"I'm finally back."
Looking at the familiar scenery around him, Li Yang let out a long breath.
A whole year!
It had taken him an entire year to refine the Void Bubble into a transfer node, and he'd hurried back as soon as it was done.
He stepped forward and put away his avatar, which had already reached the Ninth Stage of Returning Void. After checking what had happened while he was gone and sensing the activity on Lesser Qiong Peak and in the surrounding area, he sent out his Immortal Sense from the Thatched Cottage and transmitted a message to Lan Ling'e.
"Ling'e, Senior Brother still hasn't come back?"
Lan Ling'e, who had been cultivating, sensed the message from the avatar and happily ended her seclusion, dashing straight to Li Yang's Thatched Cottage.
When Lan Ling'e saw that Li Yang was unharmed, tears suddenly poured down her face like water from a broken floodgate.
"Senior Brother, your... your injury is healed?"
How could this not be a hallucination? A Dao Wound like that had healed just like that?
"Healed my ass. This is my avatar."
He'd spent the whole year refining the Void Bubble. Where would he have found time to heal his injuries? He lightly tapped Lan Ling'e on the forehead and swore.
"You silly girl. We haven't seen each other in over a year, and you've gotten so absent-minded. Didn't you even look at this body's cultivation level?"
Lan Ling'e rubbed her head and finally relaxed. This wasn't a Heart Demon, and it wasn't an illusion.
But then came the disappointment. Nearly two years had passed. Her Senior Brother's injuries had probably gotten even worse, and he'd lost even more of his lifespan, hadn't he?
"Then, Senior Brother, your injury..."
"Don't worry. I got a great opportunity. I'm not going to die."
A great opportunity?
Lan Ling'e blinked, looking at Li Yang in confusion. What kind of opportunity could make Senior Brother describe it that way?
"Enough. It's not something I can talk about. Just know that I'm fine."
Some things couldn't be spoken of freely, so Li Yang kept his answer vague. He only wanted Lan Ling'e to stop worrying.
"Let's not talk about me. Let's talk about your cultivation. From the looks of it, you've reached Return to Dao. Which stage?"
Lan Ling'e had been taught by him and Senior Brother together. She knew the Steady Character Scripture by heart, so she was naturally good at concealing her abilities.
Though this avatar was at the True Immortal stage, he couldn't casually probe her. Judging by other signs, he couldn't be sure this was Lan Ling'e's true self.
"Return to Dao Sixth Stage."
Facing Li Yang, Lan Ling'e had no intention of hiding anything. She was showing her true self and telling him her true cultivation level.
"Not bad!"
Li Yang was delighted. At this rate, she could reach the Return to Dao Ninth Stage within thirty years and transcend tribulation to become an immortal.
"But since you've come out in your true body without any protection, have you forgotten what we taught you?"
At that, Li Yang's expression darkened. Even on Lesser Qiong Peak, she couldn't afford to be so careless.
Faced with her Senior Brother's scolding, Lan Ling'e wasn't angry at all. In fact, she was happy.
She went up and clung to Li Yang's arm, shaking it playfully as she acted cute.
"Se...nior...Brother... I was just worried about you!"
"Stop, stop, stop!" Li Yang grew dizzy from all the shaking and hurriedly called for her to stop.
"Let's drop that. How's your Pot of Heaven Technique coming along? Can you keep the space stable now?"
"I can. I even used the formation you taught me to reinforce the space. It's rock-solid now."
"Good! Then, has Senior Disciple Brother come back at all in the past two years?"
"No."
Li Yang fell silent for a moment. He knew that since he'd come back so late, Senior Disciple Brother had probably gone through a second round of Tribulation Transcendence, just like in the Original Novel. And the nine bolts of Heavenly Thunder had become ten.
Some things only got worse when you went looking for trouble.
You never listened to your elders, and now you had to suffer!
Oh, right. Senior Disciple Brother should be a Celestial Immortal by now, shouldn't he?
