Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Opening her eyes, Hong Yuan found herself floating in the air.
There was nothing around her except a translucent little ghost, black smoke visible within its body, looking at her. Under its feet was a white cloud that was holding them up.
"AH!" Hong Yuan shouted out of instinct at this bizarre scene.
And then she remembered: wasn't she dead?
Was this the underworld? Was this a ghost emissary who had come to take her soul?
But a moment later, she saw the raging waves below, and a small island with its collapsed mountain in the distance.
I'm still in the living world? I'm still in Endsea?
I'm not dead?
Hong Yuan finally realized this and instinctively felt her forehead, where she found that the hole was still there.
"You aren't dead." Little Three's voice rang out in Hong Yuan's mind. "I brought back your soul."
"My soul…" Hong Yuan froze, and then she started to remember.
Yes, she had died, and her soul had been guided by the Dao of Samsara past some barrier and into the Nether River, and she had traveled along its current. But when the Nether River was turning her soul into a ghost, someone brought her back…
It was this guy!
Hong Yuan looked at the translucent little ghost.
The fog of confusion finally cleared, and she said in a trembling voice, "You saved me."
She was so shocked that she didn't notice that Little Three was speaking directly into her mind.
"It was Father who had me save you," Little Three gleefully said.
"'Father'?" Hong Yuan was startled.
Little Three didn't explain, saying, "We can talk about this later. Although I brought back your soul, your body is still dead, so you cannot truly merge back with it, nor will you feel any pain. We have to get your injuries treated at once for you to truly come back to life. If your physical body can't be restored to that of a living person within twenty-four hours, your soul won't be able to merge back with it, and you will become a lonely spirit drifting about the Rosecloud Domain… Right, this is the Rosecloud Domain, yes?"
Hong Yuan dumbly nodded.
"Wonderful!" Little Three jumped. "After searching for three years, I finally found it. Father says that your name is Hong Yuan, and that you're Mother's maid?"
"'Mother'?" Hong Yuan said in confusion.
"I mean Xu Miaoran."
"Xu Miaoran!" Hong Yuan yelped.
"Father's woman should be called 'Mother'. There's nothing wrong with that." Little Three was rather confused by the way Hong Yuan was acting.
"'Father's woman'… Tang Jie… Tang Jie… It's Tang Jie!" Hong Yuan loudly shouted, finally realizing what was going on.
"Yes, yes, it's Tang Jie. Tang Jie is my dad, and it was he who had me come looking for all of you." Little Three very seriously nodded, not at all aware that it would have saved itself a lot of trouble if it had just mentioned Tang Jie's name earlier. Three years of traveling had greatly increased its strength, but it had made no progress on the communication front.
"Tang Jie… He's not dead!" Hong Yuan was dumbfounded. "So he really wasn't dead! Haha, that's great! Where is he!?"
"He's in a very far, far away place and can't come back, so he had me come to deliver a letter. Where's Mother?"
"'Mother'." Hong Yuan still needed a bit to realize who it was talking about. Pointing above them, she said, "She's up there."
"Let's go and see Mother." Little Three took Hong Yuan and flew upward.
Suddenly, Hong Yuan remembered that Sang Hongmei was still up there and called out in alarm, "Don't go up! There's a bad person up there!"
"'A bad person'? Then that means I have to go." Little Three charged up.
It was so fast that it almost instantly broke through the clouds.
Sang Hongmei was currently furious over having lost Hong Yuan, but there was nothing she could do against Xu Miaoran's group.
Just when things were going to end up in a stalemate, she saw Hong Yuan flying back.
"Hong Yuan!" everyone shouted.
She had clearly already died, so how had she suddenly come back to life, particularly given that her terrifying wounds were still there? There were even blood and brains still coming out from that hole in her forehead, such that she had to use a finger to block it up, which was a creepy sight to behold.
As for that translucent little ghost next to her, everyone subconsciously ignored it.
Sang Hongmei was both delighted and shocked to see Hong Yuan flying back. "You're still alive! Wonderful!"
She moved to grab Hong Yuan, but she had no intentions to use her as a hostage this time, instead choosing to gamble everything on Soulscour.
As she reached over, Little Three remarked in realization, "This is the bad person."
It didn't seem to do anything in particular, but then the two vanished, and Sang Hongmei's hand grabbed at air.
Little Three appeared on the other side, looking over at Xu Miaoran and saying, "That must be Mother over there."
It flew over to Xu Miaoran.
"There's a golden barrier over there. You can't get in!" Hong Yuan shouted.
At the same time, Sang Hongmei turned around and grabbed again. "Trying to run?"
This time, her hand radiated Divine Will as it reached toward Little Three. This method had always worked on those who used spatial shifts. Spatial shifting wasn't easy, and it was normally impossible to use unless one was extremely focused. But Little Three didn't seem to notice the pressure of her Divine Will at all, vanishing once more.
Hong Yuan's shout was still resounding through the air: "You can't get in… can't get in…"
Little Three appeared together with Hong Yuan inside the barrier.
Everyone was stunned. How had it gotten inside?
Of course, unknown to them, Little Three could even get through the spatial barrier, so this golden barrier was not a big deal.
