Chapter 2229: Return Shang Liuyu immediately turned around to leave. “No, you came at the perfect time.” Shang Hongyu’s face heated up, but she quickly reacted and rushed over to hold her hand. “Ah Zu is about to leave, so you should have a proper goodbye.” After she placed her sister’s hand in Zu An’s, she left quickly, as if she was running away. Shang Liuyu was stunned. She instinctively pulled her hand back, but Zu An grabbed on tightly. Shang Liuyu pursed her lips, but in the end, she didn’t struggle anymore and said, “I heard that you made my big sis into an empress.” “Did you want to become the empress too? How about I establish a double empress system for the Ocean races?” Zu An looked at her beautiful face with a smile. This really is a beautiful sight, no matter when I see her. “Why would I want to become an empress? If it weren’t because I had no choice, I wouldn’t even want to become the queen of the Mermaid race.” Shang Liuyu rolled her eyes. “By the way, the Ocean races are all extremely grateful that you are making big sis the empress rather than a queen, and even big sis thinks similarly. But the way I see it, you probably just thought that an empress would be more fun than a queen.” Zu An’s face heated up. He asked with a bit of guilt, “Am I that kind of person?” Shang Liuyu snapped out of her daze. She looked at him with an ambiguous smile. “You seem to have been that kind of person ever since the first time I met you.” “Ahem, ahem...” Zu An couldn't handle the embarrassment and didn’t know how to explain himself. Shang Liuyu didn’t continue to ‘torture’ him. “But regardless, I need to thank you. If it weren’t for you, big sis’ situation might’ve been really bad.” She had also heard about how the others had pressured her sister in the mourning hall. It was thanks to Zu An that the situation hadn’t become a problem. Zu An also put away his smile and said seriiously, “From now on, both you and your sister will need to be careful, and make sure to seize all authority as soon as possible. I definitely don’t want you two to be bullied by the Ocean races’ high officials anymore.” Shang Liuyu nodded. “Don’t worry, I'll definitely help big sis.” She and her sister were usually kind, but that didn’t mean they would let people walk all over them. After all that had happened, they had already decided to completely seize control over the Ocean races, whether it was to make sure they never experienced something like this again, or to provide Zu An with a helping hand. Zu An nodded in satisfaction. With the sisters’ ability and wisdom, he believed he wouldn’t have to worry about the things to come anymore. After saying goodbye to Shang Liuyu, he vanished like lightning, quickly disappearing into the distance. As she watched Zu An disappear, Shang Liuyu suddenly felt a bit lonely. She stood there with a blank look on her face. It wasn’t as if he wasn’t going to come back, and she could go looking for him anytime she wanted, so why did she feel so awful? He hadn’t even said that much to her before he left. She even felt as if he had talked more with her big sister. It’s almost as if she's closer to him than I am... A look of self-mockery appeared on her face. He and big sis are already like that, so of course they're closer together. But I clearly came first... She didn’t know why she was having such strange thoughts either. It clearly didn’t match her personality at all, but she just felt really frustrated. Whenever she thought about that, her eyes became a bit watery. Just then, there was a familiar voice. “Right, I forgot about something.” Shang Liuyu immediately turned around with happiness and excitement. She saw that Zu An had actually come back! She was about to say something, but suddenly realized what she looked like right now. She quickly turned around to remove the tears from around her eyes. “You were crying?” Zu An was stunned. He hadn’t expected the usually carefree big sis Shang to actually be so sentimental in goodbyes. “No way! Don’t think too much of it. There’ll always be a bit of sadness when friends separate, so don’t think that I’m crying for your sake!” Shang Liuyu explained with a bit of alarm, but she immediately regretted it. Big sis is always telling me to be a bit more proactive, so why do I keep trying to cover things up? Zu An couldn't help but smile. “Tsunderes are already out of favor, but I still like this quite a bit.” Shang Liuyu blinked in confusion, not knowing what he was talking about. However, when he said he liked it, her heart rate sped up a lot. “Just what did you forget?” Zu An looked at her with a smile. “Someone said that as long as I returned safely from the underworld, they would give me a kiss, but I almost forgot about that because of everything that happened recently.” When she saw him pucker his lips as he spoke, Shang Liuyu immediately became really embarrassed. “I clearly already kissed you before the underworld...” “In business, you need to collect both the deposit and the balance, right? That was just the deposit!” Zu An looked at her with a big smile. He really liked