The Palace of Absolute Beginning.

Ji Liuli walked into the familiar small courtyard and glanced around for a bit.

She hadn’t actually been away for very long, but these past few months felt as if several years had passed. To say that far too many things had happened during this time would be an understatement; just the endless battles alone was enough to drain one of their energy.

The young Daoist was neither sitting in the courtyard nor meditating on his cloud bed. Instead, he was standing at the edge of a sheer cliff, gazing northward as he silently calculated something.

The relaxed atmosphere of the small courtyard was nowhere to be found. Instead, it had been replaced by an inexplicable sense of oppression and suffocation.

It wasn’t until Ji Liuli walked up behind him that the young Daoist—True Lord Yanshi in his youthful appearance—said, “You’re back.”

Ji Liuli replied, “I should be, but… I would like to postpone my return a while longer.”

“Oh? Now is precisely the time for you to come back and make your breakthrough. Why have you changed your mind?”

Ji Liuli answered, “I’ve recently gained new insights and feel that my Dao Foundation can be strengthened further. That is why I’d like to stay in the western regions a little longer.”

“Why the western regions?” True Lord Yan Shi furrowed his brow slightly.

“I have discovered my opportunity to attain the Dao in the western regions. It stands to reason that the perfection of my Dao Foundation should also happen there.”

True Lord Yan Shi returned...