Chapter Fifty-Five: Returning Home

“Grandpa Lan!” Qin Si called out as he dashed into the backyard. Jiang Lan was deeply absorbed in contemplation, his eyes fixed on the chessboard before him. Yi Feng, on the other hand, sat calmly beside him, a faint smile gracing his lips.

When it came to battle, Yi Feng was certainly no match for Jiang Lan. But in chess, Jiang Lan could not compete with this former rival in love.

“Grandpa Lan, I’m back!” With a loud shout, Qin Si was already in front of the two elders, grinning as he gazed at the chessboard.

“Well, I admit defeat,” Jiang Lan sighed. He had hardly ever won a game against Yi Feng.

“Si, why are you back so soon? Did you find Xiao Shuang?” Although Jiang Lan was not particularly fond of Qin Shuang, that did not mean he disliked him.

“I did find him, but we still have some matters to attend to. I came back to the Divine Realm this time to borrow something from you,” Qin Si blinked, wrapping both arms around Jiang Lan’s arm and wheedling coquettishly.

Yi Feng chuckled from the side, “Jiang Lan, looks like you’re about to bleed again.” Though Qin Si was only a High God, he already possessed two top-tier Hongmeng treasures and had little interest in ordinary things. Anything that could make him wheedle like this was certainly no trifle.

Jiang Lan merely smiled. “Si, whatever you want, Grandpa Lan will give it to you.” Jiang Lan doted on Qin Yu’s eldest son, indulging him endlessly.

Since childhood, Qin Si had instilled in his elders a habit: whatever he wanted, he would find a way to obtain it.

“Grandpa Lan!” Qin Si shook Jiang Lan’s arm. “You stay in Zixuan Manor all day and rarely go out. Even if you did, given your cultivation and the status of Misty City, there are few who could challenge you. I think, the Jiang Lan Realm is hardly of any use to you now.”

After a round of flattery, Qin Si finally made his request for the Jiang Lan Realm. Yet, as he said, ever since Jiang Lan had mastered the art of stopping time, even the Asura God King and the Blood Sea Queen, who had also mastered the same law, would find it hard to threaten him. In terms of manipulating the laws, Jiang Lan was arguably unrivaled among the God Kings.

“So, after all that, you want my Jiang Lan Realm.” Jiang Lan smiled, and with a mere thought, the small green pagoda that had accompanied Qin Yu through his journey appeared in his hand.

“Here, take it. If you like it, you need not return it.” Jiang Lan handed the green pagoda to Qin Si.

So…easy! Qin Si had not expected Grandpa Lan to give him the Jiang Lan Realm without a single question.

Yi Feng’s eyes widened in surprise. “Jiang Lan, are you sure? Your Jiang Lan Realm is only slightly inferior to my Ten Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains, yet you’re giving it away so easily?”

The Ten Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains was the only top-tier spatial Hongmeng treasure, and Jiang Lan Realm was only a hair’s breadth less powerful.

“With Misty City’s power now consolidated in the Divine Realm, I doubt anyone would dare trouble us. Keeping the Jiang Lan Realm is a waste, so if Si has use for it, I’ll give it to him.” Jiang Lan was never one to be stingy, even with his own masterpieces. Otherwise, he would not have given the Jiang Lan Realm to Qin Yu so readily in the past.

“Thank you, Grandpa Lan! I’ll be sure to repay your kindness in the future!” As soon as the words left his mouth, Qin Si vanished. Not because he feared Jiang Lan would regret his decision, but because there was someone else he needed to inform.

In the backyard, Jiang Lan and Yi Feng could only shake their heads helplessly. If Qin Si wandered the Divine Realm, he would surely be a little devil in their midst.

“Uncle Yeju.” Arriving at Yeju’s residence, Qin Si knocked gently. Though his cultivation far surpassed Yeju’s, Yeju was once Qin Yu’s peer, and Qin Si knew to be respectful toward his elders.

“It’s you, Si. Come in,” Yeju’s deep voice rang out.

Qin Si entered to see Yeju bare-chested, tossing two mountain-shaped objects from hand to hand. This pair of miniature mountains were top-grade Heavenly Divine weapons that Qin Yu had specially crafted for Yeju, perfectly suited for the Tyrannosaurus cultivation method.

“Uncle Yeju, it’s been a while since I saw you practice,” Qin Si said with a grin. Yeju’s training methods were truly one of a kind.

Stowing away the two mountains, Yeju smiled. “It’s been a long time since I exercised. This peaceful place lacks the strife we dinosaurs crave.”

The dinosaur clan was born for battle. Even Yeju, whose mindset had evolved greatly, remained passionate about fighting.

