The woman looked at him, her eyes softening as she stepped out from the shadows of the ruined temple, taking a closer look at the man in front of her. "It’s really you," she said, her voice filled with disbelief. "It has been so long, Little Jiang Yun. Have you forgotten me? It’s your Big Sister, Su Qing."
Jiang Yun couldn’t quite figure out where he had seen her before, but the name "Little Jiang Yun" sounded so familiar. Using the clues from her being at this temple, she must be related to the monastery, Jiang Yun thought. Suddenly, Jiang Yun finally remembered: back when he was at the monastery, there was someone who was there before him. The person was older than him, but only by a little bit, so they grew up very close to each other as their ages were so similar.
The girl back then wanted to feel some superiority, so she called Jiang Yun "little" to show that she was his superior. That girl was called Su Qing and claimed to be his big sister.
At the time, Jiang Yun felt uncomfortable calling her that, so he mostly just called her name directly. They spent many years together, helping each other get by when they felt hungry or got into trouble.
Unfortunately, not long after, a passing cultivator saw that Su Qing had cultivation talent. This caused the head of the monastery to let the cultivator take Su Qing away, as it would mean fewer mouths to feed and it would bring a bright future to Su Qing. Perhaps, in the future, if she achieved something, she would come back and bring many benefits to the monastery.
Su Qing, though unwilling, had no choice but to go with the cultivator. At least this way she could become strong one day and wouldn’t have to scrape by. After saying her farewells to Jiang Yun and other people she knew, Su Qing left with the cultivator. This, however, was the last time Jiang Yun saw her, as she didn't come back after that.
Jiang Yun then was alone, though at this point he was at least a few years old and could somewhat take care of himself without help.
Though tragedy struck just a few years later, and bandits suddenly came to rob the monastery.
Many were killed, but Jiang Yun managed to escape. The monastery, unfortunately, was already lacking in funds and had nothing to give to the bandits. In anger, the bandits destroyed the monastery before finally calming down and leaving.
As the monastery was destroyed, Jiang Yun was unable to go back, so he left after that, trying to find a nearby village to try and beg for food or find someone willing to give him work to earn money.
After finding a nearby town, the villagers were relatively decent to Jiang Yun’s arrival, as they didn’t kick him out of the village, and even some kind people gave him food and some money.
When Jiang Yun was old enough, he worked and saved up some money before using his savings to travel to a sect that was promoting that they were recruiting disciples.
After that, Jiang Yun left the village and joined a sect to get where he is today.
So, seeing someone he could barely remember so far in the past was quite hard for Jiang Yun, but nevertheless, he managed to remember.
Jiang Yun, after remembering, replied, "I remember you, but I still won’t call you 'big sister,' and stop calling me 'Little Jiang Yun.' It’s even stranger now that I’m larger than you."
Su Qing, after getting her confirmation that this man was indeed Jiang Yun, replied, "I will always be your big sister, like how you will always be Little Jiang Yun."
Jiang Yun, too lazy to bother to correct her again, asked, "What are you doing here? It’s been so long since this place was destroyed; I doubt you’re here looking for anyone?"
Su Qing said, "A few decades after leaving with that cultivator, I achieved success in cultivation as he brought me to the central region, joining a large sect. The sect is now one of the major powers in the central region called the Flower Supreme Sect, which is a sect comprised of women.
"In the Flower Supreme Sect, there are several Mahayana realm cultivators and the sect master is even a half-immortal. I now hold a high position in the sect as an inner sect elder. Back then, though, when I reached the Golden Core realm, I was finally allowed to leave the sect to adventure outside, so I came back here. To my horror, the monastery was destroyed and no one was left here. As I couldn’t find you or anyone else, I could only assume everyone was dead, so after that, I came back every few years to pay my respects to the place that raised me since I was a baby. You just so happened to meet me during one of my visits. So, anyway, what are you doing here?"
Jiang Yun said, "I found my mother, who had a grudge against someone, so I came to take revenge, and as this place was close by, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to visit. I didn’t think I would ever see you again as you stepped onto the path of cultivation."
Su Qing then said, "I didn’t think I would meet you again either, but since we have, you should come with me from now on. I’m now an elder of the Flower Supreme Sect; even though all the disciples are women, there are still men in the sect who aren’t disciples. Now that I’m in such a high position, I can easily protect you now. Considering you have survived over five hundred years, you have definitely also stepped on the path of cultivation and are at least a Golden Core, but don’t worry, with my help, achieving higher realms is no problem in short periods of time."
