Same reaction

With the case closed the supreme elder still looked like he struggled to believe all that had transpired. He came here expecting to die, but he was leaving with things that he dared not hope for.

He had his sword back, the fog that had surrounded him even before he was injured had finally left him, giving him a sense of profound clarity he didn't have and he was about to be freed from the torment he had been living under for the past eighty-three years.

With how things were playing out, deep down he knew, the path he had long thought he would never tread on since the injury, it was would now be accessible to him. The road to the palace realm was open and he had a feeling that he would likely gain more to his depth when breaking through now than if he had broken through 83 years ago.