Ning Ruolan stopped abruptly and looked around subconsciously before murmuring to herself, “I think I heard my big brother’s voice.”
If Helian Dai had also not heard the shout, she would have definitely suspected that Ning Ruolan was hallucinating out of nervousness.
“Is it really your big brother?” Helian Dai asked with a trembling voice. She had often heard Ning Ruolan speak about her big brother.
“Ruolan.” Ning Cheng yelled again. His cultivation had reached the Life and Death Realm. When it came to strength, he didn’t fear going up against Eternal Realm experts. But now seeing Ruolan, his steps turned heavy. It also felt as if a heavy burden of worry that was just starting to emerge from the deepest parts of his heart had suddenly disappeared.
“Brother, it really is you……” Ning Ruolan rushed towards Ning Cheng in tears, forgetting that she had already pa.s.sed the age of crying. Living in this strange place, facing this kind of suppression, this level of loneliness and suffering, it had forced her to hide all emotions.
But seeing her big brother Ning Cheng, she couldn’t keep it in check anymore. If given the opportunity to do it all over again, she would never wilfully go out alone to find her big brother.
Ning Cheng reached out and held Ning Ruolan as she crashed into him with red eyes. He could feel the hardships Ruolan had to go through during these years. When they had separated back then, the cultivation resources left to Ruolan would have only allowed her to cultivate to the Crucible Transformation or maybe Plundering Life Realm.
Yet irrespective of Ruolan’s qualifications, she managed to reach the Celestial Novice Realm, how could he not see the hardships that she must have gone through?
Ning Ruolan hugged Ning Cheng tightly. She was afraid that once she let go, her big brother would disappear again. Even so, she still felt it a bit unreal, like an illusion.
“Are you Big Brother Ning Cheng?” Seeing the reunion of brother and sister, Helian Dai felt her nose turning sour. Within the boundless starry sky, how could it be easy for two cultivators from low-level interfaces to meet up after separating for so long?
Ning Cheng gently patted Ning Ruolan on the shoulder and nodded to Helian Dai, “Yes, I’m Ning Cheng. You must be sister Helian Dai. Many thanks for you and your grandfather for taking care of Ruolan for all these years.”
“How do you know that?” Helian Dai asked in surprise while looking at Ning Cheng.
“Well, I asked around, and it led me here to you.” Ning Cheng gently brushed Ning Ruolan’s hair. Even though Ruolan had grown over the past many years, he still saw her as his younger sister, who needed his care.
Ning Ruolan looked up and spoke up with tears in her eyes, “Brother, I’m dreaming, aren’t I?”
“No, from this day forward we siblings will stick with each other. You don’t have to worry about anyone bullying you anymore.” Ning Cheng gently wiped off the tears from Ning Ruolan’s face.
“Ok, we’ll go to Orchid Borough Celestial River. I heard others say that Orchid Borough Celestial River has a lot of mystic realms and much richer Starry Sky Essence Qi…..”
While Ning Ruolan spoke, she seemed to have suddenly remembered something, and quickly took out two handfuls of dark-coloured pills from her ring and put them in Ning Cheng’s hands. She then smiled and spoke, “Brother, I got these Perpetual Moon Pills in the Ancient Shadow Temple. I collected 83 pieces, use it up for cultivation. Once your cultivation gets better, we would not have to worry about others bullying us…..”
83 Perpetual Moon Pills was a substantial amount of wealth for an ordinary Celestial Novice cultivator. Moreover, it would take a long time to ama.s.s.
Ning Cheng looked at Ruolan’s smiling face streaked with tears, and looked at the 83 Perpetual Moon Pills in his hands and felt his nose turning sour. Truthfully, he had never seen Perpetual Moon Pills of such quality. Not to mention these tainted Perpetual Moon Pills, his ring even contained more than a billion Perpetual Moon Pills. Moreover, each pill contained much larger quant.i.ties of Starry Sky Essence Qi. In other words, they were incomparably pure Perpetual Moon Pills compared to those in his hands.