seeing this usually composed woman become alarmed. He thought that she would bashfully refuse, but a second later, his nostrils were filled with a fragrant scent. Then, her exquisite body fell into his arms and her soft lips pressed against his. A grin appeared on the corner of his lips and he hugged her tightly. Shang Liuyu’s body quickly froze up. Why is he reaching out his tongue in this kiss? Still, she didn’t find it repulsive at all, and her heart rate sped up instead. Her head went completely blank, and her body gradually softened too. Why is he so good at this... Is this how he kisses my sister... All kind of thoughts rushed into her head, but she quickly immersed herself in the passionate kiss. ... Zu An thus left the Ocean races. As he looked at the gleaming and crystalline sea, he couldn't help but sigh at its beauty. Of course, the most beautiful things in the seas were still those sisters. A warm smile appeared on his face when he recalled the gentle, yet underripe movements of the Shang sisters. Even though they had already experienced a life and death struggle, it was only now that they had broken through the final paper-thin layer and grown a bit closer. When he recalled the bashfulness and sweetness he had felt from Shang Liuyu just now, Zu An felt extremely blessed. In that instant, he didn’t even want to leave anymore. Even so, he knew that there were more important things that needed his attention. He put away those thoughts and gave the beautiful woman who was gently waving from the sea one last look. Then, he rushed into the sky and flew in the direction of the human capital. Even though the Wind Fire Wheels were more comfortable and made longer journeys less tiring, he wanted to return as quickly as possible. As such, he didn’t use them and flew at full speed instead. With Zu An’s current cultivation, his flight speed was much faster than even the planes of his previous world. However, he still felt that he was a bit too slow, because this world was much larger than the Earth he'd come from. He really envied Zhao Han’s spatial control skill. But as he grew stronger, he'd come to realize that Zhao Han hadn’t truly fully grasped the power of space either. He hadn't really been able to move without any regard for distance, but rather transmitted a portion of his strength through his imperial edict or other special methods. Zu An thought to himself that once he had some free time, he definitely had to prepare some transport formations in various places across the world. That way, moving around would become much easier. With his current knowlege of formations and control of resources, it wasn’t impossible anymore. What he lacked the most were time and some special raw materials, though. He moved as fast as lightning for several days, and thus finally returned to the capital. When he saw the familiar bustling state of the capital, he was a bit alarmed. If he hadn’t heard about what happened from Gao Ying, he wouldn’t have known that so many serious events had taken place already. He gave the Imperial Palace a look from the distance, but then decided to go to the Pei manor first. The Liu clan’s situation had probably already settled. There wouldn’t be much he could do even if he went over now. Of course, more importantly, he had previously scanned the underworld’s departed souls and hadn’t sensed the empress. That gave him a bit of relief. It had already been some time since Gao Ying’s death. If he wanted to revive him, he needed to find Gao Ying's corpse first. Normally, the corpse would have already rotted and decayed after so much time, but Zu An thought of a possibility and clung onto a glimmer of hope. Soon after, he arrived at the Pei manor. Its formations didn’t stop him at all. He found his old friend Pei You’s room. The moment he pushed open the door, he frowned, because there was a strong smell of alcohol filling the air. He walked straight in. The room was a terrible mess with empty wine bottles everywhere, and a drunken man lay sprawled across a distant table. In that instant, Zu An almost didn’t recognize Pei You. The normally cool-faced playboy now looked more like a sloppy middle-aged uncle. His beard was a mess and his hair looked as if it hadn’t been washed for a long time. His eyes were swollen and pitch-black. “Pei You?” Zu An didn’t hide his aura, but Pei You didn’t react even after he walked up to his friend. If someone with ill intent had approached, not even ten lives would be enough to save Pei You. After Zu An called out several times, Pei You slowly raised his head and rubbed his eyes. They were completely bloodshot, as if he hadn’t had any proper rest for a long time. “Brother Zu?” Pei You called out, stunned. He belched and then said, “It seems I’m dreaming again.” He then collapsed onto the table again. Zu An was speechless. He reached out with a finger, and a strand of ki entered Pei You’s body to eliminate some of the drunkenness. Pei You finally raised his head again. When he saw Zu An, his expression changed several times. Then, he covered his face and turned around to run.