Chapter 3422 — Sisters Reunited

"Hello? Benjamin the Second—you're looking for me?" Miss Lan asked mildly.

"It's like this, Madam Lan. That Song Lingwei has gone back to Huaxia. I want Qiu Shanlong to make a move—send his people to kill her and bring her corpse back for research."

"Oh? She's gone back, has she?" Miss Lan mused for a moment, then said, "Very well, arrange it as you see fit. Though a living specimen is more valuable—if it can be managed, bringing her back alive would be better for the research. If she dies and the genes mutate, that would be a nuisance."

In the presence of Ancestor Xuanchen she did not wish to say too much and expose the Center's reserves and strength, so she spoke only vaguely; but this also signified her tacit approval of the matter.

"Madam Lan thinks of everything. I understand," said Dr. Benjamin II.

"Mm. Have Qiu Shanlong arrange it. Your energies should stay on the research. In a few days I'll have the newly produced first- and second-grade automatic cauldrons of medicine sent over—replicate them as quickly as you can!" Miss Lan instructed.

"No problem, Madam Lan, rest assured!" Dr. Benjamin II agreed, hung up, and straightaway passed the news to Qiu Shanlong, telling him to send people to carry it out.

To ensure the affair went off smoothly, Qiu Shanlong was cautious this time. He dispatched four skilled hands, all at the great consummation of the late Heaven Rank. These four had never appeared on the stage of the ancient era, and no one knew their identities.

They were the Center's reserves. This Center might seem quiet and unassuming now, but in truth it already commanded no small strength.

To kill Song Lingwei, three great-consummation experts ought to have been enough—even with Song Xianghua, himself a great consummation, three against two would be more than sufficient. But to take Song Lingwei alive would be rather more difficult.

Four were sent, mainly for deterrence. After all, Song Lingwei was a living, breathing person—and a great-consummation expert at the peak of the late Heaven Rank. To drag such a person back by force would be harder than hard; if anything went amiss along the way and Song Lingwei escaped, she would be gone for good.

So, following Qiu Shanlong's orders, they planned to threaten Song Lingwei with her family and then compel her to return with them. Since she had gone back to the Song family, it was clear she held deep feelings for it; and for the sake of keeping the Song family from harm, her only choice would be to submit meekly.

The four slipped quietly into Huaxia. Being cultivators, they took no rest but headed straight for the Song household...

Today Qiu Lingshan had returned to the Song family, and the house was all festivity, hung with lanterns and colored silk.

Qiu Lingshan and Song Lingwei had a younger brother, though he was still at school and not very strong. The Song family was waiting for him to grow up before he could take over in due course—after all, Qiu Lingshan and Song Lingwei alike were girls, and girls would surely marry out in time, and then they would no longer be of the Song family.

"Lingrui, you're back?" Qiu Lingshan had no sooner come home than she saw her sister, returned from abroad, and was at once overjoyed.

"Mm. This time it isn't only me—Second Grandfather has come back too!" Song Lingwei embraced Qiu Lingshan. The sisters had not seen each other for so long, and their bond had been close since childhood; reunited after a long parting, both were stirred.

"Second Grandfather?" Qiu Lingshan was slightly taken aback. "What second grandfather... ah! You don't mean Grandfather's younger brother—that Second Grandfather Song Xianghua who once left the Song family?"

"Yes, him!" Song Lingwei nodded with a smile. "Second Grandfather is inside talking with Grandfather. Shall we two sisters have a little whisper of our own? Did you bring my brother-in-law back with you?"

"Ah? I..." Qiu Lingshan was instantly flustered. "He's... very busy. I didn't bring him. Next time, all right?"

"That won't do! Didn't we agree? My brother-in-law has to get past me first—otherwise I won't acknowledge him as my brother-in-law!" Song Lingwei said. "Sister, you haven't forgotten our old pact, have you?"

"He's very formidable. I'm afraid you'd be no match for him," Qiu Lingshan said.

"Me? No match?" Song Lingwei was briefly startled, then remembered that Qiu Lingshan still did not know she was a great-consummation expert at the peak of the late Heaven Rank. She had only asked Qiu Lingshan to bring her brother-in-law back; she had never spoken of her own strength.

So she could not help but smile. Without explanation, she gave a light flick of her fist at a broken stone in the courtyard. There came a great crash, and the stone shattered into pieces—and her strength stood revealed: external-school expert at the great consummation of the late Heaven Rank at its peak!

Qiu Lingshan could scarcely believe her eyes, staring dumbly at her sister in utter disbelief. An external-school expert at the great consummation of the late Heaven Rank at its peak was rare indeed throughout the whole cultivation world—and her own sister was one?

In recent years, though Qiu Lingshan had not seen her sister, they had kept in touch by phone, on and off. This sister, whom she had thought merely joined a mercenary organization, actually possessed such formidable strength?

Qiu Lingshan felt suddenly embarrassed. Wei Zhao was formidable, yes, but before her sister—a true, solid external-school expert at the great consummation of the late Heaven Rank at its peak—he could hardly surpass her; and she herself had just said her sister was no match for him, which was truly mortifying.

"You... Xiao Rui, what have you been through all these years? How could your strength advance so swiftly?" Had Qiu Lingshan not felt Song Lingwei's power with her own body, she would never have believed it real. Even if Song Lingwei had told her over the phone before, she would certainly have taken it for a joke.

"Hehe, my brother-in-law is even stronger than me? Then I really must see him for myself!" Song Lingwei said with a grin, without answering Qiu Lingshan's question—she did not want her sister to change the subject.

"Xiao Rui, stop this. With strength like yours, testing someone is just bullying them," Qiu Lingshan said with a frown.

"Well, he can't be too weak either, can he? No—we agreed on it, and I insist on seeing my brother-in-law!" Song Lingwei said, refusing to let it go.

"There'll be a chance, I suppose..." Qiu Lingshan said rather helplessly. "For now, can you tell me what you've been doing all these years?"

"All right, I'll let my brother-in-law off for now..." Song Lingwei nodded with a smile and began to recount her experiences over the years. Now that she was back with the Song family, there was no need to keep these things hidden.

Song Lingwei told it all in detail, from the time she entered the mercenary organization and took part in the devil's trial—especially that time in the devil's trial when she obtained the inheritance, only to be surrounded and attacked. Had the people of the Overseas Cultivators' Association not helped her escape, she would likely have died there before she could even digest the power of the inheritance.RS