When Xu Lai returned ho, his wife and daughter were still asleep.
Ruan Lan, however, was sitting on the sofa in high spirits, still fiddling with her chessboard.
When she saw Xu Lai, she dropped the board and hopped over. "Brother-in-law, brother-in-law, I’ve figured out seven more attack thods for the Starlight Array. Co check them out for !"
"I don’t understand formations," Xu Lai casually brushed her off.
"Oh, right."
Ruan Lan actually believed him. After all, Xu Lai had never used a formation in front of her.
His sister-in-law added with a hint of disdain, "Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been stumped by that chess formation puzzle. Brother-in-law, chess and formations go hand in hand. You still have a long way to go."
Xu Lai was silent. A vein throbbed on his forehead.
Every ti he thought of this, Xu Lai felt the urge to flog the corpse of the Star Origin Sect’s ancestor. You managed to break through to the Emperor Realm, even if you did sever your own Dao Fruit later. It’s one thing for a powerhouse like you to not know how to play chess. But you even used a top-tier chessboard, pieces, and a puzzle to disguise yourself as a Saint of this path! No wonder the Star Origin Sect was wiped out—which of their descendants could possibly solve it? Who could have ever imagined that the creator of the two Starlight Arrays, an Emperor Realm Grandmaster of the Array Path, was actually a terrible chess player!
"Giggling, brother-in-law, don’t be jealous that I received the inheritance," Ruan Lan said, patting Xu Lai’s shoulder comfortingly. "Once I master the Array Path, I’ll teach you formations. And while I’m at it, I’ll teach you how to play real Go!"
As she said this, a light flickered in her eyes. "A ga of Go where you can’t take back moves isn’t real Go—it’s soulless."
Standing at the pinnacle of both the Ga of Go Path and the Array Path, Xu Lai nodded seriously. "Well, thank you so much."
"What’s there to thank for? We’re family," Ruan Lan boasted, patting her chest.
Following her gesture, Xu Lai’s gaze landed there, and he said sympathetically, "I’ll also have your sister teach you so thods for ’growing up.’"
Ruan Lan was dumbfounded.
She clutched the collar of her pajamas, her face flushed red as she swung her little fists in sha and anger. "You pervert, brother-in-law! I’m going to tell my sister you peeped at !"
Xu Lai rolled his eyes.
A 2A-rated scenic spot. What’s even there to see?
He thought for a mont, then stored all the formations he had ever created into the chessboard. This included his signature formation, the Zhoutian Star Fighting Formation, an improved version at that.
"I left a few formations in there for you. You can study them yourself," Xu Lai said offhandedly.
"Are they as amazing as my Invincible Youthful Beauty Great Formation?"
"..."
Xu Lai was losing his patience with Ruan Lan, so he went to the kitchen to make breakfast.
anwhile, Ruan Lan, who had gone back to studying the formations, exclaid in surprise, "Huh? This Zhoutian Star Fighting Formation seems pretty powerful. Brother-in-law, who created it?"
"A friend."
"You have to introduce soti! I want to et him!"
"He’s not interested in flat-chested girls."
Ruan Lan was speechless once again.
***
「Sunday morning, seven o’clock.」
Qian Xiao arrived early at the back of Mount Haitang for cultivation. He was there even without Beibei’s supervision, which surprised Xu Lai, who had only tagged along for fun.
"Why so diligent all of a sudden?" Xu Lai teased. "Did soone beat you up?"
"The path to my house is paved with cobblestones," Qian Xiao said.
"And what does that have to do with anything?" Beibei asked, puzzled.
"On that cobblestone path, a single, beautiful wildflower managed to grow. It survived in just a tiny patch of soil that must have fallen from the mud on my shoes." Qian Xiao’s eyes sparkled. "If a wildflower can try that hard, then I have to work hard at my cultivation too. That’s the only way I can always stay by Big Sis’s side and protect her properly!"
Xu Lai had been about to praise him. But when he heard the little rascal was still thinking about his daughter, he felt slightly disgusted and kicked Qian Xiao straight into the waterfall.
"Get to your cultivation," Xu Lai said.
"I will never give up on Sister Yiyi... Mmmph!"
