Green Valley Town.
The Li family estate.
At this moment, Li Kuangtu, Li Kuanghua, and the two Buddhist cultivators returned to their homeland once again.
Gazing at the peaceful Green Valley Town, complex emotions welled up within them. When they left, they were still naive children, prone to crying and throwing tantrums. Now, they had grown up, following in the footsteps of their elders.
Li Kuangtu didn't know what his elder siblings were thinking.
He felt that Green Valley Town now seemed small to him. He didn't know why, but when he saw the villagers and people he used to know, it felt strange. He even felt awkward talking to them, so he simply avoided meeting his old friends.
It was small, but it was also warm and comforting. They returned to the family estate, visited the place where the Primordial Blood Tree had taken root, went to the ancestral hall, and then revisited the Silver Iron Forest.
An unprecedented sense of security washed over him, making him want to cry.
As he wandered around, a figure came into view. It was... Qingyu, his childhood sweetheart!
Qingyu was still as beautiful as she was back then. She now wore a white robe similar to Huang Xiujin's, and experts from the Cloudsea Pavilion were protecting her.
"Kuangtu!"
"Sister Qingyu!"
Seeing Qingyu, Li Kuangtu rushed towards her without hesitation and embraced her without any reservation. If it were before, he would surely have shouted, "Sister Qingyu, I'm a man now!"
But now, he simply held Qingyu quietly, feeling her trembling with excitement in his arms. "Sister Qingyu," he whispered, "I'm back."
"In broad daylight, how shameless."
Li Kuanghua was also present, and seeing them acting so intimately in public made her roll her eyes. However, with her younger brother and his fiancée present, she refrained from saying anything insulting. She simply instructed, "Don't do anything foolish, you brat. Some things should only be done after marriage. Don't follow your elder brother's example."
"Kissing and hugging, even touching where you shouldn't, I'll let it slide this time. But after you're married, you can do whatever you want."
With that, she left with the two monks, who were walking with their heads bowed, continuously chanting scriptures.
"..."
Li Kuangtu's lips twitched. He didn't even blush anymore. He felt a bit grateful that at least his elder sister hadn't called him "useless."
Qingyu looked at Li Kuanghua's retreating figure, walking sideways like a crab, with astonishment. "What happened to Kuanghua?" she wondered. "Was... was she possessed by someone else?"
If she remembered correctly, when Li Kuanghua left, she was timid and reserved, speaking softly and gently, a truly pitiful sight.
But now, Li Kuanghua dared to say anything, just like those seven incredibly straightforward uncles of hers, as she had heard in the rumors.
"Ahem."
Li Kuangtu touched his nose. "My sister," he said, "she's spent too much time with those demon cultivators. You'll get used to it."
The two of them sat beside the swing that Li Kuangtu used to play on as a child. But now, he no longer wanted to sit on the swing. He just wanted to quietly watch.
It was as if he could see that small child sitting there, being pushed by Grandpa Huang and Qingyu, cheering in the wind.
Li Kuangtu recounted his experiences over the years in detail. Every time he mentioned a dangerous situation, Qingyu's grip on his hand would tighten.
When he told her about his exploits at the Azure Cloud Martial Pavilion, how he had even defeated Yan Xiao, Qingyu wept with joy. "Grandpa Huang said it," she exclaimed, "Kuangtu would definitely return with glory worthy of praise!"
But as soon as she finished speaking, both of them fell silent.
After a long while...
Li Kuangtu finally spoke. "Qingyu," he said, "I'm sorry, but our family couldn't find Grandpa Huang. Fourth Great-grandaunt has been using Dawn to search for him all these years. This time, she even went to the Azure Cloud Pavilion."
"It's alright," Qingyu replied. "As long as we keep searching, we'll find him one day."
Qingyu spoke softly.
That day, Grandpa Huang, who had raised her, left the Li family to find a place to peacefully pass away and leave his final inheritance to the Cloudsea Pavilion. But on that same day, he disappeared without a trace.
Despite numerous searches, Dawn, with its influence throughout the Azure Cloud region, could only find information about Huang Xiujin's meeting with Yu Xian, the former Pavilion Master of the Azure Cloud Pavilion.
That was the last trace of him.
But the more Dawn investigated, the more terrifying it became. It turned out that Yu Xian had always been a member of a mysterious organization, the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion. He had been hiding within the Azure Cloud Pavilion, and no one knew his true purpose.
Just as the two of them were lost in thought, their heads bowed, someone from the Cloudsea Pavilion arrived on a flying sword, evidently in a hurry.
His expression was a mix of surprise and bewilderment.
"Miss Qingyu," he announced, "Tower Master... he's back! He's right outside Green Valley Town!"
"What?!"
Joy spread across the faces of Li Kuangtu and Qingyu. They didn't dare delay and, hand in hand, flew down and landed outside Green Valley Town.
After many years, their Grandpa Huang had not passed away. Instead, he stood straight as an arrow before the gates of Green Valley Town, seemingly lost in thought.
But as the two drew closer, the joy on their faces gradually faded, replaced by a solemn expression.
Huang Xiujin's expression was gloomy as he gazed at everything within Green Valley Town, sighing repeatedly.
Seeing the two most important people in his life approaching, he took a deep breath and said in a grave tone, "Inform the Cloudsea Pavilion, inform the elders of the Li family. Return immediately."
"They..."
"...are coming!"
---
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