Undercover

"We're here!"

The innocent-looking young girl stopped before an enormous Black Sky Lotus.

The aloof beauty stepped out of the light, her long black hair draped over her shoulders. Her frosty features were as cold as ice, and her gaze fell on Fang Yan with a hint of scrutiny.

Fang Yan met her eyes. His heart pounded like a drum, but his expression remained as calm as still water.

The frosty beauty studied him for three breaths.

"Welcome."

Her voice was cool, yet her tone carried a trace of warmth.

"This will be your home from now on."

Fang Yan dipped slightly, the sleeves of his black robe hanging down.

"Thank you."

The innocent young girl, Hei Miaomiao, happily jumped up and down beside them.

"That's wonderful! I have another little sister now! Sister Sisi is the best!"

The frosty beauty reached out and rubbed the innocent girl's head. The corners of her lips lifted slightly, revealing an exceedingly faint smile.

Fang Yan watched the scene, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

These Black Sky Lotuses...

They truly looked like a family.

Little Fox Fairy's voice suddenly rang out in his consciousness, lowered to an extremely soft whisper.

"Master, how do you feel right now?"

"Stop bothering me. I'm undercover."

"I just wanted to ask whether it feels good to be an aloof beauty."

"Little Fox Fairy, when I get back, I'll format you."

"Hehe, you wouldn't have the heart to."

Fang Yan ignored her and followed the innocent young girl deeper into the sea of flowers.

His black robe fluttered through the void, while his long black hair cascaded down like a waterfall.

His current identity was a newly advanced Immortal Black Sky Lotus—an aloof beauty in black robes, codenamed "Hei Loulan"!

His objective was to infiltrate the Black Sky Lotus Race, find an opportunity to obtain a top-tier secret technique breakthrough.

And while he was at it...

(Hehehe, ٩(๑^o^๑)۶)

"Don't expose yourself!"

Fang Yan took a deep breath and swept his gaze over the transformed Black Sky Lotuses around him.

They gathered in groups of two or three. Some chatted, some cultivated, while others simply stood silently in the void with their eyes closed, as though sensing something.

The atmosphere was warm and peaceful.

Fang Yan suddenly thought of something.

If one day, the Human Race's fleet entered the Black Heaven Secret Realm and wiped out all these Black Sky Lotuses...

What would become of those warm scenes, those smiles, those cries of "big sister" and "little sister"...

Fang Yan shook his head and cast the somewhat sentimental thought from his mind.

He had seen far too much of the universe's cruelty over a hundred thousand years of war.

Pitying the enemy was betrayal toward his own race.

His gaze became calm and cold once more. Like a genuine transformed Black Sky Lotus, he blended into this sea of flowers.

After teasing Hei Miaomiao for a while, the frosty beauty named Hei Sisi stayed behind alone with Fang Yan.

Hei Sisi stood in the void, her long black hair gleaming faintly beneath the dusky light. Her cold eyes watched Fang Yan, as though scrutinizing him—or perhaps hesitating.

Fang Yan's heart skipped a beat.

Could she have discovered me?

His expression did not change. He maintained the same aloof beauty's bearing as his black robe drifted gently in the void.

"You only broke through recently. Your foundation is still unstable."

Hei Sisi finally spoke, her voice clear as spring water.

"This Law Leaf is for you. Take it and comprehend it."

She raised her hand, and a black petal as thin as a cicada's wing appeared in her palm.

Yet at the instant the leaf fully solidified, Hei Sisi's body suddenly trembled.

All color drained from her face in an instant, leaving it so pale it seemed nearly translucent.

A metallic sweetness surged up her throat. She clamped her lips shut and forced it back down, but a thread of extremely fine black blood still seeped from the corner of her mouth.

Hei Sisi's fingertips trembled faintly.

Fine cracks appeared across Hei Sisi's chest. Those delicate lines spread from her chest to her neck, disappearing beneath her jaw like icy fissures across porcelain on the verge of shattering.

Hei Sisi closed her eyes.

Her lashes trembled softly, and fine beads of cold sweat appeared on her forehead.

Only after several breaths did she open her eyes again. Her cold gaze now held a nearly imperceptible weariness, but even more than that, there was resolve.

"This... is a Law Leaf I plucked from my true body. It contains all of my comprehension of the Time Law."

"You have only recently broken through, and your foundation is unstable. Cultivate diligently in the future."

Fang Yan's pupils contracted sharply.

"Sister Sisi, this..."

Fang Yan's voice caught slightly. He had nearly forgotten that he was now "Hei Loulan."

"Take it. Every sister came through it this way. If younger sisters are born in the future, you must take good care of them as well."

Hei Sisi's tone allowed no refusal as she placed the leaf in Fang Yan's hand.

When the weightless petal landed in his palm, Fang Yan even felt as though it were burning hot.

"Three years from now, the Venerable Lord will hold the Black Sky Ceremony in the Dawn Zone. All clanspeople capable of transforming must attend."

Fang Yan accepted the leaf. When his fingertips touched the icy-cold petal, a complicated emotion welled up in his heart.

He and Hei Sisi were complete strangers. More accurately, he was a human who had come here as an infiltrator.

Yet Hei Sisi's care for him was utterly genuine.

"Thank you, Sister Sisi."

Fang Yan dipped his head, his black sleeves hanging down and concealing his slightly reddened eyes.

Hei Sisi nodded without saying anything more. She turned into an enormous Black Sky Lotus, its petals slowly closing as she entered a state of cultivation.

Holding the Law Leaf, Fang Yan stood there for a long time.

"Master..."

Little Fox Fairy's voice sounded in his consciousness. For once, she did not tease him, and there was a trace of hesitation in her tone.

"Yes."

"That leaf... isn't actually of much use to you, right? Your comprehension of the Time Law is already at the King-level."

"Yes, it isn't very useful."

Fang Yan lowered his head to look at the black petal in his palm. The corners of his lips rose slightly, but his smile was somewhat bitter.

He carefully stored the Law Leaf in his World Ring. Rather than comprehending it, he kept it as a treasured memento.

Three years was no more than an instant on the scale of the universe.

But for Fang Yan, cultivating in seclusion within the Dusk Zone, those three years were a rare period of peace in his hundred-thousand-year life of warfare.

Whenever he had free time, he would take on Hei Loulan's appearance and wander through the Black Sky Lotus settlement, observing their way of life and occasionally chatting with nearby clanspeople.

Whenever inspiration struck, he would sit cross-legged atop the withered remains of that Black Sky Lotus and deduce "Late Wind."

Hei Miaomiao came to find him almost every day.

"Little Sister Loulan! Little Sister Loulan!"

The innocent young girl flew over in a bouncing, skipping manner, holding a cluster of flower nectar that emitted a faint glow.

"Today, I found a World Lord-level sister in the east who had just withered away. Her flower nectar hadn't fully dispersed yet, so I collected some and brought half for you!"

Fang Yan looked at the cluster of flower nectar, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

Black Sky Lotus flower nectar was, frankly speaking, the essence of residual origin force left behind after their deaths. It was a great tonic for Black Sky Lotuses.

But for him, a human, Fang Yan truly could not bring himself to eat that black, murky stuff...

"Little Sister Loulan, why aren't you eating? Is it because there isn't enough?"

Hei Miaomiao tilted her head, her round eyes full of concern.