The silence between them stretched thick. The woman trembled as she recognized the man before her. She looked at Jiang Yun—not as a stranger, but as the man who had burned himself into her memory long before age had withered her skin.
"Do you truly not recognize me?" she whispered, her voice cracking. "It is me... Liu Ying."
“Liu Ying,” Jiang Yun muttered. He thought back to when he first met her.
Back then, Jiang Yun had just arrived in a new place after being separated from Nangong Yu. While walking through a crowded town, someone suddenly crashed into him. It was Liu Ying, a young blonde woman with flowing hair. The blonde fell to the ground, realized what had happened, and stood up, bowing sincerely. "I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking."
Jiang Yun was impressed; not many people would bow and apologize just for bumping into someone. Jiang Yun immediately formed a good impression of her. Not long after, a group of people yelled nearby, "Quick, look for the young miss of the Liu family! We need to bring her back to the young master. She can’t avoid talking with the young master today."
Hearing this, the blonde girl panicked. "They’re looking for me," she whispered, preparing to leave. Jiang Yun, who had a good impression of her, decided it wouldn’t hurt to help her get out of trouble. He grabbed the girl and quickly rushed off to a secluded place, giving her a spare outfit to wear. "With this, they shouldn't be able to recognize you for a little while," Jiang Yun said. "I’m wondering what’s going on. If you don’t want to say, it’s fine; it’s none of my business."
The blonde girl replied, "Thank you for helping me. It’s not really a secret; the whole town knows. I’m Liu Ying, the daughter of the Liu family, and I’m engaged to the young master of the Beiming family, Beiming Xun. He is known for being cruel to women; none who come into contact with him leave unscathed. The Beiming family wanted to expand their influence, so they tried to marry their third son to a local power—my family. My family can’t compare to the Beiming family, so they can only hand me over. They said I have two years before I must marry him, giving me a grace period. They’re trying to hold some moral high ground by giving me time to prepare, even though I don’t have a choice. Today, Beiming Xun came to see his future bride, so I tried to run to avoid him. My father said he’d try to appease him to let me enjoy my last two years of freedom; otherwise, if he saw me, who knows what he might do?"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yun felt pity for her and decided to ask, "How about coming with me for a while? You might as well have a travel companion on this lonely road."
Liu Ying replied, "Alright, I agree. It’s better than staying at home worrying about marriage all day. I’ve always wanted to see the world anyway; you can show me around."
After agreeing, Jiang Yun and Liu Ying left town and went on an adventure. They traveled to many places, shared many experiences, and faced much danger. After several months had passed, the two had become very close friends. Finally, Liu Ying said, "I guess it’s about time I go back. I’m worried about my parents. They don’t know where I’ve gone, and by now, the young master should be gone since it’s been so long."
"I’ll take you back then," Jiang Yun replied.
The two journeyed back to the town. Upon arriving, Liu Ying invited Jiang Yun to her home for a quick rest, to which he agreed. Entering her home, Liu Ying saw her father and excitedly stepped forward to hug him. Her father, surprised, showed a hint of dread. "What are you doing back here?" he asked.
"I was worried about you and Mom," Liu Ying replied.
The head of the Liu family said, "That young master hasn’t left yet. You should leave quickly before he comes."
Before he could continue, a loud noise rattled the door. It was the young master of the Beiming family. Beiming Xun spoke loudly, "I heard my wife has come back. Where is she?" Upon closer inspection, he saw Liu Ying and commented, "Not bad, quite beautiful. But how dare you run away while I was here? You should stay home obediently and wait to get married."
Beiming Xun then turned his head to see Jiang Yun. "Who is this? I don’t recognize such a person from your family."
"I am Liu Ying’s friend; we met on the road," Jiang Yun replied.
Beiming Xun put the clues together. "You must be the one who helped her escape! How dare you take my wife? Do you want to die? Servants, come take this man away. I dislike other men with my wife."
Soon, several powerful figures appeared in the hall, their Golden Core presences visible. Jiang Yun, who had weathered many storms and become a master of escape, quickly exited the building, followed by the servants. Jiang Yun relied on his experience to shaking them off multiple times before finally hitting a dead end on a cliff, exhausted. He no longer had the energy to run or fly, and if he fell, his chances of survival were slim. As the pursuers closed in, Jiang Yun made his choice: rather than have no chance of survival in their hands, he would bet on a slim chance. Jiang Yun jumped.
The servants seeing this spoke, "He’d rather die like this? There’s no chance he’ll survive. His Qi is depleted, he can no longer fly, and this cliff is so high I can’t even sense him anymore. He is most likely dead. There’s no need to waste effort looking; let’s go back." The servants left.
Jiang Yun, at the bottom of the cliff, found a cave and entered with a sliver of life remaining. His body was badly injured, but he hoped to heal. To his surprise, the cave was full of herbs and resources, and he soon recovered. Upon exploring, he found a book. It was an inheritance from a powerful being, designed to teach the Law of Time and accelerate it by thousands of times. To leave, one would at least need to become a Mahayana realm expert.
