Yu Ke slowly came awake. Secretly counting the days, he realized that he had unknowingly slept for a full day.
Adding the several days he had spent cultivating aboard the Azure Jade Boat after leaving the Hidden Immortal Land—
It had already been seven whole days.
After waking, he only felt that something about himself had subtly changed. Even he could not say exactly what was different.
After composing himself, he activated his artifact and flew into the gates of the Divine Firmament Sect.
As an Outer Disciple, he only needed to present the token at his waist to pass through unhindered. The token bore the two characters: "Yu Ke."
The moment the token was activated with spiritual power, several messages surfaced one after another.
The first had been left by Zhou Liang:
[Junior Brother Yu, where have you reached now?]
Several more urging messages followed closely behind.
Things like [Are you there?] and [Have you returned to the sect?]
This Outer Sect communication token had its limits. Only those within the sect's grounds could exchange messages.
Aside from Zhou Liang, there was another message from Xie Wanwan.
She too had been checking on him.
There were only two "friends" listed on Yu Ke's communication jade token: Zhou Liang and Xie Wanwan.
After replying to them separately,
Yu Ke entered the Divine Firmament Sect and headed straight back to the cultivation estate of the Outer Sect.
The courtyard compound was exceptionally quiet.
Chen Jingqiu and Xie Wanwan, who normally lived alongside him, were both absent from the courtyard.
He first washed and tidied himself up, changing into a clean and elegant new dharma robe. He had only just finished when footsteps sounded outside the courtyard gate.
Zhou Liang had come calling.
The instant the two met, Zhou Liang could not