Chapter 2162 - Sisters

When Madam Cheng Bi left, she stopped at the village entrance, then turned and looked back.

The village was poor and remote, like a primitive ground, but to Madam Cheng Bi, it seemed shrouded in mist. Try as she might, she couldn’t grasp it, nor could she see through it.

Xiao Jian... I’ll be interested to see just how a cripple without the strength to truss a chicken faces the storm sweeping in from the south.

Madam Cheng Bi took a deep breath, then turned and left.

Su Yi had refused to give up the method for harvesting and using the blood-red sword qi. That meant a grand battle was inevitable!

But even after she left, Madam Cheng Bi was overcome with confusion.

Just where... does Xiao Jian get the confidence to duke it out with the experts of the southern border’s eight top factions?

After all, all eight factions have sent a group of yao immortals! Added together, there are over one hundred of them! Their ranks include even Immortal Lords and Ladies of the Saint Realm!

Disregarding everyone else involved, the Immortal Lords alone could sweep the entire southern border!

Madam Cheng Bi knew that the eight great factions’ subordinate factions would participate too. Countless yao and demon cultivators were sharpening their weapons and readying themselves for battle!

......

“Big Brother Xiao, are we really going to fight them?” asked A’Ling, her brow knit with concern.

She might have known little of the ways of the world, but she did know that the coming storm was sure to be terrifying to the extreme!

“It’s not that we want to fight them, but that they’re coming to throw their lives away,” said Su Yi. He squinted up at the sun and said casually, “Once we’ve knocked some sense into them, they’ll realize that they’re no more than ants, and they naturally won’t dare to provoke us any longer.”

Over the course of human life, grudges and enmities were hard to avoid. In the world of cultivation, fighting and killing were sure to invite endless trouble.

In both his past lives and his current incarnation, Su Yi had experienced countless ups and downs. He naturally understood all that!

“Don’t worry over nothing,” Su Yi said warmly. “It makes no difference whether they plan to wear us down gradually or overwhelm us by sheer force of numbers. Either way, we’ll kill everyone who shows up.”

A’Ling froze, then nodded.

“Go tell the elder not to let the villagers leave town for the next few days,” ordered Su Yi.

“Mm.” A’Ling nodded, then dashed off.

......

Against Su Yi’s expectations, a group he’d never even considered arrived before the anticipated storm.

It happened in the evening, three days later. Ink-black clouds covered the Demon Crow Mountains, and the atmosphere below was stifled and oppressive.

Su Yi had planned on sunbathing for a while longer, so he furrowed his brow. If he’d still had his cultivation base, he would have just cleaved through the cloud cover and let the light wash over him.

A moment later, he couldn’t help but laugh. If he’d had his cultivation base, why would he concern himself with something as trivial as sunbathing?

A’Ling sat not far away, sewing a pair of beast leather boots.

She was convinced that her Big Brother Xiao would recover, and when he did, he could wear the boots she’d made him.

Everything was just that tranquil.

But as the clouds darkened overhead, three brilliant beams of light shot in silently from over the horizon.

When the three beams arrived, they turned out to be three people. The leader was a woman in a long, purple gown. She was cold and beautiful, and her whole body emanated the characteristic aura of an immortal.

She was accompanied by two men. One was tall and stalwart, with a prominent mustache and bronze armor. The other had long, blood-red hair, golden robes, and beautifully handsome features.

They too emanated the distinctive aura of the Immortal Dao.

Elder Li Changqing was the first villager to sense the disturbance, and when he saw the woman in purple leading the group, he couldn’t help but cry out, “You’re... Shuang’er!?”

Whoosh!

The woman in purple’s gaze flashed like cold lightning as she turned her attention toward him.

A moment later, a smile tugged at her lips. “Elder! Shuang’er’s returned to visit you!”

Li Changqing was delighted. “Shuang’er, it really is you! Wonderful! Wonderful!”

That very day, word that Yang Shuang’er had returned with two of her senior apprentice brothers spread throughout the village, and everyone came to welcome them.

“Your big sister’s come back?” Su Yi was stunned. “Has she heard about the Sky Fire Yao Sect’s destruction too? Is that why she rushed over?”

“Big Brother Xiao, I... I want to see my big sister,” said A’Ling. She looked eager, but also nervous.

“Go on,” Su Yi nodded with a smile.

“Mm!” A’Ling turned and left the residence.

It was at Li Changqing’s house that A’Ling met her sister for the first time.

The sisters looked about seventy percent alike, but Yang Shuang’er, who’d already stepped into the Immortal Dao, won out in terms of style. Even just standing there casually as her purple clothing fluttered around her, she looked extraordinary, like a crane among chickens.

A’Ling seemed simple and plain by comparison, with a wild air about her.

When she first laid eyes on her stunning big sister, A’Ling was a bit startled, and she couldn’t help but be ashamed of her own unsightliness.

“Are you you... A’Ling?” Yang Shuang’er rushed over and seized A’Ling by the hand. The rims of her eyes reddened. “I never would have guessed that our parents had given me a little sister...”

A’Ling stammered, “I... I only recently learned that I had a big sister in this world.”

She was quite excited, and even a bit flustered.

Li Changqing watched the reunion from afar, waves of emotion coursing through his heart.

He soon rose, then led the others away, leaving the house to the sisters whose lives were so full of adversity.

