Chapter 72: Time to Go Home
“Senior Brother!”
Yu Xiang rushed towards him, her voice filled with worry. “A-are you alright?”
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“I’m fine.” Chen Yin blinked in confusion. “What’s wrong, Xiang’er?”
“Did something happen just now?”
Yu Xiang was speechless, her mind racing.
She called out to the System in her heart again, but this time, no matter how she called, there was no response.
Even the System Shop, her points, everything had vanished.
It was as if the System had been nothing but a dream.
Yu Xiang felt a wave of confusion and helplessness, standing there frozen in place.
Chen Yin was about to ask her what was wrong when Shen Shuanglian spoke softly beside him:
“…Let’s talk about this after we leave.”
***
Xianyun Province, a remote inn on the eastern side.
Chen Yin kicked open the door, stretched lazily, and said with a relieved expression:
“Ah~ Finally done. I can finally get a good night’s sleep.”
He flopped onto the bed, finding a comfortable position, and mumbled to himself:
“I’m exhausted. After all that effort, I finally managed to snatch Xiang’er back.”
“Master shouldn’t scold me when we get back to the mountain, right?”
The thought cheered him up, and he started humming a tune.
Yu Xiang, however, seemed preoccupied, her expression hesitant.
“Alright, things have calmed down now.”
Chen Yin sat up slowly and asked softly, “What happened before we left?”
“I…”
Yu Xiang was about to speak when Shen Shuanglian interrupted her.
“There’s no rush. You’ve been working so hard for your Junior Sister. Now that it’s over, get some rest.”
“Everything’s fine now. We can talk after you’ve rested.”
Yu Xiang glanced at her and nodded silently.
Seeing their secretive behavior, Chen Yin pouted playfully, feigning jealousy.
“Fine, I’ll take a nap. We can talk about everything after I wake up.”
With that, he lay down and instantly fell asleep, snoring softly.
Shen Shuanglian exchanged a look with Yu Xiang, and they quietly left the room, heading next door.
As soon as they entered the room, Shen Shuanglian asked directly:
“Your System is gone too, right?”
Yu Xiang was stunned for a moment, then nodded slowly.
“Could it be that yours…”
“It seems so.”
Shen Shuanglian sighed softly and sat down at the table, pouring herself a cup of water.
“From now on, we’re no longer Chosen Ones.” She said, her clear eyes downcast.
Yu Xiang was confused. “What happened?”
“Tell me about yours first.”
Shen Shuanglian took a sip of water. “Why did your System suddenly attack Chen Yin?”
Yu Xiang’s expression darkened.
“Because… I chose to go home with Senior Brother instead of following the plot.”
“I knew it would kill it.”
“…And me too.” She murmured.
Shen Shuanglian glanced at her and put down her cup. “It seems your System had quite a temper.”
“Eh? Didn’t yours?”
Yu Xiang asked in surprise.
“My System… well, how should I put it?” Shen Shuanglian pondered for a moment.
“It always seemed to feel guilty about being bound to me, so it never forced me to follow the plot.”
“Even after suffering multiple backlashes and knowing its time was running out, it still insisted on letting me choose.”
“In the end, it chose to sacrifice itself to destroy your System.”
“This…” Yu Xiang lowered her head, filled with regret. “So there are good and bad Systems too.”
“Mine was definitely a villain System. It only cared about completing the plot and surviving, regardless of the consequences for others.”
Shen Shuanglian chuckled wryly. “Being bound to a System is never a happy thing.”
“It’s like knowing there’s a predetermined ending, even a tragic one, and being forced to walk towards it.”
“Without any chance of resistance.”
Yu Xiang and Shen Shuanglian exchanged a look, seeing the same helplessness in each other’s eyes.
Indeed, some things could only be understood by fellow Chosen Ones.
“Then…” Yu Xiang hesitated. “Should we tell Senior Brother about this?”
This time, Shen Shuanglian fell silent.
After a long while, she propped her head up with her hand, her hair cascading down her arm.
“…I don’t know.”
“For someone bound to a System, revealing its existence is no different from directly disrupting the plot. It would lead to a lose-lose situation.”
“Although we don’t have Systems anymore, logically, we shouldn’t be restricted by that anymore.”
“But,” she said hesitantly, “what if Chen Yin encounters other Chosen Ones in the future? If he knows about the existence of Systems, he might become a target for elimination.”
“I’d rather believe that most Chosen Ones’ Systems are like yours, not like mine.”
