Chapter 370: Grand Master

Hearing the intelligence provided by True Immortal Yuan Ling, Yu Sheng fell silent for a moment, sinking into brief recollection and contemplation.

His contact with the figure who called himself "Yun Qingzi" had been very short, yet based solely on that brief encounter, he had detected no "refined and amiable" temperament in the other party; however, to say the other party was so "mad and eccentric"... it was clearly not yet to that extent.

A drastic change in temperament? Split personality? Qi deviation?

An ancient powerhouse who had lived from the "previous generation" to the present day, an ancient strong one who could come and go freely at the edge of the galaxy—what exactly must he have encountered to reappear after a thousand years of disappearance in such a state with obviously problematic mental conditions? True Immortal Yuan Ling said Yun Qingzi went missing after a fierce battle with a certain powerful enemy; then what sort of thing could have fought the other party at the galaxy's border?

Yu Sheng frowned in thought, but soon his train of thought was interrupted by a figure that suddenly ran into the great hall.

Xuan Yun, the little junior brother of Xuan Che, rushed in from outside the door with great energy, shouting excitedly as he ran: "Master! Master! Grand Master and the other uncles have returned!!"

Hearing this, Yu Sheng was slightly stunned, then immediately realized—

The Grand Master of Xuan Che, who had a legendary life experience and a string of beautiful female confidantes but unfortunately was caught by a certain Fairy while partying down the mountain more than ten years ago and made a hostage husband, only recently having luckily been rescued, had returned!

Yu Sheng vaguely remembered that one of the main reasons he originally came to Qianfeng Lingshan was to meet this extraordinary person... he never expected that before he could even see him, he would first encounter a bunch of even more bizarre situations here.

As for fate, it truly is unpredictable.

He had just sighed this thought in his heart when he saw two beams of rosy light fly swiftly from among the auspicious clouds of Xianshan outside the great hall, then immediately land within the hall, transforming into two figures in the blink of an eye.

One of them appeared middle-aged, tall and thin, with a long face, holding a fly-whisk, wearing a pale purple Taoist robe, and carrying himself with an air of immortality and Taoist bone—Yu Sheng remembered seeing him in a news section of a border communication channel; if he wasn't mistaken, this should be Yuan He, the presiding elder of the Beast-Taming Peak of Qianfeng Lingshan.

The other person was even more impressive; though his face was also middle-aged, his build was towering, with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, exuding a magnificent bearing. He wore a moon-white long gown, with white hair and white eyebrows. Although his complexion was somewhat pale, his demeanor was truly extraordinary. Yu Sheng took just one look and felt that if this person were thrown into a film or TV work, he could at least generate twenty pages of CP pairings—the kind that included men, women, old, and young.

Moreover, he looked exactly like the type of "beautiful, strong, and tragic" handsome father archetype; simply put, his entire career had come to nothing, and on the road of love, he ultimately ended up with no one, leaving only tragedy. In the grand finale, he would lie on the ground with a face so handsome it surpassed all others while the camera circled around him.

The true sect master of Qianfeng Lingshan, the presiding elder of the Divine Weapon Peak, True Immortal Yuan Hao.

Yu Sheng was stunned for just a brief moment, then saw True Immortal Yuan Ling step forward, but before the old man could even open his mouth, the handsome old man on the opposite side stepped back half a pace first and clasped his hands: "On the way, the Third Junior Brother has already fought."

True Immortal Yuan Ling stumbled slightly, raised his head to look at True Immortal Yuan He beside him, and his expression showed considerable dissatisfaction.

True Immortal Yuan He flicked his fly-whisk: "I couldn't hold back."

"The senior brother is at fault; how could a junior brother truly strike a blow?" True Immortal Yuan Ling said with a stern face, looking at the senior and junior brothers before him, not knowing for whom these words were intended. Then he coughed twice dryly, stepped aside half a pace, and added, "Today we have distinguished guests present, so let us not discuss troublesome matters—this is Yu Sheng from the Borderland, Mr. Yu, whom I mentioned to you in my message a few days ago. This is Miss Erin, a doll from Alice's Cottage."

Yu Sheng hurriedly carried Erin over to greet them, while True Immortal Yuan Ling continued introducing from the side: "This is Yuan He, the elder of the Beast-Taming Peak of Qianfeng Lingshan, and also my junior brother. This is my Grand Master, Yuan Hao, who is also the true, real, actual sect master of Qianfeng Lingshan..."

When the old man said the two words "sect master," his back teeth seemed to be bleeding with resentment...

"I have heard, I have heard," True Immortal Yuan Hao said. Though his bearing was majestic and imposing, his tone during conversation was quite calm and ordinary. He first glanced at Yu Sheng several times as if by accident, then suddenly smiled on his face: "The incident of 'Angel's Fall' shook all realms; at that time, I thought that if I had the chance, I would really like to meet this high person..."

As soon as he finished speaking, True Immortal Yuan Ling beside him frowned: "You were still able to receive outside news 'at that time'?"

True Immortal Yuan Hao's expression was somewhat subtle; he smiled awkwardly before speaking: "She... usually still lets me see the news and such."

Seeing the other party's state, Yu Sheng almost couldn't hold back his laughter...

And during this process, Erin on his shoulder kept turning her head to look around, glancing at Yuan Hao and Yuan He for a while, then staring at Yuan Ling for a while, occasionally frowning in thought. After a long while, she finally couldn't hold back, raised her finger, and pointed at the white-haired, child-faced True Immortal Yuan Ling: "Why are you so old!"

