Jin woke up groggily.

It had been a while since he slept in such a bad way. While cultivators could go without sleeping for a while, it remained a good way to keep the mental fatigue at bay and remain in top state. Jin never skipped sleeping if he could. But for once, it did not refresh him.

The night had been uneventful but his thoughts kept spinning.

Should he go meet her? Should he wait? Should he do nothing? Should he dodge her?

He did not know.

Of all his lives, this was a situation he never experienced.

In his previous life, he was alone.

In this one, be it the real or the multitude of fakes, she was not there. She never appeared.

After all, all these lives were based on his subconscious and never had he thought of her. He did not know she was even alive. He did not know she did exist. As such, he could not even imagine her.

It was…weird.

Even as he believed he had grown a lot mentally from all the events that happened, this situation was outside his expectations. It brought him once more outside of his comfort zone.

As he watched Ame getting dressed for the day, he thought of asking her for advice.

Then he dispelled the thought a mere instant afterwards.

Regardless of how close he got to her, how much emotions she stirred inside of him, he had yet to tell her about himself. About his past.

About Jin.

She knew him. But she knew Baem.

This was also something he would need to address at some point. He was not going to remain here forever. He would have to tell her. How would she react? He did not know. How would he react afterwards? He did not know either.

But those were thoughts for later.

For now, he just wanted to enjoy some bliss. Some peace.

She went up to him and kissed him with deep affection within her eyes before teasingly admonishing him for not getting up yet.

He chuckled as he threw most of his thoughts behind and stretched.

A few moments later, he was practicing his spear basics in the garden, followed by dozens of orphans who imitated his stances.

And midway through, she appeared.

Ning was there.

He saw her.

But he did not stop his practice.

Only once it ended did he look at her. She waved with an awkward smile at him. He waved back in very much the same awkward way if not more.

He saw her take a deep breath before walking up to him and saying: “Good morning, big brother Jin”

He frowned slightly.

He went by Baem here…if she called him Jin…He quickly told her: “Call me Baem”

She looked puzzled for a second before she understood and nodded. She was not stupid and quickly got his point.

Seeing that, Jin nodded before greeting her back. Then, they walked around the estate as they discussed about random things. Then, they moved outside and continued to chat as they wandered around the streets of the capital.

They ate together at one of Jin’s restaurants.

They continued walking, sometimes Jin buying her random stuff she seemed to take a liking to.

She left before dinner.

Jin returned home to find an angry Ame glaring at him.

She was furious. He did not know why. Until she told him about people witnessing him on a date with a young woman from a sect.

He quickly spilled the beans about her being his sister.

Fear pushed him to do so.

It made him chuckle inwardly.

To think he would actually fear being misunderstood by Ame…It seemed like she was indeed very important to him.

Ame began to make a fuss about it in a different way though.

She wanted to meet his sister…and the rest of his family…And he was not sure how he could stop her without having to lie one way or another. Knowing Ame, she was quite likely to simply go after Ning herself if he rejected her demands.

And that’s how they ended up having dinner together, the three of them.

It went better than he expected as Ning did not lie aside from the fact that she called him Baem instead of Jin. It was fortunate that she herself did not know that much about him either.

From then on, the three of them ate many times together and they spent a lot of time together.

But all great things come to an end.

The sect meeting ended. Ning had to leave.

…

As she was looking at the gates to the capital behind her, she smiled.

It had been quite an incredible adventure in its own way. A holiday spent with her long-lost big brother.

It had been very enjoyable.

He was a weirdo but he seemed like a happy man living a fulfilling life. He had a beautiful wife too. Ame was an impressive woman.

She was a little sad though.

When he told her they would likely never meet again mostly. She understood that it was nothing more than a great coincidence that they met.

For her to recognize him when he looked nothing like the picture from the wanted poster… He had grown older after all; time waits for no one.

A big beard, long hair and a large band covering both his eyes… The fact that he was never seen with a spear aside from in the early morning in his garden…

Yet he was the spitting image of her dad.

At the time, it was just a guess, an empty hope, an uncertainty…and it revealed to be true. Maybe it was just an instinct? Some connection due to being family?

In any case, she met him.

And she was glad she did.

He was weird but impressive too.

She clenched the spatial ring he gave her last night. The contents were beyond anything she could have dreamt of receiving. Thousands of pills filled with enough energy that she would have enough until she reached the 40th stage and maybe further, a few different elemental treasures of the 3rd level that were worth so much in this land and dozens upon dozens of spiritual treasures of all kinds of the 1st and 2nd stage.

But beyond that, it was the letter he wrote to their parents and the ring itself that she cherished.

Her parents would probably finally find peace and relief after she delivered it to them upon her return.

As for the ring, it was her own treasure. It was engraved by Jin himself. A single sentence but filled with meaning: “To my little sister”