With nothing else to do, Jiang Yun used his time to cultivate. Many years passed inside the cave, while only a year passed outside. Finally, a figure exited: a young man with the strong aura of a Mahayana realm expert. It was Jiang Yun.
The first thing he did was search for Liu Ying. After all they had been through, he couldn't leave her to weather the storms of Beiming Xun. Jiang Yun arrived at the Liu family home and found Liu Ying looking upset. It was almost time for her to marry, and she didn't know what to do. Jiang Yun greeted her.
Liu Ying immediately stood up in surprise. "I thought you died! The servants from the Beiming family said you jumped off a cliff. Even though I hoped you survived, I couldn't help but doubt it."
Seeing she was fine, Jiang Yun asked, "Is that Beiming Xun still harassing your family?"
"Yes," Liu Ying said. "But don’t try to help; you’re no match for them. As you could see from the servants, they are a force not to be trifled with."
"It’s fine," Jiang Yun replied. "Just wait here; I’ll be back soon." Jiang Yun disappeared before Liu Ying could speak.
He appeared in front of the Beiming family territory and shouted, "You members of the Beiming family, come out here! If you don’t give me an explanation, I’ll destroy your entire family."
After he spoke, several elders of the sect came out, as well as Beiming Xun. Seeing Jiang Yun, Beiming Xun spoke condescendingly, "What is trash like you doing, coming to cause trouble?"
Jiang Yun directly turned Beiming Xun into a mist of blood. Immediately afterward, he heard a loud sound: "How dare you kill my son! I’ll make you pay!"
Another figure came into view: the head of the Beiming family, an Integrating Soul realm expert. Seeing the person who killed his son, he unhesitatingly unleashed a full-powered strike. Jiang Yun countered with a strike of his own, completely diffusing the attack and slapping the head of the Beiming family into a mist of blood.
Following this, Jiang Yun killed the members of the Beiming family, leaving the onlookers horrified. They murmured, "Just who did the Beiming family offend to be completely wiped out?"
After finishing, Jiang Yun went back. Liu Ying was in a panic, but upon seeing Jiang Yun return, she calmed down. "Where did you go?" she asked.
"I’ll show you," Jiang Yun said. He took Liu Ying to the Beiming family territory, which was now much emptier than before. "As you can see, the Beiming family from today on no longer exists, so you no longer need to worry."
Liu Ying, face full of shock, suddenly showed a look of pure joy. "Thank you so much."
"It was no problem," Jiang Yun said. "But what do you plan to do now? Do you want to continue coming with me on my journey?"
Liu Ying shook her head. "My dad is getting old, and I might soon have to take over the family. That was the plan originally before the Beiming family interrupted us. My dad is only a ninth-level Foundation Establishment realm cultivator; if he doesn’t go into seclusion soon, who knows if he can break into the Golden Core realm? Maybe after my dad breaks into Golden Core, I can go with you, but right now, it’s not possible. Besides, by then, who knows where you’ll be?"
"I see," Jiang Yun replied. "Then I’ll take you back."
He took Liu Ying back, said his goodbyes, and left. Not long after, Jiang Yun ascended to immortality, ending his time in the mortal world.
Back in the present, Jiang Yun finished reminiscing and looked at the old woman who was Liu Ying. It had been so long that she had become old. Unfortunately, he couldn't come sooner, as upon ascending to the immortal world, unless you were from a major sect, you simply wouldn't have the resources to descend. Jiang Yun, as a solo cultivator with no real heritage, obviously couldn't afford such an expense.
It wasn't until he reached the Forming Dao realm that he could manipulate the rules of the world to let him descend by himself. Soon after descending, he noticed the rules of the lower world and had an epiphany. Jiang Yun immediately went into seclusion for an unknown amount of time to break through to Dao Unification, which is where he is today.
Looking at Liu Ying, Jiang Yun said, "You have grown old."
Liu Ying said, "My talent is mediocre; my current realm is my limit. Living this long is already very impressive."
Jiang Yun, unsatisfied, said, "Let me help you break through." After saying that, Jiang Yun threw Liu Ying a bag of resources. Liu Ying curiously looked inside the bag, saw many valuable treasures, and said in shock, "I can’t take this."
"Don’t worry," Jiang Yun replied. "This is nothing to me now. Sit down and cultivate."
Liu Ying reluctantly sat down and started cultivating. Jiang Yun, not staying idle, turned the area into a treasure land and sped up time. He also helped manipulate the dense spiritual energy to be absorbed smoothly into Liu Ying. With the help of the resources and the dense spiritual energy, in a week's time, Liu Ying broke through to the Nascent Soul realm, significantly expanding her lifespan. Liu Ying now looked much younger, almost like how she looked back when Jiang Yun first met her.
Liu Ying, amazed by the changes, looked at Jiang Yun, who was satisfied with the result.
Jiang Yun then said, "Let’s talk about what has happened since I left. I’ve been wondering for quite some time about what you’ve been up to."
Jiang Yun sat down, preparing to have a long talk with the woman in front of him.