In a side hall of the Worship Hall, the brazier blazed warmly, driving away the chill deep within the palace.
Qian Daoliu dismissed all the attendants, leaving only himself and Tang Chen. On the table sat two jars of century-old wine and several plates of exquisite cold and hot dishes—the very foods the two had loved most when they had adventured together all those years ago.
Qian Daoliu personally filled the wine cup before Tang Chen. The amber liquid rippled in the jade cup. Looking at Tang Chen across from him, gaunt and with his left arm hanging limp, a complicated trace of melancholy flickered in Qian Daoliu's eyes before finally turning into a long sigh. "Have a drink. The last time we sat down together in peace like this was sixty years ago, on the ice fields of the Far North, when you and I joined forces to slay that hundred-thousand-year Ice Jade Empress Scorpion."
Tang Chen lowered his eyes to the wine. His withered fingers trembled slightly as he picked up the cup and drained it in one swallow.
The fiery liquor slid down his throat, burning his chest with pain, but it was nothing compared to the bitterness in his heart.
Sixty years ago, he had been the spirited young sect master of the Clear Sky Sect, while Qian Daoliu had been the brilliant Grand Protector of Spirit Hall. Their names had rung across the continent, and together they had been hailed as the North-South Dual Prodigies—the two brightest rising stars in the entire Soul Master World.
Back then, with a jug of wine, a hammer, and a sword, they had dared to venture into the world's most perilous secret realms and battle its fiercest Soul Beasts.
But now, one had become the all-powerful Grand Protector of