Crush's Cold Senior Sister is Actually Childhood Sweetheart - Chapter 37

Chapter 38: “I’m Leaving.”

After a long discussion, An Jin finally conceded to Ling Qi and reluctantly agreed to let her retrieve the sword.

Ling Qi’s reasoning was undeniable: “You’ve lost all your memories and don’t even know the internal layout of the Tianmo Palace. If you were to run into some tricky traps, it would be too late by the time I got there.”

What An Jin didn’t know was that Ling Qi, who said this, had never set foot in the Tianmo Palace herself.

Divine Sovereign Chongguang gave her approval of this arrangement, simply adding the newly inducted Ren Qingwen to the team.

The only unexpected thing was that Divine Sovereign Tianmo, who was thought to have set up the test for An Jin, agreed to the change of person retrieving the sword with surprising alacrity.

She even kindly reminded them: “The sword is in the basement. Senior Immortal Ling, be careful not to take a wrong turn.”

After hearing this, Ling Qi suddenly thought of Ying Huaiyu, who was absent due to illness. She frowned slightly, but ultimately did not ask any more questions.

…

On the way, Ren Qingwen frequently glanced sideways at the person beside her. She thought she was being subtle, but her gaze, which drifted over every few seconds, was as obvious as could be. But Ling Qi was only focused on flying forward on her sword and had no intention of paying her any mind.

“Senior Sister Ling… can I call you that?” Ren Qingwen struggled to keep up her speed, following behind her and speaking cautiously.

“You don’t have to use a term of respect. Whatever else you want is fine.”

“Okay, then… can I ask a question?” Ren Qingwen was afraid of being rejected, so she quickly added, “If Senior Sister feels it’s inappropriate or doesn’t want to answer, just pretend you didn’t hear me.”

“Ask away,” Ling Qi replied crisply. She wasn’t on guard at all. In her view, she had no secrets to hide and no questions she couldn’t answer.

“I heard that Senior Sister Ling and the Dao Master of Vermillion Bird were once… inseparable and deeply in love,” Ren Qingwen weighed every word she said, but her choice of words still made Ling Qi’s eyelids twitch.

She hesitated for a moment and continued to ask: “Now, less than a century later, Senior Sister is so inseparable from Senior Immortal An Jin… Did something happen in between? Or what did Senior Immortal An Jin do?”

After she finished, she secretly observed Ling Qi’s expression, as if afraid she would get angry.

The question was asked subtly enough, but the entire sentence translated to: “I know you had a seamless transition, and I’m very curious what kind of methods your new flame used to make you fall in love so quickly. Can you share?”

Ling Qi: “…”

Great, there actually is a question she can’t answer.

Ling Qi coughed lightly, feeling a little awkward: “Why don’t you ask An Jin directly?” She was skilled at answering a question with a question. This was a skill she had learned without a teacher, having been fooled by a certain person in the past.

Ren Qingwen’s answer was also very sincere: “I’m just afraid Senior Immortal An Jin wasn’t aware of the situation before, and I might let it slip, which would be really bad…”

“…You’re quite considerate.”

“Hehe, not at all.” Seeing that Ling Qi didn’t have much of a reaction, Ren Qingwen’s tense body relaxed. She even casually grabbed at the fiery red braids behind her.

“What do you really want to ask?” She didn’t want to beat around the bush with the other person and asked bluntly, “You didn’t join the Chongguang Palace for me, did you?”

“Tell me the truth, whose partner are you trying to steal?”

…

Meanwhile, back at the Chongguang Palace, An Jin felt that everything around her had quietly changed.

First and foremost, the lecturer in the academy was suddenly changed from Senior Sister Cen to Divine Sovereign Chongguang herself. It was said that Senior Sister Cen had resigned voluntarily, but the specific reason was unknown.

When An Jin first heard this news, she felt like the sky was about to fall.

If everything could be done over again, An Jin thought silently, she would definitely study hard every day and never complain that Senior Sister Cen’s classes were boring.

Any boring class was a thousand times better than sitting in the academy now, being questioned by Divine Sovereign Chongguang with a cold face: “Why don’t you understand this?”

