Along the way, Cao Yun had slowly let go of his stealth technique. The only reason he was keeping it up a little was so people wouldn't immediately recognize his face. He didn't want to cause a commotion. Although most outer disciples would probably not be able to recognize him as they had most likely never seen him in real life, some inner disciples might. Indeed, as they were walking toward the martial arts pavilion, Cao Yun saw familiar faces. With his current memory, he could remember absolutely any face he had ever seen. At some point, he even recognized Jiu Lin. He was a candidate to the entrance exam the year Cao Yun had taken it but he had failed. But he had succeeded the next year and now he was an inner disciple.

One of the things that really marked Cao Yun, apart from the array formations that were driving Dian Mo mad with jealousy, was the emblems of the Heavenly Swallow Faction. Almost a fifth or even a fourth of the outer disciples had that emblem. It was above even the Red Cliff Faction and the Northern Purple Cloud Faction. On the other hand, the Enshrouding Temple Faction and the Hidden Orchids Faction were completely gone. To be fair, the Hidden Orchids Faction had mostly been composed of traitors working under Luoming Tian. But the faction had tried to survive and change after that. Unfortunately for the few who were sincere, they had to change the name of their faction and ultimately disband it completely. Besides those, there was one new faction Cao Yun didn't recognize, but only a handful of outer disciples had this emblem. It was a small eagle with a tree branch in its beak.

Anyway, factions and their petty quarrels were not in Cao Yun's mind anymore. That being said, he was glad that Zhi Yin's faction had endured since it was why she had helped him in the first place. And he was looking forward to learning more about what had happened to his Heavenly Swallow Faction. Honestly, he was a bit worried by its popularity, fearing it might have lost some of its values and principles in the process. The point of this faction had always been to avoid the tyranny of the other factions, so hopefully, it had not turned into a tyrant itself. Judging by how the members he was seeing acted, it seemed not to be the case, for now.

Finally, Cao Yun and Chief Instructor Peng entered the martial arts pavilion. Several outer disciples were training but just a handful of inner disciples were there. This was a rather quiet day apparently. Although the outside had changed just a little bit, the inside was exactly as Cao Yun remembered with seven rings where people could spar and train. Cao Yun looked rapidly at the disciples. They were clearly not training too hard, but they were diligent nonetheless. Two disciples who were fighting saw Chief Instructor Peng and suddenly began to fight harder, that was amusing.

One inner disciple walked to Chief Instructor Peng and bowed slightly. Seeing her face, Cao Yun remembered her but he didn't know her name. She had joined the sect soon before Cao Yun had disappeared from the Hongchen Kingdom. Although she didn't disregard Cao Yun, she simply nodded in his direction as a form of salutation. In her eyes, he wasn't a member of the Wubei Sect and she didn't recognize him at all. That being said, he was with Chief Instructor Peng so she had to be respectful.

"Chief Instructor, welcome. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes, warn Chief Elder Baishen that an old friend is here to see her. Tell her that she won't regret it."

After those words, Cao Yun could see this young woman trying to assess him again discreetly. To be fair, she was very discreet, but it didn't escape him at all. Moreover, Cao Yun was still using some of his stealth so his face was almost impossible to remember. If she stopped looking at his face for one instant, the inner disciple simply forgot all about it. But even looking directly at Cao Yun's face, she would have a hard time describing it. Unless she had already seen Cao Yun's face in person, she would never be able to know who he was. After all, she wasn't even a Spirit Warrior.

"Of course, Chief Instructor. But I have to warn you that Chief Elder Baishen is extremely busy today. I'm not sure whether she'll find the time to see her friend or not."

Without adding anything else, she bowed and went upstairs. After a few seconds, Cao Yun and Chief Instructor Peng both felt a wave of spiritual senses wash over them. This time, Cao Yun let Chief Elder Baishen see him completely. The next moment, he heard a voice in his mind.

"Brat! You're alive?! Why wasn't I told?! And... You're a middle Spirit Warrior?! What the hell happened to you?! Come up! Come up! ... Oh...? You too, Chief Instructor Peng..."

The poor round man was just an after-thought of Chief Elder Baishen. Quickly looking at him from the corner of his eye, Cao Yun saw a look of dejection on his face. Without standing on ceremony, the two men went upstairs as well. They reached the highest floor where the inner disciple from earlier literally kowtowed before Cao Yun.

"Young Sect Master, please forgive this ignorant one. I had eyes but failed to recognize the greatest hero of our generation."

"Do not fret about it. I didn't want to be recognized."

From his spatial ring, Cao Yun gave her a pill.

"Please, do not talk about my presence here until the announcement has been made official. I still have a few things to do and I don't want to cause a scene."

The inner disciple looked at the pill that had landed just in front of her face, between her hands. It was a Frozen Fire pill. Such a pill was a prodigious 3-star Heaven pill that could help accumulate a great amount of Fire Qi, indispensable to a Mortal Warrior such as herself. Besides, it wasn't just any pill. Even without being an alchemist, she could tell that this was a Pure pill. Selling such a pill would make her instantaneously rich. However, using this pill was worth so much more than mere wealth. She would prepare herself for weeks, or even months, to be in the perfect condition in order to benefit from this pill to the fullest. She might actually break through and become a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior just by taking this pill.

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Obviously, her mind was in utter chaos. She stayed quiet, completely frozen for some time when she finally realized that she was being impolite. Thus, she started to speak faster than before in her life.

"Of course, Young Sect Master. My lips are sealed. Thank you for your great generosity. This insignificant one will never do enough to repay your kindness."

Then, she left as her mistress had asked her to leave them alone on this floor. Instead, she had to guard the stairs leading to her floor.

As she left, Chief Instructor Peng looked at her back and nodded to Cao Yun.

