After leaving Zhang Yifan's place, Sect Master Tongtian revisited the old sites of the Investiture of the Gods Calamity during his travels, then returned to Golden Ao Island.
Golden Ao Island, once a treasured island where ten thousand immortals had gathered, was now long deserted.
Golden Ao Island had also been sealed off for over a hundred thousand years.
Standing amidst the clouds, Sect Master Tongtian was filled with emotion. He had finally returned today.
Outside the entrance to the island formation, beyond the Saint Formation, stood a small thatched hut, with a wisp of cooking smoke rising from its roof.
"Hmm?"
Tongtian was surprised. After Golden Ao Island had been sealed, its spiritual energy had been shut away. Even demonic beasts were unwilling to remain here, so how could there still be signs of human life?
Who was here?
Though Sect Master Tongtian was puzzled, he did not calculate or divine the answer with his fingers. Instead, he descended from the clouds and landed not far outside the thatched hut.
After more than a hundred thousand years, he had long stopped divining and calculating. He had grown accustomed to seeing with his eyes, feeling with his body, and sensing with his heart.
The thatched hut before him consisted of only two small rooms and a fenced yard.
Vegetables, melons, and fruit grew in the yard, along with several chickens and a little dog.
It resembled a secluded paradise hidden amidst the countryside.
"Why does this place look just like Grandpa's courtyard?"
Didn't it? It really did resemble Zhang Yifan's residence.
Curious, Sect Master Tongtian pushed open the fence gate and walked inside.
The smoking thatched hut was a kitchen.
At that moment, a woman was stir-frying vegetables.
The instant Sect Master Tongtian saw her, his body jolted violently!
It was her!
More than a hundred thousand years had passed.
Had she been guarding this place all along?
At that moment, Sect Master Tongtian's nose stung, and his eyes actually grew moist.
A Saint actually felt like crying, just like an ordinary mortal.
"It smells wonderful. What are you cooking?" Sect Master Tongtian asked.
"Bitter melon with eggs." Without turning around, the woman laughed and scolded, "Brother Gongming, is your nose a dog's? You always show up whenever I'm cooking."
Gongming?
Zhao Gongming?
Did he also often return to Golden Ao Island?
"Isn't it because I missed your cooking?" Sect Master Tongtian did not reveal his identity.
"Then wait a moment. I'll pick some peppers and stir-fry some chicken." The woman served up the freshly cooked bitter melon and eggs, then turned around and happened to see Sect Master Tongtian.
Clang.
The woman's mind went blank from shock.
The dish she had just cooked fell to the ground.
"Brother Gongming, how could you do this?! How could you transform into the Sect Master's appearance?!"
The woman was furious!
"Silly child, it's me." Sect Master Tongtian shook his head.
The woman trembled, disbelief written all over her face. She staggered back several steps as tears instantly welled up in her eyes.
"No, it isn't real. I must be dreaming." The woman shook her head in disbelief.
She had thought of him day and night. For more than a hundred thousand years, she had thought every day that tomorrow, tomorrow he would surely appear.
Yet more than a hundred thousand years had passed, and every day had ended in crushing disappointment!
Every day!
This had to be fake.
Sect Master Tongtian's heart ached. He stepped forward and pulled the woman into his arms. "It's real. I'm back, Yunxiao."
"Waaahhh!"
The woman, Yunxiao, immediately burst into loud sobs. As she cried, she wailed heartbreakingly, "Where did you go? Where did you go?!"
"Fifteen hundred thousand years! Fifteen hundred thousand years, do you know that?! Do you?!"
"I know, I know." Sect Master Tongtian comforted Yunxiao, allowing her fists to pound against him.
One of the disciples he had once cherished most had actually guarded Golden Ao Island all these years, waiting here for his return.
Grandpa was right. I, Sect Master Tongtian, am the greatest good-for-nothing in the Primordial Era World!
Remembering Zhang Yifan's assessment, Sect Master Tongtian could not help feeling remorseful.
Yunxiao cried for a long time before finally leaving Sect Master Tongtian's embrace.
