It was unknown how long Yun Che was unconscious for until he finally began to stir . When he regained consciousness, a fragrant scent assaulted his senses .
āAhā¦ youāre awake . ā
The delighted shout of a girl sounded beside his ears . When he opened his eyes, emerald green eyes possessed by a beautiful girl, who seemed to have walked out of a painting, stared back at himā¦ Her red rimmed eyes and tear stained cheeks revealed that she had been crying not too long ago .
Whether it was his body or soul, he no longer felt pain . Instead of the feeble exhaustion one would feel after a lengthy period of torture and loss of consciousness, he felt incredibly comfy . He stood up in a slight daze, then saw an ocean of myriad flowers . The sounds of insects and birds were like music to his ears, the breeze was gentle, the skies were clear, and there was a fairy in front of himā¦ Even after taking several breaths of air, Yun Che believed that he was still asleep, that he was in a celestial land inside his dream .
āHeā¦ Lingā¦ā Yun Cheās gaze fixed onto the wood spirit girl before himā¦
He Ling, He Linās older sister .
Back then, He Lin had left the hideout to find his older sister . Back then, He Lin had kneeled before him and begged him to become his master to find his older sister . Back then, He Lin had given him his Wood Spirit Orb at his last breath and the only request he made, with streaming tears, was to find his older sisterā¦
He had finally found her .
He had not forgotten . Before he lost consciousness, she was the one who kneeled before Shen Xi and pleaded for his sake, thus causing Shen Xi to permit him entrance to the āForbidden Land of Samsaraā and simultaneously allowing him to escape the nightmare of the death-wishing mark .
ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ . . .
āI beg of youā¦ In my place . . . Please find my sisterā¦ā
āI am the last of the wood spiritās royal bloodline . I was the hope of the entire raceā¦ However, Iām just that uselessā¦ I couldnāt protect sister, I couldnāt protect my peopleā¦ I couldnāt do anything at all . . . . If I carry on living, Iāll only bring disaster upon Big Brother Yun Che who has been nothing but sincere and good to meā¦ . This useless meā¦ I cannot find sister and I wonāt be able to protect her eitherā¦ I can onlyā¦ only be so selfish as to beg Big Brother Yun Cheā¦ā
āDonāt speak any more . Donāt worry, even if I have to travel through the entire God Realm, I will definitely find your sister! I will protect herā¦ Iāll kill anyone who wants to harm her! Even if I have to give my life, I will never let her come to any harm! This I swearā¦ I swear this upon my life!!ā
āThank you, Big Brother Yun Che . This isā¦ the onlyā¦ way I can repay youā¦ā
āWhen I was very youngā¦ Father and mother once mentionedā¦ our Wood Spirit Orb was extremely special, it was called a āMiracle Seedā . I really hope that one dayā¦ It will reallyā¦ give Big Brother Yun Che a miraculous powerā¦ā
ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ . . .
Yun Che unwittingly covered his heart with his hand . The words He Lin said back then with his tears and his life had never left his heart . He did not forget a single word .
This time, it wasnāt just He Ling who had saved him, but also He Linā¦ If it wasnāt for his Wood Spirit Orb, even if he wasnāt dead by now, he wouldāve been living a life worse than death .
āMnā¦ā The wood spirit girl vigorously nodded . She thought she had already cried out all her tears but once Yun Che called out her name, tears instantly blurred her vision . āThatās me, youā¦ā
Seeing this man before her, who was obviously a stranger, possess an aura she was most familiar with, caused her to choke with emotion . She found it hard to speak .
āThank youā¦ for saving me . ā Yun Che straightened and cleanly thanked her .
ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ . . .
āMy older sister, her name is He Ling . . . He Ling!ā
āThenā¦ What does she look like? Is there anything different about her features with regard to other wood spirits?ā
āBig sister is a very good-looking wood spirit and is the most beautiful sister in the world . She is prettier than any flower, prettier even than the stars and the moon in the night sky!ā
ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ . . .
Yun Che originally thought that the words He Lin had said back then were due to the instinctive admiration he felt toward his older sister . It was only now that he had seen this wood spirit girl in the flesh, right before him, that he realized He Lin had not exaggerated at all .
A wood spiritās body contained the pure power of nature . Whether they were male or female, all of them possessed incredible looks . This could be considered a favor nature power gave them . He Ling was the last descendant of the wood spirit raceās royal line . This was exhibited at its pinnacle before her . The beauty of all those flowers paled in comparison to her magnificence . The tear stains on her face would make the entire world mourn in sadness .