“Heh, Uncle Yeju, I’ll get you a super Kuya warrior someday, so you’ll have someone to spar with every day.” Qin Si chuckled slyly.

Yeju’s pupils contracted sharply, and he exclaimed in shock, “How do you know about the super Kuya warriors?”

“Not only do I know, I even know some Kuya people,” Qin Si replied smugly.

“Impossible!” Yeju shook his head decisively. “The Kuya people were completely wiped out by the dinosaurs. Even those below the Celestial Immortal level were cast into spatial rifts. There can’t be any Kuya left in the universe.”

“Uncle Yeju, you’ve now reached the divine realm—you should know that entering a spatial rift doesn't always mean annihilation. Sometimes, it just means being sent somewhere else.”

“Well…that may be, but those Kuya were so weak; how could they have survived in a spatial rift? I still find it hard to believe.”

“Believe it or not, Uncle Yeju, Xiao Shuang and I really did find some Kuya people. And Xiao Shuang agreed…” Qin Si paused deliberately, then continued, “He agreed to send them home—to the Dinosaur Realm.”

Qin Si watched Yeju’s reaction closely.

“Hah, you rascal,” Yeju laughed, feigning a scold. “The Dinosaur Realm has little to do with me now. Tyrannosaurs are a warlike race. Bringing the Kuya back may not be a bad thing.”

Yeju’s perspective had broadened immensely; he was no longer the same dinosaur who once fought for supremacy in the Dinosaur Realm.

“That’s good, that’s good,” Qin Si said repeatedly. “But Uncle Yeju, you needn’t worry about your kin. These Kuya are pathetically weak—the strongest isn’t even a Celestial Immortal. For them to reach the level of super Kuya will probably take tens of millions of years.”

“That no longer concerns me. I’m more interested in when I’ll reach the Heavenly God stage,” Yeju mused, recalling what Hei Tong had said about Guo Fan, a longing in his eyes.

“Heh, then you’d better get back to training. I won’t disturb you any longer.” With that, Qin Si took his leave.

In barely half a day, the Jiang Lan Realm had changed hands, and Yeju had been briefed. Qin Si’s efficiency this time was extraordinary.

********************************

On Suyu Star, Qin Shuang was also busy without pause. It took him a whole day to gather all sixty thousand Kuya people together, awaiting Qin Si’s arrival.

What surprised Qin Shuang was that just as he had assembled everyone, Qin Si returned from the Divine Realm with the Jiang Lan Realm in hand.

“Big brother, did everything go smoothly?” Qin Shuang hurried to ask as soon as Qin Si appeared.

“Smoothly? It couldn’t have gone smoother.” With the Jiang Lan Realm in hand and Yeju informed of the Kuya migration, Qin Si could hardly believe how easily everything had gone.

Qin Shuang was stunned by the expression—“couldn’t have gone smoother”—what a strange turn of phrase.

On the vast open ground, nearly sixty thousand Kuya people fixed burning gazes on Qin Si and Qin Shuang—the two seniors who would lead them home—hearts brimming with gratitude.

“All right, I’ll place you all within a spatial treasure. Only there can you safely traverse space back to your home—the Dinosaur Realm.” Floating in the air, Qin Si spoke softly, yet his voice carried clearly to every ear.

“Please, do not resist,” Qin Si added, and with a wave of his hand, all sixty thousand Kuya were swept into the Jiang Lan Realm.

Confronted with this wholly new world, the Kuya people were at a loss. They found themselves in the third layer of the Jiang Lan Realm, where the spiritual energy was a thousand times richer than outside.

“You may use the ancestral secret methods to cultivate here. Do not worry about the passage of time,” Qin Si announced. Suddenly, a vast golden scroll unfurled across the sky in the third layer, inscribed with the Kuya people’s cultivation techniques.

The Kuya erupted in excitement. With spiritual energy so thick, and the complete arts of their ancestors, such fortune was beyond their wildest dreams.

Once the excitement faded, everyone sat down to cultivate according to the secret scroll. None of them realized that time in this realm flowed at a thousandth the rate of the outside world. In such an environment, not a single moment could be wasted.

The Dinosaur Realm, spatially akin to the Immortal, Demon, and Monster Realms, was most famous for its dinosaurs. The dinosaur population vastly outnumbered humans and dwarfed all other monster races.

Across the Dinosaur Realm, the dinosaur clans held sway over ninety percent of the territory; only a tenth belonged to humans, and that tenth was the harshest environment of all.

Other monster beasts had no land of their own, forced to eke out a living between these two great races. These ordinary monsters held the lowest status among the realm’s intelligent beings.

(To be continued)