He Was My Brother, and That Was Enough

By the spirit fields at dusk, Li Yuechan heard her brother's words and immediately pouted.

"You won't even let me stay for dinner..."

Li Muyang rose with the food container in his arms and gave a cheeky laugh. "You get spirit rice from the sect yourself. Why are you always trying to mooch off my meals?"

"Shoo, shoo, go back and cook for yourself. You're still a long way from being allowed to eat my rice."

Humming a cheerful little tune, Li Muyang carried the food container his dear little sister had brought him into the tiled hut.

Li Yuechan watched him leave and sighed.

"Sometimes I really can't tell if you're stingy or generous..."

The girl shook her head and turned to leave.

If he was stingy, then why had he nearly sold everything he owned to save her, spending every last coin on spirit medicine?

But if he was generous, then why wouldn't he even share a meal of spirit rice with her?

The girl sighed wordlessly and turned toward the path down the mountain.

The afterglow of the setting sun fell over her. On the empty mountain path, a mature woman's voice suddenly sounded beside her ear.

"...There's definitely something strange about your brother."

The voice came out of nowhere, without the slightest warning.

Though Li Yuechan was alone on the empty mountain path, the voice seemed like the whisper of an evil god from beyond the heavens.

But the girl who heard it wasn't frightened at all. Instead, her eyes lit up.

"Senior!" Li Yuechan said excitedly in a low voice. "You're awake?"

The woman's voice chuckled softly. "That's right. I'm finally awake."

"I absorbed the essence of so many low-level demonic cultivators and rested for so long. I've finally stabilized my soul and awakened."

Then the woman sighed. "Little girl, you've had a hard time lately."

"While I was asleep, I vaguely sensed that things were very bad for you. But I was at a crucial stage of recovery and couldn't spare any attention. I'd planned to completely purge the demonic energy from your body once I woke up..."

The woman spoke softly.

But the girl on the mountain path smiled and shook her head. "Senior, don't worry about it. My brother has already cured me. It cost him a lot of money, but I'll definitely earn it all back for him in the future."

"As for you, the fact that you were able to repair your soul is already wonderful news. I don't mind at all."

The girl smiled, trying to reassure the woman.

The woman's voice chuckled from the void. "What a broad-minded little girl. I knew I hadn't misjudged you."

"If it were that unworthy disciple of mine from the past, she'd probably already resent me for ignoring her."

There was a trace of bitterness in the woman's voice.

It seemed something unpleasant had stirred an old memory.

As Li Yuechan walked along the mountain path, she glanced back at the tiled hut behind her and asked curiously,

"By the way, Senior, you said my brother was strange... What did you mean?"

The girl deliberately changed the subject.

The woman's voice fell silent for several seconds before she answered. "Your brother keeps a low profile, but he's more dangerous and harder to deal with than every steward in the outer sect."

"I can vaguely sense that he carries a powerful talisman, at least at the level of a low-grade spirit talisman."

"And the talisman is brimming with murderous energy. It hasn't even been activated, yet it gives me the feeling of a thorn in my back. It's far beyond the work of an ordinary talisman master. It was likely made by a grandmaster of the talisman arts."

"His aura is also steady and enduring, unlike that of an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator. From what I can tell, he may already be close to Foundation Establishment."

The old woman's judgment was firm. "With cultivation like that and a talisman like that, there's hardly anyone in the entire outer sect of the Demon Refining Sect who could hold the upper hand over your brother."

The old woman's eye was sharp, and she was a grandmaster in the arts of talismans and incantations. She was exceptionally sensitive to the aura of talismans.

At a glance, she had seen that the young man before her was no ordinary person.

Hearing this, Li Yuechan blinked in surprise.

"My brother is already close to Foundation Establishment?"

The girl looked back at the little tiled hut, her face full of disbelief. "Senior, are you sure you didn't make a mistake? My brother was still an ordinary person three months ago, and he only reached the third level of Qi Refining last month."

"Even if he really has exceptional talent and outstanding aptitude, he could only have reached the fourth level of Qi Refining in a month, right?"

The girl couldn't help doubting it.

But the old woman said, "That's why I said there's something strange about your brother."

"His cultivation is improving far too quickly, at an almost eerie pace. Even the children of great clans, who can pour every kind of spirit medicine and treasure into their cultivation without regard for the cost, can barely keep up with his progress once they reach the age to cultivate."

"And yet the outer sect of the Demon Refining Sect is barren of cultivation resources. They only hand out a little low-quality spirit rice each month."

"With resources like that, it's absolutely impossible to cultivate so quickly."

"That's why I said there's something strange about your brother. Not only is his cultivation progressing at an astonishing rate, he's also carrying a top-grade talisman brimming with murderous energy."

"None of these things are within the grasp of an ordinary person."

"Your brother is definitely hiding some kind of secret."

The old woman's tone was certain.

The girl on the mountain path silently mulled over the information the old woman had given her.

After a while, she smiled and shook her head.

"If my brother really is close to Foundation Establishment, then I'm happy for him."

"As for secrets... I have secrets of my own that I haven't told my dear brother."

"Anyway, I know he's my brother. He spent all his money and worked himself to the bone to save me."

As she spoke, the girl turned to look at the little tiled hut halfway up the mountain. She sighed softly, but her gaze was utterly resolute.

"As long as he's my brother, that's enough."

Her quiet words drifted through the mountain forest.

The old woman chuckled. "I never said you should hurt your brother... Why are you getting so worked up, little girl?"

"By the way, if I remember correctly, he isn't your real brother, is he? You're not related by blood?"

"If you get along so well, why not marry him? Then you could share your secret with him. Once you become husband and wife, you can join forces and improve together. Your future will be limitless."

The old woman spoke with a hearty laugh.

The moment she finished, the girl's face turned bright red, and she was flustered.

"Senior!"

The girl stamped her foot in embarrassment and hurried away. "What are you saying?"

Her cheeks burning, the girl strode quickly down the mountain path. The old woman's laughter rang in her ear, as if she was delighted by the little girl's reaction.

There was one thing the old woman hadn't said, because she wasn't entirely sure herself.

But somehow, she seemed to have glimpsed traces of an ancient demonic art on Li Muyang.

That demonic art of Black Cloud Stronghold, which should have been lost for many years...

Thinking of this, the old woman sighed quietly.

If the secret hidden in Li Yuechan's brother really was connected to Black Cloud Stronghold, then things would be terribly dangerous.

But she couldn't be certain it was Black Cloud Stronghold's demonic art. Perhaps it was just the trace of some similar demonic art. In theory, nothing from Black Cloud Stronghold could appear in the world again.

The best fate for that terrifying and bizarre stronghold was to remain buried in the long river of time, never to see the light of day again.