Beichen Expounds the Dao, Bids Old Friends Farewell, and Parts for the Last Time

Zhang Shou nodded.

"But the legacy the Jade Emperor left me is exhausted. I must explore the path to Quasi-Saint on my own. I intend to leave for Yang Pass tomorrow and seek my chance to break through on the battlefield against the Nether World."

Li Beichen's expression grew grave.

"Have you made up your mind?"

Zhang Shou gave a slight nod.

"Crossing hands with you today fulfilled my final wish in the Upper Realm. The next stretch of my road leads to Yang Pass."

"The Jade Emperor's kindness is more than I can repay. All I can do is guard Yang Pass and protect the Upper Realm."

Li Beichen nodded.

"Then you'll have to go ahead of me. I still have matters to settle in the Upper Realm. Once the dust has settled, I'll come to Yang Pass and fight at your side."

They smiled at each other and parted there in the Twenty-Seventh Heaven.

You head for Yang Pass; I head for the heavens above.

After parting from Zhang Shou, Li Beichen rose toward the heavens. He became a streak of light racing at the utmost speed through layer upon layer of sky, and before long, he was back in the Nine Provinces.

He had cultivated and pressed onward for what amounted to tens of thousands of years. Yet setting aside those memories of cultivation, the place bound to him by the deepest ties of cause and effect was still the Nine Provinces.

The homeland where he had arrived after his rebirth.

That much had been plain from the threads of cause and effect extending from him when he broke through to Great Luo.

Most led to old friends in the Nine Provinces, tracing every step he had taken since his humble beginnings.

Those threads were exceedingly