Second Sister, Chen Yue

Although Black Wind carried the three of you out of the army’s encirclement, five hundred thousand troops spread across the land like an endless net, keeping you under constant pursuit.

“Boss, we can’t shake them off!”

After you fled, the Peace Army began pursuing you at full speed. The multicolored clouds beneath their feet were released by a type of spirit treasure. Once they accelerated to their limit, they could barely keep up with Black Wind’s trail.

The problem was that after flying at full speed, it was difficult for them to stop.

Whenever Black Wind changed direction or stopped abruptly, you could throw some of them off. But there were simply too many of them. Pursuers were coming from every direction, and some would always catch up.

If you could not shake them off, then once Jinhai recovered—or summoned even stronger enemies—you still would not be able to escape.

Ji Baiming flew on waves of seawater, keeping pace beside the Dragon-Scaled Horse.

“Little Yi, Xiaoyue, you two go. I’ll clear a path for you.”

Ji Wuqing spoke firmly.

“Dad! I’m staying with you!”

You spread both hands while sitting on the horse’s back.

“What are you doing? If you two don’t leave, all my effort will have been for nothing! I even had to bring along an Immortal King monkey, and that thing can only swing its staff once.”

Just as the atmosphere grew awkward, a cold, clear female voice entered the ears of all three of you.

“Twenty li due south. A teleportation divine rune has been carved into the mountainside. Fly into it.”

Ji Baiming furrowed his brows.

“Who’s speaking?”

You and Ji Wuqing shook your heads.

Ji Wuqing looked at you.

“Should we trust her?”

You glanced at the pursuers closing in from every direction.

“Let’s give it a try. Those bastards in the Peace Army have started mobilizing the local forces of the Vermilion Purple Star. If everyone comes after us, we definitely won’t get away!”

It was better to try than do nothing.

You and Ji Wuqing rode on the horse’s back while Ji Baiming flew behind you on the waves, heading toward the direction indicated by the voice.

When you reached the area, you saw that on the slope of a low mountain there truly was a gigantic black divine rune.

Ji Baiming exclaimed in amazement.

“Such a complex and profound imperial divine rune. Whoever can use it must be no ordinary person!”

Commoners’ divine runes were golden, nobles’ divine runes were red, while imperial divine runes were black.

This was the first time you had ever seen an imperial divine rune.

Most likely, whoever knew how to use divine runes was not human.

But as Ji Baiming had said, anyone capable of using an imperial divine rune was certainly extraordinary. If they wanted to harm you, they would not have needed to lead you around in circles.

All three of you were already in such a sorry state. They could have simply beaten a drowning dog.

You drove Black Wind forward, and the three of you, along with the horse, crashed into the rune.

Space rippled across the surface of the divine rune. The three of you, the horse, and the imperial divine rune vanished together.

The next moment, you appeared deep underground.

It was a natural underground cavern. Nearby, subterranean water flowed with a loud, rushing sound.

The surroundings were pitch-black. You casually tossed out several balls of true fire, illuminating the entire cavern.

Then you saw someone.

A woman dressed in plain white robes stood before you. She wore a bamboo hat, and a white veil hanging from its brim concealed her face.

Using divine arts to investigate her, you sensed that she was at the mid-stage of the Heaven-Reaching Realm.

What was strange, however, was that her cultivation seemed to fluctuate.

At first, you sensed the mid-stage of the Heaven-Reaching Realm. After a while, it became the early stage. Then it even dropped to the Desolate Realm, only to leap back to the mid-stage of the Heaven-Reaching Realm.

You had never heard of such a bizarre aura of cultivation.

If someone had suffered severe injuries, it was possible for their cultivation to fluctuate.

But this woman appeared perfectly normal. Why, then, was her realm jumping back and forth?

Ji Baiming cupped his fists toward the woman and spoke respectfully.

“I presume it was you who saved the three of us.”

The woman did not answer. Instead, she looked toward you.

“Are you called Chen Yi?”

You had been living on the Vermilion Purple Star for more than a century. It was not strange for someone to know your name.

“That’s right.”

“You came from the human plane of the Void Realm, correct?”

Ji Wuqing immediately became wary and stepped in front of you.

Very few people knew that you came from the Void Realm. The Ji family had always kept that a secret from outsiders.

Ji Wuqing stared at the woman.

“No. You’ve mistaken him for someone else.”

The woman spoke calmly.

“Chen Yi, I hope you’ll answer me. Don’t lie.”

She had just saved you, and when she asked the question, the Signal Light did not issue any warning. That meant there was no danger.

“That’s right. I came here from the human plane.”

“Where in the human plane are you from?”

“Why does Senior wish to know?”

“Speak!”

Although the woman sounded anxious, there was still no danger warning.

“The Five Regions, Great Qian, Qing Province, Baling Commandery, White Cloud County.”

With every place-name you spoke, the woman’s eyes widened a little more behind her veil.

Slowly, she removed her bamboo hat.

Beneath it was a face you did not recognize.

Yet her eyes gave you an inexplicable sense of warmth and familiarity.

“Fourth Brother, I’m your elder sister—Chen Yue!”

Your eyes widened.

“Second Sister?”

Chen Yue walked toward you.

“Ah… it’s me. It really is me! My appearance changed because I only had a soul when I came to the Material Realm. My master refined the vitality gathered from billions upon billions of dead souls, allowing a new body to grow within my soul sea!”

You were overwhelmed with joy.

You knew that a great expert from the Material Realm had brought Chen Yue up here.

But the universe was incomprehensibly vast. You had never expected to reunite with your second sister in this lifetime.

Not only might her appearance have changed, but you had still been a child when she disappeared. Even if she saw you, she might not have recognized you.

“Second Sister, how did you recognize me?”

“You have Jinhai to thank for that.”

During your earlier battle with Jinhai, his Law of Interpersonal Indexing had acted upon you.

Among the countless tangled threads, one representing familial affection had extended directly from you to Chen Yue.

At the time, you had been too busy fighting for your life to examine the words written along that chaotic web of threads.

But Chen Yue had only needed to lower her head and look. The words on that particular thread read: Second Sister—Chen Yue!

“I was ordered to come to the Vermilion Purple Star to deal with the Netherworld Domain crisis in the Tianhe South Star Sector. As it happens, I was near the Ji family’s ancestral grounds today.

“I never imagined that the heavens would take pity on me and allow me to reunite with my family in the Material Realm after nearly two hundred years.

“I thought I would never again have any connection with my family in the human plane.

“Fourth Brother, are our parents doing well? What about Big Brother? And our third sister? Is everyone all right?”

You and your second sister began talking about what had happened in the human plane.

Ji Wuqing and his daughter watched from the side without interrupting.

Ji Wuqing was still somewhat suspicious.

“Dad, is this really Chen Yi’s elder sister?”

“How would I know? Still, she can use imperial-level divine runes. Who is her master? To teach an imperial-level divine rune to a human… There aren’t many people capable of doing something like that…”

Wait, she just mentioned the Netherworld. Gasp! Could it be…”】