The wood spirit girl shook her head . During his period of unconsciousness, she visited everyday . But now that he had awakened, she timidly avoided his gaze .
āHowā¦ long was I asleep for?ā Yun Che asked .
āThirteen days . ā She answered him in a small voice and sneakily took a glance at him before immediately shifting her beautiful eyes away .
Heāsā¦ not He Lin after all . This was the first time she had been this close to a human male .
āThirteen daysā¦ā Yun Che muttered, sighing inwardly . Even if he no longer had the Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark on him, he would still not be able to enter the Eternal Heaven Divine Realm in time .
Seeing the ring on his finger which came from Caizhi, he sadly thought to himself: Jasmine, I am already destined to never fulfill the promise I made to youā¦ and Caizhi .
Qianā¦ yeā¦ Yingā¦ erā¦
When this name and that golden figure flashed in his head, an evil energy instantly gushed from his heartā¦ but once his gaze met the wood spirit girl in front of him, he rigidly suppressed it .
That woman was too frightening .
She could use a single finger to destroy stars with her profound strength, her schemes were deep, and although she was as vicious as a snake, she just happened to be extremely cautious as wellā¦ She was able to evade the eyes and ears of the world, yet when she struck out against someone like him who could not resist her at all outside the Eastern Divine Region, she did not hesitate to inflict him with the Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark . . .
Yun Che was a person who never feared the strong . Back when he was only in the Divine Soul Realm, he dared to go against the entire Black Soul Divine Sect alone and bring mayhem to both their realm king and sect .
Qianye Yingāer, however, was just too powerful . In front of her, Yun Che clearly felt like he was an ant under the suppression of a heavy mountain . No matter how he did his best with his power, methods, or thoughts, he could not move a single inch .
She had already dealt her hand, implanting the Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark on him, so there was no reason for her to hold back .
Now that he could not enter the Eternal Heaven Pearlā¦ did this mean that he had to live his life under her shadow?
Yun Cheās scalp went numb just thinking about her dreadfulness and the torture he had just suffered from the Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark . His soul shivered as he thought to himself: Qianye Yingāerā¦ I wonāt die this easilyā¦ If there comes a day that you fall in my handsā¦
Iāll rape you ten thousand times before I hack you into pieces!!
He gave his lifeās most malicious curse to Qianye Yingāerā¦ indeed, due to the disparity between them, he could only think about it .
āW-whatās wrong? Are you hurting again?ā He Ling anxiously asked when she saw Yun Cheās expression begin to slightly distort .
Yun Che recovered his senses and hurried replied, āNo, no . I was only thinking about some things . Wā¦ What about that Senior Shen Xi? I havenāt thanked her for saving my life . ā
He Lingās gaze shifted to where the bamboo house stood in the ocean of flowers and said softly, āMaster is currently in meditation . We canāt disturb her when sheās in meditation but Master has been suppressing your Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark every day so she wonāt meditate too long . You should be able to see her soon . ā
āAlright,ā Yun Che answered with a nod, and then asked, āSo what kind of a person is Senior Shen Xi? Iāve never heard of her before I came here . ā
Qianye Yingāer had said that she was the only person who could release the Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark . With her level of power, there was no doubt in her words .
Yet Shen Xi was able to .
And now he did indeed not feel the pain of the death-wishing mark .
What kind of person was she, to actually suppress a power at the level of Qianye Yingāer?
No wait! Qianye Yingāer said that if someone was afflicted with her death-wishing mark, even a god emperor would wish for death and beg for mercyā¦ Could she be even stronger than a god emperor?
Moreover, the place where she lived was actually the biggest forbidden ground in the Dragon God Realm!?
He Ling thought about it, then replied, āMaster is a really powerful, really great person . It was Master who saved me three years ago and because she pitied me since I was alone, she brought me here . But I donāt really know anything else about Master . I only know thatā¦ something seems to be restricting Master, forcing her to remain here . Even though she can leave once in a while, she canāt leave for long or sheāll disappear . ā
ā . . . Disappear?ā This word left Yun Che dumbstruck .
āMn, thatās what Master said,ā He Ling said with a light nod . āMaster meditates everyday in order to break free from this restriction . This time, because of me, Masterāsā¦ going to take more time to break the restriction . ā
She hung her head, tightly biting her lips .
āMore timeā . . . was not just ten or a hundred years, but twenty thousand years .
