Wang Ping watched Bai Yan as the mystic light around them rapidly receded. Then the Heavenly Passage Jianmu rooted in the void and the boundless greenery likewise ebbed away like a retreating tide, revealing the cold, distant stars.
Bai Yan said nothing more, merely cupped his hands in a solemn salute.
Wang Ping returned the salute with a smile. With a light sweep of his sleeve robe, ripples spread through the surrounding space. In the next instant, the two had returned to the summit of Nine Profound Mountain. Mountain wind brushed past them, carrying the fresh scent of the Spirit Wood tree. In the distance, the Cloud Sea churned, and the fierce clash of rules in the starry sky moments ago seemed no more than a dream.
The jade chessboard beneath the Spirit Wood tree had long been prepared. Wang Ping and Bai Yan sat facing one another and played in silence. The chess pieces clicked crisply as they fell, sounding especially ethereal atop this tranquil mountain peak.
Liu Shuang and Hu Qianqian sat by the cliff edge, their slender fingers plucking the strings. A clear, soothing melody flowed forth like a mountain spring, washing over the spirit.
Yang Rong knelt quietly nearby, her delicate hands brewing tea with elegant precision. The fragrance of tea mingled with the exotic scent of the Spirit Wood tree, refreshing the heart and mind.
They exchanged few words. Only the music, the fragrance of tea, the clicks of chess pieces, and the natural mountain breeze and drifting clouds intertwined into a harmonious scene.
Even Bai Yan's cold, stern features seemed to soften somewhat amid the music. Wang Ping, meanwhile, wore a tranquil expression, as though he had merged with the mountain, the tree, and the rhythm of Heaven and Earth.
Yulian coiled around Wang