Chapter 26

[First Senior Brother! Second Senior Sister! Third Senior Brother!]

[Where are you all?]

Ye Zhenzhen shouted desperately in her mind, but no one answered. In her panic, she scrabbled with both arms, making the branches rustle and shake. She was not particularly scared, but First Senior Brother still had her milk bottle. After only a few hours without milk, she already felt so hungry her stomach was stuck to her back.

"Old friend, you've finally come." An ancient, weathered voice sounded beside her ear. A pair of eyes appeared in the darkness, flickering as they stared at her without blinking.

Ye Zhenzhen jumped at the sudden voice. [Who are you? Come out! Why have you trapped me here and started playing ghost?]

[And who's your old friend? I'm just a baby. Even counting every last day, I've only been in this world for three months. How could you possibly know me?]

"Strange... how strange... There's a trace of her aura between your brows, yet your soul isn't as pure as hers. You're greedy, selfish, full of desire. You possess every kind of greed, anger, and delusion in this world." The voice sounded like it belonged to an elder who had lived for thousands of years. Deep and worn by the passage of countless ages, it seemed to see through her flesh and into her heart.

The mark between Ye Zhenzhen's brows glimmered faintly gold. [What are you talking about? Do you know me? Old friend, if we know each other, let me go. And let my senior brothers and sister go too.]

[It's so dark here. I'm just a baby, you know. Of course I'm afraid of the dark.]

"Don't rush, little one. Let me take a closer look at you."

"Ten thousand years ago, I met her once. She saved me from the jaws of a Demon Beast and told me to wait here for someone. I waited a full ten thousand years, and at last, you've arrived. You haven't grown into your features yet, but the crescent curve of your brows, your shining dark eyes, and your lips like red lotuses are exactly like hers."

"Everything follows the ties of fate. You are her, and yet you are not."

Ye Zhenzhen: ?

[Who is she? Why am I her, but not her?]

[What kind of nonsense is that?]

[Come on, can't you speak plainly?]

A deep laugh burst from the old voice. "She never had your carefree disposition, nor was she as lively and mischievous as you. When I first met her, she wore white robes as light as gauze. Her face was fair as snow, her figure graceful beyond compare. She was like an immortal descended from the nine heavens, yet as cold as a field of glistening snow. Her face showed neither joy nor anger nor sorrow, but between her brows lay a grief that would not fade: the burden of responsibility and compassion she bore for all living beings."

"She should have reached Ascension long ago. Yet to keep the Evil Drought Demon from bringing calamity upon the human world, she chose to remain here for the sake of the Dao she held in her heart. I haven't seen her in ten thousand years. I wonder how she is now?"

[All right, old man, stop being mysterious. Who exactly is she?] Ye Zhenzhen searched her memory of the original book. It had rambled on for hundreds of chapters, but she could not think of a single person who fit. How strange.

"You'll know when you grow up."

It was like being asked a riddle, failing to guess it, and then being kept from the answer. Ye Zhenzhen felt as though ten thousand insects were crawling inside her, leaving her itching with frustration. [What the hell? You've got me interested, but you won't tell me who she is. At least tell me who you are.

[Could you be the Ten-Thousand-Year Bodhi Tree?]

"You're clever. You guessed right."

[Old man, since I'm so clever, could you give me a reward?] She had searched high and low in vain, only to find what she wanted without lifting a finger. Ye Zhenzhen suddenly flashed him a fawning smile.

"Yes."

[You're agreeing just like that, without even asking what reward I want?]

"Of course."

The space around her suddenly shook violently. Dazzling streaks of light flashed before her eyes as a Spirit Sword struck again and again. Someone was trying to cut through the branches and force his way past the layers of tangled vines. But whenever he managed to sever them, new branches sprouted. No matter how many he cut, they never ran out.

The newcomer spat out a mouthful of blood, but he refused to give up. As though he had taken the branches as a personal challenge, he poured all his strength into a furious barrage of cracking blows, determined to break through the airtight cage and rescue the person inside.

"Look. The person you want the reward for has arrived. Why don't I let him in?" the Ten-Thousand-Year Bodhi Tree said unhurriedly.

An opening was hacked straight through the wooden cage.

It was him, just as she had thought. Her beautiful, powerful, tragic First Senior Brother, covered in blood, his white robes stained and torn.

"Junior Sister, I finally found you!" Ye Qinghui pulled Little Glutinous Rice Ball tightly into his arms, the knot between his brows slowly easing. When he had been unable to find Junior Sister anywhere, he had nearly lost his mind with worry. He would have turned this place upside down to find his precious Junior Sister.

[First Senior Brother, you're finally here! Zhenzhen's starving! Zhenzhen wants milk!] Little Glutinous Rice Ball puckered her lips and began to cry miserably.

Junior Sister had been trapped here for so long. The surrounding darkness had not made her cry, nor had being alone upset her, yet not getting any milk had brought on a storm of tears. Ye Qinghui could not help laughing. He took out her milk bottle with an indulgent smile, warmed the milk, and fed her. She gulped it down.

Ye Zhenzhen took great swallows until her little belly was round and full.

Once she had eaten and drunk her fill, she turned to business. [Old man, a villain tricked my First Senior Brother out of his Inner Core. Without it, his cultivation is unstable. Why don't you lend him your seed?]

"First, we'll have to see whether he's worthy of borrowing it." As the Ten-Thousand-Year Bodhi Tree spoke, he conjured a mirror. "Take a look in this mirror first."

A mirror?

Ye Zhenzhen was baffled. [I ask to borrow your seed, and you tell me to look in a mirror? What a strange old man.]

She gripped the mirror's handle with her little hand and held it up to her face. She had meant to exclaim, [Oh my, how did I get so adorable?] Instead, she suddenly saw Superior Spirit Stones piled into mountains. Each one radiated dense spiritual energy, and she could hardly take her eyes off them. Then she saw Spirit Plants covering mountains and fields, and a boundless Spirit Spring where countless Spirit Fish leaped and jostled one another.