ā . . . ā Yun Che was stunned, then said hurriedly, āNo, not because of you, because of me . ā
He had heard everything Shen Xiās gentle voice had said when he was outside the Forbidden Land of Samsara . He remembered that she would waste a full twenty thousand years of heartās blood if she were to save himā¦
This meant that she had delayed breaking free of the restriction by twenty thousand years when she saved him .
He scratched his headā¦ This was another huge freaking favor he couldnāt repay!
He had always encountered all sorts of disasters in his life before meeting his saviors one after anotherā¦ he wasnāt sure if he should grieve or rejoice about it .
It was no wonder that she was still firm in her rejection when Xia Qingyue pleaded to her utmostā¦ A whole twenty thousand years, even to Divine Masters, this length of time was extremely long . After all, humans in the Divine Master Realm had a lifespan of fifty thousand years .
But in the end, she had actually agreed to save himā¦ this was simply inconceivable .
He Ling still shook her head and then lifted her gaze . Her eyes which had evaded Yun Cheās since the very start suddenly fixed on him . She asked with an extremely soft voice, āCan youā¦ tell me what happened to my Lināer? H-howā¦ did heā¦ dieā¦ā
When she said that, Yun Che saw a trace of deep pain in He Lingās crystalline green eyes .
Yun Che had long known that the relationship between the siblings was extremely tight due to He Linās worrying about her . To He Ling, He Linās death did not just contain the impact of losing her last relative, but the annihilation of the wood spirit royal familyās lineā¦
āAlright . ā Yun Che nodded . Even if it was extremely cruel, he had to tell He Ling .
āI met He Lin in a lower star realm called the Darkya Realm . At that time, I wholeheartedly wanted a Wood Spirit Orbā¦ā
Then he told He Ling everything, about how his desire for a Wood Spirit Orb led him to enter the Darkya Realm, led him to purchase He Lin, about how he couldnāt kill He Lin in the final moment and instead sent him back to their hideoutā¦ which ended up in a massacre of wood spiritsā¦ He told her everything in detail, and dictated every word and action He Lin had said and done to her .
All the way to when He Lin offered him his Royal Wood Spirit Orb, to when he finally tearfully dissipated in his armsā¦
He Ling silently listened without interrupting him . When she heard all those familiar names and then heard him say that they had all died, her snowy hands tightly covered her lips as teardrops crazily poured down . Her entire body shook violently, as though she was amidst a freezing windstorm .
āDeadā¦ Allā¦ deadā¦ā She whimpered as she sobbed, each word bringing about more tears .
ā . . . ā Yun Che did not dare to look her in the eye . āI was the one who harmed them, I was the one who brought disaster to that place . I burned the mastermind, Lei Qianfengās corpse where they rested, butā¦ā
Yun Cheās voice suddenly stopped there, because he saw a green colored droplet fall to the land beside his legs .
He abruptly lifted his head, and in his shock, he saw two streaks of emerald green water stains on He Lingās snowy mein .
That was the color of a wood spiritās blood!
What was even scarier was that her originally emerald green eyesā¦ were covered in a heavy layer of gray .
Yun Cheās heart lurched . He quickly held onto He Lingās shoulders . āHe Lingā¦ He Ling! Youā¦ā
āGranny Qing Yeā¦ Uncle Qing Muā¦ Fei Yanā¦ Zhu Yinā¦ Qing Zhuā¦ are all deadā¦ allā¦ deadā¦ā
Each and every soft cry came with the bleeding of her heart . Her eyes were unfocused . There was only pain, despair, and more and more grayā¦ a kind of gray which definitely should not have appeared on a wood spirit .
āHe Ling!ā Yun Che forcefully shook her delicate shoulders and said anxiously, āListen to me . Theyāre not here anymore . You are the last descendant and hope of the wood spirit royal family so you have to stay strongā¦ Since I have He Linās Wood Spirit Orb, I can be considered half a wood spirit . I will go look for the other wood spirits with you and protect them from now on . You mustnātā¦ā
A hand powerlessly pushed him away as He Ling turned around and ran away, leaving behind a lingering trail of green blood . . .
āHe Ling!ā
Yun Che quickly stood up . Right when he was about to give chase, a soft sigh came from behind him .
āAiiā¦ let her go . ā
Yun Che stilled, and then turned about .
Bathed in a pure and holy white light, her face was indiscernible, and only her beautiful, illusory figure could seen .
She was obviously within reach, yet it seemed like she was standing at an unreachable height .