Brother, Please…

"Brother, please say something…"

"Brother, won't you at least open your eyes?"

"Brother, I killed a Rank 9 heavenly wyvern and cooked it for you, would you like to try it? You haven't tried spirit food before, right? I'm sure you'll like it…"

"Brother, I refined a series of Rank 9 pills for you, maybe they will help you to feel better? Please, just try them…please…"

"Brother, this isn't like you…you never give up, no matter what difficulties you face! I don't understand…just what hurt you so badly for you to become like this…"

Yaan remained still and silent, no matter what the Spirit Plane Lord tried. Even when he felt her moving his body elsewhere, he didn't bother opening his eyes. Even if she decided to kill him, he still wouldn't move…

However, she was simply unrelenting. She would try one thing, disappear for a while, then return a moment later with another attempt at rousing him from his rest. Yaan just wanted to rest, but…she was making it impossible.

Eventually, he opened his eyes tiredly and sighed.

"Just let me rest…"

The Spirit Plane Lord froze for a moment, before her face lit up with joy. Even though his tone was devoid of feeling and his eyes were more lacklustre than any eyes she had ever seen before in her long, long life…he spoke! At long last, he opened his eyes and spoke!

At one point, she honestly wondered if he had fallen into a coma, but after using her methods, she deduced that he was completely fine. Well, 'fine' was putting it a bit strongly…but he wasn't unconscious at least.

When she heard his sudden request, her gaze became troubled and she bit her lip.

"But brother…you have been resting for 500 years now…"

"500 years…? Huh…"

For a moment, Yaan felt something - surprise. He had not realised that it had been so long. It only felt like a few moments…

This made him realise something. This person had been trying her utmost to motivate him for the past 500 years…

'This woman truly cares about her brother…but I am not her brother. Her brother is the antithesis of my existence…'

"Brother, how about you eat something? Or we could go for a walk? You haven't visited the Spirit Plane ever since it was transformed into an entirely spiritual world after all!" She sounded like she was excited…apparently, even before the Primordial Devil's death, she had not seen him for a long period of time.

After a while, Yaan sighed tiredly once again, before saying:

"Please stop calling me brother."

"Ah…I'm sorry…I didn't realise…that you still haven't recovered your memories…"

It was obvious since she hadn't discovered his true identity, but this once again proved that the Spirit Plane Lord had not searched his memories. The only reason Yaan could think of for this, was that she respected the Primordial Devil too much to invade his privacy in this way, even in his severely weakened state.

He was yet to realise that after 'reincarnating', his mind had become something which others could not read…

'What am I even doing?' Yaan thought to himself. 'I just want to rest, why am I bothering with the world of the living? I don't even care anymore…'

Even though he thought that, Yaan finally moved for the first time since his 'death'. He pushed himself upright, only now realising that he had been placed on a bed. He leaned against the bed's headboard and sighed deeply yet again, closing his eyes as he thought things through.

"It's really been 500 years?" He asked with his eyes still closed.

"Yes, but we are in the Spirit Palace, the flow of time is ten times accelerated compared to the outside world, so only 50 years have passed by in reality. This is one of the three treasures in the world that can accelerate the flow of time without distorting the world laws…it was a gift from Sister Sura…"

For a while, the room became silent. The Spirit Plane Lord watched Yaan with a cautious expression. She looked like she wanted to say something, but she was worried that she might say the wrong thing, sending him back into his previous lifeless state…

She had never felt so weak and helpless before.

It was not her fault, after all, Yaan's issue was an issue with his Dao Soul. She had not yet attained the level where she could comprehend the Dao Souls of others…if she had reached that level, she would immediately realise that Yaan was not actually her brother.

This was not a matter of strength; she did not lack strength. What she lacked…was understanding.

But in all fairness, the number of beings in this world who might be able to see through Yaan's truth, could be counted on two hands.

"Why am I still alive?" Yaan finally asked after a long period of time. The Spirit Plane Lord looked startled by this question…even though only the two of them were present, she somehow felt like he was asking this to someone else, and not her…

Even so, this gave her the opportunity to speak.

