Jiayin chewed on the coarse grain pancake in her mouth. The texture was a bit rough, but it wasn’t unpleasant—and it left a faint, sweet aftertaste.
Old Madam Yang watched her eat, her little cheeks puffing in and out, and asked with a smile, “How is it? Can you swallow it alright? Not choking? Here, have a sip of water.” She then took out a long, thick bamboo tube and pulled out the stopper.
Jiayin took the bamboo tube curiously and looked inside. So this could hold water! It was the first time she had seen water stored in bamboo—quite interesting. She brought it to her lips and took a sip. Hmm, the water didn’t taste good—a little astringent. Not as good as her own spiritual spring water.
Inside her own internal space, she had a spiritual spring that her mother had given her, refined from a celestial artifact. She had only just started cultivating, and drinking the spiritual spring water helped her improve her cultivation.
Thinking of this, she handed the bamboo tube back to Old Madam Yang. With a thought, she tried to take out her immortal jade cup to drink some spiritual spring water—but her hands came up empty! She tried several times, but no matter what, she couldn’t retrieve it. Her eyes immediately reddened. Her internal space was actually unusable! Why was this happening? What was going on?
The truth was that this world had no celestial spiritual energy—it was a lower-level plane. Such worlds naturally suppressed divine beasts like her. Otherwise, with the divine power contained within her body, a single moment of displeasure could overturn the entire world in an instant!
The reason the Heavenly Dao hadn’t expelled her was that it had only sealed her internal space. This was an agreement reached between the Realm-Breaking Pearl and the Heavenly Dao of each world: things from other worlds—especially higher-level planes—could not enter lower-level planes, lest the planes collapse.
Li saw that her eyes were red and she looked on the verge of tears, so she quickly pulled Jiayin into her arms and patted her on the back. “What’s wrong? Did you choke?”
Jiayin shook her head and replied in a tearful, squeaky little voice, “No, I didn’t choke.” She felt so dejected. She couldn’t take out any of her shiny treasures anymore—the ones she played with every night before bed.
Fang Zhiyuan saw that the little sister was unhappy, so he took a small wooden horse from his shirt pocket and handed it to her. “Don’t cry. Here, you can play with this. Are you missing your mother? I’ll ask my dad to help you find her.”
The old lady also said, “That’s right, that’s right. As soon as we run into anyone, we’ll ask around for news of your family. Do you know your parents’ names?” The old lady knew that even with their names, it wouldn’t be easy to find them. The whole way was nothing but water—whether they could find anyone to ask would be a matter of luck.
Jiayin looked at the old lady, then at Fang Zhiyuan. “I can’t find them. I won’t be able to find them. My parents aren’t in this world at all… I can’t go back now! And I can’t even take out my shiny treasures anymore! Waaah—” The more she thought about it, the sadder she became—especially the latter, which made her burst into loud sobs.
Because she remembered her father’s words: if she gathered enough merit, she could still go back. But her internal space was gone—she didn’t know if she would ever get it back…
When Old Madam Yang and Li heard this, they couldn’t help but think to themselves: it seemed the child’s parents were no longer in this world! How pitiful—to lose her parents at such a young age. Her relatives must have found her a burden and thrown her into the water. What a sin!
The two women had already concocted a full ethical drama in their minds: parents dead, relatives seizing the property, the young girl abandoned. Li patted her chubby little back. “Oh, there, there, don’t cry. From now on, you’ll stay with us. Even though we’re fleeing the famine right now, the drought is over and there’s water. Once the water recedes, we’ll come back. Your uncle here can hunt, so we won’t let you go hungry.”
Neither Old Madam Yang nor Fang Youwei had any objection to taking Jiayin in. They had always wanted a soft, sweet little granddaughter (daughter). It’s just that Li had injured her body when giving birth to Fang Zhiyuan, and the doctor said she couldn’t have any more children. Finding Jiayin now was fate. Since Jiayin had no family left, she might as well stay with theirs and be their daughter. They would finally get their wish.
Fang Zhiyuan was even happier—he had a little sister now, one even prettier and more lovable than Erdan’s little sister. Let’s see Erdan come and brag to him after this!