Lu Yang’s heart trembled. *Fairy, you truly aren’t afraid of stirring up massive trouble.*
He hadn't done anything, yet he already had two half-immortal junior sisters.
Did he even deserve this?
If Ao Ling and Jiang Lianyi were his junior sisters, what was Immortal Kirin—their husband—supposed to call him?
"Have you seen Lianyi yet?" Ao Ling asked suddenly.
Jiang Lianyi could also be considered an unregistered disciple of Elder Sister Immortal. If Jiang Lianyi hadn't woken up yet and Ao Ling called Lu Yang "Senior Brother" first, wouldn't that make Ao Ling Jiang Lianyi's senior sister?
"We've seen her. She was asleep in a secret realm in the Demon Domain, and Fairy woke her up."
"I see."
Ao Ling pondered for a moment and decided that since both she and Jiang Lianyi were unregistered disciples and were on such good terms anyway, there was no need to fuss over who was senior or junior sister.
"Where is Lianyi now?"
Lu Yang thought for a moment and said, "She should be in the Demon Domain. She's been inquiring about your whereabouts all this time, Senior Ao Ling, though presumably she hasn't found any leads."
Lu Yang hadn't expected to find Ao Ling before Jiang Lianyi did.
Ao Ling smiled and corrected his form of address: "Senior Brother, calling me 'Senior Ao Ling' messes up the seniority, doesn't it? Just call me 'Junior Sister Xiao Ling.'"
Lu Yang didn't dare say that out loud.
"I truly didn't expect you to gain Elder Sister's recognition, Senior Brother Lu Yang. As far as I know, the Immortal Lineage has always consisted of Elder Sister Immortal alone."
The Immortal Fairy boasted smugly, "Surprised, aren't you? Our Second-in-Command is prime material for the Immortal Lineage. If not for me, he would've attained the Immortal Dao fruit."
Ao Ling was astonished. She hadn't anticipated Elder Sister holding Lu Yang in such high regard; even her husband and the other three immortals had never received such praise from Elder Sister.
Lu Yang hurriedly added, "There are actually three people in the Immortal Lineage now."
"Oh? Someone else earned Elder Sister's approval?" Ao Ling was even more amazed. The Immortal Lineage had tripled in size!
"The third is a half-immortal coalesced from faith. His rudimentary Dao fruit is also Immortal." Lu Yang was determined to drag Bu Yaolian, the Immortal Celestial, down with him to share the burden.
"So I have another senior brother?"
The Immortal Fairy waved her hand dismissively. "He doesn't count. The Third-in-Command took a shortcut using faith power to form a rudimentary Immortal Dao fruit. He barely counts as one of our Immortal Lineage. All he knows how to do is self-detonate—he doesn't even know how to feign death!
"In sect terms, I'm the Sect Master, the Second-in-Command is the Vice Sect Master, and the Third-in-Command is just a chore disciple.
"It would be more fitting if you and Lianyi were his senior sisters."
"What about my husband? Do you know where he is?"
"He's probably still alive." Lu Yang wasn't quite sure how to put it.
"Probably?" Ao Ling didn't understand why Lu Yang phrased it like that. Clearly, she could still sense the Dao fruit suppression from above.
Otherwise, she would have already ascended to immortality.
"Senior Lianyi awakened over half a year ago. Right after she woke up, she happened to run into Little Zhu—er, Supreme Zhu Tian—founding the Demon Empire. Senior Lianyi fought with him, shocking the entire world.
"Nowadays, there are no known immortals out in the open, so news of a battle between two ancient half-immortals spread fast, and now everyone knows about it.
"Supreme Zhu Tian unifying the Demon Domain and establishing the Demon Empire is also a momentous event. The Demon Domain had never been unified since its inception.
"The issue now is that if Immortal Kirin is still alive, he ought to know about Senior Lianyi's awakening. Yet he has never shown up to meet her, which is very strange."
