After passing through the narrow gorge and rounding two bends, they reached the cave entrance to the Deliberation Hall.
Yan Wushuang stepped aside. "Please, Master."
Ji Mie Arhat stood before the cave entrance.
He tilted his head up to inspect the traces of lingering earthfire heat on the cave walls, then looked at the old pines outside, scorched yellow by killing intent.
The indifference on his gaunt face shifted slightly.
Then he stepped inside.
Wang Yuan sat behind the stone table, He Qingyuan's silk letter spread before him, and saw Ji Mie Arhat enter.
He folded the letter and put it away, set his tea bowl on the table, and rose.
The two exchanged a look across the stone table.
Ji Mie Arhat's gaze lingered on Wang Yuan for a long time, a complicated expression on his gaunt face.
The youth who had been at late Hua Jin on the ancient road in Cloud Province a year ago had now crossed two major realms to reach late-stage organ tempering.
Now he stood there, his aura steady and contained. The latent pressure surrounding him secretly alarmed even Ji Mie Arhat, a Buddhist Arhat in the grandmaster realm.
When he had looked at the gravel ground soaked in bloody sludge outside the gorge earlier, he had already been wondering.
With his peak organ tempering cultivation and the Demon Blade, Xiao Jin had combat strength comparable to an early-stage grandmaster. Even Ji Mie Arhat had suffered killing intent invading his lungs and organs when he met one slash head-on with his grandmaster-realm Buddhist true essence, and had yet to recover.
Yet the youth before him had shattered that Demon Blade in a head-on clash.
"It has been a year."
Ji Mie Arhat spoke, his voice dry and hoarse.
"You have changed so much,