The ancient return was exposed by his sister's live stream.

Yang Wanqing wiped her face clean. Her emotional recovery was just as fast as her breakdown; three seconds ago she was sniffling, and three seconds later she was asking questions.

"master."

Chen Hao looked at her.

"Pluto, did you really do that?"

Chen Hao did not answer.

But his lack of response was itself an answer.

Yang Wanqing opened his mouth, then closed it again. It was superfluous. Who else could it be but his master? Could it have been done by aliens?

Chen Siyao's attention was much more precise than Yang Wanqing's. She only asked one question.

"Is it because of the Heavenly Demon?"

"Um."

Chen Hao's answer was very short.

"The entire Netherworld has been taken over by Heavenly Demons. The surface, the underground—it's all there. There's no need for it to exist anymore."

He called Pluto the Underworld. He still habitually refers to it as the Underworld.

Chen Siyao didn't press for details; she didn't care about the process. What she cared about was that her brother was back safely.

But the comments section didn't think so.

"Wait...did he say 'there's no need for him to exist'??"

"So he just destroyed the entire planet?"

"A planet. Two thousand three hundred kilometers in diameter."

"It's ruined."

"one person."

"A planet was destroyed."

"Could humans have evolved to this extent?"

"He is not an ordinary human. He is a cultivator."

"Even cultivators wouldn't destroy a planet..."

"Look at those ancient martial arts practitioners before, the strongest of them could only split a mountain. This one directly destroyed a star."

"There are tens of thousands of floors in between..."

"Cultivating immortality and ancient martial arts are fundamentally different things. They are on different levels and exist in different dimensions."

"Can someone calculate for me how much energy it would take to destroy Pluto?"

"Approximately 10 to the power of 29 joules."

"I don't understand. Please rephrase."

"It is roughly equivalent to one million times the total energy consumption of all humankind in a year."

"..."

"One person released the total energy of all humankind over a million years."

"This is no longer human. This is God."

Chen Siyao glanced at the comments.

She turned the photo crystal around so the camera was pointed at herself.

Six hundred million people are watching her.

"My brother is back. It's alright. Don't be too surprised." Her voice was still a little hoarse.

The traces of crying hadn't completely faded. "He said the lair of the Heavenly Demons had been cleared. That's good news."

The chat was silent for a second.

Then a comment popped up.

"Yaoyao, you were crying just now, weren't you?"

Chen Siyao pursed her lips. She didn't respond.

Yang Wanqing moved closer to the camera.

"She didn't just cry. She ran faster than a rabbit. She dashed straight from the seventh floating island to the dome. I almost couldn't catch her."

Chen Siyao reached out and pushed Yang Wanqing's face away.

"Shut up."

The comments section was full of "hahaha".

The atmosphere finally relaxed.

Yun Wanlan took two steps closer. She hadn't participated in the conversation, but she had heard the words, "The lair of the Heavenly Demon has been cleared."

These words meant more to her than to anyone else on Earth.

The Sushen tribe fought the Heavenly Demons for a thousand years. From the peak of their power to their decline and near extinction.

For a thousand years, every clan leader has risked their lives to hold the line at the front of the barrier.

And now... one person. It took several hours. They took down the source.

Her lips moved, as if she wanted to say something. But she didn't. In the end, she simply bowed deeply to Chen Hao.

Chen Hao glanced at her.

"There's another passage on the moon. A spatial rift leading from the lunar surface to Pluto. It was destroyed when I returned. The Heavenly Demons won't come from that direction anymore."

Yun Wanlan's body swayed slightly.

A thousand years.

That's the end of it.

When she straightened up, her face remained calm, but her nostrils twitched slightly. She was holding it in.

Chen Siyao saw it. She walked over and took Yun Wanlan's hand.

Yun Wanlan shook hands with him briefly. There were no other movements.

The group remained silent for a moment.

Then Chen Siyao spoke up.

"elder brother."

"Um?"

"In the future, could you please tell me in advance if you do something like this?"

Chen Hao looked at her.

"What did you say?"

Chen Siyao had her back to the photo crystal. She didn't want 600 million people to see her expression.

"You're planning to wipe out a planet. At least give me some mental preparation."

Chen Hao looked at the back of her head.

no answer.

But his lips twitched slightly.

The live chat exploded with comments.

This wasn't a normal explosion. It was the kind of explosion that caused a two-second freeze before recovering.

"Hahahaha, Chen Siyao, you're amazing!"

"'Be prepared' is the most powerful criticism this year."

"From now on, please report before setting out: how many stars you plan to destroy today."

"Chen Hao went out to buy groceries - Notes: Destroy Pluto x1".

"Hilarious. What kind of sibling duo is this?"

"One destroys stars, the other makes sarcastic remarks. A perfect match."

"But honestly, to be able to say something like that after crying like that, this girl is really tough."

Chen Siyao didn't read the comments.

She had already handed the commemorative crystal to Yang Wanqing. Yang Wanqing followed behind, holding the crystal, the camera pointed at Chen Hao's back. The four of them walked from near the dome towards the East Pavilion.

Halfway there, Yun Wanlan was called away by an elder of the clan.

The old man spoke a long string of words in the Sushen language. Yun Wanlan replied with a few words, and then said to Chen Siyao, "The chieftain wants to see Mr. Chen... No rush, wait until you've rested."

Chen Siyao nodded.

The three returned to the East Pavilion.

The leftovers on the table hadn't been cleared away; they'd left in too much of a hurry. Blueberry's plate was empty. The roast meat was cold. A thin film had formed on the surface of the porridge.

Yang Wanqing slumped down as soon as she sat down, leaning back in her chair. Her emotions had been too volatile today; she had spent the morning wandering around with curiosity and excitement.

Then the light came, Pluto disappeared, I thought my master was dead, I cried, but then my master came back and I smiled again.

toss.

"I'm hungry," she said.

Chen Siyao glanced at her. "You ate six blue berries this morning."

That happened this morning!

Chen Hao sat at the table. He showed no signs of fatigue whatsoever. He was exactly the same as before he set off.

Chen Siyao couldn't find anything unusual on his face. He didn't look like someone who had just fought a war. He didn't look like someone who had just destroyed a planet. He was just... very ordinary.

This ordinariness itself is not ordinary.

She didn't ask any more questions about Pluto. She wouldn't get any answers anyway... her brother never talked about himself.

But she was thinking about something else.

Someone in the live chat asked a question... Where did the Heavenly Demons come from?

Chen Hao said that the Netherworld had been completely devoured by the Heavenly Demons. But how did the Heavenly Demons get to Pluto?

She didn't ask.

Because she knows. There are some things that I can't say right now, or she wouldn't understand even if I did.

Yang Wanqing asked a member of the clan to bring over some fresh hot porridge and baked flatbread. The two of them sat down at the table to eat.

Chen Hao didn't eat. He sat on the balcony.

Same location as yesterday.

The cup is still there. A fresh cup of tea has been poured.

Chen Siyao carried her bowl to the edge of the balcony. She ate standing up, without sitting down.

She looked at the lights of the floating islands and asked a question in a low voice.

"Brother. Is there only one passage?"

Chen Hao held the cup and took a sip.

"Only one has been found so far."

The word "currently".

Chen Siyao pondered the choice of words.