Reuniting After Hundreds of Years
At the peak of Heavenly Path Mountain, a large temple towered above the rest of the core sect. This temple represented the peak of power in the Heavenly Path Sect – it was the sect master's abode! And the current sect master?
"Elia, to think that you actually became the sect master here. And from what I can tell…you have improved the sect greatly." Yaan smiled as he faced Elia. The two of them were sitting in her temple's main hall, drinking tea whilst sitting opposite from one another with a small wooden table between them.
Hundreds of years had passed since they had last met. At lot had happened in this time, so naturally, they had a lot to talk about. Honestly, it was difficult to know where to begin…
"Mm. I always remembered how we were taken from our home when we were young…I do not like this sort of thing, so I abolished it, and instead introduced optional entrance trials for the new mortal settlements within our territory. I also made it such that the outer sect members are treated well." Elia nodded gently, still feeling like Yaan's sudden appearance here was somewhat surreal. She had imagined the day of their reunion for so long, but this…she had not expected it to go like this.
For one, Yaan looked very different compared to how she remembered him, and his cultivation base…seemed to be non-existent. However, she felt like this must be some sort of illusion, because the young man before her eyes was incomprehensible to her…
"Yaan…" Elia spoke in a soft voice, but Yaan could hear the uncertainty in her tone. Knowing exactly what she was thinking, Yaan smiled slightly and looked down into his cup of tea. He could see his own unfamiliar reflection within the ripples of the liquid.
"The me that you see before you right now, is not my main body, but a unique type of clone that I created myself." Yaan admitted to this openly, causing Elia's eyes to widen.
"A clone? I see, that explains why you're currently a mortal and why you look so different, even though Zue Yin said that your appearance never changed, and that you pursued purely body tempering…"
"Zue Yin?" Yaan looked up and blinked in surprise. "Zue Yin made it home, all the way from the Southern Continent? She must have become quite strong…is she still living on the Greenwood Mountain Range?"
Elia sighed and shook her head.
"Zue Yin was the strongest cultivator in the Ghu Province for a long time, but when she ascended to the Immortal Step, someone from the Divine Phoenix Clan immediately descended to Planet Yushu and took her back to the main clan branch elsewhere. She barely even had enough time to say goodbye to me…"
"I see…" Yaan murmured. "So it was like that. In the end, her talent was recognised…"
"Yaan, more importantly." Elia spoke up to redirect the conversation as she wore a serious expression. "You say that this body of yours is just a clone? Why did you return with a clone? Is your main body ok…?"
She didn't question Yaan about his ability to create clones, which was typically something only achievable by Immortal Step beings. Instead, she was concerned for his safety…and wondering why he had only sent a clone back to his home.
"My main body is fine, Elia…" Yaan trailed off slightly, feeling slightly unsure about whether this was actually true or not. In the end, he shook his head, then looked up at Elia with a smile.
"I used a unique technique to create this clone, along with two others. Although this is just one of my four current bodies, this clone contains a portion of my Dao Soul…and the part of my heart that wanted to return home."
Elia's gaze trembled for a moment.
"The part of you that wanted to return home…?" She muttered back dazedly.
"Mm. Each of my clones was born from a different part of my main body's heart. This clone…is the only, and the complete part of me, that desired to return home…and to return to you, Elia."
Elia stared at Yaan for a long time with wide eyes. As she looked at the green-eyed, silver-haired young man before her, even though his appearance had changed, she felt like she could see the shadow of her childhood friend within him.
"Welcome home, Yaan." She finally said, as a smile as bright as the sky lit up her transcendent face.
For a moment, Yaan felt taken aback. He had anticipated that Elia would retain some ill will towards him, since he had simply abandoned her back then, and then vanished for hundreds of years. However, he had underestimated this girl- no, this woman's righteous and forgiving heart…she didn't blame him at all; she was just happy that he had returned.
In the cultivation world, people like this were rare.
However, Elia did have one last question on this matter.
"But Yaan, if this 'clone' of yours was created based upon the part of your heart that wanted to return home…then does that mean that your main body no longer cares at all…?"
"My main body is unconscious right now." Yaan shook his head, then laughed when he saw her worried expression. "Don't worry, my main body is safe. It's just very, very far away right now…"
Elia still didn't really understand everything, but she didn't need to. She smiled and dispelled these thoughts…rather than dwelling on this confusing matter which was simply beyond her understanding, she would rather talk to her old friend about the present, and about all they had experienced during their time apart.
And so they talked.
The complete Yaan was a scheming demon who would never reveal anything unnecessarily…but this clone was not that same scheming person. This Yaan, this Dao Clone of Qi, did not want to hide too many things from Elia. And so, he told her about many of the things that he had experienced over the years…
He only missed out the details pertaining to his relationship with the Primordial Devil, since this information was too dangerous. He also didn't speak of Namuh Village, because to Yaan, those memories were precious, and were not something to be shared casually.
Although he skimmed over a few details, Elia was still stunned by Yaan's stories. He didn't shy away from describing the atrocities that his complete self had committed, but more so than that…she was shocked that he had actually managed to survive until now, given how many times he had put himself on that border between life and death. She knew that many cultivators would go out into the world and take risks to further their cultivation, but wasn't Yaan just a bit too extreme in this regard?
