After that incident, Luan Ling discovered that the Heavenly Emperor had suddenly disappeared again.
This, however, came as a relief to her. After all, he had caused such a troublesome scene that she truly had no idea how to face everyone in the Heavenly Palace afterward.

What she did not expect was that the first person to come and speak with her after everything had been revealed would be Luan Yu—who had been sent away to the frontier.

When Luan Ling opened the door and saw Luan Yu standing outside, dusty and travel-worn, still slightly out of breath, she felt as though time had suddenly reversed.

For a moment, Luan Yu only looked at her in silence.

After a long while, Luan Ling finally asked,
“Did you sneak back past the heavenly guards?”

She could hardly be blamed for asking. She truly had not expected Luan Yu to improve so quickly. Could the mortal world really nurture gods so well that even Luan Yu could now evade the Heavenly Realm’s defenses?

“I told them that Lord Qingchen had summoned me,”
Luan Yu replied.

Luan Ling was surprised that he would dare use Luan Qingchen’s name.
But more than that, she wanted to know what urgent matter had driven him to secretly return from the place where the Empress of Heaven had exiled him.

Even if the guards let him through for now, they would certainly report it later. Once the news reached the Empress of Heaven, Luan Yu would not be able to get away with it so easily. This time, the order to send him down to the mortal realm had come directly from her.

Luan Ling asked him,
“Why did you come to see me?”

Luan Yu had clearly been in a hurry, but after hearing her question, he suddenly hesitated.
After another long silence, he finally said,

“I heard… that the Heavenly Emperor has come out of seclusion. He also sent me a message. He said that you were born from the essence of both him and Mother… and that you are my… younger sister.”

Hearing this again, Luan Ling still did not know how to describe the feeling in her heart.

She did not know why Luan Yu had rushed back in such a panic, nor did she know how to begin.

Luan Yu lowered his gaze.

“I’m sorry.”

“So what?” Luan Ling looked up at him.
“Is it because I’m your real sister that you’re apologizing for everything you did before? Not because you truly realized you were wrong—but simply because I’m your sister?”

Luan Yu did not answer immediately.

He himself was not sure when his mindset had begun to change. Perhaps it was the trials he experienced in the mortal world, or perhaps it was the strange sense of reassurance that came from finally receiving some response from his mother.

But when he learned that Luan Ling was his full younger sister, he had first been stunned—and then overwhelmed by an urgency he could not suppress, as though he had to do something to put his heart at ease.

Perhaps this was the right moment to finally do what he should have done long ago.

“I don’t know whether you’ll forgive me,” he said quietly.
“I only know that I was wrong, and I must apologize to you. You can choose to never forgive me. But if you ever need anything in the future… I will help you unconditionally.”

He glanced at her tentatively, then tossed the item in his hand toward her and turned to run without looking back.

Luan Ling watched his retreating figure, then lowered her gaze to what she was holding.

It was a jade box identical to the one she once used to keep candy in.
Inside, however, were not sweets, but a large collection of spirit stones and magical artifacts—clearly accumulated over a long period of time. Beside the box lay a skewer of candied hawthorn from the mortal world.

She looked once more in the direction he had disappeared, her expression complicated.

After that, time passed quietly.

Everything seemed unchanged—and yet, somehow, different.

Luan Ling returned to the Heavenly Academy as usual. Her classmates knew nothing about what had happened. The Empress of Heaven also did not publicly announce her identity.

Still, Luan Ling could feel that some gods now looked at her differently.

Wen Yuan, in particular, stopped her one day and spoke to her directly.

“So you are truly the Empress of Heaven’s child. I should have realized it long ago. When I treated you as a child, I sensed a trace of spiritual current in your consciousness that originated from Her Majesty’s lineage. I thought it was a coincidence—but it turns out there really was more to it.”

Wen Yuan smiled gently.

“Divine Lord Luan Ling, you really are impressive. You were so young, yet you managed to conceal your mother’s spiritual vein so well. That’s good, too. At least the elders’ council won’t be watching you so closely, and you’ll be able to live more freely.”

By now, Luan Ling could roughly tell who knew the truth and who did not.

Most members of the elders’ council were still unaware.
But people like Wen Yuan—direct subordinates of the Empress of Heaven—clearly understood what had happened.

“Lord Wen Yuan,” Luan Ling said dejectedly,
“does the Empress of Heaven pay you extra to relay all this to me?”

Wen Yuan laughed.

“Even if I didn’t tell you, wouldn’t you eventually figure out most of it yourself? Since you’ve already come this far, sometimes what matters more than the truth is what you gain from it. The Empress of Heaven may not be a mother in the conventional sense—but long before she knew you were her daughter, she had already paved a path for you and guided you forward.”

He paused, then added frankly,

“It may be a little early to say this, but I can tell you directly: once the elders’ council takes notice of you, you may very well become the next Lord Qingchen.”

Luan Ling’s eyes lit up.

“So I can become that strong too?”

“Oh—no, not exactly,” Wen Yuan said bluntly.
“Lord Qingchen’s talent is an objective fact. It has little to do with external circumstances. For a long time to come, he will still be the strongest in the Heavenly Realm.”

Luan Ling immediately looked even more dispirited.

Wen Yuan tapped her on the head with his folding fan.

