

After that was done, the Mesa that was standing on the branch and looking at them, turned into a wooden statue and broke apart.

Back at the original Mesa, he took off the ear mufflers from Su Ling'er head and told her to open her eyes: Now then Su Ling'er, let us go and take you back to your papa."

"Big Brother, how do you know my name?" Asked Su Ling'er, tilting her head curiously at Mesa.

"I heard it from those bad men that shouted at you. So tell me, how old are you this year?"

"I am ten years old." Said Su Ling'er excitedly and holding out her both her hands with all her fingers outstretched.

"Wow, then you must be a very brave girl. You have not once cried, even when those bad men chased after you. Come, let us talk while we go back to your papa." Said Mesa as he went back to pick up Xia Qingyue.

After seeing her, Su Ling'er was amazed by Xia Qingyue's beauty: "Wow! Such a beautiful big sister! She's more beautiful than any other big sister I have seen. But why is lying there? Is she injured?"

"No she is not injured. She is just very tired." Said Mesa as he picked up Xia Qingyue and Su Ling'er was guiding them towards her house. Along the way, she asked him what his name and what Xia Qingyue's name was. She also told Mesa what happened to her earlier and why those men were chasing her.

"Papa was supposed to bring me out to play today but while we were walking, a lot of black-clothed people suddenly appeared. Papa began fighting with those black-clothed people, and told me to quickly run away… So I kept running, and after running quite far away, suddenly, those three bad people from earlier appeared and chased after me together… If big brother did not save me, I might have already been captured by them. Uuu… I don't know what happened to Papa either, but since Papa is so strong, he's definitely able to beat up all those bad people." Said Su Ling'er.

"I am sure your papa has beaten all those bad people, don't worry about your papa. When we get you back home, I will make you something very delicious for being so brave. How does that sound?" Said Mesa much to Su Ling'er's enthusiasm.

"By the way, I come from a place that very far away, so I do not know my way around here. Can you tell me where we are and where you come from?" Asked Mesa.

"My home is called the 'Grandwake Clan', and it's at the bottom of the tallest mountain over there. That mountain is called 'Grandwake Mountain'. Big brother, have you ever heard of that mountain? Papa told me that our home's mountain is very famous in the Azure Cloud Continent, you know." Said Su Ling'er as she pointed towards a mountain in the distance.

"Ahh, so that's where we are. Now I know exactly where we are." Said Mesa.

Whilst they were talking, they heard a sound in the distance.

"Ling'er! Ling'er… Where are you? Ling'er…"

Looking over towards the source of the sound, Mesa saw a middle aged man running through the forest and desperately shouting Su Ling'er's name. It was pretty obvious that this man was her father.

Having heard his voice, she ran over in the middle-aged man's direction and yelled at him: "Papa! I'm here, I'm here!!"