From the Heavens Descended an Immortal Sister

"I\'ve searched everywhere near the Yuan Yuan Realm, and there\'s absolutely no trace of her aura," the bamboo grove replied.

"Can\'t you detect the aura of the talisman you gave her either?" Mu Huanqing asked again.

The bamboo grove shook its head, "It\'s very strange; it seems like she has already used that talisman. Otherwise, I should be able to sense it. But since she used the Teleportation Talisman, she must have returned here. She\'s just a mortal; if she returned here, she couldn\'t have gone to the outer worlds.

However, I\'ve combed the entire Earth with my Divine Sense and couldn\'t feel her presence at all."

"So that means she did indeed come back, but then she left again?" Mu Huanqing said.

"Not necessarily. If she had come back, then how did she leave again? The talisman I gave her only had a single use for teleportation."

Listening to the bamboo grove\'s words, Mu Huanqing let out a deep sigh.

Ever since she found out about Liu Qianqian\'s disappearance in that world, Mu Huanqing had been filled with self-reproach.

She felt that everything was her fault, leading to Liu Qianqian\'s disappearance. She had never thought about killing Liu Qianqian, but now, in her eyes, this was no different from indirectly causing her death.

As more time passed, Liu Qianqian remained without a trace, which made her wonder if Liu Qianqian had met with danger and completely vanished.

Is she dead?

Mu Huanqing didn\'t want to hear such news, but Liu Qianqian was just a mortal, and even an immortal couldn\'t find her. Other than her soul dissipating after death, was there another way for someone to evade even an immortal\'s search?

"Take me to the Yuan Yuan Realm; I want to search for her myself," Mu Huanqing decided.

"She\'s not there. I\'ve searched every place in that world," the bamboo grove said.

"Even so, I want to go. Without any news of her, I\'m unsettled in whatever I do. Perhaps there\'s something she left behind over there."

"She did leave something behind there, but it was just a small wooden cabin, filled with love poems," said the bamboo grove.

"Take me there!"

Seeing that she was determined to go, the bamboo grove had no choice but to envelop her in True Qi and turn into a beam of light that left Earth.

——

One day.

Above the sea of the Broken Islands in the Central Area, Fang Ren sat on a branch of the small Qianye tree, slightly lifting his head to gaze at the sky, his heart full of melancholy.

The news of Liu Qianqian\'s disappearance came years ago when the old patriarch of the Liu Family was about to pass away. He dearly wished to see Liu Qianqian one last time, so the Liu Family urged the bamboo grove to try to bring her back to meet her grandfather.

But when the bamboo grove went to the Yuan Yuan Realm to find Liu Qianqian, she was nowhere to be found in the entire world.

Liu Family\'s old patriarch passed away without being able to see Liu Qianqian in the end.

People change, and over the years, the Liu Family had long stopped viewing Liu Qianqian as a tool for marriage. The old patriarch, especially sensitive in his last moments, felt he had wronged his granddaughter all his life and wanted to speak with her before dying, which is why he had the Liu Family so earnestly request the bamboo grove.

But nothing went as planned.

After learning of Liu Qianqian\'s disappearance, Fang Ren became restless all the time.

Liu Qianqian might have been unimportant to his life, but in some sense, she was very significant, unique, and unattainable.

He didn\'t want to hear any bad news about her, hoping she could live safely and happily. She needed to be alive and well.

This feeling had persisted since twenty years ago when Liu Qianqian drove away.

When he got married, she came with blessings, and when she left, he wished her happiness.

He didn\'t want to see anything bad happen to her.

They say time dilutes everything, but regarding Liu Qianqian, time only intensified Fang Ren\'s wounds, making them eternal.

Not being with Liu Qianqian didn\'t sadden him, for he had someone better.

But Liu Qianqian didn\'t. She seemed fixated, still dwelling on him even after his marriage, even choosing another world to escape the reality of their non-union.

It was her unwavering love that turned his otherwise unaffected heart into a perpetual, unhealing wound.

The more she hung onto him, the more he felt he owed her, and he even blamed himself for her disappearance.

It\'s said that we always long for what we can\'t have.

Fang Ren didn\'t feel that longing because he never thought he needed anyone other than Mu Huanqing.

But somehow, facing a woman who never stopped thinking about him, that feeling started to sprout over time.

Twenty years later, when he recalled the day Liu Qianqian kissed him, he still felt he wouldn\'t have dodged, and might even have responded more actively.

Because at the time, he didn\'t know that would be their last encounter.

"Ah, you\'ve been asleep for over twenty years; you won\'t wake up," Fang Ren sighed, patting the giant tree behind him, his expression growing more sorrowful.

He wanted Xiao Qianye to help him search for Liu Qianqian because the fruits of this tree held countless possibilities.

But ever since Xiao Qianye turned into a giant tree, it had not responded anymore.

Fang Ren did not know if by continuing to breakthrough realms, the giant tree would bear fruit again.

Because he had not practiced his cultivation for a single moment in these twenty years.

He feared that with another breakthrough, he might enter the merciless Taoist principles of the Asura path.

Then, he would definitely not stay by Mu Huanqing\'s side as he does now.