Yu Xiang nodded in agreement.
“Then… let’s keep it a secret from Senior Brother for now.”
She said softly, “It’s better for him not to know.”
They reached a consensus to keep this matter from Chen Yin.
Meanwhile, in the other room, Chen Yin slowly opened his eyes.
He stared at the ceiling for a long time, lost in thought, before murmuring softly:
“Chosen Ones… Systems…”
So, there was another layer to this world.
It sounded like the System novels he used to write back on Earth.
No wonder he had always felt something was off about Xiang’er’s actions but couldn’t pinpoint what it was.
After a moment of silence, he took out two rusty metal fragments from his pocket and examined them carefully.
The material of these fragments was strange. They seemed thin and fragile, easily breakable, nothing like immortal artifacts. But in reality, they were incredibly durable. Chen Yin couldn’t even leave a scratch on them despite using all his strength.
Neither immortal nor ordinary, their peculiar shape didn’t belong to this world.
But at the moment, the two fragments were lifeless, like ordinary pieces of scrap metal.
Chen Yin examined them for a while, then was about to put them away when he noticed something else glowing in his pocket.
This time, he was truly surprised. Because this item hadn’t reacted for a long time.
…It was the scroll.
He took out the scroll. It was glowing faintly, as if it was drawn to the metal fragments.
Hesitantly, Chen Yin brought the fragments closer to the scroll. In a flash of light, they disappeared, as if absorbed by the scroll.
Intrigued, Chen Yin quickly entered the scroll’s space.
Inside, the statue he had found in the bamboo forest of the Heavenly Path Perilous Domain was now floating in the center, exuding an air of authority and solemnity.
And the two metal fragments, like two cowering mice, lay at the foot of the statue, trembling slightly.
The statue had been in the scroll’s space for a long time, but it had always been inert. Chen Yin had simply ignored it.
Now, seeing the statue finally react, he reached out towards it curiously.
But the next moment, a strange image appeared before his eyes.
“What… what is this?”
“System Shop… points?”
His gaze swept across the dazzling array of images and text, and he was completely captivated.
“Okay, I recognize pills and cultivation techniques.”
“…What’s perfume? Why is that in the System Shop?”
“Beauty magazines? Game discs? Holy crap, why are there even adult magazines?!”
The vastness of the System Shop was overwhelming. It took Chen Yin almost two hours just to browse through the catalog.
It seemed to have everything. Not only items from this world, related to cultivation, but even things from his previous life on Earth.
And there were many things he had never seen or heard of before, things that seemed to belong to another world entirely.
He spent the entire afternoon browsing.
As night approached, a knock came from the door.
“Stinky Senior Brother! Wake up, you lazy pig!”
After a while, Chen Yin finally opened the door, his voice weary.
“Xiang’er… how long have I been asleep?”
“Four hours.”
Yu Xiang pouted. “If you sleep any longer, you’ll turn into a pig.”
But then she noticed the dark circles under Chen Yin’s eyes and his exhausted expression.
“Senior Brother… you’ve worked hard.”
She bit her lip, her eyes filled with concern. “It’s all because of me that you’re so tired… You must have exhausted yourself these past few days.”
“If you want to sleep, go back to sleep.”
Chen Yin didn’t know how to explain and could only chuckle awkwardly.
“I-I’m fine… By the way, where’s Senior Sister?”
“She went downstairs to get food.”
“Let’s go down too.” Yu Xiang took Chen Yin’s hand and was about to lead him downstairs.
But Chen Yin hesitated and said softly:
“…Xiang’er, I have something to ask you.”
Yu Xiang stopped and turned around gracefully.
“Do you miss home?”
Chen Yin asked seriously, “I mean Mount Yu. Our little home with you, me, and Master.”
Yu Xiang’s dark eyes flickered with confusion, then she lowered her head and whispered:
“Of course I do.”
“I dream about it every night, about going back to those days when the three of us were together on Mount Yu.”
Carefree and happy, their entire world contained within a small mountain peak.
“The scent of the Mist Yu flowers. The temperature of the pool behind our hut. Even Senior Brother’s smelly blanket.”
She smiled, her eyes bright and innocent.
“That was truly the best home for me.”
Chen Yin’s eyes softened. He gently pulled Yu Xiang into an embrace and, as she blushed, kissed her forehead softly.
“…Me too.”
“You two are the best family I could ask for.”
This time…
It was truly time to go home.
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