Big brother, what are you trying to do?
"Big brother, what are you trying to do?" Ling asked with sudden interest.
However, she still pretended to look sickly.
"Brother, is the woman in the painting hanging in your room your sister-in-law?"
Ling continued to act weak and feeble.
Ping'an nodded again.
In his room hung a charcoal sketch of a beautiful woman with a black mole on her neck, in the same spot as the red mole on the bookstore owner's neck.
"Where is your sister-in-law?" Ling asked excitedly, thinking she could play with a sister-in-law.
But she quickly realized she was about to give herself away and feigned weakness again.
Ping'an sighed, gazing at the setting sun. "Your sister-in-law is in a place far, far away."
Ling blinked. "How far?"
Her abilities were quite strong; even from the celestial realms, she could bring Ping'an's sister-in-law here.
Ping'an closed his eyes. A vague silhouette appeared in his mind. "Very, very far away..."
Five years ago, Ping'an was just a music teacher. That's when he met her. Though he never believed in love at first sight, he went crazy after seeing her. The once shy and timid Ping'an mustered his courage to get her contact information.
After three years of courtship, they married. But Ping'an never imagined that not long after their wedding, one night when he was out, a car came hurtling toward him...
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in this world, and the impression of his wife in his mind rapidly faded. By the time he got charcoal and paper, her image had become a blur. He didn't know how accurately the portrait depicted her—the woman was mostly his own imagination...
Sensing Ping'an's bitterness, Ling didn't ask further questions. She sat quietly beside him as they watched the setting sun together.
In a dark alley outside the Realms Bookstore, Xin'xin leaned against the doorframe, smiling as if seeing through the wall. She turned to the ruddy clouds drifting ever closer until they merged again.
"Silly, I've been here all along..."
In the mortal realm's central continent lay a gloomy, fog-shrouded mountain range reeking of decay—a veritable charnel ground.
Inside a crimson palace, footsteps echoed. "Father, I'm back!"
Feng Ye looked ruefully at the withered, bloodless figure seated before a green pool containing a dismembered corpse.
The old man opened his eyes at the sound. "You're back? Did you get the Blood Essence?"
Feng Ye's face fell. "Father...the Blood Essence is gone."
"What?!" The old man's roar shook the hall. "You dare lie to me? Should I refine you into a undead servant?"
Feng Ye hurriedly recounted everything, calling others to corroborate his story.
Finally convinced, Feng Kuang glared murderously at his son. "Then I should beat you for nearly offending that entire sect! It's lucky you reacted quickly, or our clan would have been destroyed!"
He rained blows on Feng Ye to vent his frustration before gravely ordering: "Send word—from now on, no disciple may approach the southern realm!"
Many other powers issued similar decrees upon learning of the terrifying new sect, as innumerable ark-ships began heading toward that remote region...
In the celestial realms, Chen Yanming finally returned to his own faction after overcoming countless ordeals. He immediately sought out the leader, a middle-aged celestial in the Celestial Monarch realm hundreds of times more powerful than himself.
"Brother, I'm back!" Chen bowed.
The Celestial Monarch stared at him. "Your talisman broke?"
Chen Yanming nodded wryly before recounting everything he witnessed in the mortal realm—the Black Flood Dragon that could become a true dragon, the Golden Feather celestial armament, and the insect holding a vermilion golden talisman allegedly bestowed by the Celestial Emperor.
He scoffed at the last part, only to freeze at the Celestial Monarch's thunderous expression.
"Was all that true?!"
Chen nodded apprehensively.
The Celestial Monarch, Huang Zhengqian, was one of the Celestial Emperor's ten prime celestials at the apex of the Celestial Monarch realm. Normally calm and unflappable, even in major crises, he could not maintain his equanimity now.
Not long ago, the Celestial Emperor had summoned the ten of them to reveal certain matters and prohibitions known only to them.
And now, Chen had inadvertently mentioned several of those very things—the Lake of Savagery continent, the Golden Feather armament, and the Celestial Emperor's talisman!
Huang Zhengqian stared daggers at Chen Yanming, his face contorting with fury. How dare this insignificant cultivator blab about matters utterly forbidden to all but the Ten Celestial Monarchs!