In the southernmost region of the Seven Star Realm, an aura like nothing the world had ever experienced before was brimming like a volcano.
Yun Che’s gaze and aura were fully locked on the muscular man in front of him. His chest was heaving up and down, his eyes were trembling… he had never been shaken this badly since he entered the Northern Divine Region and became a devil.
He couldn’t forget the brawny man before him even if he tried. He was a friend who was closer than family, and a brother who should’ve been dead many years ago…
He was none other than Xia Yuanba himself!
It had been more than four years since they had last met, but Xian Yuanba was a bit less brawny than Yun Che remembered him to be. The Tyrannical Emperor’s Divine Veins must have altered his physique slightly after he entered the divine way.
His features were firmer than before, and his aura stronger.
However, even if he were to change several times more drastically than this, Yun Che would still recognize him instantly. It was because he was Xia Yuanba, not to mention that the Tyrannical Emperor’s Divine Veins were shining like the sun on his chest right now.
To Yun Che, there were only a handful of people he could identify faster and easier than Yuanba, and yet he couldn’t stop looking the man up and down and scanning him with his spiritual perception again, and again, and again. He just… couldn’t believe it.
A doppelganger?
His life aura and profound aura are identical to Yuanba’s, and he has the Tyrannical Emperor’s Divine Veins…
But he should already be…
Xia Qingyue, a god emperor, had destroyed the Blue Pole Star with her own hands, so how could he still be alive? Forget the people living on that planet, there was barely any debris when all was said and done.
While he was staring at Xia Yuanba, Xia Yuanba was staring at him as well.
If Xia Yuanba’s change was significant, then Yun Che looked almost nothing like he used to.
His hair was more than twice as long as it used to be, and it looked like it was woven from the fabric of night itself. The way it spread out like an infinite curtain of darkness behind his back was intimidating to say the least.
The Yun Che Xia Yuanba knew preferred pale-colored clothing. This was especially true after he entered Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace and wore white almost all the time. However, this Yun Che wore a black robe with dangerous, devilish runes etched onto the fabric.
His skin color looked unnaturally pale. His eyes and aura looked completely different from before. Yuanba felt like his blood had turned into ice, and his soul wouldn’t stop trembling like a leaf.
The only thing this man had similar to Yun Che were his face and his body shape.
He… he’s not brother-in-law!
For a time, the two brothers who grew up in Floating Cloud City together and were closer than most blood-related brothers… dared not call out to one another.
“De… dedededededede… Devil Master!”
An unpleasant noise cut through the haze temporarily. It was the two Seven Star Realm profound practitioners letting out a cry of abject terror from the bottom of their souls. When they saw Yun Che, every hair on their bodies stood on end, and the fear pouring out of their pores seemed almost tangible.
“Mer… cy… Devil Master… mercy… mercy…”
They had no doubt that the Devil Master had heard every word of the “bold” claim they made to the lower realm profound practitioner with the Tyrannical Emperor’s Divine Veins.
They couldn’t believe that such bad luck actually existed in this world.
They wanted to be anywhere but here, but they couldn’t inject any energy into their legs at all. Forget standing, they didn’t even remember how to use profound energy. All they could do was crawl away like a pair of legless, despairing larvae.
Yun Che didn’t move, but the two profound practitioners suddenly scattered into black dust without a sound.
The world turned silent once more, but Xia Yuanba didn’t notice because he was too absorbed by Yun Che.
Meanwhile, Shui Meiyin had finally caught up to Yun Che. Her confusion turned into shock when she saw Yun Che and Xia Yuanba staring at one another.
“Yuan… ba…”
Yun Che whispered so softly it was as if he was afraid that it would shatter the illusion. “Is it… you?”
Xia Yuanba’s eyes bulged. The moment he heard his name, all his fear and doubts turned into wild joy. He jumped to his feet and cried out in excitement, “Yes, it’s me, brother-in-law! It’s me! You… you’re still alive! You’re still alive!”
The familiar name rocked his body like an energy blast.
There were only two people in the entire world who addressed him like this, and they were Caizhi and Xia Yuanba.
So he had to be Yuanba…
Yuanba is alive?
Yuanba’s… alive??
The Devil Master was terrifying to say the least, but it was as if Yuanba couldn’t perceive his aura at all. He ran up to Yun Che with obvious joy and excitement on his face.
No matter what Yun Che turned into, no matter how high he climbed in the future, Yun Che would always be Yun Che to Xia Yuanba; a brother he loved and trusted unconditionally.
“I finally found you, brother-in-law! I finally… finally…”
The brawny man had to bite his lips and suppress a sob before he could even get two sentences in. Tears still welled in his eyes, however.
He grinned while wiping his tears away. “You disappeared for so many years that I thought… Sss… that’s not important anymore. As long as you’re safe, then all is well. Thank goodness…”
Shui Meiyin couldn’t close her mouth when realization struck her. Gradually, a pool of complex emotions colored her eyes, and she let it all out in a quiet sigh.
Is this what they call… fate?
Xia Yuanba was so agitated that he was crying and smiling at the same time. On the surface, it looked like Yun Che was untouched by the reunion, but in reality he was reacting even worse than Yuanba was. Excitement, confusion, and all sorts of other emotions he couldn’t describe nearly caused his brain to stall.
He stretched out and touched Xia Yuanba on the arm. He felt his powerful, volcano-like life aura.
‘You’re… alive,” he whispered.
