The old man chuckled at himself for making such a silly promise to the heavens.
Well, when one was as old as he was and so close to death, one could make that sort of promise without worrying about the consequences.
His precious, beautiful granddaughter, of incomparable talent, betrothed to so young outer disciple of the sect.
As if that were ever going to happen.
His family even wanted him, instead of accepting death, to allow himself to be imprisoned in a spiritual array capable of keeping his soul alive for as long as the Ma family lasted, so that he could continue teaching the younger generations and guiding their steps. He detested that idea.
When his ti ca, he planned to throw himself at the many enemies of the Ma family, taking as many of them with him as possible before exploding, or perhaps throwing himself into a sea of beasts.
With yet another young man failing to retrieve the elixir, his death seed increasingly certain, but he knew he still had so ti to plan his final farewell.
As he thought about those things, the old man finally noticed sothing.
Wasn't Qingyi... a little too cheerful?
Yes, he was smiling and calm, his robes soaked, but without any visible injuries and without any sign of depletion in his Qi.
"Young man..." The old man took a step forward, his heart pounding in his chest as, behind Qingyi, the golden pavilion dissolved into tiny fragnts of light.
That could only an one thing: the secret realm had been
conquered.
"Greetings, senior." Qingyi bowed imdiately, clasping his fists. That old man was powerful, far more so than Elder Shen, likely just a single step away from entering the realm of the Stellar Sovereign.
Upon seeing him, Qingyi knew imdiately that he was the one who had issued that mission, and though Qingyi did not know him, he could clearly see that his body was on the brink of death.
That was likely why he desired the elixir, to aid him in the breakthrough that could save his life.
After all, the Stellar Sovereign realm was one where not only the soul, but even the body of a cultivator beca eternal, immune to the passage of ti.
Millions, billions, trillions of years.
No matter how much ti passed, the body of a Stellar Sovereign was truly immortal.
"Did you get the elixir?" the old man finally asked, his voice slightly trembling.
"Yes, senior. You were the one who posted the mission to obtain it, weren't you?" Qingyi asked, pulling the greenish elixir from his spatial ring.
Imdiately, the elixir slipped from his hands, landing gently in the old man's palms.
"It is, indeed... the supre elixir of the celestial life herb..." Old Man Ma murmured to himself, still visibly shocked.
At that mont, holding the elixir between his fingers, he raised his eyes to the heavens and recalled the silly promise he had made: to marry his beloved granddaughter to the young man capable of retrieving the elixir.
Breaking promises made to the heavens usually had terrible
consequences, but this had been nothing more than a joke, without any real weight.
The heavens wouldn't demand that he keep it, would they?
The old man's eyes closed as soon as he sensed the heavens growing faintly dark, as if warning him of sothing.
He was at the peak of the First Step of the Path of Extinction Realm, and his connection to the heavens was very strong, so he knew his promise had been acknowledged.
'Ah... as long as I don't directly prevent their marriage, I won't have any problems, right? After advancing, I'll head to the central regions to be with her.
It's not as if that young man has the ability to get there, and even if he did, what are the chances he'd find her and she'd fall in love with
him?' The old man thought, smiling to himself.
He was absolutely certain the chances were slim to none.
His cute little granddaughter would never fall in love with just any
pretty face from the outer regions.
"Uh... senior? Qingyi called out, uncomfortable with the expression on
the old man's face.
He was planning sothing unpleasant?
"Oh... cough... cough..." The old man cleared his throat, his ears slightly reddened.
"You may go now, young man. I will send a ssage to the sect asking
them to grant you a generous reward. If you need help with anything, do not hesitate to invoke the na of Ma Zhenwu, the sect's revered
founding hero."
Hearing those words, Qingyi couldn't hide his shock.
He had already heard that na while talking with Chen Wei about the experts in that region.
Ma Zhenwu was an old monster from the past who, together with the ancestor, had founded the sect about five hundred thousand years ago, having outlived more than six consecutive sect leaders.
He was the only one of the five original founding heroes still alive, which was curious, as he was also the least talented of the five. With nothing more to say, the old man turned his back and soared off toward the horizon.
That elixir might not only aid him in his advancent but perhaps
even enhance his talent, and, if he was lucky, he could use his hundreds of thousands of years of accumulated cultivation to cross several realms at once.
He didn't want to admit it because of the foolish mistake he'd made in
despising Qingyi and making that promise to the heavens, but the young man had done the Ma family a great service.
Qingyi simply watched the old man walk away, receiving a nod from the guards who also withdrew.
They had already collected the corpses and notified the sect of what
had happened.
That would likely result in no punishnt for Tianhao because of his status, but it was still a blow to his prestige, especially since it was the Ma family itself, one of the sect's most respected vassals, that had denounced him for paying to kill a fellow disciple. Qingyi, honestly, couldn't have cared less about it.
Tianhao's ti would co, and for now, he just wanted to return to the sect, collect his reward, and then resu his cultivation. With a soft sigh, the handso young man entered his ship and shot off into the cosmos.
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