Dawn was just beginning to break.
A thin morning mist flowed between the withered yellow hills.
Behind Crouching Ox Ridge.
There stood a huge slab of bluish stone, formed by nature itself.
At that moment, seven or eight figures were already seated in a scattered yet orderly arrangement around the stone.
Some wore straw raincoats and bamboo hats, their eyes gently closed; others wore coarse linen clothes, barefoot and cradling swords, with faint thunder rumbling between their breaths.
They were men and women, young and old, each in a different guise, yet none revealed even a trace of aura.
But if a cultivator had been present, they would surely have been horrified to discover that these seemingly ordinary men and women had already become one with heaven and earth in every gesture and movement.
This was what it meant to return to simplicity.
As the morning light gradually broke through the clouds and spilled across the bluestone.
Everyone remained silent, waiting patiently.
In one corner.
He Bi sat cross-legged in silence, repeatedly watching the movements around him. Yet as each second ticked by, no new figure appeared.
"..."
Noticing He Bi's unusually frequent glances from side to side.
Very soon.
A calm voice rang out.
"What is the matter with Junior Brother He today?"
The speaker was the linen-clad man who sat barefoot with a sword in his arms.
He slightly opened his eyes and cast He Bi a glance.
"So restless... could it be that someone else is coming?"
As soon as those words fell.
Everyone around the bluestone opened their eyes and looked at He Bi curiously.
After all.
Other than He Bi and their junior sister, who stayed by their master's side year-round and attended to his daily needs.
The rest traveled throughout the Nine Provinces and