"Dao Master, Sword Four is dead. He was killed by your dear disciple. Even as he lay dying, he kept calling your name."
"No matter. I will go to the Life Dao Master and revive him within the Endless Void."
"Dao Master, Sword Three is dead as well, also killed by your dear disciple. He died fighting in the Endless Void, and not until his death did he reveal even the slightest secret."
"I will give him one last chance."
"Dao Master, I'm leaving. Your actions have chilled my heart too deeply. You raised the Sword Guards with your own hands, but not me. I'm leaving."
"Where are you going?"
"The world is vast—wherever I go can be home. I'll go wherever my feet take me."
"Why leave?"
"You are too coldhearted. You never cared about the brothers at all. To test your dear disciple, you were willing to send us to our deaths one by one."
"You can be revived."
"That's not the same. I'm tired."
Before Ye Lin's eyes, the figures within the grand hall grew fewer and fewer.
In the end, the once-crowded hall was left with Ye Lin alone.
"Looks like I was wrong."
"I gave you the chance to turn back, yet you kept testing me, step by step—testing my bottom line."
"You killed my Dark Guards, killed my brothers. In the future, will you kill those around me? Perhaps even kill me?"
"I am the Dao Master. I truly do not understand what meaning there is in what you are doing."
The next moment, the void around Ye Lin shattered with a thunderous crash.
His perspective returned to the grand hall once more.
All around him, members of the Chaos Ancient Clan and the other cultivators were walking about, utterly unaware of anything unusual