“Not talking about the same thing? What else could Goddess be referring to?”

Yuying was confused by her business partner’s words. The word, Goddess, drew a very clear picture. She was just surprised that it was in his vocabulary, given everything he had said thus far.

Hei decided to jump to the chase.

“Well, whether we’re talking about the same thing is easy enough to determine.”

“Right.”

Yuying agreed. Anyone who knew what a goddess was would easily be able to determine if another person had any idea of them.

“Mm. Some people try to hide it, I don’t know why, but are you from the beyond the outer boundary? In other words, are you from another world?”

In a lot of the stories Hei had read, the main character, the transmigrator, would take that information to the grave. And a lot of the time, the fact that they came from another world lost its relevance as the story progressed.

Hei couldn’t quite understand the reasoning behind it. The authors never actually described what the potential consequences were.

Besides, it wasn’t like the protagonists were visibly different from everyone else. They usually overtook the body of someone already inhabiting the world. What was the worst that could happen if everyone knew their background?

Would they try to dissect them to find the secrets of going to another world when they hadn’t even reached the pinnacle of the world they were in?

It was understandable when such events occurred in other genres, after all, the humans there were all basically earthlings with no special qualities to speak of. Everyone was essentially a pinnacle existence in their world and no matter how hard they worked, the primary difference in their statuses would be based on how much money they had.

At the end of the day, they would still just be regular human beings, so trying to find a way to go beyond that was understandable.

But in martial arts worlds where they could fly around and destroy mountains, was being from another world anything worth mentioning? All one needed to do to become something more than a regular human being, who they often referred to as mortals, was to sit around meditating and maybe moving around a little.

Speaking of, the whole mortals vs immortals thing always bugged Hei. In all of the stories he had read, he had never seen an actual Immortal. Since when did living a few thousand years make someone immortal? They were just a mortal with a long lifespan.

At some point, Hei just had to accept the fact that words were used loosely in the kinds of stories he enjoyed. Besides, he mostly read translated works, so he wasn’t sure if it was the author’s doing or that the translations were unable to capture the precise meaning behind the words.

While Hei was thinking about these things, his business partner responded.

“Another world? What are you talking about?”

“You’re not? Then what is a Goddess to you?”

“Hm. If you don’t know, then it’s probably best if I don’t tell you. But what is a Goddess to you?”

“Tch. You don’t want to tell me anything, but you expect me to fork over my information? Ahem. ‘If you don’t know, then it’s probably best if I don’t tell you.’”

Something Hei quite disliked was when things were revealed, for example, his business partner had some notion of goddesses, but then further information was kept away with some lacklustre excuse.

‘When you’re strong enough, you will naturally know.’

‘Telling you now would do you no good. You should first break through to the ‘well, would you look at that, this information isn't even that important anymore’ realm.’

‘The girl you’re looking for is probably the Luo Clan’s little princess. Her name? How dare you try to confirm whether or not the person you are looking for is the same person everyone else is suggesting is the person you are looking for? Let me tell you something young man, her family name is Luo! That should be enough to 100% guarantee that there will be no misunderstandings. From this point forward you better only refer to her as the Little Princess, or else!’

What kind of nonsense was that? If they didn’t want to explain it, they shouldn’t have brought it up in the first place.

Though, in this case, he was the one who brought it up, so his business partner wasn’t to blame.

Hearing Hei’s words, Honghuo and Miss business partner had wide eyes.

“Who are you?”

Hei turned to Honghuo who had spoken.

“What do you mean?”

Yuying stepped in.

“Have you consumed some kind of psychoactive substance?”

“No. Why do you ask?”

“Because you’re acting strangely.”

-Twitch.

‘So, when people meet that fellow first, they think I’m strange? I’m stranger in that state! Have you ever heard anyone speak like that?’

While Hei was complaining in his mind, his business partner continued.

“There are even changes of pitch and tone in your speech. And, is that emotion I hear? Since when were you like that?”

“Aren’t most people like that? Yet you call it strange. Tsk-tsk. Perhaps you are lacking in worldly experience.”