"Speaking of which, you still owe me several fruits; it\'s been twenty years," he said.

Fang Ren looked at the unresponsive giant tree with a sense of helplessness.

After the battle twenty years ago, he had made consecutive breakthroughs into the Xuanyang realm. By his account, Qianye owed him four fruits that he had never received.

If he had those four fruits, maybe he would have found a way to find Liu Qianqian.

At that moment, a streak of silver light flew in from the edge of the sea, gently landing beside Fang Ren.

Fang Ren looked at the arriving Mu Huanqing, a smile appearing on his face, "At this time, shouldn\'t you be at work?"

She still looked just as young and beautiful as she did twenty years ago, but he now bore the air of an older man.

Mu Huanqing handed a worn piece of wood to Fang Ren, "I found this in her former residence."

Fang Ren took the piece of wood and examined it. It was inscribed with a portrait, and the person in it was himself.

Liu Qianqian had been good at painting and calligraphy since she was a child, so her engraving of him was quite lifelike. But the person depicted was how he looked when he was young, and the wood old, signifying it had been many, many years since.

Fang Ren looked at Mu Huanqing with confusion, "Why show me this?"

Mu Huanqing leaned in close and sighed, "It seems I have taken her entire world from her."

Fang Ren shook his head, "Didn\'t you give her five minutes?"

"But you said she only used three minutes."

"What, you want to give her those two minutes back now?"

"Stop joking. I just want to find her as soon as possible. Ever since she disappeared, I don\'t know why, but I\'ve always felt guilty. Maybe if I hadn\'t held a sword to her neck back then, or if I had been nicer, or left her with some hope, she wouldn\'t have gone there," Mu Huanqing sighed.

"It\'s not your fault," Fang Ren consoled.

It was all because of the confused call he had made to her all those years ago.

But if he hadn\'t made that call to Liu Qianqian, would it be Bai Qi who had disappeared by now?

"But with the world so vast, how on earth can we find her?" Mu Huanqing sighed.

Seeing her sigh, Fang Ren managed a bitter smile, "Wasn\'t your possessive nature strong? Aren\'t you afraid that, once you find her, you\'ll end up putting the sword to her neck again?"

"It\'s been over twenty years. I\'m no longer the young person I once was; where would I get so much jealousy?" Mu Huanqing replied, "The main thing is, she\'s too devoted. She\'s in an entirely different universe, yet her thoughts are still with you. I really feel sorry for her. At the same time, I feel I probably couldn\'t do what she did, being wholeheartedly committed to a married old man for so long."

"What do you mean by \'old man\'?"

"Okay okay, not an old man. Are you happy if I say you\'re a handsome stud?" Mu Huanqing twisted his flesh with a disgusted expression.

After twenty years of marriage, the two had lost the shyness of their early days together. They would often joke and get temperamental with each other, but those were trifles. Their affection for each other was still very strong.

"Good girl."

Fang Ren pulled her into his embrace playfully teasing her.

"Such a grown person, aren\'t you the least bit embarrassed?" Mu Huanqing knocked his hand away with a sense of resignation.

"It\'s you who are not embarrassed. I\'m sleeping peacefully every night, and you suddenly..."

Before Fang Ren could finish his sentence, Mu Huanqing took out a Hundred Martial Divine Weapon, transformed it into a shield, and placed it to his mouth. Despite being married for many years, a blush still crept onto her face, "You keep going! Wasn\'t it you who taught me all that?"

Fang Ren removed her shield and said with a laugh, "Okay, no more teasing. Let\'s see if I can find a way to awaken Qianye, it surely knows something."

Mu Huanqing retracted her Spirit Form and sighed, "Then you\'d better get busy. Cai Cai is coming home at noon; I\'ll go pick her up."

"What trouble can she get into coming home? Her Realm is even higher than yours."

"And that\'s how you behave as a father? Do you even know what caring for a child is?"

"All right, hurry back before the girl gets anxious."

After a kiss, Mu Huanqing left the sea behind.

Fang Ren\'s smile faded as he turned back to continue trying to connect with Qianye through his Spiritual Root.

Hours later, there was still no progress.

He began to sit despondently on the trunk of the tree.

"Am I left with no other path but to keep breaking through?" Fang Ren sighed.

"I knew you would be here."

A familiar voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Xiao Xi? What brings you here?"

He turned around, and there stood Bai Qi, dressed in teacher\'s attire, beside him.

"Came to mooch a meal from your place with Cai Cai, Sister Hui Qing told me about your situation and I came to see how you were doing," Bai Qi said as she sat down beside Fang Ren.

Compared to before, Bai Qi appeared much more mature; her lips were painted with lipstick, she wore teacher\'s attire, with black stockings enveloping her legs and high heels on her feet, embodying the look of an urbane, mature woman.

"This guy is just like hanging up, totally ignoring me," Fang Ren pat Qianye and sighed.

Bai Qi laughed, "It\'s probably because you, as a father, hit it too many times, don\'t you think?"

"Don\'t joke, I\'m pretty worried."

"Worried? Since Sister Hui Qing isn\'t here, I might reluctantly fill in for her," Bai Qi teased.

"You can joke about these matters too?"

"Hahaha..."