“Xiao Fan, is it really you?”
The woman was around forty years old, but she seemed to have lived a long life. She was like a poem hanging on the door, elegant and gentle, as if she wouldn’t be surprised even when the world collapsed.
Right then, she stared at Chen Fan with an emotional look. She wanted to hug him, but hesitated. The man in front of her was like a bubble that would disappear if she touched him.
“Yes, Auntie Tang. I’m back.”
Chen Fan nodded and hugged her.
His eyes were a bit teary as well. When he returned to Earth after a decade, his parents were missing and his loved ones were far across the universe. People didn’t know him anymore, as if they had forgotten all about him. Only Auntie Tang was still waiting for him in the villa he had given her back then. At this moment, Chen Fan’s mind was filled with emotions.
“Great, great.”
Auntie Tang patted the young man’s back and tears welled up in her eyes. She had always treated Chen Fan like her own. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have stayed in this villa by herself, with a hint of hope, waiting patiently for him to return.
“Have you heard about your parents and grandpa?” Auntie Tang said after a while as she wiped her tears.
“Hm, I’ve asked around, but I still have a lot of questions.” Chen Fan nodded. He thought Auntie Tang had to know something. After all, Jiang Feifei said Auntie Tang had been providing shelter for the remaining disciples of the North Qiong Sect.
“Hm, come in. We’ll talk inside.”
Auntie Tang pulled Chen Fan’s arm and took him in the house.
Jiang Feifei’s jaw dropped—the girl in the green outfit—as if about to swallow a goose egg. “Oh God, what did I just see? The calm, mature and elegant Auntie knows that kid! She even hugged him as if he were her own child.”
Jiang Feifei was confused.
In her eyes, Auntie Tang was a calm and mature person. Even though their family didn’t want Auntie Tang to go to Chu Zhou City, they couldn’t change her mind, which was why they sent Jiang Feifei there to protect her.
Jiang Feifei only thought Chen Fan was related to the North Qiong Sect. She had never expected him to know Auntie Tang.
The girl walked into the villa with questions in her head.
“Xiao Fan, this is Jiang Churan’s cousin, Jiang Feifei.” Auntie Tang suddenly remebered Jiang Feifei and immediately introduced her to Chen Fan. She then said to Jiang Feifei, “Feifei, he’s your brother.”
Jiang Feifei didn’t look happy at all.
Chen Fan looked like he was sixteen years old only, same like when she first met Auntie Tang a while back. He had remarkably fair skin, which made him look younger. Jiang Feifei seemed to be older than Chen Fan in every way, so how could she call him brother?
“Churan’s cousin? Is Churan and Uncle Jiang okay?” Chen Fan looked up in shock.
No wonder he felt familiar when he first saw Jiang Feifei. She was related to Jiang Churan. He smiled when he thought about that girl.
“Sister Churan is the most powerful young cultivator in China and she’s cultivating in Mount Yan, getting ready to enter the Golden Core Level. She’s one of the best even in the world class level,” Jiang Feifei answered with a proud look.
“Jiang Churan is going to become a Golden Core Cultivator?”
Chen Fan was startled.
But he became calm again. Earth was vigorously recovering like a patient coming back to life. Not only did the plants and beasts evolve, humans also broke through many barriers and moved forward. Jiang Churan had already reached a certain level before Chen Fan left, so it was normal that she would soon enter the Golden Core Level after ten years.
And yet, although they were both Golden Core Cultivators, Chen Fan was powerful enough to defeat Nascent Soul Cultivators. If he didn’t control it, he would have become a Grand Cultivator.
“Right, something happened to Ranran before. She was lost in some mountain and then suddenly started cultivating once she came back. I gave her the ‘Foundation Physical Conditioning Art’ you gave me. I hope you don’t mind,” Auntie Tang said carefully.
Chen Fan suddenly returned without any energy, looking messy, while Jiang Churan had risen to the top of the Earth and would soon become a Golden Core Cultivator. The Jiang family also became a famous family in China. Auntie Tang was worried that Chen Fan would be sad about it, so she was careful about what she said.
“Don’t worry, Auntie Tang. That’s fine,” Chen Fan replied with a smile.
Auntie Tang was one of the people who treated him well in his two lives. Chen Fan wouldn’t mind even if she gave Jiang Churan the True Martial Divine Art, let alone the “Foundation Physical Conditioning Art.”
The two of them then talked about the changes on Earth.
Auntie Tang heaved a sigh and told Chen Fan about the situation on Earth in the past decade. When Chen Fan disappeared, the planet was still peaceful. The Grotto-heavens and the alien races suppressed by him were all behaving.
The North Qiong Sect had many Overlords back then. The most powerful one, Chen Huaian, was only half a step away from the Golden Core Level and he used to dominate the world.