Before Qian Xiao could say more, Xu Lai, with a single thought, increased the waterfall’s flow tenfold.
Did I increase it by too much all of a sudden?
Watching Qian Xiao get slamd into the pool below, only to struggle back onto the rock platform to endure the waterfall’s renewed assault, Xu Lai increased the flow tenfold again and muttered to himself, "No, that’s not too much."
"..."
Beibei shivered. Xu Lai is so cruel.
***
Days passed, and a week went by in the blink of an eye.
During this ti, Xu Lai continued to investigate Jing Ke’s residence but found no more useful clues. Even when he cast out his Divine Sense to scan all of Hua Country and Sakura Country, he couldn’t find any trace of Jing Ke or the Quasi-Emperor’s Tomb.
He is a Quasi-Emperor, after all. If he truly wishes to hide, even I... will need so ti to find him. Xu Lai thought, a headache forming.
The main reason he searched so relentlessly was his belief that Jing Ke was inextricably linked to his Senior Sister, Yu Guiwan. Jing Ke might know her whereabouts. And whether she was alive or dead.
Xu Lai didn’t just search on Earth; he also made a trip back to the Immortal Domain. He tried retracing ti at the old site of Hehuan Valley and the Mass Burial Mound, but still ca up empty-handed.
Xu Lai went to the back mountain of the Old Heavenly Court and stood before the four morial tombs, silent for a long ti.
His senior sister’s teasing words echoed in his ears. The gentle breeze, Xu Lai... no good for cultivation, but exceptionally fast at peeling grapes.
The smiling face of his senior sister—who always caused trouble and let her three junior brothers take the bla, who especially loved to eat grapes—materialized in his mind.
Xu Lai reached out a trembling hand to touch her sleeve, but... it grasped nothing but air. He was dazed for a mont before giving a bitter smile.
"Senior Sister, I planted a whole courtyard of grapes for you in the Heavenly Court. I brought you so last ti. Were they sour? Did you like them...
"My two Senior Brothers, are you alive or dead? If you’re alive, stop hiding. The guqin scores and the old story fragnts I collected for you are about to get moldy.
"Master, I said last ti I would bring Ruan Tang and Yiyi to give you all wedding invitations, but on second thought, I decided not to bring them yet."
Xu Lai placed four wedding invitations one by one before the tombs. The invitations were not made of any rare treasure, just ordinary paper and ink from Earth, but Xu Lai placed them with imnse solemnity.
"The wedding on Earth is in twelve days, on February twenty-ninth. In a week, I will bring them back to our Sect to hold another ceremony. I hope Master, Senior Sister, and my two Senior Brothers will not be offended," Xu Lai said, then bowed deeply. He remained there for a long ti before finally leaving.
***
Not long after Xu Lai left, a woman with pleasant features, dressed in hospun cloth, ca to the back mountain and called out to her husband a few steps away. "Honey, co quick! Look, there are wedding invitations in front of the graves. Who could’ve put them here?"
The fruit farr who lived at the foot of the mountain clutched his shovel, staring at the brand-new invitations. "Could it be that young cultivator from last ti?"
"It must be him. Besides those thugs who co to extort money, no one else visits this desolate place," the woman nodded.
"Speaking of which, haven’t those thugs been gone for a while now?" The sturdy, middle-aged man patted his shovel and said good-naturedly, "They used to show up for money every couple of days. I’m actually not used to them being gone."
"You simpleton," his wife chided him. "Our daughter was accepted as a disciple by the Liuyun Sect of Qiuyue City. She’s even the direct disciple of a great Elder and has embarked on the path of cultivation. Who would dare bully us now?"
"Cultivation is a good thing," the sturdy man said, squatting down with a worried expression. "I just don’t know if our Niuniu is eating well or sleeping well."
"Let’s go," the beautiful woman said, a pang of sorrow hitting her as well at the ntion of their daughter. She placed four wildflowers before the tombs, and then she and her husband descended the mountain.
An unknown amount of ti passed.
A gentle breeze drifted by, causing the beautiful wildflowers to sway.
When the wind died down, the invitation placed before the grave marker reading ’Tomb of Senior Sister Yu Guiwan’ had vanished.
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