“Your abilities are not in the same domain as Lord Qingchen’s. But you are very strong—and I believe you will become even stronger in the future. Look at the Empress of Heaven. She cannot release divine power the way Lord Qingchen can, yet would you ever say that she is not powerful?”

“Headmaster, I understand all of that,” Luan Ling said.
“But why doesn’t the Empress of Heaven tell me these things herself?”

What troubled her most was that she did not know how to continue interacting with the Empress of Heaven.

Wen Yuan smiled.

“The Empress of Heaven is a capable leader. When she has people she can delegate to, of course she uses them. Besides—you and I are closer, aren’t we?”

“Forget it, Headmaster. You’re someone who enjoys dragging others into trouble. I’d better not talk to you too much, or when that dragon finds out about the truth behind the exchange and burns down your residence, the sparks might fly onto me.”

Luan Ling waved her hand and turned to leave—only to see the very person she had just mentioned standing expressionlessly behind them.

“…We’re done for.”

At that moment, Wen Yuan added fuel to the fire with a completely unnecessary comment.

“Stay calm, stay calm! Headmaster didn’t do it on purpose!”

Luan Ling had no time to be gloomy anymore. Seeing a fight about to break out, she instinctively moved to stop it.

“He really didn’t do it on purpose!”

Flames burned brightly in Si Zhuo’s hand and eyes. He lowered his gaze to Luan Ling, who was hugging him around the waist to stop him.

“Then you did it on purpose.”

Luan Ling immediately let go.

“Go ahead.”

She had no intention of getting dragged into it.

In the next instant, a gust of wind lifted her hair as Si Zhuo shot forward.

What a mess.

The Heavenly Realm soon conducted yet another large-scale fire safety inspection.
This time, Luan Ling actually sympathized with him—Wen Yuan could indeed be rather infuriating at times.

Of course, when Si Zhuo later found out that she had also helped hide the truth, he targeted her as well. After coming out of confinement, she deliberately bickered with him for quite some time. Luan Ling did not take it too seriously—after all, even without this incident, Si Zhuo would still mock her whenever he had the chance. She was used to it.

As time went on, school affairs, studies, and cultivation took up most of Luan Ling’s life.

Gradually, she came to terms with her identity.

Sometimes, she even dared to recklessly greet the Empress of Heaven and Luan Qingchen.

The Empress of Heaven would merely respond with a brief acknowledgment.
Luan Qingchen was more unpredictable—when he was in a good mood, he would nod; when he was not, he would simply ignore her.

Strangely, this made Luan Ling increasingly interested in this elder brother of hers.

Because only he—both before and after the truth of her identity was revealed—had treated her exactly the same.

He simply did not care.

Whenever she thought of this, she would also recall the words the Heavenly Emperor had left unfinished.

But now that the Heavenly Emperor had disappeared again, and she did not dare provoke the Empress of Heaven by asking her directly, she could only begin quietly investigating on her own.

From the clues she gathered, Luan Ling was able to deduce that Luan Qingchen had indeed undergone two trials in the past.

One of them—the Trial of the King mentioned by the Heavenly Emperor—seemed to be connected to the fall of the Ye Qingchen regime at the end of the Shen Dynasty in the mortal world.

She checked mortal records.

Ye Qingchen had originally been the last grand chancellor of the Shen Dynasty. In its final years, the emperor was incompetent and indulgent, state affairs were neglected, and corruption was rampant. Ye Qingchen seized power and usurped the throne, controlling the court for several years and ruling as emperor for a few months. However, the new regime lacked a stable foundation and was soon overthrown by an uprising led by the Xie clan. Thus began the present Yong Dynasty.

Just imagining it…

Luan Ling thought of Luan Qingchen’s face and found it very difficult to picture him as an emperor.

When she thought of a mortal emperor, she could imagine portraits of elderly rulers, or even the dignified presence of the Empress of Heaven—but no matter how hard she tried, she could not associate the cold, expressionless Luan Qingchen—who seemed capable of crushing the entire Heavenly Realm with one hand—with the role of an emperor.

But perhaps, in the face of absolute power, all schemes and intrigues became nothing more than childish games.

She did not truly understand.

Still, she vaguely suspected that corresponding to the so-called Trial of the King, there should be another trial—the one the Heavenly Emperor referred to as “the vessel.”

The Trial of the Vessel?

Was it a trial that only the strongest could pass?

But Wen Yuan had said that Luan Qingchen’s strength had nothing to do with such external factors.

So what, exactly, were these trials for?

Were they some kind of qualification test?

Luan Ling had no answer.

She only felt that, sooner or later, these matters would likely involve her as well.

The Empress of Heaven and Wen Yuan probably knew far more than they were willing to say—but neither of them would ever tell her directly. Perhaps they were simply waiting for her to uncover the truth on her own.

Since that was the case, Luan Ling followed their unspoken intention and began investigating Luan Qingchen’s time in the mortal world.

However, because of dynastic upheavals, the surviving records of that short-lived former regime were chaotic and fragmented. As for the so-called Trial of the Vessel, she had no way to trace it at all.

After all, while the concept of a “king” might be shared between the Heavenly Realm and the mortal world, the concept of a “vessel” was entirely different.

With Luan Qingchen’s level of power, what kind of vessel could he possibly have forged in the mortal realm?