I took a big breath in relief, the timing was perfect. I opened my senses to see and listen to what was happening inside the bracelet while running toward the cave exit with all my strength. 

“YOU! How!” exclaimed the evil being

“Hello Hein Ling. You look weak” Ji FangFang said as a greeting.

She was not alone, there was a man with her, most likely another immortal. He looked a bit like Li-er. 

The heavenly bracelet could be used as transportation conduit between planes but if immortals came to ours, everyone in it would die. Thanks to the updated diary, I already knew that Ji FangFang came inside the bracelet once in a while and it could withstand the immortal pressure. Of course, if I transferred myself to the bracelet now, I would turn into minced meat within a fraction of a second with that pressure.  

Luckily, the Evil being - AKA Hein Ling - created this cave that could sustain a big part of the immortal pressure and was too weak to emit more to do any harm

“Hein Ling, you dared to use my and Immortal Ji’s descendants as tools of your schemes! Bullying the weak is truly at your level” snared the male Immortal - Li-er's ancestor -  

"Yet, the weak were able to catch you and give you to us on a silver platter. What a failure you are as a demon immortal" teased Ji FangFang.

If I was not running like crazy and trying to evade falling stones, I would have given her a thumb up. She was much better than me at pulling hatred! 

Ji FangFang did not let Hein Ling talk. She flicked her hand and the image blurred for 3 seconds, when it returned to normal, Hein Ling disappeared. 

......

I was just outside the cave when it completely crumbled. I suspected that they gave me the time to get out on purpose. I was a bit disappointed, there was no big fight and no extraordinary revelations. Just a flick of the hand of an immortal and it was done.

The male Immortal said while shaking a jade bottle “I will take him back, you rest” Then, he left through the dimensional door next to the bamboo house.

"..." No grand revelations. No words of parting. I was still panting from the run, my heart beating fast due to the exercise and everything that happened in the cave but I was a bit disappointed from the lack of anything interesting that should happen when one met 2 immortals and an evil one.

It was then that Ji FangFang turned into a green dragon and went to the bamboo forest for a nap. My mind was blank. What the f*ck happened!

“Master Bai! Are you hurt?” Asked AnEr, one of my guards. Half the mountain crumbled and a tiny space was left for me to get out from

“Nope, I am fine. How about everyone else?” I asked

“We were attacked by assassins but those people disappeared out of thin air moments ago. We sustained only minor injuries. You have been away for 5 days already” 

“The assassins should be dead by now anyway. I am starving, let's camp and cook something” I said with joy.  