He remembered that after Senior Disciple Brother survived the second-ranked Thunder Tribulation, he'd absorbed an excessive amount of spiritual energy. By rights, he should have ascended to the Celestial Immortal stage.
But he also knew how much of an Old Sixth Senior Disciple Brother was. He was the type to temper his foundations over and over at every stage before advancing to the next. So it wasn't impossible that he'd forcibly suppressed his cultivation.
He just didn't know whether Senior Brother had become the Sea God, like in the Original Novel, with a hundred temples and the Western Teachings as his enemies.
Thinking about it, Senior Disciple Brother's excessive caution had only brought him all sorts of trouble.
"What a mess!"
Li Yang shook his head and sighed, leaving Lan Ling'e utterly confused.
"Senior Brother, who's made a mess?"
"Who else? Senior Disciple Brother! He still hasn't come back, so he must've gotten himself into trouble outside the sect and gone into hiding. At the end of the day, he's a stubborn old fool who insists on doing things his own way and won't listen to a young man like me..."
Li Yang went on and on, his tone full of disdain. Lan Ling'e couldn't help lowering her head.
Here we go again.
Whenever one of the two Senior Brothers wasn't around, the other would badmouth him to her.
If you looked down on each other so much, why worry about each other?
Was this what they called brotherly love between men?
Little Ling'e's face suddenly turned red, and smoke seemed to rise from her head.
???
Li Yang was baffled. He knew Lan Ling'e had been a famous Steam Princess in the Original Novel, but after years of guidance from him and Senior Disciple Brother, she shouldn't still be like this, right?
Why was she steaming up again?
Looking at Lan Ling'e's flushed face, it was obvious the girl had thought of something embarrassing.
Could it be...
Little Blondie???
No, that couldn't be it.
Li Yang rejected the idea again. Little Blondie was just too ridiculous. His Junior Sister couldn't have such terrible taste! Besides, she never went out. How could there be a Little Blondie?
So she had to be thinking about something dangerous.
Knowing Lan Ling'e, Li Yang's expression immediately darkened. He was just about to scold her when he sensed someone approaching Lesser Qiong Peak.
He sent out his Immortal Sense. The moment he saw who was coming, his face turned black.
There were three visitors: Liu Yan'er, Wang Qi, and a handsome young man at the Return to Void Sixth Stage.
At that moment, Li Yang remembered the ridiculous story from the Original Novel about Lan Ling'e being punished by Li Changshou and confined to reflect for twenty years.
It had all started with the Northern Juru Continent Expedition. In the face of danger, Liu Yan'er and Wang Qi had developed feelings for each other and become a couple. Recently, they'd planned to register as Dao companions and cultivate together.
It should have been a happy occasion.
But everything went wrong because of one person: Liu Yan'er's fellow disciple, Du Lin Peak Prodigy Liu Sizhe.
He opposed the match.
Because he'd been harboring a secret crush for a hundred years.
Liu Sizhe had joined the sect as a child and followed his gentle, same-surname Senior Sister around, calling her "Senior Sister," "Senior Sister."
Gradually, the boy had grown troubled, and a beautiful girl had taken up residence in his heart.
But Liu Sizhe thought he was still too new to the sect and his cultivation was inferior to his Senior Sister's. He couldn't protect her, so he buried those feelings deep in his heart. He cultivated diligently, strove to comprehend the Dao, and gradually made a name for himself in the sect.
Only after Liu Sizhe reached the Sixth Stage of Returning Void, received a treasure from the sect, and became a direct disciple of the Du Lin Peak Master did he decide to confess his feelings to his Senior Sister—only to find...
In short, it was that sort of ridiculous mess. It began when Liu Yan'er said, "Junior Brother, I've always thought of you as the closest of junior brothers."
Then came a challenge, and the disciples of the two peaks grew more and more antagonistic, until the elders of the sect reprimanded them.
The three of them had come now, apparently hoping to get him or Senior Disciple Brother to vouch for them and explain how "Senior Sister Yan'er" and "Junior Brother QiQi" had fallen in love at first sight.
"I'm sitting at home, and trouble comes knocking!"
Before you continue