Lu Li stood in a dimly lit alley. The walls on either side looked fairly aged and were covered in strange characters he couldn’t understand.
All around him were odd, towering, densely packed buildings with many small square windows, only a few of which were lit.
This was a scene from Ye Ran’s memory, and everything felt utterly foreign to Lu Li.
But after glancing around, he curled his lips into a cold smirk.
How interesting. Another person from another world.
“Found it!”
A young, surprised voice suddenly broke the quiet night.
It was followed by two barks from a dog, which sounded cheerful, as if echoing the child’s voice.
Lu Li turned toward the sound, a glint of excitement in his eyes.
“I found it too.”
His voice was very soft, like a low murmur, but in the darkness, it sounded eerily unsettling.
He walked step by step toward the alley’s entrance and finally stopped at the opening.
Under a streetlamp across the road, a small figure stood beside a trash bin, holding an unopened bag of small bread rolls. A scruffy little dog happily circled around her.
Under the orange glow of the streetlamp, the scene looked remarkably warm.
Lu Li stood at the alley’s entrance, rubbing his fingers together as he quietly watched the little girl’s every move.
But when she turned around, he suddenly clenched his fingers, staring at her face in a daze. His feet moved uncontrollably toward her.
Ye Ran used her small hands to pat the dust off the packaging, then gently touched the impatient dog in front of her.
“Come on, Little Yellow, let’s go over there to eat.”
Ye Ran led the dog to a flower bed and sat down. Clumsily, she tore open the package, split the bread roll in half, and handed one piece to the dog beside her.
Just as she was about to eat the remaining half, a shadow fell over her small frame.
Ye Ran looked up and saw a silver-haired person in strange clothing standing in front of her.
His gaze was odd—she couldn’t quite understand it.
After staring at each other for a long while, Ye Ran swallowed hard and reluctantly broke her remaining half into two pieces. After a moment of hesitation, she cautiously handed over the smaller piece.
“This is all I can share with you.”
As soon as she finished speaking, her stomach growled loudly, the sound especially clear in the silent night.
Ye Ran licked her lips apologetically.
She hadn’t eaten in nearly a day and was starving.
Only after Lu Li took the small piece of bread did she quickly stuff the rest into her mouth, afraid he’d ask for more.
But the next moment, a soft laugh came from above her head. Ye Ran looked up in confusion to see a slender hand handing her piece of bread back.
Her bright, watery eyes immediately lit up. She quickly took the bread and nibbled at it.
But the hand that had returned the bread didn’t pull away. Instead, it gently ruffled her hair a few times.
“So it’s you, little one. We’ve finally met again.”
Lu Li’s tone carried a hint of pleasure—not his usual feigned warmth, but genuine joy that came from within.
Ye Ran stopped eating and looked at him curiously.
“Big brother, do you know me?”
She tilted her head and thought hard, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t remember ever meeting such a strange person.
She looked at Lu Li with questioning eyes, hoping he would clear things up.
But Lu Li didn’t seem inclined to answer. Instead, he asked her another question.
“Why are you here?”
Her little face instantly fell at the question, and her eyes dimmed.
“My little brother caught a cold. Mom said I didn’t take good care of him and locked me outside to think about it. I waited for a long time, but Mom never opened the door. I was too hungry, so I came looking for food.”
As she said this, the bread in her hand didn’t seem so tasty anymore.
The little dog beside her sensed her low mood and quickly came over to nuzzle her arm and lick her cheek.
Her sadness melted away in an instant, and her eyes brightened again.
“But I got really lucky. I met Little Yellow on the way. He’s amazing—he helped me find this bread.”
Looking at Ye Ran’s sparkling eyes, Lu Li was a little surprised.
At just five or six years old, in this world completely devoid of spiritual energy, kicked out of her own home by her biological parents—she didn’t resent them at all. Instead, she thought she was lucky.
She Brings Him Another Unexpected Surprise.
Lu Li realized he was growing more and more interested in Ye Ran.
