In Jiang Yunzhou's eyes, Ji Yuan now truly resembled a youth.
Not like before, when no matter what he was doing, even when interacting with others, he mimicked an old man weathered by storms. He not only exuded an aura of nearing his end but also always maintained an air of aloofness, keeping everyone at a distance.
Even when conversing with him, though he consistently wore a smile, one could sense an unbridgeable gap that always remained between them.
At an age that should have been brimming with vitality, he held a deep caution and wariness towards those around him and the events unfolding, always approaching everything with meticulous care.
It was only at this moment, seated on the dragon-horse, that Ji Yuan finally revealed his true youthful self.
Jiang Yunzhou was suddenly taken aback. He couldn't help but think of himself; for decades of cultivation, he had suppressed his true nature, doing what he believed was right.
Diligent practice, strict words and deeds, almost harsh self-discipline.
But all of this was merely what he *believed* to be right!
Thinking this, Jiang Yunzhou suddenly no longer wished to suppress his innate nature and burst into hearty laughter.
His laughter echoed through the forest, mingling with the howling wind that swept towards him, his voice growing ever louder.
Not far away, Ji Yuan, enjoying the exhilaration of speed, was startled by the sudden laughter.
He turned his head, seeing Jiang Yunzhou laughing unrestrainedly, as if releasing a heavy burden he had carried for years.
For no discernible reason, Ji Yuan took a deep breath and also began to laugh with all his might.
He didn't know why he was doing it, but at this moment, he simply felt like doing it!
In this instant, their laughter intertwined in the forest, occasionally punctuated by a child's startled cry.
As they laughed freely, Ji Yuan suddenly felt as if a great weight had been lifted. His body felt incredibly light, a sense of ease and freedom emanating from his heart.
For a fleeting moment, he even had the illusion that he had been wrong all along.
Caution was not a bad thing, but it couldn't be applied to everything!
Maturity was a good thing, but it wasn't what he needed at this moment!
"You were wrong, I was wrong, we were all wrong!"
At this very moment, Jiang Yunzhou suddenly shouted.
A sharp light flashed in his eyes, intensely fiery and powerful.
His voice echoed in their ears, carrying with it his current state of mind.
Ji Yuan felt as if he had grasped something. Though he didn't fully understand it yet, he sensed that it was profoundly important and beneficial to him.
"Wrong, wrong, all wrong!"
He shouted out the breath in his chest, feeling an unprecedented sense of lightness and freedom!
Although he didn't understand what had happened to these two humans, since the atmosphere had reached this point, Luyin naturally joined in shouting, "Wrong! Hahahaha!"
As the two realized the issue with their state of mind and found a direction for correction,
Thousands of miles away from this place, on a massive sky-crossing warship, Xu Chengfeng stood by the window of the highest tower, gazing at the drifting white clouds in the sky.
And further away, within the Jiuxuan Sect, a middle-aged man stood in the clouds. Behind him, an old man lay lazily on a cloud, a wine gourd in hand, taking slow sips.
"You are quite ruthless to your disciple, sending him away without saying a word."
The old man with a rosy nose shook his gourd and sighed softly, "Aren't you afraid that your beloved disciple might never return if something goes wrong?"
After all, what was about to happen in that place was something even Golden Core realm cultivators would shy away from, never daring to approach, lest they be caught in it and waste centuries of hard-earned cultivation.
Only those below the Golden Core realm could find a sliver of hope within it.
Facing the inquiry from the old man behind him, the middle-aged man did not reply. He simply gazed silently at the distant sky, lost in his thoughts.
"By the way, do you really believe that little fellow can become the catalyst for your precious disciple's breakthrough?"
Seeing that the middle-aged man remained silent, the rosy-nosed old man paid it no mind and continued, "You deliberately had me play a part in a scheme just to send your disciple to that little fellow's side."
"But have you considered that what you saw during the completion of destiny that day did not mean what you thought?"
Although he didn't understand what his senior brother, the Sect Master, had seen in destiny.
It was undoubtedly related to that little fellow from the Xuantian lineage, otherwise, a mere second-stage cultivator, even if carrying the key to a lineage's destiny, would not warrant such attention from a peak Golden Core cultivator.
He would not even go to such lengths to arrange things personally, just to give that little fellow a chance to successfully condense a Golden Core within thirty years.
"I wish that day I had misinterpreted it myself."
The middle-aged man shook his head, then let out a long sigh.
How he wished he had misinterpreted it, but unfortunately, those scenes were branded in his heart, impossible to expel even with his powerful state of mind.
If it weren't for this, he wouldn't have to rack his brains to make arrangements, even going so far as to personally intervene and orchestrate various matters just to foster a sense of belonging in that little fellow towards the Jiuxuan Sect.
"What exactly did you see?"
The rosy-nosed old man asked, a sharp glint suddenly flashing in his eyes.
Hearing this, the middle-aged man was silent for a long time before slowly turning around to face his junior brother, with whom he had spent over two hundred years: "If the Jiuxuan Sect is ultimately engulfed by flames, and only then can it be reborn, what would you do?"
As his words fell, a terrifying spiritual pressure erupted, filling the entire sky and churning countless clouds.
Only after a long while did the spiritual pressure suddenly dissipate, and the sky returned to its calm.
The rosy-nosed old man, who had stood up at some point, now had his yellowish wine gourd hanging at his waist. His robust physique did not resemble that of an old man nearing his end.
"What did you see?"
The same question, with just two words changed. In these past few months, he had asked it more than once.
But each time, he received no answer; his senior brother, the Sect Master, would only respond with silence.
However, today, the other party seemed to have changed his mind and slowly recounted the scenes he had witnessed when the destinies of the ten lineages of the Jiuxuan Sect converged that day.
After an unknown period, the rosy-nosed old man seemed deflated. His robust frame appeared to bend slightly, and his entire spirit and energy seemed to have weakened considerably.
"Who else have you told about this?"
He gave a bitter smile. Such an important matter, his senior brother couldn't possibly have told only him.
"Besides our Master, it's only Junior Brother Xu."
The middle-aged man said softly.
The fewer people who knew about this, the better. The reason he revealed it today was that the subsequent arrangements required the assistance of his junior brother, who was exceptionally skilled in alchemy.