Zhi Gong's visit lasted less than a quarter of an hour. After discussing the serious matter, Wang Ping asked a few more questions about the Earth Cave Sect's internal situation, then ended the conversation. During it all, he merely offered a few words of encouragement to Puppet Wang Qian.
After Zhi Gong left, Wang Ping sat alone beneath the Spirit Wood tree for a while before entering meditation.
Ten days later.
He awoke from meditation and appeared punctually at the temporary gathering organized by Zhi Xin and Quan Xing. The place was unchanged from before, while Zhi Xin and Quan Xing had clearly been waiting for a long time.
"Greetings, True Monarch Changqing."
The moment they saw Wang Ping, both rose and cupped their hands in salute. Whatever they might have been thinking inwardly, they showed him the utmost respect on the surface. After all, Wang Ping's performance on the Outer Realm Star remained vivid in their memories.
Wang Ping appeared easygoing, yet a thread of malice suddenly surfaced in his consciousness. It was a very common kind of malice within Human Consciousness, and one he had suppressed when he first began cultivating. This malice had not appeared for a long time, but over the past few days it had kept emerging from time to time.
Most likely, this was because his cultivation had now nearly reached the pinnacle of this Star Sea. The malice buried deep in his heart had surfaced as he increasingly let go of his humanity. Coupled with the loneliness he felt after Yulian entered secluded cultivation, that malice had been magnified considerably.
At the beginning of his cultivation, this malice would at most make him pick up a long sword and slash apart a few saplings. Now, however, it gave him the urge to destroy