However, her answer wasn’t what he was looking for. He had been trying to ask why Ye Ran had suddenly reappeared by his side after growing up.
Moreover, this time she wasn’t in a spiritual form but had arrived in the cultivation world as a physical entity.
But clearly, Ye Ran was now completely immersed in her memories and couldn’t give him the answer he wanted.
That was fine. He could continue searching through Ye Ran’s memories.
Lu Li opened his palm, and a butterfly glowing with white light appeared in his hand.
As the butterfly slowly rose, specks of light trailed from its wingtips. Everything around began to warp, and after a flash of white light, the distorted space returned to normal.
This time, Lu Li still stood in front of the same alley, and the small figure remained by the flower bed. But the streetlamp beside her had gone out.
Lu Li furrowed his brows and raised his hand again, ready to continue the search. But the butterfly in his palm had grown dim.
The Dream-Leading Butterfly couldn’t search her memories.
Lu Li could sense that something was stopping him, though the feeling wasn’t clear enough for him to be certain.
He looked over at Ye Ran, who was sitting on the edge of the flower bed propping up her head. In the end, he put away the butterfly.
Oh well. Since I can’t see anything, I’ll stop here.
He had learned her identity and the origin of the fragrance on her. That was enough.
Lu Li crossed the street and returned to stand in front of Ye Ran.
He stood there for a long time before Ye Ran finally looked up.
When she saw that it was Lu Li, her eyes immediately lit up.
“Big brother! You’re back! Little Yellow left earlier, and I thought I was alone again.”
Her childish voice grew noticeably gloomier by the end of her sentence.
But soon, her gaze toward Lu Li turned eager again.
“Big brother, could you stay with me a little longer?”
“Alright.”
Her eager gaze made it impossible for him to refuse. He abandoned the idea of ending the dream immediately.
“Thank you, big brother!”
Ye Ran’s gloom vanished, and she gave Lu Li a radiant smile.
Just then, another bark came from nearby. Ye Ran turned to see a small dog running toward her with a biscuit in its mouth.
“Little Yellow!”
Ye Ran grew even happier.
But before she could stand up, several middle-aged men carrying sticks chased after the dog.
Their faces were flushed with alcohol, and a strong smell of liquor clung to them. Clearly, they were all drunk.
“You little mutt! How dare you run?! I’ll beat you to death!”
One of the men caught up to the dog and swung his stick down hard.
The dog wasn’t hit, but it yelped in terror and scrambled away in a panic.
The men burst into laughter, then pressed forward, cornering the dog against a wall.
Finding no escape, the dog dropped the biscuit from its mouth and bared its teeth at them.
This enraged the men. The one in the lead struck the dog with his stick.
“You little beast! Growling at me? I’ll beat you to death today and turn you into a drinking snack!”
The dog was knocked to the ground, unable to stand, and let out a pained yelp. But the man wasn’t satisfied. He kicked the dog hard.
The dog’s head slammed against the wall, blood immediately seeping from the wound.
Seeing that they were about to hurt the dog further, Ye Ran ran straight toward them.
“Don’t hurt Little Yellow!”
The men stopped and turned around. When they saw it was just a little girl, their expressions turned dismissive.
One of them pointed his stick at Ye Ran.
“Where’d you come from, you little brat? Get lost! Or I’ll beat you too!”
Ye Ran flinched in fear, but seeing the dog bleeding, she mustered her courage and spoke again.
“Please, don’t hurt Little Yellow, okay?”
“What a pain!”
One of the men spat on the ground and stormed over to Ye Ran, reaching out to shove her aside.
However, before he could touch Ye Ran, a white figure suddenly appeared in front of him, grabbing the man’s arm. With just a slight squeeze, the man let out a scream.
“Ah! Help me!”
The man quickly turned to call for help.
The leader of the group sobered up a bit at the sight, but seeing his companion being manhandled, he pointed his stick at Lu Li.
