CHAPTER 245: CHAPTER 245: UNINVITED GUESTS

The man’s face twisted slightly, but after he heard Nyra’s words and saw her figure running toward them, his expression eased. "Nyra."

The woman also greeted her.

Zerra cast a doubtful look toward her sister. Her eyes were full of questions. Nyra avoided her eyes, making her doubt deepen.

"Are you going to come with us?" The man asked.

"I will need more time," Nyra said slowly.

"But you already said–"

The man abruptly cut off the woman’s words. "Alright." He glanced at Zerra. "Take your time."

The woman’s expression cracked, but the man didn’t seem to care much. He took the woman’s hand, and before he started to drag her away, he told Nyra. "We will be waiting for you."

However, after they had just taken a few steps, he dropped a bomb on Zerra. "You... don’t hold your sister back. She has a talent for cultivation and has promised to join us. She even exchanged the promise to save you."

With that, they walked away faster, leaving the two sisters rooted to the spot.

Zerra took a deep breath; her eyes probed Nyra. "Sister... what he said is true, right?"

The village doctor in Nyra’s mouth was a human cultivator. Considering most of them disdained mortals, she must have sacrificed something to get to agree to treat her. Zerra reflected this from the perspective of a mortal.

She didn’t know much about mortal lives, but she guessed their fates were similar to low-level spiritual beasts. Only celestial beasts stood at the top of the food chain.

"If that’s the case, you should go." Zerra told her earnestly. "This is an excellent opportunity."

"I am not going to leave you alone!" Nyra gripped her younger sister’s hands, dragging her inside. She bit her lip, knowing that even the house wouldn’t give them a sense of security.

"You can still visit me once a while." Zerra sent her a reassuring look.

However, her older sister only sent her a frustrated look. She opened her mouth, yet no words came out.

They already knew that it was hard to escape from a cultivator’s clutch, not to mention it wasn’t just one or two people, but a whole of them. Nyra had no choice but to go.

This year, she had already turned eighteen years old. Based on Zerra’s scan, she found out that Nyra’s body in this life had decent cultivation aptitude.

"No, I will stay as long as possible." Nyra said stubbornly. Her eyebrows knitted together. She was most worried about her younger sister. She had just recovered from her physical wounds.

Her amnesia somewhat changed her temperament a bit, no longer as rebellious as before, but she still couldn’t leave her to live alone.

She muttered with a determined expression. "I will think of a way. If it’s a must, I will bring you along. They rated my aptitude as decent, and you are my biological younger sister. Yours shouldn’t be too bad."

Zerra pursed her lips and sighed as she watched Nyra’s retreating back. Before she closed the door, she warned her. "Don’t open the door if anyone comes knocking. It doesn’t matter who comes. Do you hear me?"

It didn’t matter if a massive power had taken a liking to Nyra, she still needed to go back to work so that she could feed themselves. Zerra’s treatment had taken most of their savings.

After Nyra left, Zerra let out a sigh.

For the next few days, they lived just like before. Nyra would help their neighbor, who sold noodles, to take care of their stall as one of the two employees. Zerra would be home, bored to death.

However, the surrounding atmosphere was always shrouded in a veil of gloominess. A silent tension always enveloped their small house.

No matter how Zerra persuaded her older sister, Nyra wouldn’t budge. One time, she even got angry and didn’t eat dinner, so Zerra didn’t dare to bring up the matter again.

Unfortunately, even if Nyra wanted to postpone it as long as possible, the people there began to feel impatient. They had considered running away, but a disciple from that massive power blocked them.

So, they had no choice but to go back, living in that small house again.

Zerra had a premonition. Today wouldn’t be peaceful.

Her premonition was on point. After Nyra left the house for her job, these people came knocking again. This time, it was two men and a woman.

Their expressions weren’t good, full of arrogance.

"Where is your sister?" One man asked her in a raised tone, impatient. Unfortunately, they came right as she was outside of the house, getting water from a well.

"She is at work..." she trailed off. She knew they hadn’t come for a peaceful discussion this time. The previous man, who had also come to find Nyra last time, also had a frown on his forehead.

"Can you call your sister?" His tone was gentler than his friend’s. His expression became more serious.

"I will be honest here. Your sister indeed cares about you. That’s why she is still staying here despite the repeated warning. However, if she keeps this up, her punishment will be greater."

Zerra’s expression changed to a grave one. "Sister is going to be punished?"

"She is aware she is going to take the punishment once she joins us." The woman’s voice held a trace of disdain. As she swept her gaze over the house, she scrunched her face in disgust.

The burly man was impatient. He furrowed his brow. His face hardened when he saw Zerra’s face. "This little girl is the one hindering her on her cultivation journey, right?"

"Once she steps onto the path of immortality, she doesn’t need to involve herself with mortal affairs too much. It might even block her road, making her journey less smooth... so, what if we help her a little?" A trace of cruelty flashed in his eyes.

"What do you think, junior sister?" He turned to the woman.

"I will follow senior brother’s decision." She pursed her lips, glancing at Zerra, who kept on taking a few steps back with a knowing smile.

"This..." the other man hesitated. "Nyra cares so much about her younger sister. If she turns to her inner demons in the future..."

Zerra shivered. Unfortunately, she was a mortal right now, possessing not even an ounce of spiritual energy. She just had a better sense than an ordinary human.

They already made their intentions clear from their words. They would get rid of her. This time, they really picked a great timing. They did this when Nyra was going to the city to buy some ingredients for the noodle shop.

"Great immortals..." Zerra was forced to say cringy words. "What do you think of my aptitude? Am I suitable for cultivation? I am willing to go and accompany my sister!"

She forced a smile onto her face, which looked uglier than crying.

The senior brother eyed her from head to toe. His lips curled up condescendingly. "Your sister indeed has a decent aptitude for cultivation, but you..."

"You don’t even have spiritual roots," the woman continued. A twisted look decorated her face. "A mortal only has a fleeting life, anyway. Why not end it sooner?"

The other man gritted his teeth, but he finally relented. "Fine! But we have to erase our traces. If Nyra finds out we killed her sister, she will hate us."

"After all, we need more talent like her. If she goes to another power, we will suffer a loss." He continued. His words were quite ruthless as he devised a plan, analyzing the disadvantages at once.

"That sounds good, junior brother." The burly man cracked a malicious smile. He turned his attention to Zerra. "Come on, girl. Cooperate with us."

Zerra swallowed, and without hesitation, she turned around, cursing in her heart. She had hoped she could follow them. Cassias might be in their place, and she wanted to meet him.

Unfortunately...

She ran toward the woods, her heart filled with unwillingness. Seeing her running away, a loud, condescending chuckle. The sound haunted her even after she arrived in the woods.

When she looked back, no one was following her, but her senses were alert. She was sure they were letting her go on purpose. Actually, even if they kill her, she knew it wouldn’t affect anything.

All the scenes she saw were from the past. She was just a little disheartened; she couldn’t get to see Cassias in this part of memory.

Just as she guessed, someone appeared in front of her. It was the burly senior brother. She was running as fast as possible, so she couldn’t stop in time...

The man curved up his lips sinisterly. Under Zerra’s widened eyes, he raised his sword. From another angle, it might have looked like she was rushing toward death.

She didn’t sense any pain, but her vision turned black. The dread as the shadow of death loomed over was still palpable–even if it wasn’t her own death.

The scene abruptly changed.

Cassias’ teenage figure appeared in front of her, but...