Secondly, Divine Sovereign Tianmo suddenly moved into the Chongguang Palace.

The reason this was listed second was that her presence was too low-key. She was almost never seen in public. Aside from a sudden increase in the number of Upper Immortals and immortal attendants frequently entering and leaving the Chongguang Palace, there were no other disturbances.

And An Jin finally found a suitable opportunity to bring up her mother’s matter with Liao Huan.

She had envisioned countless possibilities, thinking that Liao Huan would be disappointed, sad, or even emotionally break down. Unexpectedly, after hearing it, the other person was silent for a while and then said, “Thank you, I understand.”

“I’m sorry…”

An Jin didn’t know why she was apologizing.

Perhaps she suddenly thought of Ling Qi, or maybe it was a connection to herself, she didn’t know.

Even though she had always known that the Upper Realm was a place where family bonds were weak, her heart still felt a pang of sadness.

Liao Huan shook her head.

“We just lacked a bit of fate,” her expression was calm. “After all, not all people who are related by bl00d can become true family.”

Life seemed to fall into a strange calm.

On the surface, everything was as usual. The academy tormented An Jin as always, Divine Sovereign Chongguang didn’t allow sleeping in class or skipping it, and the training grounds’ illusionary realm was still lively, with people coming and going every day.

The disciples who had lost in the martial arts tournament were now going to the training grounds more frequently. They were all eager to apply for devilish training, wishing they could live in the illusionary realm all day.

But An Jin always felt that there was an undercurrent of turmoil, and everything felt like the calm before a storm.

This sense of unease reached its peak a few days later, when Ling Qi, who should have returned from the Tianmo Palace, never appeared at the entrance.

Shen Tianmo was still in her private quarters, not receiving any guests. An Jin ran there several times but was turned away. She had a vague, ominous feeling and didn’t even dare to tell Liao Huan or Senior Sister Cen. She alone slipped to the palace gates, intending to sneak out and find Ling Qi.

However, she was stopped at the gates.

“Stop.”

Fu Xin had abandoned her usual gentle attitude and was no longer pretending. Her face was cold, her chin was raised, and her expression was one of impatience.

“The Divine Sovereign has commanded that no one is to leave.”

It was only then that An Jin realized that the main gate of the Chongguang Palace was surrounded by layers of guards, and watchtowers had been erected on both sides of the gate at some point. Archers stood on top, and guards were on rotation.

The entire Chongguang Palace had returned to the high state of alert it had been in when she first arrived in the Upper Realm and the Demon Lord had awakened.

But the current An Jin was not someone that Fu Xin or a few guards could stop.

She didn’t even draw her sword; she just raised her hand and a golden light fiercely pushed Fu Xin back several steps, causing her to fall to the ground. The surrounding guards looked at each other. Under her sharp gaze, no one dared to step forward to block her. They even silently made way for her.

“An Jin!”

Cen Xiyao, who Fu Xin must have notified at some point, rushed over and blocked her path: “Don’t you know Ling Qi’s abilities? I told you she would be fine. Don’t you believe me?”

An Jin was unmoved: “Then let me go and confirm it myself.”

“It’s really dangerous outside lately…”

“Senior Sister Cen,” An Jin looked up at her. “Have you ever truly loved someone?”

“If it were her out there today, with her life and death unknown, could you still sit here and wait for news with such peace of mind?”

“…If I knew I couldn’t help and would only be a nuisance to her, I would,” Cen Xiyao said after a few seconds of silence.

Seeing An Jin’s astonished expression, she sighed again: “Come with me. Someone wants to see you very much.”

…

“Emperor Fei Ling?!”

An Jin was completely unprepared for the person standing at the door to be her and was momentarily stunned. She blurted out subconsciously: “Senior Sister Ling still hasn’t returned…”

Mid-sentence, she realized she had been foolish. Emperor Fei Ling probably knew much more about her senior sister’s situation than she did.

Or rather, most people probably knew more than she did.

Seeing An Jin suddenly fall silent, Emperor Fei Ling probably guessed what she was thinking, but she didn’t explain. She just bent down slightly and rubbed her head in a comforting manner.