"Sect Master, sit for a while. I'll make another dish." Yunxiao wiped away her tears, her face full of smiles.
After crying, she was simply too happy!
Her master had returned!
After waiting more than a hundred thousand years, he had finally returned.
"Alright." Sect Master Tongtian did not stop her.
Yunxiao immediately skipped off to pick vegetables. She did not look like a woman at all, but rather like a joyful young girl in the bloom of youth.
After the meal, Sect Master Tongtian brewed Yunxiao a pot of tea.
"Sect Master, what kind of tea is this? It smells so wonderful." Yunxiao could not help asking as she inhaled the fragrance.
"Enlightenment Tea." Sect Master Tongtian smiled.
"Enlightenment Tea?!" Yunxiao was stunned. "Something this precious—why did you take it out to brew for me? You should put it away quickly."
As she spoke, she was about to set down her teacup and stop drinking.
This was Enlightenment Tea!
Even Saints coveted it!
According to current rumors, only Dao Ancestor Hongjun in Zixiao Palace possessed a tiny amount of it.
It was incomparably precious.
"Silly girl, no matter how precious this tea is, it isn't as precious as you. It isn't as precious as you disciples!"
Sect Master Tongtian shook his head and stopped Yunxiao.
"Sect Master..." Yunxiao was deeply moved.
"Drink without worry. Drink as much as you like. I have plenty here."
As Tongtian spoke, he took out that sack of Enlightenment Tea.
??? ???
"All of this is Enlightenment Tea?!" Yunxiao was dumbfounded. Her little mouth was wide enough to fit a large egg.
"That's right, it's all Enlightenment Tea! I'm entrusting it all to you today. Later, take some out for your senior and junior brothers, as well as your martial uncles, to try."
"This! Sect Master, you didn't rob Dao Ancestor Hongjun's entire fortune, did you? Where did so much Enlightenment Tea come from?"
A whole sack, an entire sack!
This was not wild vegetables growing by the roadside. This was Enlightenment Tea!
In the entire Primordial Era World, Dao Ancestor Hongjun only had a tiny amount.
"Grandpa gave it to me." Sect Master Tongtian smiled.
"Grandpa?!"
Yunxiao was shocked once again.
What was going on?
The Sect Master had a grandpa?
That wasn't right. The Sect Master was of Pangu's orthodox lineage, transformed from Great God Pangu's primordial spirit. If he had family, he should have a father. How could he possibly have a grandpa?
Could it be that the Sect Master had found Pangu's father?
Had Pangu's father given it to the Sect Master?
But she had heard that Great God Pangu had broken out of an egg and taken form.
The more Yunxiao thought about it, the more shocked she became, and the more unbelievable it seemed.
Because it could not possibly have been given by some ordinary old man during a journey through the mortal world.
Could someone whom even a Saint called Grandpa be an ordinary person?
Impossible!
"That's right, Grandpa. He's an old man from the mortal realm." Tongtian nodded.
Uh...
No way, was he really a mortal?
"This Grandpa is a mortal, yet he is not a mortal."
Tongtian saw through Yunxiao's thoughts and smiled. "Don't overthink it. I'll definitely find a chance to take you to meet him. There is an incomparably astonishing great opportunity there."
"A great opportunity? An incomparably astonishing one?" Yunxiao's heart trembled.
Even the Sect Master, a Saint, called it incomparably astonishing. It had to be unbelievably shocking.
That opportunity must have been so great that it surpassed all imagination.
"Mm. Keep the Enlightenment Tea safe, then go find Bixiao, Qiongxiao, and Brother Gongming."
"In two months, gather on Golden Ao Island. I'll take you to meet my Grandpa."
Sect Master Tongtian called him Grandpa without the slightest hesitation. He had already grown used to it.
But hearing Sect Master Tongtian call him Grandpa again and again still felt rather strange to Yunxiao.
In this world, not even Dao Ancestor Hongjun could make the Three Pure Ones call him Grandpa.
Just what kind of existence was this Grandpa?
Yunxiao was filled with curiosity and anticipation.
Before you continue