"No need to be so polite with me. This place is also my homeland," Lü Dandan said, her icy, beautiful eyes fixed on Ye Yunfei. Her voice remained chillingly aloof, yet it carried a trace more emotion now.
"And I haven't changed from before," Lü Dandan added.
"That's wonderful to hear!" Ye Yunfei couldn't help but be overjoyed at her words. He certainly understood their implication—at the very least, it meant she was starting to acknowledge her old friends again.
The Young Miss Lü of the past was gradually returning!
"Miss Lü, you're acting so much more normal now! This is the Miss Lü I remember! Before, I was too afraid to even greet you; you were always so icy and scary. But don't worry, Sister Qing Luo also went through a period like that, and later she was perfectly fine," Hu Miao walked over to Lü Dandan's side, took her hand, and said happily, patting her own chest.
"No, my situation is different from Sister Qing Luo's," Lü Dandan fell silent for a moment after hearing Hu Miao's words, her face showing a pained and struggling expression. After a pause, she let out a soft sigh and spoke in a low voice, "You haven't experienced that feeling of sinking into boundless darkness. You wouldn't understand me."
"Miss Lü, I won't ask any more. Everything is fine now, let's not dwell on it," Hu Miao, sensing Lü Dandan's slightly trembling delicate form, could empathize with the inner torment she felt and carefully advised.
Hearing Lü Dandan's words, Ye Yunfei also felt a pang of heartache. It wasn't hard to see from her expression that she must have gone through a tremendously painful and difficult period back then.
Lü Dandan had been captured within the Corpse World of the Primal Chaos Continent by a Corpse World elder, who tried to refine her into a corpse. Poisoned by Corpse Toxin, she was almost turned into a zombie. By a twist of fate, she became the legendary Dark Queen. In the beginning, her consciousness was certainly eroded, becoming frenzied and unclear, her temperament undergoing a drastic change. Such a transformation must have been incredibly difficult for the previously noble, gracious, and even somewhat proud Lü Dandan to accept.
Fortunately, it seemed she had finally started to overcome it and was returning to her former self as Miss Lü.
"It's fine even if you do ask. I've passed through those years," Lü Dandan spoke, her voice still as frosty and indifferent as ever, yet her attitude toward Ye Yunfei and the others had clearly undergone a significant change.
"Right, what about my father? How is he now?" Lü Dandan suddenly asked Ye Yunfei.
"He's doing fine. I've settled him in a very safe place," Ye Yunfei replied. "Would you like to see him? If you do, I can arrange it."
"Not yet, in a while perhaps. I will go see him then," Lü Dandan felt considerably relieved hearing Ye Yunfei's words.
"I'll return to the Dark Realm now. There are matters awaiting my attention there," Lü Dandan continued. Then, she transformed into a black phoenix and instantly shot out of Canghuang Realm.
After Lü Dandan left, Ye Yunfei's gaze turned to Dugu Huan, who had been standing silently to the side all this while. While Ye Yunfei was speaking to the others, Dugu Huan remained quiet on the sidelines, which was his usual demeanor.
"Where have you been all these years?" Ye Yunfei asked.
"I went out to train and gain experience on my own," Dugu Huan answered. "I stumbled into a mysterious secret realm by accident. Within that realm, I obtained a sophisticated saber path legacy, and then I dedicated myself to rigorous saber cultivation inside, only emerging recently. After that, I discovered the massive upheaval that had taken place in the Three Thousand Major and Minor Worlds."
"I see," Ye Yunfei said with sudden understanding. "All these years you've been hiding away cultivating. No wonder the people I sent to search for you within the bounds of the Three Thousand Worlds never found any trace of you."
Ye Yunfei had indeed dispatched people before to look for Dugu Huan but never found any sign of him. It turned out he was primarily concealed within a mysterious secret realm cultivating.
"Your saber arts have advanced significantly compared to before. Although you're still at the Earth Immortal realm, your actual combat power already surpasses quite a few Golden Immortal experts," Ye Yunfei, recalling the saber techniques Dugu Huan displayed earlier, couldn't help but praise.
"Master, what will we do next?" Hu Miao asked Ye Yunfei from the side.
"First, we clean up Canghuang Realm. After that, we head to the Main World," Ye Yunfei replied after a moment's thought.
"Master, do you intend to go to Samsara Realm to find Sister Qing Luo?" Hu Miao immediately understood Ye Yunfei's meaning.
"That's right. I am going to find Qing Luo," Ye Yunfei nodded. Back when the Dark Faction's army attacked the headquarters of Reincarnation Palace, Su Qingluo had been severely injured during the resistance before disappearing. Her whereabouts remained unknown, and Ye Yunfei was naturally extremely anxious.
"First, let's help restore this world a bit," Ye Yunfei said, his gaze sweeping over the now ravaged and riddled Canghuang Realm, his heart tinged with sorrow.
Then, Ye Yunfei teleported all the members of the Guardian Faction within the Phantom Tower out.
Alongside the Guardian Faction members were personnel from other allied forces. For instance, the Beast Realm's troops and the troops from the major forces allied with the Beast Lord back when, all of whom had followed Ye Yunfei back here.
However, due to the overwhelming strength of the enemies Ye Yunfei faced in the recent battle, he didn't let these allied forces' members come out to assist. Their assistance would have been negligible; instead, they would have become liabilities.
Now, Ye Yunfei teleported all these people out from the Phantom Tower and briefly explained the general situation to them.
"What? Young Master Ye, you're saying you severely wounded the Dark Ancestor and chased him off?" the Beast Lord found it hard to believe.
"Yes, the Dark Ancestor has been gravely wounded by me," Ye Yunfei nodded. "From now on, the Dark Ancestor is no longer a threat to this spacetime of ours."
To Ye Yunfei's current strength, a mere Dark Ancestor was no longer worth mentioning—unless other, far more powerful experts from the Dark Faction arrived.
"Young Master Ye, you actually defeated the Dark Ancestor!" The Beast Lord's expression became one of utter shock upon hearing Ye Yunfei's words. He knew that given Ye Yunfei's character, he wouldn't lie to him.
The members of the various major forces who had just been teleported out from the Phantom Tower were equally astounded and somewhat unwilling to believe their ears. After all, the Dark Ancestor had dominated and suppressed the Three Thousand Major and Minor Worlds for an incredibly long time. In the eyes of most creatures across those worlds, he was loftier and insurmountable. And now, he had been defeated.
For them, this news was truly staggering!
"Young Master Ye, from now on, you are destined to be the greatest figure in our spacetime!" the Beast Lord praised, looking at Ye Yunfei.
The other high-level figures from the various forces all looked at Ye Yunfei with fearful, respectful gazes.
Everyone understood: being able to severely wound the Dark Ancestor meant Ye Yunfei's current strength had surpassed the Dark Ancestor, making him the most formidable existence in their spacetime.
"Senior, your praise is excessive. The sky beyond the sky is higher, others are mightier than we. I would never dare claim to be the greatest," Ye Yunfei hurriedly replied. "Moreover, as far as I know, there are quite a few cultivators within this spacetime who are stronger than I am. Just among those I know, there are at least two."
This was a fact Ye Yunfei was stating. Mister Liu was definitely stronger than him, and that aunt of Long Yingying's was likely stronger than him as well. How then could Ye Yunfei possibly dare claim to be the number one of this spacetime?