The two men who’d come here with Yang Shuang’er stood casually in the courtyard, neither laughing nor smiling. Some of the villagers had tried to greet them warmly, but both men reacted coldly, and their eyes were full of disdain.

In the end, the villagers just smiled awkwardly and left.

But the children didn’t share their reservations.

A little girl in pigtails walked over and chirped, “Uncles, are you immortals?”

The tall, stalwart man in armor glanced down at the girl, his eyes shining with ferocity. All he said was, “Scram.”

Thud!

The little girl fell to the ground in fright, her face pale.

Li Changqing had only just left the room when he saw this, and he visibly lost his cool and scooped the girl up. At the same time, he faced the visiting expert and said, “She’s a little girl, and she doesn’t know any better. Please, don’t be angry at her.”

The armored man’s companion, the golden-robed man with long hair, said flatly, “Don’t be afraid. Out of consideration for Junior Apprentice Sister Yang, we naturally won’t make things difficult for you lowly backwater riffraff.”

Backwater riffraff!!

The words were like daggers thrust into the villagers' hearts. Their expressions were instantly unsightly.

Li Changqing forced his fury back down and smiled agreeably. “Many thanks for your magnanimity, Senior!”

The golden-robed man waved him away. “Send those uninvolved away.”

“Got it!” Li Changqing promptly got to work.

Earlier, he learned that Yang Shuang’er had returned with two of her sectmates from the Celestial Yao Mountains. Moreover, both of them were true yao immortals!

Few living along the southern border would dare offend people like that, let alone the inhabitants of Grassy Greek Village.

The reason was simple. The Celestial Yao Mountains were the greatest faction in the entire Billowing Blue Realm!

Inside the room.

As they chatted, A’Ling and her sister gradually got to know each other, and they felt less foreign to each other. They were even starting to see the first signs of closeness.

“Big Sister, why are you only coming back now? The elder and I thought you’d gone missing,” A’Ling couldn’t help but ask.

An ashamed look appeared on Yang Shuang’er’s face. She sighed. “I’ve been cultivating with my master this entire time. We’ve traveled all over the place. I’ve always wanted to come back, but my cultivation delayed me until now.”

She sighed. “I made it here now because I heard my master discuss the highly suspicious demise of the Sky Fire Yao Sect.

“After asking around, it turned out that the blood-red sword qi that destroyed the sect originated from the Demon Crow Mountains. That’s why my master gave me permission to return and investigate.

“When I arrived in Fire Cauldron City and investigated for further details, I learned that Grassy Creek Village really was involved!”

Yang Shuang’er gazed intently at A’Ling. “Little Sister, did you really do it?”

A’Ling was instantly a bit embarrassed. “I won’t lie to you, Big Sister. I did it, but... all I did was borrow the power of that blood-red sword qi.”

Yang Shuang’er sighed approvingly. “I wouldn’t have thought you were already this capable, Little Sister! But... I don’t understand. How did you control that blood-red sword qi?”

“It’s not that I’m so capable,” said A’Ling. “Big Brother Xiao taught me how to do it.”

“Big Brother Xiao?” Yang Shuang’er said thoughtfully. “You mean that Xiao Jian person?”

“You know about Big Brother Xiao?” exclaimed A’Ling.

“I went to Heaven’s Net for information. I naturally heard about him,” laughed Yang Shuang’er. She paused, then said curiously, “Little Sister, do you still have any of that blood-red sword qi? If so, might I have a look at it?”

A’Ling hesitated, then agreed and passed the talisman carved with the Edict of Profound Gathering to Yang Shuang’er.

Yang Shuang’er gazed intently at it. “The blood-red sword qi is hidden inside?”

“Exactly,” said A’Ling. She patiently explained, “One talisman can only contain three streaks of that blood-red sword qi. I used one in Fire Cauldron City, so I only have two left.”

“Strange. My master visited the Demon Crow Mountains in search of treasure, and she saw that towering blood-red sword qi from afar. She said that even with her Saint Realm cultivation base, she dared not draw near, let alone attempt to gather its power,” murmured Yang Shuang’er. “How... did Xiao Jian pull it off?”

“Big Sister, don’t let Big Brother Xiao’s injuries fool you. He might be no different from a cripple now, but he’s unbelievably capable,” chirped A’Ling. “Take this talisman. It was carved with an Edict of Profound Gathering. Big Brother Xiao taught it to me.”

Yang Shuang’er’s eyes lit up. “Does that mean you know the secret method to gather that blood-red sword qi too?”

A’Ling was stunned. She suddenly felt that her sister seemed a bit too interested in the blood-red sword qi. She couldn’t help but ask, “Big Sister, did you just come back for that blood-red sword qi?”

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Yang Shuang’er looked at her pityingly. “In a sense. I’m here to investigate on my master’s orders, but more importantly, I wanted to seize this opportunity to visit Grassy Creek Village. I really had no idea that I had a little sister.

“Perhaps this is what they call fate. Fate brought us sisters together,” sighed Yang Shuang’er.

A’Ling’s heart churned with emotion too.

“Come on, take me to see Xiao Jian,” Yang Shuang’er said suddenly.

A’ling nodded, then realized something. “Big Sister, the Edict of Profound Gathering...”

Before she could finish, Yang Shuang’er pocketed the talisman and smiled. “Little Sister, there’s too much on the line. I’ll look after this for you for now.”

A’Ling’s heart thudded in her chest.

Something’s not right here!