“No. You’re right, most people are like that. But you aren’t. Hm…”

She placed her hand on her chin and entered thought, trying to figure out what was going on. It wouldn’t be good if her business partner became loopy all of a sudden.

Honghuo didn’t need to think much before coming up with an explanation. There were a few juniors in his clan who exhibited similar behaviours.

“You take medicine which suppresses your emotions, right? And the effects have worn off? Do you need to take another dose?”

Hei opened his eyes wide and moved his head back a little.

Yuying was interested in what Honghuo had said.

“I’ve heard of things like that, but aren’t they for people who frequently have to experience traumatic events? To help them maintain their sanity?”

Honghuo answered.

“Mm. In my clan’s line of work, there were a few juniors who couldn’t handle the job, but to avoid disappointing their parents, they would opt for these kinds of measures. Though, sometimes, there would be lingering effects after use. Sigh.”

After speaking, he turned a sympathetic gaze over to Heihuo.

Yuying did the same. She thought about how she had been encouraging him to go through more hardships for the movie. Never did she imagine he was going through such difficulties that he needed to rely on medicine to cope with it all.

“I must apologise. I thought you had lived a carefree life thus far. Forgive me if I said anything insensitive.”

Hei was surprised that things had gotten to this point. These people were experts at taking an idea and running with it to the extremes.

Couldn’t they have just assumed he had multiple personalities? How did it become that he was using a mind-altering coping mechanism?

“Drop that idea. I’m not dependent on drugs.”

However, at this point, Hei noticed something.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an urgent matter to take care of. I’ll be back.”

He jumped out of the barrier and onto the roof of a nearby building.

After he left, Honghuo turned to the jade.

“He’s off to take another dose.”

“Oh, most definitely.”

They both sighed, feeling sorry for that tragic fellow.

***

Unaware of what was going on back inside the barrier, Hei started looking around, trying to locate something.

‘There.’

He smiled as he turned to face a certain direction.

“Little Bai.”

It took a moment for the response to arrive.

“Brother!”

“That was an energetic response.”

“I thought you had…”

“Hm?”

“I…”

She lowered her voice.

“I thought you had left me.”

These words struck Hei deeply. She thought he had left her. That he had disappeared without even saying goodbye. Exactly what he had done to his parents.

‘I won’t let it happen again.’

After making that vow, he realised that he had no way to prevent what had happened and that if something similar happened again, he would still be unable to prevent it.

But it sounded cool in his mind.

Hearing the relief in Bai’s voice made Hei want to give her a hug and let her know that he wouldn’t just up and disappear.

But he couldn’t.

Of course he couldn’t. She was still in the Radiant Jade sect and he was in the Zhu Clan’s residence.

That being said, her worries did seem a little out of place.

“What are you talking about, Little Bai? Didn’t I talk to you every week? How could you think I had left?”

“You sounded so different.”

How could Bai not notice the change in her brother?

Ever since he left the sect to go on his mission, it was like he was a completely different person. The way he spoke to her lacked the usual warmth and positive feeling. As if she were just another stranger on the street.

What really caused her concern was that he had stopped calling her ‘Little Bai’. As long as she could remember, her brother always called her Little Bai, but after he left the sect, it was just Bai.

This caused her to have the thought that he had somehow returned to his world and that she was speaking to the other soul, her true brother that resided within their body.

After all, she was aware that the one she was able to sense the presence of was not the brother she knew. He was not an envoy of the heavens. So, if he were to have left this world, she would have no way of knowing.

Hei could understand Bai’s perspective. Even though she didn’t say the words, he knew how she was feeling. They had been attached at the hip since the day she was born and had developed a special bond.

“Haha. I told you that your brother can be shy at times…”

“You didn’t sound shy.”

He could almost see her puffing out her cheeks.

“Okay, Little Bai. That was your brother’s fault. When I’m away from my adorable little sister, I become a shell of myself, wallowing around in despair.”

“Then why are you back to normal now? Did you find someone to replace me?”