However, six years before, the entire Chen family, the senior members of the North Qiong Sect and, many other masters like Ye Qincang, Azure Dragon and Red Sparrow, suddenly disappeared. The planet was immediately in chaos.
Then.
The world changed and Spirit Qi surged like crazy. The chains around the planet seemed to have been unlocked. The power of beasts and plants started to soar, while the cultivators felt like it was ten times easier for them to reach the next level. So, tons of Ethereal Enlightenment and Divine Sea Cultivators appeared and a Connate Cultivator was born from time to time.
There were even rumors that those Golden Core Cultivators were the most powerful ones on Earth right then.
But they were all treasurable assets of a country and nobody wanted to show them to people easily. So, when Jiang Churan became a Connate Cultivator, the Jiang family also became a powerful family in China.
“What about those alien races, like the Kindred?” Chen Fan frowned.
The changes on Earth weren’t worth mentioning for Chen Fan. Those Golden Core Cultivators wouldn’t catch up to him even if they cultivated for another century. Those who could truly be his enemies were the people from the planets in the Abandoned Planet Region and the Divine Princes from the Star Ocean.
“They’re also thriving and I heard that they even have the support from other planets. The strongest countries on Earth, like the United States and Europe, are also supported by those planets. The cultivation sacred grounds here, like the ‘Taichu Temple,’ the ‘Wuji Arena’ and the ‘Sun Palace,’ seem to have been established by the aliens as well,” Auntie Tang said with hesitation.
Many people had made such assumptions on the Internet.
But this information was blocked from the people by the senior officials of every country. A lot of people noticed the arrival of aliens, but they had no idea who they were exactly and what they looked like. Those aliens were said to be able to crush the most powerful cultivators on Earth. If it wasn’t because of some scruples, the planet would have turned into their battlefield.
“If they were already here, why didn’t they attack? Was it because of the Grand Opportunity?”
Chen Fan frowned.
Those cultivators had the power to conquer the Earth and any Nascent Soul Heavenly Lord from another planet could defeat all its countries, but they didn’t do anything. The Divine Princes from the Star Ocean were nowhere to be found. They seemed to be planning something in the background.
However, Chen Fan knew that there were a lot of things only the senior members knew. Auntie Tang wouldn’t have the exact information after all.
According to Auntie Tang—
Even though the countries on Earth were still standing, the main forces were the Qi Refinement Sects. The most powerful ones were undoubtedly those supported by forces from other planets, including “the Taichu Temple, the Wuji Arena, the Sun Palace and the Xuankong Sect.” Their power was unpredictable and some even said they had cultivators above the Golden Core Level. What they did could change everything on Earth.
Then, there were the local sects of Earth, like Kunlun, Dragon Tiger Mountain, the Christian Church and Dragon Lake. They were all controlled by alien races behind them and the most powerful cultivators they had were Golden Core Cultivators.
The group that followed was the historical sects, including the Hong Sect, the Tai Chi Sect and the Ba Ji Sect. Each of them had a large number of Connate Cultivators.
However, none of them had Nascent Soul Cultivators. In fact, the Nascent Soul Level was above the Golden Core Level and it was an unfamiliar concept for people on Earth. Even Auntie Tang felt weird when she heard about it.
“There’s a higher level beyond the Golden Core Level?” Auntie Tang wondered.
“How is that possible? Golden Core Cultivators are the most powerful ones on Earth. Even the Sect Masters of Kunlun, Dragon Tiger Mountain and the Christian Church are Golden Core Cultivators. There are only a few of them around the planet. I’ve never heard of any levels above the Golden Core Level. Even if there were, you wouldn’t possibly know about them,” Jiang Feifei interrupted.
She sized Chen Fan up in disdain.
Ever since Chen Fan showed up, everything he did was too weird. He was apparently close to Auntie Tang, but had no idea about what had happened on Earth in the past decade. He had no power at all, but he acted like the leader of the world.
The Taichu Temple, Dragon Tiger Mountain and Kunlun were cultivation sacred grounds Jiang Feifei and people on Earth looked up to, but they seemed worthless in Chen Fan’s eyes. The terrifying races like the Kindred were even like ants to him. Jiang Feifei believed that Chen Fan was either someone earth-shattering or he just liked bluffing.
In this world—
Who would look down on the Sect Master of Dragon Tiger Mountain and the leader of the Kindred?
Jiang Feifei didn’t have a clue.
So, the doubts about Chen Fan in her mind grew. Is he a fraud? And yet, she couldn’t say it out loud when she saw how happy Auntie Tang was.
“Of course there is. The Nascent Soul Level is above the Golden Core Level,” Chen Fan replied.
“The Nascent Soul Level?”
Auntie Tang and Jiang Feifei were stunned.