Badass Celestial Emperor Returns!

(41) Brother

"Oi! Wait for me!" a young boy's voice almost whispered to Zi Yingjun. He continued walking onwards an unfamiliar cobbled path. There were many tall people around him. Most of them chatting and smiling but when he saw them look back to him, horror filled their eyes. Zi Yingjun can't understand what made them feel immense fear just seeing him. Suddenly, a hand grabbed his shoulder and made him stop. "Yingjun! Why are you always ignoring me?!"

Zi Yingjun took a pause to have a good look at the young boy. He was a bit surprised the young boy have the same height as him though that boy seemed to be eight or nine years of age. Moreover, his face looked a bit femininely familiar with a pair of stubborn gold pupils that were glaring on him. Zi Yingjun took a quick blink and stopped his steps to face the young boy.

"Yingjun, come on! Don't be mad!" the young boy stomped his foot as Zi Yingjun raised a brow. Since when was he mad? And whose kid is this?

"You're causing a scene here." Zi Yingjun turned his head to the side. The civilians around them are watching their argument. This boy is too noisy and he hates noisy people.

"But Yingjun, I didn't mean to trouble you. If you're angry then fine! I just thought you were bored at home so I brought you out with me." he lowered his head with a look of guilt. "Do you...still hate me, Brother?"

A gust of wind made its way through the two. Zi Yingjun's eyes widened a bit but he quickly regained his senses. Brother? Who is this brat calling brother? He instinctively raised his hand to see it was of a child with bruises and his knuckles are red with blood.

"Yingjun? Are you alright?" the young boy touched Zi Yingjun's hand. He quickly took a step back and pushed the boy's hand away from him.

Since when did he have a brother? Who is he anyway? He is sure he never met this brat nor in his past life! Zi Yingjun took a good look around him. The people here looked like normal civilians, as if not bound by clans. They aren't familiar to him either. Just where is he?

"Hm?" Zi Yingjun just blinked and the place changed. He found himself in his dantian while the thread of yang Sui Shen left is still flowing close in front of him. How did he get here?

His gaze settled on the yang energy. Surprisingly, he found the young boy and his little self walking together on the same cobbled street. Zi Yingjun narrowed his eyes since the apparition started to become obscure. The last scene he saw is that a woman with long dark hair embraced the two boys like a worried mother.

"Hehe. I never knew you have a sibling, boy." Sovereign Hei smirked behind Zi Yingjun. He had witnessed everything from the start. However, Sovereign Hei can tell Zi Yingjun is confused.

"I don't have a brother. Nor do my mother wear commoner clothes." he averted his gaze from the thread of yang. Zi Yingjun's fetish on wearing purple clothes originated from Zi Xian's trait. Not once did Zi Xian ever wore clothes as plain as that. She loves purple the most, the same way as Zi Yingjun. That is why he is sure the woman who had embraced his young self is not Zi Xian.

"Oh. Boy, look over there." Sovereign Hei pointed to south direction. An apparition is playing about in the middle part. Both of them headed towards that area to see themselves overlooking the same apparition on the yang energy.

"This is the present." Zi Yingjun touched the yang energy the same time as the image did. It stung his hand and he quickly made a distance with it. His head turned north once more. "That means, that's the future. So, what I just saw a while ago is the future?"

"Interesting. I think you tried to be reborn using the Time Lotus Essence but it failed and brought you in a new reincarnation of yourself. It can only mean..." the hollowed eyes of Sovereign Hei became slim like a phoenix's.

"It can only mean I failed to kill the child of fate." he finished Sovereign Hei's sentence. Zi Yingjun frowned. There is something amiss here. It's impossible that Sui Shen would let him enter his reincarnation's body. Time Lotus Essence can only bring a consciousness to the past, not in the future. "Sovereign Hei, you're wrong. There is no such thing as reincarnation. Reborn is true but reincarnation is not. Souls only have one lifetime and I believe that the boy we saw earlier is not a reincarnation of mine."

Sovereign Hei went silent. He suddenly remembered a recollection where he was just a new intelligent demon beast. It has been so long when his master died. For a hundred thousand years or more, it was only this year did he found another master. He had searched everywhere around this world but he failed to find that person again.

"You have some point." Sovereign Hei nodded with his sly smile. "Then it only means that boy that looked a lot like you is someone related to you. We can just ask the Little Critter for more information once she comes back. She'll eventually show up the year after next. As far as I know of the River of Time, it's a realm of Time Dao existence. And Sui Shen will atone for her sin of not keeping her book in a good shape."

"Should I be worried then?" Zi Yingjun raised a brow. Sovereign Hei is someone far evil than him. How come he seemed concerned of Sui Shen? It doesn't even bother Zi Yingjun nor does he care.

"What a sharp tongue you have, aha~!" he placed his hand on Zi Yingjun's head while laughing. Sovereign Hei rested his arm on Zi Yingjun's shoulder while grinning haughtily. "You see, I may be older and a monster inside out but I know when to cooperate or not. Boy, don't be completely heartless. Little Critter will be unhappy if you wont even worry for her."

"To be frank, Im not worried." Zi Yingjun shook his shoulder to keep Sovereign Hei off him. He closed his eyes in preparation to leave his dantian. "Because I trust her that she wont put herself in danger. Unlike us, she should be the one worried since we are both seeking death anytime, anywhere."