"Yaan, you…what are your plans now that you have returned home? You said that you wouldn't leave…you said that you would protect our home…so you can't…you can't…"
"Elia." Yaan interrupted with a light chuckle. "In a sense, I have quite literally just been born, I don't yet have any plans other than speaking with you right now."
"Ah…right…"
"So, now that I've told you all about my experiences, how about you tell me about yours? I would also like to know more about Zue Yin, as well as one or two others…"
Elia seemed to suddenly realise that Yaan had been talking for so long about his life, yet she had still hardly told him anything! And when he mentioned Zue Yin and 'others', she couldn't help but sigh. When he heard this sigh, Yaan knew that the person he was wondering about…was probably not still around.
And indeed, as Elia started to recall her life experiences, from the rebuilding of the Heavenly Path Sect when she was just a young child and disciple, to her ascension through the realms and ranks as she became an elder, until she eventually surpassed all of the elders who had once sheltered her, and she finally became the sect master…
She revealed to Yaan what Zue Yin had told her back then – Ghu Nadda, one of Yaan's only friends, had long since died. In fact, he was killed just three years after returning from the inheritance, at the hands of Ghu Lin no less, the very same person who had forced both Yaan and Zue Yin to enter the 4th Trial Realm back then.
It was around 150 years ago that Zue Yin had returned from the Southern Continent. She immediately returned to her clan, and with her Peak Origin Soul Realm cultivation, she soon became the Zue Clan Head.
Zue Yin had never forgotten about Yaan, even after all this time. She was convinced that Yaan was an unordinary person who would one day attain a greatness the likes of which ordinary people couldn't even imagine. Perhaps it was because of this, or maybe it was because of her past relationship with him, that she had quickly set about arranging things in the Ghu Province such that Yaan would benefit should he ever return.
Naturally, one of the first things she did was visit the Heavenly Path Sect, where she found that the current sect head, Elia, was actually Yaan's childhood friend. She established an unbreakable alliance between the Zue Clan and the Heavenly Path Sect, an alliance so strong that there were even many Zue Clansmen in the Heavenly Path Sect now! She had made it clear to her clan that no matter what, they must absolutely remain on good terms with the Heavenly Path Sect.
Next, she tried to find Ghu Nadda. When she learned that he had been killed by Ghu Lin back then, she naturally wanted to kill Ghu Lin…well, that was on her to-do list anyway, given what Ghu Lin had done to them back then.
However, she discovered that Ghu Lin was now the current Ghu Clan Head, and even she could not defeat him. After clashing with him once, she was forced to retreat after the Ghu Clan sent support to assist Ghu Lin in fending her off. She decided to enter seclusion, planning to strive for the Immortal Step, at which point, she would be able to crush the entire Ghu Clan without difficulty.
But who would expect that fifty years later, immediately following her Immortal Ascension Tribulation, an esteemed elder from the Divine Phoenix Clan would suddenly appear and take her away, without even letting her settle her grudges!
The Divine Phoenix Clan were one of the four Divine Clans which ruled over the Four Divine Star System, one of the seven star systems on the Qi Plane. It seemed that Elia had come to learn of this due to her relationship with Zue Yin, which had apparently grown quite deep over the years.
"Ghu Lin, huh…" Yaan muttered as his gaze darkened. Elia had glossed over a few details, but he could tell that the Ghu Clan had been making trouble for Elia ever since Zue Yin's disappearance. Without Zue Yin to deter others, Elia was now the only Peak Origin Soul Realm cultivator in the North, but her battle strength was only ordinary for her level and could not compare with Ghu Lin.
Yaan was tempted to go out and crush the Ghu Clan right now, but he had to remind himself that although his dao comprehension was very high, he was still just a mortal and a Dao Clone, not his original self. If he tried to face the entire Ghu Clan with this single mortal Dao Clone, he would probably lose.
Yaan shut his eyes for a moment, before opening them and turning to face Elia seriously.
"Elia, I will cultivate until the Immortal Step. Are you able to guard me for the next 50-100 years?"
Elia looked startled, and rightly so…
"Yaan, aren't you just a mortal right now? How do you intend to become an immortal in such a short period of time?"
Yaan chuckled and looked at her with a look of unparalleled assuredness.
"My current Qi refining cultivation talent surpasses the grading system, and I will not experience a single bottleneck along my path. If you supply me with a few half-decent medicines and allow me to cultivate in a proper chamber, I will need only 50 years. But, even with my own efforts, it won't take longer than 100 years, I assure you of this…and when I leave my seclusion as an immortal, I will remove the Ghu Clan from this world, and I will rename the Ghu Province…as the Heavenly Path Province!"
As the Dao Clone of Qi planned to enter secluded cultivation and the Dao Clone of Mind cultivated silently within the Sage Plane's Dao Formation, the Spirit Plane Lord took the Dao Clone of Soul down into the Spirit Plane's Abyss. The fiery-haired man began to embark upon his conquest of slaughter, immediately raising a storm within the Abyss that would not be forgotten for a long, long time…