"Honestly speaking, I'm not sure…the cycle of reincarnation collapsed right before you arrived in the Divine Court's Central Samsara Palace…but most strangely of all, brother, is that you possess no soul, nor any tangible form of existence…this body of yours is an illusion of your own creation…"

Yaan listened to her words, but he did not respond. Looking at his expression, it was impossible to know what he was thinking.

After all, the Spirit Plane Lord did not know that Yaan had not only formed himself this illusory spiritual body…but he had also formed himself an illusory mind.

Since he had lived most of his life with a Sea of Consciousness functioning as his conscious mind, when he instinctively created an illusory mind for himself, he ended up forming an illusory Sea of Consciousness.

What he did not form, was the young girl within his Sea of Consciousness…a young girl with shoulder length wavy brown hair, a pair of eyes which shone like emeralds, and a black crystal embedded in her forehead.

Within his illusory Sea of Consciousness, Yaan faced the young girl calmly.

"I cannot explain how your returned from death, but currently, you are being sustained by an immense amount of Life Essence which has been sealed within your Dao Soul. Also, it would seem that you caused the collapse of the cycle of reincarnation." The young girl replied, speaking only after the Spirit Plane Lord had finished.

The reason for Yaan finally opening his eyes and sitting up, was not just because of the Spirit Plane Lord's ceaseless attempts at rousing him. It was also because this girl had entered his mind shortly after he arrived on the Spirit Plane, then began assaulting his consciousness with a horrendous, unrelenting pain, forcing him to finally get up.

The fact that it took 500 years of agonising mental torture before the pain overcame Yaan's exhaustion, truly showed just how tired he felt.

"You are the Primordial Sage?" Yaan spoke within his mind, whilst remaining silent on the outside.

"I am." She replied in a monotone voice.

"You are the one responsible for manipulating my fate, causing me to go through unspeakable torment throughout my life?"

"Yes."

"You dictated the flow of events, making me absorb the other three fragments, all so that the Primordial Devil could devour me at the end of it?"

"That is correct."

Yaan paused for a moment, then asked:

"Why are you in my mind?"

"I am here to help you."

"Why? You still intend to feed me to that devil?" Yaan asked expressionlessly.

"Is there any point in me answering that question?" She replied with just as little emotion.

Yaan became silent, then shook his head. Indeed, no matter what excuse she gave, he would not believe her. She knew that, and as such, she didn't even bother with any sort of pretence.

He decided to ask her something else.

"You are the Spirit Plane Lord's sworn sister, correct?"

"Indeed."

"Then why hide everything from her? This plan of yours, why did you not tell her anything at all?"

"I divined the path with the highest chance of success, which required her to remain ignorant regarding the plan."

What an annoying answer…

Regardless, Yaan moved on.

"Then why are you now hiding inside my consciousness, instead of revealing yourself out in the open?"

"I will reveal myself shortly. But first, I must confirm your cooperation."

"Cooperation?" Yaan finally raised an eyebrow.

"As I said previously, I wish to help you. I will tell the Primordial Spirit about the previous plan, but I will tell her that you are the core fragment of the Primordial Devil."

Yaan almost laughed. If he wasn't still feeling so exhausted, he really would laugh…

"You really are something. Just why should I trust you, when you're so scheming that you would even deceive your own sworn sister without a second thought? And besides, in case you haven't realised – I don't want your help. I was ready to die, but even death rejected me…do whatever the hell you want, but leave me out of it…"

Just as Yaan was about to remove his focus from his illusory Sea of Consciousness, the young girl said something which struck a nerve.

"I won't allow you to rest. If you don't at least get up and do something, I will inflict a ceaseless torture upon your mind ten times worse than before. Your tolerance to pain is commendable, but even if you are able to resist the pain, I can make it such that you are unable to truly rest. And if you try to kill yourself, I will step in and prevent you from dying."

Yaan turned back and stared at her for a long time.

Usually, Yaan was a well-spoken individual, but when faced with this person before him, there really was no way to properly describe her without speaking crudely.

"You really are a bitch, you know that?"