Ning Chengfeng stared blankly at his little sister. She had not opened her mouth, yet a string of words had clearly reached his ears.
That was obviously her voice.
And what did she mean by the second brother who died early? He was standing right here alive.
What kind of nonsense was that?
Ning Chengfeng immediately let out a cold laugh, his tone turning harsher. “What rubbish are you talking about, Ning Zhishui? Do you hate me so much that you are wishing for my early death?”
And what was all that about ascending the Heaven Ascension Ladder, annihilation, divine sense?
She was only a cultivator in the second realm. How dared she speak so arrogantly?
“Second Brother, no, that is not what I meant…”
Is my ascension to the Heaven Ascension Ladder a dream, or is this moment a dream instead?
No, the ascension definitely was not a dream. The immortal qi hurt too much. There is no way a dream could feel that real.
But right now… this also feels real.
Ning Zhishui lowered her head to look at her body.
She was wearing ordinary daily clothes. Her hands, feet, and clothes were all intact, without a trace of blood.
Her body felt strong and full of vitality, nothing like the state of being gravely injured and on the verge of death.
Only this cultivation level…
Why am I only at the second realm, the Qi Condensation Realm?
Where is my cultivation? All that cultivation I worked so hard for, where did it go?
It was as if Ning Zhishui had been struck by lightning. Her whole being felt wrong.
Ning Chengfeng frowned. “Are you the one speaking?”
Ning Zhishui stood there blankly. First, she had not reacted to what was happening. Second, she had no idea why her second brother was saying such strange things.
“I mean, those @##%&**…”
Ning Chengfeng felt as if his tongue had tied itself into knots. He had no idea what nonsense was coming out of his own mouth.
He had clearly meant to ask his little sister what she meant by ascending the Heaven Ascension Ladder and immortal qi hurting too much, whether she had said those things, and why her lips had not moved.
Yet the moment he opened his mouth, he found that he could not say any of it.
“Which things?” Ning Zhishui asked.
Why does the Second Brother look so foolish? What exactly is he trying to say?
I have not seen Second Brother’s face for hundreds of years. He is really… just as annoying as before.
Ning Zhishui pinched her own waist. It hurt.
This is not a dream… which means this moment is real.
It seems I have encountered something extraordinary… could it really be what I am thinking? Have I come back to life?
If that is true… no, I need to verify it.
She looked at her second brother, who stood there as if struck by lightning, staring blankly, and urged him again. “What were you trying to say just now? Which things?”
“I mean right now you %##&&…”
Ning Chengfeng covered his mouth.
This feeling was unbearable.
“Ning Zhishui, where did you hide your private savings?” he suddenly lowered his hand and asked coldly.
“… ” Ning Zhishui gave him a strange look. “Why are you asking that?”
Private savings… the ones I hid behind the large vat in the east room?
I remember I used to like hiding money there when I was little.
No, now is not the time to think about private savings. I need to talk about something important.
With that thought, Ning Zhishui hurriedly asked, “Second Brother, how old am I now? Where are Father and Mother? And Eldest Brother? And Aunt?”
Behind the large vat in the east room.
Ning Chengfeng’s eyes widened.
He could really hear it.
He steadied himself. “You are fourteen.”
Fourteen? Does that mean I have gone back more than three hundred and twenty years?
In that instant, an extremely complicated surge of emotion welled up. Ning Zhishui’s eyes filled with tears of joy.
I really have come back…
She was both excited and overjoyed. When she recalled what she had experienced on the Heaven Ascension Ladder, she could not help clenching her fists.
The six great families, is that it? Just you wait.
More than three hundred years from now, if I let you ascend successfully again, then I, Ning Zhishui, lose.
Ning Chengfeng’s expression turned strange. “Well, why are you crying for no reason? Hurry up and get to work. If Aunt comes back later, she will definitely scold you.”
After saying that, he turned and left.
Ning Zhishui wiped the tears from her face, her emotions gradually settling down.
She pushed open the door and stepped back into the sunlight. When she first saw the bright daylight, she felt a flicker of fear.
She thought of that golden immortal qi again, of the pain that had pierced into her very bones. It was enough to make anyone shudder afterward.
But it lasted only for that brief moment.
Fear was a stumbling block on the path of cultivation. In her previous life, she had cultivated alone for hundreds of years and had long since cast aside such useless emotions.
She walked into the courtyard, letting the sunlight bathe her body, feeling warmth and comfort.
She had truly come back to life.
Only now did her thoughts finally calm completely.
Since the Heavenly Dao had given her this chance, she would definitely seize it.
She looked around the courtyard. At this moment, only she and her second brother were there. Everything seemed peaceful.
A ripple of calculation flashed in Ning Zhishui’s eyes.
In her previous life, what she regretted most was that her family had died young, and their names had become infamous. Even after death, they had been cursed by others.
But they were not born evil. They had simply been forced by circumstance into that path.
In this life, nothing had happened yet. She would definitely protect their lives, lead them onto the righteous path, and ascend to immortality together.
And the six great families…
Your mockery on the Heaven Ascension Ladder, and the tricks you used against me, I will repay them one by one.
She sat down in the pavilion in the courtyard. Several plates of colorful beads and some threads lay on the table.
This was the task Aunt had given Ning Zhishui. She had worked on it halfway, then felt sleepy and ran back to her room to nap, sneaking a bit of laziness.
A fourteen year old girl was at the age of liveliness and restless play. Even focusing on steady cultivation was difficult, let alone sitting down to string beads.
Ning Zhishui picked up the beads and thread, her hands moving somewhat stiffly as she worked them together.
At first she was clumsy. After all, she had not done this kind of thing for hundreds of years. But before long, the familiar feeling returned.
Aunt owned a shop that sold items most loved by female cultivators, rouge and powder, beautiful clothes, exquisite jewelry, and a small number of magical artifacts.
Recently, these colorful beads from the Binnan Sea have become extremely popular. Aunt often strung some into jewelry herself and assigned part of the work to her.
As she strung the beads, Ning Zhishui pondered. Who was that person?
At the final moments on the Heaven Ascension Ladder, she had nearly lost both sight and hearing. She had only seen that he wore blue robes, but she could not see his face clearly.
As for his voice, she only knew that it sounded quite pleasant and faintly familiar.
Perhaps she had heard his voice before, but they were certainly not close. Otherwise Ning Zhishui would not be unable to recall him at all.
And the content of his words.
A mirror…
Frowning in thought, Ning Zhishui tried to recall anything related to mirrors.
Meanwhile, her second brother Ning Chengfeng stood behind the large vat, staring blankly. The brick in the wall there was somewhat loose. When he pulled it out, he found a storage pouch hidden inside.
It was the most basic kind of storage pouch, very cheap. Accordingly, the space inside was very small.
These were generally prepared by parents for children. When they reached the first or second realm, they could barely use them to store a few spirit stones or talismans.
Later on, they would be replaced with larger storage pouches. Otherwise, even slightly bigger magical artifacts would not fit.
When Ning Zhishui was ten years old, she had switched to a larger storage pouch. No one knew where the old one had gone, but the whole family could guess that she must have hidden it to store her private savings.
The little girl had been clever since childhood, full of ideas, and quite capable of lying. Whenever they asked about the old storage pouch, she would only say that she had lost it.
And now, it has truly been hidden here.