A gust of wind swept through, scattering the dust.
Chen Xuan brushed the dust off his head. As soon as he looked up, he saw a figure standing frozen in place. "Sorry to intrude, but where are we? Does this count as deep inside the sect?"
The figure snapped out of her daze. "How did you get in here!? There should be restrictions in place!"
"Through that big well on First Peak. Ji Lian said that if she insisted on planting a huge tree somewhere so out of place, there had to be a secret hidden beneath it."
The name Ji Lian sent a faint tremor through her.
"Hello. Unless I'm mistaken, this is the core of the sect-protection grand formation, right?" The woman standing beside Chen Xuan raised an eyebrow and smiled at her.
There was no mistaking it. This was Ji Lian.
Not only did her voice match the one in her memories perfectly, but the fluctuations of spiritual energy coming from her also inspired an inexplicable sense of reassurance.
The Ji Lian before her was still very "young," far removed from the woman who had decided to create a soulless body. The perpetual creases between her brows were absent, as was the exhaustion in her eyes that had nearly crushed her-but even so, the figure could never mistake her for anyone else.
"Is that person... me?" Ji Lian looked at the body that seemed carved from jade.
The figure actually hesitated.
Even she was surprised by the emotion.
After all, when Ji Lian first designed her, she had decided that the synthesized new soul should exclude emotion as much as possible. That would greatly reduce the chances of attracting a heart demon.
She had a vague feeling that telling Ji Lian the truth here might trigger a