Imdiately after, he returned to the Emperor Origin Realm. The once-familiar place nas were now even harder to find. The territory of Great Li was now such that current cultivators had no idea there once existed a nation called Great Li here.
Profound Yang Sect, White Tiger City... these small forces that once made a na for themselves in the north of Great Li were now hard to find even in historical records.
Li An’s thoughts fluttered as he walked through the once Cloud Illusion Mountain Range, Moon Tempering Valley, and other places, even making a trip to the Profound Yang Sect. After its destruction, a Seven Yin Sect had been established here, but now it was nothing more than a patch of wild grass.
As if another great war had occurred, destroying everything in this place, when Li An returned to Spirit Plant Mountain, even those two desolate graves could no longer be found.
After a thousand years, the earth and mud had long returned to the land, where could one search?
"Wang Zilin, Zhang Susu..."
The nas of these two old friends flashed across Li An’s mind, and he rely glanced distantly without dwelling further.
Soon after, he appeared in front of a small mountain village.
To Li An’s surprise, a thousand years had passed, yet this place had not changed much!
He still rembered the scene he saw when he ca with Gu Hong: low walls covered in moss, and the villagers inside and outside the village continued farming, living in peace and contentnt.
He entered the village. At the entrance, an old man lay sunbathing on a bamboo chair. Seeing Li An, he warmly asked, "Where does the guest co from?"
Li An rely said he was a traveler passing from another land, and after mistakenly entering the village, he was warmly welcod into the house, served wine, and treated with a feast. In conversation with this old man, he learned that the villagers had lived here for generations, never venturing out, unaware of the world outside. They did not know of Great Li, nor Emperor Origin Realm, New Continent, or Dao Sect, whether it was Spirit Realm or mysterious matters.
During those thousand years, this place seed to have changed very little!
Li An walked to the small courtyard where he once lived with Gu Hong. Although the courtyard was old, it had not collapsed. It was uninhabited but showed signs of repair. When asked, the old man replied:
"It’s an ancestral ho left by the villagers. There were thoughts of soone moving out, but no one knows when soone might return. We are all neighbors; if it begins to collapse, we lend a hand and repair it a bit without much effort."
Li An stood silently for a long ti, then stepped into the small courtyard, where the plum tree he and Gu Hong had planted had grown so large that a person could encircle it with their arms, standing tall and flourishing like a canopy.
Back then, when Gu Hong was nearing his end, they had spent so mortal days here together. Now, those mories resurfaced one by one, still causing Li An imnse heartache and sorrow, and his eyes inexplicably grew moist.
He looked at Gu Hong’s grave, and the courtyard was still intact; the villagers naturally tended the grave well, just as it had been.
Sitting in front of Gu Hong’s grave, Li An spoke many whispered words, not leaving until dawn of the next day, slipping away amidst the dense darkness.
Since entering the Spirit Realm, Li An had never returned. He was always uneasy, worried that coming back might bring trouble to this place. Now returning from the Exotic Realm, with Shangguan Shengxian and other great enemies long gone and no one watching, he finally returned.
As he walked out of the village, he vaguely heard various sounds from within: children sleeping peacefully, husbands preparing the plow for work as wives lovingly urged them to wear an extra layer; there were also elders mumbling in sleep, perhaps reminiscing about so mory from their youth...
The path out of the village was winding. As he walked away step by step, he felt an unprecedented loneliness.
Until he re-entered the world of cultivators, he forced himself to suppress these emotions, returning to his essential self, reinvigorating himself, and heading towards the Daoist Temple that the Dao Sect had once established in the Emperor Origin Realm.
As he anticipated, although the Dao Sect appeared to have completely "withdrawn" from worldly matters, the Daoist Temple still remained, albeit more concealed, with a strong array to protect it. When Li An appeared outside the array, releasing his presence, it was still at the Harmonization Dao level.
"Who cos here to disturb—"
Voices scolded from within the Daoist Temple, to which Li An revealed his elder token, saying, "Li An, Elder of Evergreen Peak in the Dao Sect, returns to the Main Sect from the Exotic Realm!"
Instantly, everyone within the Daoist Temple was shocked. Soone ca out, verified his token, and hurriedly contacted the Main Sect. After quite so effort, a disciple respectfully led Li An inside, saying, "Apologies for the neglect, Elder, please do not take offense—"
"Caution is a good thing, there is no offense."
Li An spoke calmly. Observing, he saw that the disciples remaining at the Dao Sect were only at the Divinity Transformation Stage.
Clearly, the Dao Sect had returned entirely to the right track. New disciples no longer consud Immortal Dao materials, and everything tended towards normalcy.
In fact, before the great transformations and the so-called Golden Age’s arrival, the New Continent was such that a Divinity Transformation Stage cultivator could dominate the four directions, making the Immortal Dao material cause a global uproar akin to a great illusion.
The Dao Sect had awakened.
The array opened, and Li An entered, soon vanishing from sight.
"Senior Brother, do you think this great figure is a true great figure or a false one?"
Several disciples responsible for guarding the area began to discuss.
"If he is a true great figure without relying on Immortal Dao materials, then he must be an extraordinarily talented individual, likely a Peak Master of the Main Peak back in the day. But throughout these years, true great talents are rare. This Elder is unknown, never heard of, probably ascending through the false Immortal path."
Soone spoke.
Within the Dao Sect, the original orthodox Immortal path was now called the true path, while using Exotic Realm Immortal Dao materials was terd the false Immortal path.
...
Ti flew by, space revolved, and soon, Li An once again appeared atop the Dao Sect.
Stepping out of the teleportation array, Li An couldn’t help but feel a myriad of emotions. How many years had it been since he last returned...
"Old Turtle, Old Turtle!"
A familiar voice rang out as those waiting outside, Xiang Yuntian, Gu Canye, and others, rushed in. Accompanying them were the Supre Immortals of the Dao Sect, Withered Fate, and Taiqingzi!
...
Good night.
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