Looking back on everything, the journey had been fraught with hardships and near-death experiences. Never had they imagined that the clouds would part and the moon would shine through at precisely this moment. Palace Master Dan Chi was overwhelmed with a torrent of emotions.
This happiness had come so suddenly, so completely, that the feelings Palace Master Dan Chi had suppressed for so long finally burst forth in full release!
Elder Yun Nie was even more moved than the Palace Master. He gripped Dan Chi's arms tightly, as though afraid the man might fly away.
The relationship between Elder Yun Nie and Palace Master Dan Chi had not been particularly close in the early years. When Dan Chi first assumed his position, he had placed great emphasis on martial cultivation, giving somewhat less attention to the traditional pill arts of Dan Qian Palace. The Medicinal Herb Hall, once the foremost hall of Dan Qian Palace, had been relegated behind the Martial Hall.
But ever since Jiang Chen entered Dan Qian Palace, he had served as a lubricant — a bridge between Elder Yun Nie and Palace Master Dan Chi — drawing these two pillars of Dan Qian Palace ever closer together until they forged a fellowship of shared purpose.
Both harbored grand ambitions to revitalize Dan Qian Palace. But with the Eternal Celestial Capital's intervention and the Crimson Dragon Central Domain's invasion, all those aspirations had turned to drifting clouds.
"Yun Nie, you and I both cheated death time and again. The fact that we can meet again means the heavens have not yet abandoned Dan Qian Palace. There's no need for us to stand here sniffling like lovelorn maidens." Palace Master Dan Chi's emotional turbulence lasted only a moment before he regained the composure befitting the leader of a sect.
"The Palace Master speaks truly. Heaven protects Dan Qian Palace! Heaven protects the Myriad Convergence Domain!" Elder Yun Nie steadied his own emotions as well, then said, "I'll go tell Jiang Chen and bring him here to meet the Palace Master."
Palace Master Dan Chi waved a hand. "Yun Nie, things are different now. That boy Jiang Chen is no longer a fish trapped in a pond. His status and cultivation both surpass mine — I should be the one going to see him."
Elder Yun Nie considered this for a moment. "That's true enough. We're both refugees now. Without his protection, our safety wouldn't last a day, let alone the revival of our sect."
"Yun Nie, there's no rush. Tell me about everything Jiang Chen has gone to do these past years." Time had changed things, and Palace Master Dan Chi worried that with Jiang Chen's current status and position, their relationship could never be quite what it once was.
Elder Yun Nie held nothing back, recounting Jiang Chen's legendary exploits in thorough detail. He especially emphasized how Jiang Chen had looked after and pushed the disciples of Dan Qian Palace.
After hearing the full account, Palace Master Dan Chi sighed. "To hold such a high position and still remember where he came from, never forgetting his roots — he is a true man of character. Bringing him from Treasure Tree Sect to Dan Qian Palace was the single most correct thing I ever did in my life."
Elder Yun Nie sighed as well. "Indeed. If the Palace Master hadn't had the discerning eye to recognize his potential and forge that bond of goodwill, our Dan Qian Palace would have perished alongside every other sect in the Myriad Convergence Domain — simply perished, and nothing more."
The two men sighed together at length.
Palace Master Dan Chi then asked, "Which of our Dan Qian Palace disciples are still here in Glazed Royal City?"
"Of the Four Great Kings from the Supreme Cave Manor back then, both Shen Qinghong and Nie Chong have fallen. Jun Mobai turned out to be a spy planted by the Nine Sun Heaven Palace, and Ling Bi'er's whereabouts are unknown. Apart from Jiang Chen, the young generation of Dan Qian Palace members who remain are Mu Gaoqi, Shen Sanhuo, Rong Zifeng, Ling Hui'er, Ouyang Chao, and a few others. But what's gratifying is that, with Jiang Chen's help, all of them have made tremendous progress."
Elder Yun Nie, who had been rescued by Jiang Chen from Pill Fire City and narrowly escaped death, had never imagined that so many disciples of Dan Qian Palace had survived here in Glazed Royal City.
"Shen Qinghong has fallen as well?" Palace Master Dan Chi shook his head and sighed softly. "What a pity. What a pity. When I broke through the encirclement with the other elders all those years ago, most of them didn't make it out alive either."
Speaking of those past events, the two men fell into a long, melancholy silence.
…
Young Lord Jiang Chen's private quarters within the Young Lord's estate.
"Elder Yun Nie requests an audience?" Jiang Chen was slightly taken aback. It was the middle of the night — why had Elder Yun Nie come? Was something wrong?
Jiang Chen knew Elder Yun Nie well. The old man was cautious by nature, and given how busy Jiang Chen had been with the rogue cultivator summit these past days, he certainly wouldn't have come calling in the dead of night without a pressing matter.
"Show him in."
Before long, Elder Yun Nie hurried in.
"This old man greets Young Lord Zhen." Elder Yun Nie stepped forward and bowed.
Jiang Chen smiled. "Elder Yun Nie, there's no need for such formalities between us. You came rushing over in the middle of the night — is something urgent?"
Elder Yun Nie's expression was grave. He nodded. "There is indeed a matter of importance. Yun Nie has also brought an old acquaintance. He's waiting outside. I wonder whether Young Lord Zhen would be willing to see him?"
"An old acquaintance?" Jiang Chen was somewhat surprised. But seeing Elder Yun Nie's solemn expression, he understood that this was not someone he could turn away.
He smiled. "If he's an old acquaintance, then he's an old friend. Why didn't you bring him in together?"
Elder Yun Nie sighed. "This old acquaintance is... somewhat different."
"Bring him in right away."
Elder Yun Nie nodded, turned, and stepped back out. A short while later, he returned with a single person.
"Palace Master Dan Chi?" Jiang Chen's eyes widened the moment he saw the figure. He almost thought his own eyes were deceiving him.
Jiang Chen had never imagined he would meet Palace Master Dan Chi in a setting like this. In an instant, all the experiences of the past decade came flooding back to mind.