“Where did you come from, you wannabe ancient-style pretty boy? I’ll kill you!”
With that, the man and the rest of the group charged at Lu Li.
Lu Li barely glanced at them. He raised his hand and flung the man in front of him away.
The man’s heavy body crashed into the others, sending them all tumbling to the ground. The sharp pain finally made them realize they had messed with someone they shouldn’t have.
Their arrogant demeanor vanished. They scrambled to their feet and fled in panic.
Once they disappeared, Ye Ran rushed to the corner and hugged the dog, who could no longer stand.
The dog was covered in blood, its breaths weak. Seeing Ye Ran, it let out a few whimpers and weakly nuzzled her with its nose.
Ye Ran’s eyes instantly reddened. She frantically used her sleeve to wipe the blood from the dog’s head.
But it was no use. The dog took its last breath, its head drooping.
Ye Ran looked helplessly at the dog in her arms, tears falling uncontrollably.
After a moment, she finally realized the dog wouldn’t wake up. She hugged it tightly and burst into tears.
“Little Yellow, don’t die!”
Ye Ran’s cries were heart-wrenching. To Lu Li’s surprise, they stirred a hint of pity in him.
He could bring the dog back to life immediately, but this was Ye Ran’s memory. What had already happened couldn’t be changed. Reviving the dog here would only be fooling himself.
He didn’t like doing meaningless things.
He had once dreamed countless times of the dog he raised as a child. In every dream, that person would kill the dog in front of him, then force him to eat it cooked in soup.
And he never saved the dog in those dreams. Instead, he killed that person over and over again.
Just like the day he killed that person with his own hands.
“Big brother, Little Yellow… he… waaaah…”
Ye Ran hugged the dog and tugged at Lu Li’s sleeve, sobbing so hard she couldn’t form a complete sentence.
Lu Li looked down at Ye Ran. He rarely did this, but he crouched down, took out a handkerchief, and wiped her tears.
“Stop crying. He’s not coming back to life. Instead of—”
Before he could finish, Ye Ran cried even harder.
The constant whimpering irritated Lu Li. He stared at her for a long moment, then finally put away the handkerchief and placed his hand over the dog’s head.
Oh well. I’ll give her what she wants.
A white light glowed from Lu Li’s palm. The blood on the dog’s head vanished, and soon it stirred, opened its eyes, and barked twice at Ye Ran.
For a moment, Ye Ran was dumbfounded. She stared blankly at the dog until it nuzzled her. Then her tears stopped, and her face broke into a radiant smile.
“He’s alive! Little Yellow is alive again!”
Ye Ran hugged the dog tightly, then looked at Lu Li with eyes full of admiration.
“Big brother, you’re amazing! Are you a god?”
Lu Li instinctively wanted to deny it. But meeting Ye Ran’s sparkling eyes, he paused for a moment, then nodded.
“Yes, I am.”
Since he had already decided to give her what she wanted, being her god for a while didn’t seem so bad.
Ye Ran’s eyes grew even brighter. She tugged at Lu Li’s sleeve again. “Then, god brother, can you show me a meteor shower?”
“Alright.”
Lu Li took Ye Ran to an open, grassy field. They sat down side by side.
Lu Li raised his hand and sent out a beam of white light. A meteor shower rained down from the sky, more brilliant than any fireworks.
Ye Ran’s mouth fell open in amazement. Even the dog in her arms tilted its head up to watch the magical sight.
For a while, no one spoke. They simply sat in silence, admiring the rare beauty.
Only when the meteors began to dwindle did Ye Ran’s voice break the silence.
“Grandma said she would turn into a meteor shower to visit me. But after she passed away, I never saw a meteor shower again.”
“Thank you, god brother. Thank you for letting Grandma come see me.”
Ye Ran’s voice grew softer and softer. Finally, she closed her eyes and fell asleep, leaning against Lu Li.
The meteor shower in the sky vanished completely at that moment.
Lu Li knew it was time to wake from the dream.
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