Jun Mo Li opened his eyes from sleep. What greeted him was a head of white hair—Jun Bai.
"Did we win?" Jun Mo Li asked from Jun Bai's back.
Since he—who had already been defeated by the Dream God's remnant—had woken up on Jun Bai's back, what had happened while he was asleep was self-evident.
"Didn't win, but didn't lose either." Jun Bai—covered in wounds—replied. "Aren't you going to ask why I'm here?"
"Eldest brother said he wouldn't abandon his brothers. I'm the same—so you won't be an exception either."
"What if I am the exception?"
"Then even better. Big brother and I will protect your safety." Jun Mo Li smiled. "Speaking of which, since you didn't lose, does that mean you've remembered your past? Lord God~"
"Just call me third brother like before, or Jun Bai. I don't like looking down on others." Jun Bai replied with a smile as well.
Just as Jun Mo Li had said.
With or without memories, Jun Bai was still Jun Bai. That wouldn't change because of anything.
"Did you treat the wounds?"
"Mm. I learned a little from Grandpa, so I used it along with my abilities to stop the bleeding and bandage you and eldest brother."
"Speaking of eldest brother—where is he?"
"Roar——"
Little Flame called out from the side, indicating that Li Tonghui was with her.
Unfortunately, Jun Mo Li's injuries were quite severe; otherwise he definitely would have turned around to see his eldest brother's sorry state.
"Where do you plan to go next?" Jun Mo Li asked.
Jun Bai had stayed in Qingce Village all this time because he had lost his memories and been taken in by the Jun family.
Now that he had recovered his memories, it seemed there was no reason for Jun Bai to continue staying in Qingce Village or with the Jun family.
"Home. To find a way to deal with that thing."
Jun Bai understood what second brother meant, but he chose to sidestep the topic.
"I see." Jun Mo Li understood Jun Bai's meaning and also avoided the question.
"You can't deal with that thing? The storytellers said that a hundred years ago, you took care of the Dream God in just three or five moves—only getting sneak-attacked due to a slight miscalculation, which led to mutual destruction."
"The adaptation was actually pretty good—just wrote me a bit too weak." Jun Bai commented. "I don't have my original power right now, so I need a bit of external help to deal with him."
"External help, for example?" Jun Mo Li was very curious about what kind of external help could deal with a god's remnant.
"Rex Lapis and Guizhong of the Guili Assembly. Mm... you probably don't know Guizhong—she has another less commonly used name, Haagentus." Jun Bai spoke in a very calm tone about something that would shock others.
"..." Jun Mo Li was silent for a moment. "Honestly, your connections from a hundred years ago are pretty astonishing."
Those two's true names were rarely used by most people. Most called them Rex Lapis and the Dust God.
These two were the ones the common people of the Guili Assembly and Qingce Village burned incense and prayed to every day.
Yet in the mouth of the memory-recovered Jun Bai, it sounded almost casual—like he could just call them over to help.
Was this what a god's connections looked like? Truly eye-opening.
"If those two took action, solving this problem would probably be very easy..."
"But they're not in the Guili Assembly right now. It seems they've gone off to subjugate another god again. I can't find them."
"Oh~" Jun Mo Li nodded in realization.
That made sense. If he could find them, Jun Bai wouldn't be carrying him and eldest brother back to Qingce Village right now—he'd be on his way to visit those two.
"Then is there any other external help?"
"There is." Jun Bai nodded slowly.
...
Qingce Village, Jun family basement.
The three brothers and one tiger stood in the room filled with chilling air, their gazes fixed on the sheathed long sword at the very center.
"So the external help you mentioned includes our family's heirloom?" Jun Mo Li looked at Jun Bai with dead-fish eyes.
Jun Bai nodded: "The famous sword forged by the Jun family can wound gods. The sword personally forged by our great-great-grandfather is among the most famous of famous swords. With its power, slaying the Dream God's remnant would be no problem at all."
"Provided someone can draw it."
"Third brother, didn't I already say back then? Our family's rise-to-fame story might not be entirely true." Jun Mo Li patted Jun Bai's head.
"So, second brother, are you saying the part about the Jun family famous sword being able to slay gods is fake?" Li Tonghui asked.
"Very likely. If it were real, would our family be in this state now? The jianghu would have long been filled with legends about the Jun family sword." Jun Mo Li spoke his true thoughts bluntly.
But at that moment, Jun Bai silently shook his head and said: "Actually, it's real."
"Huh? You've seen it before?" Jun Mo Li asked.
Jun Bai silently drew Crimson Shadow from his waist. Crimson Shadow instantly transformed into a crimson long sword: "A hundred years ago, the Dream God led an army to attack the Guili Assembly. I took a single sword and went outside the Guili Assembly to meet the enemy."
"I used that sword to slaughter the entire army under the Dream God and to slay the Dream God himself. After a small incident happened, that sword became the current Crimson Shadow."
Listening to Jun Bai's account, the two older brothers' expressions gradually turned subtle.
"You're not about to say that Crimson Shadow's predecessor was exactly one of the famous swords forged by the Jun family, right?" Li Tonghui carefully examined Crimson Shadow in Jun Bai's hand.
Jun Bai nodded.
"Uh... setting aside how exactly a long sword turned into a chain sword that can change form to some extent."
"Just the part where you used that sword to wound the Dream God—are you sure it was because of the sword, and not because you yourself already had the ability to slay gods?" Jun Mo Li raised an objection.
"Even so, ordinary weapons couldn't possibly withstand god-level elemental power." Jun Bai said.
Crimson Shadow's predecessor had been extraordinary to begin with—otherwise Rex Lapis wouldn't have had any reason to specially store it away.
Artifacts created by gods were called divine weapons in the mortal world. How could something collected by a god be an ordinary object?
That sword had undergone nirvana together with Phenex and was merely given the characteristic of changing form—its power hadn't been enhanced. So the enemies Jun Bai had slain with Crimson Shadow could essentially also be counted as slain by Crimson Shadow's predecessor.
"So in other words, our family's heirloom might be something close to a divine artifact?"
Jun Mo Li's eyes lit up as he looked at the sheathed long sword surrounded by the three brothers and one tiger.
Something capable of wounding gods—even if not a divine creation, wouldn't be far off in level.
"Then no more talking—hurry up and draw it to help third brother deal with that lingering ghost."
Li Tonghui said as he reached out and gripped the hilt.
Then he lifted the entire sword along with its sheath...
"..." Li Tonghui reached out again to grip the scabbard. "Just an accident, an accident—watch me now..."
Veins bulged on Li Tonghui's arms, but the scabbard didn't budge in the slightest.
"Let me try." Jun Bai took the family heirloom.
However, even as a god, when Jun Bai went all out, he could only draw a small portion of the blade.
"If I were at my peak, forcing it out wouldn't be too big a problem. But if I were at my peak, I wouldn't need to try drawing the sword in the first place." Jun Bai handed the sword to Jun Mo Li.
"Second brother, I remember you saying that only the greatest swordmaster in the world can draw this sword."
"Among us three brothers, your swordsmanship is the deepest. Give it a try."