Chapter 96: The Secrets We Share

Where are we going? Gu Yuan didn’t have to wonder for long. Halfway there, he already had an idea about the destination. It surprised him a little, but he said nothing and simply followed Ji Yue.

Before long, she stopped at a village.

Willow Village.

"What are we doing here?" he asked, trying to keep his tone calm.

"To visit your parents," Ji Yue replied evenly.

"But they’re..."

Gu Yuan stopped midway through his sentence, and Ji Yue finished it for him.

"I know they’re dead. Even so, we can still visit their graves and pay our respects."

Gu Yuan fell silent. Ji Yan, standing beside him, said nothing either. There was little to say in a moment like this.

The three of them made their way to the graves of his parents.

Gu Yuan stood still, his expression complicated, while Ji Yue began clearing away the grass that had grown around the mounds since his last visit. She worked meticulously, removing every stray blade until the graves were clean again.

When she finished, she lit three sticks of incense and bowed, with Ji Yan beside her.

If his mortal parents could see this, what would they think? Two Immortal Empresses, not merely powerful cultivators but genuine empresses who had once stood at the pinnacle of the immortal world, were bowing before them.

Would they feel proud? Happy?

Or would they be even happier knowing their son had taken these two extraordinary women as his wives?

Gu Yuan wondered as he watched the twins.

Once they had finished paying their respects, he stepped forward and bowed as well.

Father. Mother.

Look at these two gorgeous women.

They’re my wives.

He couldn’t exactly brag about it aloud, so he did it in his mind instead.

The last time he had been here, he had left the village with a heavy heart. Perhaps this time would be different. Perhaps this time he would leave with a smile. The thought passed through him as his gaze shifted from the graves to the twins standing nearby.

"Thank you for bringing me here," he said sincerely.

"We should have come sooner," Ji Yue replied with a small smile.

"Sorry for not asking before," Ji Yan added.

Gu Yuan shook his head. "It’s fine."

They didn’t stay in Willow Village much longer. There was no one else he particularly wanted to see, so the three of them soon set off for the sect, the place that had become their home.

Along the way, Gu Yuan found himself reevaluating the twins yet again. No, not the twins. His twins.

His opinion of them had changed repeatedly since the first moment he had laid eyes on them. First, they were beautiful women. Then they became troublesome women, followed by generous women. Somewhere along the way, all those impressions had settled into something more simple.

They were his women.

He had once claimed that the twins were incapable of consideration, but it seemed he had been wrong about that, too.

Whatever else they might be, the twins had become two women he could never get away from.

Not because he was unable to... but because he didn’t want to.

"Actually," Gu Yuan said, drawing their attention, "I also reincarnated."

The twins stopped midair at his sudden confession. Seeing their surprised expressions, Gu Yuan couldn’t help feeling a little pleased. He added, "I wasn’t a cultivator in my previous life, though, let alone some Immortal Emperor like you two. I was just a mortal who died in his thirties."

He had wanted to share a secret with them. He still wasn’t ready to talk about the Orb of Creation, but telling them about his previous life was fine.

Ji Yue hummed thoughtfully, then moved closer to him. "Can I inspect your soul?"

Gu Yuan nodded, and she reached out and placed her hand on his forehead, closing her eyes and extending her spiritual sense into him.

The space of his soul, with its golden mountain and his Spiritual Core, became visible to Ji Yue.

She examined it carefully, then withdrew her senses.

"Your soul doesn’t show the signs of someone who has reincarnated," she concluded.

"What do you mean?" Gu Yuan asked.

"Exactly as I said. Your soul is larger and sturdier than those of cultivators at the same realm, but that in itself is not especially rare. There are plenty of people with extraordinary souls."

Ji Yue paused before continuing, "The issue is that reincarnation involves many steps. For a mortal soul alone, it is essentially impossible."

She looked at him thoughtfully. "If you somehow really did reincarnate, there should be some trace of that left on your soul. But it’s a blank slate. I can’t sense anything."

Is this because of the Orb of Creation? Gu Yuan wondered, keeping his thoughts to himself.

"Anyway, it’s not as if Gu Yuan suddenly became someone else," Ji Yan remarked. "It’s fine. Why are you overcomplicating it?"

"You’re right." Ji Yue nodded, apparently deciding not to dwell on the matter any further.

"Still, can you tell us about your previous life?" she asked, looking earnestly into his eyes.

"Sure. Back on Earth..."

Gu Yuan began telling them about his life on Earth, a world of technology without a trace of Spirit Qi, and what his life had been like there.

By the time the three returned to their house in the Black Desolation Sect, he still hadn’t finished his story. Ji Yue listened attentively throughout, never once showing signs of losing interest. Even Ji Yan, who had pretended not to care, listened closely.

When he finally finished his summarized account of his past life, it was Ji Yan who commented first. "So you’ve been married before!"

"It was a failed relationship," he said awkwardly. If a marriage in which the wife abandoned her husband the moment his incurable disease came to light, leaving him to die alone, could even be called a relationship.

"I always thought you were strangely experienced when we interacted. So that’s why!" Ji Yan seemed to have finally found out why she kept losing when they made love.

She looked angry, but it was manageable. The problem was Ji Yue.

At some point, a thin layer of frost had begun to form around her.

"Ah, sorry. I didn’t notice," she said with her usual smile, restraining her power.

"It’s fine. Even if you had a relationship in your previous life, you belong to us sisters now. After all..."

Her smile remained gentle, and her words should have been reassuring.

So why did Gu Yuan feel as though he’d just dug his own grave?