On the other side of the passage lay the familiar lake. The old man sat by the shore wearing a straw rain hat, a wooden rod in hand, simply sitting there in silence.
"I told you before: if you needed my help, crush the jade token, and I would help you once without conditions."
"As far as I know, there is currently nothing you need my help with."
The old man pointed with a hand, and a wooden stool appeared behind Ye Lin. Ye Lin went along with it and sat down.
"Senior, I don't understand."
Ye Lin looked at the lake before him and spoke slowly.
"It's good that you don't understand. You did well."
The old man's tone was indifferent.
"Senior, you treated me as a chess piece, didn't you? So? Did I perform well enough?"
The old man said, "A chess piece? Not entirely. Our paths are the same, so you cannot really be called a chess piece. Besides, I never used you."
At those words, an immense aura rose around Ye Lin. By now, he understood.
This old man had always regarded him as a chess piece. And now, this chess piece had finished everything it was supposed to do.
Now the old man had come to pluck the fruit. Perhaps every step Ye Lin had taken had been within this old man's sight all along.
The old man clearly possessed Immortal Realm strength, yet he had never acted. As for that jade token and its promise of unconditional assistance—
It had merely been to ensure Ye Lin did not die before completing the plan.
"Our final paths are the same. What I did not expect was that something originally impossible would become possible in your hands. Between us, there was never any question of chess