Even Yi Xian’er had made a move on Yan Zhen. There was no way Ji Ya would sit idly by. The problem was, what was their relationship now? Close as siblings, or…?
Cai Lian wasn’t pleased.
In her previous life, she hadn’t minded Ji Ya rising to the occasion and becoming bedfellow sisters with her. But that didn’t mean she could tolerate a sneak attack and betrayal.
Of course, even at her worst, Ji Ya was still better than that damn Killing Woman!
“Have you come clean with Yan Zhen yet, Ji Ya?” Cai Lian asked.
Ji Ya shook her head guiltily.
“Not yet. What about you two?”
Cai Lian turned her face away.
“I’ve already been found out.”
“What? Then—”
Ji Ya looked toward Yi Xian’er, whose face was expressionless, though her eyes held a strangely eerie glint.
Ji Ya’s mouth twitched. She forced a fawning smile onto her face and asked, “Little Sister Xian’er, you wouldn’t sell out your big sister, right?”
Yi Xian’er replied coolly, “I’m not like certain people who don’t keep their word.”
“Heh heh, I was wrong about what happened before, Sister admits it. Please don’t take it to heart, Little Sister Xian’er, okay?”
Ji Ya surrendered at lightspeed. After all, she had always believed that a clever woman knew when to bend and stretch!
Hearing this, Yi Xian’er gave a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
“You’re too kind, Sister Ji Ya. It was just a little thing—having me tied up and stuffed in a wardrobe to watch you and Yan Zhen’s live erotic show. Why would I hold a grudge over something so trivial?”
Live… erotic show?
Long Ying, who had been playing the part of a demure lady and sitting quietly off to the side, suddenly widened her sparkling emerald eyes. She felt utterly shocked—Dragon shock for another hundred years.
Ji Ya’s expression froze. She then turned awkwardly toward her “little sister-in-law,” who was giving her a sidelong glare full of disdain. Gone was any trace of the respect from their previous life, replaced by pure contempt, as if she were looking at a fish-stealing cat.
Ji Ya knew things were going south. Even one Little Sister Xian’er was hard enough to handle. If Little Sister She Ji turned against her too, she’d have no standing among all these sisters anymore.
“Little Sister She Ji, hear your sister out—it was a last resort,” Ji Ya pleaded, playing the emotional card. “You know what Yan Zhen’s attitude toward me is like. If I don’t take the initiative and use some strong medicine, he’ll probably stay just like in our last life, refusing to accept me.”
Cai Lian snorted coldly but didn’t argue.
The logic made sense, but no one could easily accept being ambushed and stabbed in the back.
Ji Ya quickly added, “Little Sister She Ji, you can rest easy. Sister only recently formalized things with Little Brother Yan Zhen. From now on, I just want a proper title. I don’t care about being big or little. If you want my position as the elder sister, I’ll happily step down and follow you and Little Sister Zi Ji’s lead~”
Sure enough, with this tactic of retreating to advance, She Ji’s expression softened a bit. She said, “We’ll talk about the future later. Compared to this sovereign, you’d better think about how to explain things to Yan Zhen. He’s the typical petty type, after all.”
“Sister will make things clear to Little Brother Yan Zhen, but I need the right moment,” Ji Ya said honestly. “He mentioned that after the Cloud Heaven Palace matter is settled, he’ll take me to meet Master Chen Xi. At that time, I can explain to Master Chen Xi first, then to him—it might go smoother that way. Have you two met Master Chen Xi yet?”
“Not yet.”
“We have.”
Cai Lian’s voice drowned out Yi Xian’er’s.
“Not just this sovereign—Jiuyou and Yun Xiu have seen her too, and so has Zi Ji… Master Chen Xi wasn’t reborn. She’s still trapped in the Fire Refining Starry Sky and can’t leave.”
Mentioning Master Chen Xi made Cai Lian recall how Yan Zhen, in his rampage, had even taken her master.
That shocking, lascivious scene had burned itself into her mind, impossible to forget.
Their previous life surely hadn’t unfolded that way. It must have been their reincarnations that caused the change.
She wondered if Yan Zhen had been aware at the time.
If he knew he’d taken Master Chen Xi, given his personality, he’d probably shoulder the responsibility willingly—damn the worldly customs, the curses of the masses—and marry her.
Things felt like they were heading in a weird direction.
Cai Lian hadn’t shared this secret with anyone yet. It weighed heavily on her heart, troubling her deeply.
“So Master Chen Xi really wasn’t reborn?” Ji Ya pondered. “The reason we could reincarnate is probably because of the Emperor Realm power… But why her of all people? Wait, I almost overlooked it—Little Brother Yan Zhen has no memories from our last life either. The biggest difference between them and us is—”
“Master Chen Xi and Yan Zhen are both at the Emperor Realm.”
As the words “Emperor Realm” hung in the air, the atmosphere in the room grew solemn.
Mu Xin’er, standing attendance nearby, stared in shock at her family’s Eldest Miss and these two Mystic Ancestor beauties. She’d already heard about the reincarnation earlier but hadn’t realized there were other women reborn besides her young lady.
Hearing that Yan Zhen was an Emperor Realm powerhouse came as an even bigger jolt.
That fair-skinned, handsome, and adorable boy—the little uncle-in-law who’d only recently taken her virginity—had been an Imperial Sovereign powerhouse in his previous life? How many years had it been since Mystic Heaven Continent produced an Emperor Realm expert? To think her little uncle-in-law had broken a millennium of silence!
The three women continued their discussion.
“Could it be that these two at the Emperor Realm were the ones who cast the spell, making them the exceptions?”
“It’s possible. But why do that?”
“Master Chen Xi reached the Emperor Realm after Little Brother Yan Zhen. She’s called the ‘Xi Emperor,’ on par with his ‘Flame Emperor.’ It fits the saying that a single era can only have one emperor and one sovereign. But I heard Master Chen Xi say that doesn’t count as true Emperor Realm… Could it be related?”
“You mean recultivating? Then why did that make us reincarnate instead? If it was recultivation, it should have been them coming back!”
“Good point.”
The more they talked, the more confused they became.
Long Ying looked equally impressed but clueless. In her previous life, she’d chosen the path to godhood instead of pursuing the Emperor Realm, so she wasn’t well-versed in it.
The difference between god and emperor lay in whether one wielded the Heavenly Mandate. With Heavenly Mandate upon you, you became an emperor. Gods transformed their bodies into a Dao, forming their own world—two different paths.
Still, fragments of memory in her mind told her it wasn’t that simple.
Their reincarnation had to serve some special purpose.
“Yan Zhen Zhen…”
Long Ying gazed at the “master” sleeping quietly on the bed, a surge of inexplicable tenderness welling up in her heart.
“I must protect Yan Zhen Zhen.”
As she spoke, a report came from outside. Aunt Mu slipped out, then quickly returned.
“Eldest Miss, people from Cloud Heaven Palace have arrived.”
The three women fell silent. Ji Ya asked, “How many?”
“Two. The Cloud Heaven Palace Great Palace Lord and her disciple. They’re here for the little uncle-in-law.”
“Let them in.”
Aunt Mu slipped out again. Soon, the door opened, and Yun Xiu entered gracefully with Huangfu Wenqing.
The master and disciple made quite the pair—one in flowing white robes, the other in a fluttering green skirt—like sisters standing side by side.
The moment they stepped inside, Yun Xiu asked, “How is he?”
The three women said nothing. They simply lined up, blocking the bed, their gazes fixed eerily on the master-disciple pair.