This wasn't just Lu Yang's opinion; it was Yun Zhi's as well. Even if the Immortal Fairy didn't say it aloud, she likely thought the same.
Ao Ling looked at him with a strange expression. "It's only been a little over half a year. Isn't it completely normal for my husband not to know?"
"Huh?"
"Senior Brother, don't you ever enter secluded cultivation? My husband frequently goes into seclusion for eight to ten years at a time. Back during the Xinhuo Dynasty, he once even secluded himself for several centuries."
Lu Yang: "..."
Put that way, it did make sense.
Lu Yang looked back on his own cultivation history—not long ago, he had entered seclusion for half an hour.
His Eldest Senior Sister seemed to be in a constant state of sudden enlightenment at all times and had no need for seclusion.
And the Immortal Fairy was an even bigger advocate for comprehending the Dao in the mortal world, actively discouraging seclusion.
Now that he thought about it, entering seclusion for eight to ten years was standard practice for cultivators, let alone immortals—beings with infinite lifespans and a faint perception of time.
After all, these were peerless powerhouses capable of spending a century playing a single game of gomoku.
"However, something definitely happened to Immortal Suiyue," Lu Yang added.
"We found Immortal Suiyue's true Jianmu body. The body was covered in scars, undoubtedly the result of an immortal battle. But the inside of the Jianmu was completely empty—there was no immortal soul. We don't know whether his soul dispersed into the world or escaped."
The Immortal Fairy nodded beside him; Lu Yang had relayed exactly what she told him.
"Such a thing happened? Big Brother Suiyue met with disaster!" Ao Ling's expression turned grave. This was no trivial matter. An immortal who commanded time had actually died! Who in the world was behind this?
"Based on our current intel, after you fell asleep, Senior, an immortal who possessed the Extinction Dao fruit tried to kill you and fought with Immortal Kirin over it. Later, the Xinhuo Dynasty collapsed for unknown reasons, an immortal intentionally concealed the dynasty's very existence, and Immortal Suiyue's fate remains unknown.
"This entire sequence of events very likely took place during the same period."
Lu Yang had not expected another immortal to be born during the era of the Xinhuo Dynasty, meaning five immortals existed during that dynasty.
Even so, the Xinhuo Dynasty had still perished. An immortal wielding only the Extinction Dao fruit likely couldn't have accomplished that alone; some other unknown, monumental disaster must have occurred back then.
"By the way, Senior, we've also established a Heavenly Court on our side. Would you consider joining us?"
"You also established a Heavenly Court?" This was the first time Ao Ling had heard of such a thing.
Lu Yang scratched his head, offering a rare, sheepish grin. "It's a long story. I founded the Heavenly Court. At the time, I really didn't know the Xinhuo Dynasty had established one, or else I would've picked a different name.
"Now, our Heavenly Court is far too famous; changing the name would probably be difficult.
"You can basically think of it as us needing an identity to handle things that aren't convenient to do openly. After hearing Fairy talk about the Heavenly Court, I made one up to do certain things under that guise."
Lu Yang had heard from the Immortal Fairy that the Five Ancient Celestials had concocted several versions of the Heavenly Court. Thinking about it now, could those have been contingency plans prepared by Ying Tian and the other three, just without the Immortal Fairy's knowledge?
"Then who is in this Heavenly Court you established?"
Lu Yang counted on his fingers. "Let me count them for you: the Lord of the Heavenly Court is Fairy; I have a senior sister named Yun Zhi who serves as the Cult Master of the Heavenly Court Cult; Senior Lianyi is one of the Four Sovereigns; then there are the Nine Guardian Heavenly Kings, myself as the Young Cult Master, and four Holy Sons."
Ao Ling looked puzzled. "The Heavenly Court was originally founded to revive Elder Sister Fairy in the first place. Since you revived Elder Sister Fairy, and the Lord of the Heavenly Court is also Elder Sister Fairy, then the Heavenly Court you founded is the orthodox one!"
Chapter 863