Chapter 90: A Walk Through the Sect (3)

Looking at the man before him. Handsome, with refined features and an elegant bearing, clearly different from the Black Desolation Sect disciples, Gu Yuan asked curiously. “Are you here to attend the wedding of the Heavenly Twin Stars?”

“Ah, was it that obvious?” The man chuckled lightly.

“Yes. Quite obvious, actually.”

“Then I hope the wedding hasn’t taken place yet,” the man said.

You don’t even know the exact date? Gu Yuan thought, shaking his head. “It’s in two weeks.”

“That’s a relief. I really wanted to attend their wedding.”

Gu Yuan raised an eyebrow. “Judging by your tone, it sounds like you know our Heavenly Twin Stars personally.”

“Yes.” The man nodded. “Our Yin-Yang Dao Sect has a fairly close relationship with the Ji Clan. Besides, I once sparred with Ji Yan when she was still a child.”

Someone from the Yunhai Continent, and he had sparred with Ji Yan when she was a child?

Gu Yuan’s eyes narrowed slightly. He wasn’t particularly pleased by that last detail, so he decided to appraise the man.

[Threads of Providence]

Name: Yan Shuo

Age: 961

Cultivation: Void Realm, Seventh Stage

Spiritual Root: Fire and Water Root (Heaven Grade)

Physique: Yin-Yang Heavenly Body

Providence: Medium

Special Note: Yan Shuo, the Saint Disciple of the Yin-Yang Dao Sect. Under the guidance of Great Elder Lianxin, he walks the dual path of Yin and Yang. He is currently traveling to broaden his horizons. He has come to the Black Desolation Sect to attend the wedding out of genuine curiosity about the man chosen by the Ji Clan’s Little Tyrants as their Dao Companion.

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Gu Yuan’s frown deepened as he read the information about Yan Shuo.

He didn’t care about the man’s talent, his position in the Yin-Yang Dao Sect, or any of the other details.

What caught his attention was his age.

Nine hundred and sixty-one years old.

When this man had sparred with Ji Yan, he must have been over nine hundred!

What the fuck kind of sparring match had that been? Had he been bullying Ji Yan when she was just a child?

Gu Yuan’s expression grew even more displeased.

“What kind of spar did you have with Ji Yan?”

Perhaps his displeasure had shown too clearly, because Yan Shuo noticed his expression and clarified. “My apologies if I phrased that poorly. Back then, she was the one who challenged me, and I even lowered my cultivation to match hers.”

Even if you lowered your cultivation, someone who had reached the Void Realm was still different from someone who had just started cultivating, Gu Yuan thought with a scoff.

Perhaps he should have let Yan Shuo finish explaining before judging him.

“I still lost, though,” Yan Shuo added with a laugh.

“…”

Well, Ji Yan was a reincarnated Empress. Who was he to worry about her being bullied? Gu Yuan shook his head, then looked at Yan Shuo with a gentle smile.

“There’s no need to feel ashamed, Fellow Daoist. You never stood a chance of winning in the first place.”

Yan Shuo’s expression turned awkward.

Gu Yuan paid it little mind and moved on to something that had been bothering him. “Anyway, if you came from the Yunhai Continent, shouldn’t you have arrived directly at the Inner Sect through the teleportation array? Why are you approaching the sect from this direction?”

“Well, I wanted to try crossing the sea myself,” Yan Shuo replied.

Gu Yuan blinked.

That wasn’t something one could do easily. Even for a Void Realm cultivator, crossing the sea was no simple feat, and it should have taken a considerable amount of time.

A thought occurred to him. Gu Yuan spread his divine sense to its maximum range, carefully searching his surroundings.

Yet he couldn’t detect anyone else.

Had he been mistaken?

He withdrew his divine sense and shook his head before pointing toward the distant mountains. “Head in that direction. Once you pass through the outer formation, you’ll see the Inner Sect.”

Yan Shuo followed his gaze and nodded. “I see. Thank you, Fellow Daoist.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Then I’ll be on my way. Hopefully, we’ll meet again at the wedding.”

Gu Yuan nodded lightly. “Maybe.”

After all the detours, Gu Yuan finally reached his original destination and met Deacon Zhao.

The two sat down and caught up. Before long, Deacon Zhao reached into his storage ring, his expression brightening as he took out a sword.

“I finished making this yesterday. Come, take a look and tell me what you think.”

The sword had reached the Top Spirit Grade, though it had yet to cross the threshold into the Earth Grade. Still, Gu Yuan could clearly see the progress Deacon Zhao had made in his forging.

“I thought you’d stopped caring about improving your forging skills?” Gu Yuan asked with a smile. “What happened?”

“I did think about giving up,” Deacon Zhao admitted. “But it seems that no matter what I say, I’m still a forging master through and through.”

“Well, if you keep working this hard, I might have to come back and work here again.”

Gu Yuan smiled as he examined the sword.

Deacon Zhao’s forging skills were actually slightly better than his own. If he continued improving at this pace, becoming an Earth Grade Forging Master was guaranteed.

Naturally, the two began discussing forging, and Gu Yuan nearly forgot why he had come in the first place. Fortunately, he remembered before the conversation could carry them any further.

“Speaking of which, I’m getting married. That’s actually why I came to see you.”

“Congratulations!” Deacon Zhao said sincerely.

Then, a few seconds later, he seemed to realize something. His expression froze slightly.

“Marrying… marrying them?”

Even saying the title Heavenly Twin Stars seemed difficult for for Deacon Zhao, so Gu Yuan said it for him. “Yes, the Heavenly Twin Stars.”

Knowing Gu Yuan’s character, and knowing that he wasn’t someone who would lie about such a thing, Deacon Zhao accepted the news without further questioning and congratulated him again.

“You really are getting further and further away from me,” he said with a sigh.

He had tried to ignore the Spiritual Core Realm cultivation he could sense from Gu Yuan, but now the young man was apparently marrying the Sect Master as well.

For someone like Deacon Zhao, who had long since accepted that he might never reach the Spiritual Core Realm in his lifetime, Gu Yuan was becoming an increasingly distant existence.

“Don’t overthink it,” Gu Yuan said lightly. “I’m not going to become a different person just because I married them.”

Deacon Zhao nodded silently. He took out a bottle of wine and began pouring himself a drink.

Gu Yuan chuckled and joined him.

And so, the two continued drinking together.