“Heeu… we notified the city lord and he should arrive soon,” replied AnEr. I closed my eyes, a wave of scolding was coming my way 

~~~~~~ 

My little incursion ended way earlier than planned. Uncle Huai took me directly to his ship and threw me in my usual room without a word. He went out to check the surrounding area and the scolding was delayed until we met Aunt Yan. I went to the bed and lied down with a smile. Some things never change. 

Now that I had time to think, I recalled when I read the name Hein Ling. It was a weird name so it was easy to remember. More than a hundred thousand years ago, he was the demon king who killed half the population of this plane and destroyed 2 continents. He used all those as sacrifices to successfully ascend as an immortal. Heavenly Dao let him as it did not care about right and wrong.

Its purpose was only balance.

I assumed that Hein Ling did something that threw off that balance after ascending, making the Heavenly Dao intervene.   

“Put an isolation barrier and chat with me” ordered Ji FangFang all of the sudden. She was still in her dragon form and I complied

“I missed sleeping in this space, I did it all the time before ascending. I will take a nap for a little longer to replenish my energy after the battle,” she said. 

“What battle?” I asked stupidly

“Didn’t I take down Hein Ling for you? Imprisoning an Immortal, even a weak one, takes a lot from me” 

That was a battle!?! Children's fights were more interesting to watch than that! 

My incredulity must have been showing on my face because she chuckled "We could have fought for a thousand moves slowly enough for your entertainment but that would mean destroying what is inside this space. Would you have preferred that?”

“Fair enough. But this is your artifact, I should return ownership to you” I replied. I wanted to get rid of anything that could make me a target of the Heavenly Dao from now on. I was pretty sure it knew of my bracelet after dealing with Hein Ling

“The bracelet is yours, its fate is to stay in this plane. The Heavenly Dao keeps many artifacts in lower planes for emergency situations like today” replied Ji FangFang “It let me use it to help ascend but I was too greedy and I left it to my descendants to give them the same chance. My retribution was to witness the fall of most of them” She murmured sadly

“It should be different for you. You used it to destroy the chances of Hein Ling rising. He was the demon Immortal who once wreaked havoc in the higher plane. A team of immortals cornered him before injuring him. He was able to run down here and found that this was Immortal Cheng’s and my natal world” 

I nodded, descendants of Immortals had higher chances to ascend than others. Hein Ling’s plans should have been using me to ascend but he found a faster way by killing Wu ChengLiu, the fake darling of heaven. Thus, the demon was trapped without knowing it. 

“Did you know about everything in my first life?” I asked and she sighed.

“I was in seclusion. It was immortal Cheng who found discrepancies after his descendant’s death. He investigated and found out about you so he contacted me and we teamed up to deal with Hein Ling. We monitored you ever since but could not do much until today”

“Then could you send my thanks to Immortal Cheng for me? I thank you too for coming on time to save me” 

“We owed you this much after failing to kill that b*stard” I inherited my dirty mouth from her it seemed

“What will happen to him?”

“He was already too weak and fragmented to keep his immortality so he should die soon if it is not already the case. As for you, your reward is one wish fulfilled by the Heavenly Dao as long as it does not affect its rules” 

So she was the Heavenly Dao messenger now “I am not the only victim in this story” I tried to negotiate

“But you are the one who refused to go against your nature to kill innocent people. The number of test and tribulations you had to go through successfully at less than 100 years old was higher than most cultivators in their lifetime” 

Hein Ling’s tests that I failed were considered successful from the Heavenly Dao point of view. She also let out something important between the lines

“The cave and bracelet could not hide from the Heavenly Dao eyes” I concluded. This made some of my initial assumptions false

“Let’s say that the Heavenly Dao has full knowledge anytime a minimum amount of spiritual or evil energy was used. Contrary to what Hein Ling thought, his illusions and your tests were not a secret. I could even say that if your wish was to ascend today, it would be possible to fulfill it. I would suggest you wait until adulthood though... unless you want to look like a kid from now on”

I ignored her last sentence. I did not need to think about my wish, I had one since I came back to this life “My wish is to send a message to my second’s life family that I am happy and healthy now. Their love and care is what destroyed Hein Ling plans” I requested without hesitation. Without them I would not be the man - Ahem kid - I was today. 

“This wish might be the only chance for you to ascend. Do you want to use it for a message?” wanted to confirm Ji FangFang

“Yes, ascension is not my purpose. I prefer a peaceful and happy life” I replied. The 2nd test made me think about my real regrets. I could not ask to go back to my 2nd life with a healthy body as my fate was fulfilled there. But, a message to make my family be more at peace with our parting was the only thing I could do for them now.

“Fair enough. I will find a way to send that message” accepted Ji FangFang

…

“Can I ask you a few more questions?” I was curious about her

“The longer you talk, the longer I am allowed to stay and enjoy this bamboo forest” 

Mmm, her energy was already replenished it seemed. It was must faster than I thought

“When did Hein Ling replace aunt Liu with his fragment? Was he the one who killed my maternal family?” I asked

“I think… you already know the answer” replied Ji FangFang and I closed my eyes. Killing the Bai family and making me, the youngest descendant, move to the Yu family to be manipulated was part of his plans. 

Aunt Liu must have been switched before the attack on the Bai family but after birthing my she-wolf cousin. The Heavenly Dao would not let her daughter take my mother’s heirloom otherwise.

I was not sure how I felt, Yu JinLi’s mother was killed and replaced because of me. Should I forgive my cousin for what she had done in the first life because of that? I was as innocent as her in that matter but she chose to hurt me and cheat in both lives. 

I felt bad thinking that way because I knew Yu JinLi was educated by her shrew of a grandmother and an evil being acting like her mother. Who knew what would have been her choices if her real mother was alive? 

I chose to move on and asked other questions while I had the chance. To change the subject, I asked something different  

“Are you really a dragon? Does it mean I have dragon blood?”

“When we ascend, we get to choose an animal form. I picked a green dragon”

“But I have been dreaming about this picture since I was born,” I replied. How many times did I badly draw it in 3 lives? 

“Those with a high chance of being Immortals would dream about a special moment. It seems that yours is this one” replied Ji FangFang with a half smile. That smile was scary as she was still in her dragon form

This was when I got another enlightenment, I had to quickly leave the floating boat to avoid breaking it. 

My fate was to talk to the green dragon that was lazily lying in the bamboo forest. I have been dreaming of this since I was born in my first life. The dream followed me to my 2nd and 3rd lives too. It was the reason I slept so well and had so few nightmares. 

This meant that my fate was not changed by Hein Ling and the Heavenly Dao. I was meant to experience everything I went through so far. This knowledge and my chat with Ji FangFang made me understand part of the secret Dao. It must have been her main objective since she stayed here to recuperate.