“I didn’t come to find her, I came to say goodbye to you.”

Her voice was surprisingly gentle, with a very faint smile in the corners of her eyes and brows. When her eyebrows curved, she exuded a soft glow that made her look like a completely different person from her usual aloof self.

“I’m leaving,” she said.

An Jin looked up at her, her eyes filled with confusion, and asked: “Where are you going?”

“To a place… very, very far away.” Emperor Fei Ling’s voice was unhurried, like she was telling a bedtime story. She deliberately slowed her speech, and time seemed to stretch infinitely at that moment.

She said: “To the place we all must eventually go.”

The tone was vaguely familiar. An Jin’s head suddenly became heavy, and her eyes struggled to stay open. It was as if, a long, long time ago, she had also been lulled to sleep by a voice like this.

“Then… when will you be back?” She instinctively reached out and grabbed the corner of the other person’s clothes. She didn’t know why, but she just felt like she couldn’t let go. It was as if, once she let go, some things would be irreversible.

She thought, Senior Sister will be very sad.

And she herself… would probably be very sad too.

Emperor Fei Ling, however, smiled.

An Jin’s appearance at this moment, in her eyes, was like a child listening to a story, who, despite being so sleepy she couldn’t keep her eyes open, was still worried.

But even though the storyteller was smiling, there was a deep sadness in her eyes. She said softly, “I probably won’t be coming back.”

“I’m sorry, little princess.”

Emperor Fei Ling’s “little princess” caused An Jin to tremble and snap out of it.

She then realized that it wasn’t hypnosis from a tone of voice at all. Emperor Fei Ling had cast a sleep spell on her when she wasn’t paying attention and then used the conversation to distract her. She had mistakenly thought she was just tired and almost fell asleep right there.

She shook her head hard to clear it a little. Emperor Fei Ling’s back was already gone from outside the Chongguang Palace gates. An Jin chased after her without a second thought. This time, there was no Cen Xiyao to block her. Fu Xin and the guards didn’t dare to say anything and could only watch as she rushed out of the palace gates.

The moment she stepped out of the Chongguang Palace, An Jin couldn’t help but freeze.

The world inside and outside the palace gates was like two different places.

A step back was the bright and soft heavenly light, with floating clouds slowly drifting by. The main hall of the Chongguang Palace was faintly visible in the clouds, a scene of peace and tranquility.

A step forward was a place where dark clouds were churning, and roars of thunder came one after another. The oppressive clouds were getting lower and lower, almost within reach.

It was as if the end of the world was nigh.

At some point, the area outside the Chongguang Palace gates had become a sea of people.

Whether they were immortal disciples, immortal attendants, or wandering immortals, it seemed everyone who could come had come. No one knew where they had heard the news, but there were even more people than there had been at the martial arts tournament.

Looking out, it was a dense, dark crowd. An Jin roughly counted, and there must have been more than three thousand people. Most of the Divine Sovereigns and Upper Immortals of the Heavenly Realm were here.

Everyone’s movements were unified as they looked up. In the air was a formation that had not yet taken shape. The patterns of a formation before it takes shape are all similar, so it was impossible to tell what kind of formation this was.

An Jin was breathing rapidly, her chest heaving violently from shock and anger. Her whole body was trembling uncontrollably.

At this moment, Emperor Fei Ling was firmly bound by several chains, her eyes closed, kneeling in the center of the formation, unable to move.

This scene gradually overlapped with the images from the Su You Flower’s illusionary realm, except that at that time, the person whose limbs were pierced by chains and who was firmly nailed to the ground was Emperor Qing Yuan.

Flashes of lightning exploded in the clouds, and deafening thunderclaps came one after another. Divine Sovereign Tianmo, who should have been inside the Chongguang Palace, was now hovering above the formation, looking down at everyone with a superior air.

Seeing An Jin appear, a pleased smile played at the corner of her mouth, as if she had been anticipating this moment all along.

An Jin finally understood that the person Shen Tianmo had been waiting for all this time was herself.