Everyone stared in shock at Little Three. The spatial ability needed to perform a spatial shift while affected by the fiend granny's Divine Will, and even bring someone with them, was something that even a Violet Palace or Immortal Platform cultivator might not be capable of. How had this little ghost done it?
Also, Hong Yuan was clearly still alive, so why was her body completely devoid of vitality?
As all these questions were popping up, Little Three's voice rang out in their minds: "Might I ask which one of you is Xu Miaoran?"
It moved its gaze across Xu Miaoran, Meng Shixue, Liu Hongyan, and Su Xinyue.
Xu Miaoran looked blankly at Little Three and said, "I am. Might I ask…"
"Mother!" Little Three immediately blinked over, appearing right in front of Xu Miaoran without even giving her the chance to evade.
This bizarre method of movement sent chills down everyone's spines. This spatial shifting alone would be able to kill all of them instantly.
But what was with that "Mother"?
Fortunately, Hong Yuan saved time by shouting, "It was sent by Tang Jie! Tang Jie isn't dead! He's not dead!"
"What?" Xu Miaoran shuddered.
After the collapse of the Celestial Flame Pagoda, Tang Jie had disappeared. As the Flame Celestial Sovereign had personally chased after him, many people thought that Tang Jie had died at his hands. Only Xu Miaoran was confident that Tang Jie had survived.
But rather than actual confidence, it was better described as a form of self-consolation. She used this self-consolation to reinforce her convictions and stave off any sort of psychological blow. There was a saying very appropriate for this situation: she was the sort of person that refused to face reality.
An objective analysis of the situation at the time placed the chances of Tang Jie's death far higher than those of his survival. It was why, once the rumors began to spread, many people thought that Tang Jie couldn't have survived.
But today, the miracle had been verified.
Xu Miaoran had waited long for her rewards, and the messenger from Tang Jie had finally come to quash all the rumors.
Hong Yuan hadn't tried to stay quiet, so even Sang Hongmei had heard her words. Grimacing, she said, "That's impossible. Xu Miaoran, don't try anything on me! I'm not going to be fooled by some random person."
Xu Miaoran looked at Sang Hongmei and then at Little Three. Surprisingly, she didn't retort, instead asking, "Just who are you? And where is Tang Jie? How can I be sure that it was Tang Jie who sent you?"
Little Three raised its Mustard Seed Bag. "This is the proof."
It took out some items from the bag: a little paper crane and a jade token.
Xu Miaoran shuddered again. This was the long-range message talisman and message-receiving jade token she had given to Tang Jie. Tang Jie had always kept them safe to serve as proof of their love, but now, they had appeared in Little Three's possession.
"He's alive, he's really alive!" Xu Miaoran sobbed as she held the jade token.
Everyone rushed over in excitement. Wei Tianchong shouted, "Where is he now?"
"The Verdant Cloud Domain."
"'The Verdant Cloud Domain'? What place is that?"
"A place very far away, not even reachable by teleportation formation. Father has been looking for materials all this time, but he's still missing a lot," Little Three answered.
"Then how did you get back?"
"I'm a ghost. I can use the Nether Domain to access any of the domains of the living, but I had to find the door leading to the Rosecloud Domain first. If Big Sister Hong Yuan hadn't died, her soul entering the Nether Domain and revealing the passage, I might not have been able to find this place."
Little Three gave a summary of the process needed to find the exit, allowing everyone to understand why Hong Yuan had come back to life and why Little Three had appeared here.
"Oh, right, Big Sister Hong Yuan's body is still dead. You should quickly treat her. If her body isn't restored to a livable state within twenty-four hours, there will be no saving her."
Everyone now understood why Hong Yuan's body was lifeless despite her being alive. It seemed that while Little Three had brought back her soul, the physical form was still dead. However, because her soul remained, the body did not decay and could be treated.
Everyone hastily took out medicines and began to treat Hong Yuan. With the spirit medicines they had, completely healing Hong Yuan within twenty-four hours wasn't possible, but restoring her body to a livable state was no problem.
Little Three said to Xu Miaoran, "Right, Mother, do you want to speak with Father?"
"I can speak with Tang Jie?" Xu Miaoran was surprised and happy to hear this.
"It wouldn't be possible normally, but Father has been comprehending the Dao of Fate these last three years, governing a country and studying history. He has advanced in his understanding of both Karma and Fate, and he also has a Fate Standard. In addition, he placed a Thread of Karma within me, so if I act as a bridge, you can hold a short conversation without a problem. But time is limited, so you must be concise with your words."
"Okay, okay, then please connect me to him." Xu Miaoran didn't know what governing a country had to do with anything, but she already had too many questions on her mind, so she had to focus on the more important ones.
Little Three closed its eyes and began to chant.
A few moments later, a light rose up from its body and shot into the sky.
This was the light of Fate.
In this brilliant light of Fate, an invisible Thread of Karma extended from the great beyond.
Countless threads of Fate vibrated, every particle in the air working together to produce a deep and vigorous voice within Little Three's body.
"Miaoran."
"Tang Jie!" everyone shouted in unison.
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