Void Gate, back mountain.
Elder Xun carried a jug of wine as he slowly entered the Back Mountain Forbidden Area, stepping into the Sword Graveyard where killing intent lay scattered and sword qi had withered away.
Within the Sword Graveyard, Old Ancestor Dugu still sat guard, as immovable as a lone stone atop a cliff through wind and rain.
Elder Xun set the wine jug before Old Ancestor Dugu and said:
"Senior Martial Brother, today is a great day. Have a drink."
Old Ancestor Dugu slowly opened his eyes. His gaze tightened slightly as he asked in disbelief:
"The three sects... truly merged again?"
"Yes..." Elder Xun said with relief. "They have merged again. We are one family once more... It is only a pity that name carried too much fortune and can no longer be used."
Then a trace of wistfulness entered his expression.
Old relics like them still held deep feelings for the names left behind by their ancestors.
Old Ancestor Dugu's expression was complicated. Then he silently looked at Elder Xun and said in a dry voice:
"Junior Brother, you have worked hard..."
The Three Sects Merger was a matter of enormous importance, fraught with difficulty.
To truly obscure Celestial Pivot, seek opportunity, overcome layer upon layer of obstacles, and push the three sects into becoming one lineage—openly and in secret—who knew how much scheming and effort it had required.
Yet he was plagued by the Heavenly Demon and could only remain trapped within the Sword Graveyard Forbidden Area.
Ordinarily, unless Celestial Pivot was in turmoil or Karma behaved abnormally, he would not even extend his Divine Consciousness in order to hold fast to his original heart.
He was, in every sense, a "blind man" and a "deaf man," knowing nothing of what lay beyond the Sword