Old Ties at Abyss Pool, the Situation Begins to Clear

Zhao Canghai was the first to step forward from the crowd and bow.

He had guarded Jinghai Prefecture's eastern front for years, defending the land against the Turbid Breath through bloody battles. Yet now he bowed slightly, his expression solemn and respectful, without a trace of an elder's airs.

The world knew only that Chen Yuan possessed peerless talent, had attained the Dao while young, and wielded unmatched divine abilities. Zhao Canghai alone had watched him climb, step by step, out of the mud of mortal life.

Years ago, when a frail child first arrived at the Blackwater Martial Arts School, Zhao Canghai had personally taken in the lonely boy. He had taught him techniques and martial arts and seen him through the hardest days of the four mortal realms.

Later, he had spent half a lifetime's savings, gone from place to place, and called in every favor he had just to secure a recommendation for the common-born Chen Yuan to enter the orthodox Immortal Sect known as Cangming Dao.

That was the greatest opportunity he could give the boy. Even then, he had never dared dream that Chen Yuan would reach the heights he held today.

Soon after entering Cangming Dao, Chen Yuan had broken into the Qi Eating Realm and stunned his sect. He had then established his Dao Foundation at astonishing speed, overturning all common sense.

Even after succeeding, Chen Yuan had not forgotten that old kindness. He had repaid Zhao Canghai, helping him steady his cultivation and advance toward the Qi Eating Realm. Now, the mortal child Zhao Canghai had once sheltered had grown into a great True Person who ruled over a region and before whom multitudes bowed.

Zhao Canghai stopped three paces from Chen Yuan and drew a deep breath. Now a Qi Eating