A thousand miles away, Great Chu Imperial City.
Late at night, when all was still, candlelight flickered within the archives, illuminating the refined face of a young man.
Several hundred bamboo slips floated in formation before the desk.
The inscribed characters within the slips resembled tadpoles, leaping from the bamboo and swimming around the young man—
Though there was no one else around, the young man still sat perfectly upright, his back seeming to rest against a disciplinary ruler, his gaze as clear as a bright mirror.
At that moment, he flicked his sleeve.
Countless tadpoles swept back into the bamboo slips. Amid crisp, orderly clattering, the slips all darted away like fish and vanished into the wall niches of the archives. Only one remained, its blue-green glow spreading out to reveal the scene within the Jiang Clan residence in Carp Tide City.
Chen Jingxuan smiled and reached out, grasping the bamboo slip.
At the same time, a thousand miles away, Xie Xuanyi accepted the As-You-Wish Token from Jiang Qihu and slowly infused it with a wisp of soul-fire.
This differed somewhat from the scene of their meeting within the demon artifact.
This time, the illusory setting of their soul encounter—
Was within the Supreme Dao Archives of Great Chu Imperial City.
Wrapped in soul essence—
If one did not wish to meet in one's true appearance, one could summon mist to conceal one's face.
Naturally, Xie Xuanyi would not meet him in his "true appearance."
But Chen Jingxuan had no such concern.
He sat before the desk, both hands resting upon his knees. His wide sleeves drifted in the air, countless books and scrolls surrounding him, making him seem like an immortal scholar.
Xie Xuanyi sat on the other side of the desk, dressed in black so