True Immortal Yuan Ling: "... Huh?"

Erin always said whatever came to mind: "Your two senior and junior brothers both look so young, especially your senior brother; why is your image that of an old man?"

"Ahem, for us cultivators, appearance is sometimes not to be trusted," True Immortal Yuan Ling coughed twice, somewhat awkwardly. "I do not care much about such matters, and besides, I usually have to act as the sect master and must be able to keep a group of unruly disciples in check, so..."

Before he could finish speaking, Erin made an "Oh" sound. The little doll nodded seriously: "I understand, just like when programmers apply for jobs, the less hair they have, the more senior they are, right?"

Yu Sheng covered his face: "Those are all stereotypes."

Erin put her hands on her hips: "Stereotypes have reasons!"

"... Actually, what Erin said does have some truth," True Immortal Yuan Ling said with a smile. "Moreover, I have looked like this for many years and am already used to it. If I truly changed my appearance, it wouldn't matter how others reacted, but I myself might not be able to adapt."

"Oh," Erin nodded, then her eyes rolled, and she raised her finger to point at True Immortal Yuan Hao: "Then looking like this, he must have had many romantic tribulations..."

Yu Sheng really couldn't bear to listen anymore; he reached out and covered the little doll's entire face, while explaining to the handsome old man opposite: "Don't mind her, she just thinks and says whatever comes to mind... Don't bite! Let go! Let go!"

True Immortal Yuan Hao was not angry at all; hearing Erin's words, he actually laughed self-deprecatingly: "Ah, forgive me, forgive me."

After everyone exchanged a few words and became familiar with each other, True Immortal Yuan Ling coughed lightly twice and fixed his gaze on his Grand Master.

"Senior brother has worked hard these years and has been constantly on the move and exhausted recently; today, please go rest first. Tomorrow we..."

Before he could finish, True Immortal Yuan Hao waved his hand: "No rush. I have 'rested' enough these years; now I actually want to move around more. Moreover, I just heard... recently there have been some unusual matters here at Tai Xu Ling Shu?"

True Immortal Yuan Ling's eyebrows raised slightly, and then his tone became somewhat helpless: "Ah, I knew you definitely couldn't sit still, especially after learning about recent events. Indeed, some things have happened in recent days—the matter originally started with a strange foreign realm discovered above Tai You..."

Next, True Immortal Yuan Ling told his Grand Master, who had finally returned home, everything about that strange foreign realm, especially emphasizing the mysterious "Legacy of the Emperor" and the various traces appearing in the foreign realm that seemed to point to the "Old World." After finishing, he pondered briefly and added: "Now we suspect the scope of that foreign realm is far larger than imagined. There are entrances to it on both Tai You and Tai Xu Ling Shu, and even in other places of the Fei Yu Star Domain, there may exist 'rifts' leading to that foreign realm."

True Immortal Yuan Hao (actually Yu Sheng would rather just call him the handsome old man) listened extremely attentively throughout, frowned in thought for a long time, then raised his head to look at Yu Sheng: "You encountered a group of black-robed cultivators of unknown origin, all wearing strange masks, saying they wanted to find that 'Legacy of the Emperor'?"

"Yes, and as soon as they met us, they wanted to fight and kill," Yu Sheng nodded. "Now I suspect they were not specifically ambushing us, but rather encountered us while searching for clues to the 'legacy' in the foreign realm. To prevent information from leaking, they suddenly attacked—but they just couldn't win."

True Immortal Yuan Hao continued to frown and think for a moment, then suddenly raised his hand and made a gesture, actually producing an object out of thin air and displaying it before Yu Sheng: "Is it a mask like this?"

Yu Sheng: "...?!?"

He stared dumbfounded at the mask the handsome old man had pulled out of thin air. Seeing that the object was dark in color, with strange pitted patterns on its surface, like wind-dried tree bark or wrinkled stone, it was clearly the same appearance as the things worn by those black-robed cultivators earlier. Immediately, he was completely stunned.

Even True Immortal Yuan Ling beside him was momentarily dazed: "Senior brother, where did you get this?!"

"More than ten years ago, at an abandoned outpost near the border," True Immortal Yuan Hao said casually. "At that time, my flying boat broke down..."

Before he could even finish the beginning of his sentence, Erin already widened her eyes: "Does your flying boat ever work properly?!"

"Don't interrupt first," Yu Sheng immediately poked the little doll (although he also really wanted to ask the same question), then looked at the handsome old man before him. "You continue, continue."

"Uh, at that time the flying boat broke down, forcing us to dock in the asteroid belt. Just as I was helpless, I found an abandoned outpost built on an asteroid and planned to use the remaining materials in the outpost to repair the spiritual compass of the flying boat.

"At first, everything went smoothly. Although the outpost had been abandoned for many years, its structure was still intact, and there were many things inside that could be put to use. But later, as I walked deeper into the outpost, the situation began to seem strange.

"Deep within that outpost, I discovered some rooms that logically should not exist at all—some rooms repeated endlessly, one after another; some rooms, structurally, had already exceeded the scope of the outpost; and some rooms were empty yet brightly lit, and strange sounds and shadows always appeared...

"And inside one of those strange rooms, I found a mask like this, and also a black-robed man who had died inside."

(End of this chapter)