Chapter 95: It Is Truly Wonderful to Have You Here

"Not old, not old. How could you be old, big sister?"

Yu Wei came forward with a sycophantic grin and lightly slapped his own mouth. "Look at me, I let it slip again. Sister, can I just call you sister? That would be to show your standing. Surely I can't keep calling you little sister, right?"

That would be taking advantage, and if Yu Yan kicked out at him, he'd probably be lying down for half a day.

They had all seen how Yu Yan had just beaten Yu Lei.

Good heavens.

She had really been pounding him as though she meant to kill him. If Yu Lei had not somehow eaten something extraordinary and greatly increased his strength, he would not merely be exhausted and collapsed now. Of course, they also knew Yu Yan had been probing the limits of Yu Lei's skills.

Even so... watching Yu Yan attack Yu Lei, they still felt a thick layer of cold sweat seeping down their backs.

None of them dared imagine experiencing the force of Yu Yan's wind blades for themselves.

No, forget the wind blades. Just recalling her ghostlike assaults made them tremble all over. That flickering figure, the fists and feet that could strike at any vital point on the body at any moment, and most dangerous of all, the twenty-centimeter leaf in her hand.

It looked utterly unremarkable, yet with a casual sweep, even the toughest tree trunks were severed without a sound.

Those were logs thick as a man's thigh.

Yu Yan had sliced through them as easily as if she were cutting tofu.

When the tree crashed to the ground, the cut surface was smooth and flawless, a perfect cross-section even a chainsaw could not have produced. In short, Yu Wei was completely convinced by this big sister who had appeared out of nowhere.

Her strength was enough to crush all of them into the dirt. Calling her sister was no loss.

Yu Rui and the others clearly felt the same.

Lou Yuhui opened his mouth, very much wanting to be as shameless as Yu Wei and call her sister. But his neck turned red from the effort and still he could not get the word out. For a moment he felt somewhat frustrated. Why was he so useless, not even able to flatter someone properly?

Fortunately, Yu Yan did not ignore him.

A spiritual vein was certainly good, but after absorbing and refining it, one still had to start from scratch to cultivate an enhanced rank.

Take Yu Lei, for example. If not for awakening the passive talent skill Flash, he would have been a rankless enhancer who could not even use a skill. That was not what Yu Yan had in mind, so what she gave Yu Wei, Yu Rui, and the other two was the earth-attribute Black Tortoise meat, famed for its defensive power.

The Black Tortoise meat had been obtained from the A-rank instance Waterlight Butterfly. Yu Yan had gathered quite a bit of lower-ranked meat, but of the seventh rank and above, there were only two or three in all.

Giving them seventh-rank Black Tortoise meat was more than enough to repay these companions who had followed Yu Lei through life and death.

As for Lou Yuhui, he was her younger sister's lifesaver. And since he wielded his soft sword with uncanny mastery, clearly following the path of agility, Yu Yan gave him a piece of ninth-rank Qu Ru meat. She had very little of that meat left.

All of it was reserved for the most crucial moments, to raise her own wind element ability.

Her willingness to part with a piece for Lou Yuhui was proof enough of her gratitude.

Beast meat of the fourth rank was enough to awaken an enhanced fighter's ability, while fifth-rank meat could directly grant a first-rank ability. Once Yu Wei and the others finished absorbing and refining the seventh-rank Black Tortoise meat, they would become third-rank earth-attribute enhancers. Their flesh would no longer be nearly so brittle.

As for Lou Yuhui, the ninth-rank Qu Ru meat would make him a fifth-rank wind-attribute enhancer of the mystic level.

In terms of wind-element rank alone, he would even surpass Yu Yan by a notch.

Combined with his agile movements and that soft sword, which could sever gold and jade alike and was clearly no ordinary weapon, his battle strength would increase greatly and perhaps even lend Yu Yan some help.

The night was deep, and stars shimmered like water across the sky. Yu Yan sat cross-legged on a tree branch.