“Heh, hehe, of course I am!” Xia Yuanba thumped himself in the chest. “The ascension to the God Realm is as dangerous as you said, brother-in-law, but I’m no pushover anymore. In fact, I even managed to find you!”
He obviously failed to get what Yun Che really meant.
“Speaking of which,” he looked Yun Che up and down again before chuckling. “You’ve changed a lot, I see. It looks strange, but… it’s a bit cool too.”
“Also, didn’t those two bullies call you the Devil Master earlier? Are you really the… huh?”
He turned his head to check on the two scumbags who attacked him earlier, only to trail off in confusion. It was because they were nowhere to be seen.
Meanwhile, Yun Che had been doing his utmost to steady his heart and breathing. It was only now that he calmed down just a little.
Yun Che’s grip on Xian Yuanba’s arm tightened as he asked, “Did you leave the Blue Pole Star four years ago?”
Considering the power that was used to Blue Pole Star back then, there was no chance Xia Yuanba could’ve survived the attack.
Therefore, the only possibility left… was if he was never there to receive it in the first place; if he had left Blue Pole Star before it happened.
Thanks to the Divine Water of Life, Xia Yuanba was already at the first level of the Divine Origin Realm at the time. He would have had the power to travel across space by then, albeit barely.
“What? Of course not.” But a surprised Xia Yuanba shook his head immediately. He was puzzled as to why YUn Che would say such a strange thing. “I departed four months ago and arrived at this Seven Star Realm just the day before today, so you can imagine how pleasantly surprised I was to find you so soon.”
Besides that, there were many things he wanted to ask Yun Che about.
For example, he wanted to know why everyone he tried to talk to had run away like the plague when he brought up the name “Yun Che”. The two scumbags just now had even attacked him outright.
“Four months ago…” Yun Che shook his head. “No, that cannot be.”
Xia Yuanba scratched his head and said embarrassedly, “I know I made it way slower than I should’ve. I ran into several major spatial turbulences and even landed on several dead planets on the way. Seriously, I was as aimless as a headless fly at the time. Obviously, I’m nowhere as good as you are, brother-in-law.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore though. Now that I know that you’re safe, I can’t wait to travel back right away and tell everyone you’re fine,” Xian Yuanba said with a grin.
Yun Che’s mouth opened and closed mechanically. “Everyone… you mean…?”
“Well, you went missing for several years straight. Everyone was worried about you, you know?” Xia Yuanba turned serious. “Do you know how long Wuxin cried after you missed her eighteenth birthday? She was going to come to the God Realm herself after you missed her nineteenth birthday as well. I had to promise her that I would travel to the God Realm right away and many more to stop her.”
“…” It was like a bomb had exploded in Yun Che’s head.
Wuxin… nineteenth birthday…
Clap, clap, clap. Every word felt like a lightning bolt to the soul.
Three whole breaths of wordless shock later, Yun Che’s grip around Xia Yuanba’s tightened like a vice. “What the hell are you talking about… what Wuxin… what nineteenth birthday… what are you… which Wuxin are you talking about? Which Wuxin… which Wuxin!!”
His grip had tightened to the point where Xia Yuanba had to grimace in pain, but it was nowhere as disturbing as Yun Che’s current expression.
Eyes widening like saucers, a panicked Xia Yuanba shouted in confusion, “Who else I’m talking about? I’m talking about your daughter, of course! Ow—brother-in-law, you… are you okay?”
Yun Che bit the tip of his tongue, filling his mouth with pain and the scent of blood.
Chest still heaving up and down rapidly, he forced himself to calm down… and let go of Xia Yuanba. Gritting his teeth and stealing his gaze, he uttered, “You’re lying… you’re lying!”
“We are in the southern realm of the Southern Divine Region! There’s no way you could make it here in four months from the outer rim of Eastern Divine Region! Everything you told me up until now is a lie!”
He had witnessed with his own eyes Xia Qingyue destroying the Blue Pole Star in a single strike. He had felt the wave of planet dust and smelled the bloody stench of the death of countless lives… that couldn’t possibly be a false memory.
Even if it was, the god emperors and realm kings nearby couldn’t possibly have been mistaken as well.
He had stared at his own home planet from space many times. It was blue, mysterious, and enchanting even when compared to the dazzling stars around it. He could never mistake its light, its space, and its position. He just couldn’t.
Just the same, there was no way his daughter could still be alive.
“The outer rim of Eastern Divine Region?” Xia Yuanba’s eyes somehow bulged even wider. “Now that you mention it, that is another thing I wanted to ask you about! Didn’t you tell me that the closest divine region to the Blue Pole Star is the Eastern Divine Region? That was why I tried flying west after I left our planet. However, I quickly discovered that I was flying in the wrong direction because the further I traveled, the thinner and murkier the energy became.”
Yun Che: “…”
“It was only after I changed my path and flew north that I finally arrived here. If I hadn’t gotten this wrong from the start, I’m sure I would’ve arrived much sooner.”
Yun Che’s eyes grew darker. “You flew north and arrived here? You’re telling me that Blue Pole Star is to the south of the Southern Divine Region?”
“Of course.” Xia Yuanba nodded affirmatively. “I was worried that I would screw up the direction again, so I even left a ton of soul imprints to be sure.”
He pointed to the south and said, “That is where Blue Pole Star is; to the south of the Southern Divine Region. In fact, it’s almost directly south from this Seven Star Realm… er, am I wrong?”
He suddenly shivered from head to toe.
It was because a cold, murderous intent had wrapped around his person.