Even those he regularly used to pay others, the pills with him were of much better quality than these things. Moreover, of these 83 Perpetual Moon Pills, some of them still had silt and mud covering them; from this, anyone could tell the origins of these Perpetual Moon Pills and that they were something recently obtained.
“I’m sorry, Ruolan…..” All of a sudden, Ning Cheng felt something welling up in his heart. In this ever-fickle starry sky, 83 Perpetual Moon Pills covered in sludge, what did it mean for my sister? These pills must be the most precious thing on her. However, she took them all out without any hesitation.
Why? Because he was Ruolan’s big brother. An inerasable familial bond irrespective of time or s.p.a.ce.
Glancing at Ruolan’s ring, he realised that it was the one he gifted her at the beginning. From this, he understood how difficult it must have been for Ruolan.
Ning Cheng took out a jade box and carefully put all 83 black-coloured Perpetual Moon Pills into it one by one before speaking while trying to hold back the redness from his eyes, “Ruolan, these are the best pills I received. I definitely will treasure them.”
“Brother, we can’t stay here. After we go out, you will have to find a place to cultivate and use up all these Perpetual Moon Pills.” Ning Ruolan quickly spoke up. She couldn’t calm down on seeing her big brother’s excitement. She truly felt anxious, as if she believed that these pills would help her brother advance to the Eternal Realm.
“Big Brother Ning Cheng, I also have 60 Perpetual Moon Pills, you can have them.” Helian Dai also held out a bunch of pills in her hands. They were the same dark-coloured pills.
Ning Cheng looked at Helian Dai in a daze. Finally starting to understand why his sister decided to stay back with Helian Dai. This girl didn’t behave like conventional starry sky cultivators. Besides, one could easily read her thoughts off her face. She really did want to give away her pills to help Ruolan’s big brother and even protect them.
“Big Brother Ning Cheng, do you not want my pills?” Seeing Ning Cheng looking at her and not taking the pills, Helian Dai’s face turned a little red.
Ning Cheng quickly took out another jade box, carefully put Helian Dai’s Perpetual Moon Pills in it, and then said, “Little Sister Dai, from now on you’re my sister just like Ruolan. No one will ever bully you again.”
Even if knowing perfectly well that Ning Cheng spoke those words to comfort her, Helian Dai still spoke up in excitement, “Thank you, Big Brother Ning Cheng.”
Ning Ruolan reluctantly freed her arms from around Ning Cheng but still held on to Ning Cheng’s hand. Separated from her big brother for too long, she truly did not want to experience that loss once again. In this world, she had only one relative, and that was her big brother. Even if she lost her life, she didn’t want anything to happen to her big brother.
“Ruolan, Little Dai, let’s leave. We’ll return to the Ancient Shadow Temple later.” Ning Cheng spoke with a soft voice.
The moment he saw Ruolan, he made a decision to settle down on Second Revenant Star. From this day forward, Second Revenant Star would be his planet. As for that Ji Clan, since those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds dared to s.n.a.t.c.h Ruolan’s restaurant, they had better not blame him for taking over Second Revenant Star. If Ji Yangyao wanted to come for him, he wouldn’t even mind taking over Named Descendant Celestial River.
The position of Celestial River King didn’t necessarily get inherited or designated by Striking Order Heavenly Emperor, did it? If it was, Ning Cheng decided to change it to a non-inheritable one from this day forward. Daring to mess with my sister Ruolan, this Ji Clan definitely had gone blind.
“Brother…..” Ning Ruolan hesitated, “I lost Grey Toottoot.”
In fact, Ning Cheng already noticed that Grey Toottoot was not with Ning Ruolan. Moreover, he also didn’t see any Spiritual Beast Bag on Ruolan. But Ning Cheng didn’t ask about Grey Toottoot. He understood that since Ruolan didn’t have the Spiritual Beast Bag, then Grey Toottoot definitely must not be here.
To him, it all okay as long as Ruolan was fine.
“As long as you’re fine, everything’s okay with me. Did someone take away Grey Toottoot?” Ning Cheng comforted her softly. He knew Ruolan very well. Although he was not at Ruolan’s side, he left Grey Toottoot with Ruolan. She would have definitely pampered it and keep it close to her.