“Eh? How could that be? Who could take the place of my number one, adorable little sister?”

“Brother… You shouldn’t say such things.”

-Hahaha.

“Anyway, Little Bai, that’s why I’m contacting you. I know that I have been acting strangely recently and I’ll explain why that is when I return. Right now, I’m back to being my usual self, but I don’t know how long it will last, so I wanted to check up on you. Is everything okay over there?”

“Mm. Actually, I was going to tell you this tomorrow since I noticed that you’ve been moving around a lot today.”

“You’ve been spying on me?”

“W-what? No! I… I just wanted to make sure you were alright. If something happened to you-”

Hei wanted to rub her head, but what with the distance and all…

“What would you do?”

“Hm?”

“If you thought something happened to me, what would you do?”

“I would bring Sister Mei and Big Brother to rescue you.”

Bai answered without hesitation, which warmed Hei’s heart. He also found it reassuring that she would bring backup. It seemed he didn’t have to worry about her in that aspect.

“Haha. It’s not your turn to worry about me, Little Bai. Even if I’m killed, I won’t die until I put you on the throne of the world.”

“Even if you’re killed you won’t die? What are you talking about, Brother?”

“Ah! I haven’t told you about main character deaths yet, have I?”

“No.”

“Alright. Just know that I, your brother, will not leave you without saying goodbye first.”

“Even if you say that, how can I not worry?”

“Tsk-tsk. You need to learn to have faith in your brother.”

“I do. That’s why I didn’t try to find you as soon as I noticed the change in you. But that doesn’t mean that you won’t ever come across something you can’t handle on your own.”

“Sigh. Fair enough. But some little sisters would say things like ‘No matter what happens, my big brother will be okay!’ and the such.”

“Aren’t they being unrealistic?”

“Yes, but there’s something about it that makes one feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.”

“Hm…”

There was a moment of silence before Bai continued.

“I am fully confident that my big brother will protect me from all the evils of the world. But my big brother tends to get overly confident in his abilities. When that happens, I’ll be there to make sure my big brother realises that he can’t shoulder all of the burdens on his own, nor should he try to. I’ll always be there to support him.”

“…”

Hei was unable to respond.

“Does it make you feel warm and fuzzy, Brother?”

“Little Bai… You shouldn’t say such things.”

-Hahaha.

“Mm. It was very warm and overwhelmingly fuzzy. Anyway, what was it that you wanted to tell me?”

“Right. It seems a new sect leader will be chosen soon, and it’s likely to be the vice sect leader.”

“Which means…”

“Senior Sister Jingfei will have to hand over her half of the sect leader’s token.”

“Mm. They have found another way to achieve their goals. It just so happens that I’m close to finding the sect leader. When is this supposed to be taking place?”

“They didn’t give an exact date, but it should be within the next few weeks.”

“Alright. Keep me updated.”

“Mm.”

“But, you know, when I asked if everything was okay, I was asking about you, not the situation within the sect.”

“Me? I’m working on having the fellow disciple sisters see how amazing my brother is. I think you’ll be surprised by the progress. That, and I’ve been working on an offensive formation among other side projects. Oh, and Sister Mei and I have advanced to inner disciples, so we have access to more cultivation techniques now.”

“Ooh. It sounds like you’ve been busy.”

“Mm. It’s been a while since we spoke like this. I miss you.”

“I miss you too, but it won’t be much longer now. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Don’t rush because of me, Brother. I know you are doing important hero work.”

“I’m not a hero! Heroes are stupid, taking on other people’s trouble for no gain.”

“I think it’s admirable. It shows that people can care for others without expecting anything in return. Wouldn’t the world be better if everyone was like that?”

“Mm. I couldn’t agree with you more, Little Bai. That’s why I’ve always dreamed of being a hero.”

“Why do I feel like you said that with a straight face, Brother?”

-Hahaha.

“Ahem. Anyway, is Mei there with you?”

“She is.”

“Alright. I also want to check up on her, so I’ll be seeing you later, Little Bai.”

“Mm. I’ll be waiting.”