Jiang Yun’s eyes then started to twitch. A dignified Dao Unification realm expert was being asked to go with a Tribulation Transformation realm cultivator to be protected. This was absurd, so Jiang Yun replied, "No need, I have long surpassed that realm and I’m even stronger than you. There’s no point in me going with you."
Su Qing, hearing this, was surprised; she couldn’t feel what realm Jiang Yun was in, so she assumed Jiang Yun was just too weak for her to notice. Now Jiang Yun was telling her that he was stronger, so her not being able to sense his realm could only mean that it was true.
Su Qing then asked, "Just what realm are you at now, then?"
Jiang Yun replied, "I’m now invincible; you wouldn’t understand even if I told you my level. Just know that a few hundred years ago, I could kill half-immortals, much less now."
Su Qing was shocked, unsure if Jiang Yun was telling the truth, as that would mean he would be stronger than her sect master. This sounded too absurd to be true, as the sect master has been cultivating for at least over ten thousand years. For someone as young as Jiang Yun to be at the same level, he would have to be a genius or had some kind of amazing opportunity.
Su Qing then replied, "Alright, I won’t force you to come with me, though I don’t believe it. At least tell me where you live now so I can visit you in the future."
Jiang Yun then said, "How about I just show you?" Jiang Yun then grabbed Su Qing and disappeared, and a moment later reappeared at the Invincible Cloud Sect.
Su Qing was puzzled as to what just happened. She couldn’t even feel how they just moved so far, but they were definitely far from where they were, looking at the surroundings. She then asked, "Where are we?"
Jiang Yun said, "This is the sect that I built and my home. Come inside and sit down for a chat; it won’t take too much time out of your day."
Su Qing, still shocked, decided to agree, as staying here for one day wouldn’t make much of a difference.
As the two passed through the sect, Su Qing looked around her surroundings. The sect, though not big, was visually pleasing; though not as grand as the Flower Supreme Sect, it still had its own charm. Though it lacked many people, as Su Qing didn’t see anyone around.
Arriving at the main hall, she finally saw some people, though they were all women. This made Su Qing even more confused, causing her to wonder: Is Jiang Yun that popular with women? There are only women here.
Jiang Yun then introduced the women to Su Qing, "These are the elders of my sect, the younger ones are their disciples, and this woman is my mother."
Su Qing was surprised when Jiang Yun pointed to the woman who was his mother. This woman was even younger than her. How could such a woman be Jiang Yun’s mother? Su Qing thought.
Jiang Yun, seeing Su Qing’s puzzled face, explained, "My mother has died, and this is her reincarnation. I found her and reawakened her erased memories before her reincarnation."
Su Qing was unsure what to say; just how strong does one have to be to awaken the memories of someone who had reincarnated?
Jiang Yun then introduced Su Qing to the group of women. This caused the group of women to have a strange look in their eyes as they wondered how come there’s another woman. Just how many more are there?
Jiang Yun, ignoring the group of women, then said, "Let’s go somewhere more private to have a conversation." Jiang Yun then turned and left, signaling for Su Qing to come along.
Not long after, they arrived at a small pond outside the main hall and sat at an outdoor table.
Jiang Yun then asked, "Is there anything else you would like to ask me? If not, then could you tell me if there’s anything troubling you lately? If there is, I could help, thinking of it as repaying you for the help back when I was little."
Su Qing replied, "What kind of trouble could I have? I’m now an elder of a high-level sect and nobody would dare to mess with me, but since you asked, I want to know how have you been doing lately?"
Jiang Yun then explained a brief amount about what he has been through, omitting many things and saying he was doing fine now.
Su Qing was relieved, knowing Jiang Yun really didn’t need her help.
As the day was ending, Su Qing said it was about time she headed back.
Jiang Yun then said, "I will take you back. Just tell me where the Flower Supreme Sect is and I’ll take you back right now."
Su Qing, still skeptical, decided to give it a try and told Jiang Yun where the Flower Supreme Sect was in the central region.
Jiang Yun then took Su Qing and disappeared. They reappeared right above the Flower Supreme Sect.
This amazed Su Qing even more, saying, "You really are strong."
This was then interrupted by a loud sound coming from within the Flower Supreme Sect.
Jiang Yun then asked if that was normal.
Su Qing replied, "No, I don’t know what’s going on. Let’s go in to take a look."
The two then went into the Flower Supreme Sect, wondering what could have happened.