Moreover, with Grey Toottoot’s nature, it certainly wouldn’t leave Ruolan on its own. Since Grey Toottoot was not here right now, the only possibility he could think of was that someone might have taken it away.
“No.” Ning Ruolan shook her head. “Grey Toottoot saw that I had insufficient cultivation resources, so it would regularly look for cultivation resources by itself when we went out exploring. During the first few explorations, it often brought back something good. But one time, when Grey Toottoot and I were looking for some starry sky spiritual gra.s.ses in a wasteland, it got lost there. I went there to find it many times, but could never find it. Grey Toottoot never came back since then.”
After that, Ning Ruolan lowered her head, feeling a little low.
Ning Cheng patted Ruolan’s head, “Don’t take it to heart. After we settle down in Covered Snow City, I’ll go with you to find it.”
“Big Brother Ning Cheng, we can’t live in Covered Snow City right now. The price of land there is currently even higher than the price in Descendant City.” Helian Dai quickly spoke from the side.
Ning Cheng smiled, “The price of land in Covered Snow City will come down soon.”
……
At the entrance of Cheng Ruolan Materials outside the Ancient Shadow Temple, two men and one woman kept looking at the bull in front of them with strange gazes. They had come here looking for Ruolan, but this bull not only stopped them, it even questioned them repeatedly.
“One of you three is Zhang Qian, the other is Li Lingfan, and the other is Luo Ziyan. Am I right? Do you have any evidence to prove it?” Chasing Bull had taken out a pier and sat on it, looking hilarious.
Li Lingfan felt speechless as he stood there. How could he provide evidence for being himself? Once again, he cupped his fists and spoke up, “Senior Spirit Beast did not hear it wrong. All three of us are indeed friends with Ning Ruolan and came from the same place. We came here looking to meet with Ruolan.”
“I know Ning Ruolan. But from the looks of it, the three of you don’t seem to have a place to stay, am I right? Seeing that my store is in a good position and that I know Ning Ruolan, you want to come here and take advantage of it, am I right?” Chasing Bull thought that it had seen through the trick and spoke up with a positive tone.
Li Lingfan and company suddenly found themselves stuck in a bind. If they said no, the three of them then truly would have no place to go, which was one of their reasons for coming here. But if they said yes, it would mean admitting it outright that they came here to take advantage of the fact that they knew Ning Ruolan.
“Your shop does sit on a prime location, so this king decided to come here personally to take over it.” A chilling voice arrived followed by a man wearing a headband appearing outside Cheng Ruolan Materials.
A powerful, almost violent, imposing aura surged out, forcing Chasing Bull to stand up immediately. It couldn’t bear this formidable aura and spoke, “Who are you? Do you really want to go against this old bull?”
“Orchid River Celestial River King…..” Lu Yu, who stood behind Chasing Bull, suddenly shivered. She was too familiar with the man in front of her. Big nose and small eyes, if it was not Lilan[1] Yanlang, the Orchid Borough King, who else could he be?
Orchid Borough Celestial River King stared at Lu Yu with a grin, “You sisters really are good, outstanding even. You both managed to play me, a Celestial River King, in the palm of your hands. I have to admire you for it. I didn’t know you liked wild men so much, but you don’t need to worry about it anymore; I will make sure to find tens of thousands of men to serve you.”
“Haha, Brother Orchid Borough, I haven’t seen you in a long time. Coming to my Named Descendant Celestial River and not coming over for a drink, it’s not good, you know.” Another laughing voice emerged followed by a grey-robed figure descending in front of Cheng Ruolan Materials.
“Named Descendant Celestial River King….” Someone murmured in a low voice.
The surrounding cultivators immediately turned silent. Two Celestial River Kings had shown up in this place at the same time. Who would dare to make any noise in such a situation? Li Lingfan and company also started sweating all over. Why did two Celestial River Kings suddenly appear here? Moreover, why did it look like Orchid Borough Celestial River King held some grudges with the people of Cheng Ruolan Materials?
[1] ‘Lilan/Orchid Borough’ is both a part of this person’s name and his t.i.tle. The author regularly uses parts of the character’s name as t.i.tles, not always but for most characters.