Ran Deng bowed and withdrew from Jade Void Palace. Immortal clouds wrapped around him, and in the blink of an eye, he headed toward Xiqi in the Mortal Realm, his back gradually vanishing into the misty Immortal Qi of Kunlun Mountain.
Deathly Stillness returned to the hall. Yuanshi suddenly opened those eyes that had lain silent for ten thousand ages.
Two faint golden beams of Saint's eye-light pierced through the Nine Heavens, crossed endless Immortal Mountains and seas of cloud, and swept straight toward Mount Sumeru on the western horizon, where Buddha Light shone on all.
His gaze was cold and rippleless, yet it hid a sharpness that saw through Karma and Reincarnation, as if he had long since perceived the secret ties between Western Teach and Ran Deng.
A moment later, he slowly withdrew his gaze and stared blankly in the direction Ran Deng had gone, watching that figure disappear completely. The Saintly might around him drew inward, leaving only endless silence and melancholy.
After a long while, a sigh so soft it could barely be heard sounded within Jade Void Palace, echoing faintly, carrying a helplessness even a Saint could scarcely defy before the destiny of the Heavenly Dao.
"Ran Deng, Chan Sect... in the end, can it still not keep you?"
That soft sentence spoke of the affection of endless years, and also laid bare the wavering Dao Heart in Ran Deng's depths, along with the Karmic path of return that had long been destined.
As a Saint, he knew all things, yet he could only follow the grand momentum of the Measure Tribulation and watch all of this unfold in silence, unable to force anything.
Elsewhere, after Ran Deng left Kunlun Mountain, he dared not delay. Immortal Light spread around him, and he transmitted his voice