She watched as the clothes of Lou Yuhui and the others were soaked through again and again with sweat, then gradually stained with blood.

Her gaze remained calm and still.

This process would probably last more than an hour. To fully refine and absorb the energy within the beast meat, to be reborn and become rank-bearing enhancers, a little bloodshed was unavoidable. By the end, their clothes would be soaked through layer after layer with blood.

The thick smell of blood was not something her peak fourth-rank transformation skill could conceal.

Fortunately, she had scattered fire rhinoceros dung all around, and had specifically chosen dung from ninth-rank fire rhinoceroses. Presumably no dungeon creature lacking judgment would come seeking death.

As a rule, an S-rank dungeon would not produce heaven-rank dungeon monsters.

Ninth rank was already the pinnacle of the earth tier, standing at the top of the food chain in an S-rank dungeon.

Yu Lei slept soundly, letting out a faint snore.

Yu Wan's breathing was steady; she had clearly made it through the danger safely.

A trace of tenderness flashed in Yu Yan's eyes, and she covered them with a thin blanket. The last time she had seen the twins was, in truth, in her previous life. Though the dungeon world had lasted only three short years, to Yu Yan, who had lived every day as though it were a year, it had felt like several lifetimes.

In her memory, they were still half-grown children, the sort who, whenever they saw her, would only bicker and act spoiled.

Neither of them had even finished college, let alone entered the workforce.

And when she saw them again, one of them was drenched in blood and unconscious.

The other... was a little better, but if she had not run into them, he probably would not have lasted long either before dying in the dungeon.

In her previous life, the twins must have died here, mustn't they?

And her parents, too. Once the dungeon gradually expanded and covered the entire Fenghe Village, if they did not die in the Firefly Devouring Soul Sea, they would likely have died in another double-S-rank dungeon, the Phoenix Song Ruins. Or perhaps they would have been fortunate enough to be trapped within one of the smaller dungeons surrounded by those two great dungeons of S-rank and above.

With no way to break out, death was only a matter of sooner or later.

"Sis... big sis!"

Yu Lei woke from a nightmare, staring blankly around him before finally locking onto Yu Yan's straight back.

Thank goodness, it was not a dream.

Big sister had really come to find him, and she had found him.

Yu Lei let out a breath. His nearly exhausted body gradually recovered a little strength. He raked back his sweat-damp hair and crawled toward Yu Yan. Only when he leaned against Yu Yan's folded legs did his heart finally settle. "Big sister, it's so good to have you here."

Foolish younger brother.

Yu Yan sighed inwardly.

Yet her hand was incomparably gentle as she patted Yu Lei's shoulder. "Sleep. It's still far from dawn. Big sister will keep watch over you."

"Mm."

Yu Lei nodded obediently. He closed his eyes, and before long sank once more into a deep sleep.

This time he did not have another nightmare. He slept straight through until broad daylight.

"Morning, big sister!"

The moment he opened his eyes, he met Yu Yan's thoughtful gaze fixed upon him. Yu Lei flashed a huge grin that showed all thirty-two teeth.

Those bright white teeth made Yu Yan dizzy for a moment. For an instant, it seemed as if there had once been someone else who had always liked smiling at her like that.

Silly, clear, and clean.

Every morning, whenever she met such a radiant smile, Yu Yan felt as though the dim room itself had begun to shine.

Sunlight scattered into every corner of her heart, warm enough to make her feel the world was so beautiful.

And the person who had once brought her that sunlight, where was he now?

Would they ever have the chance to meet again?

Yu Yan's gaze went distant.

"Big sister?"

Yu Lei's voice pulled Yu Yan back from her scattered thoughts.

Yu Yan looked at this younger brother from memory, reserved and quiet, someone who had never smiled like this before. Her gaze seemed to pass through him, as though she were looking at someone else entirely. Overwhelmed by a wave of longing, Yu Yan's eyes reddened slightly, and she quickly lowered her head...