Realman Du Cang had arrived.

When the news reached Kongshan Sect, the entire sect from top to bottom plunged into a frenzy of activity.

Even the outer court disciples of Kongshan Sect cleaned every corner of the outer court until it was spotless, though the vast majority of them had no idea why they were doing it.

This was Realman Du Cang, a dignified Ascended Immortal great power, and according to rumors very likely to become a major steward of Chenping Continent. If he came to visit Kongshan Sect, how could he possibly set foot in a shabby place like the outer court?

Still, a few well-informed people had heard that this Realman Du Cang seemed to have some causal connection with Kongshan Sect’s outer court.

Although most of those outer court disciples knew almost nothing about the word causality, Outer Court Elder Sun Lu ultimately ordered that every speck of dust in the outer court be cleaned spotless.

What if Realman Du Cang actually visited the outer court?

You never fear ten thousand, only the one-in-ten-thousand.

Sun Lu’s order brought normal outer court operations to a complete halt. Merit Hall stopped issuing sect missions, scripture lectures in the Scripture Hall were suspended, and even the training grounds’ gates remained closed. All outer court disciples were mobilized to prepare to welcome Realman Du Cang’s honored arrival.

Of course, Chen Yan had no intention of coming to the outer court.

His visit to Kongshan Sect this time was strictly part of his original plan: to visit the Five Great Sects of Chenping Continent, recruit some workers to help construct Du Cang Mountain, and communicate matters regarding the Du Cang Mountain Dao Discussion three years from now.

At most, he would also drop by to see old acquaintances.

...

Kongshan Sect, Kongyuan Mountain.

In front of Kongyuan Hall.

Now fifty-one Grand Elders stood in pure white daoist robes outside the main hall. Leading them was a gaunt man with an expressionless face, neither sad nor joyful—True Person Caiyun, Kong Yang, the current Ascended Steward of Kongshan Sect.

Compared to the Great Chaos of the Immortals two years ago, Kong Yang looked even thinner and more haggard now.

On both sides of Kongyuan Hall stood over a thousand elders and disciples from Kongshan Sect’s Three Mountains and Four Peaks.

Although more than a thousand cultivators stood before Kongyuan Hall at this moment, the silence was so complete that one could clearly hear even the sound of a single hair dropping to the ground.

Above the cloud layer a thousand zhang high, two white cranes soared by in leisure. Under the sunlight, the edges of their wings looked like feathers edged in molten gold.

Until the young man in simple white daoist robes slowly walked from the opposite side of Kongyuan Hall.

“Greetings, Realman Du Cang!”

He Zongzhou, now Kongshan Sect’s Supreme Martial Pacification Elder, shouted loudly beside Kong Yang and raised both hands in a reverent salute toward the young man in plain white robes walking forward.

“Greetings, Realman Du Cang!”

Immediately, the over one thousand Kongshan Sect cultivators before Kongyuan Hall all bowed respectfully toward Chen Yan.

Chen Yan gave no reply. He simply continued walking toward Kong Yang in front of Kongyuan Hall.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see many familiar faces among those bowing reverently on both sides.

From Qingchan Peak: Fu Qian, Bai Qiming, and Chu Xiyao, among others.

By the current measure of time in this world, only a little more than twenty years had passed since he left Kongshan Sect.

In just these little over twenty years, both Fu Qian and Bai Qiming, the two peak elders who once wielded power on Qingchan Peak, had now been completely abandoned by Kong Yang.

In a sense, they had brought it on themselves.

As for the current emotions of the former Solemn Martial Elder of Qingchan Peak standing in the crowd and respectfully bowing to this visiting Ascended Immortal cultivator, his feelings were a complex mix.

Both Chen Yan and Lu Li had once been chess pieces to him when he held great power.

Fu Qian was well aware of his cultivation talent. In truth he understood that being able to break into the Myriad Transformations Realm and climb to the Solemn Martial elder position on Qingchan Peak already put him above many cultivators in this world.

But he also knew his cultivation had almost no chance of further advancement.

He was dissatisfied.

So he chose the path of political maneuvering to control Qingchan.

But Fu Qian never learned the lesson of the frog at the bottom of the well, the folly of looking at the sky through a narrow mouth.

The political scheming he played was nothing more than child’s play in the eyes of the Grand Elders in the sect.

In absolute strength’s face, so-called political schemes were mere paper.

Only when strength was comparable, or when both sides had cause to hold back, did people resort to “power plays.”

Beside him, Chu Xiyao, now the Discipline Hall elder of Qingchan Peak, still looked exactly the same as when she participated in the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry more than twenty years ago—her black hair fell like a waterfall, and her face remained coldly beautiful.

In her eyes, the young man in plain white robes whom all the Kongyuan Mountain disciples now revered looked no different from how he had appeared more than twenty years ago at the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry.

Except...

Chen Yan glanced in Chu Xiyao’s direction.

Although it was an involuntary glance, the moment her gaze touched Chen Yan’s eyes, every circulating true qi in her meridians instantly froze. Even her Martial Spring felt as if it had iced over. A tremendous pressure swept across her body.

She realized that twenty-plus years later, the Chen Shouzu who had once called her “Senior Sister Chu” was completely different from before.

He likely only needed a single thought to immediately kill everyone on Kongyuan Mountain except the Patriarch Kong.

At this moment, the gap between her and Chen Yan was probably greater than between her and ordinary mortals.

Chen Yan continued forward, and his gaze fell on the other Kongyuan Mountain cultivators bowing to him: Yue Chi, Liu Yantang, Zhao Bin, and his convenient master Lin Qifeng, who was bowing while winking and making faces to ingratiate himself.

Seeing this, Chen Yan merely nodded toward Lin Qifeng.

Then he kept walking.

In the ranks of those bowing was also a young woman wearing Mingxiao Peak’s daoist robe.

Cheng Ziying.

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