"I already told you you could have any woman you want, no need to throw away your money for that. Even a 1-star Human pill would have done the trick... By the way, I'm also keeping my lips sealed about you, so..."

With his devious smile at the corners of his mouth, Cao Yun knew Chief Instructor Peng was simply jesting. That was quite natural for him, unless he was training disciples. In that situation, the disciples thought he was serious and severe. But that image of his had completely disappeared from Cao Yun's mind. In its stead, Cao Yun was seeing a round man who kept running after beautiful women and joking around about almost everything. Honestly, it was quite refreshing. Even with his former student's current status, Chief Instructor Peng wasn't standing on ceremony or trying to curry favors. He almost felt like an old friend, even though he had been Cao Yun's teacher.

"Well, even if you're stingy with your old teacher, I can still benefit from you nonetheless. Now that that beautiful lady knows I'm related to you, I think I can..."

Suddenly, the door to Chief Elder Baishen's office opened. For only an instant, dark eyes were focused on Chief Instructor Peng who immediately remembered that Chief Elder Baishen could obviously hear everything he was saying.

"It never stopped you before, but Miss Chen is married."

"Just kidding, just messing around, Chief Elder. Pay no mind to my stupid remarks. Look who I've brought to you."

After that, Chief Elder Baishen completely ignored Chief Instructor Peng's existence.

"Chen Guo! It's so nice to see you again. I was among those who didn't think you were actually dead. Losing you would have been such a waste, even the Heavens couldn't be so cruel with us. And now that we are in our direst hour, they bring you back to us. Unfortunately, Spirit Master Xiao is away along with your sister Mei Hua. Even your teacher Elder Meng Jia is away. Most Heaven alchemists are in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. After all, the entire Hongchen Kingdom needs pills, both to cultivate and strengthen themselves, but also to heal. This war is just a disaster... I hoped you'd have come back under better circumstances. But it is genuinely great to see you back."

Looking at Chief Elder Baishen, even Cao Yun could see that she had grown older. For a 7th-grade Spirit Warrior like her, it showed how much stress had weighed on her. Although she was hiding it, Cao Yun could also tell that her cultivation had been injured and so had her body. Even with great medicine, she had probably suffered on the battlefield and had never fully recovered. From what he could tell, her soul had not been injured, it was her morale that had affected her cultivation.

Immediately, Cao Yun was thinking about several pills and medicine that could help her. But he didn't have them on him right now. Besides, the best one he had in mind was a 2-star Spirit pill. It would probably help her recover fully and even gain some more vitality as well. Until he was sure he could refine it, he wouldn't talk about it. But Cao Yun wanted to repay all those who had helped him, and he would, as much as he could.

"Your cultivation improved tremendously. This is quite miraculous!"

"Thank you, Chief Elder, but your praise is too much. I simply had many fortuitous encounters."

"Being lucky is also part of one's talent, no? Besides, dumb luck doesn't help anyone achieve greatness. Many people had a lot of fortuitous encounters but were unable to turn them into strength or talent. Moreover, I'm not just talking about your Qi cultivation, I'm also referring to your Spear Heart. This isn't something you can just get by random chance. It doesn't even come with Qi cultivation."

"My friend Yun Ping already achieved Spear Spirit, my own achievement is still very limited."

"Humph...! If your achievement is limited, then all spearsmen will have to cry rivers of bitterness. Comparing yourself to another freak doesn't diminish your own talents. After all, you also had to spend a lot of time on cultivation alone while Commander Yun Ping devoted most of his life to spearmanship. Anyway, I would love to see your Spear Heart in action, but we don't have that luxury right now. Unfortunately, you should immediately go see your master, Sect Leader Xuan. I'm sure that news of your arrival reached him."

"I heard some things about my master on the way here. Is it true?"

Chief Elder Baishen, and Chief Instructor Peng, had difficult faces. She sighed and answered.

"Like many others, he was indeed injured on the battlefield. Of course, he's still the most powerful cultivator in the entire Hongchen Kingdom, but he needs some rest. I think that he... well, it's better if he tells you himself. But it's not as bad as you might have heard. Do not worry about him. Yes, he's a bit old, but not that old."

Indeed, Sect Leader Xuan was getting closer and closer to his 2,000th birthday, probably in twenty or thirty years. For even a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior, this was the limit of their natural lifespan. After all, Matriarch Huang herself was older than 2,000 years old. Both of them had sadly less than a century left to live. Although their vitality was still strong, it would steeply decline before their very last years. Even with great pills, there was nothing to do. They could try to spare their prenatal Jing as much as they could, it would soon run out completely. Unless one was able to break through into the sixth realm of Qi cultivation, true immortality was impossible to achieve.

In fact, even if they were to become Sages, their lifespan would not improve. Spirit Warriors, Sages and Monarchs could only live for around 2,000 years. The oldest cultivator from those realms ever registered had been 2,213 years old when she died. She had been an early Monarch at the beginning of the Forsaken Dao Era. With no way of breaking through, she stayed stuck in her cultivation and died of old age.

"When you're done with your master, I imagine you'll want to meet your brother Ren Chao. But once you have some time, I'd really like to spar with you a little. I do think we're around the same level so it would be extremely interesting."

In Chief Elder Baishen's eyes, Cao Yun could see that she was trying to hide her excitement. She absolutely couldn't wait but she was trying hard to hide it and to be patient. If it was possible, she would have loved to spar just now and then.

"But, Chief Elder, you still have a lot of paperwork to..."

"Chief Instructor, you can do it all for me. After all, you seem to like Miss Chen's company. Staying with her all day and night to file this pile of paperwork should be entertaining, right?"

"Please, Chief Elder Baishen, have mercy on this foolish little man. I was just joking around, I swear."

"Well, too bad, because I'm not."

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