55 Kiss on the cheek

While the trio was contemplating the same thought Nie Li's phone vibrated. Someone was calling. Nie Li answered the phone not even looking who it was. There weren't many people he had given his phones to.

"Hey Nie Li. Are you okay?" It was Nie Wen.

"Yes, thank you. Why are you calling?"

"Nie Zexi called me. She said you told her to call me if you don't appear till the evening. She was worried."

"Oh," Nie Li checked the hour. It was quarter past six. They have spent more than 7 hours in that world. It felt like much more than that. "I will call her immediately after our talk." Nie Li said.

"Okay, what were you doing? I couldn't contact you the first two times I called. Nie Zexi said that you were just planning to examine your new properties."

"I was doing exactly that. But something unexpected came up that took so much time."

"What about our meeting?" Nie Wen asked. Nie Li remembered the meeting with his clansmen he asked Nie Wen to organize today.

"Let's postpone it until tomorrow. I am tired right now."

"Okay then. I will call you tomorrow." Nie Wen said and ended the call.

Nie Li was really a bit tired. All that stress of fight and the depressing atmosphere of that world wore him out. The girls on the other hand looked chipper. After an Origin Yin 'therapy', they were full of energy.

"That looked weird." Ye Ziyun said confusing him. "As if you are talking to yourself."

Ah, they were talking about the phone call. "Okay, I will call Nie Zexi on holo call."

Soon Nie Zexi's holographic image appeared.

"Nie Li, are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"Yeah, thank you sister Zexi." He increased the camera range. Now all three of them were shown to Nie Zexi. "We are okay."

"Oh, good. You disappeared and haven't answered my calls," she said.

"I'm sorry. We encountered some trouble and couldn't contact you."

"Oh. Did you meet any ghosts?" asked Nie Zexi half-jokingly.

"Nope. There are no ghosts here, remember," he said motioning towards Ye Ziyun.

"Nie Li," groused Ye Ziyun blushing. "How could I have known?"

"Wait, really!?" asked Nie Zexi.

"Yes, really. But don't spread it around. I don't want the price to drop if decide to sell the property in the end." Nie Li warned.

"Don't worry. My lips are sealed. You find all kinds of strange things wherever you go. Okay, I am glad all three of you are alright. By the way, girls, you look different in a holo image," she said scrutinizing the girls closely and added looking at Nie Li, "and Nie Li looks as ugly as ever."

"Thank you," Nie Li replied sarcastically.

"Okay, good day to you three. I have some things to work on."

"Good day, sister Zexi." girls said their goodbyes, and the call ended.

-------------

On the way back to the gates Nie Li told them the history of the Mo clan's last days.

When he finished Xiao Ning'er asked looking downtrodden, "So it was because of me, he kidnapped us to that world."

"No. It was my fault actually. Remind me to remove your family insignias from your armors. Why I added them in the first place, I have no idea."

"But if I wasn't here, he wouldn't have been so hostile towards us," she continued. Ye Ziyun reached out and put her arm around her shoulders, comforting her.

"You have seen the bones of his other victims. He was not a nice person. And I would have been forced to deal with him anyway. This territory wouldn't have been safe otherwise. And we all got great benefits. What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger." Nie Li said

"But still, it makes me uncomfortable to know that my family destroyed them," Xiao Ning'er said still not convinced.

"My family had been around since Snow Wind Empire. That's more than 30 thousand years. There had been many ups and downs during that time and I'm sure my family committed many atrocities. But you know what? The most important thing is what you do, not what your ancestors did." Nie Li was becoming an expert at pep talks. "And your family wasn't alone in their attack. Maybe even my family also joined the attack."

"Thank you, Nie Li, Ye Ziyun," Xiao Ning'er thanked them after some thinking, no longer glum.

"You're welcome, my friend. If you have any doubts go to Nie Li." Ye Ziyun said laughing.

Continuing their conversation they reached the gates. The guards were in their positions. Nie Li asked them if they saw anything suspicious. They denied seeing anything out of ordinary. Meanwhile, the chief guard looked at him with a knowing look as he knew what they were doing for so long in the ruins. Good thing that they didn't know who Ye Ziyun was, or he would have had an angry City Lord after his head. After thanking the guards and changing their armors they left.

When they were saying their farewells Xiao Ning'er mustered up her courage and kissed him on the cheeks. Ye Ziyun seeing that sighed, and as if doing him great favor kissed him on another cheek. But her blushing face said otherwise. And then girls hurriedly took off towards the carriage they ordered. Older coachmen gave him thumbs up while younger ones looked on with envy.

Nie Li himself was pleased as well. His memories of Robert were telling him that was nothing, but his teenage body disagreed. And his mind was also telling him that he was still too weak to take things further. Weakness is so annoying.