Ling Luochen looked deeply at Ling Luoyi upon hearing this, not understanding her intention, but still said, "You don't need to worry about this. There are so many people with the same name in the world, and you're just one more."
Ling Luoyi didn't know how to describe Ling Luochen. Should she say he was open-minded? But that seemed a bit much.
In reality, while Ling Luochen appeared unconcerned on the surface, his heart was in agony.
He knew his sister had died long ago. The person occupying his sister's body now was not his sister, yet he still treated her as his sister. However, this sister was also no longer related to him, and his original sister's body could not return to his parents. He knew this was to save the human realm, and he couldn't blame her, but losing two sisters at once was something he had to accept even if he couldn't bear it.
"Thank you," Ling Luoyi opened her mouth, only managing to utter two words, "Thank you."
Silence fell between them again, and the room became quiet once more.
After a while, Ling Luoyi, unable to stand the awkward atmosphere, said, "Right, A Yuan told me the reason for your disappearance. You went to another continent through a teleportation array. Because of your low status, you couldn't return to Canglan Continent from the Holy Temple, so you wanted to wait for the secret realm one hundred and twenty years later. But why didn't you use the small world to return to Gu Xuan Continent? You were at the Spirit Monarch realm then, so you should have been able to return to Canglan Continent from the Holy Temple of Gu Xuan Continent."
Speaking of this, Ling Luochen was a bit embarrassed and said sheepishly, "For some reason, after that transfer, my teleportation talisman seemed to have malfunctioned. I used it several times without success."
Upon hearing this, Ling Luoyi placed her hand on Ling Luochen's forehead and retrieved his teleportation talisman, examining it closely. The talisman was the same as when Ling Luoyi had first placed it into Ling Luochen's sea of consciousness, but it lacked spatial energy.
Recalling that Gu Yuncheng had mentioned Ling Luochen had touched a废弃 (fèiqì - abandoned/废弃) teleportation array, but Ling Luochen had genuinely been teleported away. Looking at the teleportation talisman in her hand, which had no spatial energy whatsoever, Ling Luoyi had a guess.
"It's likely that the 废弃 teleportation array absorbed the spatial energy of the teleportation talisman in your sea of consciousness, thus reactivating itself. A Yuan took people to inspect the place where you were teleported, and the teleportation array had become 废弃 again. This teleportation talisman's spatial energy was originally enough for ten thousand uses, but it was all consumed at once. After that, there were no reports of anyone else going missing from there, so it should have only been used that one time. To consume such a vast amount of spatial energy, the place you were teleported to must be quite far from Canglan Continent."
Ling Luoyi had also been to that 废弃 teleportation array. In fact, the 废弃 teleportation array wasn't broken; it was just unusable due to the lack of spatial energy, and had become 废弃 over time. So, after sensing the spatial energy on the teleportation talisman in Ling Luochen's sea of consciousness, it had absorbed it and teleported Ling Luochen away.
Spatial energy is an essential element for a complete teleportation array or talisman. Without spatial energy, a functional teleportation array can only become 废弃, and a functional talisman can only become ineffective.
Ling Luoyi recharged the teleportation talisman with some spatial energy and then placed it back into Ling Luochen's sea of consciousness, saying, "You should be able to enter the small world now. You've been missing for so many years, you should go back and see them. They're all very worried and have been trying to find you everywhere."
During her three days in the human realm, Ling Luoyi hadn't deliberately visited the Ling family. She had only seen many familiar faces on Gu Xuan Continent and heard them searching for Ling Luochen. Two hundred years had passed, and they should have aged, but Qiu Yuanxi had given them many youth-preserving pills, causing them to still appear in their twenties or thirties even at the age of two hundred. Ling Luochen, however, had become more composed.
"I understand. I haven't told them about your death yet. Do you want to go back and see them? Grandfather has passed away, but everyone else is still here. My uncles, aunts, and my young aunt all miss you very much. And my younger siblings, they've all gotten married and have their own children. They even tell their children stories about you, their eldest aunt. Do you want to go back and see them?"
Ling Luochen knew it was unlikely, but he still asked.
Ling Luoyi shook her head and said, "It's better not to. In what capacity would I see them now? I don't have your sister's body, and I have no connection to the Ling family anymore. I have no right to see them again. I just want to know that you are all doing well. They will eventually know about my death. I hope you can comfort them well."
Ling Luochen felt a pang of sadness, even though he knew Ling Luoyi's answer.
"I understand. You want to draw a line between us now, but can you truly let us go?"
Ling Luoyi sighed and said, "What I said back then was true. You are indeed the family I dreamed of. I don't think I've ever told you, but I'm an orphan. I only enjoyed a few years of motherly love, and that love has gradually faded with time. All my feelings about family come from you. If I could, I wouldn't want to distance myself from you, but I can no longer deceive them. The eldest miss of the Ling family will always be your sister, not me. I only played her role for a few years. If I were to steal her identity because of that, I wouldn't be able to accept myself."
Ling Luoyi was not a good person. She had killed countless people and didn't care about lives. However, she felt a kinship with the original owner, so she couldn't completely erase her existence. The only people who remembered the real Ling Luoyi were the Ling family. If she continued to appear before them in Ling Luoyi's identity, over time, they would also forget that she had ever existed.
"I understand. You are returning my sister to us."
"Yes. Perhaps no one remembers her contributions to the Ling family anymore, but at least your fourth sister will always remember the elder sister who protected her and disappeared, provided I no longer appear in her stead."
Ling Luochen's eyes were filled with complex emotions upon hearing this.
Ling Luoyi shrugged and said, "Alright, I've said all there is to say. You should go back to the small world first. I'll be leaving now."
As Ling Luoyi turned to leave, she heard Ling Luochen say from behind her, "I heard you're getting married to the Demon Emperor in a few days. Can I attend your wedding? As a guest."
Ling Luoyi turned back, looked at his solemn expression, and smiled, agreeing, "Yes. A Yuan will also be coming that day, so you can go back together."
"Mm," Ling Luochen nodded, watching her leave. Only after Ling Luoyi's figure had disappeared around the corner did Ling Luochen say in a voice only he could hear, "We're all family. How could family not tell the difference between you and her? It's just that it's not spoken aloud."
Ling Luoyi didn't hear this. She had already reached the place where the five little ones lived.
Sensing a strange presence, the five little ones immediately appeared. Looking at the person who had arrived, they felt a sense of familiarity, yet they had never seen this face before, nor the divine power emanating from her.
The five little ones had all transformed into human form, including Guan Yue. They were all around eight or nine years old, and even Jing Chen and Xin Tan were the same.
Seeing them like this now, Ling Luoyi was relieved.
"It seems you've had a good two hundred years. I'm relieved. However, you all seem to have forgotten me, which truly saddens me."
As soon as she said this, Jing Chen and Xin Tan were the first to react, "Master? Are you Master?"
Upon hearing this, Ling Luoyi sighed, "Alas, Jing Chen and Xin Tan are the best. Two hundred years, and you still remember me."